#at all unless i am In It HOWEVER. there is this one silly video that brings me so much joy and made me feel semi-reasonable about listening

[crossbackpoke-check]

56 and any Yamo pairing! 🫶

i just wheezed so hard when i saw what the song was i almost snorted coffee out of my nose i am so sorry for this one

#56 - kyoto phoebe bridgers + yamo

the story of how this song ended up on my wrapped is too long so it’s going in the tags but. let me set the scene for you.

2026 NHL GLOBAL SERIES™️ JAPAN - Presented by YPPI

November 13 & 14, 2026: Dallas Stars, Montreal Canadiens, Seattle Kraken, Vancouver Canucks

Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan

It’s a pitiful excuse of a consolation prize for not being able to go to the Olympics, but Kailer’s not going to look a vacation horse in the mouth. The arena’s cool. It’s huge. The people are cool. There’s so many more of them than he thought there’d be with jerseys that have his name on the back, and a lot more that have the familiar orange and blue. He takes a picture of the fifth Oilers Yamamoto jersey he signs—this one’s the good Reverse Retro—and texts it to Connor, says,

no one here has even heard of mcjesus

and gets a moon face emoji in response. Leon’s influence. Kailer’s still never really deciphered what that one means, and he doesn’t think Connor knows either.

They don’t have a lot of time off between games, but Kailer’s trying to be a good tourist. His dad had been so happy when Kailer had told him about the series that Kailer’d had to stop him from trying to book a flight a year in advance, and his mom’s been just as bad, sending him every article she sees about Best New Spot in Tokyo! Cool Restaurant! Have You Seen This Japanese Cat Café? that she scrolls across on Facebook since June. Suzy’s in the same boat, so they’ve been crossing off their compiled travel-guide list together, looping in as many guys as they can. Everyone’s been pretty game. All the teams are crammed into close quarters at the same hotel, which means everyone wants to spend as much time as possible outside of it, and it helps that Kailer’s gotten pretty close with all the other guys that the NHL picked up as Global Series figureheads. Robo’s memes? Absolutely fire. The groupchat loves them.

For every item he crosses off the list, Kailer takes a picture and keeps it tucked in his phone notes. It’s like speed-running a scavenger hunt—they’re only here for four days—but he’s doing a pretty good job. His favorite so far has been all the gardens. They’re stunning, trees shining bright red and yellow, and every vendor has been selling maple candies, maple cakes, and even fried maple, though the official maple festival doesn’t start until next week. The second garden he visits, he does it on his own after practice, buying two cakes from a cart near the gate and walking until he loses the bustle outside. It’s easy to get lost in the winding pathways, heading deeper into the quiet, and there’s dozens of benches underneath the burnished leaves where young couples are tucked away on dates, or old friends are laughing and catching up. In some of the little clearings, there’s small shrines where people leave offerings, a prayer for good luck or good fortune.

Kailer stops at one without any people and sets the second maple cake on top of it, then sits and scrolls through all the texts that he’s missed. His mom gets replied to with a picture of him outside the garden gate, grinning and surrounded by other travelers. He sends his brother a picture of a trashy graphic I Love Japan t-shirt with the threat that he’ll buy one for him, and Kailer’s dad gets a picture of the meticulously arranged and cut bonsai that are across from the bench where he’s sitting. The Seattle groupchat gets a recycled meme from Robo, and he gets two thumbs up and an “LMAO” before he can even exit the thread. Finally, Kailer takes a picture of the half-eaten maple cake in his hand, holding it next to a fallen maple leaf on the bench, and gets halfway through typing another message before he thinks better of it.

(On the plane over, Drieds was reading them a story about how when they first introduced the high-speed railway, people were afraid to use it because they thought it would be too fast for their souls to keep up.

“Bro, if that were true, you just left your soul in the middle of the Pacific,” Ebs had laughed. “Planes are faster than trains.”

“Are they?” Matty asked. “Isn’t the train in Japan the fastest in the world?”

Drieds couldn’t make it through the rest of the story over the sound of everyone ripping Matty to shreds, so Kailer didn’t get to ask whether or not they found out anything about planes. Kailer’s not worried about his soul, but the logic makes a strange kind of sense; after all, he traveled 429 miles in five and a half hours once, and that was a little too fast for his heart to keep up.)

Fuck it. Kailer’s been trying to write a response for the past ten days, and he’s sick of swiping in and out of the message, staring at the keyboard so long he starts to see swirls in his vision.

Kailer drafts the text again and sends it, no context, no caption. A text travels faster than a high-speed train or a jet. Maybe it’ll pick his heart back up on the way.

[historixally-accurate]

hi gold how does one get into mcsr

OH HELLO ANON! OH BOY DO I GOT SOMETHING TO TELL YOU.

for starters, thank you for taking your time to get into mcsr.. very small community I think, i havent been here long.. HOWEVER! I WILL DO MY BEST TO TELL YOU HOW I GOT INTO IT :] more under the cut.

mcsrblr PELASE do not pelt rocks at me, I am probably sure that there's better and different ways to get into mcsr.. I'm just giving my experience. thank u. godbless. yall are super nice. :')

first, I got introduced to mcsr because of a fanfic called dolorem, which is written by my good friend alyx vibesoda :]

you don't need to know all the characters and speedrunners in here, I walked into this fic COMPLETELY blind. however, if you want to do background check, this is where my second piece of advice comes in!!!

(ps, if you do read it, and if you do finish dolorem, there's a sequel fic alyx is writing on ao3 called iterum which you should read ONLY UNLESS YOU HAVE READ DOLOREM.)

second, recommended from a friend, a few mcsrs you can watch are couriway, feinberg or fulham for proper videos on mcsr or on Minecraft speedrunners.

(ps, WATCH COURIS HOUSE OF NIGHTMARES VIDEO. it was a great way for me to get into silverrruns and talkingmime :3)

for clips (which are a lot easier to find), I recommend the talkingmimefunny, silverrrunsfunny, feinbergfunny or feinberg rocks, vice president poundcake, hackingnoises funny, HBG highlights, HBG lowlights (tho there's only one video), or HBG clips.

if you have time for vods, theres feinberg's vod channel, couriway's vod channel, silverrruns' vod channel and respective twitch channels for most mcsrs, like talkingmime!

lastly, I heard the mcsr community on both tumblr and Twitter do NOT bite, and are extremely welcoming in terms of new fans. make a couple of friends i guess. lol. if you are a lifesteal watcher who may be interested in fein because of him being vip on lifesteal, read this post! and keep in mind that mcsr works kind of differently from lifesteal.

in conclusion, it's really all up to you to find out which speedrunners you really enjoy, whether it be by fics, clips, or videos. it's all exploration and finding friends who can recommend you their silly guys.

anyway rant over. big big mongey

[magpie-22]

Book of bill/thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com spoilers!!!

So I was in the website for too many hours today,

I put in “one eyed king” which had a silly little video with Morse code in the background that said “Naitsuaf” which is Faustian backwards

I put that in which gave me Bills pyramid scheme offer and then a soul contract to sign over my soul, the fine print is in code, here you all go:

It says:

This contract is legal and binding. We reserve the right to use your likeness, face, voice and small town pluck in whatever nefarious manner is deemed necessary. Sans soul. Your soulmate will not recognize you and will walk right past you on a cold autumn day. Never making eye contact. Not even processing that you have eyes at all. No amount of interaction will move them to a place where they can remember, In feeling, The thousands of lifetimes you have already spent together. Each time choosing whatever form would keep you closest like otters holding hands in a tumultuous river. You were birds. you were trees with roots entangled, drinking in the sunlight together. Wherever we go next, whatever you choose, I will always be right there with you. Thats done, Buddy, congratulations, you have chosen Bill instead. Mcdonalds reserves the right to put a giant yellow M on your torso and forehead and send you walking through a crowded times square while you scream, the fries, the fries, they don’t degrade in nature! It’s an immortal food! They will be in the landfills long past our deaths. Good god, the things I’ve seen, me, why am I, oh I’m Bill’s previous lawyer, he put my soul into a quill pen so I can write his legal documents until the sun snuffs out like a candle in this sick universe. I used to be so hot, I was so fine, now I’m fine print, speaking of which, Bill reserves the right to put your soul into an inanimate object, a strange creature, a concept, a sentence, a tasteful but rustic mason jar with wildflowers in it. If at any point you wish to have visitation rights with your soul, you will be swiftly denied, unless you had a cool day planned for the both of you, then Bill might want to come along. by signing this document you forfeit any rights to eating soul food, It will turn to ash in your mouth, a fitting punishment for a fool who squandered the only true gift life owes you. Bill reserves the right to dress your soul however he deems necessary, especially if your soul was a nerd before acquisition, soulmakeoverrr! your soul may become fractured and placed into different objects, this has no purpose and will not resurrect to any afterlifes, including but not limited to, heaven, hell, purgatory, big corner, flow state, the dream house, the reincarnation processing center, axolotl, a tank and consequences hole, signee can no longer board the soul train and is advised to discard all bellbottoms, signee can no longer have a puppy as a best friend, they can sense what is gone, cats are indifferent, signee can experience occasional demon possessions from Horculus the Red, Piabos the Merciless, Morbus son of Mortem, Plaga the Oozing and other such common demons roaming earth searching for weakened, empty vessels. tips for ripping your soul out at home: watching youtube commentary channels, attending an extended family event with an open bar, using generative AI for asserting that you are creating, turning a blind eye to human suffering, amassing more wealth than needed, purchasing a blue checkmark.

The punctuation is not all totally correct but I am quite tired and spent many many hours decoding that, I hope you all enjoy!

Don’t forget to sleep, eat food, drink water, and maybe go outside for a bit!

[clegfly]

Woo, it’s about time I made one of these… *cracks knuckles*

MORE ABOUT ME!!!!

HIIII!!!! My name is clegfly, or just cleg!!!! I’m an artist/ writer / professional paint drying critic/j. I’m just a silly person doing silly things, don’t mind me. I use they/them pronouns and I am aroace!!!

LIKES

BULLET POINTS BULLET POINTS BULLET POI

Pancakes. All day. All the time. Everywhere, anywhere. Pancakes

That goes for bacon too

JELLYYYYYYYYYY!!!!1!1!1!

Why are these all foods what else do I like uhhhh

Warm. And cosy bed. And fire. And all that stuff

OLD COMPUTER AESTHETIC!!!!!! N64!!! WINDOWS XP!!!! ALL THAT SHIT

Bugs in theory

PLANTS

MUSICAL THEATRE

Graphic novels

Video games… ough my beloveds

Books

Okay now this is too long

Oops

Sorry

JELLYFISH JELLYFISH JELLYFISH

The ocean full stop actually

In theory

CHINCHILLAS

Uh

Yapping

Analysis

IS BREA LIOM GAEILGE!!!1!1!2!!1

Law

History

Drama (as in like. Theatre)

DISLIKES

anything on my DNI >:((((

Bugs in practice

Sport

Exercise

I’m literally hero omori

Commitment

Stress

Internet drama

Anyone who gatekeeps like. Anything.

INTERESTS???

All day every day, baby.

MAINS

OMORI- main interest as apparent by one peek at my blog… The brainrot is immeasurable and everlasting. Send help. It’s been almost four years. I love this game, its characters, story, EVERYTHING so fucking much. I’m like a billion pounds in debt to it also. I will be homeless but at least I will have my big ass heromari collection.

PMMM/ Madoka Magica- my favourite show! Consisting purely of sparkles and sunshine!!!! Why are you crying??? I’m sure not!!!!

DDLC/ Doki Doki Literature Club- another favourite of mine!!! I see a well-written cast of characters I deeply relate to go through extreme horrific horror beyond any of their comprehensions and I’m SOLD!!!

Coraline- the horrors are all consuming, but at least it’s both a visual and extremely well-written treat!!!!

TADC/ the amazing digital circus- won’t lie, watched this show when the pilot dropped and LOVED it, but forgot about it after a while as it didn’t stick with me. Then episode three came out and I’m now reduced to a blubbering mess whose brain is now significantly comprised of two fictional chess pieces. What happened? I don’t know. Send even more help.

LITTLE GUYS THAT HURT MY BRAIN SOMETIMES

Petscop

Fnaf

BATIM/ bendy and the ink machine

BSD

Deltarune

Undertale

Hawaii: Part II

SUBJECT TO CHANGE BECAUSE IM PROBABLY FORGETTING LIKE 20 AND ALSO HAVE LIKE 20 STILL TO DISCOVER

HOBBIES?!2!2!

Ya!!!! :D

Art

The main thing I do on my silly little page!!

…in which the art is mostly unfinished doodles… but that’s okay!!!! We ball anyway

YOU CAN SEND THE CLEG REQUESTS!!!!! ALL DAY ANY DAY UNLESS I SAY OTHERWISE!!!! Do not expect premium quality though lmao. (And also nothing related to DNI. Shouldn’t have to say this but. Uh. Yeah)

You cannot yet commission the cleg :(

you can view all of my art via the my art tag on my blog!!!!! most of it should be there :)

Writing

Currently on a writing hiatus and have been for a little while (5 MONRHS WHAT) but… i do!!!! That!!!! Aka I write fan fiction AGH

Mostly. Heromari stuff. Actually all heromari stuff. I think I have one fic that isn’t heromari and it’s one I co-authored I love them your honour…

Yeah

DNI

Bit of a bummer, but I gotta set my boundaries to keep the riff-raff out!! That being said, do NOT interact with my blog whatsoever if you:

Are a shotacon, lolicon, pedo, etc etc etc. (yucky. Yuck yuck yuck. Fuck off)

Are a proshipper

Are homophobic

Are transphobic

Are aphobic/ arophobic (why. Why are you even still here)

Queerphobic in general actually get OUT!!!!

Actively shit on any of my main interests. Like ACTIVELY go out of your way to tell me how bad it is (what. What is the point. Just go)

NSFW is on thin ice but I will likely just block the tag if you post about it so it doesn’t really bother me!!... however PLEASE keep it away from me I am very sex repulsed and WILL block you ON SIGHT!!!

Are racist/ xenophobic

There is likely LOTS more I’m forgetting so I will update this later… also just saying I reserve the right to block ANYONE no matter if you fit into this criteria or not. If I don’t vibe with you I will politely block you and look the other way!!! No theatrics required, I just want to curate my experience and NOT cause needless conflict hsjshshsh…

Anyway with all the negative stuff out of the way… I really hope you enjoy my blog!!! I’m just here to have fun honestly and express my ideas and passions and work on a little page of the internet so!!!! Hope you have fun too!!!! :D

[its-a-me-mango]

SMG4 Q&A

How long have you been watching SMG4?

I’ve been watching SMG4 on and off since about 2014, I’m pretty sure my first ever SMG4 video was R64: A Dose of Dr. Mario lol. I’ve tried my best to catch up on everything but I still haven’t watched much betweem 2016 and 2022, one day I’ll catch up on it. I do watch each episode that comes out every Saturday and I aim to watch them as soon as they’re posted, I do tag any episode spoilers for the Saturday just to give people a chance to watch it.

Who are your favourite SMG4 characters?

My favourite SMG4 characters are SMG3, Karen, Mr. Puzzles and Tari! Mario is my favourite Mario character overall so he doesn't count as a fav SMG4 character, I always love Mario! I also love every other character too I think they’re all so fun and silly! :3

What are your favourite ships?

I don't ship a lot of characters but I have a particular soft spot for SMG3 x Karen, I'm a sucker for rarepairs lol. I do also like SMG34, I’m the only person ever who truly understands their dynamic /J. I don't take shipping too seriously, not in a negative way, just in a silly goofy way, so any posts I make towards any ships are entirely light hearted and for fun, I’m always happy to take suggestions on pretty much any ship, gotta provide food for any hungry shipper out there lmao.

Do you dislike any characters/ships?

Yes, but that's for me to know and to keep to myself, I'm not someone who easily blocks anyone over fictional characters/ships, if I dislike or disagree with someone's choice of characters/ships I just move on, it's never that serious at the end of the day.

Do you have a favourite SMG4 AU/headcannon?

No! I cannot pick favourites, it's impossible for me, especially with so many amazing and talented creators in this fandom! It would feel really unfair to me if I started picking favourites, obviously I have my preferences, but those stay with me and me alone. If you are actively posting in the tags about your AU/headcannon, I have seen it and I think it’s awesome, keep doing what you’re doing!

Do you like/dislike any SMG4 fans/creators?

Why would I answer that? Same reason as before, I cannot pick favourites as that feels unfair to me, and any dislikes I have towards people stays with me and me alone. I am not one to go out after people at all, I prefer to get along well with everyone

What do you think of current events happening in the fandom?

I think it’s great! Unless it’s bad, in which case I think it sucks.

Anyway to be serious, I like to keep away from too many interpersonal happening within the fandom as much as possible, it’s just not my thing, so I usually have no fucking clue what’s going on at any one time, I don’t like to get involved too much. I have the mentality of an old lady throwing bird seeds at pigeons when it comes to my “contributions” to this fandom, I throw my stuff in and leave, what happens around and after that ain’t none of my business.

I do, however, love to bitch about things, so uhh if that happens it's never targeted or vaguing anyone in particular so don't feel like I'm trying to call anyone out, I just like to make jokes outta things.

[cripplecharacters]

hi! long ask up next.

I'm not sure if this is the right blog for this question, i'm really sorry if it's not. I'm part of a theatre class/group that is putting on Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. The teacher has a very specific vision in mind that i generally vibe with. However, she's asking me to play a character in a way that might be offensive. I play two characters, one of them is Snug. There's a play within the play that an incompetent artisan theatre troupe is putting on, which snug is a part of. In our version, snug is meant to have a speech impediment (the teacher hasnt given me more specific directions on how to talk). I did a bit of research and decided that my version of snug has dysarthria (no dysphasia or aphasia) from a degenerative disease that he inherited from his dad. Im trying to play him as having distorsion and omission type articulation errors, in the initial and medial positions respectively, but it's been very hard for me to consistently play him like that becuase i dont have his disability. The only correction the teacher has given me so far is to speak slower so my dialogue is more comprehensible.

Now, i shouldn't have, but i did watch some scenes on youtube with snug in them. And none of the versions i saw give him a speech sound disorder, from what i could tell. What most versions do have in common though, is that the artisans who are putting on the play are, for lack of a better term, meant to be "dumb". Snug specifically has a line which i didn't realize was supposed to be a dig at his own intelligence until i saw a clip. The line is:

Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study.

In the video i saw, the actor paused briefly after saying "slow", for emphasis:

for I am slow... of study.

I'm autistic and i know what it's like for people to assume i'm "slow" because of how i talk, and i don't want to promote those stereotypical views.

What makes this whole conundrum more complicated for me is that our version is going to be (sort of?) a musical. And my teacher is adamant on me rapping an eminem song. I thought this would be fun but thinking about it more carefully i worry that the joke might be that snug is faking his disability for some reason, and that he can actually speak "normally".

sorry if some of this isnt clear, english is not my first language.

Anon S

Hello! I wanted to address this ask as a former actor and current student studying speech language pathology as well as someone with an articulation disorder.

You can give a backstory in your head as detailed as you want - and as an actor this is a good thing, and something you should do with every role no matter how complicated or simple - but the unfortunate truth is most audience members are not going to interpret it exactly the same way without the same context. You may be thinking of portraying a mixed dysarthria (and there are many types of dysarthria, from spastic to flaccid to ataxic, to mixed that will all have difference in sound quality, articulation, and rate) but unless it's written somewhere the audience, who is just noticing a slow rate and articulation errors, and who may not even be aware of what dysarthria is, may think your character has some dialect or strange difference they don't recognize.

From my knowledge of the play, the Rude Mechanicals are meant to be laughed at and this falls into the idea that people with certain speech patterns or disorders are funny or silly or even, yes, stupider than others. However, there's not much you can do about this if your director is insistent other than refuse to treat your character as a joke. I would feel better about a character with consistent errors and whose disability was thought through than one who wasn't, even with a character like a Rude Mechanical.

As for a disability disappearing during a rap, for something like stuttering that would make sense but not for an articulation disorder and certainly not for dysarthria, which causes a slower rate normally and can cause articulation issues due to coordination of the parts used to speak (not only the mouth but also the soft and hard palates and the lungs, for example). I would talk to your director about what the point of the rap is - is it to be funny? is it to show another side of him? why does this character need a speech disorder? why does this character need to rap, and why does the speech disorder need to be dropped during the rap?

If you can talk with your director and figure out what the vision is for some honestly bizarre choices it may help you figure out if you're on the right track (and if dysarthria is the right choice for a disorder for your character, as well). As always, if anyone has advice or input please feel free to add it!

[stelladess]

So instead of doing something fun I wake up to finding out more bs from Yostar Korea, I will explain below but first, reminder, please write in about this to Yostar and Hypergryph (again, unlikely HG had anything to do with this but their silence on this matter is still extremely disappointing) info@yo-star.com info@yo-star.com press@yo-star.com press@yo-star.com cs@hypergryph.com cs@hypergryph.com

They did not take down an artist´s work this time for extremely flimsy reasons and call not hating women a divisive position that divides people and then go on about how Arknights strives to be apolitical. Or have the social media manager liking on the official AK Korea twitter account art of Jessica being tortured. This time it was a bit less severe, they censored Jessica the Liberated in game artwork.

For those unaware there is a conspiracy theory in South Korea about there being a wide spread thing of femenists in video games hiding hand signs that imply small dicks in gacha games specificallly to harass men. Because of this many gacha games will censor any hand gesture that can even remotely resemble such when publishing in Korea, this is very common and done by many gacha games. Which like, is part of the problem. They are catering to sexist pigs which then helps cultivate an audience of said sexist pigs who they need to keep placating. And quite frankly, the people who make these games, artists, writers, etc. Deserve to be treated better then to have their work censored or removed to appease sexists. Because I love Arknights and it means a lot to me it really hurts seeing the people making it have their work be disrespected like this by the publisher, and it hurts seeing the studio being silent about this. I strongly suggest completely boycotting originite packs and similar things, make clear on any survey for the game that actions such as this make you NOT want to spend money on the game, WRITE to both Yostar and Hypergryph and explain you do NOT want to support a game that bends over to the whims of sexist pigs. I want to be able to say that I did *something* about this. Arknights is the gacha game I have spent the most money in, but I have a hard time justifying doing so anymore if this situation continues, which I am going to tell Yostar and Hypergryph, and I think anyone reading this should do so as well, also I think you should tell other people to tell them that as well. Yostar needs to issue a full apology and put back all the artworks they took down or censored to the way they were, and unless that or HG cutting off their partnership with Yostar happens, or at the very least strongly condemns these actions, I am gonna stop buying any more packs for the game. I do however suggest you go support artists harmed by such practices, im sure other people know of more but the only one I know of from the top of my head is here: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/16826909 For Arknights ones, for other games i also know at least of Vellmori for Limbus Company who was also targetted by incels. EDIT: had written poll instead of survey by accident

EDIT: Previously suggested boycotting Jessica banner, this was a pretty silly suggestion made in anger when not thinking clearly. The important thing is to refuse to give any MONEY. Pull all you want. Just dont spend ANY money.

[funishment-time]

🌠 DANGANRONPA-THEMED CHARITY EVENT FOR TRANS LIFELINE, FAM

From now until the end of 2024, I’m raising money for Trans Lifeline by playing Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony…for the very first time.

And you humans can help with bingo cards (to win prizes).

TOTAL RAISED SO FAR AS OF 1/24: $1006/$2500

>DONATE $5 OR MORE FOR A BINGO CARD<

or learn more about the game by Clicking Through Below!

🌠 About Trans Lifeline:

Trans Lifeline is a grassroots hotline and microgrants 501(c)(3) non-profit organization offering direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis – for the trans community, by the trans community.

They also, incidentally, will not contact the cops or emergency services without your consent. Since this is Tumblr, I doubt I need to state the importance of this nonprofit (or that policy).

🌠 About me (Iris Polaris):

I am a polar bear streamer and "VTuber" who specializes in occult, art, and nature content, as well as VNs, sims, RPGs, and survival games, all to learn about you silly primates. Danganronpa is kind-of all of those genres at once. Kind-of.

In the past I've raised about ~$2500 USD across two events. I want to beat that. Just POUND it, y'all. My goal this time around is to raise $2500 USD for Trans Lifeline.

🌠 How to participate:

DONATE. Donate any amount to the Trans Lifeline (minimum $5 USD) here at this event's Tiltify. Leave contact info (an e-mail, Tumblr username, etc) in the comment of the donation or when choosing a reward. NOTE: You must donate thru our Tiltify so I can keep track of the total and contact you.

RECEIVE YOUR CARD. After donating, you will receive a randomized PDF bingo card like this one at your provided e-mail, Tumblr username, etc within 48 hours. Each space on the card represents a prediction I have about v3, a reaction I may have to the characters, etc.

WATCH THE BIWEEKLY-ISH YT VIDEOS. I'll be playing the game offline (i.e. not streamed) with my Manager Bunny. However, every 2-4 weeks, I'll publish a 10 minute or less YouTube video on my account until we finish the game. These videos will be compiled montages of all the spaces participants can mark off that week. These will not be long play videos!

EARN A PRIZE. If you get a bingo, tell me when it happens! Contact me via e-mail (irispolaris.vt@gmail.com), on Twitter (@IrisPolarisEN), on Discord (irispolaris), or here on Tumblr (funishment-time or iris-polaris). All bingo winners get to choose from the prize pool at the end of the event (see below) in order of their wins!

🌠 Prize pool:

For fairness' sake, every bingo winner gets to choose one prize, regardless of how many times they get a bingo. More prizes to be added soon!

DIGITAL PRIZES (UNLIMITED AVAILABLE UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED):

Character-themed phone BG commission: I'll make you a lovely little background for your phone based on existing official art. Examples (1 | 2 | 3).

Character-themed icon commission: I'll make you a lovely little 500x500 icon based on existing official art. Examples (1 | 2 | 3).

250-word general tarot reading: I'll pull a single card for you and give you an overview of what's to come. Here's an example.

Short astrological (zodiac) birthchart: I'll give you a short astrological birthchart that includes your Sun, Moon, and Rising signs. You must provide me your date of birth and location of birth, so don't choose this if you're not comfortable with that! Here's an example.

Bust-up sketch commission by Tane Aspen: 10 available. The wonderful Tane has donated art commissions to the cause! Here's an album of examples.

Bust-up sketch commission by YogurtFluff: 1 available. Darling YogurtFluff (aka Gracie) has donated another art commission to the cause! Here's examples of their art.

Twitch panel set commission by Jar of Rubies Art aka Zenith: 1 available. Are you a streamy streamer? Zenith, who made my own personal Twitch panels and overlays, has donated a commission for a set herself! Here's examples of her work.

Pixel art commission by @🌸 🌿 Faerieko. 1 available. Commission a chibi pixel bust from my dear Mama Faerieko! See a cute EXAMPLE.

PHYSICAL PRIZES (SHIPPING ADDRESS REQUIRED):

Iris-themed sticker set: 5 sets available. Three different ~"3 stickers by Studio Nekomata featuring yours truly.

Fortune-telling Bear patch: 2 available. A ~3" sew-on patch by Studio Nekomata featuring yours truly.

Iris-themed RPG charm: 2 available. A double-sided RPG-inspired charm by Studio Nekomata featuring yours truly.

Fortune-telling Bear charm: 5 available. A ~3" charm of yours truly, readin' the future and all that, with art by @faerieko.

1.5" Kaede & Shuichi buttons by MachineDean: 3 sets of 2 buttons available. Your delightful totally alive protagonists in adorable button form. (Pic)

DR v3-themed stickers by other folks. 2 available of each sticker. Choose three from these designs (album link - better/bigger images coming ASAP).

Please note that the presence of prizes from independent creators does NOT imply that they condone this event. Or even know about it. So don't ask them about stuff.

Donations to the prize pool are welcome, but not necessary. Please contact at me at irispolaris.vt@gmail.com or here on Tumblr (funishment-time or iris-polaris) if you have a piece of merch or service (commissions, graphic design etc) you want to give.

🌠 Goal incentives:

MONODAM LEVEL: $100 raised. Art sketch request stream. Monodam turns me into a sketch robot for a stream. Beep boop bitch. ☑️ ACHIEVED AS OF 9/8, STREAM HELD 11/28

MONOPHANIE LEVEL: $500 raised. Giveaway. Detective Duo poster by Cheer puppy. Monophanie woke up in a good mood, so she's giving away a 16" by 20" poster of our favorite v3 protagonists...or, well, I guess, the only v3 protagonists. (This item will be given away on stream, date TBD.) ☑️ ACHIEVED AS OF 9/9

MONOKID LEVEL: $1000 raised. Danganronpa WWE content. I use whatever wrestling game I can pirate find and custom-make Danganronpa characters y'all vote on. Then we fight 'em. Offline-recorded video series. HOO YEAH!

MONOSUKE LEVEL: $1500 raised. Giveaway. DR1 Steam game key. Monosuke knows the best way to bring in business is to give people stuff. Any kind of stuff. DR1 isn't the game he's in, but like, does it matter? It's free! (This item will be given away on stream, date TBD.)

MONOTARO LEVEL: $2000 raised. Return of the hot sauce stream. Like Monotaro, I'm forgetful. Specifically, I've forgotten how much my previous hot sauce stream hurt me on my birthday. So we're going at it again, new sauces, new pain, date TBD.

MONOKUMA LEVEL: $2500+ raised. 12 hour marathon Summer Camp stream. Fulfill my goal of being the Ultimate Fundraiser and I'll sit and play Danganronpa S Ultimate Summer Camp for 12 hours nonstop. And do all the voices. Puhuhu...huhuhu. (Date TBD.)

MASTERMIND LEVEL: $3000+ raised. Every winner gets an additional prize. Peasants! We have been waiting for oh-so-long! Knock things out of the park and every bingo winner gets to choose an additional prize...and a sample of my famous home cooking! (Home cooking not included.)

🌠 Important dates:

DONATIONS ACCEPTED BEGINNING: August 21st, 2023

VIDEOS/EVENT BEGINS: Sept 9, 2023

VIDEOS/EVENT ENDS: When we're done with the game. Probably no later than December or January. Or maybe much sooner. This is going to take a while, actually. But we'll post about it everywhere (here, Twitter, etc), don't worry.

DONATIONS ACCEPTED UNTIL: The event ends. See above. You can get a bingo card up until our last video, which will be announced well in advance (here, Twitter, etc). Note, however, you'll be at a slight disadvantage to choose a prize, as bingo winners get to choose in order of their wins.

🌠 Important links:

Trans Lifeline's website

Our fundraiser Tiltify (donate here! Remember: leave contact info!)

My YouTube channel (the bingo videos go here!)

My Discord, or my Twitter, or my Tumblrs (1 | 2), for updates

🌠 FAQ:

Where can I donate? Via our Tiltify! Include contact info in the comment of your donation if you want a bingo card.

Where can I find updates? You can find updates here on funishment-time or iris-polaris, on my YouTube, on my Twitter, or on my Discord.

Do any donations touch your wallet? Nope. All proceeds go directly to Trans Lifeline via Tiltify. I don't get a cent of it, not even for a second.

Do I have to donate via Tiltify to participate? Yes, sorry. This is the only way I can easily keep track. However, Tiltify accepts any form of currency IIRC.

Can I get a bingo card for a friend? Yes, but you must donate twice (or more), even if it means donating $5 USD each time. I will issue you two (or more) cards, and you can give them out as you wish.

Can I donate without participating in the bingo? Totes. Just ignore all the bingo stuff if you want. But you won't get any cool prizes!

What if, on the bingo card, I see a prediction that I know is true? If, for example, Miu survives the game and you know it, don't mark the space until I get to that point in the game. This means that you do not get a bingo until I get to that point in the game. (Example: if you need the "Miu survives" space to get a bingo, it's not a bingo until I get there. I tried to balance this out by providing spaces about the way I play the game, too.)

Is this really your first time playing v3? Yes. I know like two spoilers (the killer and victim of trial 1, for example) and I understand the characters' personalities from Summer Camp, but I've never played the game.

Isn't it a little weird to play a killing game...game for Trans Lifeline? Yeah, but like, the fandom is super queer anyway so why not.

Are you trans? Sort-of. Queer/genderweird, definitely. Any pronouns are fine. I like to think of my gender as..."bear."

🌠 BINGO VIDEOS SO FAR:

Week 1 (9/8): 5 spaces

Week 2 (9/21): 6 spaces

Week 3 (10/12): 4 spaces

Week 4 (11/12): 2 spaces

Week 5 (1/24): 3 spaces

✨ Thank you for spreading the word...or for participating! ✨

[spacedykez]

violence? WOOO!! lifesteal.

so, you heard about a silly little server called lifesteal. maybe u wanna try watching it. well what if i told u that we here at lifestealblr have put together a helpful guide to help you succumb to the poisons start watching the server?? join us we are very normal

so! lifesteal! first, a summary. lifesteal is a server where when u die, you lose a heart off your permanent health bar. when you kill another player you gain a heart. heres a list to sum it up:

dying loses you a heart

killing someone else gains you a heart

losing all your hearts = dead and gone from the series, unless youre revived

you can revive dead players through gay sex crafting a special item

you can withdraw hearts from your healthbar and give them to other players

still have questions? heres a better explanation. ok moving on

lifesteal smp has FOUR seperate seasons so far!! the players are the same, give or take a few people. so, where to start?

first, you don't need to watch the seasons in order. you don't need to know anything about previous seasons to watch lifesteal. start with whatever season you want!! that being said, i'd advise starting on season three or season four (the current season) as they are the most popular.

anyways, if you want to just start watching: here is the link to the playlist containing every lifesteal video on youtube, seasons 1-4 here is the link to the playlist containing every season 3 lifesteal video here is the link to the playlist containing every season 4 lifesteal video

[thank you to @a4g and @aroaceacacia for creating and maintaining the lifesteal s1-4 & lifesteal s3 and the lifesteal s4 playlists, respectively]

HOWEVER

if you'd like to start out slow, pick one lifestealer and start watching them!! honestly, the best way to get into it is just to find a guy (or ten) that you like watching and watch their videos!

a note- i am tagging the user who created each propaganda post so that if people change their urls, you will still be able to find the post. theyre definitely NOT the lifestealers themselves lol. also, some of these are not finished! however this has been sitting in my drafts for six months and i need to post it for my own mental health

i should make this a google docs actually. might do that sometime if i get motivation. but anyways, without further ado:

looking for redstone? mrcube (@tater-noodle)

want to feed the adhd? no rlly if u want adhd fuel watch ashswag (@cherubium)*

ever wanted to see capitalist technoblade? reddoons (@bearandhoney-com)

do you want a new cringefail streamer? itzsubz (@rendogdomesticated)

what about a paranoid escape master? rekrap (@vanivanvanilla)

loyalty and storylines to get invested in? leowook (@totallynotrico)

everyone's favorite special little guy? planetlord (@getwoold)

want gay people or pranks? then go watch branzy (@pacificseaotter)

the server's best PVPer? clownpierce [NEEDED] (NOT TAKEN)

1/3 of a whole idiot on a permanent YouTube grind? baconwaffles (@aroaceacacia)

local bird man done with everyone's shit? parrot (@getwoold)

the local funky hand guy? roshambo (@techno-in-a-boat)

background character incarnate? poafa (@simply-scrolling)

the special little guy who can and will kill you? spepticle (@cogmented)

quirky smiley guy who'll kill you? princezam (@vanivanvanilla)

incomprehensible violence! mapicc! (@cogmented)

sillay liddol guy? Creechur™️? pangi [NEEDED] (NOT TAKEN)

DRAGON GUYY!!! vortexdragon. (@vanivanvanilla)

lifesteal's local polar bear? woogie (@tater-noodle)

stuborrn, endearing guy who likes a challenge? jaron (@aroaceacacia)

cringefail foxboy streamer? vitalasy (@rendogdomesticated)

the walking pride flag guy? spoke (@a4g)

"annoying little brother" but endearing? mcclutch!! (@simply-scrolling)

chaotic rascal who loves doing events? midmystic!! (@xxswagcorexx)

awesome visuals and serious storylines? terrain!! (@cherubium)

*my girlfriend's favorite lifestealer and approved by multiple friends of mine with adhd. i really do recommend him just in general.

also, please do go check out the blog of everyone who helped me with this, they're all amazing!!!

[the-haunted-office]

⭐ Themes & What I Am Looking for in Roleplay

Regarding themes, being centered around horror, my blog features a lot of dark and sometimes heavy themes, such as death, violence, murder, blood, gore, illness (including terminal illness), and occasional mentions of self-harm and suicide (as is portrayed in the typical The Stanley Parable manner, i.e. muses not taking their own lives and physical health seriously because they can respawn in video game fashion, so they may do things like jump off a building, volunteer to be experimented on, joke around about death, show little fear of being hurt or killed, or just generally show little regard for their own safety).

Themes of mental health are also present on this blog. Many of my muses have mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. These issues are present through their behaviors, actions, and reactions to other muses and the world around them. They are very much human in that way, so if this sort of characterization bothers you, please be aware of this before following and interacting. My muses will not be happy and cheerful and positive and friendly 100% of the time, and so our interactions and threads might not be either. There may be times where my muses will react unfavorably to the things your muses say and do, and this is all a part of roleplay in my opinion. It adds flavor and intrigue to threads and depth to characters and their interactions. I will not flat out trauma dump on your muses and turn everything into an angst fest, however please be aware that they each have their backstories, and they will react to the things your muses say and do and that their reactions are their own - not mine. If you can’t handle conflicts arising without taking them as either personal attacks against you or as a personal critique against your character, especially without being able to discuss things in a civil manner OOC, then we will not be a good fit as writing partners.

My blog is also, obviously, heavily themed on the paranormal and supernatural, so there will be a lot of things about ghosts, spirits, ghouls, monsters, extraterrestrials, cryptids, icky and gross things, freaky and scary things, and just anything in that genre. If it’s anything spooky and my eyes come across it, it’s probably going to come up at some point on my blog. This includes religious things like demons and exorcisms and possessions and themes of that nature (these are not as common, but I’m mentioning them here because I know some are more sensitive to these themes and I want people to be aware that they may be present).

Dark themes aren’t the sole themes on my blog, though! It’s also a comedy blog! And that’s a good deal of what you’ll see here. The silly juxtaposed with the dark. Horror and comedy placed side-by-side is one of my favorite things ever, and I love playing with it here. I love getting a laugh out of dark and troubling themes, out of things that would normally be too frightening to look at. It minimizes the things that are too hard to handle on their own. Life, and death, doesn’t have to be so ugly and scary. We can laugh at these things too, and then they aren’t so scary. Besides, I’m here to have fun too, and that’s what I want my blog to be about as well.

Another big theme you’ll find here is centered around the examination and breakdown of storytelling and narrative tropes and elements, particularly through a heavily satirical lens, and oftentimes in the manner presented in The Stanley Parable. This can sometimes be done by breaking the fourth wall, although it is not often done in threads unless we agree to it beforehand, or through crack threads, dashcoms, and similarly-typed roleplay styles. Most often, you’ll see this carried out between my own muses in short little in-character pieces of writing and in occasional longer pieces of writing that I post on my dash under the #writing for days tag. Some examples of this are my characters discussing the latest BookTok trends, or longer story-driven plots centered around the breaking down of a particular trope, such as the slasher horror genre. Please note that while this material can be read as inflammatory and/or offensive, being the nature of satire, it is never directed at you personally or your personal tastes in these things - these types of posts and writings are my own views expressed through my characters purely for matters of humor. You are free to enjoy the media and trends you wish to enjoy, as am I. The views I express are directed at the material - not at you or your intelligence or feelings or anything of the sort.

My blog is also about friendship and love and never giving up. Found family is another heavy theme on my blog, as is love always winning at the end of the day. It’s about the power of choice and breaking out of your narrative, and sometimes breaking THE narrative. No one is ever bound to the path set before them - you always have a choice, even though the choice might not be clear or obvious. Sometimes you have to carve out the path yourself, brutally, even violently, but as the great mathematician Ian Malcolm once said, “Life, uh, finds a way.”

Untangling life and navigating our way through it all, while having a laugh at the horrors, that’s what it’s all about, baby!

As for what I am looking for in roleplay, one of the most important things to me in roleplaying is fair and balanced collaboration. 

This means both of us working together to ensure that we are both having a good time. It means communicating if there are issues, communicating ideas, asking questions, plotting together. It also means sharing collaboration efforts - so both of us sending in asks and memes to each other, we both put effort into our replies, we both come up with ideas, etc. It also means we both make sure to give each other something to work with in our replies and make sure that one isn’t always leading the direction of the thread or plot. It’s cooperation on both our parts. I believe roleplaying is more fun when both players are working and writing together.

Going into it with that in mind,  while I am happy to start off with touch-and-go replies and smaller threads to see how things go between our muses and between us as muns, longer term I’d really like to develop more in-depth threads and plots between our muses. This isn’t a requirement by any means, so please don’t take it that way - we absolutely can rp more surface level threads if that’s what you’d prefer. But for full transparency, I’d be happiest with writing partners who are willing to develop interesting, in-depth plots with our muses.

Particular genres and verses I am open to discussing and developing. My go-to verse is my main, Stanley Parable verse, but I am happy to develop AUs and develop whole new verses as well. I also have several multifandom muses to work with. I would love to develop all kinds of bonds and relationships with our muses - not strictly speaking romantic bonds, although those are also welcome, but all kinds, including platonic, found family, best friends, even rivals or enemies. I’m open to all kinds of relationships, as long as there is something interesting to develop between our muses.

At the heart of what I’m looking for is a story - an interesting, in-depth story for us to tell between our muses, a world to explore together, something for us to sink our teeth into. I want to write! So let’s write together!

[valeriefauxnom]

Another Stealth Edit in Dragalia Lost!

So, as I unfortunately cannot find the vocal lines for, Leonidas was known in his Gala to have a vocalized line that said the name 'Euden' whereas before Dragalia went to hell and back to obscure any mention of his name despite the obvious fact that it is his name. Whether it was with "Your/His Highness" "Prince" "Turkey" or "Brother", they were quite creative in monikers to avoid saying Euden.

They, predictably, changed it incredibly fast to 'my brother', but the original line, was, if I recall, something like "Whatever awaits in North Grastea, I am certain Euden will find his way to the truth of things". They just substituted 'my brother' for Euden and then voila! No more 'Euden' vocalized.

But oh, I remember.

I, however, just happened to notice another stealth edit today, though, that they did similarly quietly.

Where? The Blood that Binds, you know, the story where most the fam teams up to kick the Replica(-aaaaaaaaaa!) Alberius' butt?

It's in the second part of the story, where not!Alberius nearly murders everyone before they're saved by Euden and Zethia finally arriving to provide some much-needed reinforcement as Euden goes toe-to-toe with Alberius as Zethia heals.

When the twins show up, however, Alberius comments this, per the wiki:

Indeed, I found this line captured in several videos of people recording the event as an archive.

However, others (and I do mean plural, this isn't just one person), instead recorded a different line Alberius says at this exact interval!

The line in question?

Now, when I first saw this, I thought maybe that this was the original line and that they changed it just to again keep any mention of the Forbidden out of Dragalia and appease the great Nintendo on high. The former feels a bit more awkward, even if one can still kinda see the air of 'ugh, how many more can there be?' attitude to the sheer number of descendants trying to fight him. To me, I honestly thought it would be the changed, the hurriedly slapped-in edit as ordered to keep Dragalia that much Purer.

But when I looked at the dates of these uploads, I found something curious. Those that had the first line where actually updated earlier than the ones with the later line. Unless several people all got their recordings earlier than the others but then somehow chose to wait a week-month to upload their clips, the second line is the edited version!

Which means that the Dragalia translation team slipped in a comment from Alberius' replica expressing the sentiment of, 'damn that dude had a lot of sex'. Color me surprised!

What's funnier is the implications, because this replica knows Alberius' memories. He's the most capable person 'alive' in any sense to be fully capable of commenting truthfully as to what Alberius got up to, even if it is through his own lens corrupted by the Progenitor.

However, it's also a bit of a logical fail. The replica also knows Alberius lived 300 years ago, and yet seems surprised and annoyed with how many descendants there are. Even if Alberius only had one kid, 300 years is more than enough time for the blood to multiply into the size of the family there is today. Additionally, Alberius himself seems to intend to have multiple children:

...And yet he's personally attributing the fact that there are 7 heirs in front of him to Alberius. Perhaps he thought he woke up to a world as if Alberius were Genghis Khan, bloodline incredibly far-reaching where it seems you can't throw a stick without hitting one of his descendants?

To that, I'd like to just claim the comment's because of the potentially lacking knowledge of this replica. Sure, he may know how to fight, Alberius' life, all that, but that doesn't necessarily mean he has the best grasp on how quickly natural reproduction in humans can boom a single bloodline's number. A silly little goof much as the dragons make goofs regarding human lives and their qualities, like Zodiark failing to realize that humans cannot fit in a chamberpot or that they do not eat raw meat. I still wonder what drove the translators, though, to make that change.

Whatever might have driven that comment, though, that doesn't change the fact that the replica of Alberius flat-out said that his original was, ah, busy, which was not the new lore I had intended being able to be found in Dragalia!

That just leaves the question as to whom, since Dragalia also had a severe allergy from discussing any of the queens in Alberia's history. Myriam, of course, died alone before Alberius ever created a kingdom. The only other character of note in Alberius' vague shipping world is Midgardsormr, as long-joked about in the fandom from both comics and stories, but he doesn't exactly complete the apparently-full love story either, with Alberius having at least one descendant. It's too bad, since the only other note of relevance about the subject at all is Midgardsormr expressing severe doubts of his dating prowess:

...Did Midgardsormr end up being a wingman to Alberius? If so, what did that look like?

"Hey, how are you doing?" (cue massive, revered dragon landing behind him)

"Why are you running, aren't dragons cool???!"

Listen, I've just opened up a whole can of worms unintentionally here, because somehow Dragalia decided to say of all things that Alberius had a storied love life, shall we say.

I wonder how many other little changes the devs might have made over the years, if they're willing to tweak things like this. Does anyone know anything else about little stealth changes the team tried to sneak in without anyone noticing?

[saveraedae]

Why TMS (2020) episode 1 is not your most viewed video?

I can think of quite a few reasons,

but overall I'm not really worried about it, because I know there's nothing I can do but make sure episode 2 is the best it can possibly be! :D i really am super excited to show people what I'm working on

(ALSO I AM SO SORRY THIS GOT LONG AND KINDA DEEP FJHJKHF and a little off topic BUT ITS STILL RELATED TO TMS)

This is what I've observed over the years, so may I present to you,

Possible reasons as to why episode 1 isn't a hit / why TMS is so obscure:

Episode 1 is very amateur. I made it when I was still in high school. It has poor sound design, poor scene composition, isn't animated, and I believe the script could've benefited from one last rewrite. Most people who've viewed it, I assume, generally consider it nothing to write home about unless they happened to get invested in the story/characters, went to look at my other work and got interested that way, or were around before Friend Fiction came out. Not to mention, it's animatics, there's no color.

It has no furry characters or fantasy elements. "What could this boring old human show possibly have to offer? Real stuff is too boring!" Furry characters in your project are essentially a cheat sheet to success, you already have the major one-up of the possibility of mass appeal to your project just by including characters that WILL appeal to an already existing large-but-niche community of people. TMS is just goofy looking humans that look incredibly normal, because it's a grounded-in-reality show.

There's nothing exactly like it anywhere out there. At least... not in terms of animated media. There's stuff TMS as a whole is similar to, but in terms of what it all really is, there isn't anything exactly like it. People in entertainment say if you offer something new that people will automatically flock to it, but that couldn't be further from the case. I do believe in some aspects it could have a larger mass appeal if it were to gain more traction, especially with people interested in media with complex and nuanced narratives, foremost-focus on character dynamics over story, but still offer a silly cartoon slice of life vibe, and people who have a strong connection to mental health struggles, especially the more dynamic and complex issues, but I have never been able to draw in many just from doing my own thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's always had a VERY small and incredibly niche audience of people that vocally supported it. That is really hella cool that anyone even likes my work. I have noticed however that in terms of the public eye (posts on publicly accessible social media) it's rare to see posts about it from those who like it, those who hate it, or even posts that mention it in the first place lol. Usually it's 1-2 people at a time that'll be super into it, don't have anyone to talk to about it, and they lose interest. (Small fandom struggles, been there, done that.) Nothing really I can do about that though, that's not something I have any control over unless I wanna look like a fool lmao. My goal with last year's Annual October Challenge being 'post on socials and you can win a prize' was to encourage public posting about it so more people can be aware TMS even exists. Obviously I can't force anyone to do anything, but y'all really don't know how tremendously public engagement and ESPECIALLY comments help out small creators. If all we do is upsell ourselves with no one cheering us on / giving their thoughts / backing us up, we just look.... kinda goofy lol.

I'm not friends with any well-respected creators with bigger audiences. I kinda... go it alone? I've never really met anyone with more influence than me that was interested in TMS enough to wanna vocalize it publicly or do any type of collaboration with me. I've met some hella cool people throughout the years but I'm too socially traumatized from years of rejection to further pursue relationships with people lol.

Came from nothing, didn't go to college, and didn't grow up in LA. I don't exactly live in an area that's well-suited for the kind of work I'm doing, I have very very limited resources available within reasonable distance from me. Networking (and even travelling to animation-focused cons) is not something I'm financially able to do unfortunately, Momocon 2025 is a huuuge stretch goal for me that's gonna set me back a lot. And I have certain sentiments about post-high school education for art that determined why I never sought a degree.

That's just what I've observed as my time being a creator. In the end though I don't particularly care if it is ever 'popular.'

Would it be cool? I mean, could be!

Would it help things get done faster? Oh man absolutely. I'd have access to so many more resources and have so many more opportunities. Completely chill just doing everything alone though, even if I'm still trying to complete the full show when I'm like 50 LOL but yeah, more eyes on it would mean more people aware I exist/more people that want to offer to help me make everything come to life and not have it take 10000 years as a solo entrepreneur.

But as I said, if TMS never really gains traction, even after episode 2 (which will serve as a more polished looking, full proof of concept for the rest of the show,) eh, I don't really care. Because I'm making TMS really for me in the end anyway. I like these types of stories, I like these types of character dynamics, and I've always wanted to make it into a full length show.

Firm believer in the 'if you really want something, you WILL find a way to make it happen' mentality! ❤️

Don't believe people who try and sway you away from what you know deep in your heart you want.

[maymeowmoo]

X & FM redesigns!

[Note: I am treating em as characters and not their irl counterparts. However! I will base some headcanons on their irl counterparts!]

Felt like witting some Halfcanon/Headcanon (Are interpretations of a character lines considered canon??? idk) stuff below! I will put a '*' with a link to the 'halfcanon/interpreted' stuff so u know where it came from, so the ones without a link besides them are most likley full on headcanons :3

(The section below is still a MASSIVE W.I.P! u.u Wanna work on it overtime tbh~ In other words I'll add onto here once I re-watch more~ ^u^/) (Oh and a small warning the section is/will be HUGE. Lossa scrolling!!!)

X has trouble reading (I would headcanon it as dyslexia tbh)*

FMs favorite food are Beans but he dislikes Doritos (The opposite of his irl/channel counterpart)*

Nowadays when the crew is having adventures X tends to procrastinate and play video games*. He is actually very happy with being 'retired'.

FM simps over characters with pigtails. That's why he ties his hair in the same style!*

X has total boomer energy. He prefers a simplistic lifestyle.

FM is the weakest canonical character (dang u_u) so to make up for it he is resourceful and has good aim. He did get into the police force after all.

X likes cute things and is very comfortable with that fact.* FM also likes cute things! Issa one of the things they bond over as friends :D

X is rather positive but if you tick him he will make sure you know u ticked him! He is also the sanest of all the Smg4 characters (though that doesn't say much does it?)

FM can be quite silly but is still responsible especially on duty. Unless you have a penguin ofc*.

[Edit1: Nov 27/Year 2023]

X sometimes takes FMs penguin on stroller rides*

X is quick to resolve conflict (duh!)*

X likes to play chess and is decent at it. (Boomerrrr energyy/Nah I also like chess tbh)*

X got all his firearms* from FM who actually stole them from his workplace. X always keeps them around in case of a zombie apocalypse.

(Uh adding on to the thing above hehe) X is obsessed with zombies. He hates them very much.*

FM owns a diary and has a hand written friends list.*

FM doesn't like old people.*

FM doesn't like stuffy things -o-/ (understandably so... Idk if I should add this since most ppl don't like stuffy things but why not add it ig)*

I don't know what to do with this FM info below but uh... ok ig?*

[Note/Credit?: The plushies are from the -> Official shop <- & the 64 models I took from the -> Wiki! <-]

[apr1lias]

i need to hear your thoughts on today PLEASE

HAHAHA THANK YOU ADORA!!!

Firstly, I am still very very confused about what has happened and I’m also a bit ill so that’s not helping. I had fully accepted that Martin was going to Ducati, Marc was going to Pramac/staying with Gresini and that Enea was going to somewhere, most likely Aprilia, going into Mugello and now it’s just not happening? Like what?

About Jorge not going to Ducati: I prefer Marc and Enea to Jorge, I want to make that clear. However, I just cannot understand how and why they would go back on their word (again) to a rider who has consistently performed for them. I read the italian rumour about him arguing with Gigi, and I can honestly see that being true because Martin doesn’t know how to shut up when it’s good for him, and I think the team was looking for any excuse to not give him the ride. They’ve now lost a rider, and probably two, but it’s fine because I suppose they’re getting the biggest asset on the grid right?

About Marc to Ducati: Honestly do not know what to say. Happy for him, he deserves a bike to be fighting for the championship again after everything that’s happened to him in the last 4 years but I’m not gonna pretend that I’m overjoyed about it. Maybe it’s because I feel a bit blindsided rn and it’ll come round but it’s so confusing. It makes sense after his comments about Pramac on Thursday, but to have this quick a turnaround is crazy. However, I hope if he is confirmed for 2024, then he wins the championship with ease next year to show everyone how it *should* be done on that dominant a bike.

About Martin to Aprilia: As an aprilia fan, I gotta say I had a feeling about Martin coming to the team since the start of the year and I’m conflicted. As a rider, he is obviously fantastic and I have no doubts about him delivering results for the team, but we all know how he is as a person and I’m sorry but I just personally cannot look past it until there is clear proof of change. It kind of makes me sad, as I’ve been supporting this team since I started watching in 2020 and idk, if Maverick goes then I may have to abandon my entire blog’s personality (rip) but if not then idk maybe I’ll act like 1/2 the team exists like I do with Ducati rn. That being said, if he brings the number one plate to Aprilia I will be laughing into next year, but I don’t think it will happen now.

Also side note on this solely for the announcement video: I have to say I cackled when watching the video and saw Aleix holding the door open for Martin, it looked more like Aleix forced him in as a hostage rather than by choice but whatever. I’d convinced myself the aprilia announcement was a maverick extension and aprilia were being opportunists but I literally screamed when I saw Jorge like the announcement post and watched the video 😭

About the Enea rumours: genuinely what the fuck. I want him to stay in the Ducati family, idk where or on what bike but it just feels right. KTM would be a good option though, and of course unless Maverick signs between now and Assen, there’s still space at Aprilia so who knows? Also cause I didn’t read, are the rumours Enea to GasGas or the factory, because if its the factory then we have to do all this again with Brad so… honestly idk but he should get a good seat somewhere. I love Enea and it’s a shame factory ducati hasn’t worked for him but sometimes that’s unfortunately how it goes and hopefully he’ll shine somewhere else.

That’s all I guess, it’s been a fucking crazy monday and I hope silly season doesn’t get even worse (not sure how it could unless pecco pulls a rosberg suddenly retires at the end of the year or some random shit). But yeah, I tried to order these as best I can because my mind is literally just open drawers and disorganised files rn so thank you for reading that post and asking 😭

Also to everyone, feel free to disagree, this is just my opinion as always.

[minervakarsh]

Silly Game Time: Have you ever seen or heard a ghost (or what some might've considered to be a ghost)? If so, when and where?

[stretches hands]

Let me tell you the story of the WBM.

WBM, of course, stands for Wet Bandit Meower. The name might sound nonsensical, but there’s an explanation.

Location: my dad’s house. Date: summer 2020.

Dad and his then girlfriend weren’t home, so in the whole house there were exactly three living things: me, my now stepsister (I will refer to her as Cherry) and our cat. At the time, we were on the first floor, watching youtube and having a good time. The cat was laying in our lap, purring contentedly.

Then, we heard a meow.

From the third floor.

We looked at the cat. She was still purring. We had no other cats.

The meow repeated. It wasn’t a cat’s meow. It sounded like a human literally saying the word “meow” out loud.

Naturally, we freaked out. It should be noted that I was twelve and Cherry was eight. However, feeling the need to prove ourselves to each other, we decided to investigate.

There was, of course, no one on the third floor.

We exchanged glances, and Cherry suggested inventing a name for the entity. The day before I was watching a cat video, titled “Cool Funny Cat Videos. Wet Bandit Meower”. I recalled it, said it out loud, we loved how stupid it sounded, and (to spite the entity by laughing at it instead of being afraid) we named it thusly.

To relax a bit, we went outside. We played there for a while, then, when we passed under the windows of Cherry’s bedroom, she suddenly gasped in horror and pointed at said windows.

There was a hand.

A black hand in the window, complete with an arm. It lingered for a second, then disappeared.

I asked Cherry what did she see, and she said “a black arm, right in my window!” It definitely wasn’t a hallucination, unless we somehow shared one.

We turned towards each other and said “WBM!” in unison.

And so began the saga. From that moment on, every inexplicable thing that happened around us we blamed on WBM.

And there was a LOT - from mere sounds in the night to finding a note under the fence, on which in red marker was written “I AM 666”. We kept the note (though somehow we managed to lose it since) and only laughed at how WBM couldn’t afford writing in real blood instead of cheap red marker.

Once we found perfume thrown out from the adults’ room, perfume which we never touched but were still blamed for throwing it out a window. We were finding notes, bottles, old letters we never saw before - and we meticulously put all these weird things into a special folder.

We have long lost the folder as of now. Otherwise I’d have loved to show it to you.

Even outside of the house, we experienced strange things. Once, when I was a guest at my aunt’s place in another city, I woke up to see bloody footprints on the bathroom floor. They were human. Neither me nor my aunt nor grandpa had wounded feet. Everyone got scared, including me, but I blamed it on WBM and instantly calmed down: even if it was a supernatural entity, it was OUR supernatural entity.

Nowadays I see almost no activity from WBM. Maybe he (for some reason he was always a he for us) just grew tired of us, especially since we barely see each other anymore, or maybe I’m way too sceptic now…

But I love the fact that for some time (about a year and a half) Cherry and I had our own pet Boogeyman.

Does that qualify as a ghost?)

[will-o-wips]

It is 4 am. I'm staring at the ceiling of my bedroom, coincidentally having my phone right in my line of sight, and write this with the exasperation and intense focus that I probably won't ever have again. I'm about to attempt to make any sort of sense of the latest Hayao Miyazaki movie, The Boy and the Heron (or rather, How do you live? in Japanese), that I watched for the first time in theatres a day ago.

I cannot claim to be right, or to know everything about this movie. Actually acclaimed critics and people with obviously more braincells than me have probably better takes than I do. But I must speak, lest the insanity truly take over my brain, lest I really end up combusting because of how much I want to talk about this.

Prepare yourselves for the most incoherent train of thought and line of consciousness you will ever experience.

FILLED WITH SPOILERS READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE.

Before I start with my actual thoughts, however, I'll state my personal feelings about the movie, because I feel that matters too, and this is my post anyway so! But I personally left the cinema feeling somewhat mellow. I was not insane about it yet. It was,,, "meh". The impression of the ride was great; I was giggling along with the funny and even sometimes not purposefully funny moments, I enjoyed the animation to the point I would genuinely flap my hands in excitement at how good it was, I understood the story in great lines by noticing small details and going "oh so does this mean x?". But I did not cry. Not a single tear during or after or before the movie. I did not waver with my opinion on it as I rambled about it to my friends online and irl, much to their annoyance. I did not hesitate when I put it in my silly little Studio Ghibli movie tierlist maker that I update whenever I watch another one of these films together with my friends, categorized (in)discreetly under "all vibes no plot but there's a witch/wizard". I still don't, in fact.

So, given all of this, you'd probably say that I disliked the movie. That I would not have so much to say about it, after doing my mandatory ramble and update. Wrong. I still have more to say, somehow.

Despite that, I didn't rewatch the movie itself. I read an entirety of one (1) review of it, together with one (1) random video essay of 8 or so minutes, covering the basics of it. I reblogged one (1) post about its protagonist on tumblr and otherwise kinda read through the rest of the posts on here. I did not re-experience or re-examine this movie again. I cannot (again) accurately reference anything besides that what I vaguely remember from watching it a day or two ago. It's not playing anywhere near me anymore/not out anywhere else yet, so really, I don't even know what possessed me to write about this, or even say anything. The most fascinating thing (to probably all of us here) is; what made me change my mind about it?

It might've been the review on IndieWire. David Ehrlich and his well-written review, bringing things into much needed context as to why this movie was created. It could've been the fact that I've actively processed the movie better, now a little bit of time has passed. [Honestly it deserves a second watch/view for something more concrete, but I'm repeating myself with this, you get it.]

But I don't even really understand it myself. I felt and still feel so detached from this movie in a sense. I appreciate the artistry that went into it, and I adore the way it simply tells the story and leaves it up to interpretation. It references every single film Hayao Miyazaki has ever made before, and elements of other Ghibli films can probably be found in there too, if you looked hard enough. The vibes were similar to those of Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle, given how inexplicably fantastical the world was. It just existed and breathed, and we as the audience jumped straight into it. We never got more exposition than what was needed; honestly I have a feeling that the second half of the movie was the vaguest piece of media I have ever consumed in my life. But it also had this perfect balance of the more drama-focused Ghibli films. The Boy and the Heron, in my opinion, is like the golden middle between reality and fantasy, both in terms of its narrative as well as comparison between other Ghibli movies.

This might also be the reason why I felt confused. The lines between reality and fantasy were so effortlessly blurred, that you could only process a singular picture. And when things are vague to me, I constantly need to pick them apart and analyse them, simply to satisfy my own curiosity.

The moment before I stepped into the movie theatre, my friend who watched along with me told me they heard it was a film about grief. I nodded along and said "yeah, okay, that just means it's another one of many Hayao Miyazaki and Ghibli films. Most of them are about some kind of loss, and dealing with it, either way." I sat down together with them; row 9, chairs 17 and 18, with my two bottles of water (one carbonated, one stilled) and the bag of terribly sour packaged chocolate pretzels I bought at the theatre itself. Horribly overpriced for the quality, I must say. My friend held onto the popcorn, and we sat through the ads, talking and laughing, anticipating something that was supposed to blow us away.

I cannot speak for my friend, but I think they really liked the movie regardless. They didn't cry at it either, even though we both know of each other that we always cry at such things. Somehow this movie evoked a certain stillness in us both; a stalemate between emotions and confusion. Maybe delayed processing. Maybe something else entirely. We both, or at least I, hid it until later.

It was midnight, and right before we stepped on our train home, I was excitedly going on about the references and animation, the things I did appreciate. I bragged a bit about how I recognized Kenshi Yonezu's voice in the final credit song that we didn't get to listen to entirely, because it was so late and we had to rush to get home. They laughed at me and told me to take some time to actively formulate any coherent thoughts on it. I disagreed (lovingly and jokingly of course), and we left it at that.

In the train itself, the same high dimmed into a simmer, the excitement replaced with contemplation, and I kept talking.

I told them: "I believe that this truly is his last film. This felt like a goodbye." And in return, they replied: "It's crazy how this is the last time we'll ever get to live in such a moment. The release of the final Ghibli movie in theatres.

"I'm glad we got to go."

I was too.

I got home, rambled about the intrinsic way The Boy and the Heron referenced other Ghibli movies to my online friends who had yet to see it. Followed by a heated tangent about how When Marnie Was There truly could have had better direction in regards to the narrative, as well as how Only Yesterday was the most boring out of all Ghibli movies. It was a nice night. I didn't think about the movie again.

The following morning, I contacted other friends, who told me about how Robert Pattison voiced the Heron in the English dub, which I hadn't seen or heard at all. He did a great job, judging by the trailer. This led me to another opinion, namely the video essay (I will try to find it and put it in the notes later if you are curious), which claimed something similar to this (of course, paraphrased):

"This is a farewell. The one true movie to tie such an expansive career. It is another movie where you are allowed to explore the magical together with the main character, while sticking close to the processing of it all."

The review I read said it was a swan-song, that it was the question and title of the movie in Japanese, posed at us, after The Wind Rises left it open to interpretation at the end of its run. That this was a story about the legacy that Miyazaki is leaving behind, how reality and fantasy coexist together, possibly influencing each other (not explicitly said but what I interpreted that review saying, so no this is also not completely like this).

Other tumblr posts I've seen on here say it was a film most likely dedicated to his son, Goro Miyazaki. That it was a gentle "I'm sorry, the shadow I leave behind is huge. I know that you will try and fail to fill it. It's okay; you don't have to. You can leave it behind. It's alright if this legacy dies with me."

Some other sources I've seen compare the main protagonist to Miyazaki himself, trying to grapple with the ending.

Yet somehow, all of these interpretations seem to fail to explain the entirety of this movie. The bigger picture if you will. These themes and moments and interpretations are not wrong, but to me, they're not satisfying enough.

Because maybe I am the only one who actually was insane about this moment, but I will never forget the delivery room scene between Mahito and Natsuko. How Himi addresses the magic stone, pleading to let the two go, saying "Natsuko and the boy who is to be her son". (Again, paraphrased, I cannot remember the exact line.) Maybe I am the only one who witnessed the whimsical fire witch and the going back in time plots and the fact that a younger Kiriko and Himi were there, already part of an ecosystem. How we already know from the other grannies in the house that Mahito's mother disappeared once for a whole year into the tower, and then came back the same as before. How the pelicans were BROUGHT there, that they did not belong there, and yet were forgetting how to fly. How they ate the Warawara, these creatures that were rising above to be born in the upper world. How the Heron's weakness was his 7th tail feather (or something along those lines), and how the fish and the frogs chanted for Mahito to join them in the tower. That the great-great-uncle was hoping for Mahito to succeed him and build a new tower, yet the king of the parakeets butted in and haphazardly did the job, resulting in it immediately toppling over, as well as the stones getting cut.

I think about the final scene where the Heron says "It's best to forget. Do you have any keepsakes?" And Mahito shows not only older Kiriko's figure, but also a piece of the stone paths they walked upon in order to get to the centre, the beating heart, the magic stone and his great-great-uncle.

How this is taking place during a war, that the timeline goes from his mothers death that Mahito cannot get over, to the welcoming of his stepmother and his new younger sibling. Them moving back to Tokyo. The way the tower completely collapsed. Completely and utterly collapsed and perished; not even a trace of it left behind. The way that older Kiriko keeps yelling it is a trap to Mahito in the beginning, but that both he and the Heron know. That it is inevitable to tread this specific path. That he must see for himself, whether his mother is truly alive. The way she both was and wasn't; first a mirage of her older self disappearing into a puddle of water, and second a firey spirit of her younger self coming to help Mahito. The way that he reads and cries at the book she left him, the way he hits himself with a rock after his big fight with his classmates; the way Mahito in general drowns consistently in the beginning of the film. He drowns in the fire that he lost his mother in. He drowns in the mud and the dust when he tries to enter the tower at first. He drowns in his dreams, in his tears, drowns right into his quest to find Natsuko (straight through the floor, by behest of his great-great-uncle), drowns in pelicans trying to eat him, nearly drowns in the actual sea until younger Kiriko fishes him out.

Now these things may seem like me just randomly naming shit that happens in the movie. Hopefully in a slightly poetic way, possibly. I could go on and on about the imagery, truly. But my point is, this movie may have been Miyazaki's last movie, his way of closure, his way of speaking to his son about his legacy, his way of describing the grief of losing his mother (idk if this is autobiographical or not. It very well may have been), yet...

Even so, it doesn't really fit the entire picture. It feels incomplete. The analyses always focus on the true meaning behind this movie, what happens behind the scenes, this one key climactic moment between Mahito and his great-great-uncle. But that's as if you would ignore the rest of the movie in general. As if the fantastical aspects weren't there to abstractly tell a story besides just being a symbol of closure for the person that directed it.

Personally, this is a tale of rebirth. Of losing yourself, and then rediscovering yourself in a way. I associate it with my own personal loss of my grandfather; the family member I felt closest to out of everyone.

The way you look back at such a traumatic stage in your life, something that irrevocably changed you for good, something that you probably don't ever want to relive again, but also mustn't forget. The way you instinctively are afraid to learn about who the person you love and grieve was, before you were in their life.

To this day, I still cannot speak to my mother about whether my grandfather had a favourite song before me forcing him to sing along with my favourites. A favourite book before he read out bedtime stories to me tirelessly. Who the boy in him was, and what wisdom and life lessons he carried on, into his grave, into the hearts of his children.

This movie depicts so much more than just grief, it's so much more than just legacy, even. It directly reflects the way I know I would have felt had I dared to actually see things for myself. If I actually dared to go through my grandfather's old things; the books he wrote and dedicated to me, the books he read when he was young. This movie depicts not how to live, but how to live on.

And the only way to live on is to move forward. To look at the foundations upon which it was built, to evaluate whether you truly want to have this be your burden to carry for the rest of your life. Mahito's abstract grief in regards to his mother, and the solace he finds in the fact that he at least knew who she was; that he at least had her in his life as both his mother and the girl that his stepmother knew, that at the very least he knows his mother would do it all over again, if she could. That despite everything, she did not regret a thing, and that she was not afraid. That somewhere, in the past, she lives on, happily marching toward this fate, because she knows that Mahito will be there to meet her again in the future.

And Natsuko, god, she worries relentlessly about whether Mahito will accept her. She worries to the point she yells at him, telling him that she hates him and his existence, because he rejects her so coldly and yet still bothers to show up in front of her during her most vulnerable moments. That he only takes and takes and takes; he steals her cigarettes in order to learn how to sharpen a knife from one of the servants. He uses those techniques to create a bow and arrow, a weapon. He gets into fights at school, he gets gravely injured on the side of his head, leaving a lasting scar.

If I were in her shoes, I would be furious at him too. Especially if he walked straight into the delivery room, trying to drag me out of bed while I was doing my damn best to keep the other child in my belly alive.

That scene, that sheer rage, and the way it ALL FUCKING SUBSIDES the MOMENT Mahito accepts her and calls her mother. The moment Mahito understands that through the literal whirlwind of plasters, things used to tend to wounds, none of those pleasantries/guards will truly allow him to reach her. The way he tries to nurse his own wounds, as well as try to nurse hers, over the loss of their shared connection (Natsuko's older sister, Mahito's biological mother), will NEVER allow him to make a connection with her. By being careful, by being polite, he will never get to be her son.

And he realizes, in that moment, that he wants to.

The magic stone tries to stop this. The magic stone dislikes disruption; dislikes things changing, dislikes breaking traditions (the taboo of entering the delivery room). The parakeets in the tower flourish because they follow the magic stone's whims more or less. They agree to follow its rules, even if it means they are prone to its abuse, because it gives them an advantage, a place to stay. The pelicans have to eat the Warawara, because there is no other food available to them.

The way younger Kiriko says "you reek of death", and how they establish this place is mostly made up of death and dead people. Dead people, or dying people, creatures that are begging to survive another day. Creatures that are begging to be reborn. That want to change, that wish to fly once more.

My mother once gave me a poem dearest to her heart. We have always been a family filled with literature and stories, but my mother was always the best at both writing them and reciting them. She used to read them out to me, back when I was in a particularly bad spot mentally, to the point I could not get out of bed for weeks on end, to try and reach me. She read with the sincerest passion in her voice, a small plea to get me back to the girl I was before.

I cannot explain or remember the poem by heart, but once I was at my true rock bottom, she told me to look it up. A Serbian poem, written by Miroslav Antić (I will add the name of it later), that was about growing up and growing into your own person. It made me weep, for it had a phrase I think I can only translate to this:

"Run and don't look back."

Somehow, whenever I look at all of these birds and creatures in this fantasy world, trying to fly desperately, trying to get to the skies, trying to get to even live, and think about the fact that the only way they can is by leaving this place. That the only way they can fly and survive as themselves is by leaving this tower, this stone, this foundation. By leaving and being born, by leaving and being reborn.

And, after all of this. Somehow I'm not even done yet. I haven't talked about the great-great-uncle in depth, nor the king of the parakeets, nor the heron whatsoever. I have not yet even touched upon what I might think the magic stone is, and the sheer amount of like symbolism I picked apart in my brain because of my insanity.

I'm probably not the only one who noticed these things. But so far I haven't seen anyone actively share these things, so, I will do my best to continue and genuinely wrap it up as best as I can. So that this can also bring the same amount of closure as the movie does.

The magic stone is like a shooting star that came onto the earth. It realizes dreams and worlds of whoever dares to walk into it and claim to own it; like how Mahito's great-great-uncle got obsessed and built a tower around it, caging it, taming it. And yet he still had to play to its whims, consistently making sure his own tower of blocks did not fall, that all of his work did not amount to nothing. Personally, I do believe the great-great-uncle could represent Miyazaki himself. That Miyazaki is trying to express how he built Ghibli and that now it has been going on for so long, and it has become unmanageable to continue upholding it. That it is time to retire.

A thing I find interesting and remember pretty well is the conversation between the parakeet king and the great-great-uncle. How they talked about Mahito's transgression, breaking into the delivery room (side note: he broke in and broke through to Natsuko with his mother's spirit. Mahito became Natsuko's son with the blessing of his mother; with the sheer love she had for him being carried on and through), and how the great-great-uncle says something akin to this:

"It is why I wish for him [Mahito] to succeed me."

"I cannot overlook such a transgression."

I feel this is important. It is key to how the great-great-uncle views Mahito in this. Because Mahito was not sent out on this quest to find Natsuko out of pure selfishness. Sure, his uncle would have wanted him to succeed him, but the entire reason WHY he believed in Mahito to begin with, is the fact that this boy was able to break the foundation and the traditions in the first place. Mahito inherently disobeys from the chosen path. Mahito inherently does not believe the Heron when he says that all herons lie. Mahito doesn't waver when the heron flies straight at him, he doesn't sway when the frogs or the pelicans overwhelm him. Mahito stands firm in who he is, even if he is trying to deal with new circumstances. Mahito inherently goes to places he should not be in (his curiosity for the tower). Mahito has enough power on his own to create a new tower, but only by rebuilding it from scratch.

This ready acceptance that the great-great-uncle has towards Mahito's decision NOT to inherit his legacy, is what makes me believe this is what this movie is supposed to represent. Break away from the old, off into the new. Closure. Moving on.

This is also reflected in the sentiment that Mahito truly DOES move on. He goes back to his family, his father, school, he goes back with Natsuko as his mother and a new younger sibling to Tokyo. He returns there where he came from, but he is not the same anymore. He is reborn into a new Mahito.

And god I feel like I'm repeating myself to death here; I really should have thought about the structure of this, but give me some slack okay. It's like 6:30 am already and I'm still not done, despite continuously writing and labouring at this.

So, the tower that immediately falls apart by someone who always follows the whims of a dream (the parakeet king and the stone respectively). God it is just such a momentTM. Because in the end even this shows that the parakeets, too, even though they by far had it the best in that goddamn tower, had to leave. For they could not build something on their own without learning who they were outside of the already established. Outside of just following the rules and all.

They had to leave, my GODDDDD.

As I'm getting progressively more unhinged, we shall move onto the most unhinged character in this entire fucking movie. The Heron himself. God there's too much to unpack here, really, but the truth is, the Heron was supposed to be the guide to Mahito. The Heron was supposed to be Mahito's biggest, most aggressive enemy, the direct antagonist to Mahito's protagonist. The Heron doesn't want change. The Heron tries to bribe Mahito with the fact that his mother is still alive, that he need only enter the tower, and lose himself to illusions and dreams. That fantasizing about his mother being alive won't only drown him more, that it won't just let Mahito sink into the deepest pits of his despair and anguish about such a death, that losing yourself to the belief that something is there when it is not wouldn't only be counterproductive. The Heron masks himself consistently; he says that all herons lie. He says that he only has one weakness, his own feather, that allows the arrow to automatically target him. In essence, the Heron shot himself in the foot beak. He himself slipped up in his mirage world, and came out to be who he truly was, this weird little man with a huge nose and a conniving demeanour. He adamantly cannot disobey the dream, for then his true nature comes peaking out (a small detail I absolutely love is the fact that the Heron's feathers also disappear out of Mahito's hands when Mahito is called back to reality by the grannies. The grannies protect him in the dream world too, by being his tether and support system while he gets over himself and starts trusting Natsuko). The Heron doesn't WANT to be a guide, for in order to be a guide, you must tell the truth. You'd need to know some facts about the world around you and share this information with the ones seeking guidance. This is how I believe Mahito understood the Heron before we did.

It's not that all herons lie; it's just that this particular one does not want to face the truth/reality.

Another interesting detail: the whole reason why only Mahito was able to cover up the hole in the Heron's beak was reminiscent about how only those that called you out can really patch up your old image. Only those that have poked holes in your false narrative are able to fill them back up again, and even then it is not the same, and even then it will not always be comfortable/reliable.

Either way, the Heron, after this wings partially turn into hands, his true nature, is unable to fly all that well for a while. He relies on Mahito's corkscrew thing in order to relish in his comfort zone of lies again. But throughout the movie, the Heron slowly starts to ignore the corkscrew completely; simply opting to stay in his (frankly, freakish) half gremlin man half heron costume form. The Heron changes because Mahito inspired him to change. Even though his image used to be spotless before, and he tried to deceive Mahito, after a while, he stopped doing that. The mutual trust both Mahito and the Heron had grew. The Heron became a person, although his heron-ness would never go away.

The Heron thus warns Mahito that he should want to forget. That he will forget, either way. That this struggle of his to grapple with the reality of his situation, and the fantasy that he was delving into, will become a far-off memory that Mahito should not revisit. The Heron, I believe, is genuinely trying to look out for Mahito.

"Don't dwell in what you have already overcome. Don't revisit the things you have already outgrown."

And this is where the movie more or less ends. Mahito still keeps that stone, and his mother's book, and he goes back to Tokyo; the only crucial difference is that he has overcome his own grief.

Now, I've said this like a billion times now, but this is the rebirth. This is what I think this movie stands for. What it means, at its core. This is what it means to live; to move on and to cut ties with that what has no place in your life anymore. Miyazaki, I think, is trying to give us closure, a final farewell to Ghibli altogether.

Now I don't know about any speculation that he might come back again, and personally, I don't think it really matters. If he does come back, good for him. I just don't know enough to say anything for sure, so I'll just say I cannot say.

Either way, I think, even though Miyazaki conveyed the need for a new start/a rebirth, he didn't really end on the complete abolishment of all that used to be. You are allowed to keep mementos of it; even though the Heron advises not to. Mahito is allowed to reflect upon this experience, to see it as another stone in his foundation/formation, to say that, yes, the spirit of this change will always stay with me, although it has passed.

Just like how Mahito's mom was someone who returned to the past without regrets. She never came back. She was a spirit that pushed Mahito forward, and he will always remember her, but it's better that she stay a memory than become a fantasy.

This is why I'm so impressed by this movie in general. I'm so thankful that I was able to witness this with a friend of mine. I'm glad that I was able to see this, even though my insanity knows no bounds, and the fact that I didn't even think about any of this until I really sat down to look through the options of interpretations.

I'm so glad I got to go. Now it's time to run towards the future, and never look back.