#but I cant find a theme or what its message is man

[mariigoldzz]

don't get me wrong I liked twilight princess's gameplay, but wind waker was the PERFECT ocarina of time sequel and they didnt need another one. It's themes actually fit ocarina's narrative and message.

ocarina of time was about losing your childhood as we all know (majoras mask has themes of healing which is important later)

wind waker had a theme of letting go of the past, and having hope for the future. Ganondorf and the king were focused on the past, trying to take back a world that had already slipped through their fingers. That's literally why ganon loses. He's too obsessed with something that's already been lost. Zelda and Link show the king that there IS hope for the future, and that it's OKAY to let go. The game perfectly potrays how clinging to the past can affect the future, in ways big or small. People in real life can relate

Ocarina of time is a story about the tragedies of losing your childhood, your innocence, and growing up. Majora's Mask (my favorite game of all Time) is about healing, making people at peace with themselves, about grief, self discovery…and wind waker ties it all together with hope for the future. (I KNOW MM IS A SEPERATE TIMELINE. THE THEMES JUST MATCH!!)

truama/loss > healing, self discovery > finally letting go.

i love wind waker like this post if you LOVE wind waker!!!/j

[thealmightyemprex]

Universal Month:All Quiet On the Western Front

The film I shall review ,All Quiet on the Western Front has been on my watch list since 2008,when I saw it on AFI's Top 10 War films.....Thats a long time to be on my to watch list.I have indeed rented it twice before from my local library ,but both times hadnt gotten round to watching it .You might be wondering why it took so long for me to watch it ....To be honest.....Its hard to hype myself up to watch bleak movies,and I KNEW this was bleak,I have actually seen the 70's version(I think I even reviewed it but cant find my review _.....Doubt I will watch the recent remkae that came out (Which I hear is not just bleak but long and.....Long movies, I have to be in a mood for ).But anyway what do I think of this version ?

in this 1930 film we follow Paul Baumer (Lew Ayres ) and his friends as they enlist in the German army during The Great War only to find War is not glorious and face the horrors of it

So I am not a war film connoisseur,but I dont hate war movies,one of my favorite films is Lawrance of Arabia which is a war film .A common criticism I hear to War films is that cause battles and fights are inherently cinematic .....Movies make war look cool,with war films either coming across as propaganda pieces OR if the film is about how War sucks ,the cinematicness of war undercuts the message.....I am glad to say this film is one of the most sucessful Anti War films I have seen ,cause it makes war look miserable .In fact if the film has a theme to me its misery .I was kind of surprised how harrowing this film was for a film from 1930 ,in fact that made the shocking moments more shocking.This is a film about basically kids getting swept up to "Fight the good fight" only to starve ,lose limbs ,go mad or die.My favorite scene in the movie is when the troops are relaxing and talking about the war and realize.....They dont know why they are fighting .Its both a light scene yet it underlines the darkness of the story

I also wanna confess.......I only knew ONE actor going into this film,Lew Ayres ,who plays the protagonist Paul ,cause he went on to have a long and diverse career ,though I know him for his later Television work as an old man in the pilot of Battlestar Galactica and the miniseries Salems Lot .Initially at the start of the film I wasnt impressed by him,in fact he kind of blended in with the other boys .....But halfway through he started to really grow as a caharcter and for an early sound performance I was actually really gripped by Ayres.His best scene is when he kils a soldier and is stuck in a pit with him

Other performances that stood out were John Wray as the nasty postman turned Sergent Himmelstoss ,who is a perfect unlikable,mean and pathetic character showing people given power who shouldnt have it .The scene stealer of the film is Louis Wolheim as Kat ,the sort of big brother/cool uncle figure of the soldiers,the tough guy with a heart of gold who most of the films warmth comes from....And whose departure from the film made me misty eyed

If I have a complaint it that most of the soldiers kind of blend together for me and I really dont like the scene where PAul confronts the professor who convinced him to enlist,it feels at odds with the rest of the film and a bit heavy handed

OVeralll.....This was better then I thought it would be ,this is a really harrowing anti war story that has hold up very well for being over 90 years old

@ariel-seagull-wings @countesspetofi @the-blue-fairie

@themousefromfantasyland @piterelizabethdevries

@theancientvaleofsoulmaking @princesssarisa @amalthea9

@barbossas-wench

[chronologicalhomestuck]

karkat pov liveblog: hivebent, part 1

we begin in a lab on a meteor in the furthest ring.

computer enhance.

look at all those little goobers! i am not replaying this whole flash just for this moment but in lieu of that, here's hussie's commentary on the scene from the book, just for a bit of spice.

as far as i can tell, karkat's first chronological appearance in hivebent is 2177.

vriska has just jumped tavros off a cliff, and he chooses to message karkat about it. im not sure what he hoped to get out of this since karkats only reply is characteristically snappy.

we then jump to 2025. karkat is messing around with some .~ATH files. in the middle of examining the mobius double reacharound virus (titled check_thii2_2hiit_out.~ATH), he gets trolled by its author. hello sollux.

CG: SO YOU MADE THIS GAME? TA: no no. TA: more liike ii adapted iit. CG: FROM WHAT. TA: 2ome crazy technology AA dug out of 2ome ruiin2. TA: havent you talked two her about iit? CG: MAN, NO. CG: I CAN'T TALK TO HER, SHE'S SO SPOOKY.

we start talking about the game that will take up the rest of karkats story, and get a hint about this mysterious "AA."

he then hears crabdad complaining, and chooses to put this off...long enough to introduce himself, i guess.

karkat's introduction is 1992, written in a way directly referencing john's introduction.

Earth, also for convenient reference, is a planet that does not yet exist.

see how we are doing this? logical! earth doesnt exist yet, so of course we arent starting with the humans!

homestuck does not want me to read it chronologically. it is doing everything possible to stop me from reading it chronologically.

This game, for convenient reference, is a game that DOES NOT YET EXIST.

please. please let me obey chronology.

Later on, you would swap your modus with your hacker friend, a guy who unlike you happens to be competent with programming. It would only make sense.

i thought i would embark on this quest and find its purpose along my way. that purpose, it seems so far, is to acknowledge just how stupid this chronology is.

It is your sixth wriggling day, and as with all five preceding it blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

yeah i was about to say something like that. that being that i wont have much to say so long as the plot remains linear.

It figures that installing this new beta chat client would open the floodgates

i always forget that trollian was brand new when hivebent starts. i wonder what they used to message each other before then?

speaking of which, his first pesterlog after his introduction is page 2010, with gamzee. its kinda sad how mean karkat is to a lot of his friends tbh.

TC: iSn'T sOmEtHiNg BiG aLl GoInG dOwN? CG: WHAT? TC: i HeArD sOmEtHiNg bIg WaS gOiNg AlL dOwN. TC: JuSt AlL bE tElLiNg Me AlL wHaT mOtHeRfUcKiN iT's Up AnD aLl AbOuT. CG: STOP SAYING ALL. ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT TA'S THING? TC: yEaH!! fUcK yEaH mAn, So MyStErIoUs. TC: I'm NeVeR bEiNg GeTtInG cEaSeD tO bE aMaZeD bY aLl ThEsE fUcKiN mYsTeRiEs LiFe'S gOt FoR uS. CG: UUUUUUGH. CG: ANYWAY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S UP WITH THAT. CG: MAYBE I'LL TALK TO HIM TONIGHT ABOUT IT. MAYBE I WON'T. CG: IT'S PROBABLY JUST ANOTHER ONE OF HIS PROJECTS THAT WINDS UP BEING COMPLETELY USELESS AND A HUGE WASTE OF MY TIME.

(apologies if the text is hard to read on dark mode. i use cyber theme myself and cant see a word gamzee says here)

according to the pov cam, the next page karkat is on chronologically is 2058. the great team divide / team leader argument of hivebent has officially begun, with karkat and terezi. and in the end, it wont even matter at all. lmao.

CG: OK WELL CG: SPEAKING OF THAT CG: I SHOULD GO DOWNSTAIRS AND DEAL WITH THIS GRUMPY CUSTOMER. CG: IT'S GOING TO FONDLE MAJOR SEEDFLAP, BUT HOPEFULLY IT'LL BE QUICK. CG: YOU CAN ESTABLISH YOUR CONNECTION AND DO YOUR TRIVIAL SIDEKICK STUFF I GUESS IN THE MEANTIME. GC: OK! >:D

and apparently karkat intends to deal with his quite grumpy crabdad at the end of this conversation.

but then his computer explodes.

interesting. sburb equipment already? i suppose he was right:

CG: TEREZI AND I HAVE ALREADY ESTABLISHED A CONNECTION AND WE ARE MAKING GREAT PROGRESS HERE. CG: WE ARE A GREAT TEAM, AND I AM A FANTASTIC LEADER.

welp. guess he didnt have to deal with him after all. although the drawing on the fridge is very cute.

terezi has continued to make progress on his hive...

and he gets his new weapon...

only to find his toilet detached from its fixings.

GC: 1M YOUR S3RV3R PL4Y3R SO PR1OR1TY H4S TO B3 ON M3 G3TT1NG 1N TH3 G4M3 GC: B3FOR3 1 G3T K1LL3D BY M3T3ORS GC: 1N WH1CH C4S3 YOUD B3 SCR3W3D 1N TH3R3 GC: TH3N TH3 N3XT GUY COM3S 1N, TH3N TH3 N3XT GC: 4ND YOU BR1NG TH3 L4ST ON3 1N CG: WHOA WAIT, WHAT? CG: METEORS? CG: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. CG: WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH METEORS. GC: OH BOY YOU N33D TO G3T W1TH TH3 PROGR4M K4RK4T

karkat, i think you are a bit behind on what this game is going to be like. yet you are already on your planet despite that!

i gotta go now but ill be back

[plumnomnom]

// genloss spoilers, theories, derealization?

all of the correct answers for genloss were the ones on the right/the last answer except for the last one..

dogs(right)>wisdom(right)>death(right)>them(right)>yes(left)

on the fail screen for the last question, a secret message appears above the screen “you were never alone”. the “yes” option must have been on the left because it *wasnt true*. in the future, this could apply to further questions, like if the mysterious person behind the tapes was lying, or was incorrect, the “correct answer” would be on the left. this could be useful later on to tell whether or not the VHS text is lying, and then be able to tell why, how, or what theyre lying about.

this could be especially useful for finding nuances in things that may otherwise be surface-level and unimportant. remember one of the fail texts? “nothing is as it seems”. something is trying to help us see past the text of the tapes, perhaps even a person *in the screen.*

plum, how do we know thats a possibility?” WELL, DEAR READER. ranboo has a genloss playlist, and the common themes and motifs from this playlist can tell us a lot about how the story may be structured/where the plot can go. (thanks @/Daydark4k for the analysis image)

[image]

for example, cabinet man by lemon demon features a sentient arcade machine who dies when the machine is eventually destroyed. with the themes of scientific experimentation, this could mean that there was an experiment that trapped some sort of consciousness into the tapes.

loss of self would obviously be about going crazy trying to decypher a mystery and quite literally losing your physical body to a conspiracy or magical tape player. the person trapped inside so desperately wants out, and cant reach the outside world.

they got too cocky, too close to the truth. they were found out, and got thrown into the machine, most likely by the one we only know for now as The Founder. if the founder controlled the tapes, T_1 would make a lot of sense. the person trapped inside seems to think that if the founder was caught and/or killed, something would be able to help them. also in T_1, there was an image of a classroom. a red box over the teacher, white boxes on the students. odd, there was a static box on the person you killed to get the good ending.

what could this mean?? ever wonder why there was so much static on the screen?? why was the person you killed the only one without a definitive color, instead being static? its the VHS person. they were the ones you sacrificed for the good ending. you won the test.

the test? oh yeah, didn’t i mention a classroom earlier? a red box (possibly the founder, or a person in their employment) on the teacher, and white boxes on the students. wouldn’t it be funny if the color of the boxes means the amount of control the founder has?

white, blank slates. red, an overpowering color. in fact, the only color in any of the images shown in T_1. this test was given to the students. those that failed Lost, and those that won were converted to Reds. you can maybe tell that this is the case due to the end screen on the ? ending. you were told to not look away, and were congratulated. after a loud beeping noise and a screen filled with *red* the video ends. you, poor soul, were white. now, you’re good. you’re *red*.

notice how on the ending tapes some of the static turns red? the static of the VHS person is infected. theyre red, now. theyre trying so hard to escape, but nothing escapes the founder. remember the single photo from T_1?

that one picture of mitt romney with a red box over his face?? whats with that? romney is a poltitian, and a shady one at that. hes an *authoritarian*. he wants extreme governmental control over the people. odd, isnt this whole thing reminiscent of a controlling cult?

—

maybe the whole right v left thing was misleading for the first question for a reason? its a subjective question, and usually boils down to personal opinion. unless there really was something against cats shown later, its more safe to assume that its an introductory question that doesn’t matter all too much.

but i do think its important to note the fact that the “reasonable first question” is used. as someone pointed out to me, its a “foot in the door” thing, which is actually quite relevant to what i think genloss may be describing!

see, with quite a lot of cults, the main reason people get sucked in so well is that they use the fact that the people you interact with are just that, real people. they slowly introduce you to new “ideaologies”, try to skew your mind towards them.

its a subtle form of brainwashing, but a powerful one. if a participant went into the test blind, they would let their guard down for the first question, seemingly because its a normal, everyday question.

the ‘life vs death’ thing, although extremely philosophical, is also a relatively common question. from there, the questions get deeper and scarier, luring the subject in.

the whole “place frogs in hot water and theyll jump out, but put them in water that slowly heats and they wont get out and end up burning themselves alive” thing, while niche and not really scientifically accurate for the phrase (i’ll explain later) is honestly the best analogy i can think of.

the victims don’t know whats happening until it’s too late, or they never even notice at all. granted, the thing i referenced is from a scientific study of this one dude who took the brains out of frogs to see if they had souls, so… take that how you will lol.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

HII HI HI BUSTING DOWN UR DOOR. coming in shaking u by the shoulders visibly trembling and wild eyed oh my GOD. also i typed out like THREE PARAGRAPHS in ur inbox already & then my computer restarted so fuck me i guess. anyway FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS... WAVELENGTH..... DUDE HES SO GOOD. I LIKE HIM SO FUCKING MUCH hes so so good. huge fucking wavelength fan hes like one of my favorite types of guy. what a fucking dude. i cant believe he was so guilty over the everything or something he offered to help find tide. second dad acquired!!!!!

....does tide have two more clone siblings who are earth and air themed. he has to, right? anyway god... i cant believe the past two episodes took place over ONE DAY it feels like its been a million years!! holy shit!!!! i hope they get 2 go to bed soon.... i have never wanted so viscerally to throw some kids in a hot shower & wrap them up in quilts as i have right now. anyway anyway i gotta go but im going INSANE over them & all of this!!!!! man!!!! ALSO all the trivia has been fucking awesome i WILL talk abt literally all of it now that im done with that rollercoaster!!!!! 💥💥💥🌊

DUDE I FUCKING LOVE WAVELENGTH SO MUCH YOU DONT EVEN KNOWWWWWWWWW. GOD. like from day fucking one on amalgam island i was like "oh no oh fuck hes got a cool voice filter and an accent i have a history of being weak for those" and i think ive made like three separate posts/messages to jonesy like "i think im a wavelength apologist. im afraid to say that because hes a villain and im only on episode 5 but like he has a kid though.... hes a dad...." and ive just gone downhill from there. hiiiiii wavelength i love you. kind of a dilf reblog . he and tide are so divorced to me im sorry

RIGHT. RIGHT. RGIHT. RIGHT. I WANT THEM TO TAKE A FUCKING NAP. like please for the love of god theyre miserable their friend betrayed them and blew up their house and their dad got kidnapped and now they have to stay with a supervillain and theyre scared and hurt and. auguguhghhghghhhhg. fuck man. im actually listening to ep 10 rn i just got to vyncents magical girl transformation hi i love him

[sikeyaout]

this is a lot, but: 3, 5, 6, 9, 17, 20, 21, 22

NOO DW I LIKE NEVER GET ASKS SO HAVING SO MANY QUESTIONS TO ANSWER IS SO FUN putting them under the cut cuz it gets long!!

3.any recurring images/elements?

HMM def eyes and glass/crystals! and the loss of autonomy/self =.]

5.pick a theme song for the tv adaptation.

MAN you cant make me pick one!! thered def be some theme song changes throughout the hypothetical series, but i suppose the song that fits as the "Main one" would be Doggone Systems by pilotredsun

6.speaking of tv adaptations, why would yours get cancelled? (other than capitalism)

oh SO many reasons. most of the chars are openly queer in some way, buncha anticapitalistic messages, extreme on-screen gore/mutilation, all that fun stuff

9.if your story got a video game adaptation/spin off, what would it be like?

Probably something akin to paper mario or chicory! one of those top-down rpgs that mix visual styles together, like a digital collage! (think the witch labyrinths from madoka magica)

17.describe the "required reading" to understand your vision. be as pretentious as possible.

mmnot sure actually! I suppose a high recommendation is Who Framed Roger Rabbit to get the idea of the pure normal guy (or gal in this case)/cartoon thing wackiness that you cant see anywhere else, vitrinefield (and sparkletopia) is in the realm of psychological horror, but the comedy that contrasts and even Blends with it in some cases is comparable to that movie!

20.your ocverse just got a movie trilogy a la hunger games style. how have they horribly mangled your message/theme so that the movies are now a showcase of what the original was condemning?

AUGGH probably the whole theme of grief!! vitrinefield at its core is abt the loss of a loved one and finding ways to cope with it, i think ppl would only take away the horror elements in the story x.[ 21.you have been given unlimited funds to make your story idea a reality. what are you sparing no expenses for?

WELL the way im gonna be running it, its gonna be independent, but im absolutely paying anyone whos helping me properly!! 22.you have been given unlimited funds to make two adaptations of some sort, however you cannot make any other adaptations of any other sort. which two formats do you choose?

hmm... definitely a comic! but the 2nd choice is harder!! maybe a game thing that shows off either the b plot of a selection of chars or a prequel sorta thing?

[zan0tix]

Homestuck is genuinely so fucking blatant about its anti-misogyny did we close our eyes caliborns existence and just see him as Another Funny Little Guy 🤪like eridan who totally arent both stand ins for real boys who weaponise spiteful violent misogynistic rhetoric to hide their own insecurities and result in them commiting hatecrimes because of their misogyny like😭😭 they kill feferi and calliope who they were obsessing over like how real men have done. What. Hussie literally Says That straight up about both of them in their notes btw ctrl + f caliborn its actually interesting the parallels they cite between the two in eridan being a proto caliborn and nepeta being a proto calliope Anyway.

(I made a post abt how the characters all put up facades and how people Still fall for them even though theyre incredibly easy to see past and multiple people said eridan was a big one people misinterpret when ??? Whats to misinterpret. His mask is misogyny, male entitlement, and espousing seadweller supremacy to hide his anxieties about people hating him which just makes them hate him more because he doesnt even truly believe in these things but cant stop using them as shields and further alienating everyone around him Endless loop. So a typical 4chan guy. Cant believe i just spoke that much abt eridan💀)

And i was trying to point out how fishy i find it how quick people are to dismiss jake who is just Canonically disabled and genderqueer idk how else to explain the whole “special in the brain” thing or the feminine masculine gender fuckery literally constantly being called “girly” and wanting to dress more feminine thing happening there either. And how people replace jakes role in dirks life with june(cis guy june) or transmasc roxy where in they just try and fill the shoes of jake but slap a bucket of blue or pink over it and remove the dimension of jakes dichotomy of being what dirk aspires to be but also what he believes to be the wrong kind of man bc of the contradictory nature of Jake (its a total disservice to both june and roxys themes to force them to orbit dirk??😞) ppl tend to actively downplay dirk and jakes relationship and WHAT THE TEXT USES THEM TO SAY. NOT ABOUT SHIPPING WAR BULLSHIT JUST LITERALLT WHAT COMMENTARY ON GENDER HOMESTUCK IS MAKING USING DIRK AND JAKES ROMANCE AND THE SPIN THEY TAKE ON TRADITIONAL NARRATIVE GENDER ROLES BC THEYRE BOTH THE “WRONG” KIND OF GUYS. Hate to break it but the things that happen in homestuck happened for a reason and that reason was to communicate a message. And people can be critical abt how you treat that message🤨

I know its all queer people doing it its not like Malicious most of the time i am glad queer people get to self express At All im always grateful for that but i still feel it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to ljke. Actively downplay and ignore the CONSTANTLY STATED/SHOWN TO BE FEMININE and DISABLED gay guy character whose CANON QUEER ROMANCE is INTEGRAL TO THE FABRIC OF THE STORY?!:’dj ISNT THAT INSANE😭😭😭 because of stupid petty reasons where as you can extend Allll this empathy towards Dirk and make your creations center His relationship to masculinity when HE HAS DONE WORSE THAN JAKE AND IS MORE ANNOYING IDC peoples reasons for disliking jake are always because of intentionally reading him as shallowly as possible. (Often for rlly stupid reasons? Like boo he reminds me of someone or erm hes annoying so i wont engage his text at all But Wow dirk strider😍😍😍) and then they come to talk about the text and its like. Dude. You plugged your ears and went lalalala for some of dirks crucial text bc jake is a big part of his story youre literally missing context rn AND UR PULLING SHIT OUT YOUR ASS

Idgaf about crackshipping. Literally do whatever people have been crackshipping since the dawn of time man i know that much ive been on the internet for so long. But when you start trying to talk about the nuances in homestucks Actual Queer Writing and its themes YOU CANT LEAVE OUT JAKE ? Why are the blonde quirky ones so palatable but you hate the nonconventionally feminine disabled/autistic coded ones (cough calliope here too) could not be any real world biases! Nono all the ways we consume fiction cannot be critiqued!

I dont understand why people Dont Want homestucks queer rep to be deeper. Isnt it cooler if jakes got more going on? It adds so much more dimension to dirk and jake its so cool. How often do you get to see rep this in depth and integral to the identity of a story in any piece of media???? Ever??? With this many queer characters??? Like ih my god? If this was any other fandom wed be scrambling looking for any subtext of dirkjake liking eachother but you come to homestuck and dirkjake have huge blaring signs over their heads “WE ARE GAY AND LOVE EACHOTHER” and subsequently shows you how difficult it is for them to navigate their feelings because of how stories have operated for so long under heteronormativity.LKE WHATSJFND

And it talks about masculinity and dirkjakes feelings in a way that Doesnt push out femininity, it Doesnt actively push jane or roxy away to center a m/m relationship. It doesnt place this Special Emphasis on men and shut out the stories of women in the process as so much media thats a satirisation of masculinity does. Homestuck fanworks surrounding dirk really fall into that but not in an intentional way. Caliborn is infact a parody of people who do that hes the guy who watches american psycho and thinks its awesome and so sigma THATS LITERALLY HIM.

Homestuck does such a good job navigating its portrayals of women vs so much other media its so crazy ill never get over it😭 the presentation style is just So Strong for humanising characters in it being text log based. Okay oops i rambled so much but ugh. I just.. want to talk about this thing to people who in fact read it open minded and engaged with it on that human level, that this work was made by a persons hands to communicate something to other people and we can look into what its attempting to communicate. Not just treat it as some blank slate that has no artistic value or ideas and sucks because theres too many words so i cant look deeper into them brain no likey

I wana talk about homestuck like its a work of Art because it just Is. Same as a film or an alone artwork or a piece of poetry? But its such a fascinating work because it was vast majority all done by One pair of hands not a team. Esp a queer pair of hands too? And its this big?? And its THIS QUEER AND SAPPHIC CENTRIC FOR SOMETHING SO MAINSTREAM? ☹️

I think i should make a video essay guys actually.

Started trying to be more vocal on my side account on twitter (shudders) i bring up how transfemininity oft feels like an afterthought in alot of hs art and i get pqrted like thrice 😭😭😭 id like to have discussions about homestucks transfeminine nature and how much care hussie seemed to inject into the queerness bc its really cool i havent seen media this big be like this!! But twitter is so bad for that. Its like people Dont want its queer rep to go deeper beyond its surface level..?

Somebody always has to go W-what about my personal feelings of discomfort with femininity i love and project onto john sm🥺 any time anyone talks about june egbert. I feel like there might be a constant pattern of highlighting masculine stories over feminine ones totally no real world reason for that ever! all fandom behaviour is totally exempt from criticism bc queer people are doing it so nothing can be critique worthy☝️😇

Scratches my chin. I dunno. Nobodys forcing anyone to make anything just take a little time to empathise with others. Maybe youll get inspired by somebody elses story

[ichoosechoasandbeingqueer]

Hi, friend! Ever since I read Bold, I can't stop thinking about that dagger Narni gifted Fili. The description of it and the technique behind it was just *chef's kiss*

"The daggers blade was a ladder damascus pattern and as he flipped it around in his hands, he discovered it was coated so that the metal shone a gorgeous Durin blue in direct lighting. It was a rare skill amongst blacksmiths to make the colour shine through and he had never seen it accomplished so well on a blade before. The pommel was made from some sort of bone or antler and sealed with a resin so it would not crack, darkening to a gold colour at the hilt that displayed the head of a lion. The prince moved closer to the light had gasped at the detailing of the sculpture. The lion’s mouth held a snarl and a braid adorned each side of its mane to match his own. He traced his fingers over the smooth blade finding no rivets or delamination in the steel and a sharp sting struck his fingertip as a bead or red dripped onto steel. It was as sharp as ice and now christened with his blood."

It's just so beautiful! It doesn't leave my mind. Because of you, I started researching the Damascus steel again and the lost technology behind it and it gives me a sense of wonder, like the first time I've heard of it. I think of your writing every time I need to write about weapons and it feels like an unattainable masterpiece!

I was wondering, do you happen to have headcanons for dwarves and their favourite weapons (what they look like, the materials and making techniques)? Maybe another one for Fili, as well as Kili and Thorin, or anyone else you'd like to mention.

No pressure though!

I just cant with you @feeweeeee, your complements always make me so happy and I'm touched that something i have created inspired you so much!

I have so many headcannons and the day off of work, so here you go! I hope it suffices your question, if not feel free to send me another ask with more specifics.

Dwarves defiantly have their own style when it come to weapons. They're a secretive lot and would keep their techniques and tools to themselves. Thicker blades and weapons where they fight up close are defiantly a theme, they are also much heavier rendering most of them useless to humans (and for that particular reason most times). While an elf or orc could pick up a dwarven weapon easily enough, a normal human would struggle, and with dwarven settlements always so close to human settlements it’s a safety feature that most smiths with put in. They are not strangers to humans turning on them while trying to trade.

I headcannon that the dwarves of Kazadum, while being friends at the time, also had a way to forge weapons so that elves could not use them (a physical aspect that made it difficult for them to grasp the handle without harming themselves) but when their homeland was lost, so was the technique. It was a secret that even some of their own kin did not know, the books and texts written on it being in code that only the royals and their most trusted blacksmiths could understand. This is how no one else could use it, even if the orcs could learn Khuzdul, they still would not be able to read the coded instructions.

Their blades are also stronger than man not just because of the way they forge them, but what they forge them with. Not unlike our own Norse smiths and Vikings, they would crush up the bones of the animals they hunted to add iron to the steel. There is also a mineral specific to the deepest caverns of middle earths mountain (a biproduct of mithril in Kazadum and from the Arkenstone in Erebor) that adds strength to any metal. They also use this strengthen metal for architecture and structure further in the mountain where the walls are under more pressure and weight.  

Dwarves are also very observant race. The beads and braids in their hair confirm this, each one having a meaning and reason, it being their gender, craft, kill count ect. They also forge messages and words into the designs on their weapons. Some have simple things like the words ‘courage’ or ‘strength’ in the patterns. Others have messages for if they fall in battle and their weapons are found instead of their bodies. Simple notes like ‘forged and wielded by Lord Kilvar’ to poems and requests to their loved ones for after they die. When the company was hiding from Smaug and they come across the bodies of their kin, Bofur picks up a weapon and read from the hilt, “If this sword has left my grasp, then I have reached the halls of my maker. May there be someone left to bring my corpse back to the ones I love, my dear Helja, and to pass on this sword on to my daughter Hlin. May it serve her better than it did me. Lay my bones down somewhere soft. Somewhere quiet. My battle is now over and I wish you good luck on yours,”. It took Bofur four years to find Hlin, but was honored to reunite her with her father’s weapon.

Now to our individual dwarves.

Thorin

Our mighty king would use a longsword. This two-handed weapon with double edged blades and a prominent cross guard is mainly a thrusting blade. Slashing attacks are still effective if the opponent has low to no armor, but heavy armor can damage the blade if used that way. There are many different techniques to use this sword, most relying on body strength or ‘wrestling’ your opponent making it good for dwarven fighters, or, my favorite because I can defiantly see Thorin doing it, holding it by the blade and using the handle as a hammer to hit your opponent. Just imagine Throin looking at the camera like on the office with the most deadpanned look on his face and then effectively flipping his sword around and just bonking someone on the head.  

Thorin would favor a Kukri knife, a bent one-sided blade. While being an efficient weapon it is most commonly used as a multipurpose tool. It can be used to cut wood, dig into tough soil, cutting meat and vegetables, hunting and skinning animals, the narrower part of the blade can function as a smaller knife and the heavier and wider part of the blade can be used as an axe. In our world Nepal it was commonly a tool for the fields and home. Thorin finds it not only practical but moving, connecting to it on a spiritual and emotional level. As he worked and slaved in the towns of man, and fought and worked beside his people who had nothing after Smaug, it was a humble and respectful knife that he felt connected to. A weapon of the people.

Thorin isn’t one for show but he has a soft spot for the fantasy style writing down the middle of the blade look. He likes a clean sliver blade (no Damascus, it hurts his eyes and doesn’t like how unpredictable the pattern will turn out) and a simple handle made of steel. The most extravagant thing on his sword is a shaped cross guard and pommel in a dwarven pattern. He has his personal sigil centered in the cross guard where the blade meets handle. His sword is very heavy and would not be able to be wielded by a human (even Kili struggles to swing it around).

Pic 1-A Kakri Pic 2-A Longsword Pic 3-Example of a simple decorative cross guard and pommel (picture it a bit longer though)

Also, as a bonus- a weapon I don’t think they would use but defiantly should: Twin sais

Fili

I think Fili would use twin Viking Seax with the straight side sharpened. These weapons are shorter than your average sword and rather similar to what he uses in the movies. They are a thrusting and slashing weapon and the pointed tip gives off a very dwarven vibe to me. Historically speaking from our world these swords were often crudely made due to people’s money, location, technology from the time, ect. But as Fili is a prince and heir to the throne (not to mention his love of his blades), he would take his time and most likely embellish his blades with different patterns/writing like modern blacksmiths do.

He would also favor a dagger design something between a Acinaces and a Pugio. I can’t find the dagger I have in my head for Fili (it might not even exist tbh). It is a double-sided blade with a heavily decorated hilt and pommel and the actually blade is wider than most other daggers.

While I don’t think he would colour his weapons like I had the blade in my story, he would enjoy using Damascus patterns (herringbone and feather the most) and seeing how the metal combines and twist together with his guidance. Unlike his uncle, Fili likes being in control of his steel and still having the patterns unpredictable and wild, discovering once the blade is finished how it looks.

As for the handles he would use woods or bone for his daggers. While not always to most durable or strong they are very traditional and can be easily customized and decorated and he takes pride in creating not just a sturdy weapon, but a piece of art that shows himself through his designs. It’s a balance he likes to test and experiment with, beauty vs practicality. Because Viking Seaxs are a lighter blade (because they are shorter in length) he has a steel handle (as these handles are heaver) with a leather herringbone knot wrap (to help with grip and stop his fingers slipping onto the blade as it has no guard.). Also, for design, he would leave the little tassel at the end purely for show. Throin and Dwalin hate it because it can get in the way but Fili refuses to change it. On every weapon he’s forged, he puts his personal sigil on the end of the pommel.

Pic 1- An Acinaces knife Pic 2- A Pugio knife Pic 3- A Viking Seax with a straight blade edge

Pic 1- Herringbone Damascus Pattern Pic 2- Feather Damascus Pattern Pic 3- Herringbone knot wrap

Also, as a bonus- a weapon I don’t think they would use but defiantly should: Shurikens

Kili

Kili likes to keep his opponents at a distance so no knives or short swords for him. If we exclude his bow and focus on bladed weapons, he would use either a War Rapier or a Amanremu.

The rapier is a thrust and cut weapon and those used for war rather then those in the hands of civilians had a thicker blade. They are light and fast and for Kili who doesn’t carry as much bulk and muscle as some of his kin but is fast and nimble on his feet, it’s a perfect weapon. They also have a metal hilt that wraps around the hand for protection. He likes this because when he had started training with Fili as a pebble, the elder had slipped and cut one of his fingers accidentally and it had traumatized them both a bit. No permanent damage done, but there was a whole lot of blood. Thorin forged him a rapier with a large hilt to stop it happening again. It’s a comfort thing.

The Amanremu is a single edged blade with a rounded edge at the tip. It is thinner at the handle and thickens out at the tip where the weight is carried used to enhance attacks. The handle also has a forked (unsharpened) pommel used for blunt attacks if one gets close enough. There’s really no solid reason I headcannon him with this sword except for the fact that he would look really cool using it. It just gives me Kili vibes.

Kili likes decoration on his weapons but more natural and curved lines than a traditional dwarven design. His tastes for weapons (as is his taste in romantic partners) is very elvish. Less harsh lines and corners and more vine and curved patterns. He likes a small amount of Damascus patterns on the steel, mainly loose twist patterns and that leave room for the silver of the steel to shine through. His handles are almost exclusively hard woods and he likes to burn his dwarven patterns there instead of on the metal. Its also where he adds his personal sigil.

Pic 1- A Rapier Pic 2- An Amanremu sword Pic 3- Loosely twisted Damascus Pattern

Also, as a bonus- a weapon I don’t think they would use but defiantly should: A Kama or Scythe

Dwalin

Dwalin is a Dane Axe darrow. Twin Dane Axes (with a few modifications to the handle so he can wield both at once). He knows it’s not always as handy as a sword or knife but he would go into a fight with his bare hands before giving up his axes. No one actually knows why and Balin learnt a long time ago not to question it (he seemed to have forgotten it was their mother’s choice in weapon. You see, being the eldest, Balin was always out with their father for hunting trips and lessons, and they used swords. He bonded with their father much more than the younger, and as Dwalin was always so much smaller than most his age, he started his trainings later. Being left at home led him to be bonded much more with their mother as a pebble. When he went through his growth spurt at forty and finally begin training, he refused to use anything but an axe).  

He would also have a basic Bowie knife on him at all times. It’s much easier and quicker to slip out of its sheath that an axe. It would be a shorter knife with a large curve and an S shaped cross guard.

Many would not guess it thanks to Dwalin’s tough looking exterior, but the darrow has a knack for crafting beautifully decorated weapons. He’s not a fan of Damascus patterns but would absolutely acid-etch his Bowie knife with a blue tint. He’s also a fan of double diamond leather wrapping. Seriously, its on all of his weapons, even the bottom of his axes. He doesn’t flash overly dwarven designs but he likes to add hidden pictures in his works when he does include them. He once made a knife with a cookie hidden in the artwork. Another weapon he added a lion paw (a gift to Fili for his fiftieth birthday). 

Pic 1- A Dane Axe Pic 2- A Bowie Knife Pic 3- double diamond wrapped handle with an S cross guard

Also, as a bonus- a weapon I don’t think they would use but defiantly should: A hook sword  

[moonartcafe]

Picnic Date

Character: Terunori Kuga

Fandom: Food Wars

Theme: Fluff

Summary: It's kugas birthday and you have a little surprise for him!!

Rating: Sfw

Warnings: swearing, mensions of SA (sexual assult)

Gender: gender neutral

h/c means hair color and h/s means hairstyle

As you opened your eyes, you looked around and rubbed your eyes, your eyes landed on your calendar, with one date encircled. Kuga's birthday. "Ah crap, my preperations.." You said, looking at the time. "8:17..?" You muttered. "FUCK ITS AT 8:30" You said, getting out of bed.

You heard footsteps and saw a out-of-breath Kuga at your door. "WHAT HAPPENNED?" He said, looking around the room. You looked at him, not wanting to spoil the surprise. You resorted to 1 option. "GET THE FUCK OUT IM NAKED" You shouted at him, pretending to cover yourself. Of course, you weren't naked, you just needed to get him out so he wont suspect anything. "Jesus, fine, just wanted to help..." He mumbled, sipping coffee and walking out of the room.

You got up and wore your favorite clothes, then you went down and got ready to leave. "Leaving so soon? And no greeting for dear me?" Kuga said at the door. "Lets go out for groceries." was all you said, putting your coat on. He responded with a "Fine fine" while walking out.

You had a list of things on a piece of paper, the normal things like paprika and stuff. You gave kuga the list and he went away. When he went to the agreed meeting spot, you weren't there. He started getting worried when he waited for a few minutes.

He checked his phone, there were 5 messages from you.

10:33

I cant find you, where are you?

11:27

I'm lost man im with them squid.

*1 Photo attachment*

11:48

Terunori help, theres someone eyeing me. Hes the guy in the backround.

*1 Photo attachment*

He checked the time and started to panic, you sent him that last message 20 minutes ago. He thought, "Fuck, where are they now?" looking around. He spotted a person with your h/c and h/s. He ran up to them and grabbed their shoulder. They turned around and he realized it wasn't you. "Sorry sorry, I was looking for someone."

After a few minutes he sat down, he checked your messages and saw you were typing. His eyes lit up and he was confused. Then he saw the message. "Totsuki Academy, behind Chinese Cuisine RS building." He read. He quickly called a Chinese RS member to drive him to the spot you said.

Then, he thought about the worst possible situation, what if you were held ransom? Or worse, got sexually assulted? His brain was in shambles as he started to get close to the destination. Then he felt the car stop. He opened the door and got out, admiring the trees and the scenery. Then he remembered you, he snapped himself out of his thoughts and ran through the greenery screaming your name.

Then he saw you, he got relieved as you ran to him. "Look! I made all this, see see? I hope you like it!!" You said with a smile on your face.

The rest of the night was spent with good bento boxes and smiles.

[chromes-corner]

i keep asking 4 characters on the bingo thingy but i can’t help myself

so… dark cacao & caramel arrow ?

YOU ROTTED MY BRAIN SO BAD WITH THIS BOTH OF THESE ARE REALLY LONG

im doing caramel arrow first >:)

caramel arrow is fucking cool. i love her outfit so fucking much ughhhh its so pretty the black and white motif of the dc kingdom is my EVERYTHING!!!! AND HER FUCKING WEAPON???? DUAL BLADES THAT ATTACH INTO A BOW???? THATS LITERALLY WICKED I WANT ONE OF THOSE!!!! also i eat up strong female characters like theyre my last meal on earth i just adore her resolve and her loyalty and her STRENGTH shes a BOSS of the GIRL NATURE

despite me loving her so so much, i cant help but feel as though she got SHAFTED in the story relevance department. the only role she really plays in the 13-14 story is that shes the means by which gingergang infiltrates the castle. thats honestly all she really does???? and thats SO DISAPPOINTING!!!!!!!! she couldve been so much more!!!!!!!!!! not to mention how she acts when she finally finds dark cacao. instead of, i dont know, yelling at him for abandoning her and the rest of the kingdom and saying that his long-winded message of telling her to get help was fucking STUPID, she just kisses his ass and says “ok lets go fight!! i never gave up on you!!” LIKE DUDE SHOW SOME SELF-RESPECT AND SAY “HEY MY KING IM LOYAL TO YOU BUT YOURE FUCKING TERRIBLE AT THIS!!!”

THEY DIDNT EVEN LET HER GET REVENGE ON AFFOGATO LIKE GRRRR ok i get its rated like 12+ so they couldnt have her straight up murder him BUT STILL!!!!! she couldve put an arrow in that bitch’s back as he was running away. damn. caramel arrow should be allowed to murder because shes hot. but the recent bond story with her and affo is really fucking funny though so ill let this one slide.

 another thing is that i wanted to badly for her to have a one-on-one with dark choco the way he and dark cacao had. like, i wanted her to have a chance to ask him why. surely he doesnt have a vendetta against her like he did with his father???? he probably wouldve spoken with her, albeit briefly, considering she was literally his apprentice or something. we couldve learned so much about dark choco before the whole sword thing went down and about dark cacao back in those times. sighhhhh the girlboss was gatekeeped :( 

i really like her but once again she falls a little flat because the story doesnt give her a ton to do which sucks so hard :pensive: ily caramel arrow youre my homie forever <3

dark cacao the absolute MANWHORE second because I ACCIDENTALLY GOT CARRIED AWAY AND STARTED RANTING SO HARD IM SORRY

FULL RAMBLE UNDER THE CUT

i have very conflicting opinions about the king of not-my-problem. do I think he's hot? unabashedly. Do I think he's a terrible person? also unabashedly.

ill start with what i like. first off........ patrick seitz is a fucking phenomenal voice actor and GOD he really nails it with dark cacao. he's on my list of voices that i want to read me bedtime stories. second off, god am i a sucker for his design. the big chunky armor hits me right in my paladin soul. the color palette is so simple yet so striking, and i love how his violet-tinted grays and blacks contrast with his sons warmer tones. that's a neat little detail that really differentiates them and draws the generational line further beyond just ideals and alignment.

theres so much to fucking unpack about this man when it comes to personality and dialogue. i do NOT feel like going back and reading through that again until the emotional damage from the first time wears off, so just roll with me here. god FUCKING damn he actually got an entire arc for his personality and it STANDS OUT. pv and hb remained mostly static throughout their stories but dark cacao got the fucking special treatment and ughhhhh its so good.

i just...... excuse the pun but i adore how his soul jams theme is actually baked into his arc. with the other two ancients, it was their jams trait (light of truth and light of passion) that HELPED them finish their arcs, because they had both lost those things along the way and their journeys were about reacquiring pv's missing truth and hb's faded passion. with cacao, its his jam's trait, his own resolution was the very thing that was HINDERING him. he was so set in his ways BECAUSE he still had his strong resolution that he failed to realize that HE was the problem with his kingdom and his relationship with his son. god FUCKING damn that subversion from the norm WAS SO FUCKING REFRESHING AND I COULD GO ON ABOUT THIS FOREVER BUT I WONT!!!! THIS IS ALREADY SO LONG AND I HAVE ANOTHER THING TO GO OVER OK

okay so... theres something i really dont like about him. dark cacao is a terrible fucking king and dark choco was mostly in the right to try and make him change his ways (obviously he shouldn't have sought out a cursed sword to do so, as only bad things can come of that but still). all dark cacao could focus on was the wall. somewhere along the line he made it HIS burden alone to protect the world from the licorice sea, and because he put all his time and resources into that, others suffered because of it. his neglect is what caused the villages under the rule of his kingdom to waste away into ruin. hell, even citizens living in the CITADEL were suffering, for christs sake. resources were being depleted for this one project until there was nearly nothing left. my man may be earthbread's top emo model, but mans a FUCKING TERRIBLE KING. AND THE KICKER????????? NOT FUCKING ONCE DOES HE ACKNOWLEDGE THE DAMAGE HES DONE IN HIS NEGLECT!!!!!!!! NOT EVEN A FUCKING "HEY IM SORRY I BASICALLY ABANDONED EVERYONE BECAUSE I WAS TOO BUSY FIGHTING MY DEMONS FOR THIRTY YEARS" FUCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hes cool in odyssey tho

BTW IF YOU READ THIS FAR HERE TAKE THIS SICK FUCKING PIECE OF ART FROM THE ART BOOK AS A THANK YOU FOR PUTTING UP WITH MY INSANE RAMBLINGS

[interactivemedial3]

Occult related art and mythology.

These are most of my inspirations for the art work that I am creating in the work-shop. The darker sort of art work is something that I am really trying to improve on.

The mythology of the occult is my favorite subject for art work and for reading up on the topic as I find it easier to create a darker theme of art work.

The portal piece of artwork is a really big influence on my own design for the portal I made in the 3D work-shop with Kris.

the sort of low blue tones are something that give it a interesting look and make it feel like its a wonderland of someone's imagination, almost to say its like a Alice in the wonderland setting you can see it and know that is not real but you cant relate to the image because its a concept that has been done before, its a well known sort of image in terms of style and concept is what I'm trying to say.

One other thing about this dark image is that I feel like it gives a vide of "willow in the wisps" or "wisps in the willow" (how ever you like it) type feel. It gives me a sense of like it was inspired by Scottish wildland tales of "follow the willow spirits to find out your own fate", I interpret that as make your own way in life; its a good message but with a dark shadow behind it.

There is another image that I like a lot! And that would be the sort of goat man deity with great big horns and two moons at both

hands with the right hand having a white mood and in the left a black moon.

I could say that he is the occultists main objective in my story of Alerster Crowly "finding the way" as in to the portal to awaken Cthulhu and bring the world he live within to destruction but they aren't very well related so I'm sticking with Cthulhu as my main god of destruction.

[katukutataka]

Riding on dat Little Nightmares High~~~

(Getting high with my baby~

Getting pie with my baby~)

[Gonna lie to my baby~ IM KIDDING! ]

Since a lot of pple theorize that Little Nightmares is running in a time loop for Mono and Six, it got me thinking about generalized time loop theories that are published in books, articles, and other academic level literatures. Plus in several other movies referring to anything with time. (I would know cuz I've written an English paper that discuss the concept of Time-Travel across various literatures, folklore in other countries, and movies. I got a passing grade for it!)

[Please note I havent researched if other fans already posted something akin to what im about to theorize so I apologize for that - literally writing this before I loose my thought! If u or someone u know has a similar theory, lemme know! Itd be cool to read or listen to wat other fans think!]

My idea is that within each time loop, there's gonna be some things different about the surroundings that were left behind from the previous versions of the characters -i.e. past! Mono and past!Six left something (an item placed somewhere to be found; markings on walls; etc.) For their future selves to encounter in the next cycle.

It could taken as a warning for the characters to be aware of in an attempt to "change their fates designed" (Healing Incantation -Repunzel from Tangled). But no matter what , The Eye will always make sure that Mono and Six will befall to their roles as the Thin Man and The Lady, respectively.

I came to this speculation when I was watching some of GamerSault's YouTube videos about Little Nightmares theories - he included closeups of the world featured in both games and my brain couldn't help but come up with this theory.

Like I'm not specifically referring to the things like an escape rope or a latter or stool to be placed, but akin to the Collectibles that players can find if they explore each area before moving on.

For example, Six finding the miniature porcelain figures of The Lady; Runaway Kid (RK) finding bottles and taking the messages (or pictures) inside. I associate Mono collecting hats from the other children who left them behind or he took from a dead kid - seriously, the boy stole the yellow rain cap from a dead kid trapped in one of The Hunter's cages.

But I do think the Remote Controller Mono finds could be one of those items that his past self placed for him to use. Especially a working Remote Controller in the Pale City that's been warped, distorted, and transformed its inhabitants into hostile Viewers.

U might be thinking that the Thin Man (past!Mono) placed it there or perhaps it was The Eye who did it - either way, the Remote Controller is an item for Mono in the current loop to find and use. Or the Remote just happened to be there and Mono assumed it'd work...for ALL of the TVs in the city...

Realistically, TVs have a specifically remote model that will only work for that screen (unless u get a replacement, then sure). But to use a remote for ALL of the working TVs? Hmm, realm of Little Nightmares where normal logic is warped to fit its cause. Then again, all of the TVs are of the same model so that can be a factor too.

Anyway! It's possible that after the initial loop that Mono as Thin Man found or constructed the Remote that'll work across all screens. If it was The Eye who left it for Mono as a child to find it, then that's that.

Personally, I'd think that Thin Man would leave clues for the next version to find in an attempt to break it. But like I said, The Eye will always make sure that things will go as it's been "fated."

Don't mean he can't try!

As for Six...well, I have something different for her.

I read a post -i cant remember where cuz it was sooooo long ago- about having moments of Deja Vu. From what I remember of the post, one of the reasons u get the sense uve done something vividly the same despite doing it FOR THE 1ST TIME is cuz another version of u has already done it in a previous loop. I believe it does mention the Multi-universe /parallel universe theme too.

I link that with Six's memories - she cant remember but she knows she's seen some terrible things. I can see the logic that she or Shadow!Six is suppressing her memories -defense mechanism, wants to rid them, or that's just how The Eye intends to happen for her.

I watched "Six Lost Memories | Animation " by Pol on YouTube, and it showed that while Six was eating, her eyes were dull, void of anything until Shadow!Six disappears. The light returns to Six eyes and she's hit by a sequence of memories of LN2. Poor girl was crying when she remembered Mono. (Give the girl a hug damnit!)

So how does that relate? I think that every new cycle erases Six's memories, which may explain her amnesia. However, she know she's seen terrible things becuz she felt a sense of deja vu. U can counter with herself or Shadow!Six suppressing them and I can see that possible too.

Unlike the Thin Man, The Lady may not leave hints for Six to find. It could she tried at first -hence the porcelain figures and the sheer amount of music boxes found in LN- but soon gave up after however many cycles she passed thru. It's possible that Six, as she grows up to become The Lady, accepted her fate, her role.

That's all for this post! Lemme know wat yall think!

[leniinero]

Dumb shit I find on Facebook pt. I

I had a guy do this once, I wasn't even dating him. So Apparently he liked me. I wasn't interested. Shit was annoying. He'd snatch it outta my hand or over peek. "Who's texting us?" He'd ask. Mind you. We were at work, I was training him, he lived with his BM and had a newborn at home. No shame.

What ya think is on my shit?

Wayyy too many screenshots cause I screenshot then forget and downloads, autumn themed icons. Unread whatsapp messages from 4 days ago, an entire unorganized photo album dedicated to Ralph Fiennes (shamelessly), a 1980s/Kajagoogoo themed chat on Instagram I've been in for the past 3 years, messages from MeganFoxConfessions on IG, the last song I listened to was "Before he cheats" because I was trying to make a point that white women are crazier than Latinas, an unfinished post/response for user @savagehardyandfreee about wuthering heights the book and its 1992 adaptation, the unfinished audio book for The English Patient read by Ralph Fiennes (highly recommend by @macrolit ), an unfinished notes about a tumblr blog post and an unfinished email to a doctor in another town about blood tests. Pics of recipes I'd like to try since I forget about them if I put them on pinterest.

Wayyyyy too many quotes and pictures of the sky. An unfinished loan application and an eBay search for a 1999 DVD. 😄 that I cant play cause I cant find the plug-in for my DVD player which has had "Strange Days" stuck In it since eh?....May?....

(Don't take a shot for every Ralph Fiennes reference in this post.)

And ofcourse way too many hand injury pics. A true concern. As well as a bookmarked kindle book about Korean culture & etiquette. 🇰🇷

I'm incapable of being a cheater and I don't have time or patience for insecure men or ego stroking. I'm boring as f, clearly unable to finish a thought and you think I can flirt with another man long enough to cheat on you? I can't even finish this paragraph in this kindle book from Friday. Thst I downloaded 3 months ago. I have the attention span of Nemo and the memory of Dory, I have way too many WW2 videos and serial killer YouTube notifications on my phone. I still jam every morning as I'm getting dressed to a mix of mid 90s first album Incubus, Ellis Beggs and Howard funk sung by 3 white guys and Kajagoogoo's 2nd album. My dog needs a bath but I can't bathe him with 1 hand 😢

That's what you need to be concerned about.

Oh and BTW, here's my homescreen cause that's all you'll be focusing on to add to ya insecurity 🙃:

Have a nice day 🤡

(I feel better now)

[fipindustries]

Mouth Dreams analysis

MOUTH DREAMS

I dont even need to introduce to you the marvelous mash up works of neil cicierega’s mouth trilogy (now quadrilogy i guess). We all know them, we all love them and we all have our own interpretations of what they mean. For some merely musical shitposting, for others clever experimentation laden with phrases, leivmotifs and themes repeating here and there, and for many a deep and rich bounty of lore, hidden messages, subtextual stories and underlying narratives implied across multiple variations of all star, hidden in the meta data and uncovered only after doing spectrographic analysis on the soundwaves of the songs after being played at x0.000003 times the speed. It is usually understood that all the albums together form a unique and rich tapestry, a coherent whole that can be understood in its totality. Im not here to do that.

I came up with my own interpretation of what Mouth Dreams can be read as, independent from the other albums. Think of it as me presenting this entry as the soundtrack of a musical with its own self contained story. It is the interpretation that i chose to go by and i hope its understood the brilliance of these albums lies on how weird and vague and open ended they are such that any number of different readings can be extracted from them. So lets see the one i extracted, without further ado, lets begin.

Yahoo

It is an out of context, in media res, start for the whole story. We hear a voice, echoing in the void, yelling at the top of its lungs, reaching desperately for human conection. One form of looking at this song is that the voice only receives an empty response from its own echoes, but i dont take it like that. The song is too sublime and too beautiful for these, the notes soaring too high, the desperate plead is being answered. Someone is listening to the plead and answering right back, harmonizing.

This whole album is in a way that howl, reaching to others, and we the audience are answering back, listening. But also on another level, this whole album is the protagonist telling the tragic story of his own life to some sympathetic figure who wants to help, perhaps a therapist, perhaps a friend, perhaps a partner, we’ll see. And as the yelling subsides the story starts proper.

Mouth dreams (intro)

We are being slowly taken into the story, entering the psyche of the main character, entering their subconscious, their dreams, their memories and therefore, their past. We’ll see what life they led and how they ended up where they are now and we start right at his infancy with….

Spongerock

Spongebob is a great indicator that we are seeing this person’s early childhood. They seem to be a rambunctious and energetic child. Cheerful and enthusiastic, yet there seems to be some underlying aggression there. The music is a bit to strong, and in comes freddy mercury berating the poor kid “you’ve got mud on your face, you big disgrace”. Who is this entity being so hostile to a poor kid? What lies beneath that image of a happy kid? We are about to see on the next song.

Just a baby

This is where trouble starts. We are treated to a dramatic song about a poor young baby who seems to be having a pretty sad life. Justin bieber, former teen idol, keeps lamenting about the poor baby being stuck in baby jail. This song is very much about loss of innocence. A shadowy figure of the mother is introduced who tells the protagonist to be a good boy. And almost at the end of the song we get a suggestion of what’s so wrong on this poor kid’s life. His mother apparently “shot a man in reno”. We dont know if this is a literal thing the mother did or if this is a metaphor for the mother doing something horrible, commiting some crime, harming someone in some way. While its not clarified we see strong hints of what the mother could have done in the next song

Superkiller

As we worry what may be so wrong with this kid’s mother we come across the title for this song, ominous. Now in the original Psycho killer the killer was clearly the singer, but in here the song is twisted and turned a bit, recontextualized by the beats of “cant touch this”. It seems like this time is the singer the one who doesnt want to be touched by some nefarious figure (the mother? Is the mother a psycho killer?) maybe the kid saw the mother killing people “i dont like people when they’re on fire”. whatever the case might be the kid is clearly strung up and under a lot of stress and we are introduced to the first hint of the insomnia that will plague this persons life who cant sleep because “my bed’s on fire”. The horrible situation in which this kid is living is taking a severe toll on their mental health. How is he going to cope with this?

Get happy

I think everyone can agree that “come on get happy” is incredibly unnerving when mindlessly repeated over and over. A first read might suggest the kid is forced to put on a happy face, to pretend that there is nothing wrong going on with their life. But as the song progresses it could also be interpreted as the kid being tempted to find refuge from the horror by unsavory methods “get happy” as in acquire happiness of a forced and artificial kind, perhaps drugs. But also “we’ll make you happy”. The kid is not running into a rabbit hole on their own, they are being invited. Its possible that the kid is being seduced by a bad crowd to move into seedy circles as an escape from their life.

Ribs

In here we see the kid, probably a young teenager by this point as suggested by the use of marylin manson in this song, falling deep into debauchery. The specific kind is not needed to know, it could be drugs, it could be sexual experimentation, it could be criminality. Point is this is unhealthy and dangerous and depraved, emphasized by the title of the song “ribs” as a reference to the rumor that marilyn manson removed two of his ribs in order to perform autofellatio. Whatever the case it clearly works, the song is actually a great bop, energetic and upbeat, the kid is content with the situation, at least for a while…

My mouth

This song is the coming down from the high. In here we see at full blast how the life of depravity on the one side and their situation at home on the other have turned the character into a hardcore insomniac, their health is severy compromised “My eyes feel like they're gonna bleed

Dried up and bulging out my skull”. Another way to read this song is as we momentarily cutting back to the present. After all, what we have been seeing until now has been dreams/memories and this is a short look at the wreck that the person is as a grown up, stirring awake from their memories and trying desperately to forget or to go back to sleep where they can have a reprieve. As evidenced by the next song

Aerolong

I dont wanna miss a thing is completely turned on its head. As the lyrics clearly demonstrate is the protagonist who cant go to sleep being chased by their memories, specifically the memories of their mother “I don't miss you, babe, and I do want to miss a thing”. As the person is tossing and turning on their bed, unable to sleep they talk about how they dont miss their mother at all and they want to “miss” her as in they want to forget her.

Sleepin’

The character is constantly speaking about how they are “sleeping with their clothes on” this is due to them falling asleep during their everyday life because of their lack of sleep every night, this person is barely functional, their sleep schedule is broken. Also since this song is about the character actually sleeping it also works as a bridge back into their dreams and so into their past.

Aammoorree

Is another vignette about the character sinking into disreputable states in order to escape their shitty situation as a teenager, this time very specifically about being completely drunk and perhaps experiencing romance for the first time. The character is probably at a club or a party, drunkenly hitting on someone, though chances are without much success as the song becomes increasingly more incoherent and we go into a full black out. This gets bad enough that the person finally has to take a look and….

Where is my mom

….stop. It is highly suggestive that in the album the “stop” is part of this song rather than the last one. The person is not only stopping their current alcoholic binge. They are stopping the entire situation and taking a good look at their life, finally confronting face to face what is happening and why it is so wrong. Now “stacy’s mom” was always kind of an inappropriate song due to it being about a child having a crush on their friend’s mom, as sung by an adult. But as it is recontextualized by the instruments of “where is my mind” it takes on a much darker tone. The romantic words are still there but now with a sinister bent. This time the main character asks their friend if they can go and take refuge at their house and when they ask if the mom is going to be there they sound more scared than eager, specially suggested by the way he seems to be stammering the word “pool”, they are nervous and terrified. They also talk about stacy’s mom as “all they want and been waiting for so long”, probably because all they want is a normal, loving mother. Presumably this song is about the main character finally talking about what is going on at his house with a friend, confessing and that confession gives way to realization

Fredhammer

Then realization gives way to anger. During this whole song we see the teenage character finally grasping how fucked up the whole situation is and he gets progressively more worked up with each successive aggravation “Why did it take so long? Why (hoo!), did I wait so long, huh?

Why??? To figure it out, but I did it (huh?)”. From this we transition to the kid actually confronting their mom face to face. The line “So you can take that cookie And stick it up your (yeah!)” can be read as the mother trying to pretend there is nothing wrong or pacifying the kid with empty gestures of motherhood, by making cookies and the kid spitting that back into their face. The kid gets more and more worked up through the song as we seamlessly transition to the next one.

Limp Wicket

This song is pure incoherent chaos but something very important can be rescued out of the chaos. This song uses the lyrics from the “ewok celebration” which is presumably the song the ewoks sing in return of the jedi after the empire was defeated. So in a way is the kid celebrating that he finally confronted their mother and presumably defeated her. This is emphazised by the recurrence of the lyrics ““So you can take that cookie”. Is not specified how the mother is defeated, maybe social services or the police get involved, maybe the kid runs away, either way this song is triumphant. The evil entity that stole his childhood and innocence has been defeated.

Cannibals

This song is slightly different from the rest. It works as a form of victory lap after the defeat of the mother figure, but also as an intermission since it lies smack dab in the middle of the album, and finally as a transitionary song from childhood to adulthood. Is a time skip, we get to see the person grow up in fast forward as the THX song hits its crescendo. This song also makes it perfectly clear that, even though she was left behind, the mental scars that the mother left are still there and still fresh and still very much stopping them from sleeping “She drives me crazy

And I can't help myself”. 

The outsiders

This works as a way to recontextualize us in the life of the character as an adult. Our so called “feature presentation”. It is not altogether clear who these people being introduced are. They could be the people who came to mean something in this persons life as they grew up after trauma, probably multiple foster homes, social workers, friends, bosses, co workers, etc. the fact that they are being enumerated dissapasionatly could indicate how most of his social relationships were basically a meaningless blur for him who grew up socially distant due to trauma. It could also represent the multiple roles that our character was forced to take as they grew up and the multiple things that went through his mind or meant something. There is clearly some desperate attempts to recapture their lost childhood as figures such as “inspector gadget” or “the ninja turtles part three” are named. The song is a fast montage of views and places. That prepares us for the next song.

Johnny

We finally zoom in and take a good look at our main character as an adult. A sad, pathetic figure, hurt and lonely, possibly not very well liked and certainly not respected as we hear boos all around. Despite all this the character is clearly committing themselves to be a good person, to not hurt others like he was hurt and specifically to not commit the same crimes that their mother commited.

Closerflies & Nightmovin

These two songs might as well work as a single piece since they are both more or less about the same thing. We reiterate how this person has been turned into an insomniac due to the trauma that they experienced as a child “When I'm far too tired to fall asleep”. They are delirious and barely coherent, possibly hallucinating as they think about their life in bed. This is clearly hell on earth and it seems like its just never going to stop “Can't wake up in a sweat

'Cause it ain't over yet” but, with neil’s classic sense of humor, the song immediately ends.

Now that could just be for the sake of irony but there is also another level in which it could be read. This suffering stops because something suddenly changes in this person’s life. What could that be?

Whitehouse

“I fell in love with a girl”

As the lyrics say, the main character met someone special and they are deeply in love. But also, because of the past that weighs heavily on him, he is very trepidatious about wether to go on with the relationship or not. He knows he is damaged goods and he doesnt want to drag her down as well, these fears make it so he never fully opens up to her about his issues “She turns and says, "Are you alright?" I said, "I must be fine because my heart's still beating." 

Wah

The use of “war” by edwin starr is a clever reference about how everything is fair in love and war. Now this song is an important departure since it is sung from the point of view of the girl our main character fell in love with. She is a feisty woman who is very clearly trying to establish the terms of the relationship and demanding her partner to open up which the main character, due to his insecurities, takes as a declaration of war and which he deflects by playing dumb, hence the repeated use of the silly “WAH” by wario. 

Pee Wee Inc

The emotional distance from the man is putting a strain in the relationship, so what once was supposed to “feel good” is now this melancholic and unbearable situation. Is no mistake that the song sampled here is “the breakfast machine” from pee wee’s big adventure. After all  a neglected partner can feel like a breakfast machine, an object that is there just to make your breakfast. On top of this you can see that the insomnia hasnt gone away “My dreams, they got a kissing 'cause I don't get to sleep, no”. In a lot of ways the girlfriend is feeling used as just a relief from the man’s suffering but not as someone who is being truly loved.

1000 spoons

We go back to the woman’s perspective. At first it just seems like a simple melancholic situation where she is sad the relationship is not working, but then we see the woman have a full mental breakdown as the song changes and becomes much more deranged and we get to see what is really happening. The man ran away on their wedding day. This is represented by the lyrics “is like rain on your wedding day” because it means the wedding has been ruined. She is heartbroken by this.

Mouth dreams (extro)

Appropriately as the previous song talked about a wedding being ruined by “rain” this song begins with the sound of rain. This is the big emotional climax of the story, the music at its most dramatic. Now i will admit, even for me this is a stretch, im willing to concede most of what i am about to say is essentially built out of whole cloth and me wanting to fit a neat full narrative into this album where there is none, but hey, what is art for?

Essentially the man is about to commit suicide, possibly by jumping off a bridge in the rain as suggested by the song being sampled “drowning”. The fact that this song is named after the album is a way to signify how everything that we have just seen weighs heavily on the man’s heart, his whole life, his memories, his trauma, and he is finally ready to end it all. He jumps.

But at the last second his wife jumps after him and drags him to the shore, the last we see is her trying to perform mouth to mouth resuscitation, as indicated by the song,”love me mouth to mouth now…” he is unconscious and presumably finally sleeping peacefully (maybe dead?) “...cover me with dreams, yeah”.

It might look like he will not survive, as implied by the sinister version of all star encroaching over the song. But as it looks like all hope is lost he finally WAKES UP.

In a way this song is also when we finally catch up with the start of the album where we saw the man desperately hollering for human contact and merely echos responding, except now someone finally answered, and he is finally ready to open up and share his story.

Brithoven

Even though this song is sung by a single person i choose to take it as a dialog between the couple, both of them sharing their regrets about their relationship with each other, her recriminating the fact that she couldnt have known what he was going through “oh baby bay, how was i supposed to know, that something wasnt right here” and him finally admitting that he needs help “My loneliness is killing me”.

Finally they both agree to try it again and give their relationship a second chance “hit me baby one more time”

Ain’t

Part of me is conflicted about this song, i kind of want to disregard it, mainly because i think its kind of a weird way to end an album and also because i just dont feel is a very good mashup really. The lyrics dont mix that well with the song, they are paced in an inconsistent way and overall feel like they never truly click. On top of that it just doesnt fit at all with the narrative that i have been building during this analysis.

There is talk about alcoholism and parent abandoment, this time by the father, a figure that was never mentioned during the album. The last line says “say it aint so” which doesnt particularly seem to reflect on any of the themes i’ve been building upon. Ultimately i think i will just leave it besides and be content that i managed to fit almost all of the album into one story, this process was never meant to be a perfect dissection of the carefully planned story that neil deliberately crafted but rather me having fun seeing pictures in a rorshach test.

So anyway that was Mouth dreams, let me know what you thought.

[megashadowdragon]

why ben solo deserved better

comments on youtube: 

You may think Ben Solo did not deserve mercy, but let's all remember this is a FICTIONAL universe and fictional characters. It's ok to indulge in wishful thinking, even if Ben would not be received with welcome arms on Earth even after his redemption. Dealing with a complicated character like that and trying to find a way to give him a future in the story is hard, I will admit. It's hard to know where someone's role in society is after they've betrayed and murdered since our answer usually ends in their execution or incarceration. But imagine an ending where Ben Solo is willing to answer for his crimes, Rey contends for him, and the future of the galaxy has hope. What we were given was NOT hope. Ben Solo simply deserved a better ending than he was given. He wasn't a soulless monster like Palpatine. He had remorse. He hesitated. His anger was fueled by his mistreatment and feelings of abandonment from his family. Comment below and tell me why/why not Ben Solo deserved a better ending. Even if you don't agree, do you think his abrupt death was satisfying?

I agree with a lot of your points. He 100% should have survived and it doesn't make any sense to me that they killed him off. Ben should have been given a chance to live and atone, he could've spent the rest of his life being a better man, despite other people scorning him at first. Ben and Rey are so powerful - they are stronger together and could've helped so many people in the galaxy. Surely there would still be pockets of the First Order out there - or whole planets of innocent people still enslaved that need their help. ( I have to point out that it was never clarified how many people knew kylo ren was ben solo and its quite likely that  only a small group knew ben was kylo ren so you wouldnt even need to consider the galaxy at wholes reaction for they could just claim kylo ren was dead while ben solo was still alive  (people didnt know anakin was vader for years )   and poe in resistance reborn talked about ex imperials atoning for their actions so  poe and the people who knew ben was kylo ren would be willing to accept ben   coming back and atoning for his  actions  . no prison  or exile  he would ahve a happy ending  with rey on naboo the place where anakin and padme would have raised luke and leia anidala being torn apart was the original sin  ) ( I am sick and tired of redemption equals death it sends the message that if you mess  up and go down the wrong path the only out is death that the most you can expect is finding a cause to die for its bs the notion that he had to die is bs

“the redemption = death bs doesnt give hope to anyone its like if you mess up you cant just make up for it

 ben deserved better because in the 30 years he lived he wanst truly happy and calm until his last 20 seconds of his life”

Western story writers and directors are too set on the idea of redemption of villains through death, it's an unhealthy all too common message I don't agree with, Vader's sacrifice meant something because he saved his son, but what about Leia? What does her sacrifice mean? Why is the final shot just a lone Rey in the desert with a robot? I'll never understand these decisions, it just doesn't work.

The whole Rey replaces Ben in the Skywalker line is just disgusting. Ben was "bad" so he didn't deserve the name but Rey is perfectly "good" so she does? Kids, if you ever do anything bad watch out because your family will find a good kid, replace you, and act like you never existed. Love Disney for that message.

. There’s a clear reverse Anakin/Padme thing going on for me as is. I just think they could have gone for that full reversal, where Ben lives instead of dies like Anakin essentially did when he became Vader. And then I’m always reminded of how little Ani wanted to “free the slaves” ... and while he didn’t have to take that literal route, atonement, or working to break broken systems, would have been a wonderful close to that part of the story as well. I thought it would be nice to tie his and Finn’s stories together a little in that regard.

I don't think they ever understood what they had story wise or character wise.  I don't think they ever knew what message these movies were supposed to have. TROS kept making strange story decisions without thinking through their implications.  With regard to Ben Solo, they give us two fake deaths after multiple characters sacrificed themselves for him, then kill him off for real.  That's the kind nonsense you find in the D-grade movies mocked on MST3K, not a Star Wars film.  Worse yet, they offer the audience no catharsis for Ben's death.  It happens suddenly; Rey had already given her "life force" to both the giant snake and Kylo/Ben and she's fine.  So the audience doesn't expect Ben to die when he gives his "life force" to her.  Then after his sudden death, he's not mourned.  Rey barely reacts.  He's not mentioned and his sacrifice is never discussed.  Then we don't even see his Force ghost.  The air got sucked out of the movie and it just ends with a thud.  It's like if Titanic had ended with Rose saying, "Oh well, I guess I'll just marry Cal" and it's "The End."

Ben Solo definitely deserved better & I truly thought we would get a happily ever after, a reversal of Anakin & Padme’s fate. I also thought the stormtroopers would side with the Resistance & that the reason Leia’s allies didn’t respond at the end of TLJ was because most were disguised as stormtroopers & mingled among the First Order. 🤡  I think the Skywalker saga has ended but the Solo saga will continue. 🤞🏻 The majority of fans LOVE Kylo/Ben and that’s a fact. The general audience loved & rooted for him without ever knowing his heartbreaking backstory & that he had been targeted by Palpatine from conception. Let’s hope Disney/Lf has an ace up their sleeve.

I actually thought Ben was going to live because JJ kept marketing the film as being happy, uplifting, hopeful, and Ben's arc being "fun." In 2015 he called Star Wars a "fairytale."  I had been waiting for Ben to reunite with his mother since 2015 & since 2017 to end up with Rey. Neither really happens because Ben dies, thus turning Star Wars into a tragedy that pretends it's not. We didn't even get a mother/som forceghost visual reunion as a "consolation prize". I was so sure we'd get an actual living redemption arc because I thought forgiveness and the healing of the family was their intention , but nope, just a complete annihilation of the Skywalker family. I left IX feeling depressed for all of Christmas break. ...And don't even get me started on the retcon of TLJ's Rey Nobody background setup and theme.Show less

You have to ask yourself this when thinking of Ben and Anakin. If Anakin fell to the dark side because he had an unhealthy selfish love for Padme but Ben rose from the dark side because he had a healthy selfless love for Rey. What message does it send to have both characters have the same fate when it comes to being with the women they love? (Split apart) What's the point of the saga if nothing anyone does means anything? JJ and Chris failed to ask themselves these important questions.

the theme of the original trilogy was love, hope, family, forgiveness, redemption 

lucas described the star wars as a space fairy tale soap opera    about love, family , hope forgiveness, redemption  the skywalker saga is a family saga about the skywalker family killing off ben breaks that for it ends the saga in tragedy where every last skywalker has died   the line has ended palpatine won bens abusers won 

george lucas quote about story being a family-oriented fairytale of hope, love and redemption (not to mention he hates killing anyone unnecessarily bens death wasnt necessary and goes against star wars themes

George Lucas: *talks for forty years about fairy tales and HEAs and not wanting to kill characters

( this is why lucas didnt kill any of the main cast be they the trio or otherwise and chewbacc killing off ( killing off ben goes against that ( ben was a mc he was part of the narrative trio ( no matter how many antis try to claim otherwise and claim it was rey finn and poe when no ) or act like bendemption wasnt set up from day one.  ( ben, rey, and finn were all main characters

on the comparison  between benVader died as a middle-aged man in ill health with two living children who would carry on in the light after a golden period in his life where he was a prosperous jedi knight, Ben died a healthy 30-year-old with no family or good phase in his life, plus Vader's sacrifice was instrumental in his redemption while Ben's sacrifice happened after redemption out of narrative contrivance, they are not the same

@emeraldspiral

@a-manda-lorian

@frumfrumfroo

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Comparing RWBY and YGO DM: The Handling and Evolution of Themes

Hey! Its been a hot minute since I last posted anything RWBY-related but Im laying in my bed right now and Im sick and bored so I guess we're doing this. Today I will do my best to analyze what I percieve to be the main themes and messages of both of these shows, or more specifically, how theyre handled narratively. Im mostly focusing on that part because, while these series do have similar themes and messaging, they are still a few things in which they are wildly different. And with that, lets start with this essay-post-thing!

1. Theres something we need to adress first

Okay so, before we can really talk about this, theres something I feel the need to clarify here: Neither of these stories was "planned from the beginning".

Now, I dont think a story being planned from the beginning or not nesscessarily makes the story any better or worse by default, however, it is still important to acknowledge because the way the story is planned is going to affect every facet of it. Things are not going to be foreshadowed properly, things are gonna be set up only for nothing to come of it, the story might drastically change directions, characters might act differently, etc, etc.

And, this is bit off-topic but, it's much better to just admit that the story was not planned than trying to pretend that it was. Like, there are a lot of reasons why I tend to be so forgiving towards YGO even though its not very good, but one of them is definitely the fact that, as far as Im aware atleast, the guy who wrote it isnt pretending to have had this big master plan all along and neither is the fandom. With RWBY on the other hand... yeaaaah, its kinda the opposite. From what Ive seen of RWBYs fandom, there seems to be this pretty popular narrative that everything was planned even though it clearly wasnt. Thats pretty bad and honestly lowers my opinion of the writers so much more than if they would just admit to not having a proper plan.

Like, I initially consumed YGO like this: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh (aka Season 0), like, a quarter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (I still havent finished it)

In all three of these we have the character of Yami Yuugi, or just Yami. Broadly speaking, he is an ancient egyptian gamer spirit who lives in a magical puzzle that has not been solved for 3000 years until this highschooler named Yuugi Mutou comes along and solves it, thus setting him free and allowing him to possess Yuugi and have access to the vague magical powers of the puzzle.

In Duel Monsters he's perfectly fine most of time, morally speaking. There is an instance of him almost murdering a guy and its a bit unclear what exactly happens to those he mindcrushes but overall he's very much a pretty good guy. In Season 0 most of what he does is set up these games for bad people, where they will go insane no matter what they do. From how I understand this whole Shadow Game, Penalty Game stuff, if you lose a Shadow Game, you get violent and intense hallucinations and you will always cuz yknow, gamer spirit. But if you try to cheat, which most of the bad people do in this show, you get violent and intense hallucinations as a punishment.

Since the two anime are generally considered two different continuities, its perfectly fine that Yamis characterization is wildly different in both of them. But in the manga both of these characterizations appear, basically one after the other with no real arc or consequences, for that matter. Why is that? Simply put, someone thought it was a good idea to try to turn an episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror manga into a more traditional, more plot-driven battle shounen. From what Ive heard, it was apparently largely because of network interference or something, but the point is, it changed directions incredibly drastically with little planning and everyone knows this and I can understand that for the most part.

In RWBY we have the character of Blake Belladonna, who, in the first 3 volumes/seasons atleast, was this aloof, more toned down loner-type character with a pretty strong sense of justice. She's an in-universe marginilized racial minority and she clearly cares about racial injustice. The way its initially framed makes it seem like she had a very hard life and no stable support system, which is what eventually pushed her to join a Civil Rights group/Terrorist organization (good god, the Faunus subplot is so awful, I could write a whole essay about it but Im already de-railing rn so I'll just save that for later).

Then, in volumes 4-5 it turns out her father is actually like, the mayor or chief of this island-place called Menagerie and she grew up in this big mansion with multiple guards/servants. Oh and also, apparently "space is a commodity" on there, so theres that. She still retains large parts of her personality but she's kinda like, worse somehow I think. I cant really describe it in a meaningful way but I hope you get what Im saying anyway. Then in Volume 6 she confronted her emotional abuser Adam (sorry for not mentioning him sooner but yeah, he was like, her abusive boyfriend, which is something that a lot of people disagree with but I wont really say anything about it either way because I dont really feel any specific way) with her friend, Yang, and ended up killing him.

After all that, she pretty much lost the rest of her personality, as well as her arc about all the Faunus stuff. She just kinda became the meek, generically nice, recovering abuse victim. Why? Well, the actual reason is that they didnt plan out shit and are just kinda flying by the seat of their oversized clown-pants and if they and the fandom just admitted it, I would have less of an issue. I still wouldnt be as forgiving towards RWBY as I am towards YGO because the crux of the issue, for me, is just that I dont particulary like RWBY but also like. Do you really expect me to take MKEK seriously as writers after admitting to not have a timeline because iT wOuLd CaUsE pLoThOlEs?

However, since they want us to believe that everything was planned out from the beginning, the explaination would be.... Idk, they deliberately butchered one of their main characters?? Because.. they hate her?? Maybe????

So yeah, that was quite a detour however, I would like you to keep this mind going forward.

2. Themes of the Early Series'

First, what do mean by 'Early Series' for both of these shows respectively? Well, for YGO that would have to be Season 0 or if youre reading the manga, everything pre-Duelist Kingdom. Basically, the part of the series thats a episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror series.

For RWBY that would be the first three Volumes, also known as the Poser-Era. Back then it was just kinda an action series that took place at Anime Warrior Academy (also known as Beacon) with some pretty bare minimum worldbuilding, character-driven plots and developments but now its more of an epic high-fantasy story with more of an emphasis on plot as opposed to just action.

The themes and messages in Early YGO are kinda vague, very confusing to me and if you were to follow any of it literally that would be pretty bad. For now Im just gonna say the main themes are Friendship and Identity and mostly focus on the Identity aspect.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out RWBYs deal but I think the main themes for Volumes 1-3 are also Friendship and Heroism. Once again, I'll mostly focus on Heroism and touch on Friendship more briefly later.

I dont have much more to add to YGOs themes right now, so I'll briefly go over Heroism in RWBY.

In RWBYs setting there are these man-eating monsters called Grimm that have basically infected the planet. In order to deal with that, they have people called huntsmen and huntresses that kill them and protect people. Theyre trained at special academies like Beacon and go on missions there and stuff like that. Our four main characters, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, are training to become huntresses and one day they go on this mission to clean up a grimm infested city block with one of their teachers. Obviously, that takes a long time so they have to camp out in one of the empty houses. Weiss, Blake and Yang cant sleep because theyve been thinking about this question that their teacher asked them when they were fighting grimm: "Why do you want to become a huntress?"

They have a heart to heart and we find out about their motivations; Weiss wants to bring honour back to her family, Blake want to distance herself from the White Fang (that terrorist organization I mentioned earlier) and as an extension from Adam, Yang wants to have a life of adventure. They also talk about why Ruby wants to be a huntress and it turns out that she judt wants to help people. Unlike the others, she has no motivation besides that. We're meant to listen to that and look at her as a sort-of personification of Heroism: kind, but not naive, strong and most of all, selfless. The others on her team are not portayed as bad for not being like Ruby by any means but we are clearly meant to admire her the most out of all of them.

Okay, now comes the part Ive been looking forward to the most:

3. How did these themes evolve in the Modern Series'?

Alright, before we can really delve into the way they evolved in YGO I'll have to give you a brief summary of the character progression. At the start of DM, during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Yuugi is just that; A darker Yuugi. Hes more confident, bolder, his voice is deeper, hes somehow taller, more ruthless, all that good stuff. Notably, he doesnt actually seem more skilled than Yuugi even at the start of this story, but he's still dependent on Yami. Yami on the other hand, has no identity of his own or even hints at one at this point. He's just The Other Yuugi.

Then during the Battle City arc, they find out that Yami was actually a pharao prior to being sealed in the puzzle, he just didnt know because of amnesia, I guess. So now they need to find out his real name and then send him to the afterlife because hes meant to be dead, but not before saving the world from being swallowed by darkness, which is also a thing they have to do now.

Then we finally get to the Memory World arc, where Yami, Yuugi and the rest of the gang astralproject to ancient egypt via puzzle magic. Yami is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who all these familiar people are, while Yuugi & Co are trying their best to help him. Then some weird shit happens and it turns out that all of that is not just Yamis sealed away memories, but also a giant D&D Shadow Game that will destroy the world if Yami loses. So now theres Pharao!Yami who is still clueless on the metaphorical and literal playing field and Player!Yami, who is kinda controlling himself now? I guess?? Yamis opponent, The Spirit of The Ring, has something similar to that going on where hes both controlling and properly participating in the game. So Player!Yami is now fighting against Player!TSoTR, Pharao!Yami is now fighting against Thief King Bakura (who is like, the human, ancient egyptian version of the Ring Spirit) and Yuugi is now fighting against Yami Bakura (who is like, the human, modern japanese version of the Ring Spirit). Yuugi gets Yamis real name, he and the gang go over to Pharao!Yami and tell him his name, meanwhile Player!Yami is also somehow helping as well and they defeat the Ring Spirit, thus saving the world. Then they travel to modern Egypt, the Ceremonial Duel happens and Yuugi wins, sending Yami to the Afterlife where he can finally rest and that was the series!

I originally wanted to recount the stuff that was going on with the Ring Spirit and his host as well because they parallel eachother, but this summary is already far too long and I think youll get the point without me needing to explain any more.

My point here is, that the story went from being vaguely about Identity, maybe? to being very clearly about Self-Discovery and Learning to Be Independent. I think this is a very good way to evolve the messaging of your story. How does RWBY track on that?

Well, uh... its not great. I will acknowledge that they have tried to introduce new themes and ideas since, even though I wont really be talking about them in this post. But yeah, the whole Heroism thing really regressed.

Like, I didnt explicitly say it when I was explaining grimm earlier, but theyre not going away. The grimm have always been there and people who sign up to become huntsmen and huntresses are effectively signing up for a job that will never truly be done, no matter what they do. Characters like Ruby and even more minor ones like Phyrrah have shown us that that doesnt matter when youre a hero. No life isnt worth saving, no grimm isnt worth killing, no criminal isnt worth arresting. Then, in volume 6 they find out about Salem. Salem is the Big Bad of the show, shes immortal, controls the grimm and is supposed to be very powerful.

What do our heroes do? They give up. Sike! They were just mindcontrolled by monsters or some shit, of course they didnt give up their mission (which is to bring an Important Macguffin to a city called Atlas, sorry I didnt mention it)!

But then they arrive in Atlas (which is llike, a city thats floating over another city called Mantle) and yknow, they do some plot stuff thats not really important right now until the city gets invaded by Salem and this big grimm army she has.

What do our heroes do? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and some side characters are chilling, drinking tea in a mansion and Yang and the B Team were actually trying to do something, but even those efforts seem incredibly minimal.

Oh wait, I also forgot to mention that Ironwood (a fairly minor, vaguely antagonistic character up until now) wanted to lift Atlas even higher to save Atleasian civilians from danger while leaving Mantle vulnerable to Salems invasion.

What would be the most heroic thing to do?

A) Let Ironwood lift Atlas, get as much support as they can down to Mantle and save as many Mantle civilians as they can from the invasion

B) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas but then split up in order to protect both Atlas and Mantle civilians

C) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas and then dont do anything else

Congrats! If you choose C, you think exactly like the writers!

And I just

This is so mindboggling to me, I feel like I shouldnt even have explain how this is bad. And like, it wouldve been so easy to actually make them seem herokc through their actions, to make it seem like they did try but no.

I have never seen a central theme be this botched, how in the world did they do that? Why did they think it was a good idea for Ruby "The Embodiment of Heroism" Rose to sit in a mansion doing nothing, no planning, no organizing just ..... God, how are they this bad? Like, this doesnt even have anything to do with it being planned in any way, this is just straight up incompetence

4. Very briefly touching on friendship

The friendship is awful and its not solely because they all have the same opinions. They barely interact with eachother outside their designated pairs which leads to it all feeling incredibly hollow. Theyre also practically indistingushable from one another now, which is a shame because it wasnt always like that. Like, I dont think the characters were that well-developed in earlier volumes but they were very well-characterized. But now we've gotten to a point where you can literally copy and paste one characters dialogue onto another and literally nothing changes, it really sucks.

5. Some closing words

Damn, this took way longer than I thought it would and now Im pretty exhausted. I have no idea how yall always write these but props to you! I feel like this ended up a bit rambly but overall, Im pretty proud.

Please let me know what you think of the points I brought up! Id also really appreciate some tips on how to get better at these longer posts because I am planning on writing more in the future (not the near future, probably but yknow).

Thats all I have to say for now, thanks for reading!