#and it's much funnier to speculate on it that way

[blagueofchaos]

trick or treaaatt<3

You get this mysterious and slightly unsettling Facebook marketplace listing I screenshotted the other day labeled cryptically as "pets", which shows only a variety of seemingly empty boxes!

Are they invisible pets? Are they small insects? Did the pets they intended to sell in them escape, leaving them to sell only empty boxes? Are they boxes that one leaves out to attract a pet? Are they portals to a secret realm of pets? The world may never know because I am not spending $5 on that! But I guess metaphorically I am stealing one and handing it to you, so you get to find out!

[henrythehorse]

"Since the rise of The Beatles, John has gained the image of the vicious, outspoken Beatle. How did he like it? "It’s been very useful," he replied. "A lot of slimy reporter types seem to have got to fear me, it’s fantastic. I didn’t work for the title of the vicious Beatle, the biting Beatle, the one with the rapier wit. It’s a load of crap. It’s handy being tagged like this. When I meet intelligent and hip people, I have to be on my toes not to disillusion them. The people who have fallen for my image and publicity go to Paul, which I think’s funnier still."

"Paul can be very cynical and much more biting than me when he’s driven to it. ’Course, he’s got more patience. But he can carve people up in no time at all, when he’s pushed. He hits the nail right on the head and doesn’t beat around the bush, does Paul."

John Lennon, interview w/ Ray Coleman for Melody Maker. (April 10th, 1965)

"I remember John saying to me, ‘God, I remember walking behind a group of press and you at some cocktail reception. I was just hovering near, and you were giving them the world’s greatest bullshit! Not a word of it was true,’ he said. ‘I loved it, though, it was brilliant.'"

Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles

“You know, it serves Paul right,” John went on. “I think subconsciously he wanted to get busted.” John speculated that Paul’s fondness for marijuana was his way of “rebelling against this image of the ‘goody-two-shoes’ businessman” with which the Eastmans had stuck him. “Paul wanted to show the world—particularly the British—that he’s still a bit of a bad boy’ John concluded."

The Last Days of John Lennon: A Personal Memoir by Fred Seaman

JOHN: Well, he had a single – it’s on the radio, out here – and I thought that ‘Coming Up’ was great! But I liked the freak version that he made in his barn [more] than that live Glasgow one, you see. I’m – yeah.

HILBURN: The one that’s on the album. The one with the speeded up voices?

JOHN: Yeah, I think that’s – if I’d been with him, I would have said, “Yes, that’s the one,” too, and I thought that the record company had the nerve changing it round on him. But you know, I know what they mean, they want to hear the real guy singing, but I like the freaky one. Stevie Wonder does it, nobody moans at him. 

John Lennon in talks with LA Times writer Robert Hilburn. October 10th, 1980 (Hit Factory, New York).

[rayshippouuchiha]

I know it’s a joke in the Little Trash Mouth AU that Izuku licks his hand and Overhaul immediately gains Izuphobia (fear of Izuku’s everything) because surely his mouth is a cesspool of germs. But considering his quirk let’s him eat toxic/poisonous things, wouldn’t that mean that his body is constantly sanitizing itself? I think it would be funnier if Izuku is honestly the most germ-free person in existence, but nobody would ever believe that. Kid just doesn’t get sick.

I could very much see this as being the vibe. Because look, Izuku's stomach?? Low-key a black hole. There's speculation that Hisashi's quirk wasn't just fire breathing, that maybe he had like lava gut or something which is why Izuku is the way that he is.

Aizawa drags Izuku to Recovery Girl, convinced this kid is gonna be patient zero to some kind of super virus and Recovery Girl is just like "this child is clean to a degree that frankly scares me??"

Izuku only got sick one time growing up and that's when he was around five or six. He vomited blood, slime, and chunky bits he couldn't identify, slept for 12 hours, and woke up fine.

Unbeknownst to him that was his quirk manifesting and restructuring his entire system.

[theaceace]

I know that canonically (show-wise, at least) St Hilarion's worked to cover up Charles' death, and nothing was ever really done about the disappearance of Edwin and the other boys, but even so, do you think the school has a reputation for being haunted??

I'm imagining Niko following various ghost-hunter groups online, especially when the agency doesn't have many cases going on, and occasionally the boys will mirror hop over to an interesting-sounding location, and they'll even get a real case as a result

So when she tells them that one of the teams is planning to investigate St Hilarion's (either it's been closed for a while or they have special permission to go during the summer holidays), Edwin and Charles steel themselves and decide to go, in case there are other ghosts there that need help ('can't imagine a worse place to be trapped for the rest of my afterlife' says Charles, who has been to literal hell. Edwin, who spent 70 years in literal hell, agrees)

So they go, with Niko and Crystal as moral/emotional support, except when they get there they realise they've fucked up and are there on the same day/night as the ghost hunters. They could come back some other time, but what if there really are ghosts here that are suffering? No one wants to take that chance, so Crystal uses her powers to convince them that she and Niko are there for work experience, or are friends of a friend, or are here to replace one of the tech guys who called in sick

Both Charles and Edwin are tense and uncomfortable returning to the place they died - Edwin had gone there after he escaped Hell because he didn't know where else to go, but they've built themselves a home now with the agency. This isn't like before, when it was the closest place to familiar he could find. Charles, meanwhile, feels colder and colder the longer they're there - his hair is wet, there are bruises flaring and spreading, and a faint rattle in his chest that would have become pneumonia if he'd lived long enough

But they need to be sure there aren't any other lost ghosts stuck here that need their help crossing over, so they keep going

(maybe, as a consequence of a door to hell being opened in the school, there are unusual happenings, maybe there's still a place where the line between earth and hell is very thin, maybe there's some fragment of a demon left behind, and they can do something about it)

Anyway, the most important thing is that Charles, either accidentally or in a fit of pique at the whole situation, knocks something over just as one of the paranormal investigators is asking for spirits to make their presence known. In fact, this happens repeatedly - the boys move things, change things around, their presence is detected somehow with the equipment. Crystal and Niko are doing their best to distract the team and ruin as much of the footage as possible, and at least once the boys do something on purpose, maybe because someone is being a creep to the girls (and yes, they both know that Crystal and Niko are more than capable of taking care of themselves, but this way scares the asshole more and is also funnier), and then also to fuck with their readings

Anyway, it's coming to the end of the night, the problem has been identified, and whaddaya knows, of course it's in the attic where they both died. This is fine, why wouldn't it be fine. They get started, draw some (invisible, ghostly) runes and start working their magic when, of course, the paranormal investigators turn up, because this is thought to be the most 'active' area of the school, and the body of a schoolboy was found here in the 80s

Yeah, they try to contact 'any of the boys who disappeared in 1916' and Charles. It would be fine if they weren't so irritatingly loud, Edwin's trying to concentrate, and Charles is now shivering and dripping wet, but they managed to ignore the team right up until they start speculating that Charles was killed by one of the angry spirits from 1916

At which point, Charles - half visible, clearly enraged, looking very much like the half-drowned and frozen kid he was, like a proper ghost - tells them to fuck off already before they get hurt, they don't understand anything, and how dare they give a shit now when it's too late

Which is, of course, the exact moment Edwin finishes the spell, and causes some sort of a magical rebound that fritzes the cameras for a second, throws furniture around, and knocks them all flying. When the cameras start up again, they catch Edwin kneeling by Charles, holding his hand, and softly telling him that it's ok, it's over, they can go now. Charles sniffs and smiles and knocks their foreheads together and says yeah, let's get out of here, and together they fade from view

The investigators think this means gay love can pierce the veil of death and save the day that now that the truth of their story is known the ghosts have moved on, and it's all thanks to them! How beautiful, how wonderful, how affirming! Perhaps one of the boys from 1916 tried to help Charles, and when that didn't work, they both stayed to try and protect other people from these violent spirits, and now their unfinished business is finished! It's so tragic and touching story

Charles and Edwin, who are putting their tools back in the backpack, roll their eyes and smile at each other

On the way out, Charles swipes the memory cards from the cameras, Edwin inscribes a couple of sneaky runes on various pieces of equipment to fuck with it, and Crystal uses her powers to make sure they all remember a couple of details differently, so later they won't be able to agree on a bunch of stuff

The episode they were trying to make can't be released, their social media posts about the experience are full of details that don't match up, and fans are bitterly disappointed

Crystal and Niko watch the footage Charles stole with Jenny and the Night Nurse back at the agency. Jenny turns it into a drinking game. Charles does a dramatic reading of the posts with added commentary while Edwin pretends he's not laughing. They buy t-shirts of the paranormal investigators and wear them ironically. They leave anonymous comments

Just. The dead boy detectives having to work around ghost hunters, in a world where ghosts definitely, tangibly exist

[thekoalapastriesbakery]

Singer!Male reader being flirted with by franco (having been invited by apline for half the season if thats a thing) but reader see's him as a slightly funnier version of his ex, said ex would flirt with everyone like franco does have all these rumors about him sleeping around (ex was famous too) and even have a supposed side piece which he drags to readers concerts, anyway franco is obviously not getting very far but he does make some head way once he hears some off handed rumors from other drivers and stops flirting so much with others that aren't reader which leads to franco asking reader out, reader saying yes and after like the third or fourth date telling franco why he didn't want to date him then they live happily ever after. – 🍑

you're really cautious about franco. you'd never so much as spoken to him at all, but he reminded you too much of your ex. sure, you were the only man he flirted with as openly as he flirted with women, but that wasn't necessarily an argument in his favour. your ex was notoriously untrustworthy, and you'd missed all the signs.

from the very beginning, your friends had warned you about how your ex had flirted with just about everyone. you'd waved them off and said he was just a flirty guy–it didn't mean anything!

when the rumours started that he was sleeping around, you still didn't listen. a number of other celebrities had been speculated to have had at least a brief fling with your boyfriend at the time. an even more numerous group of fans claimed they'd had romantic or sexual experiences with him. it killed you, because deep, deep down, you knew they were telling the truth. but denial was a powerful thing.

and so it continued. the rumours, the missed calls and cancelled dates, the nights he came home smelling like someone else. you didn't want to believe any of it. even when there were whispers about him bringing a sidepiece to your concerts, you didn't believe it. obviously those rumours were fake. he'd never be so audacious as to cheat on you at your own show.

then you saw him one night. singing the love song you (regretfully) wrote for him, and you see him mouthing the lyrics lovingly to the person beside him and kissing them like you were just some disembodied voice.

you damn near stopped the show right then and there. you didn't. as terrible as you felt, as hurt as you were, your fans meant twice as much to you as he ever did. you wouldn't let them down. you did, however, announce a brief intermission at the end of that song. the second you were backstage and your mic had been turned off, you called security and told them to get him and his date out.

your manager got a head-start back to the hotel room you were sharing with your boyfriend to grab your things. you went back on stage, and very publicly announced that you were freshly single.

franco did much of the same things. you hadn't heard any rumours of him ever cheating on a partner, but he flirted with anyone in front of him, he had a reputation as a playboy, and he was brazen with his relationships. when he started leaving flirty (and, on occasion, outright thirsty) comments on your posts, you ignored it. you couldn't put yourself through that again.

getting invited to a grand prix with alpine was not even slightly on your bucket-list, but ... you had always taken an interest in the sport, and it would be cool to see it up close and personal ... so you accepted.

initially, franco's in-person flirting was just as blatant as his online persona. he had no issue making rather suggestive comments or looking at you like you'd hung all the stars in the sky. yet, when he made absolutely no headway with you, he decided to ask around. the other drivers–shameless gossips as they were–knew much of the issues with your previous relationship. george even offered to design a powerpoint presentation for franco, which the drivers just barely managed to avoid through their combined efforts.

it all made sense.

all at once, franco stopped flirting with interviewers, teammates, fans, and celebrities of all disciplines. if dedication was what he needed to prove to you he was serious, then by god you'd get it.

he was lucky alpine had given you an almost season-pass to join them at any race. what could you say? formula one was addictive. but it gave franco plenty of time to redeem himself and show you all the many ways he was better than your ex.

towards the end of the season, you finally agreed to go out with him. franco was so excited he would yap to anyone in the paddock who would listen. and even if they wouldn't he'd follow them around with a silly grin on his face. he'd done it! he was allowed to be happy.

there wasn't much left for you to explain. the rumours, the proof, the revolving door of flings your ex had were all very much out in the open for your entire relationship. you were just unfortunate enough to be blinded by rose-coloured glasses. nevertheless, you gave franco more detail about how you found out than you had ever given anyone else.

you were just glad you'd found someone who'd never put you through it again.

[shigayokagayama]

one of my favorite little things in mob psycho (and one of the reasons i think that, despite it being a relatively complete show, theres so much room for fan speculation and fanworks expanding on it) is all the little details of things that you see or get mentioned for a second for a gag and then never mentioned again because leaving it to the audience's imagination is way funnier than any elaboration ever could be. like for example, teru's movie being a fake horror movie called "flying dead pig" that exists solely on vhs and is apparently extremely hard to acquire. even though the actual contents of this movie are never explicitly shown (literally all we know about it is what i listed above) we can use those details along with teru's taste in general to conclude its probably one of the strangest cinematic experiences ever crafted. like, in my mind's eye this movie is like if that film about the serbian government through the eyes of a pigeon were real.

[redlightspellsdaanger]

Thierry and Nicolas - and Martijn.

Need to write this down to organise my thoughts because I'm seriously fascinated with the dynamics between Thierry and his co-drivers.

Yes, he clearly has a very good relationship with Martijn and they work. But whenever he is asked about him - and in these interviews people tend to pile on the praise even if it's not quite like that - it feels he is almost going out of his way to sound as detached as possible ("you don't have to be friends", "we already end up spending so much time together, so it's best to not mix personal time", etc). It is almost cold. If you didn't see the way they interact you would think they don't mean much to each other.

Which takes us to Le Divorce, as he called it himself - with Nicolas Gilsoul.

The facts are known. Surprise parting only a mere days before the start of the season, both saying it was the other's decision and none of them going into details. Speculation: contractual reasons aka money. (in a very interesting podcast dated January this year Thierry actually said the confidence wasn't there anymore and he alluded to important changes in Nicolas' personal life that had an impact also in their work)

This split could have blown up in the media in a different way but none of them was really pointing fingers in public. To me it came across not as hard feelings - but hurt feelings on both sides.

One looks at how Martijn speaks about Thierry and you can clearly tell he sees him as the boss. My perception from the interaction with Nicolas was completely different. They seemed equals and level in every way.

They joked they were like Yin and Yang, that they complemented each other (N the funnier one, T the more serious; T the less affected by pressure, N would take a few days to turn the page, etc).

But in the middle of it all, you could tell they were extremely close.

With Martijn, instead they highlight how similar they are. In terms of approach, how seriously they take the job. And we have to remember that Martijn is a ray of sunshine but he sat down in the car with Thierry, zero testing together and no shakedown, and drove to a podium in Monte Carlo. He is not there to play.

People get more experienced with age, been there, done that. It's entirely possible Thierry has also changed overtime, older and more seasoned, responsabilities, a lot of pressure and time running out to win.

I can't help but think that the situation with Nicolas marked him deeply.

He doesn't want to be closer to Martijn. Professional aspect aside, he just wants someone who he is at peace with and clicks the same way he does, that they are in synch and that above all, requires no effort. He does not want to have friendship or emotions in the middle because it will make it harder if things go wrong at the job they have to do - he literally said this.

Relationships also work like that. You break-up from a very intense relationship, with incredible highs and devastating lows, and next thing you want is just something...simple.

Funnily enough, T+N remind me of Brocedes in a way. Except that Brocedes is a Hollywood story (full of pettiness, big words, high stakes, a lot of drama) while T+N is an European tale. Understated, lurking in the depths, hurt feelings but no fireworks. Two people who probably didn't stop liking each other but could not continue together.

There's so much I have missed, so this perception I have of the situation could be completely off the mark! It's a work in progress.

If anyone who reads this wants to share their own opinions ideas, I'm all ears!

This is the podcast from January which is quite insightful, on You Tube.

[notnights]

So obviously it's still too early to properly analyze the exact relationship dynamic between Jax and Gangle in canon. I promise this is less of me trying to find legitimate proof of any character speculations, and more just a string of very quick, messy personal thoughts on the topic. Context and motivation for their behaviors are likely to be explained in future episodes, and until then there's still quite a lot of uncharted territory left to explore. (Although I will say that both these characters are surprisingly more active and engaging with each other upon rewatch. aka, their willingness to be around one another seems mutual, the bullying is not.)

The only information that we can currently gather about Gangle are her canon appearances, the preview screenshot Glitch posted on the official account and to a lesser extent, Gangle's concept art sketches: Alot of it being about her fixation and dependency towards her comedy mask. We don't know whether she's fixated on the actual sensation being happy 24/7 or just the ability to appear joyful around everybody else just yet, or What her real-world equivalent of the mask was, or even if there ever was a real-world equivalent to begin with. But, Personal indictment is that she does genuinely want long term companionship and meaningful connections with other people. Or at the very least, not be subtly ostracized out of social convention. I think she believes that curating her outward demeanor might change the way others perceive her, and hopefully the way they interact with her as well. It doesn't really help that each of the circus crew are all a bit too much in their own heads to notice, one way or another. Even if they do mean well at the end of the day, it's never quite what she's really looking to accomplish. (It also doesn't help that her digital design is so detached from being human either, she's essentially a flat face on a piece of string. One can't really blame her for trying to make the most of what she's able to display tbh.)

So far, we know Jax is apathetic, violent and generally antagonistic towards everyone in the main cast, sometimes deliberately towards the girls. I think it isn't all that farfetched to believe he latched on to Gangle because she was malleable enough to target without facing most of the consequences. Subsequently, there's also the idea of him relating Gangle's tragedy mask to her willingness to comply: It's an emotional vulnerability for her (She already sees herself as less deserving of human interaction in this state, she won't have anyone else to go to, she doesn't seem to like being left alone). It's not farfetched to assume Jax sees the tragedy mask as a more "complied version" of Gangle, more entertaining and easier to string along. Me thinks he prefers it, but again. It's too soon to tell. Anyways something something designated role in group activities something something internalized self-worth I think Gangle and Ragatha have very similar philosophies when it comes to people pleasing and it almost makes me believe in the theory that they secretly don't get along even more.

(btw plz feel absolutely no pressure to respond to any of this at all - Again, very messy thoughts that I barely had time to collect. Ribbun is an unexpected infection with unfortunately very thought consuming brain fodder to me personally. Have a nice day.

I like these thoughts! It'll be really interesting to see how the Comedy and Tragedy masks work for Gangle.

I do agree Jax probably prefers Tragedy Gangle as even if it's only as deep as "she's funnier like that." And Gangle is the easiest victim for him in that state.

We've seen everyone (but Kinger, who Jax kind of doesn't bother too much, and you could argue it's because Kinger doesn't give an entertaining reaction) fight back against Jax's behavior in some way. Ragatha yells at him, Zooble isn't afraid to get physical, and we can tell Pomni had death on her mind when he threw her off the truck. The most Gangle has done is timidly resist for a few seconds before compiling. Steps on her mask, pushes her, grabs her and puts her in the drivers seat, she doesn't say anything.

She has a couple of bite back words, but then Jax just bites back and it shuts her down. Which is interesting because when Ragatha yells at him it's clear he thinks its funny and merely snarks back at her, often getting her to yell more. He gets different reactions out of everyone in the group and picks different entertainment from that. Gangle might be the one he knows he has proper control over.

As for the Ragatha and Gangle thing, I was really interested in the fact no one cared when Gangle broke her mask in the pilot, not even Ragatha who is our outwardly most caring. You could say it's because she had tunnel vision on Pomni, but I immediately interpreted it as, yeah Gangle's mask breaks all the time, she's crying all the time, eventually people stop caring. The boy who cried wolf, etc etc.

Even if Ragatha doesn't have direct conflict with Gangle, the fact Ragatha is someone who internalizes everything, and projects a positive outlook, I imagine someone like Gangle would make her pretty uncomfortable.

Here Ragatha is trying her darnest to keep it together and remain positive, meanwhile Gangle is crying all the time behind her.

"It's not so bad here Pomni, I promise!" as Gangle cries in the background.

Gangle being a constant reminder of how Ragatha, and maybe all of them really feel about being stuck here. Too early to say if Ragatha resents Gangle for this, or how she really feels about it. But if she does that's so sad because (we also don't know yet) Gangle has no control over these feelings, it wasn't her choice for her avatar to work like this.

Which honestly could be a good allegory for how certain people view mental illness in the real world too. Ragatha being a loved one who's uncomfortable with Gangle's moods, or even believes if Gangle just tried hard enough like her (example: keeping her comedy mask safe) she'd be fine. Ooh sad comic ideas.

[lu-is-not-ok]

Wait, Hong Lu was the one who wrote the log for sign of roses, a rather Christian themed abno, and the use of church bells in weddings is rather common. Perhaps the bell shaddow both symbolises death via funerals (and thus separation) and weddings (and thus connection).

Or, more on the pure speculation side, it implies someone gaining their own EGO in his canto, as there's a sound that rings out thrice when people gain EGO in the story cutscenes that has been likened to a bell's sound.

Ehhhh I wouldn't call Sing of Roses a Christian themed abno. At least compared to abnos like One Sin and WhiteNight it's comparatively light on Christian themes, and I say that as a guy who was raised Christian.

I'd say Sign of Roses is much funnier than that - it's just straight up a Carmen abno. More specifically, it heavily represents the Sins themselves, and its In-Battle event is an almost one-to-one with how Carmen tempts people into Distorting - asking them what they wish for to be able to "bloom", as the one thing Carmen wishes for is a world where everyone can express themselves, a "garden full of flowers". Even all the way down to how refusing to have a wish makes the abno tell you to "remain here forevermore", similar to how in Leviathan we see failing to find a wish leaves your body to be eaten away by your Sins and be turned into Peccatula while your mind remains stuck away from the world.

And, fun fact, the bell noise isn't used only for Efflorescing E.G.O, it's actually used for Distortions as well at times! In Yield My Flesh, you can hear the bell toll the moment Aeng-du starts hearing Carmen due to the Monolith. It might just be more so a general signifier of Carmen's presence in some way.

Which. Considering Hong Lu is the one Sinner with the most clear Distortion foreshadowing out of them....

[diminuel]

The comedic tragedy of Dragon is that he is perpetually terrified of being like Garp in all the ways he is not and is blind to all the ways he is exactly like his father in exceptionally funnier and more embarrassing ways (not a boot licker, but is extremely easy to provoke into very stupid and meaningless pissing contests.)

Haha, that is very possible. I think he might have been pretty hot-headed too in the past, taking unnecessary risks, having disproportionate reactions to things, etc. I can see him just being angry at everything.

Garp is also extremely volatile and he is violent, he toys with the lives of people he says he loves just because he thinks they can take it (or must take it.) Since Dragon had to grow up under Garp's fist of love and (I'm speculating) his expectations that Dragon should excel in a system that Garp himself has resisted Dragon might try to over correct? But he's just so damn angry because he wants to change the system while Garp at best passively accepts it and at worst puts his wishy washy sense of justice over his own family.

As a consequence I can see Dragon withdrawing completely. Not just from the marine, but also in terms of his family? He tries to erase his past (especially once he has Luffy) completely, not even letting Iva or Kuma close.

Just... *clenches fist* Dragon's such a mysterious guy.

(Also I was overthinking this so much that the carrots I've had on the stove for tomorrow's lunch turn into charcoal. I will never forgive Garp for ruining my carrots. :P)

[ladybugbirdie42]

First Mission Part 1 Random Thoughts/Speculation

Under the read more for anyone who doesn't want spoilers.

Here are my very disorganized thoughts on part one of the new Julius side story before I get the next part.

Main takeaway: Julius is very cute.

He's 16 in this story and has been in the knights for a grand total of one month, and he is just so excited to be there.

Info dumps about famous knights multiple times throughout the story.

Captain Marcos is like "I'm a little bit scared of how much this newbie knows about the knights" lol

Julius gets sent on a mission to infiltrate a criminal group.

In a shocking plot twist, his fake name is not Juli this time. Instead it's every translator's nightmare--it's just his name with a slightly different pronunciation (Julius with a hard j, which is how I always say his name anyway lol).

Like five seconds into infiltrating the group Julius accidentally gets one of the members of the group in trouble, and the boss orders Julius to kill the guy. Whoops.

Julius actually considers just immediately giving up on his secret identity and trying to take everyone there down in a fight but then realizes there's no way he'd actually be able to pull that off so he needs to come up with another way to get out of the situation.

What he ends up doing is pretty cool, I think.

He fake kills the guy by stabbing him in the chest and then secretly uses his fire spirit Ia to freeze the wound and his water spirit Kua to heal it. The boss orders him to dispose of the body, so he's able to hide the fact that he didn't actually kill the guy.

While Julius is hiding the not-so-dead body, he gets approached by a girl he saw earlier at the group's hideout.

The girl goes by Adelheid and is totally not Reinhard in disguise.

She saw through the whole thing and Julius thinks that the jig is up and she's going to report him to the boss, but she reassures him that she won't and asks him if he'll listen to her story.

After talking to her for a bit, Julius comes to the conclusion that she's infiltrating the group just like him and that they should work together.

Part one ends with Julius thinking that Adelheid is probably a fake name, and he decides that his goal is to find out her real name once they complete their mission.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how things go with Julius and definitely-not-Reinhard. Really excited about the potential Reinhard identity reveal.

Also just generally curious about what's going on with Reinhard. Why's he here? Has he already joined the knights at this point? Since Julius is 16, Reinhard should be 14, which I think I heard was when he joined the knights. I kind of feel like he might not be in the knights at the time of this story, though.

I think it'd be funny if Reinhard joins the knights after this mission just so he can hang out with Julius.

It'd be even funnier if Julius never finds out Reinhard is Adelheid lol

[ckret2]

What if the axolotls animal existence on earth is influenced by the Axolotl, somehow, and they are like, made in his image?

I don't plan to explain why there are axolotls in different dimensions.

The thing that's always bothered me about "oh this species is actually alien" or "was created by aliens or magic" is that earth already has a pretty solid fossil record. We know what creatures the axolotl is closely related to. It wasn't randomly plopped on earth fully-formed.

Pretty much any "aliens made this species" plot has to either ignore this fossil record, or else come up with some kind of complicated explanation for why the fossil record has been fabricated (which risks ducking into the same turf as some of the more unsavory conspiracy theories). No thanks.

The only way to say "aliens influenced this species" while working with the fossil record would be to say "yeah this species IS based on aliens, but they still evolved naturally on earth, which means some kind of power was influencing and directing the evolution of earth creatures, possibly for billions of years, to ensure that eventually this ONE species would be perfectly formed—" and for what? Why are we going to all this effort? We're not writing hard sci-fi about speculative evolution.

Axolotls are on a bunch of planets in a bunch of dimensions. "Why?" We don't know. "Why not?" Funnier that way.

[tasty-littl-snack]

why did ryan grab shane's tiddy like that?? like seriously what the heck?? is it schoolboy bullying? is it a cry for attention? or is it just because he can... much to think about...

Questions I still ask myself even though it seems kinda normal to me compared to their spanking convo earlier in that ep.

Probably all of these at once, we know that Ryan loves annoying Shane playfully so it could be his version of pigtails pulling. He definitely wants Shane to pay attention to him, or tease him somehow and how do you do that if not reach out to pinch his nipples, and see how he reacts? Kind of a "fuck around and find out" way to tease your friend.

(also @bergoop wrote a much more in depth analysis of this moment including what could lead to it with gifs big reccomend)

So is there something to add? The easy (shipper) answer to this is because he can and because he loves him, and would want to see how he reacts. I think annoying Shane is one of his fave pastimes, this is why their shows are like that (What is ghost files if not Ryan insisting that ghosts are real and Shane being annoyed by that, or Ryan having a playful/antagonistic relationship with Shane's puppet, or Ryan's favorite theory to every mystery in mystery files being "Aliens did it").

So I think grabbing Shane like that is just a new way of annoying Shane and that is also showing affection (because he loves to see Shane's reaction to things, and Shane thinks it is funnier if he doesn't react to Ryan's bits, I think they mentioned it somewhere maybe in a podcast or sth, but can't find the source rn).

Maybe this is revenge for Shane accidentially poking his nipple from years ago, or maybe a new way of showing "hey I'm here pay attention to me". I find it interesting that he does annoy Shane when he's distracted, so it's really kind of playing with fire and seeing if it really burns in a way. The fucking around (inventing new ways to annoy Shane) and finding out (will Shane react/how will he react/will he be annoyed with me in return?/what is going too far?). I think it's some way of testing what can Ryan get away with before Shane tells him to stop. But of course Shane thinks Ryan is the funniest person he knows (and he loves him too) so he lets him get away with many bits, and doesn't tell him to stop. This way it escalates to Ryan grabbing his nipple on camera while Shane reads the outro.

I think it could be the evolution of the shoelaces bit (Ryan untying Shane's shoelaces most recently in Tunguska Mystery files debrief when they had their "friendship divorce", but earlier in watcher weekly's and a now lost to time too many spirits valentines special (when Shane double tied them kind of letting him know that he won't get away with this), which to me already was a "Ryan is pulling Shane's pigtails" situation. In the debrief he also unties Shane's shoelace when he's doing the outro, so I think it is to get his attention and see if Shane will react. So I think it's maybe that.

Someone also pointed out that their energy this debrief was reminescent of the early watcher weekly's where they were flirty in a way they weren't later. Now my real theory, but mind that this is pure speculation is that this portion of the debrief was shot last monday. Now of course podcast eps are not shot the same day probably weeks before, but I think the fact that episode 55 of pod watcher aired that same day when they had to shoot the debrief portion with very unhinged energy questions... I think there's a playful vibe to them sometimes where they can let things out in the open. I think the relief of breaching that topic and finally letting go of something you hold in for half a year resulted in this playful energy. It's been known to happen before (most famous is probably viper room postmortem where Ryan pokes Shane's face and is like "I don't think anyone should replace you" it later turned out that that's when they moved to their first office as a company which is still a secret at that point but the flirty energy is there) said early watcher weeklys when they finally don't have to hold watcher a secret, or the 99 ep of watcher weekly + and "2021 watcher rewind" where they finally can talk about ghost files airing and not keep it a secret), where you just let the weight off your shoulder and can be very silly with your friend again. So maybe this has something to do with that.

Or maybe he wanted to see if Shane has sensitive nipples like Ryan does, who knows at this point with them.

So I guess we'll never know in the end but it is fun to think about.

[l-in-the-light]

Chapter 1130 commentary

I have been procrastinating about this one for a while, because... two weeks break for One Piece manga? Damn, that hits hard. But now I'm catching up with my commentary :D I kinda liked doing the poll last time so let's try it again :3

Now, it's time to reveal the answer from the last poll. Before the spoilers were out, people voted mostly for "Luffy saw someone he knows" option, but just before the chapter released the scales became 50-50, and after release "Elbaf" option won, no surprise there, lol. But what if I tell you the correct answer was actually option D (something else)? :D

Because look what he actually saw:

And you're thinking: he saw Elbaf! He said it himself, right? Everything is so huge! Yes, that's right, but in previous chapter he reacted with "ah" like it's something he didn't see in the castle itself but recognized as familiar, and he saw big things already inside the castle. So what caused him to have that huge smile?

Here you go, this is your answer. Now look at the picture of snowy landscape outside the castle and everything should be clear now ;)

Luffy really missed some snow! You might think, that's because he didn't see any for some time already, right? Actually... Immediately after leaving Drum Kingdom and going through way too hot Alabasta, Luffy wanted snow again. He got to see it again only at Punk Hazard (where he also meets Law, so it's two of his favourites together, no wonder Luffy was so thrilled all the time there, lol), and then nothing till Egghead. What do you mean Egghead? Don't you all remember? It's originally a winter island, so when they were approaching it, it was super cold and snowy!

So actually Luffy had some snow already just last arc/few days ago, but seems it's never enough for him, haha. He's already excited to see it again.

I gotta say it's interesting how Luffy loves snow so much while Law grew up in a snowy and cold North Blue. But this time I'm not here to speculate on Lawlu, let's move on with the commentary :D

I took that from the chapter's title page. Interesting how the houses only in Amigasa Village have those kind of roofs made out of straw in a form of a komuso hat. Law wore one just like that in Wano, to hide his identity. It's also a real thing that travelling samurai who turned monks used to wear in Japan. Too bad we never learned anything more about Amigasa Village, besides the fact they weave hats made of straw, apparently. The name of the village itself, Amigasa, is also a name of a hat made of straw and used for some traditional folk dances. Seems Amigasa's bond to weaving hats out of straw runs very deeply. Too bad we couldn't stay in Wano forever.

I kinda adore the fact they said Rodo would be happy to be called "the shame of Elbaf". Rodo is more quirky than we thought he is, and he was already pretty quirky when he got introduced to us in his full roleplaying glory in last chapter. Whatever you say about him, you just gotta respect that this guy would wear the title of "shame of Elbaf" like a badge of honor :D also if you love Strawhats outfits in Elbaf you should never forget who made them for them. That's right, our guy Rodo himself, with his own nerdy roleplaying hands :D you should be grateful to him!

Oh, so it's a regular thing Rodo actually does, he steals intruders to play with them like living dolls in his lego city. Omg. I already thought that might be the case, but it's kinda funnier when it's confirmed now. I wonder what the Giants do with the intruders normally, when those don't land in Rodo's RPG dungeon. They just mention "we will let Elder Jarul (whoever that is) know as soon as we find them", hm. Seems Hajrudin's group is responsible of taking care of intruders. This kinda lowkey shows that Hajrudin has quite a lot of authority or at least responsibilites.

Luffy of course wants to immediately go and say hi. To be honest, if his crew trusted his instinct more often, most of One Piece arcs wouldn't even happen the way they did, lol. Especially Dressrosa. Imagine if Luffy asked people if it's true Mingo abdicated, just like he wanted to do at the very start. And here as well, this decision of Strawhats not to trust Luffy's guts, is gonna have bigger consequences.

Just wanted to point out the "..." bubble. Why is it even here? Is someone again withholding some information from us, the readers? And why in this moment? If it was Strawhats thinking "Rodo won't answer you, we knocked him out", it could have been shared with us, it's not any new piece of information after all. Curious.

Appreciation moment for the Strawhats getting through their rope bridge challenge :D Chopper is carrying Nami, helping her and reassuring her as well! Zoro is taking the lead while Sanji tries to stick to Nami instead, in case she would need him. Poor Usopp, shivering from fear there, lol. Let's take a closer look at him.

Poor, poor Usopp! He's trying his best, okay??

A cute Zoro-Luffy moment. Zoro immediately notices that something caught Luffy's attention and Luffy shares without losing a beat, expecting Zoro to know exactly what he means. They're best buddies ever since the beginning of the manga and it's never gonna change or get forgotten :3

Cute Zosan moment. Even before Zoro declares what he wants to do, suddenly Sanji catches up to him, grabs him and denies him. By this point, Sanji can perfectly read Zoro's mind already and reacts in time before Zoro says what he wants to do, lol. Let's be real, Sanji probably figured him out exactly when Zoro asked Luffy "what's wrong".

Many people point out that those two grew really close in Elbaf, and I totally agree. Before WCI it was mostly Zoro closing the distance between them, now it's reversed. Perhaps Sanji learned to appreciate their bond in more open way than before (as in: he's holding back less, not just feeling suddenly more affection towards Zoro, he had it for a while already), because he knows now how it feels to almost lose it and be afraid to never see any of them ever again. In WCI he was convinced he won't be coming back to Sunny, after all.

Another mystery solved. So that was the "wild beast" they heard "roaring". Interesting that they heard Loki even when locked inside a castle, hm. Maybe it's because Loki is tied up to Yggdrasil and whenever Yggdrasil shakes it affects the whole Elbaf? Just like the giants in the detention centre said, world will crumble if Yggdrasil gets burned or damaged.

Let's look at the rest of the crew still left at sea. The Reliable Four, lol. It's funny because they're indeed the most dependable ones in Luffy's crew and they're all together here. Franky looks great in those clothes, Jinbei is of course hard at work, Robin's full of hope and confidence (which is always infinitely heartouching to see!), and Brook... Brook, when he's together only with the adults of the Strawhats, actually behaves very responsibly and sane, not even cracking his usual skull jokes and he's providing helpful arguments. Brook definitely knows how to be serious and seems he does that depending on who he is stranded with at the moment :D

This reminds me of Tekking's comment about One Piece world; just like our real world, it's affected by it's own inflation rates, lol. I might be laughing at that, but actually this is a remarkable tiny detail that adds to the worldbuilding and makes this universe feel really alive. At the end of the day, it actually follows similar rules to our own reality, hm.

Also poor Dorry and Brogy, they're not used to shanenigans of this world. They did kinda spend 100 years dueling on Little Garden, cut off from the current events. I guess they will have to postpone their duel to death ;)

I can't with this photo collage. Imagine writing a story about Luffy viciously murdering Vegapunk, but you print THESE photos to illustrate it, lol. Luffy laughing happily and Vegapunk doing some silly face. Way to prove your point there, Morgans. I bet he was snickering to himself when he was choosing photograps to this particular article, lol. That guy has some silly sense of humour, I gotta give him that.

Everyone figured it out almost immediately, but I will still say it. Yep, this mark was probably drawn on the photograph itself by no one else but Vivi. She couldn't stop the press or force Morgans to change his article, but she managed to smuggle in a message of her own and it's meant for Luffy and Strawhats. It's the very same X mark they showed to themselves when parting ways at the end of Alabasta, the symbol of their unity, friendship and belonging to same crew.

Vivi is hoping that it can give the Strawhats idea as to where she is (hiding at Morgans), but also this is her way of telling them not to worry and that she's alive and well. She knows it's officially reported she's missing and she knows Luffy and Nami well and expects them to be very worried. Of course it also a sign proving her loyalty and showing that she's still one of them and didn't forget, and that she probably really wishes they could all reunite soon. A pretty clever message :)

Of course Franky, Brook and Jimbei have no idea about any of it, because they joined much, much later. Robin seems to recognize it, but she was their enemy at the time, so she has a very vague idea. Brook reaction is quite puzzling though, he's keeping his thoughts to himself, and a bubble with three dots appears for the second time this chapter. I wonder what does Brook know here and why isn't he saying anything outloud. Could it be that when Robin said "it seems familiar", Brook is actually thinking the same thing? I wonder why would it feel familiar to him, was the X mark used for something else in times before Roger sailed the seas?

Seems this is officially the moment when Luffy reaches similar standing to Shanks, interesting. They point it out to us, to make sure we won't miss it, hm?

You gotta admit Lilith can be a little shit sometimes, lol. They indeed risked their lives to save the Vegapunks, but she's joking at it so lightheartedly now like it's no biggie, and finds this whole situation simply amusing. I wonder if that's a hint towards Vegapunk's own sense of humour as well, if so, he was quite a curious fella.

Huh, interesting. So Elbaf works on rule of seniority, which seems more important than whatever a royalty wants. They're even excused at calling him just a whipper-snapper, huh. That explains why an Elder was mentioned before, Elders must be the ones who actually hold the power in Elbaf. Anyway, seems the oldest Giants are the ones that always get priority in any matters.

The phrase "Trouble in Elbaf" is also interesting. We know that Elbaf is a nation of war or even birthplace of war. Is Hajurdin's task to stop any inside wars from happening? Is that the usual job description of a King's son? This is already not what I would have expected from their political system. It's possible that king in Elbaf isn't even the highest position, from the sounds of it, or at least not in the terms of having absolute power.

And then they mention Loki, another prince of Elbaf. Seems this one is really strong, if all the warriors had to work together to catch him up and chain him. Apparently he's not right in the head, killed his own father (the king, which means Elbaf currently doesn't even have the king! It's likely Elders are governing over the country now, at least till new King will step up), apparently because of some legendary devil fruit (what's that fruit? your guess is as good as mine, but if it's a nod to Odin then I kinda expect a flying type fruit).

But is Loki really as bad as they paint him here? Let's see, he tried to flee because they wanted to crucify him, I mean... who wouldn't flee for their life in that scenario? Especially if he thought he had a chance to actually escape.

The most curious part is them calling him "accursed prince" from the moment of his birth. Sounds to me like either fate was at hand (Loki was simply born under worst combination of stars) or his birth was prophetized. Perhaps even before he was born someone with clairvoyant powers could already predict Loki will bring the end to Elbaf. The person in question himself says he will destroy "the whole world", but I don't exactly believe it. In Rodo's little miniature of Elbaf it was enough to destroy Yggdrasil to destroy the world. Since we now know that Elbaf is literally located in most part on the tree itself, damaging it in any way would lead to the end of the country, so it would be the end of the world but only for the giants who live on Elbaf. Apparently pirate giants crews are a rarity which means most Elbaf giants live on Elbaf their whole lives. We know there are other giants in the world, but they're not very common, unless Saul tells us more about any sort of giants communities outside Elbaf.

I can't help but symphatize with Loki personally. We heard of "accursed" people before while they themselves did nothing to deserve being called this way. We had Duval who was born "cursed" just because of his looks (I wonder if swirly eyebrow was part of the reason, actually), and we had Doflamingo calling Luffy's D bloodline as "cursed". So far no one who was called "cursed", especially since their birth, be it for their looks or a single letter in their name, didn't turn out to be a bad person. And that's why I'm willing to give Loki a benefit of the doubt. I don't know his actual story, but so far it sounds to me like he was subjected to crucifixation for something that was never his fault: being born with "a curse".

As to why he killed his father, I have no clue, but it's possible it was the king who gave the order to crucify Loki. Maybe Loki had no other choice. I'm sure we will find out what's exactly the deal with that, for now I will refrain from blindly guessing around, but the things I already deduced does seem rather logical so far.

Now this is interesting. Why would Loki be called shame of Elbaf? Again, Duval was also shamed for something that wasn't his choice: his appearance (and possibly a swirly eyebrow), and he was made to wear a helmet (though that was probably mostly thanks to the wanted poster of Sanji at the time). Speaking of Sanji, he was also called Judge's greatest shame, and why was that? Oh right, because he was an empathetic, weak human. He was a child that didn't meet the expectations, was told to work 10 times harder than his siblings to catch up, but Sanji was more interested in cooking instead. What if Loki is the same? He might be simply not meeting his own father's expectations. We know he wanted to marry Lola, a human, and perhaps that's frowned upon (if Rodo's reaction about Giants working under humans is anything to go by).

It's also sort of implied Giants kidnap humans who try to approach Elbaf. Hajrudin's group mentioned that they're on guard against "intruders" and since we know already Elbaf Giants don't really leave the island much, the intruders can mean only one thing: humans. I'm not sure I like this implication. I guess Strawhats are safe, because they're treated like an exception, the same with Shanks and his fleet.

I have a feeling that maybe Loki isn't such a bad guy after all if he likes humans more than the rest of the giants. Now Hajrudin also likes *some* humans like Strawhats, but I doubt it expands to all mankind, they're probably an exception for him as well. Meanwhile it's possible Loki simply likes humans and wishes for Elbaf to be openly welcoming to them. That would put an end to the current order of things in Elbaf, but would that be enough to call it "end of the world"? Yeah, maybe that's not yet the full story.

And there he is! He looks sooo cool, not like that weird blob from Lola's memories, just look at him, lol:

You gotta ask how close to the truth this depiction even was. Would other Giants really be so overjoyed and would Loki really give Lola a flower? Heh. He's got that air of a gentle giant who wouldn't even hurt a fly, huh.

One thing worth noting is that he has his eyes covered, which could suggest he indeed inherited some dangerous powers from his father (in mythology it was actually Odin who lost one eye in exchange for wisdom, so he could see everything that happens in the world and understand the hidden truths. The mentioned wisdom was ability to understand runes, btw). We know in mythology Loki is said to be the god of deceit and trickery though, so it doesn't exactly line up. It's also worth noting that he has something under the bandages, we can see part of the helmet sticking out, it reminds me of Hajrudin's helmet:

Anyway, Elbaf is hinted to be a story about brothers fighting each other for power, which would be Loki against Hajrudin. I wonder if there will be a twist to it somehow. Will Loki turn out to be the trickster everyone expects him to be? He does stick out his tongue in similar way to another trickster we know of, Doflamingo, heh. Just look at it:

And also let's appreciate the cool country Elbaf is. It's basically just mountains beneath the tree's trunk, then a whole land supported by the branches. Many people speculate there will be a sky island up there, at the very top (though the top of the tree looks like it's covered in snow, like a summit!). There are waterfalls on that tree, that is really cool. And there's a huge ass sword, and you know it could have belonged only to some ancient giant, damn. There is also some huge ass castle in the branches to the left of the picture, probably the place where the king lived. We can also see some huge buildings and smaller settlements, the latter seems to look like the houses in Big Mom's story, I mean those:

And there are some cannons at the end of the branches as well, hanging high in the air, interesting! I wonder how much of this country we will end up seeing. It's kinda odd that we're going to start the arc with an explosion though (releasing Loki, because we all expect that to happen, right?). No other arc started with a big bang like that before, are we really going that route now?! Very unusual, maybe one big event will chase another, like in Hitchcock's movies, if releasing Loki is our starting point and not one of the peak moments of the arc, haha.

We reached the end of my yapping about the chapter, now I wanna share my sad reflection about Elbaf at the end. Remember this comment Oda said in latest Jump Festa?

"If Luffy and crew manage to make it out of Egghead safe and sound…do you think they might go to…THAT island? I mean, I thought up a route for them that doesn’t involve it but…I'm not sure I could stop Luffy, even if I wanted to."

Many people thought Oda meant Elbaf when he said "THAT island", but since we are on Elbaf now and Oda clearly had to go through many weird loopholes to get this result (kidnapping Strawhats ship, RPG session with Rodo, the Green Fairy), I start to think he really *wanted* the crew to go to Elbaf instead and tried his best to bend the story to make it happen. So what was the island he didn't want Luffy to go to, it it wasn't Elbaf?

My bet is Hachinosu. We almost actually got that result, if only the newspaper dropped when the crew was all together. Luffy would then learn that Law lost to Blackbeard and he would go to give him payback for him - it would be his last straw, he already has enough beef with Blackbeard to pick up this fight. But Oda, by kidnapping half of the Strawhats, made sure that Luffy doesn't learn the news just yet and so would go on an adventure in Elbaf, just like Oda wanted him to all along.

I mean, it does make kinda sense, doesn't it?

I wonder what the struggle to obtain THAT thing could be. Law's hat? LOL. Indeed if Blackbeard took it after the battle (and you know he totally did, to keep as a trophy and to bait Law), then that hat will become Hachinosu's biggest treasure. Pfff.

Anyway, it was sitting on my mind for at least a month already, so I'm glad I could get it out of my head finally. I still can't believe Oda didn't make Law reappear even for one frame in his birth month... I feel betrayed :(

[lostshots]

thoughts on shadow generation

now that im done playing the story here are some of my thoughts:

the cut scenes are so good, although the detail on the model's fur/texture is a bit distracting (it's not a bad thing)

the flavour text is great! we get to see some insight on maria's and shadow's relationship on the ark, as well as the other characters relationship towards shadow

maybe it's the fact that this is my 2nd sonic game, but it's boring that all enemies have the same attack pattern: staying still until you come closer, then they shoot projectiles

hades 2 spoiled me for combat lol

it's so nice to see shadowing emoting again

i approve this game for people awful at platformers (signed by me, a person who sucks at them)

its really easy to fall off the ledge or miss homing shots at enemies/bounce pads if you arent paying attention

removing lives is handy

there were some areas i couldnt find, so i had to use a walkthrough just to get back to mephiles' area once i had all the keys

actually i fell off the path going to the black moon, so i had recollect rings and figure out how to get back up there again. not fun

i spent so long on the last phase of neo devil doom bc i kept running out of rings

sucks there's no checkpoint for that, but it is the final boss

would have been cool to see shadow introduce his friends to his family, but time paradox i guess

wish the doom morph could be activated at will so i can show maria squidow

actually rouge not commenting on his wings is a missed moment (dont think i saw mention of it in the compilations)

There are a lot of callbacks and references to past events

The anniversary manga is one of them (shadows name origin)

Shadow and Maria's relationship is a standout

some speculation:

Sad that shadow probably ended worse off emotionally at the end of it

if the timeline is intact, gerald probably died enraged at shadow too, since even his past fatherly feelings didnt stop him from writing over shadow's mind

there's no way they wouldnt expand on maria's little sister since they added her in

they probably dont know about ivo/eggman since there's no mention of him in the journals, and maria doesnt mention cousins

so eggman might have been born after the ark tragedy

which makes it funnier that shadow will be older than eggman, and his adoptive uncle

someone else mentioned it, but it's surprising that they deconfirmed the mural theory, since gerald respected the land too much to explore it or see the master emerald shrine

maria mentioned being surprised that he popped out as a hedgehog, and gerald's journal just calls him a sturdy biped. which means the species was not planned

so shadow really is a black arms in the shape of a hedgehog

there goes the theory that there's a hedgehog donor out there

would have been funny if it was a male hedgehog that donated some samples

then shadow gets 3 dads yay

actually would gerald go far enough to use maria's DNA to create shadow? for the gene compatibility if he managed to remove some of the markers for NIDs?

the manga showed blood transfusion, and that would only work if he had a suitable blood type

apparently it is possible for animal blood to be used in transfusion, just not worth it bc of antibodies?

someone who knows about biology correct me, i just did a quick google search

that would make shadow a black arms/human/hedgehog hybrid (if hedgehog dna was even used)

overall, very fun, and the main story can be completed in 6 hours.

now let's see if i can finish all the achievements after beating sonic gens...

[felixravinstills]

the disaster that was our presidential debate made me desperate to distract myself so i came up with a fun little idea.

the disaster that was the panem presidential debate between ravinstill and snow

oh wow! that debate would probably be equally a trainwreck! I'm honestly having trouble picturing how exactly it would go down! It depends on what elections look like in Panem? Like I wouldn't put it past the Capitol to have devolved into backroom politicking taking priority, so I'm unsure how much talking about issues would matter... It could leave a lot of room for drama and digging up dirt on each other though. Just a lot of old gossip could be brought up.

lol, I'm so sorry this was supposed to be a fun idea and then it turned into me speculating about Panem elections, and I feel it definitely took a darker turn than intended:

Can the Districts vote for the President of Panem? This is really important, because more people being able to watch the Games was implemented by Snow, so if they are able to vote, then (this being probably the first presidential debate those people can watch), I feel like Snow would anticipate performing for their sake more than Ravinstill candidate (I know you and most people have Felix being Ravinstill heir and he would honestly be funnier to have up against Coriolanus, but I have my beloved(?) Ravinstill OC Marius who I think would fumble just as bad). You know I know this was supposed to be fun, but now, I'm thinking how fucked up it would be if Coriolanus won through a combination of both the Capitol's Hunger Games fans and through votes in the Districts.

(Actually going back to your Festus helping Coriolanus win the presidency and thus breaking Felix's heart more idea from your Felix/Festus/Persephone love triangle. I do think that people with business in the Districts may have more sway in who the Districts vote for if they do vote (you know because they can give people work bonuses and other incentives to vote a certain way), so I imagine that Festus might have heavily influenced the District 7 vote)

...

Anyway, uh, sorry for getting derailed from your main point! also heads up, I had a thought that got dusted off after reading your fic, so you might be hearing me ramble in your inbox shortly