#and i really want to know what his whole deal with being a pacifist is

[the-kneesbees]

I thought we were gonna learn his secret I already knew he was gay what's the secret

[inbarfink]

Any analysis of how Undertale deals with Pacifism and how it tries to guide the Player towards it has to take a deep look at Papyrus. Because Papyrus is the one character in the game who will never kill, the one actual ‘True Pacifist’ in the game’s main cast. 

I mean, the Player can be an even bigger Pacifist. Papyrus does still FIGHT, and the Player can get through an entire run without draining a single sliver of HP. But… they can also be the world’s biggest murderbastard and literally stab reality to death. 

Toriel would very much like to not kill, but she is also fully capable of doing so.

Same with Asgore, but he has a lot more actual blood on his hands. Undyne and Mettaton are both fully 100% willing to kill to accomplish their goals. Sans is non-violent in most runs because he’s too lazy and depressed to do anything, and when he is motivated into actions - it is in the form of a FIGHT to the death. Alphys… the timeline is a bit fuzzy cause both she and Mettaton love lying so much, but it seems like she did sincerely add deadly weapons to Mettaton cause killing humans would make him more 'useful' and then had second thoughts once she developed a parasocial relationship with the Human Child and THEN she and Mettaton started hatching their little play-acting plan. I think??

With Papyrus there is NONE of this ambiguity, we know for sure - no matter what timeline or what may come - The Great Papyrus will always choose MERCY.

And the interesting thing about that is on a Meta-Sense, Papyrus is a very rare example of the game giving MERCY towards the Player. 

Because the game starts out being really obtuse with the Sparing mechanic and how it works. If you want to be a Pacifist in Undertale from the get-go, you’re gonna have to work for it. You're gonna have to figure it out on your own and commit to it and believe that it's possible. It's basically a test of your own belief in non-violence and your moral integrity. Then, the RUINS end with the Toriel boss battle - in a way, that’s probably the hardest Sparing puzzle in the whole game. And it’s very very easy to accidentally kill her. (I’d almost say that’s the intention of the battle, to try to goad the Player into Resetting so they can see how the game remembers across RESETs)

And then we have Papyrus, and it’s not just that his ‘Sparing Puzzle’ is something as simple as outlasting him and letting him run out of dialogue - and it’s not just that he’s the only boss that will just give up and let you continue if you lose to him enough times. it’s also that, just as Papyrus is the only boss incapable of accidentally killing the Player - he’s also the only boss that the player is incapable of accidentally killing.

(Okay, fine, to be pedantic, there’s also Asgore)

I mean, the Player can certainly kill him if they want to - but draining Papyrus’s HP just makes him skip through his battle dialogue right to the end of it. It’s designed in such a way that, no matter what Route you're on and no matter what approach you take with Papyrus - you will always end up on this screen.

Unlike basically any other Monster in this game, including the major boss battle just before him - you can’t kill Papyrus accidently. You can't kill him without also having Sparing him as an option. The game kinda treats killing Papyrus as one of the Worst Things You Can Do because killing Papyrus will always be a deliberate, considered action done to a person who will not kill you and who has stopped wanting to FIGHT and has extended a hand of Mercy. With the game clearly communicating what you need to do to Spare him at that moment.

And that means that - even if you killed before, even if you don’t have the patience of a True Pacifist, even if you spent all this time in the game without even trying to engage with the Sparing mechanic… as long as you don’t want to be a Huge Rat Bastard, the game is basically gifting you with the very very easy option to not be. Being a Pacifist in Undertale is usually a challenge - a puzzle to be solved, a test to pass. But as long as you aren’t intentionally trying to be the Worst Person - the game is basically giving you Papyrus. 

If you accept his Mercy, you are accepting the game’s Mercy. That sort of benefit-of-the-doubt assumption that maybe all of the LOVE you might have accumulated so far was all due to honest mistakes or panic or an attempt in self-defense. That you still deserve this one chance to prove that you are not intentionally, maliciously cruel - or at least not like the Worst Person in the World. Even if you did kill before, you still deserve at least one friend.

And Sparing Papyrus leads you to his wonderful Hangout/Dating Sequence and to his Phone Calls and they all add so much wholesome charm to the Undertale experience and no matter what happens Papyrus will always think the best of the Player and he will always trust them and it also makes Sans also kinda your buddy by default. And more than just adding a little bit of wholesome charm into even the more LOVE-filled Playthroughs, I think this is meant to try and incentivize these players into trying out the Mercy mechanic a bit more.

Whatever it’s, like, for future playthroughs or Resetting the game right there to try a True Pacifist Run right there and then or just trying to be a little kinder for the rest of this current playthrough - especially since there’s an emphasis about the close friendship Papyrus has with the upcoming boss Undyne, and to a lesser extent with his idol and next-next boss battle Mettaton. It’s like “well, if you didn’t figure out how to spare before, this is how you do it? And isn’t it nice to have a friend? Isn’t it nice to not have to kill this lovable skeleton man? You should do this more often wink wink nudge nudge!”

And it’s like… all of Papyrus’ loved ones care about him so much but they also look down on his pacifism. They see his inability to kill and desire to make friends as simple naivete and that’s why all tend to hide the truth from him all the time. About what will happen to the Human he will capture, about what his new Human friend might’ve done, about the fact that they view him as so naïve. 

They admire it on some level, that’s why they want to protect it, but they also see it as a weakness which is why they want to protect it by lying to him all the time. But, you know, Undyne says that if Papyrus goes into battle he’ll be ‘ripped into little smiling shreds’ and that is certainly what happens every time a Player chooses to refuse Papyrus’ Mercy and the game’s Mercy and press that FIGHT button…

But have you thought about all the times that doesn’t happen? All the careless or violent players who were offered that skeletal hand of friendship, accepted it and then carried that offered kindness forward for the rest of the game? All the players motivated to do good for the sake of their buddy Papyrus? All the Murder Routes stopped because the player just didn’t have it in them to kill someone who believes in them so earnestly?

Like, no, it’s not a surefire thing - especially since Papyrus has so much less narrative power than the Actual Unkillable Time God that is the Player. But it happened, and it happened many many times to many players. Papyrus offered Mercy, the game offered Mercy. And much like Frisk’s Pacifism, it comes from a place of seeing the honest goodness in your ‘enemy’ and can inspire them to become a better person - this little sparkle of goodness being passed forwards. 

And I think that’s beautiful, even if it didn’t happen in every timeline. Any potential future where Papyrus’ kindness can have such an effect on the Player and thus the entire trajectory of the Underground validates his kindness and pacifism on some level - even if there are also always the potential worlds that it backfires completely. 

And there’s also one other way in which the Great Papyrus Proves Pacifism Pays. One that is a bit more practical, perhaps. And one that Papyrus himself is not even aware of. 

Papyrus’ boss battle can be a surprisingly challenging one specifically because he is the only one who doesn’t kill the Player.

Like there is a reason why Papyrus will just offer you to skip his Fight after you lose to him three times, because if he didn’t do that - there’s an honest risk that the Player can get stuck in a much stuckier way than anywhere else in the game. 

Because, like, for basically any other character in the game, being killed is the Worst Thing that could ever happen to them. For everyone except the actual Player Character because we are an Actual Unkillable Time God and dying is nothing more than a minor annoyance that sets you back to your last SAVE Point. So, leaving aside Papyrus’ admirably kind intentions - there is not much material difference from the Player’s perspective between getting Captured and getting a more traditional GAME OVER. Except…

Except getting Captured does not undo everything that happened in your inventory during the battle. In every other Undertale battle, if you use all of your items but still lose - the GAME OVER at least means you get your stuff back. But because Papyrus doesn’t kill you, any healing item you’ve used during the battle is still used. I have watched so many Undertale Let’s Players waste all of their valuable items on their first Papyrus battle and then have to face him again without them and thus do even worse in their second go… and then their third go... and thankfully then Papyrus offers them to skip the fight.

And while that technically can be circumvented by just manually closing the game and opening it back again on their pre-battle SAVE Point, a lot of players are gonna reflexively Save over it if they pop over to the Shop or the Snowed Inn before their second attempt at the battle. If Papyrus didn’t offer that chance to skip his battle, it could’ve easily become a softlock situation for a huge chunk of players - because he doesn’t kill the Player.

Most of Undertale deals with the value of non-violence from a standpoint of morality and kindness and personal connections. Since most people do die when they get killed. But when dealing with an Unkillable Time God like the Player, Papyrus proves that not-killing might actually be the most practical solution.

Of course, it doesn’t seem like Papyrus is aware of any of this. From his perspective, he is just offering genuine mercy to a being just as ephemeral as he is. But it accidentally turned into one of the most effective methods of blocking the Player’s way… at least he didn’t offer us an opt out so soon after that. 

And it’s interesting when comparing him to how his brother Sans - one of the few people actually aware of the existence of SAVEs and RESETs - deals with the Player. Because the Sans boss battle at the end of the Murder Route is entirely based on the concept that death is nothing but an annoyance to the Player. Sans is less trying to kill the Player (the way Undyne the Undying did), he is simply trying to annoy the Player into a ragequit. But he is still killing the Player.

Now imagine a Sans battle where he has all of his usual annoying tricks, but also instead of killing you - he captures you just like his brother would’ve in a happier timeline. And while it’s not a fool-proof plan to stop the Player in their tracks - he could very easily stick them in that sort of softlock situation where they have to battle him again and again without any Healing Items. Forcing them to either abandon the game or RESET the whole world back the way it was - just like Sans wants them too. 

But instead, by killing the Player, he is just allowing that perfect second-third-fourth-fifth-sixth-try where they get all of their Stuff back. And he does actually knows that. And why doesn’t he do that? (Speaking here from an in-universe character study perspective. Obviously the Doylist answer is that the game doesn’t want to Softlock you even in the most deliberately-frustrating part of the game).

Maybe, even though he intellectually knows that killing the Player will be of no help - he still does it because he wants to. Because he just wants to get back at the evil murderous monster that took his brother from him and destroyed his entire world even if he knows it’s actually ineffective. And this thirst for bloodshed is, ironically, blinding him from a new exciting way to actually practically stop that murderous bastard who is themself motivated entirely by bloodshed. 

Maybe he just can’t do something like that. Reducing an enemy to exactly one HP and then stopping is not a feat anyone else in the game is capable of pulling off - even the ones who would obviously use such a thing (like Toriel or a Player with a Pacifist intentions). Maybe it’s something that requires a lot of hard practice and discipline and carefulness, that Sans never thought to put in because he didn’t see it as a useful skill the way Papyrus did. 

Maybe that wouldn’t have worked anyways. After all, and that’s something I kinda touched on in a previous Overly Long Rambly Hot Take - Sans’ War of Attrition against the Player is greatly helped by the fact he can’t remember every single previous try and so he can’t get exhausted the way the Player can get. Obviously, without a GAME OVER induced RESET that will not apply. Which is especially notable because… Sans’ laziness is literally what brings him down at the end of that Boss Battle. 

So maybe, while Papyrus, as long as you decline his offer to skip the battle, is capable of offering just the same Battle as before over and over and over again.... It’s possible that Sans just won’t be able to pull off two or three or more battles of the same intensity and difficulty in a row without a RESET to undo his own exhaustion. 

But I think it’s at least worth considering the option, y’know? That after all this time of viewing Papyrus’ kindness as sweet-and-yet-kinda-foolish-naïveté - that exact viewpoint made Sans overlook the perfect solution to dealing with his little Murderous Time God problem. Cause he just never considered that while killing might be fully morally justifiable in this situation and very very satisfying, that does not necessarily mean it is actually the most practical solution. And that maybe, in a weirdly twisted way, Pacifism WAS the answer.  

[homelanderbutbig]

Hiiii it's me again 😌 so I was reading that one fic you did where y/n convinces homie not to kill a rude coworker and was wondering about the whole pacifist. I understand wanting to be a peaceful person completely but as someone with anger issues I also feel like pacifism can only be done to a certain extent. So I was wondering, what would be the thing to make y/n crashout? And how would homie react? Would he be mad that they got into a fight? Would he be proud bc his s/o just beat up someone that is bigger than them? Id love to know your thoughts on this.

If I can give a bit of an explanation here, I'll try not to go on too long lol. I was abused for about 10 years of my childhood, which is why I connect so strongly with Homelander. And it's also why I reflect my own experiences when I write my Homelander x Reader fics.

But for myself in terms of how I deal with stress, I'm the opposite of Homie. He reacts externally and aggressively, his go-to is to threaten and to commit violence. I don't get mad when I'm stressed, I react internally. I go silent, shutting down and dissociating because it's too much for me to handle. I was hurt as a child, and never want to enact that hurt onto others. Meanwhile, Homelander does.

This dichotomy is what I like to reflect with Homelander and the reader. They are not the type of person to get angry and lash out, regardless of what happens in a tense situation. They want to use their logic to avoid aggression at all costs. That's why I label them as more of a pacifist. They're also a mediator, which is why their relationship with Homie involves them being the one to calm him down when he's on the edge. I kinda envision them being two sides of the same coin; they've both gone through trauma in their childhoods, and although they deal with their issues differently, they understand each other all the same.

I apologize if this wasn't really the answer you were looking for, but hopefully this explains my reasonings well enough! I'm also including a little goofy doodle to visualize their dynamic. 😂

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

I feel bad for Starlo. (pt. 9)

Star's the Papyrus (both are idealistic & seen as naive) of this game (Martlet is another possible parallel), even though he's got similarities with Undyne too. No matter how broken Ceroba seemed he asked himself WHY she did what she did and I think that's SUPER important.

Ceroba didn't do this. Her first instinct was to be harsh (after being harsh with him even BEFORE he attacked Clover):

called his personality "damaged" before this scene

... you never asked yourself WHY he did the whole sheriff act.

.... you never asked WHY he didn't want to grow up. If it was a coping mechanism, if he wanted to help his community in a way he couldn't as a farmer? It was never on her mind.

Yes he has baggage but he's dealing with it all while uplifting others, Ceroba has baggage but is well taken care of by Star and at least has him, he has no one but himself and his optimism to pull him out of negative feelings, and still gets insulted.

Yeah Ceroba's been through stuff but apparently it's been some time since Chujin passed and Kanako fell down, she should have at least started to support Star emotionally like he's been supporting her (sure, he did so with distractions, but as he said "aren't distractions what's best for all of that?" He did his best). Problem is she DIDN'T realise he was ever struggling with self worth and only assumed he was goofing off. Either that or she did nothing about it aka was too occupied with her own problems (which are valid but still... she should have tried at least a little) Cer's character flaw is being too stubborn and devoted to Chujin. She trusted him blindly and wholeheartedly. Everything else came in 2nd place. This is clear as day.

It hurts knowing Ceroba could never respect Starlo the way she still does her husband. Not saying she shouldn't admire Chujin, but the way she sees Star as a goofy manchild whose lifelong passion can go "too far," the way she sees all this Wild East stuff as him "just having fun," the way she thinks that only someone whose brain isn't developed would ever consider dating him just... ticks me off, tbh. That's why I think the guy needs someone who will be gentle and patient with him, even if that other person is going through tough times.

She DID call Starlo the best sheriff she's ever known (honestly the only sweet moment between them in pacifist, but it is very brief, especially in neutral where he just gets cut off; also I hope she was being genuine here) and said how everyone adored him (but hated his persona, which I've already covered: basically they either hated 'North Star' as a whole, which I hope isn't true, or just how excited he was to meet Clover, which makes no sense to me; already covered it as well)

Bonus: Dina didn't know who Star really was or what he looked like, not before the end credits rolled (when he shows up as himself & she's also seen there; makes sense that he finally came clean to her):

So he's literally been playing this role 24/7, ever since she became the bartender; ever since this town started to exist. It's impressive how he could keep up an act AND use this fake accent for so long

Bonus #2: Star was SUPER worried about Clover's safety; that's what REALLY upset him (he cares about that child sm). THAT's what drove him off the edge (unless he naturally has a temper, i don't think this is it tho). Either way, he was way more patient w Ceroba than I think most would have been in that situation. Sure he snapped a few times, but there was a good reason to. He still TRIED to reason with her. Why did he attack? Worried for Martlet & Clover. I honestly think Star's the type to only get super angry if someone he loves is in danger (minus the stuff that happened which led him to cracking)

[reginalusus]

I'm just thinking about how lonely Spamton has basically been all of his life, and how it absolutely kills me.

First, you have Addispam. A junk email/malware Addison that isn't supposed to have been 'born' (not good for computers, so his existence is already a problem for everyone else around him). Sure, yeah, he had the other Addisons, but as we already know from the Pacifist ending and some (speculative) lore on the Sweepstakes, they weren't fond of him and found him annoying. He was probably that friend that walked behind the group or on the outside of it, and was never invited to places, or was only invited out of pity.

He wasn't really 'alone', but definitely lonely.

Then, you move on to Big Shot Spamton. Finally, he wasn't going to be alone anymore, right? He had money, fame, power; people were going to love him, weren't they? Well, they did - for his products. But the Addisons left him. But that wouldn't be a big deal, right? He could basically buy friends. But the thing is, Spamton clearly cared about the Addisons. I think he found an obvious kinship with them - they are, after all, the same sort of being. He mentions in Snowgrave how he'd call out their names at the bottom of a dumpster. He spent a lot of time missing them.

So, even in his prime, he was alone. All he had was the Voice on the phone, and even that left him too.

So we move onto the 'present', but not quite. What was Spamton doing all those years after he fell from grace? Obviously, spending his time alone, except for when he was attempting to scrap up pieces of his plan (breaking into the mansion and Sweet Cap'n Cakes's dialogue comes to mind here). Like, just imagine - you spend your whole life knowing you're not really meant to 'exist' (he was "just" the email guy, after all), clinging onto whatever friendship you had, then when everything seems to be going well, it suddenly doesn't matter because you're alone again, and not only that, you're an embarrassment. A washed-up loser, at least, that's how everyone sees you now.

And what's even worse, it's not that people have forgotten you. They've just moved on.

Then there's SNEO. Obviously, Spamton's plan was to basically take Cyber City back and to make it his own again. And, let's be real, he had no qualms about killing everyone to make it happen. But that's the opposite of what he wants, right? He doesn't want to be alone anymore, so why would he allow all of Cyber World to die?

Yes, but when loneliness really gnaws into you, it can make you crazy. On a much lesser note, for example, Spamton talks a lot. And he talks loudly. Yes, this is probably his salesmanship shining, but also, people who are lonely or are craving a 'people' may talk a lot. They want to be heard, so that perhaps someone will listen and want to talk back.

So Spamton, particularly in his NEO form, when he had all that power, probably had a 'they hurt me, so I'll hurt them' mindset.

But, let's say he did win, say he succeeded in Snowgrave, then what? Who was he going to rule over? Rule with? The pipis? That might have been ok for a while, but c'mon, this is a man who adores attention and validation and friendship. He would have been right back at square one: alone, once again. With a big, seedy kingdom but no subjects, and definitely no friends.

A lot of this is HC territory but I just... can't get over the hints in the game that he's just an extremely lonely guy who literally just wants someone to listen to him prattle on and make him feel validated.

[the-puppet-bracket]

Spamton propaganda:

"You know someone had to do it.

This guy's whole thing is not wanting to be a puppet anymore, but uh-oh-spaghetti-o! Dude now has physical puppet strings!"

"Making a [SPECIL] deal by placing his [#1 SALE SYSTEM] into a [CLASSIC!] body, Spamton believed he could be more than [HYPERLINK BLOCKED]. But the strings told him otherwise. He lunged at Kris in [LIMITED TIME OFFER], trying with all his [50% OFF!] to be more than a puppet."

"Spam email bot who was exposed to something that drove him mad and he spent the whole rest of his existence trying to cut his strings, only to die (maybe?) when he finally manages it."

"He is the most tortured dumpster man alive. Also, not literally a puppet, but metaphorically!!! There's some mysterious outside force controlling him and limiting what he can say and god, he desperately wants to break free, trying to kill the protagonist (his only friend in years) for the chance of ""being let loose from his strings"". In his secret boss battle, he thinks he'll be free after getting a new body but he isn't, as his new powerful body has literal strings attached. You fight him, because he thinks your soul (long story) will gain him access to freedom. During the pacifist route of the battle, you cut his strings until there's one more left, he's ecstatic, being able to break free from the narrative of the confines of the game. He decides to break his own last string, and he falls to the ground into pieces. It turns out he relied on the strings after so long, and couldn't recover without them. Afterwards, he's deshevaled, hung up by vines in the dark basement that resemble his old strings and he says ""It seems after all I couldn't be anything more than a simple puppet."" This ties back to how Kris, the protagonist of the game is feeling the effects of being controlled by the player and really shows the core focus of the game and it's characters. And that's why I entered him into this poll!

Also he is genuinely so fucking hilarious bro just play Deltarune already what the fuck are you doing the chapters that are out rn are free dawg (play Undertale first though, it's like ten bucks or something you'll be fine)"

"Spamton best blorbo. Very good blorbo. Exquisite blorbo even. He's sad and adhd and insane and weird and I love him and you should too. Pipis"

"he spamt"

"[[NUMBER ONE RATED SALESMAN 1997]]"

"he's living in a goddamn garbage can. let the big shot win. it'll be funny. does he deserve it? that is up to viewer discretion. but he is our beloved tumblr sillyman and as such we need to pay him respect in some manner. <3

(iirc spamton is a puppet? probably. oh well if he doesn't count ignore this i'm not read up on

my deltarune)"

"frankly i'd be surprised if he's not one of the most submitted. anyway his whole Deal is about being a puppet and having other things control him and so he seeks to regain that control through either manipulating the player into murdering half the city or to take the red soul and use it to become a god. yet in his super powerful NEO form he still has strings attached to him (that he won't even notice if he succeeded in the player manipulation thing) and in either case he ultimately becomes an item you use just for stats. guy really isn't a fan of puppetteers"

"you propably knew this was coming lol

Tumblr's favorite awful little puppet desperately fighting to get rid of his strings

the pinocchio references are strong in this one

HA HA HA ... THIS POWER IS

FREEDOM.

I WON'T HAVE TO BE JUST A PUPPET ANY MORE!!!!

...

OR... so... I... thought.

WHAT ARE THESE STRINGS!? WHY AM I NOT [BIG] ENOUGH!? It's still DARK... SO DARK!"

"Tries to become a real boy, ends up as another puppet look guy. He's shady, he's a scammer, he's got cringefail swag and I love him"

"He's just a little fucked-up little guy"

[duhragonball]

Daima 4: Chatty

I wish this guy was a cereal mascot, because you know his cereal would be awesome.

Last time, Glorio brought Goku and the Supreme Kai to the Third Demon World, but they got in a barroom brawl on their first night there, and Goku beat the patrons up so badly that they decided to steal Glorio's plane for revenge.

This situation is a lot like what happened in Episodes 3 and 4 of Dragon Ball GT, which sees Trunks' spaceship get towed away by the Imeckian authorities. But that's where the similarities end, and I think it's worth examining the differences to see what works and what doesn't.

Okay, so let's do a really quick recap of the Imecka storyline from GT. The GT crew is forced to land on Imecka to make emergency repairs, only to discover that Imecka is a hypercapitalist dystopia. They decide to stay with their ship because they can't afford the hotel, but the ship is impounded, because the planet's ruler, Don Kee, depends on trapping offworlders on his planet to maintain his financial empire. For some reason Pan insists they try to take back the ship without using their super powers, only to finally change her mind in Episode 5. Goku wins easily and they force Don Kee to return their ship and cancel all the debts owed by his citizens. Also, they meet Giru on Imecka, and Goku finds out he can't teleport in his child body.

I don't want to spend a lot of time griping about GT, but the main issue with the Imecka storyline are that it really doesn't have enough story to be a three-parter. Pan's self-imposed pacifist run feels like it was only designed to fill time, and the heroes keep forgetting that they can fly. When Goku finally does use force, he really only has to fight one major opponent, and it's a pretty quick battle. Meeting Giru was the most important thing that happens, but they could have encountered him literally anywhere else and it would still work. And Goku not being able to teleport seems like it ought to be a problem, but we never see a time where he couldn't just use flight or super-speed instead.

So how does Daima deal with this same setup? Well they start walking. Glorio doesn't even try to find the guys who took his plane, so I guess he figures it's long gone. In GT, the gang happened to show up just in time to see their ship being hauled away, and it needed repairs, so at least they knew no one would fly away with it. But I guess whoever took Glorio's plane flew out of town, so there's no way to catch up, even if they knew which way to go.

This seemed kind of strange to me at first, until I realized that Glorio doesn't need the plane quite as badly as the GT crew needed their ship. The GT guys were traveling from planet to planet, but Glorio's just escorting Goku to see King Kadan. He's already made it to the Third Demon World, so he can make the rest of the trip on foot. It's just going to take a lot longer this way. The Supreme Kai, is more concerned about how they're going to make the return trip, since they'll definitely need the plane to get back to Universe 7. But that's still a ways down the road. Glorio can only suggest that he'll figure out something later, but for now all they can do is head for the next town.

Actually, this is a nice way to showcase the characters and their differing motivations. Glorio's mostly annoyed by the inconvenience of the whole thing. Anyone who's had a car stolen or towed knows what he's going through right now. But in terms of his mission, he's basically where he needs to be, which is the Third Demon World. He's behind schedule, but he's still on his home turf.

The Supreme Kai is the one worried about their return trip because he's not on his home turf. He only came along because he wants to know more about King Kadan's plans for Goku, and Degesu's connection to King Gomah. He wants to know how they're getting back to Universe 7 because he kinda sorta runs the place and he can't afford to get stuck in the Demon Realm forever.

Then there's Goku, who's more care-free than the others. He does care about the mission. He wants to rescue Dende, restore himself and his friends to normal, and defeat King Gomah. He also cares about the plane. I think this is important because in GT it often felt like Goku hardly seemed to care about anything that much. But in Daima he's just as upset about the plane theft as the others. But he doesn't let it worry him for long. For Goku, there's no point worrying about the way home until they've finished their business in the Demon Realm. He'll worry about it after he saves Dende and clobbers Gomah, and not before.

All Goku's concerned about right now is getting to the good part, so he suggests they just fly to where they need to go. They can all fly under their own power, sure, but Glorio reminds Goku of the thicker air in Demon Realm. We saw this slowed down Goku's movements in the previous episode, and Glorio also explained that he couldn't fly the plane too fast in the Demon Realm atmosphere, because the wind resistance would tear it apart. Similarly, Goku could fly here, but he'd have to work a lot harder to do it, and he would wear himself out covering the distance they need to go.

And that might not be a big deal, except we've already established that this is hostile terrain. There's bandits and rowdy bar patrons and planejackers and that was just the last episode. They can't afford to fly long distances and then stop to rest.

Even so, they do fly a little, because there are big canyons with that Sea of Darkness thing below them. So you really can't go anywhere in Demon Realm without some sort of flight ability. But a big monster attacks Goku from out of the Sea of Darkness, and Glorio has to fight it off in mid-flight, which just goes to show how treacherous this place can be. We're used to characters zipping all around the world in Dragon Ball Z, but that sort of thing just doesn't work in Demon Realm, at least not for the kind of power level we're seeing in this show. Maybe Jiren or Beerus could fly around without a problem, I dunno.

Anyway, this is a really great way to change the playing field for this show. It took a few episodes to set it up, but it makes sense. This feels like the sort of flavor that early GT was going for, but could never quite pull off. That's because GT never seemed to establish how or why the characters would be less powerful than they were in Z. Goku was de-aged, yeah, but he and Trunks could still fly and turn Super Saiyan. Pan was a little kid, but she was still much, much stronger than anyone in O.G. Dragon Ball. So you kept getting episodes where they just acted like they couldn't fly or turn Super Saiyan, without ever explaining it.

What we're seeing here in Daima is a lot more like Krillin and Gohan's situation on Planet Namek. The boys could fly and shoot energy blasts, but they knew if they did that stuff, they would be detected by the bad guys' scouters. Then the scouters got destroyed, and they were a little safer, until it turned out that Vegeta had learned to sense ki the same way they could. So when Krillin took Gohan to meet Elder Guru, they had to travel slowly. Then as soon as they picked up the pace, Vegeta sensed their location immediately and came after them.

It also helps to introduce new characters like Glorio to the mix, since you won't be beholden to the established rules for the major characters. Daima has to nerf Goku and the Supreme Kai, but Glorio's a brand new guy, so he can be exactly as powerful as they need him to be, no explanations necessary.

It also helps to add new gimmicks to the story to make up for the powers you take away. Eventually, Glorio, Goku, and the Supreme Kai find this general store in the middle of nowhere, and they get some food. Glorio inquires about buying a new plane, but the couple who run the place don't have a plane, so they sell him a "Sky Seed" instead. There's a cute scene where they haggle over the price, but I don't want to get too bogged down. What I want to talk about instead is the other stuff for sale in this store: Medi Bugs.

So there's a display in the store that's just a bunch of wooden barrels filled with dead bugs. Gross, but they actually have special properties. There's one kind called the Revive Bug that works like a Senzu bean, but that's just for openers. There's Achichi Bugs for burns, Zutsu Bugs for headaches, and Beaut Bugs for silky smooth skin.

I can only assume that these are going to come in handy later in the show. Someone will get a really bad burn, and they'll eat a bug to fix it. Glorio will get a headache while filling out the paperwork to make the return trip to Universe 7, and that Zutsu bug will save the day. In episode 32 or whatever, Vegeta will take a self-care day and eat a Beaut Bug to enhance his skincare routine.

Oh, there's also a Join Bug that you cut in half and give to two people, and they fuse together. So we've already got fusion set up for down the road. Goku marks out for this, because I think he senses what we do: there's going to be a battle later in this show that's challenging enough that we need fusion to deal with it.

And you know, this might be another point in favor of the whole "Damia is a GT remake" theory. I don't buy it myself, but I can't quite dismiss it either. Maybe they came to Toriyama with a basic layout of GT story beats and he said "Yeah, we can do fusion near the end of the series, but we should lay the groundwork for it and build up to that moment." I don't think anyone really questioned GT Vegeta getting the Fusion Dance right on his first try, but it still would have been a bigger moment if they had been setting up for Gogeta instead of hotshotting it the way they did.

Anyway, Goku begs Glorio to buy him dead bugs the same way I used to ask my mother to buy me Transformers at Target. Then they head over to use the new Sky Seed Glorio just purchased.

Okay, so the Sky Seed is that Q-tip looking thing you may have seen in the closing credits. The guy who sells them has a whole routine he does to launch them, with a wizard robe and a megaphone and everything. But it's basically just a missile. There are plants in Demon Realm that make these Q-tip-shaped seeds and when you rip off part of one end, they launch into the air with tremendous force. The Supreme Kai has never heard of this, so about halfway into the flight he asks Glorio how he's steering the thing, and he explains that he's not. It's just a projectile, which means they need to fly off of it before it crashes.

This seems kind of silly, but it helps. The Sky Seed takes them "120 kilos" closer to where they're going. I don't know if that's kilometers or not, but that's pretty impressive. That's like an hour on the highway in a car, and it only took a few minutes. Glorio estimates it'll take half a day to get to the next town, and Goku suggests flying under their own power from there, and using the Revive Bugs to recover stamina. That's a pretty good plan, except Supreme Kai and Glorio don't want to eat bugs. Also, I would think Goku would want to save those Revive Bugs for a big fight, but he's bored with all this traveling.

Along the way, Goku asks Glorio about the Demon Realm's Dragon Balls, since Piccolo had mentioned there was a set here back in Episode 2. Glorio tells him that there's only three Demon Realm Dragon Balls, and you don't have to find them because everyone already knows where they are. Each one is located in one of the three Demon Worlds, rather prominently on display. The problem is that you can't take one without first defeating the Tamagami guardian who protects it. This was all arranged by Neva thousands of years ago. And no one has ever made a wish on these Balls, because the Tamagami are incredibly strong and have never been beaten. Well, maybe someone managed to beat one or two, but no one's ever made a clean sweep, that's for sure.

So this makes Goku all excited, because he's a rowdy boy and he loves fightin'. He wants to clobber the Tamagami and get the Dragon Balls just for the fun of it, but the Supreme Kai reminds him that they're here to save Dende first. But Glorio thinks this might not be a bad idea. Suppose Dende gets killed, or they can't rescue him. If Goku could defeat the Tamagamis, he could use the Demon Realm Dragon Balls to rescue Dende, then they could use the Earth's Dragon Balls again and restore their bodies to the proper age.

Goku's thrilled to have any excuse to pursue this plan, but after Glorio says it, he has this weird staredown with the Supreme Kai, who doesn't seem to be convinced. He's been suspicious of Glorio from the beginning, so maybe we're beginning to see Glorio's ulterior motive starting to take shape. Officially, he's here to bring Goku to defeat Gomah, but maybe he really wants Goku to defeat the Tamagamis.

I'm not sure what the implications of this would be. For example, let's say Goku wins and makes his wish. Do the Tamagami reset and then someone else would have to defeat them all over again to make the next wish? Or would the Tamagami be gone forever, allowing the Demon Realm Dragon Balls to be gathered and used by anyone who can find them? It might alter the balance of power in the Demon Realm, which is probably why Neva stayed behind and set up the Tamagamis in the first place.

But on the other hand, I'm glad we're already talking about Goku fighting these big unbeatable guardians. I mean, they're all over the opening and closing credits, so I was pretty sure it would come down to this anyway, but it's better to confirm it early on and give the audience something to look forward to. Episodes 3 and 4 haven't gotten a whole lot done, but they have been steadily filling up Goku's dance card. He's gotten into several skirmishes just walking around the Third Demon World, and we already know he'll be doing some fusion and fighting Gomah, and all three Tamagamis. Oh, and he fights Vegeta a little in the opening credits, so if they want to do another Goku vs. Vegeta fight on top of the rest, I'm down to clown.

In the next town, Goku and pals find the villagers being hassled by King Gomah's royal goons. They're here for the classic evil tax collection bit, but with a twist. They've put magic collars on everyone so they can't run away, and they also have a device that drains the life force out of people. So if you can't pay the tax, which King Gomah has increased from 1 gold piece to three, then you lose three years of your life for each gold piece you can't pay. There's an old man who can't afford to pay, and losing nine years of his life will kill him, so he's kind of fucked. Just as Goku decides to intervene...

This character shows up. She throws a "Wasabi bomb" at the guards, but it's a dud, so she just ends up running away. She's got a taser, too, but that doesn't do much good, so just when it looks like she's captured, Goku jumps in and goes to town on all the guards. Not just any town. Goku Town.

So this fight scene kicks ass. The barroom fight from the last episode was pretty sweet, but we've already topped it. The bad guys are more evil and better armed, so it's even more satisfying when Goku clobbers them. Also the choreography is just gorgeous. Goku's swinging the Nyoibo around like a maniac, bouncing off walls, doing all sorts of flippy shit like an indy wrestler with nothing to lose, and it really reminds me of Goku invading Red Ribbon headquarters way back in the day. If the rest of the series is anything like this, then we are in very good hands.

And to turn back to GT Episode 4 for a moment, this is what Goku could have been doing in that show, except he just... didn't. Because Pan told him no. For no apparent reason. So it's refreshing to see Daima Goku charting a very different course. Glorio also told Goku to stand down, but at least he had a good reason. They were having a hard enough time as it was without revealing their presence to King Gomah's men. But Goku had all he could stands, and he couldn't stands no more. He had to jump in and kick ass. He had to. That's who he is.

I think Dragon Ball Super kind of created this version of Goku who kind of didn't care about what was happening. I'm not sure it was intentional, or if it's even present in the text, but the fans got really fed up with "Stupid Goku," the version of Goku who didn't understand kissing, and constantly had to have the plot explained to him. DBS Goku was pretty lackadaisical about the Tournament of Power, and recruiting Frieza, and promising to bring Frieza back to life to get him to join the team. I would occasionally defend DBS Goku, but usually the best I could come up with was that he really didn't have much of a choice in these scenarios, and he was just refusing to stress out about things he couldn't control. Fans wanted him to stop Grand Zeno from erasing universes, but how could Goku do that?

Well, you can certainly argue that maybe the writers should have thought of that before they came up with the story. The gods in Dragon Ball Super were too big to stop, so it left Goku in a position where he didn't have much agency. Grand Zeno saved him from Beerus and Champa, Grand Zeno saved him from Zamasu, and Android 17 just happened to win the Tournament of Power and make the one wish that wouldn't get everyone erased. You know what? Dragon Ball Super kind of sucked.

Daima gets it right. Glorio knows the smart play is to keep quiet and let the injustice play out, but Goku doesn't care. The Turtle School taught him to use martial arts to help the weak. And Saiyans aren't much for hiding, and Goku's no ordinary Saiyan anyway. He came here to wreck Gomah's shit. If clobbering Gomah's men attracts Gomah's attention, then good, it means the fight will come to Goku that much sooner. If Gomah sends more troops after Goku, then the fight will be that much more fun for Goku.

Maybe King Kadan didn't understand what he was getting into, but Goku's the Legendary Super Saiyan. You want stealthy heroics, go call Batman or whatever. But don't drop a war machine in your backyard and then complain about the noise.

Anyway, when the dust settles, Goku's like "Oops, I didn't meant to kick this much ass. Sorry!" and they have to run out of town. Glorio's annoyed that Goku's made himself a fugitive on top of everything else, but before they can discuss it further that girl from earlier shows up and unmasks to reveal... a girl?

Well, it's the girl we see in the closing credits, so I'm glad we finally got her on the board. I'm pretty sure her name is Panzy, because that's the title of the next episode.

[rosehippiefield]

For the ask game, yay <33

Papyrus Undertale, Rio Ranger YTTD and Maple YTTD please <3

Papyrus

How I feel about this character

Somehow he's not my favorite character but I still like him for his kindness. The only monster to not kill you in any circumstances - that is so telling of him. I have never played Undertale but if I did completing genocide route would be a pain.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Nobody probably. I just don't feel like there's a character that is compatible with Papyrus. Undyne could potentially be his pair but for me they are more like friends/mentor and mentee.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Him and Sans because welp bros of the century. They have typical sibling dynamic of being annoyed but still loving their brother more than their lives.

And Undyne too! They are already kind of friends and despite her harsh exterior she is very attached to him.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don't really have something truly unpopular, but the fact that he's not among my most favorite characters may appear surprising. Other than that... I've heard that he was too babied by the fandom, so maybe that.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I would like to see his reaction to us killing Sans. Would he be as forgiving, would he let it slide or would he retaliate? There are probably thousands AUs about this but I don't know them.

Also he kinda befriended Flowey, so maybe in the true pacifist route he could help him heal? Just my wishful thinking

Rio Ranger Rearanger

How I feel about this character

He's not my favorite (and I don't like any fllormaster as much as any participant) but I kinda like him. For me it's understandable why he's so malicious and him being unable to experience positive emotions at all makes me kinda forgive him for... everything... The guy couldn't control it, he was programmed to be jealous and cruel. He was a bad person (doll?), but how could he be good? When he understood his misdeeds, he regretted everything. So like his fate is tragic. I'm not really angry at his antics (even if they were absolutely terrible like wearing dead people's clothes), that's how he was created. Not to mention Sei deal. #Gashu what have you done

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Once again, nobody. I don't feel like he has any normal bonds with people. Safalin is probably a lot older (how mentally old is he actually? Maybe adult but who knows) and even if not she's more of a scientist while he's experiment. Not healthy and he deserves better

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Him and Kai ultimate bros. Thinking about Sei hurts but imagine that they lived though that hell together and betrayed Asunaro and saved everyone and were happy ever after? I think Sei would still feel inferior to Kai but it could be fixed. It could be...

Also him and Safalin as friends/coworkers. It's so funny to see how he bosses Safalin around. I was sorry for her but after Rio Laizer event nope Ranger deserved that. But overall they were an entertaining duo

My unpopular opinion about this character

I don't really have one I suppose. Maybe that I don't think he could be decent and his actions weren't fully his own? The whole theme of responsibility is really hard to think about because I don't want to shift it from him but maybe it's more of Gashu's decision to make his so negative. He was a tool, a tool with consciousness. Like many people in the world, he was predetermined to act malicious by the circumstances. Was he really in charge of his actions? I don't know. I just know that it's tragic

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I'm really curious how he would act if Kai survived to see him. It wouldn't be sweet family reunion for sure. I think Ranger would guilt trip Kai a lot, maybe being the most horrible to him in particular because that's the "true" son of his creator. But in the end, maybe Rio Laizer would be comforted by Kai. Just like with Sei...

Miss Maple

How I feel about this character

I don't think about her often but I remember how I was really sorry for her situation. Now I'm a bit neutral (still more on the liking side), but there was time when I liked her a lot. Girl destined to love a horrible person, coded to act unhinged, be a tool, an element of the gameplay. Never being able to be herself... Almost. I'm beginning to remember the parts when she talked with Keiji, Mai and Q-taro, those were my favorite moments. She deserves so much better and I admire how she genuinely liked our participants and tried to help out.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Again nobody... The closest person is probably Mai because they have chemistry and can understand each other. Mai really cared about Maple, so maybe it could be mutual (once I said that I thought Maple had mentality of a child due to Asunaro meddling so it's not cool to ship her with anyone but I don't know anymore, I need to revise my thoughts)

Actually, I used to ship her with Shin. Both were victims of Midori, trusting the latter too much and unable to disobey him (well, that's my assumption about Shin's relationship with Midori, but I think that's probable). Shin even notes that they share some similarities. And I just like vibes. Somewhere in my AUs there are characters inspired by them and they are a couple

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Mai strikes again! I think they would make perfect bff duo. Them shopping, them cooking, them chatting... I sense potential

Also, Kai. Imagine emotional Maple and our stoic homemaker. I think they could balance each other out. Plus, both had experience with Asunaro and were used as pawns. Maybe they could heal by sharing their common fears to each other

My unpopular opinion about this character

I was a bit conflicted about her when she began talking about all those majority rules. I know she loved Midori but it felt a bit bad that she kinda pushed the whole winning thing onto Sara and Ranmaru. Logic route would still have drama nevertheless but if Maple hadn't mentioned victory... I feel like she is a tiny bit responsible for the outcome.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I want Maple backstory. Somewhere in deleted scenes it was mentioned that she was based on the real girl that agreed to being tested on because she loved Midori (citation needed, I don't remember the details). I'd really like to know more about her.

Also, imagine having cooking competition with Kai and Mai in ytts. Or them having to defeat the final boss (her) with the power of yumminess.

[cliozaur]

- There’re new facets of Éponine revealed in this chapter. Also, Thénardier is back, and he irritates me even more than usual. There is so much going on here that I don’t know where to start!

- Probably, Éponine was the last person Patron-Minette expected to meet at the Rue Plumet. But I think it was not a coincidence that she was on watch near the house. We don’t know for sure, but probably she somehow learned about the planned raid. It was the first time she followed Marius to the house (because, unlike him, she does not stalk people), and what a coincidence! It was the night of the raid! Although, with Hugo, you never know, maybe it was a coincidence after all.

- When she said, “There is a dog,” the first thing I thought was that she is talking about herself, and it turned out that I was right! Her monologue about being a daughter of a wolf, but at the same time being a dog herself, is absolutely stunning! (We already know about one “dog son of a wolf” in the Brick.) Well, after some thinking, I am not surprised that Hugo makes such a big deal out of comparing criminals to wolves. After all, even in the nineteenth century, wolves were part of French people’s day-to-day horrors and nightmares. (I will write more about it when I have time.) She is full of determination to become a “dog”—she even stopped using argot. In the same monologue, Éponine once again mentions her suicidal tendencies: she is extremely brave in this situation only because she is not afraid of dying; in fact, she wants to die, as we already know. And the way she declares: “There are six of you; I represent the whole world,” is a sign that the ideals of the barricade boys are not so foreign to her. Some descriptions related to her physical state are again heartbreaking: she is coughing her lungs out (reminding me of Fantine before her death). and this depiction of her hands “small, bony, and feeble as that of a skeleton” brings tears to my eyes!

- Patron-Minette also deserves some discussion. (Just look at them in the illustration below—aren’t they amazing?! What is it that Brujon holds in his hands? It looks like a huge screwdriver!) It’s so curious that none of the original quartet behaves as a leader here. At the beginning, it was Thénardier who led the group and insisted on breaking into the house, despite Éponine’s threats, and at the end it was Brujon who had the last, decisive word. I really like how the personality of each of them shines through their interaction with Éponine. The fucking Thénardier once again did not recognize his child and then was extremely rude to her¬. However, closer to the end of the chapter, he tried to manipulate her (as he used to do in the past), saying that the robbery would provide them with the means to exist, but this time, he did not find any sympathy in Éponine.

- Montparnasse is also extremely rude and ready to use violence against her—to grab and hold her, and even to cut her throat. (I think that there is a big chance that this is how their relations could have ended if they had continued them.) But Babet is surprisingly pacifistic: “I don’t hit a lady.”

- At the very end, they are retiring to the sewers! It’s so intriguing: “‘Where shall we go to sleep to-night?’/ ‘Under Pantin [Paris].’ / ‘Have you the key to the gate, Thénardier?’”

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Benjamin Netanyahu

The Menace to World peace

Stephen Jay Morris

April 14, 2024

©Scientific morality

            The world would be better off with pacifists than with avenging angels. What religion has taught us is not to trust the followers of any religion. They always put a square peg into a round hole. They twist God’s words to fit their own agenda. If God is so fucking omnipotent, why does he need Christian soldiers, Jihadist warriors, or the I.D.F. to levy his punishment upon evil doers. I suspect he doesn’t really exist. Even common sense will tell you that God doesn’t need an army to implement mega-universe domination.

Sounds kind of primitive, doesn’t it?  It is. Simpletons have this fear of so-called evil. They make the fatal mistake in feeling that the only way to deal with evil is to destroy it. That is a gigantic fallacy. Evil will always replace itself. Someone once told me that there will always be good versus evil. That I do not accept. What is evil? That is a subjective question.  What may be evil to you is good to someone else.

            Ever since the 60s and 70s, I was told that the older generation sends the young to war to fight the gerontocratic political schemes. One thing about narcissistic old men is that they know their time on earth is almost up. So, they want the whole world to die with them. The phony good is really the true evil. Or maybe, just maybe, there is no such thing as good and evil. There are people who have mental disorders, or angry people who have personality maladies. They need healing, not punishment.

Then, those who think violence solves everything will give you an example of “what ifs.” “What if someone is raping your wife? Would you give the rapist a therapy session?” We are talking about the long term, you dumb fuck! Not an immediate, singular situation. Of course I would do anything to stop such an act!  Prevention of evil is wiser than revenge.

            If we are going to have World War Three, can we at least wait until the NBA playoffs are over? It only takes one leader that suffers from a messianic complex and thinks himself a Jewish prophet: Benjamin Netanyahu, the not-ready-for-prime-time minister. He wants to drag the United States into war with Iran. The Likud Party initiated it when it bombed an Iranian consulate in Syria. Of course, Iran wants to retaliate. So, they launched hundreds of missiles and drones toward Israel. And, of all those fired, just one missile penetrated. One? After spending millions and billions on Israel’s Iron Dome, you’d think all missiles would be deterred. Can the IRS refund my tax money, then? I need it for some plumbing work in my bathroom.

            Benjamin Netanyahu is not my leader. I didn’t vote for him to be pope of the Jews. What he has done for Israel is to apply a permanent scar in history. What he has done and is doing to the Palestinian people is genocide. Repeatedly spewing the details of Hamas’ horrific attack on October 7, 2023 is not justification for that genocide. The question really is, with Israel’s technological and logistical advances, where were the border police that day? Was the Iron Dome turned off?  I know I won’t get any answers to these questions.

            Being opposed to Revisionist Zionists does not make me Anti-Semitic, it makes me pro-humanitarian!

[comicaurora]

I heard you mention Kekkai Sensen/Nightow on the Guess that Tune stream and since I’m currently in the throes of a Trigun addiction, I wanted to know if you’ve seen Trigun (98 or Stampede), and if so, what are your thoughts on it?

Also is Kekkai Sensen good? all I know about it os that its ending song SLAPS

Yea, you know, that one manga with the dopey-looking goofball protagonist who's actually concealing untold eldritch power he can't really control that hurts him when he overuses it, who grapples with intense guilt over his role in being passively complicit with something terrible that happened to a woman he loves even though she doesn't hold it against him and in fact made an active self-sacrifice to protect him, and now he hangs out with a crew of extremely cool people even though he's basically non-combat, and they all live in a world that's built a workable life and civilization out of the remnants of a literal apocalyptic nightmare event. That one manga by that one guy. Fun stuff!

I think at this point I've finished every form of Trigun media, although I read through the manga a while back and don't remember a lot of the details. I like it a lot! I really respect any story that unpacks the true depth and difficulty of being a pacifistic hero, and how it can take more strength and sacrifice to not hurt people. I think I liked Stampede a lot, although it took me a few rants to come to that conclusion.

I watched the first season of Kekkai Sensen and liked it, but I honestly couldn't tell you much about why. I just had a nice time with it, I really liked the protagonist's whole Vibe and the character designs were top notch. I'm also a sucker for urban fantasy in general, so "New York experienced a lovecraftian apocalypse and everybody just kinda Deals With It" was perfect for me. Also I was so used to "anime character has their eyes always shut" that I legitimately didn't clock that anything was weird about the protagonist's eyes until he busted out his Crazy Powers - I even had a false memory that he'd opened them earlier and they were normal, it's just such an invisible trope. I thought that was cute!

[raincandyyy-u]

Ceroba’s Flaws pt. 1 (revised)

(slight uty pacifist spoilers)

(before i even start this i’d like to clarify two things, 1: i don’t ship staroba. i don’t think that ceroba was obligated to date starlo AT ALL especially considering that starlo doesn’t even confess to ceroba. 2: i understand that ceroba is grieving over chujin at this point and it’s the reason why she treats starlo and everyone else distantly, especially considering she knows that continuing chujin’s plan was hurting her. hence the “don’t you think i know how far gone I am!?” line in her pre-fight dialogue.)

Ceroba doesn’t really try to understand the reason WHY starlo is doing all the Wild East stuff and why he always has his North Star persona on. And now, obviously, Ceroba is dealing with her own problems especially by the time that Clover falls into the underground. But Ceroba and Starlo are best friends; plus the fact that Starlo was the only friend that Ceroba had after Chujin and Kanako died. So why doesn’t she try to understand Starlo? She tries to hide her annoyances with Starlo sometimes to spare his feelings, but doesn’t most of the time. She kinda treats Star like a little brother who needs to be babysat. “What the hell are you doing?” “I apologize for Star’s antics.”

(And now, I also have to address that Starlo is reckless and immature. It’s the reason why the Feisty Five breaks up in Pacifist and the reason why Starlo fights Clover. It’s his whole character arc. I’ll probably end up making a post about Starlo’s immaturity at some point too, cause I do have grievances with him as well.)

Starlo also mentions that he tried to help Ceroba out using the wild east’s distracting capabilities (i don’t exactly remember the quote but it was something like “I tried to help her take her mind off things. Aren’t distractions what’s best for that?”) but Ceroba doesn’t seem to notice Star’s efforts.

Ceroba mentions in the steamworks that she once considered dating Starlo when she was younger but chalks it up to her being young and naive. “Well, perhaps at one point I considered it.” “Back when I was young and naive, kind of like you.” “Hey, it’s science. Your brain is still developing.” her reasoning for not pursuing starlo being “I wanted to grow up and.. Star didn’t follow.” JEEZ ceroba, you didn’t have to be that cold 😭😭

i’d also like to add on my grievances with Ceroba and Clover. Starlo points out in Pacifist that “When I fought Clover, I was ‘reckless.’ But when YOU want their soul, it’s ‘for the greater good?’”, to which Ceroba replies saying that she already knows how far gone she is, but I still think that Starlo’s point stands. Yeah, In Starlo’s encounter with Clover he was in fact being reckless, due to him not being right in the head at that time. And yeah, you could also say that Ceroba wasn’t right in the head either during her pacifist fight (to which i agree). But the problem is that Ceroba keeps trying to justify her attacking Clover because it’s “for the greater good” and “for the future of monster kind” when in fact, she was being as reckless as Starlo was.

[christian-oc-tournament]

Elysia Autumnbrook propaganda!!

I never realized it before but come to think of it, her story is all about redemption. Elysia Autumnbrook (nicknamed "Junebug" by her father, because her birthday is June 1st) is the second oldest among her several siblings. Growing up, she was always a kind and curious girl, but not without her fair share of mischief. (Thank her best friend Domitius for being a bad influence on her, lmbooo) Though she never had ill intent, this did lead to serious trouble a couple of times. With this and her love of animals combined, she set her sights on becoming a Tamer, one of the most respected and noble positions in her whole village. She felt the need to make up for her wrongdoings, and more so, she wanted to be someone her family could look up to and be proud of.

In the peaceful, pacifistic village of Mapleshire, it is absolutely forbidden to take a life, especially an innocent one. This includes the lives of animals. Being nestled deep in a forest though, it isn't unheard of for wild animals to pose a threat. Thus, to protect the people, the role of a Tamer is to deal with the animal nonviolently. They do this with their magical instruments, which they are trained to use, to enchant the animal and send it away.

But one fateful day, when Elysia was still a young trainee Tamer, a wolf attacked the village's shepherds and their flocks. She was the first one to reach them and tried to tame the wolf, but failed. In a panic she fought with it, and ultimately killed it. There was no hiding what she'd done, and when word reached the Ram and his Bighorns (the leaders of Mapleshire) of what had happened, they banished her. They branded her forehead with the mark of Pluto, so that anyone that met her would know of her sin and the danger she is.

She spent long, horrible, lonely years trying to survive, all on her own. She grew distrustful, unable and unwilling to rely on anyone, or even speak to anyone if she could help it. (That is, until she got roped into the d&d plot she was made for lol) She wears the skull of the wolf she killed to hide her face, her shame, and in some ways, as a self-punishment. It wasn't until Domitius finally found her and convinced her to come back to Mapleshire to save her family from a new danger (a long story for another day), and she found that her family still loved and long forgave her for what happened, that she finally left the skull behind.

Sorry this is really long, I love her lol 👉👈 You can find plenty more art of her here, but be warned - all of it's old and lots of it is angsty/bloody :p But please vote for my beloved girl!! <3

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[radio-wavelengths2]

I literally just remembered one of the ones I sent that got deleted. Not word for word but here's the whole thing:

Do you remember a little while back when u sent those pet play asks? The one with the really god bot and the really bad one humvee was training. I faintly remember something about the bad pet wanting to submit but struggling really hard. Let's expand on that, but instead of pet play it's brat taming flavored.

A really rude, abrasive bot with a tendency to blow up over little things gets tamed into the sweetest little thing by humvee. Maybe not a pacifist, but more likely to control their anger and speak politely to people. How did humvee do it? Well, it started when he noticed that this bot seemed really frustrated with themselves every time they got into an argument. He sees them struggling so hard to pull themselves out of it, and he can see a tinge of sexual frustration behind it all. Humvee, seeing the perfectly well-behaved sub under all the aggression, gets to work immediately.

He has to tie them down, not just as a sexy thing, but genuinely for their own safety and to help them slip into the right mind set. He probably gags them, he can deal with the vulgar language and sarcasm later, it's all about establishing a dynamic for the first few nights they spend together. When they try to forcefully get what they want despite the bonds, he pulls away. He doesn't even attempt building them up until they calm down. Attempts to yell despite the gag will result in delayed overloads. Only when they're holding still and whimpering prettily do they get to climax.

Then, he ups the anti. Just their hands are tied during full sessions, and the gag is lost. Misbehaving will result in more and more time spend being edged, and any aggression gets a physical reprimand like pinching their node or gripping their spike a bit too hard. This is where he starts mixing in demands with his already established expectations. Swift, eager, and mostly correct attempts to comply will get them several back to back overloads.

Then, he extends this outside of the bedroom. Any misbehaving in public gets them spanked. If he complies with demands, a vibrater attached to their spike and/or node will go off. It'll be a shock if they don't. They aren't allowed to touch themselves until humvee is ready to dish out another lesson. Eventually, this slow and stead approach wears them down into a more complaint, happier mechanism who gets into fewer fights. They seek rewards activity, and even admit to misbehaving willingly knowing it'll be a punishment because they know it's what's expected of them. Turning the bot from the worst brat cybertron had ever seen, into the perfect little sub, humvee has once again saved the day.

I LOVE THIS SO SO MUCH I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THAT OLD ASK

And ough,,, if only he could do this with Noxious. Sure he turns that bot from a "top" to a full sub but he's still a selfish, annoying asshole. I think this kind of training would be perfect to fix his attitude and make everyone like him more

And, if he continues his good behavior, Humvee might just call in his team and let them all have a go at this perfect little sub

[bonetrousled]

please please please please gawd tell me more about ur pap being the knight theory OR if u would so pls direct me to where u talked abt it before. u have truly GRIPPED me w this

OH GOD I HAVE SO SO MUCH OK. so i DO have the papyrus powerpoint HERE which has a section on that a little more in-depth and i will say i am not the first to come up w this idea but personally it's the only option that makes Complete sense w no holes to me. this is all going off the concept that papyrus is likely younger here bc sans asks kris to hang out w him. my ramblings under a cut bc im about to go fucking CRAZY

the knight, by people that have seen him already, is always referred to w he/it pronouns. papyrus and sans are the only characters that fit the he/it bill (both of them are referred to with it/its in the lost soul fight, nobody else is referred to this way)

there is NO way that kris OR susie could have made the dark worlds in chapter 1 and chapter 2. the dark world had to have been opened AFTER noelle and berdly got to the library (since their books and stuff are open) but BEFORE kris and susie arrived, crossing all of them off potential dark world opener lists. also up until this point kris didn't even Know how to open a dark world

there's the closet in the library that states that "a very large person could easily fit inside". papyrus could have potentially been hiding in there and waiting for others to come to open the fountain. additionally in ut he says that there's no skeletons in his closet- except him sometimes

but then the question of motive comes up. Why would he do that?

so far from what we've seen in deltarune, papyrus is an asocial shut-in. given that the main core of other characters hasn't really been altered, we can also assume what he wants MOST is to feel important and be liked, like in undertale. combining these two aspects leads us to someone who can't bring himself to socialize with others in the real world, but DESPERATELY wants to feel necessary and admired.

the whole deal w the dark world is wish fulfillment, at least as i see it. susie gets a cool outfit with spikes and makes friends, she has her own room with her own style, etc. berdly gets a cool, nerdy sci-fi outfit and is put in charge, and even gets to have a heroic moment towards the end of chapter 2. noelle gets to tell her true feelings to a mother figure and gets to spend time with susie. so if you get what you want most in the dark world, it would make COMPLETE sense for papyrus to not only be spending time in them, but opening more fountains to spend as much time in them as possible.

plus, what have we seen the first two chapters thus far? EVERYONE important and in-charge LOVES the knight. all they do is talk abt him and how awesome he is. double tying in this aspect of wish fulfillment to the weird, perfect nature of hometown- people who didn't really get a chance at life are still alive, everyone is happy, that sort of thing. papyrus is the ONLY main character out of all of undertale that NEVER gets what he wants. every other character gets some sort of completion to their arc, some sort of resolution and closure, they meet their goals, they achieve something. by the end of true pacifist, papyrus doesn't get ANYTHING. his friend count is still stagnant, he never proves himself, or gets any sort of important role (he only becomes the ambassador if you DON'T want to). putting two and two together here, it would make perfect sense for papyrus to finally get his moment- by his own hands.

plus, and this is just a little obvious here, but if you become what you want the most in the dark world, and papyrus wanted to be in the guard- what would you call a member of a royal guard? a knight.

alongside the weird, vague hints that papyrus must have had SOMETHING happen to him in his past and that he wasn't always a great guy (very adamant about how people can change, the "I'M A PRETTY BRUTAL KIND OF GUY" line, the way he admits to you in aborted no mercy that he was going to blast you to smithereens) and we NEVER get resolution/explanation for that (or any of the other weird shit he says [see powerpoint]) i feel like there's just too much setup here for any other option to make sense to me. papyrus is also just very obviously toby's favorite character from ut, he's the only one he ever commissioned art for just to have and he clearly really enjoys writing him and doing stuff w him. anyway ummm im insane :) *grins*

[andreabandrea]

i really love post-game headcanons where frisk refers to flowey, either jokingly or seriously, as their best friend. their dynamic is so interesting to me, like. flowey feels like anyone who sees him and knows his secret will only want to have asriel back, but frisk never knew asriel. on the other hand, they know flowey - and flowey is the only other one who knows what it's like to save and reset.

and that gives frisk a connection that they don't have with the rest of their friends and family. even though in the true pacifist ending, things are all fine and dandy now, there could very easily still be trauma of like - every monster trying to and succeeding in killing them (except papyrus, who just beats them near unconscious and throws them in a shed). and if they did any neutral routes, they might have killed also, and nobody knows about it or remembers it except them. even despite killing and being killed, just the trauma of resetting and being forgotten and starting over several times could weigh on a person - granted, frisk is a very determined person, but still.

i think the concept that frisk doesnt want to change flowey, but instead meet him where he is, would be intriguing to flowey - and in some circumstances, i could see that being enough to convince him to come to the surface - and this has always been more interesting to me than "saving asriel"-type endings. some things can't be taken back. trauma can't be erased - but you can still move forward with your loved ones by your side.

i think frisk and flowey would help each other heal. frisk initially tried to run away from the surface for a reason, and maybe not a good reason - asriel implies maybe they were trying to end their life by climbing a mountain nobody returns from. flowey has a whole load of trauma that i surely don't need to elaborate on - but i will anyway.

a lot of flowey mischaracterizations stem from the reader taking his words at face value. in new home in the no mercy run, flowey expresses that he's emotionless and nothing but a heartless killer. a lot of fics tend to write flowey as nothing but a perfect calculating killing machine because the readers believe him. but his actions tell a different story; flowey loses his patience with the whole "i'm here to teach you about love" act if you dodge his bullets three times - it's childish, in a way, because he is a child and he's mad that he's not winning at this game. flowey clearly expresses sadness, anger, and in the no mercy route just a bit after new home - fear. (the way i've written it in the past is that he's constantly disassociating from himself and the world by portraying his death and trauma as part of a game, and the way he deals with emotions is filtered through this ptsd-like view, but i dont want to act like i'm the best flowey writer in the world or anything, i've also made a lot of mistakes).

regardless, flowey is, at the end of the day, also a child like frisk. he wants to seem scary to them, and in the no mercy run, he's trying to sound cool and appeal to "chara" - that's why he acts the way he does. it's like a child trying to scare another child or act tough for a beloved sibling.

flowey has also done terrible things to frisk; they're not exempt from the list of monsters that tried to and succeeded in killing them. and although i think all the other monsters can and would be helpful and healing toward frisk and flowey, there's something valuable about a bond like - "we went through this together." if frisk can forgive someone like asgore who succeeded in killing 6 humans, killed them a handful of times, and also made them kill him, i think frisk can forgive flowey.

this comes down more to headcanon, but i think the way that frisk and flowey would interact in this post-game scenario is that, like. flowey would never admit weakness directly. he would feign disinterest in the surface and its denizens, but only because he's afraid. afraid that people wouldn't want him around. afraid because he doesn't know what happens next and if he deserves to see it. afraid of what he could do. but if he, soulless that he is, ever did try to do anything harmful, frisk is the one person who could easily stop him. (not that they would have to - flowey only killed out of boredom, not out of a real enjoyment of it; with so much to do on the surface, and no reset as a failsafe, i can't imagine flowey starting to kill again).

i think frisk would be able to read between the lines about when flowey is hurt and upset and try to comfort him without making him feel weak. we see frisk's kindness and mercy scare and upset flowey once (post-photoshop flowey fight), but those aren't normal circumstances - flowey hadn't grown as much then as he has by the end of the true pacifist route. i think, with time, flowey could come to accept he deserves to exist as he is and accept kindness, and show it in his own way

without the ability to reset (barring the true reset), anything that happens from now on is permanent. flowey in the game relies heavily on his knowledge of past resets; without that, he's forced to admit (albeit if only to himself) that he's not as smart and powerful as he likes to claim. it's a scary new world, and the future isn't written, but i think flowey would be willing to face it again with frisk - someone he always wished he had as a friend.