#but finally I have a theory that makes sense for those old leaked designs

[veryloovy]

Nori's Killer Alt Theory

Now hear me out, this is an insane theory here but the logic actually works out. The acid that killed Nori? That could've been her own acid, NOW HEAR ME OUT. Read below.

So first off, Solver transformations. For Workers, these traits can be wildly different. Cyn is the odd one out since she has a centipede form, so let's instead get into Uzi and V. Uzi gets wings and a tail while V gets wings and a claw.

Wings seem over-represented here, but not so when you look back on these old "leaked" designs. We see what seems to be a red or purple Worker with what seems to be DD-style tail and claws. This design could have been changed at some point in the process, so the DD style may have been swapped out for the flesh look (not uncommon since Nori and Alice have previous old designs we know of).

And regardless of if this Nori or not, Nori having a Solver transformation isn't off the table here because, well, she DOES have one.

And it's these super DD-style Cyn-esque claws and whatnot. We know at some point Nori was controlled by the Solver and ended up nearly blowing up the planet. She seemed otherwise unaffected up until at some point after she and Khan had Uzi that she became "crazy". This was, in all likeliness, the Solver trying to regain control of her. She gets visions of the DDs arriving to Copper-9 which is something only the Solver would know since it was the one who sent them in the first place.

So what does Nori do? She panics and does everything in her power to prevent this from happening. She begs Khan to build doors to keep the incoming Disassembly Drones away from the bunker. It's all she can do to protect her family because the very powers that could save them could also just make things worse. Using the Solver too much makes it easier to be controlled.

"So wait where does the acid come into play?"

Now actually.

So we actually don't know yet what exactly the flesh tails produce for their injectors. So if Nori had this style tail, she would still be able to produce some sort of fluid to hunt with. Uzi seems to use it on Emily to paralyze her (she's not scared in Uzi's grasp, she's out of it until Uzi kills her. No other explanation for this).

"But the acid was yellow"

HERE we go. So accents on Solver forms relate to what color the drone lights are at the moment. Case in point, V. As a Worker, her lights are naturally white, but under control of the Solver they are instead yellow. Her Solver form under the control of the Solver keeps the new yellow color for her wing's accents and her claw's eye color instead of the white they should be (like the primary color of her wings and claw). Uzi has not been under the control of the Solver during her transformations so far, so they keep their natural purple coloration for both the primary "flesh" tones and the accents (eyes?) but SPECIFICALLY for this next bit, her tail also has her natural purple coloration which includes her acid as seen in the concept art.

If Nori experienced control under the Solver again, her transformation would have given her yellow accents instead of purple, which means her acid would've been yellow too.

Her own acid could've done her in, and let me explain this. The Solver regains control of her, but not for long. The last time this happened, the planet nearly blew up. Nori has regained control of her body, and she's terrified. She's a danger not just to her family, but to the entire world. She stabs herself with her own acid to prevent the Solver from doing anything else. She begs Khan to get it over with, and he reluctantly obliges. The whole thing is blamed on the Disassemblers since that's the only explanation Nori can give to Khan, or that Khan can give to Uzi. After all, those are the only things that have yellow acid, right?

And I think that's delightfully messed up. Two generations of the Doorman family locked into this same messed up situation with this eldritch entity. N is already being told that he should mercy kill Uzi, the same fate Khan has told Uzi is what he had to do to her mom. Going full circle, Uzi learning what happened to her mom and deciding that it's probably the same decision she should make to protect everyone she cares about... ohhhh boy that would HURT.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) for Uzi, she can't use acid on herself because the very dude fated to kill her, her best friend, her crush, all that - is one of the few characters who can prevent that from happening.

Which means they would have to talk about this again if that happened lol ;-;

[hohoz]

How RE Village (8) SOLVED almost every problem that I had with RE Series

Okay - a few weeks ago I made a post that was “The ones that suffer the most” where I showed and explained my main problems with Chris and Jill and the RE series in general 

RE 1 is my fav game of this series and probably one of my all time favs, I player every RE there is to be played except 4 (because I dislike Leon, sry) 

Recently, specially after 4, the franchise had a few problems, specially in writing/map design/lore 

Resident evil 5 for example (I love this game) but it has it flaws, Chris there is only driven by anger and action - Sheva is used as a tool for lore exposition and to be Chris’s new partner 

PLEASE: be aware that game at that generation didn’t have much lore - with some exceptions, like God of War 1 2 3 were a simply game with a simple lore, and the most recent GoW has evolved a little bit in the storytelling

Until we hit rock bottom in RE6 - I know a lot of people like this game, but this is only and action game, bad writing and generic stages. 

Chris there is so mistreated that makes me mad (if you want to read more about this go to my other post “the ones that suffer the most”)

Until RE7 appeared, Capcom had a new engine and they wanted to do a game that was more horror like - since RE is know for being a Survival horror game.

I liked 7 - some people complained about Ethan being without emotion and others complained about the mold, a few didn’t like the FEAR vibes from Eveline. 

I personally enjoyed the game, I thought RE series was going back on track, that game has it’s problems but it was really nice compared to what we had in 6.

After that game I had a conversation with my best friend and I said that I wanted a game that portrayed Umbrella’s fall since the only game that shows this is Umbrellas Chronicles (and that is most a resume of what happened)

And I said: “Bro, I wish that when they made that game, they could tie some mythological lore and human evolution before Umbrella - using Spencer, this would solve LOT OF STUFF and open new ways to handle this series”

and guess what - this happened in RE8 and kudos to the one writer that did that, i have my gratitude. 

RESIDENT EVIL 8 is probably one of the BEST RE games that we had IN YEARS

And I want to address all thing that I loved in this game and do some predictions to what will happen in the next games.

“WELL WELL IF IT ISN’T ETHAN WINTERS” (The Father of the year)

My father was not a great guy... really, so I want to be the best dad ever, I really want be like Ethan - a guy who is ready to sacrifice and fight every monster in the way to save my family. 

Ethan was a character that in RE7 was used to make us fell like that it was us in the Baker’s house, so that is why he didn’t had that much personality (in my opinion) but they changed that in RE8, here he has nice dialogues AND a diary 

He has one of the best story line in the whole REverse, a guy that did EVERYTHING in his power to save his daughter - and you saw that playing the game, every sentence line that he delivered, he tried to save others too and even tho Chris said to him stay put ... but he couldn’t, he had to go to the altar, he had to help Chris, he had to go forward and keep going, specially after having the tools to face Heisenberg. 

The plea from a father, that was his last wish, after he heard that Mia was alive he knew that someone had to stop that monster, he made a promise to his daughter “Daddy won’t let those weird fairy tale monsters get you” so he trusted Chris, to be the one that teaches his kid how to be brave and strong

I will not address Chris and Rose situation here because this is Ethans part and he deserves completely all the spotlight, his sacrifice was 100x times better than Steve (CV)/Piers(6)

My cheers to Ethan Winters - You have my respect !

Revelations -> RE8 

So leaks from earlier times said that RE8 sucked and Revelations 3 was amazing

Revelations FYI is know for using old tales in RE stories 

Revelations 1 - Dante’s Inferno 

Revelations 2 - Frans Kafka 

Revelations 3 - Dracula 

But since RE8 sucked, Capcom said to the REV3 team that they could make REV3 become RE8 and they accepted 

Revelations series is one of the best in the games, they handle Jill in a way that I love, Claire and even Barry - so they deserve all the spotlight for making this awesome game - you CLEARLY can see that they love this series and that they treat all the characters with the love that they deserve. 

Keeping that in mind, they are the same team that made Rev 2 and in REV 2 we have this file here 

So they had a plan for Jill and we can see that in RE8 - I will address that later but keep that in mind - this team cares for the old characters, they were the ones that brought Barry back to the games :V 

Chris Redfield 

This is a hard one, because he is my fav character and I usually have the most critics regard him, since I’ve expect a lot from Capcom 

In the latest games they made him kind dumb, only muscles type of guy and an alcoholic that let all the people in his surroundings die (RE5,RE6,Vendetta) 

RE6 treats him the WORST

But in RE8 he had an amazing part in the storyline, it was obvious that he wasn’t evil and they FIXED HIS EYE COLOR - FINALLY 

I still don’t like the model face that much but it’s way better than 7 - so I believe Capcom, I still feel that he need more jawline 

But let’s go to the most important thing - here he really feels like a squad leader and a veteran, he has his team but he is the one in the front line, he covers and ask for help when he needs, everything about his line delivery makes you feel like “Woah, this guy is a badass, he is not some stupid guy only driven by emotions”

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FINALLY GETTING THIS RIGHT 

If you remember my post about the ones that suffer the most / Jill is also in that list and I will talk about her a little bit later but if my guess is right RE8 saved her character aswell

Another thing that I enjoyed here is the fact that he is kind of a mercenary / Neo Umbrella kind of guy, even tho he is one of the founders of the BSAA

So I will give you all my score to this game: 

9/10

I won’t give 10/10 because of some technical issues, the cursor lock didn’t work and mouse sensitivity was i dunno, not the best. 

RE8 and the future (PREDICTIONS)  - Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, BSAA, Neo Umbrella, Ada Wong and Rosemary

First let’s look Rose

The first time I saw Rose all grown up - I thought to myself : She has the same problem as Eveline (age a lot faster than normal) 

But she also absorbed Miranda’s power since the metalicite (something like this) thought that she was a better host. - so maybe she will live longer or something because I doubt that they will do a 14 years time skip. 

This is not the same as Terra Save logo (Claire’s job) but it kind reminds me of it - her shoes appeared at least 3 times in this cut scene so maybe they are trying to show some hints with this 

She really reminds me of Jodie (Beyond two souls, a game where a girl has a lot of power and the gov uses her in missions and stuff, but she also is learning how to be her own person) 

Another thing here is that they don’t have a logo in this car, it really reminds me the car that Chris as using in RE8 

This supports the theory that Chris’s organization is dealing with her instead of the BSAA, the she is a hot headed girl and that she had a lot of powers. 

So here you can say that she is just a kid because she is a teenager, but what if she actually grows older really fast (like Eveline) maybe this is just 1 year later / 2 yrs later. (after RE8)

So this is the tricky part, this is Chris’s guard/soldier, someone that Chris trust to stand by her side, in my mind I do believe that Chris is kind of a father figure to her, so when this guys says this he is thinking about hot head Chris but she replies “Yeah” thinking about Ethan - (she has the mold memories, so she can actually remember Ethan’s memories) 

Now let’s look at this 

BSAA 

So in REV1 is hinted that BSAA is not the best organization in the world, but since our heroes work there we think that they are the good guys right ? 

In REV 2 (it’s important to remember that the team that created RE8 is the same from the REVELATIONS and they had this file here in REV2)

This email is from Jill and what does Jill have ? T-Virus 

Wesker is a different case since he was a project and she had the vaccine but this would make a lot of sense if they had this tests with Jill to get the T-Virus

If that is the case, they explained Jill’s absence in the main games, could even explain why Chris left BSAA and opened a new window to a lot of possibilities 

My Predictions: 

- Chris had trouble dealing with BSAA and Jill’s case, he wanted to get her out of there, maybe he removed her from there but that resulted in him being expelled from the force

-Jill may or may not know what they are doing with her blood, but she will have a huge part in the BOW used by BSAA 

-Chris is married to Jill (sorry- I had to place this here, in a perfect world he has two kids with her and they all love aunt Rose) 

-Chris will hopefully be a father figure to Rose and they will be in a game together since in the end they came to get her

-Rebecca is still involved in BSAA activities (leak from new REV3) if you consider Vendetta canon, she maybe the one that used Jill’s sample of blood to create the virus soldiers

-Barry maybe retired 

-I don’t think Leon will be in this game, but he will get his RE4 Rmk 

- I do believe RE9 will be release after Code veronica rmk and MAYBE they will do a game about Umbrella’s Fall (Chris and Jill in Europe against Red Queen and BOWs) 

But that is it, you can see a lot of elements from old RE games in RE8, they tried to do something really smart and the game felt amazing to play, that was something else and it’s been a while since a player a RE game that made me feel that way <3

[sarahjtv]

BNHA Chapter 312 Spoiler Analysis: Hero Turned Assassin

It’s Friday, my dudes!  That means the leaks for the new chapter is out!  This time, we’re focusing on our new lady assassin villain who we ended with last week.  Ngl, I love her design and concept.  I actually wouldn’t mind if she stepped on me 😳  All that aside, this was a damn good chapter, but I really hope Deku’s going to be ok taking her on by himself:

Alright, the chapter starts off with a little flashback of Hawks talking to Deku as Deku is suiting up to leave Central hospital.  Hawks reassures Deku that he should be ok from AFO and Shigaraki for now since they aren’t at full power yet.  Their best option would be to take Deku in alive rather than dead.  Hawks can only think of one person who might be capable of capturing Deku: the assassin woman.  Turns out, that woman was his senpai back at the Hero Safety Commision and she’s dangerous.

So, as far as we know, Deku’s most likely going to live several more days even if he does get captured.  However, he’s being hunted down by a highly skilled assassin who was also Hawk’s senpai back in the day.  The fact that Hawks of all people is warning Deku to run away from her if he can say something about her skills.  I can only guess how good her skills are, but I’d say they’re probably somewhere in the S-tier range if Hawks is afraid of her.

The next couple of pages help properly introduce our new villain: Lady Nagant!  A few points here: 1. The bullet is made from her hair which is colored dark blue and pink.  I personally love those two colors, so I’m glad to see that color scheme used on her.  Also hair bullets is such a great concept, 2. That rifle is definitely coming from her elbow which she can bring out and retract at will, which is badass as hell, 3. I looked up the word “Nagant” and it’s actually type of (Russian?) gun that ranges from a 7-shot revolver to a sniper rifle, so that’s a good Villain name for her, 4. She was a former hero under the Safety Commision who decided to go to the dark side for some reason.  Like, did she see the bad side of Hero Society and that caused her to change?  Did she see something in Villainy that caused her to change her POV?  I want to know what?, 5. Again, love her design like hoo boy, Horikoshi snapped with her. 

So, Deku’s on the run from her and he is completely on his own now that his phone is broken.  He doesn’t even know what happened to All Might 😭!  He’s also afraid that All Might and Hawks will be targeted by her.  Deku’s debating wheaher he should run or face Nagant face on.  With someone like Muscular, I wasn’t worried about Deku because he’s not only improved a lot since last time, but he’s taken on Muscular before so he knew what he was fighting.  But, this is a brand-new villain.  Not much is known about her and Deku has never fought her before.  I’d say run, but someone has to take her out.  Maybe Hawks will swoop in and have a reunion with his senpai.  Though, he doesn’t have wings now, so I’m not sure what he can really do against her besides have a chat…

And Deku is shot!  Not fatally thank god, but he did get hit.  Turns out Lady Nagant can actually curve her shots.  Even Deku’s Danger Sense couldn’t detect it in time good lord.  So she can just straight up made bullets that can curve too that is absolutely insane.  Any marksman would be jealous of her.  

Fun Fact of the Day: Based on Horikoshi-sensei’s comment of the week, Lady Nagant and her curve bullet are actually based off the 2008 film Wanted staring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie (he even thanked Ms. Jolie!)!  I decided to IMDB the film to see if I remembered it and it turns out that I have actually seen a little of it before.  You know that gif of McAvoy smacking Chris Pratt’s face with a keyboard and the loose keys spell out “Fuck You”?  Yeah, that’s from Wanted.  Also, the curved bullet Horikoshi is talking about is when Jolie manages to “curve” a bullet enough to kill a group of assassins who were standing in a circle.  Look, I don’t know if physics can actually make that work in real life, but I’ll be damned if that doesn’t sound badass.

Back to the story, we have a bit of flashback to an old TV special that interviewed 100 active Noteworthy Heroes.  The 25th Pro Hero being interview is none other than Snipe, one of UA’s teachers!  It’s been a hot couple of years since we’ve seen him around.  Actually, we don’t even know if he’s alive…  Let’s assume he is and continue with the story.

Anyway, Snipe was having some good friendly competition in the Long-Range sniping with Lady Nagant back in the day.  He explains while his Quirk, “Homing” allows him to lock-on to anyone within a 600 Meter range, he can’t choose where his attack hits and the hit isn’t that powerful (Shigaraki could’ve actually gotten killed back in the USJ if Snipe wasn’t careful enough damn).  Lady Nagant, on the other hand, has a range of 3 Kilometers with insane accuracy.  I did some quick calculations and it turns out that 3KM = 3,000M!  That’s 5 times farther than what Snipe can do.  That is absolutely nuts!

Lady Nagant’s Quirk is called “Rifle”!  Turns out that the secret lies in her bullets made out of hair.  When she mixes her duel colored hair, it works like epoxy putty.  Epoxy putty is a substance that hardens over time.  It’s normally used as a seal for cracks and holes, and it’s both highly-resistant and unshrinkable when hardened.  So, when Lady Nagant pulls strands out of her hair to mix and mould them, she can harden that hair into a bullet which explains the dark blue and pink fibers in the speaker bullet she fired at Deku’s phone.  Apparently, she can make any kind of bullet she wants ranging from hollow bullets to curved bullets.  She can then load and fire those bullets from her rifle into her right arm.  God, there’s so much potential for a Quirk like this.  The only limit I can think of for this Quirk is if she runs out of hair for bullets similar to how if Ibara Shiozaki from Class 1-B (or 2-B now I guess) would run out of hair to use her Vines.  I wonder if Lady Nagant using her hair so much is the reason why it’s shorter now than when she was a hero.

I gotta say, I think this is one of the coolest and unique Quirks Horikoshi has come up with in a while.  It’s just so unique and imaginative!  I don’t think I could ever come up with an idea like this.  I like that her Quirk is almost like a 2-in-1 thing: the putty hair and the rifle in her arm.  They’re both different functions that work in tandem together.  I also love Nagant hero outfit!  She was rocking the long ponytail work, had a visor and antenna on her right eye for accuracy, and a belt holding her hair bullets.  She’s also freakin’ stacked as hell, but I’ll let this one slide because her design is so freaking great.  

Back to the present, Deku managed to catch the bullet, but his left gauntlet has been damaged.  So, it looks like Deku won’t be punching with his left arm unless All Might has some backup Mid-Gauntlets.  Thankfully he’s found out where Lady Nagant is based on where she shot from just twice.  She’s only about 1KM away and Deku wants to get in closer.  God, Deku is so freaking smart.  I want to know his IQ because it must be insanely high for him to figure out where a trained sniper would be after just 2 bullets.  Nagant also says that Deku’s the first one to deflect 2 of her bullets, so yeah, goddamn Deku!

Now we’re finally getting a look at Overhaul (I’m cool with calling him by his villain name instead of his real name for now btw).  Dude’s broken.  Just completely mentally broken.  I don’t think he even notices Deku.  All he can think about is how he wants to go back to his adoptive father, Eri’s grandfather, the man Overhaul put in a coma.  I thought that Overhaul would be confronting Deku himself, but it looks like he can’t.  Maybe him not being able to get his father out of his coma traumatized him real bad with a lot of guilt.  He probably wants to go back to try to heal his dad.  If he can do that, again, I wonder how now that his Quirk probably functions somewhere else besides his hands.

Anyway, Lady Nagant is kind of protecting Overhaul for now.  She most likely has a plan for him later since she mentions helping Overhaul as soon as she’s done with Deku.  Overhaul would be a useful ally since his Quirk can literally destroy and restore matter both living and non-living.  There’s also that glowing effect on her arm again.  If it’s not a taser like I thought before, then maybe it’s some kind of strength enhancer her Quirk gives her.  That arm gun has to be heavy.  IDK it’s not really explained.  

Flashing back to the Tartarus Prision Break, AFO and his ugly mug are talking to Nagant, calling her the “Traitor Hero” and how it’s an honor to meet her.  Again, Lady Nagant’s skills must be incredibly high enough to be recognize by AFO.  Also, her turning her back on Hero Society must’ve been a big story at the time.

AFO tells Lady Nagant of his plan to capture Deku as he predicted this earlier.  So, either AFO is stupidly good at predicting things or he has a future-sight Quirk like Nighteye had.  I want to say it’s the latter since AFO probably did pick up a Quirk like that sometime in the past.

Lady Nagant originally refused to listen to AFO in a very sassy way LOL!  But, AFO seems to have made a deal with her.  He even mentions that Nagant killed many of her fellow heroes to cause the fall of Pro-Hero Society.  Yeah, killing your fellow colleagues will definitely get you sent straight to Tartarus…  I REALLY need to know what made her turn to the Dark Side Anakin Skywalker style.

Also, personal theory that I highly doubt is true, but I wonder if Lady Nagant is the real “UA Traitor” not any of the students.  If she can make bullets that she can remotely talk through, then she could probably make bullets that can eavesdrop on people.  Maybe she listened in on UA and told the LoV about the training camp.  Or she was locked in Tartarus before then and I’m just projecting my hopes/fears onto her.  That could be it too.

Actually, I just realized that she could probably wrap objects around her bullets and fire them.  So, she probably wrapped a speaker around her hair and that’s how she remotely spoke to Deku.  Eh, she could still wrap some listening device around her hair and eavesdrop that way.  I’m just Pepe Silvia’ing the possibilities of Rifle at this point.

AFO uses Overhaul as an example of someone who became a victim of Pro-Heroes.  This give him enough leverage to make a deal with Lady Nagant.  So, as part of the contract, AFO granted her his Air Walk Quirk!  On paper, a passive Quirk like Air Walk doesn’t seem very useful.  But, this series has proved to us time and time again that passive/support Quirks can be just as/if not more amazing than raw-powered Quirks.  So, a Quirk like Air Walk can get Lady Nagant to so many places for her to fire her bullets.  It’s an incredibly useful Quirk for a sniper.  I do wonder what the limits of it are (because all Quirks have some sort of limitation), but I guess we’ll find that out later.  I really do wonder how Deku’s going to handle Lady Nagant and Overhaul though.  That’s going to be interesting.

Oh boy, that the chapter!  Solid chapter per usual.  Gah, my fingers hurt after typing so much.  I’m glad we got to know more about Lady Nagant!  She was a mystery for weeks, but we finally got some backstory on her.  So, some answers, but a lot of questions are left behind.  I’m actually glad we’re still sticking with Deku so far.  I still want to see Bakugo and Shoto, but we also haven’t gotten a purely Deku-centric arc for a while, so this is good.  Horikoshi truly doesn’t miss!  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be screaming about the next anime episode and Shoto Todoroki sakuga for the next week I will not apologize.         

Me @ Horikoshi every chapter:

Also, this is the Wanted scene I was talking about before:

[stonylovessteve]

SLS 2021 Creator Reveals

We’ve reached the end of the exchange and that means it’s time to reveal the creators of all our works!

Thank you for putting so much love and effort into Stony Loves Steve 2021, you really made it a great experience. We hope everyone loved it as much as we did!

Giftees, be sure to leave a comment and kudos on your gift if you haven’t already. All our creators worked hard to make this event a success, so show them some love.

You can now post your work publicly outside of the exchange. Tag it as #stonylovessteve2021 on tumblr and we’ll reblog you. @ us @stonylovessteve on twitter and we’ll retweet you.

Below the cut is the final list of all the works produced for the exchange and the creators.

Cold as Ice, Warm my Heart by lil_aussie_girl for parkrstark (MCU, 1.5k)

The cold took away one love already, and his greatest fear is that it will do it again - before he has the chance to say those three important words.

Strength Like The Sea/A Familiar Yet Foreign Face by Lacrimula_Falsa for funkyspacegirlfriend (AU, 3k)

There had to be another explanation for the ugly burning feeling in his chest because this wasn’t a rom-com and he’d known Steve for less than a day.

After years of his father fruitlessly searching for one, Tony finally gets to meet a real-life vampire.

· · ·*‒*‒ ‒ ‒*‒ ·*‒ · ‒ ‒

Anthony.

No, not Anthony, because Anthony had crumbled to dust right before his eyes. But this man looked so eerily similar to him, he could have been Anthony’s twin brother. Only the eyes were different, warm brown instead of cold blue. After being woken nearly a century after he went into stasis because the pain of losing his lover Anthony was too much, Steven meets a man who looks just like him.

I Know There is Comfort Where We Overlap by jellybeanforest for ghosthan (Ults, 10k)

As a relic of a bygone era, Steve struggles with feelings of isolation and severe depression made worse by his recent breakup with Jan Pym. He secretly hooks up with random strangers chasing a sense of connection with someone, anyone. Things are going (not) well when he and fellow Ultimate, Iron Man, are tasked with infiltrating a Thai resort serving as a front for illegal arms dealing. Only catch: They must go undercover as a married couple on their honeymoon.

finding steve rogers by jacobby for geekymoviemom (MCU, 6k)

Steve sighs. “Sorry. I wasn’t a very good tour guide. Ma always told me about the town, but she never got into specifics.”

Tony takes Steve’s hand in his and places it close to his lips. “It’s your first time here too. We understand.”

AKA

After a botched mission with SHIELD, Steve takes a vacation with his family to a town in Ireland.

Things are knot as they seem by BladeoftheNebula for DepressingGreenie (AU, 3k)

Everyone assumes Captain America is an alpha and Steve doesn’t see the harm in not correcting them. After all, Alphas command respect while omegas are still considered far too delicate for leadership.

And sure, it sucks hiding his designation when he’s in love with Tony Stark, the hottest alpha he’s ever seen, but what alpha would want an omega who could lift them with one hand?

So it’s fine. It’s not as if anyone was ever going to find out his secret anyway…

A drop of love by CapAL for Perlmutt (AU, Comic)

After sleeping for 70 years Steve wakes up to a world that he doesn’t understand. As an age-old vampire he’s seen a lot of things in his life, but nothing has ever confused him as much as the bubbly Starbucks barista Tony. They meet by chance and Steve stays. He falls for him, even though he knows he shouldn’t, and together they explore modern New York, while Steve tries to hide his true nature from Tony, afraid that he would send him away if he knew the truth.

The Fake Prince and the Cat  by Neverever for Fluffypanda (AU, 5.5k)

Steve is sent in place of Prince Brock to marry the libertine Tony Stark. It's better than he thought it would be, plus he makes friends with a cat.

father to son by parkrstark for HogwartsToAlexandria (MCU, 2.5k)

Steve had been planning on asking Peter to be his son, officially, for weeks now, but he always chickened out because he didn't thik he was good enough for the boy. Funnily enough, Peter had the same idea, but when he showed the adoption papers to Steve, he didn't have the best of reactions.

The Best Half Of Me by Huntress79 for RoseRose (AU, 1.5k)

An encounter with one of his exes at a charity gala opens Tony’s eyes about how much he really loves Steve - and how much he’s looking forward to their future together.

neither here nor there by ghosthan for  Welcoming_Disaster (616, 18k)

Captain America comes back from Dimension Z changed. He has had over a decade of his life taken from him, as well as the woman he loved. Stoic, secretive, and traumatized, much of what he experienced remains a mystery to SHIELD and the world; Tony is there to help him heal, and uncover the truth about how much Steve has lost.

The Eventide Aspect by geekymoviemom for ishipallthings (MCU, T, 12k)

“Yeah, Cap, about that,” Tony says, looking rather sheepish as he scratches at the back of his neck.

“Yeah?” asks Steve.

“Well… remember those half-baked ideas that I mentioned?  I’m afraid this might be one of ‘em,” says Tony.

“Okay.  Care to explain it to someone who doesn't speak technical?”

“Ahh…” Tony trails off, mumbling under his breath again.  “Yeah.  Um… if my theory is correct, I’m thinking that when we stepped through that window, we might’ve entered another dimension.”

Looking by Robin_tCJ for Vento_Lunar (MCU, E, 4k)

After a raid on a HYDRA base, Steve's body reverts back to the way it was before the serum. Tony still wants him.

You Had Me in the First Half by Corsets_and_Cardigans for Robin_tCj (MCU, E, 2k)

Steve is on his way to meet Bucky for a movie before their football team goes away for a game. Too bad Tony has plans for him! He'll apologize to Bucky for it later.

the rest is history by starksnack for muchmoremajestic (Avengers Academy, G, 2k)

It's Steve's birthday and he usually likes to spend it alone. Of course, Tony has other ideas.

Basically just some soft AvAc fluff.

(Let Me) Love and Be Loved by HeLovedYou for wikketkrikket (MCU, T, 6k)

Steve forgets how to self-sabotage his own happiness.

He also forgets his team, his soulmate and the last three years of his life.

avengers featuring steve’s doppleganger vol 1 (FANCOMIC) by wingheads for jellybeanforrest (616, Art)

tony dates a man who looks a lot like steve. everyone can see it, everyone knows what that means, except tony, who doesn't seem to realize he's dating steve's doppelganger. steve doesn't see the resemblance either and actually comes to like tony's new boyfriend, but then one of the other avengers spills the beans that they look exactly alike to tony, who can't unsee it now and breaks up with the new guy, only for steve to be sad that his baseball-buddy won't be around anymore.

Hart Island by Amber_Skye for lil_aussie_girl (MCU, G, 12k)

Steve is acting out of character, and Tony and the other Avengers can’t work out why.

the soul of dragons by funkyspacegirlfriend for Amber_Skye (MCU, T, 2k)

Steve’s dragon companion is the largest Tony’s ever seen up close. And she captivates Tony from the very first moment.

Just in the Knit of Time by DepressingGreenie for picturecat (Avengers Assemble, T, 2.5k)

Steve only has a week to tell Tony he loves him before his secret is leaked to the world.

Learning Curve by picturecat for Huntress79 (Avengers Academy AU, G, 2k)

Freshly defrosted, Steve Rogers is the newest teacher at the Avengers Academy—an attempt to guide and teach the newest generation of heroes before they have to take on the burdens of their teachers. Steve himself has a lot of learning to do.

First Impression by veryvincible for wingheads (616, M, 7k)

The Avengers find the schematics of a deadly weapon in the hands of an up-and-coming villain. To safely retrieve the data that led to its creation and keep the city safe in the process, they have to take a very subtle approach. The man-- Jack Marshall-- has an eye for hunks and a tendency to get vulnerable with them. The team could use this to their advantage, if they have the right assets.

Enter Steve.

Dandelions and Lilies by Wikketkrikket for CapAL (AU, G, 4k)

Written for CapAL for the StonylovesSteve event 2021.

A summer job in the florists is pretty good, as summer jobs go; and when a handsome guy comes in with some very particular requirements it gets even better.

Or it would, if Steve wasn't lying about the meaning of every bouquet he sold.

Potshot by jellybeanforest for jacobby (AU, T, 2.5k)

In an expansive wasteland infested with hordes of the undead, Steve, leader of a group of ex-military operatives known as the Avengers, searches for survivors and supplies in the ruins of the old world.

That’s all well and good, but Tony would do just about anything for an American cheeseburger.

For Stony Loves Steve 2021. Based on a prompt by jacobby.

Remorse and Rapture by oliverparker for optimusprime13 (AU, E, 6k)

When Steve's mother falls ill, he's forced to move in with the family she works for. He's not thrilled about it.

Shards of Eternities by Perlmutt for starksnack (AU, T, 5k)

Rumor had it that the war would soon be over. It could not end soon enough. Until then, Anthony would wait for Steven. He would wait and protect their child. He would wait and write another thousand letters for his alpha, his mate, his husband, if only he would come home, come for him, come for them.

Two Can Play That Game by JehBeEhh for Becci Barnes (BeccEEE) (MCU, T, 4k)

Tony Stark is many things. Patient isn't always one of them. Especially not when there's a happily ever after at the end of that bout of patience.

Uncovered by mariana_oconnor for Corsets_and_Cardigans (MCU, G, 6k)

Steve didn't think the tip-off was anything more than the usual nonsensical conspiracy theory. He only went to check it out because he was curious. He definitely wasn't expecting it to be a trap.

Build Me Up Buttercup by ishipallthings for BladeoftheNebula (4k, M, MCU)

Tony sees the gold letters spelling “Stark” on the edge of Steve’s hood and his mind grinds to a halt. Steve looks good wearing his name. Too good.

(In which Steve starts experimenting with a new style. Tony does not find this infuriatingly attractive, thank you very much.)

Discovery [Art] by Fluffypanda for captainstars (Art, G, Noir)

Renowned adventurer Tony Stark discovers a carving of a lost civilization's protector.

I left my heart (at home with you) by captainstars for UisceOneLove (2k, G, AU)

It shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did.

The man grinned at him, wide and beautiful. Steve couldn’t help sneaking another glance towards the heavens. They really lost their citizens fairly easily. Steve would like to say this was the first white robed beauty he had come across until now, but he wasn’t.

(OR)

Steve moved to a cabin in the woods hoping to live the life of a hermit werewolf. When Tony Stark decided to become his new neighbor, it threw a bit of a wrench into Steve’s plans.

(OR)

A werewolf and an incubus cuddling in a tree.

Raspberry Beret (I Think I Love Her) by ralsbecket for oliverparker (4k, M, 3490)

When Steve looked at Natasha, he knew in his heart that she was what put his derailed train back on its tracks. For the first time since they met, Steve felt like he had some semblance of a plan for his future. And he wanted Natasha to be a part of it.

Savior Complex by optimusprime13 for HeLovedYou (18.5k, G, AU)

Wealthy businessman Steve Rogers stumbles into barely-getting-by Tony Stark in a cemetery, and they hit it off immediately. Steve is enamored by Tony’s razor-sharp wit, his startling intelligence, and his penchant for building stuff. He has a problem though - he can’t stop wanting to save everybody around him, especially Tony - who is struggling to make ends meet. However, Tony is too proud and stubborn to accept any help from Steve. But when Tony gets kidnapped to act as bait for Steve, how far will Steve go to save Tony when it means sacrificing himself?

Through His Stomach by RoseRose for JehBeeEh (2k, G, MCU)

Steve decides he wants to try to cook with all the new ingredients he has found in this new time, but he needs someone else to taste-test his creations. Tony is holed up in his workshop, so he makes the perfect guinea pig. The two of them grow closer over several meals.

Iron & Sapphire by Becci Barnes (BeccEEE) for Lacrimula_Falsa (AU, 5k)

Steve can always sense him, long before Tony enters his cave. It makes his blue scales tremble and his big wings flutter in excitement. Tony brings light and warmth into this musty hideout he calls home. And food. And while they may be as odd a couple as you can imagine, that won't stop them from bantering and cuddling just like anyone else.

Man On The Moon by Welcoming_Disaster for veryvincible (616, 7k)

Things haven't been the same since Steve has found out about Tony's secret identity. A mission that goes wrong forces both of them to confront why.

I Love You to the Moon and Back by muchmoremajestic for mariana_oconnor (MCU, 3k)

After Steve gets attacked in the woods, certain changes start happening.

Happy Birthday to America's ass by njava97 for ralsbecket (MCU, 2.5k)

It's the night before Steve's birthday and something is very wrong.

Magic's in the Moving Portrait by UisceOneLove for neverever (AU, 9.5k)

Without his ma, Steve's lost his ability to make art. In walks new wizarding student Tony Stark, who also happens to be his new roommate. All hope might not be lost just yet for him and his brush.

Reach The Sky by Vento_Lunar for njava97 (MCU, art)

Non-serum Steve Rogers saves the world. (And Tony saves him)

[novadreii]

The Ancient Magus' Bride: A Review

Big spoilers ahead.

I’m not often compelled to write full-length reviews on series that I watch, but this one elicited an interesting response from me. I don’t think I’ve ever negatively changed my mind about an anime halfway through. If I like something from the start, I usually like it all the way through to the end. If I loathe something from the start, I try to determine if there’s room for development/improvement before continuing. And I’ve seen a good amount of shows turn it around.

But TAMG was really a strange experience for me. Everything pointed towards this being a quality show. All the signs were there. And I will commend it on what it did right. This show had gorgeous animation, lovely voice acting, and a breathtaking original soundtrack. As I said, all the signs pointed to this being a winner, maybe the best anime of the last 5 years or so.

But sadly, TAMG is, at its core, a reductive escapist fantasy for young girls.

I know, that is a bold statement. But I have evidence to support my claim! Promise.

We start off the show with Chise being bought by the titular Ancient Mage at a slave auction. It’s okay, though, because she willingly sold herself into slavery. Wait, you can do that? I guess. Anyway. This show’s big selling point is Chise’s growth from a sad girl with nothing to live for to...well, someone who is not that way. And it’s a relatable backstory for a main character. So far, so good.

But the rest of plot fails to sufficiently develop the rest of the world, lore, and characters in a way that makes Chise’s development interesting enough. Side characters are given at most one (1) episode of backstory before being utterly forgotten for the entire rest of the series. Plot points that you think will eventually loop back for an interesting game of Raise the Stakes just kind of wander out to sea and never come back (aka Chise’s family...um...her dad and brother are still out there!). The lore of the fairies and magic is just kind of there and never properly explored or utilized. Chise is supposedly there to learn magic from Elias as her teacher, yet we don’t really ever see him instructing her in the theory of it, or her magical skills progressing. All we’re really told is that Chise is both incredibly strong and weak as shit as the same time. Makes sense.

Elias’ origin is completely ignored, even that could have been an amazing addition to the story as it’s so shrouded in mystery and intrigue and often hinted at by several characters. So, at about the rough halfway point of the series, I had all these loose ends and unexplored areas of the story in my head that I was really excited about, but they never materialized in the second half. The main “villain” in the show was kind of sad and easily defeated.

The second cour of the show was focused almost exclusively on what is, in my opinion, the most mundane, cloying, and dull part of the story: the relationship between Elias and Chise. Yep, sorry friends. I don’t find these two even remotely well suited to each other in any capacity, least of all romantic. Try picturing them together when Elias is in human form; that creeps me out more than his usual form. From the very beginning, I have disliked Elias. I find him boring. Oh boohoo, you’ve been wandering around Earth for hundreds of years and still haven’t figured out what “sad” “happy” “jealous” and “angry” feel like? Are you stupid as well as inexperienced, or just willfully ignorant? Because he managed to study and become proficient in the art of magecraft, but never could figure out why watching Titanic made his eyes leak? How many times do we have to watch Elias clutch his heart and say, “Is this what _______ feels like?” Just shut up. I find it hard to believe that in between all the magic and failed cooking lessons with Lindel, they never talked about how they felt in the hundreds of years that Lindel was taking care of him? *Dr. Phil voice* Really now?

Elias’ cluelessness about basic human emotions is the basis for about 99% of the personal conflicts/drama in the story, and it gets tiresome and feels cheap. Why does anime love to center on characters who don’t know how to feel? Does it give them more agency to act like a dick? Do young girls swoon after men who don’t really care about anything? Elias is frustrating, because we never get to see him break through that monotonous “teach me how to feel” crap, except for when he’s having a rage tantrum. But we never see him buckle down and really unload on how he’s feeling in an open and communicative way. He’s very selective with what he shares, and when he does it’s because Chise is prodding him to do it.

What I found essentially disappointing about this story is how everything in it was just there to further the drama between Chise and Elias without actually furthering the story itself. Everything Elias does to Chise, from how he constantly touches/grabs/picks her up without her permission, how he looms over her menacingly in his monster form when he’s jealous, how he calls her diminutive pet names, irritates me. Chise is a child who has nothing; of course she is going to gravitate to someone who offers her the only thing she wanted: a place to call home. What’s his excuse? He is the one in the position of power, and does he ever use it to his advantage.

How many times do we witness Elias withholding information from Chise, policing her, acting shady, throwing a giant temper tantrum, and being generally creepy and possessive? The anime is masterful in that it succeeds in writing it all off as romantic and cute, because “Elias doesn’t know what emotions he’s feeling! It’s cause he must love her LOL” Again, this was a lame excuse so that Elias could have license to be an asshole. All they needed was a cool/handsome/monstrous character design and a smooth af voice actor to make it all okay. But it isn’t. Chise did not, and still doesn’t have the agency to choose differently.

And I almost fell for it too; that’s how good it is. Because it ropes you in with great production value. I admit that instinctively I am just a dumb ape who will go gaga over anything shiny and pretty. And this anime certainly is those things, but it doesn’t capitalize on the amazing potential it set up from its very beginning, choosing instead to focus on relationship drama between two people who really should not be involved romantically at all.

I ask this: would it have detracted from the story at all for them to have had an adoptive parent and child relationship, to which both characters’ age, experience, and power dynamic was a lot better suited? Would it have been less meaningful? Why did they have to be set up as husband and wife from the get go? What was the point, other than to provide a weak and frankly disturbing plot point? If parent/child is a no-go, how about we make the female main character older than 20 years old for once? Even that would have been preferable.

I did read the manga, and the author tries to dance around the issue by once again using Elias’ inexplicable lack of emotional intelligence as an excuse. He doesn’t know what a bride is, he doesn’t understand the concept of marriage, he means it innocently etc. Okay, BUT, Chise, the rest of the characters, the author of the manga himself, the readers, and literally everyone else understands exactly what marriage is and what it implies. That is the connection the author intends us to make with all the symbolism and mushy dialogue between the two of them (as well as other characters’ observations about them both). It doesn’t matter how ambiguous the author is being about something; if it’s there, it’s there. Let’s call the spade a spade.

So the story revolves primarily around the romantic development between an indisputably adult male who also holds all the resources/power, and an emotionally broken child who can’t refuse. TAMG did not develop the rest of its story enough to distract me from this point, and I was just never able to look past it. It was glaring at me with each episode I watched.

Sure, Chise gets mad sometimes, and Elias eventually comes around from pouting when he realizes he could lose her. He eventually offers a monotone apology and all is right as rain. Chise eventually develops into the Needlessly Self-Sacrificing Main Character that anime relies on just a touch too heavily. It feels disingenuous and not at all relatable. It’s tiresome.

Towards the end, Chise gets some resolution from an old painful memory during an arc where she finally breaks free of Elias so she can act of her own accord for once. Which I really liked. But then she just ran home, forgave Elias a little too easily for all his bullshit, and ended up “marrying” him (again, everything is shrouded in an infuriating layer of ambiguity because nobody wants to call it what it is, but alllllll the right symbolism is there, we can figure it out ffs). That came completely out of left field for me and solidified my hunch that this is meant to be a teen fantasy and little else: leaving everything behind only to be saved, controlled by, and obsessed over by an ominous, rich, handsome, and overbearing man who just won’t keep his hands to himself.

There’s so much more I wanted to know about, and I get that you can’t fit everything into 24 episodes. But people like Silky, Ruth, Renfred, and Alice were utterly forgotten about even though they had solid, developed stories in the beginning of the anime. It’s like they hooked me in and left me hanging; the whole time I was waiting for MORE from those characters. For Silky to say even one word or to have more of a relationship with Chise other than hugging her dramatically from time to time, for Chise and Ruth to have another mage/familiar moment (or even arc). Things like that would have added so much more depth and significance to the story than even one more minute of Elias and Chise awkwardly and needlessly cuddling (or sleeping in bed together....honestly, wtf).

So in conclusion (am I writing a thesis or something?), The Ancient Magus’ Bride felt something like a betrayal. It drew me in with the promise of a gorgeous and heartfelt story, only to focus on what I thought was an inappropriate and forced relationship. I’m sure 16-year-old me would have eaten all of this up like a six-course meal. It’s a Japanese twist on Twilight (therefore also reminiscent of the even worse Fifty Shades franchise). As I get older and automatically tend think a lot more critically about why I like or dislike things, something like this isn’t going to cut it for me. It pulled at the heartstrings with emotive music and pretty visuals, but left me wanting so much more. I don’t want the media I consume to make me feel like I should like it; I just want to.

To any teen girls who adore this anime, I’m not telling you what to personally like/dislike. But I do hope you’ll think about why you do, and contemplate the fact that just because something is wrapped up in pretty packaging, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s harmless. Love doesn’t have to mean being dominated, stalked, policed, or controlled. And you don’t have to be married before you’re 20 or it’s game over. Healthy relationships are balanced, with an equal flow of power, love, and trust between parties involved. They can happen at 17, 45, or never, and that’s all okay. My fear is that this anime will reinforce the exact opposite message with its audience, in a manner that is honestly kind of insidious. It was so well-made, the tone and ambiance they created is so lovely that the harmful messages will just fly over your head; like they almost did to me.

Or...just enjoy it without a second thought and leave me to my over-analyzing. I do admit I look very closely at things, but I don’t know any other way to be.

TLDR; A lot of style, not a whole lot of substance. 4.5/10

[sanctferum]

Steven Universe – A Single Pale Rose reactions

Oh boy, time for what is undoubtably a really really interesting episode…

We start with a few things we’ve heard. Ruby’s testimony regarding Rose shattering Pink Diamond, Blue Zircon’s questions about how Rose got close to Pink, that dream flashback thing from last episode of Pearl drawing her sword. Steven’s eyes fly open and he’s on his living room couch.

Enter Pearl and Amethyst, talking about Pearl’s phone. She’s had it for a month, and she’s used it merely as a clock.

Amethyst IS the kinda person who would literally say the word “sigh” instead of sighing, yeah. That checks out.

Amethyst changes Pearl’s wallpaper to a selfie of the purble herself. Classy.

Meanwhile, Steven is about to burst at the seams with questions for Pearl. Amethyst dismisses him when he tries to interrupt her. Pearl learns how to send text messages, and immediately sends one to Steven.

Amethyst suggests getting a case for the phone. Pearl pulls a briefcase out of her gem. That’s a bit big for a phone, Pearl.

Amethyst leaves to get an actual phone case, and Steven seizes his chance.

Wow. That was awfully blunt.

Pearl’s conditioning or whatever it is that prevents her from talking about that particular subject kicks in and her hands cover her mouth and her phone drops to the floor. Good going Steven.

“It’s OK, you can just tell me!” It’s pretty clear she physically cannot tell you, Steven.

Amethyst comes back with the phone case. With the change of topic Pearl takes the opportunity to grab her phone, put it in her gem, and skedaddle, leaving behind Steven. And Amethyst, who didn’t get to give her the phone case and is very confused.

Later on, Steven is out for a walk, finishing off The Bits over at Peedee’s repurposed mayormobile stand thing. His phone makes an incoming text sound.

Wait shit, I just had an idea. Pearl can’t talk about the truth behind PD’s shattering. Could she communicate it via texting? Is that what this is gonna be?

“I want to tell you, but I can’t.” With a monkey covering its mouth emoji at the end.

Steven runs back home to ask Pearl about it. But…Pearl hasn’t used her phone since she put it away.

SO THEN WHO SENT THE TEXT????

Pearl tries to grab her phone and check it for herself, but keeps pulling random other objects out of her gem instead. As she gets frustrated at being unable to retrieve the right thing from her gem, Steven gets another text from her phone. Another emoji. A rose petal? I’m no flower expert but that doesn’t look like a rose petal to me, so maybe not.

Pearl freaks out and tells Steven to go inside her gem and find her phone. Something weird is going on with it, and Pearl has an idea of what’s going on, but physically cannot tell Steven the details…

Inside of Pearl’s gem is…Pearl?

“There’s a Pearl inside Pearl’s pearl?” Apparently…?

The Pearl within the pearl attempts to file Steven with other objects.

Can I just appreciate that giant Pearl Point for a moment? You know, the stickers from Steven vs Amethyst, but Steven has presumably been shrunken down enough to fit in Pearl’s gem that it’s the size of his head.

And here are…a bunch of papers with phone numbers, including Mystery Girl’s. Some of them have hearts and lipstick smooches and etc on them. Besides “S”/Mystery Girl’s, there’s one from “RH”. One from “Yeva”, one with an indecipherable gmail address…no phone. Pearl switches to another segment of the filing system, where the cellphone should be. And indeed, there’s an empty space exactly where it should be. Wait, what?

“Some other me”? Is Pearl a matryoshka doll of mini-Pearls…?

After warning Steven about wherever it is these other Pearls are, Pearl sucks Steven into her gem. Now Steven is two layers deep into Pearl’s mind.

This area takes the form of the beach in front of the Temple, which noticeably lacks the house Greg built for Steven and the Gems.

“This doesn’t look like a mess. This looks like…the past.”

Right after Steven says that, he sees a third Pearl crying behind some rocks. And she looks different somehow.

Wait. Are all these Pearls…different regenerations? Which would make Pearl the current version, Pearl 2 the version that got poofed in Steven the Swordfighter, and Pearl 3 a Pearl from before the show began. I’m gonna have to check whether Pearl 2 has Pearl’s design from the original episodes…

OK, well in between that last sentence and this one, I had two doctor’s appointments as well as lunch. But I’m back! So, looking back on the episode so far…Pearl 2 has the same design as Pearl 1. Pearl 3’s design is definitely a Pearl from before the show began, though – I specifically recognize it as her design from “Story for Steven”.

So why is Pearl sobbing? It’s because of Rose, of course.

“What was she thinking?! She can’t have a baby…” Yeah, about that. Have you noticed you’re sitting next to Steven? As in, Rose quite definitely did make the decision to have a baby, and the boy next to you is the living proof that she did.

Yeah, this particular Pearl is from the past all right. After Rose’s decision, but before Steven’s birth. Those awkward nine months where it’s clear that Rose is perfectly fine for the time being, alive and well, and also clear that when those nine months end she is going to die, for good.

“I’m going to lose her. Just like I lost my…what was it you said?” Oh, nothing, Pearl 3. Cellphones haven’t even been invented yet from your frame of reference.

“I think I know where it is.” Is it…inside of your gem, by any chance? Being used by yet another of the matryoshka doll Pearls? Are we gonna have to go even deeper inside?

Where’s the Pearl with a Myspace titled “Welcome to my twisted mind”, I wonder?

Here we go!

Pearl 4’s environs are the Strawberry Battlefields. But strawberries won’t be growing there for thousands of years. This battlefield has just been recently decimated. It glows in a blood-red light, Bismuth’s abandoned weaponry and the remnants of the Diamonds’ army’s technology being all that is left.

No, that isn’t right, actually. There’s gems, too. Gems, lying everywhere. Whole gems, not shattered ones, but broken nevertheless – when they reform, it will be into the first corrupted gem monsters.

Pearl 4’s design is a new one. Well, OK, it was leaked a while back, along with stuff like Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding outfits, but in-show, I’m not sure we’ve ever seen it. We might have gotten a glimpse of it in Your Mother And Mine, possibly? That’s the only war flashback I can think of that hasn’t been shown in a stylized fashion.

“Is this really about your phone or what?!” Obviously not, Steven

Do WHAT, Pearl? Are you allowed to tell us yet, or do we need to talk to Pearl 5 to get the details?

Pearl 5 it is!

Those sure are flowers that look like the emoji sent from Pearl’s phone. And shards of what appear to be a pink gem. Is this…the moment immediately after PD was shattered?

And there’s Rose, or at least someone who has Rose’s appearance, in a cloud of pink dust, with PD’s death cry still echoing…

Rose? stands up, tears streaming down her face, as PD’s screams continue to echo. Steven approaches where she stands next to the palanquin, only to stop as Rose’s eyes open, revealing what are unmistakably Pearl’s pupils.

OK, so that seems to confirm that Pearl shattered PD, but…why is she crying? Why is she shapeshifted to be Rose? Does this mean the sword she used to shatter PD was part of the disguise, and as such didn’t have whatever adjustments Bismuth made to the real thing that prevented shattering? Was the sword a fake, is what I’m asking? Both the sword and Rose herself?

OK who is screaming? PD’s been dead for at least half a minute, this can’t still be her death cry…right?

“Rose” opens her hand to reveal…to reveal…

Pink Diamond’s gem. Huh?

Then…whose gem is on the ground? Pink Pearl’s, perhaps?

Steven begs for answers, but gets sucked into Rose/Pearl 5’s gem instead. Um. OK.

Pearl 6’s memory places Steven on PD’s throne, within the palanquin. Strange whispers echo off the walls Behind the throne, Rose and Pearl are talking.

“…And then it’ll be done. It’s going to be easy.” So…did Rose plan the assassination, and Pearl carried it out? But why not just have Rose do it herself?

And Pearl is clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing. Rose is pressuring her into it, in the belief that this will end it all, that Blue and Yellow care little enough about what happens on Pink’s colony that killing Pink will cause them to just give up the colony without a fight. Cut their losses and scram.

Well, that worked out great for you and your army, didn’t it, Rose.

“Your status…my purpose…none of it will matter anymore. This…will change everything.” “I know. Isn’t it exciting?!” “…It is.”

Sure, Pink might’ve been an awful brutal authoritarian brat who wouldn’t have cared a damn if the planet and its people died, but…there’s something unsettling about seeing Rose and Pearl get so hyped over a plan to kill someone.

“We can leave our old lives behind. If this is really my world, I want to give it to the Crystal Gems. I want to live here with human beings! I want to live here, with you! We’ll both finally be free…” But…you already are living here with human beings, Rose. And what do you mean, if this is really “your” world? It’s either Pink Diamond’s world, or everyone’s world. Why would it be yours, in particular? And aren’t you part of the Crystal Gems? Their leader, and founder, and…? This isn’t leading to some “Rose was Pink Diamond all along” kinda twist, is it? Cause that wouldn’t make sense, would it? I thought we already went over that particular fan theory with a fine-toothed comb.

“I can’t exactly shatter myself…” ??????

Rose shapeshifts into PD. Or…PD shapeshifts out of Rose? At this point, I…I don’t know.

Can…can she do that? Shapeshift her own gem? Huh?

That flower again…

She…changed the dirt into broken shards. The shards Steven found in the last memory.

“Wait…there’s one last thing I need to do. No one can ever find out we did this…I never wanna look back. So…for my last order to you as a Diamond…please…let’s never speak of this again. No one can know.”

I am so confused right now. My current thought process is something like this, though:

Pink did used to be a brat. But Earth changed her. Changed her, to the point where she wished to abandon the responsibility of her position. To the point where she fell in love with Earth and its people. Disenchanted with the gem empire and her fellow Diamonds and their plans to hollow out the planets they used as colonies until nothing but an empty shell was left, she staged an elaborate production, with both the heroine and villain played by herself. All to fake her own death and become able to live freely.

And if that’s true, the Rose Quartz who we all know and love never existed. The person who started the rebellion against Pink Diamond was…Pink Diamond. Pink Diamond, shapeshifted into the form of a Rose Quartz, creating what was essentially a façade that would stop Blue and Yellow from searching for her after she disappeared.

That’s why Pink Diamond never managed to track Rose down via last episode’s lunar base orb, in case that wasn’t clear.

And. If all this is true, Steven was right back in Your Mother and Mine. Pink Diamond, in a very real sense, is still out there, under a different name. The name “Steven Quartz Universe”.

Also, that explains how Rose’s sword could have been the “fatal” weapon. As a sword unable to shatter gems, it was the perfect weapon to use to “shatter” PD while actually leaving her gem intact. Not only does it now make sense for it to be the weapon, this revelation means that it HAD to be the weapon, due to being unable to actually shatter her.

Holy fucking shit. Of all the fan theories to turn out to be right…and even those fan theories didn’t go far enough to claim that both PD and “Rose” were the same person.

Oh, and um. Here’s Pearl’s phone. Thanks Pearl 6.

And now to go back! Pearl shapeshifts into Rose, takes the sword and leaves. “Rose” “shatters” Pink Diamond, keeping her intact gem hidden within her hand. Garnet and Pearl fight on the battlefield, as the sky suddenly lights up with the corruption blast. Pearl sadly places her hand on Rose’s pregnant belly. Pearl sits outside the temple crying as Amethyst and Garnet attempt to comfort her. All this happens in a blur, and then Steven lands on the floor of his house.

Steven and Pearl share a moment. A moment which doesn’t last very long at all. Because, well. Garnet and Amethyst are standing right there, and they just heard Steven say Rose was really Pink Diamond, and this can only end poorly.

The episode ends with a preview of the fallout. Amethyst freaks out, but in a similar way to the way I am freaking out. That is to say, she takes this a lot better than some others, namely Sapphire, who defuses from Ruby in an ice-cold rage that quickly melts into a puddle of betrayal and, tears streaming down her face from her one eye, makes for the warp pad and fucks the hell off, leaving Ruby behind.

Yeah, that’s right. The reason Garnet exists in the first place is Rose Quartz. It was an attack by Rose on Blue Diamond that lead to their first fusion, and Rose’s advice that lead them to decide to live the rest of their lives as Garnet. w e l p

And that’s that for this special, I guess? More SU episodes coming this summer.

I…suppose I need some more time to gather my thoughts before I can say anything on what just happened.

[trbl-will-find-me]

Every Exit, An Entrance (30/?)

She commands, and commands, and commands and then she sleeps, but even then, the cycle repeats. The Avenger or the Anthill, the Fog pods or the Chosen, the Council or ADVENT: binary pairs, variations on a theme she can’t escape.

It’s the brief adjustment period that still startles her, a disquieting confusion about where and when she is, memories of a life unlived still fresh in her mind.

It’s better when John is there, when she can ground herself in the steady rise and fall of his chest, the feeling of his fingers on her skin, the smell of his soap in her nose. It is gentler, then.

The mornings alone are the worst. No matter where she wakes, there is a profound feeling that it is wrong, even as her surroundings buoy her towards a sense of place, visual landmarks steeped in familiarity.

The ship or the subterrain, she takes comfort, at least, in the small simple fact that the face that meets her gaze in the mirror is always the same. Small mercies.

It’s not the disorientation so much that bothers her –not anymore– but the lingering notion that something is off. She considers herself to be well-grounded in reality; the daily reminder that she may not be, that stress, or the tank, or something has left that sense forever impaired is what truly bothers her about the process. Most days, it fades without fanfare, like coming to from a dream.

Most, but not all.

--

Of the possibilities she had not properly accounted for, her soldiers reading her work ranks near the top,

“So, this is why they picked you,” Molchetti gestures towards her screen. “I always wondered.”

“I can’t believe you guys are actually reading my papers.”

“Why wouldn’t we?’

“Because you lived them?”

“We did not live your theories on agricultural security in bioterror events.”

She wrinkles her nose. “Oh god, that’s an early one. Why would you read that?”

“Everyone else is.”

It is, unfortunately, a true statement. Her life before XCOM has become a topic of scrutiny for the press, barring any concrete details on her existence since March 1, 2015. She is torn between a vague sort of pride in her work receiving so much attention, and a strong desire to direct that attention towards almost anything else. She feels as if she’s been subjected to a second defense, one at which she is unable to speak, and must only watch as her work is judged by those not truly qualified to evaluate it.

“I know this is what we wanted,” she admits to John over dinner. “But it’s more than a little uncomfortable.”

“It’s been generally good press.”

“Generally?”

“You weren’t really expecting friends at Fox News, were you?”

She laughs. “Not with my publication history.”

“Your publication history, your conference presentations, your commentary. None of it.”

“Tell me someone called me a coastal elite.”

“You’re not getting that kind of attention from them. Who knows, though? Maybe they’ll dig something else up.”

--

The whole mission has spiraled out of control. An abandoned ADVENT facility in the middle of the tropics under the control of a sentient AI initially designed by Raymond Shen would be bad enough, but the addition of Lily’s presence on the field adds another level of unneeded difficulty. A seemingly endless supply of mechs, however rusted, and a forced reliance upon single passenger freight lifts hardly help the situation.

But, of all things, the AI seems to know them, and it seems to be doing its damnedest to find a way under Central’s skin.

“Are you still there, Bradford? I was beginning to wonder if you’d finally drowned yourself in the liquor.”

She watches his hands tighten into fists.

“Menace,” she instructs. “Keep pushing.”

The team has done well, all things considered. They have taken a few wounds, mostly minor, and they’ve kept Lily safe. They just need to find an escape route and, with any luck, disable this Julian character for good.

“Getting tired yet, Central? You’re an old man with one foot in the grave. I wonder why these people put up with you.”

Sally freezes for a moment, her hands hovering over her console.

“Fuck off, you glorified toaster!” Kelly yells.

“Look at them, so willing to defend you,” Julian purrs. “Do they know the blood on your hands? I’ve seen the world you’ve built, and frankly, it’s below even my expectations.”

She watches him reach for his flask, then think better of it, hands coming to grip the Hologlobe’s rails.

Menace advances, making their way towards a chamber at the far end of the room.

“And here I thought you would have run after her, Central. Or are some lives just more valuable than others? You’ve always played fast and loose, haven’t you?”

“Ignore him,” she orders, though she’s not sure if the edict is meant for those onboard the Avenger or off.

“It really would have been better to have just turned yourself in. Think of the lives you would have spared in the two decades it took you to find your precious Commander. And for what? You have to know you can’t win this.”

The ground team makes their way up a flight of stairs towards the smaller chamber.

“Oh, yes, ADVENT may fall. But have you considered that there is worse to come? Or hasn’t she told you?”

Her heart stutters in her chest. She has no idea what Julian is on about, but the last thing she needs is for Bradford to believe she’s keeping secrets. They have both worked so hard to mend things. She can’t have them shattered again.

“I really must thank Father,” Julian drawls. “It seems he really was the only competent one at XCOM.”

“Will somebody shut him up?” Central growls.

On screen, Lily makes her way towards an enormous robotic chassis. It springs to life at her touch, diverting Julian’s attention.

She uses the brief respite to take stock of the bridge crew. They are universally uncomfortable, uncertain of how to respond to Julian’s taunts. While she has no idea what the mad AI could be on about in terms of something worse still to come, even she’s forced to concede its comments to Central have all carried a grain of truth; it’s what allows them to cut so deeply, after all.

Sally watched her guardian with a kind of deep concern on her face, as if she were waiting for something to break. His avoidance of his flask does not seem to reassure.

Her attention snaps back to the screen at the sound of Raymond Shen’s voice, thread and tired. Something in her chest clenches and she’s seized by her own upswell of grief.

But it will have to wait until later as the outer chamber around them floods with a deadly gas.

--

In general, she tries to avoid being overly punitive. The men and women under her command work long hours under intense pressure and without sufficient outlet. She’s watched enough MASH to know what those circumstances breed.

Really, she’s been spared any serious antics. Yes, there had been a brief issue with trophy keeping, and yes, there had been more than a few off-color jokes, but by and large, they have all behaved as professionals.

They still do.

She would just prefer they find other reading material than her publication history.

John sits across from her after dinner, the door to her office securely locked.

“Saudi Arabia.” He says.

She squirms in her chair. “How much?

“Almost a quarter of our operating budget.”

Her eyes goes wide. “And what’s the price tag on that?”

“They want a Firestorm base.”

“It’s our people who operate them.”

“They seem to understand that.”

She rests her elbows on her desk, and buries her head in her hands.

“Lizzie,” he says. “You can’t turn them down. Not if we want this to work.”

“I know, but---”

“No but. They have money and influence. We need both.”

“Their human rights record---”

“China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and the US: we’re not free from moral failings on that front as it is.”

He’s right, of course. She can admit that much.

The offer is good – better than good, even – and a Firestorm base in that part of the world would only help them should the worst come to pass. Better coverage would mean a better air game; a better air game might spare cities.

She really can’t find a downside, and her own moral qualms seem small by comparison.

“There’s something else,” he says.

“Good or bad?”

“It puts us over the operating budget we’d need --- over what we had at the peak of hostilities. And they’d likely bring another bloc of support along with them.”

“We’d be free to create a separate charter and decloak.”

He nods. “We’ll keep leaking files, get the documents drawn up, and drop cover.”

“And either succeed brilliantly, or find ourselves arrested.”

“Not the worst stakes we’ve ever lived with.”

“And there’s really no backing down now.”

“Not if you want to keep that research contained.”

She presses her lips together for a moment. “How do we get documents? We don’t have any lawyers in-house.”

“We have ways.”

--

The SPARK had been a surprise, yes, but it had been a pleasant one. The prototype Sectopod, however, had been an entirely different matter.

Even so, they are still here. Yes, the SPARK needs repairs and, yes, Moon will be in the infirmary a few days longer, but their gains far outpace their losses.

It doesn’t hurt that ADVENT remains seemingly none the wiser to their whereabouts.

In the three days since Menace team’s return from the tower, she has seen little of her Central Officer, but their scant interactions have been free of any tension. She suspects that something is amiss, but she refuses to push the matter.

“Commander?” Sally’s voice cuts over the comm. “I think you should see this.”

She can’t be certain, but she’d swear there’s a note of panic.

“Contact? Transmission from one of the Havens?”

“It’s Central, ma’am.”

She feels her skin prickle. “Where are you?”

“Aft-storage, sub-level C.”

“I’ll be right there.”

The sight that greets her is by far the worst surprise she has received as of late. Bradford, curled on the ground, Sally’s fingers hooked over his wrist.

“It’s withdrawal,” she says. “He must have fucked up the taper.”

“How do you know?” She says, kneeling down next to her.

She shakes her head. “It was like this the first time. It’s like this every time. He gets impatient and it all goes to hell. Last time almost killed him. And we had help then.”

“You have help now.”

“Tygan?”

“I know it’s not the best, but the man’s got a degree in pharmacology. He can calculate a dosage, if nothing else.”

Sally wrings her hands. “I don’t think I can do this again.”

The Commander shakes her head. “You’re not going to. Go get Tygan. We’ll handle it.”

The girl makes no effort to move.

“Go,” she says, voice gentle. “I’ll stay with him.”

She nods after a moment and sets off, returning shortly with the Chief Scientist in tow. Between them, they haul Bradford to his feet. They send Sally on ahead, scouting to make sure the halls are clear.  The bridge is mostly empty, save for a skeleton crew on monitoring duty, and they’re able to maneuver him into her quarters without attracting much attention.

She starts an IV line, now grateful that her last medic re-certification had been only three months prior to the invasion. Tygan leaves, then returns with something in a syringe.

“Lorazepam.”

“You think he’s gonna seize?”

“Sally had indicated there was a history.”

She draws in a breath and lets it out. “Well. This could get interesting.”

“In my time with XCOM, Commander, I’ve come to accept that as the norm.”

 She knows she shouldn’t find that quite as funny as she does.

 It’s a quiet few hours. Central spends the bulk of it asleep or otherwise unconscious. She spends the bulk of it perched on the edge of the bed, reaching out every now and then to brush sweat-soaked hair off of his forehead.

“Lizzie? You really here?” He groans when he finally wakes.

I don’t know, she wants to tell him. I don’t know if this is real, or a dream, or some other simulation. I go to sleep here, and I wake up somewhere else. I go to sleep there, and I wake up here. This feels real, sure, but it also feels wrong. Like I’m not supposed to be here. Like I ended up here by mistake. I don’t know. I wish I did. All I know is that you are here and I am here and, for now, that will have to be enough.

“Yeah,” she says. “Yeah, sweetheart. I’m here. You came for me. I’m with you.”

“Don’t know if I believe you.”

“Think that’s the fever talking.”

“You only ever called me that once. And it wasn’t real.”

“What?”

“You know.”

Sweetheart, her brain helpfully supplies. You haven’t called anyone that since. Well.

“It was real,” she says, softly.

“It was a fairytale. You said it yourself. Real you would know that.”

“We both know what happened.”

He reaches out with his free hand, tracing a finger gently down her cheek. “Always meant to tell you,” he says. “Thought I’d have more time.”

“You can tell me after you get some sleep.

“You’ll be gone.”

“Man, are you in for a surprise.” 

“Don’t go.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m here. I’m with you.”

“You knew, right?”

The question catches her off guard. “Yeah. I knew.”

[chalabrun]

the case for nyx & noctis (theory)

Alrighty, so as I’ve peddled through the material, I have a theory: that Nyx and Noctis are much closer than what was insinuated in-game. Granted, while we never really see mention of Nyx beyond a few easter eggs, there’s little proofs I’ve picked up on I think allude to them being closer than what we initially believe. 

Regardless of whether you like the idea of Nyx and Noctis being bros in arms, Nyx being a big brother figure, or you were among the bewildered shippers who fell into Nyxnoct hell like I did big time shhh but have no real substance for them knowing each other beyond the mutually superficial belief it’s their status as XV’s protagonists that unites them, here’s something I hope might open your eyes and make you see otherwise.

As usual, due to length I’m going to split this up into parts as it’s going to get wordy:

Parting Ways: The only canon Nyx & Noctis interaction we have (and why it’s substantial)

The prologue: "Drautos, he’s in your hands!”

Did they train together?

Nyx is never mentioned in-game (but why it doesn’t invalidate him)

FFXV: Comrades (the PC, Libertus and Noctis)

Lastly...

Parting Ways: The only canon Nyx & Noctis interaction we have (and why it’s substantial) 

If you’re wondering what Parting Ways is, it’s a background script detailing the Chocobros and their interactions with others as they’re getting ready to leave Insomnia and embark on their road trip across Lucis before they finally leave for Altissia where he gets engaged and weds Luna, and the rest is history. However, you’re probably wondering: what was their interaction? Parting Ways is, admittedly, not common fandom knowledge. I, personally, didn’t know about it until very recently. 

In the notable section I’m speaking about, Nyx picks Noctis up in the Star of Lucis and ferries him from the Citadel to his apartment so he can begin packing with the others. At first glance, this doesn’t look like anything much. Libertus even bemoans how it’s like they’re expected be to baby-sitters now. Except, this has much more leverage than it appears.

In what world would a mere Kingsglaive be allowed this level of clearance? Regardless of this being a fantasy game or not, even games such as these acknowledge a hierarchy of some sort, especially where royalty is concerned. Even if Noctis would rather have people treat him otherwise, he’s still the Crown Prince. As crown prince, no ordinary person can be entrusted with the task of being chauffeur to royalty. Why might this be?

I think, knowing the nature of Regis’ character and the charge he gave Nyx in a life or death situation, that the king trusts Nyx on a deeply personal level. Despite his many flaws, considering how this was before the turmoil of the invasion, it was under rather peaceful circumstances. Knowing Regis, it’s extremely likely that Noctis and Nyx have known each other. Considering Nyx himself said Regis took him in like one of his own twelve years ago, and sees him as a father figure, this could allude to IC closeness between the two. To an extent that Regis would entrust the task of driving his son on such short notice to Nyx, which would’ve made sense for a Crownsguard to do, but a Glaive? Unthinkable.

Remember: the Crownsguard is the personal guardsmen of the royal family. The Kingsglaive are not. They’re something like a mercenary/soldier unit, but not fit to do something of the likes the should’ve been designated to someone like Ignis or Gladio.

Well, unless Nyx actually knew Noctis beyond this one occurrence. That there was a bond of trust that existed beyond king and glaive. That Noctis himself trusted Nyx enough to be around him, let alone driving his car (Drautos makes a note of this in Kingsglaive).

Remember, Nyx joined the Kingsglaive at the time it was founded twelve years ago; at around the time Tenebrae fell and Noctis was disabled by a Maralith attack. For Regis to think Nyx could get along with his heavily traumatized son doesn’t sound too inane, I think. For them to have fostered a friendship, even.

However, their relationship could stem beyond even that. Though, more on that, later.

The prologue: "Drautos, he’s in your hands!” 

Alright, this probably seems extremely insubstantial. It’s just Noctis casually waving his father off one final time, passing the responsibility of his father on to one of his generals. There’s really nothing more to it, right?

Well, kind of. In Kingsglaive, prior to his flagrant betrayal, Drautos is seen with Nyx in Noctis’ car. This suggests another degree of connectivity between Noctis and the Kingsglaive, and by extension, the idea that Noctis likely bore some degree of familiarity with the Kingsglaive beyond them copping use of one of his cars when it was convenient. Granted, it might not look to be much more than that, but remember the above: using the prince’s personal possession, likely a car that was recognizable (that was a “gift” from Audi in the real world for Noct’s 20th birthday), means it would’ve just been more than Regis’ leniency, but likely Noctis’ own familiarity with the Kingsglaive and being alright with them using his personal possessions before.

Again, it might be reading into this too deeply, but remember: the Kingsglaive is the equivalent of Lucis’ standing army, while the Crownsguard is the personal guard. The KG being temporarily reassigned to guard Insomnia during the peace treaty signing isn’t enough to evoke this level of trust. It had to have come from somewhere, that thing likely being Noctis having known not only Drautos, but Nyx as well.

Specifically Nyx, though that comes next.

Omen: Noctis & Nyx’s kukris 

What’s like the strongest piece of evidence to my theory is in the Omen trailer. From what we know, it is confirmed that the kukris Noctis is seen using are, in fact, Nyx’s. So, that begs the questions: how did he attain them? Omen, at its root, is simply what would’ve happened if Noctis had left the Crown City on his own. Where the novella of parting ways would’ve been altered. Likely, it might’ve been stripped of the Chocobros’ involvement outside of good-byes, but it’s significant because it makes me wonder where Noctis got Nyx’s kukris at all.

Which leaves me with two theories: Nyx either entrusted his beloved weapons to Noctis--which would make sense since he’d be embarking on his own--or, which would be supported by the fact that Kingsglaive’s production began around 2013...when the transition trailer for Versus to be converted into XV was released that same year. Again, why is this significant? This trailer shows gameplay of Noctis in Insomnia, presumably when the invasion is taking place. Earlier Versus trailers continue to support this as Noctis, in his earliest scenes with Stella, show him in Insomnia as well some footage of he and team-members in the same treaty room where it was to be ratified. 

This gives credence to the idea that Nyx and Noctis could’ve met during the invasion, fought together, and saw Nyx give his kukris to Noctis.

Again, the old script changing is a moot point. Where Nyx is concerned, there have been leaks released of a Stella model in Kingsglaive, as well as some concept art and fully-rendered scene.

It takes years for pure CGI to be rendered, even for something as short as the Omen trailer likely took awhile. That a studio outside of Square’s own production was in charge of this likely meant Omen’s production and release fell within the timeline of an older version of the script; an older version where Nyx and Noctis fought side-by-side. 

Again, consider this render:

Sure, it might just be for the sake of promotion between both of XV’s protagonists, but this is clearly staged after the invasion of Insomnia. Noctis is wielding one of Nyx’s kukris. Considering it’s confirmed officially the ones in Omen are Nyx’s, again--the likelihood of Omen Noctis having encountered Nyx before or after the invasion and being the inheritor of his iconic kukris seems extremely likely to me.

And what would’ve been required beforehand? Why, for them to have known each other, of course. 

Did they train together?

I honestly believe so. Why? Remember: none of the other Chocobros can warp. This ability is unique to line of Lucis and the Kingsglaive, and they’re the only ones we see doing it. The only time we see them do so is a special Chain Link when they embattle the Adamantoise, but otherwise, only Ignis is seen doing so when he puts on the Ring of the Lucii that grants him access to the king’s magic (he even says so when donning it Verse 2 with Ardyn; how he might not be of royal blood, but if a Glaive (Nyx) can--why can’t he? Which alludes to the idea that Ignis can’t warp and like otherwise).

Also, consider these gifs:

This...

...compared to this:

Or even this tactic--

...compared to this:

It’s evident in XV how the Chocobros all have fairly good synergy when fighting one another, what with them having those link strikes and moves that all meld pretty well with each other. 

However, I think Noctis having know-how on how to use Nyx’s kukris and emulate his fighting style is inherent, even outside of Omen. Why? When you find Nyx’s kukris in Chapter 14, Noctis already knows how to use them. This isn’t simply a case of his diverse familiarity with a wide range of weapons, but possibly because he’s familiar with them. He trained with all those weapons, so--what if he trained with Nyx’s, too? With the glaive himself? Remember, Omen was merely canon divergent from the time of his departure on. For him to have trained with Nyx before makes perfect sense.

Let’s recap with this:

None of the Chocobros but Noctis can warp outside of unique and limited circumstances.

Therefore, he had to receive his warping training from someone, and given his familiarity with Drautos (who isn’t shown being able to warp in KG) and Nyx, this likely fell to Nyx (also considering Drautos’ duties as both Captain and General Glauca, he likely was too busy to).

Nyx demonstrates many times in KG where Regis places implicit trust not only with the fate of Insomnia, Luna, but even his own son in something as mundane as being driven back to his apartment to pack up. It’s mundane, but given how close Regis was with Nyx, entrusting his son’s training to him makes sense, also.

In short, I think Noctis having received training from Nyx makes the most sense from what I’ve gathered so far.

Nyx is never mentioned in-game (but why it doesn’t invalidate him)

This is much shorter, but you have to wonder: how can this be if Nyx is never mentioned in-game? Thing is, this doesn’t really mean much. Because someone else tremendously important in-game doesn’t mention Nyx, either.

Think of the only person in KG who lived on after Nyx’s sacrifice, who was by his side the entire time, who also was a major character in-game.

Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. 

As shown here, even though she never once mentions Nyx even by name, she still wore the hair clip he gave her by proxy of Crowe. Meaning? He still had a monumental place in her heart, that she wore it right until she died, and even in the afterlife beyond. So, for Nyx to have had a similarly lasting impression on him isn’t unthinkable. 

More proof?

Remember this? From left to right, the corpses are Iedolas, Regis, Luna....and Nyx. 

Thing is, why Nyx? Ardyn specifically conjured this with the intention of rattling Noctis. In the wiki, on Nyx’s page it says Nyx’s hanging cadaver was meant to discourage Noctis. Why discourage? 

Now, I could understand if Ardyn had a personal fascination with Nyx. However, unlike Luna or Regis, Ardyn never met Nyx in person. He witnessed the destruction of Insomnia, likely heard tale or even saw some of Nyx’s heroism after he donned the ring. So, a personal fascination could make sense in that context. 

However, these corpses weren’t chosen for Ardyn’s gratification. They were specifically selected to taunt Noctis. This was an illusion sustained on Ardyn’s magic, after all. Why would he keep them manifested for ten years except on the night of the fateful battle to encourage despair?

Remember: Iedolas was the figurehead of Niflheim, likely a target of Noctis’ hatred. Ardyn hanging him likely could be symbolic of the futility of facing himself, as an all-powerful enemy brought down by Ardyn’s whim would rattle even the most lionhearted hero.

Regis and Luna are no-brainers. Regardless of how you feel about Regis’ actions or Noctluna in general, Noctis loved them implicitly. Regis was his father, and Luna was his fiance. He says he loves them in a monologue and flashbacks before he deals that final blow and the Lucii spear him through.

However...Nyx. The wiki says he was strung up there, too, to discourage Noctis. Again, Iedolas, Regis, and Luna make sense. But for Nyx to be up there, too, can mean only one thing:

That Noctis was close to Nyx in some way, shape, or form. Close in a way the game never reveals, but close nonetheless. 

FFXV: Comrades (Libertus and Noctis)

Let’s consider Comrades here, too. Love it or hate it, Comrades is still a part of canon. Now, I believe it’s AU, yes, but like Verse 2 of Episode Ignis it’s still a canon divergence. 

Now, the scene I want to draw the most attention to is actually the epilogue. 

The interaction I think is the most substantial to this post, in particular, is that of Libertus and Noctis’ interaction. While it may have been brief, what with Noctis exchanging only a few words, it was monumental for Libertus to have been there--to go so far as someone branded a traitor and fight alongside the PC to redeem themselves.

How so? Remember, Libertus was among those glaives who betrayed Regis. I think it’s credible to think, that while Lib’s redemption didn’t happen within KG proper, it was there that it begun--the second he rammed Glauca with that SUV. When he helped Nyx and Luna in fighting him, in getting Luna to safety while Nyx fought in that final battle. 

So, for Libertus’ loyalty to have carried that far, feels like direct parallelism between Noctis and Nyx: how their actions changed hearts and mind, and how their sacrifices enabled the world to be saved. As without Nyx, without Noctis, many more people would’ve died. I think Libertus was aware of this, knowing the parallels between Nyx and Noctis and where their actions led them for the sake of the greater good.

It’s even apparent in that secret scene at Hammerhead where Noct and the bros reflect on the glaives’ sacrifice--redeemed traitors or no--and how this likely extended to Nyx’s, as well. For Libertus’ sacrifice, his being there to an awakening Noctis, likely would’ve never happened if not for Nyx. 

Lastly...

Do you see the chair Nyx is seated on here? Feel like you’ve seen it before? Look again:

It’s almost identical to the one Noctis sits in here, which brings me to my last, final parallel between them.

That’s because they’re both sitting on a nearly identical throne.

Nyx and Noctis were both kings for a night.

Like how Ignis was able to repeat what Regis had told him as a boy about standing tall, so too did Noctis share the same sentiment of not wanting to have people sacrifice their lives for his sake (in Nyx saying to Regis, “Is this the way of our king? Sacrificing Lucian sons to save his own?” Noctis said something to the same effect in the Lucii’s tomb to Cor).

Wielding the power of the Ring, summoning the Old Wall, Nyx did what no non-Lucian king has done before--maybe not originally since its first designation. For Nyx to have summoned the old wall alongside the magic and powers he wielded--compared to Glauca’s magitek-enhanced own--is spellbinding. In doing this, Nyx became a king for a night. He achieved the highest respect from Regis, who saw him as a worthy inheritor of the Lucii’s power second only to Noctis, the True King. Compared those previously, even Ignis wasn’t able to summon this much power, even if he was able to stop Ardyn in his tracks and facilitate Noctis surviving (if you go by Verse 2), Nyx gave himself selflessly. He perished by the dawn’s first light.

In exactly the same way Noctis does. 

Both men wore the ring for selfless reasons, and gave their lives so the people of Eos could live to see the dawn breaking. Between them, the weight of their sacrifices is unquantifiable. What they did for Lucis cannot hope to be replicated after, that much I am certain as even canon shows.

And it is for this reason that I believe Noctis and Nyx knew each other, and why their connection cannot be overlooked by anyone.

[judgesabo]

In Infinite Finality

So this is going to be my first non-Homestuck post here. I usually try to keep to that theme so people know what they’re getting and not get bogged down by politics or whatever else. But this is rather important to me personally, and we likely won’t get a better time to address it, so I’ll make the effort. This isn’t a theory post or anything though, it’s just a goodbye to a company I once knew.

For those not in the loop, or reading this after the fact, today Marc Laidlaw released his genderbent “fanfiction” of what he had planned Half Life 2: Episode 3, which can be read here. Marc Laidlaw was a lead writer for the entire Half Life series at Valve until he left the company last year in 2016, so this can essentially be taken as a leaked story for what they had planned back in 2007 when the last game came out.

Communication with Valve over the course of this period has been infamous. Episode 3 was originally planned to be released back in 2007 back when this entire process began, yet a decade later we have heard only two major bits of information on it, the first being a leak by an anonymous source of some out dated concept art back in 2012, and the second being this. From today. Valve doesn’t even seem to even recognize the existence of Half Life fans anymore, not even to simply confirm that it isn’t happening.

It’s painful to see what remains to this day as one of my favorite franchises lost and forgotten.

To really get this across though, I’d like to remember better days.

I distinctly recall as a kid watching my dad play the original Half Life. I think it was the first shooter I ever saw, and it astounded me. I didn’t really “get” the entire concept back then, nor did I remember the title, but the idea that there was a game where I could walk around as this person and save the world from an alien invasion stuck with me.

But by the time I was old enough to really play video games, new things had come out and I paid attention to those instead.

Then when Half Life 2 came out, I found my way into a physical copy of it. I didn’t know what this “Steam” thing was that it wanted me to download to play it, so I put it off. I still have it; it’s in my hands right now.

In the summer of 2008, this changed. While I was at camp, a friend told me about this cool game called Portal. He described it to me as being filled with action, puzzles, clever writing, unique gameplay, set in an interesting world... it hit all my checkmarks. While I couldn’t play it directly at the time, I could find the Flash version, and just like he said, it was mind bending. It reshaped how I had to think about space, to be “thinking with portals,” and the thought that there was something out there that was this but in 3D was astounding.

I eventually got Portal only to find it was everything he described to me and more. Not only was is superbly written, but the more I dug into it, the more I would uncover. Little secrets were hidden throughout the world, and if you were clever you could find this giant backstory to the series, about the mysterious Ratman or Cave Johnson, or find the history of this company as it tried desperately to get funding in competition against Black Mesa.

So naturally, hearing about this Black Mesa place, I needed to play Half Life, and my expectations were blown away yet again. Fast, fun gameplay, a story of epic proportions, and more mysterious forces seemingly beyond human comprehension. It made you feel like a hero.

Among this I found act fan communities creating whole new projects like Freeman’s Mind, which remains one of my favorite channels to this day. And then there were spin offs of that as well. I found fanart, music, and theories, and not to mention Black Mesa Source as a ground up remake of the original game simply created out of the love of the fanbase. Just like with Portal, the more I would dig the more I would uncover, revealing this elaborate and well constructed universe to explore. The more I would try out, the more impressed I’d be. Not to mention other games like Team Fortress 2 to start and just enjoy playing with friends. And to top it all off was Steam, a platform most famous for simply throwing these games at you with deals, not only for Valve’s own games with groupings like the Orange Box, but all games.

Valve, to me, was this cornucopia of creativity and excellent game design. In my eyes they could do no wrong, and while Valve Time was already infamous back then, there was so much to already explore, I could wait. Half Life 2 Episode 3 was in the works, Portal was a success beyond anything even Valve had planned for, and the future was bright. Left 4 Dead 2 released somewhere in there as well, but I didn’t pay it much mind.

My patience was rewarded in March 2010, less than two years later, when Portal quietly received an update adding radios to each level, providing clues that the community I had come to know was quickly unfolding into a whole new story, and a sequel was on its way. It was disheartening that we still hadn’t received any news on Episode 3, but my favorite game was getting a sequel! How could I not be happy? Besides, Portal had originally just been the tag along to apologize for Episode 2 being late. I knew that if we waited long enough, Valve would present us with a finely polished product which would surpass our expectations. They would regularly interact with their communities and clearly loved making the games just as much as we did playing them. Valve would count to 3 eventually.

Portal 2 faced some delays (more of that infamous Valve Time, haha), but it did eventually come out the next year and it was... good. It was a good game. It went through a lot of the old ground Portal had. Didn’t offer much new. The tone had changed. Things that had previous been in the background were brought to the foreground, and when I digged into it I found significantly less despite it being the bigger and more richly detailed game. Some parts didn’t really make sense. But it was alright, and had a lot of clever moments, and most people I talked to seemed to love it even more than the original, which frankly confused me. I’d like to talk about these differences in more detail in a separate post later, but for now Zero Punctuation hit a lot of the issues.

So I continued to wait, started watching E3 just for the chance that we would once again get news, that the dramatic cliffhanger we were left with would be addressed, or at least to get a sign that some more of that patented Valve creativity was still at work. People began to stop talking about Episode 3 and instead talked of Half Life 3 as the big title in the works. After all, the entire point of the episodic structure was for these short games to come out quickly. Valve had even suggested that they would be coming out on a monthly basis, but haha, classic Valve Time, it took years instead. We still had their promises to go off of.

I still remembered warnings from Doug Lombardi that Episode 3 would come out even later than Episode 2 did, Gabe Newell talking about how they might add a deaf character, about how the next Half Life would return to the darker roots missing in Portal 2, of bits of code in other minor releases by Valve making explicit reference to Episode 3 assets, Gabe Newell coming out to meet “protesters” hoping for some news, discussions of “Ricochet 2�� talked about openly, and Gabe shown working at a forge on a crowbar, saying how it took time. In 2012, like a breath of fresh air, some concept art apparently from back in 2008 was even leaked, showing that there was indeed actual work done by Valve showing that it wasn’t just all lies. A multitude of little pieces to let us know that it was still alive, that hope was not dead, the list of which has disappeared from Valve’s dead forums but can be found here on the wiki. Sure Valve seemed focused on that DOTA 2 game, but who really cared about that. Just another joke on them not being able to count to 3, haha.

Things became worse. Calls for Communication weren’t answered. Any kind of discussion by Valve at all became further and further apart, and what was there was abandoning what we were promised. Talk about abandoning single player games entirely were common, and Gabe even seemed dismissive of putting out more Half Life sequels and making bizarre claims like how Valve would be breaking new ground by focusing on multiplayer because there’d never been commercially successful multiplayer games before. Source 2 eventually came out (can’t count to 3, haha), but all the attention was focused on that DOTA 2 game which was still around and getting regular updates and news. Valve started focusing on hardware, trying to play catch up with their competition, making a big deal about releasing a normal controller, or working with other non-Valve groups to develop VR hardware.

The Know releases a video claiming that an anonymous inside source from Valve officially confirmed Half Life 3 as dead, with Valve too scared to release a new game to meet the insanely high expectations as well as some other problems, but Marc Laidlaw dismissed Valve ever being scared. Then old talent that had been with Valve from the beginning like Doug Lombardi and Marc began leaving, the few creative masterminds we still knew were there, gone.

Years pass in complete silence. The 10th anniversary of Episode 3′s announcement comes and goes in complete silence. And what we do hear isn’t much better. In AMA’s even as early as last January, and we still get the same line from Gaben, still joking about the number 3 and refusing to confirm or deny whether anything will come from the series, refusing to give closure one way or another, and even stating how Valve just loves to troll fans by making t-shirts and posters of Half Life 3.

Instead of the game we were promised or a new IP, Valve has now stooped to copying others, and we get a fucking card game for Dota 2, something not even fans of Dota 2 wanted.

And now, out of nowhere, we have this, a look into what might have been. And it doesn’t come from Valve, but from a man we once loved who’s moved on, and seems to despair at how things turned out.

And here we are. I spoke of my return to this shore. It has been a circuitous path to lands I once knew, and surprising to see how much the terrain has changed. Enough time has passed that few remember me, or what I was saying when last I spoke, or what precisely we hoped to accomplish. At this point, the resistance will have failed or succeeded, no thanks to me. Old friends have been silenced, or fallen by the wayside. I no longer know or recognize most members of the research team, though I believe the spirit of rebellion still persists. I expect you know better than I the appropriate course of action, and I leave you to it. Expect no further correspondence from me regarding these matters; this is my final epistle.

This is simultaneously the most news we’ve heard about Half Life 2 and also the most disheartening. It’s a stab at an old wound long scabbed over, a reminder that the talent we used to adore was real and not just the stuff of myth and legend.

The comparison I look around and see people making is one of death, that this is the final nail on the coffin, and this is the only burial that our good friends at Black Mesa and in the Resistance will ever receive. I’ve made that comparison myself already.

But now that I sit here and write this out, that I look over everything, I don’t think that’s the right answer.

Marc even followed up with a tweet pointing out that an old, unused script is not a sign that nothing will ever come out. And he’s right. Valve may indeed release something one day. Valve still lives and breathes, and is making tons of money through Steam.

Instead, the more apt analogy is that of someone suffering from Alzheimer's. A deeply loved relative has fallen ill and has slowly become a shadow of their former self, making occasional references to the glory days as we smile, nod, and pat their hand. What happened today was a brief moment of clarity breaking through their mind, and getting a chance to talk to them as they once were in their prime, and the moment quickly passes away again.

It’s a reminder of what was lost, and that no matter what they do now, the Valve I knew is gone forever. The talent behind what we knew and loved have left, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone to replace them. No matter what happens now, the cake was a lie. And I want to be wrong so very badly. Even now I can look around and see them walking around the corner, just like their old self, and going on some new adventure.

But here we are. And seeing how quickly the community latched onto this, onto anything proves that I’m not alone.

I wish Valve nothing but the best. Even for their stupid card game.

[frozen-knights]

Thoughts about White Diamond  Well this became less about White Diamond and more about how she made gem society the way it is today and how colour could hint at the personality traits of each diamond and white I do and don’t think White Diamond shattered pink Diamond.  I was meant to write a short post... it got long... very long. Also spoilers for recent Steven Universe leaks/episodes. 

My thoughts on Pink Diamond here Again I must stress that I DO NOT agree with how the Diamonds rule over the gems. 

I do not think White Diamond shattered Pink Diamond. 

It’s a common theory running around Tumblr at the moment and no I don’t agree with it, I also do not think that it was Pearl that shattered Pink Diamond. I believe that it was Rose that shattered Pink Diamond because this is the reason other Gems such as Bismuth followed her. Her infamous reputation was one of the many reasons other Gems followed her, they believed in her and that if Rose can shatter / defeat a Diamond so can they.

This is the mural that people often cite when saying that it was white Diamond who shattered pink Diamond. I don’t think that is white Diamond but some powerful Gem that commands the armies of White Diamond. However I also agree that it could be a version of the Diamonds before the design was finalized however this might not be the case. However I do feel this is an important mural to keep in mind. 

Some thoughts I have on the mural (but not set in stone) include: 

That figure in white is the cluster or a experimental cluster. The reason I think this is because: 1. The gem is bursting from the earths core, so maybe this was the first cluster (successful) cluster of its kind. 2. It is small the same height as rose so maybe not as many shattered gems were used to make it. The small gems surrounding it could be the gems that were used to make it, also the leg bothers me. It could just be time eroding away the colour and art but it could also mean that this gem was not perfect. I dunno that’s just grasping at straws.  3. The sunny figure could be yellow diamond (early design) or it could be the cluster bursting/emerging from the ground like an explosion.  4. And the hands reaching up could be gems not humans (though I think it is humans reaching up to Pink Diamond from their zoo) towards the cluster gem. My reasoning for this is that the cluster is a geo-weapon and we know some sort of weapon was used in the final moments of the war to corrupt the remaining gems on Earth. Which could be the scene below. 

The white figure is Pink Diamond. Again this is a guess but the hands and the fact this is a strong single figure fighting Rose is a strong hint. However if the Rose Vs Gem panel is Pink Diamond i think that could be the moment that Pink was shattered. And the black things could be corrupted Gems that Rose wants to save. Again its all guess work. But what is interesting is the place and mural itself.  This was built after Rose started her rebellion, the star on her dress the fact she is standing up to an authority figure all indicates this. The crystal Gems we know today are familiar with this place they could have become familar with it after thousands of years living on earth but it could have also been a place where Rose trained her army in secret. This afterall is located in what was once a battle field. It could have been built by a Bismuth (our Bismuth) to celebrate where the rebellion began.  And served as a reminder of why they are fighting the gems. On the other hand it could be built in dedication to Pink and shows what happens when people betray the diamonds and that the smaller rectangular murals depict the punishments that these rebellious gems had to endure. It could be a place where gems were punished and a gem such as an Agate could have overseen this place. 

I do believe that White Diamond is the most distant of Diamonds. 

Again I stand by the idea that in her own way Pink Diamond was  the most loving and kind of the Diamonds Link here if you want to read those thoughts and I think White Diamond is the most emotionally distant of the Diamonds. This is mostly guesswork but bare with me. 

The Diamonds by colour psychology

I do think colour choice is important in this show, as is the choice of gems and other things. 

Pink: is youthful nurturing colour that is warm, compassionate, sweet and inspires an positive outcome. It is non threatening, naive, immature has little will power or lack and self worth.  I stand by that pink loves but in her own way, the humans she imprisoned she loved in her own way. She was young, naive and i’m going to guess immature thanks to her youth just like a very young amethyst, just because she is a Diamond does not mean she is born wise and all powerful.  Yellow: is a optimistic colour, fun, confident, logic, analytical, wise and creative. But it is also critical, judgmental, impatient, impulsive, spiteful, lacking compassionate and egotistical.  I’m going to assume that yellow wasn’t always angry, at one point she must have been more balanced. I do think she is very logical woman and after pinks death became more impatient and spiteful as seen by the way she views all Rose Quartz's and how she wants Blue to get over her grief and doesn’t quite understand why Blue is taking longer to process her grief then herself.    Blue: is a loyal colour, trustworthy, tactful, caring, idealistic, orderly and authoritative. It is also a colour of perseverance, concern and devotion.  It is also a sad depressing colour that can be rigid, old fashioned, spiteful and unstable. It is frigid, unforgiving and can be weak.  Blue Diamond is an authority figure, who judging by the way she reacted to Garnet is very old fashioned and rigid in her thinking. In her current state she is very sad, depressed and devoted to her shattered sister and she could be considered unstable in how she is dealing with her depression.  White: Is the beginning of everything and its death, it is purity, complete, simple, neat and self sufficient and equality. But is is also cautious, distant, empty, isolated and critical.  Again we do not know anything about white but I do think that White is the first Diamond and I’m going to guess that she is the most powerful Diamond who does not need the other diamonds or anyone’s help. 

White Diamond created the Diamond authority 

The fact that White Diamond has yet to be seen in this show means that her reveal is going to be something big. She is the head of the Diamond authority, always seen on top of the pyramid/diamond while yellow and blue stand by side and the youngest pink was later added  to the bottom. 

I feel that White Diamond is the oldest and first of the diamonds, she created the Diamond authority and established the ground work for the gem society that we see today. 

Yellow and Blue are either the same or similar age, their position on the pyramid/triangle could indicate this. They are close, the fact that yellow was the one to find and comfort blue shows this. Also Yellow and Blue feel pink’s death on a deeply personal level. Though since we have yet to see white this could be wrong, but i feel if it were my sibling who needed my help I would be there for them. 

Pink is the youngest she was created on Earth and why there is a massive hole in Russia its in a similar place to the Jubilee mine. She was given the Earth and made her own type of quartz soldiers (Rose quartz) 

I also feel she’s (possibly) going to be the shows villain

I feel White Diamond created gem society as it is now, maybe before her rule it was chaotic and in need of a strong leader to create a sense of order. I think her intentions started out good but it became the horror that it is now. It is rigid and unchanging and any signs of imperfection (corrupted gems) are wiped out. Shattered gems are turned into geo-weapons of various sizes for reasons we don’t fully understand and whatever was once good isn’t now if it ever was.  I feel the age gap (if there is one) between White Diamond, Blue and Yellow is huge. I think Yellow and Blue were not made on Homeworld, (I have a small theory that the planets the Diamonds are looking at on their murals are the planet they are made on.) I think White is respected by Yellow and Blue but she is emotionally distant from her younger siblings. Fast forward to Pink Diamonds creation and I feel that White may have never even known Pink or at least only met her a couple of times. However I feel that Yellow and Blue took Pink under their wings and helped her understand her role and duties (including turning the earth into a colony planet) and that is why they grieve their sisters loss so much. Some would argue that thousands of years is enough time to grieve but I think the Diamonds never considered that they could be shattered and didn’t know how to process an emotion they might never have felt before now. I think that White Diamond is emotionally distant. She is old and doesn’t mix feelings into her work, she is the Diamond that taught Blue and Yellow how to do their work and what being a Diamond means. White is the one that created the hierarchy and the rules surrounding a gems purpose and role in this hierarchy. She is the reason things are so horrible, the reason the Diamonds rule using fear. I think if Steven and the Crystal Gems meet White Diamond it will be a massive arch. I think there will come a time when things change with Gem society and the other gems will or have had a hand in this: 

Blue might accept that things need to change from an emotional stand point as she finally sees (or comprehends) the horrible reality of how things are. 

Yellow might accept that things need to change from a logical stand point, resources are becoming scarce and there needs to be a change. Mass producing gems is not the answer. 

Pink in her youth may have been the Diamond to instigate change as the young are more malleable and you can shape them into the person you want them  to be. 

Nature vs Nurture

IF White Diamond shattered Pink Diamond, I think it was for the third reason. I Personally believe that someone isn’t born evil, they are not born a dictator or a cruel person they are exposed to things or manipulated throughout their lives to become the person they are today. This show is all about change and becoming the person you want to be, it about love an acceptance. I think IF a Diamond were to rebel against White and say “No more tyranny” it would have been Pink.  Sure the way pink viewed humans as nothing more than curious animals to be locked away was wrong, but all gems look down aliens who are not Gems. They are taught that this is how things must be that they are the apex race that must be respected and they can do what they want. This is something their society has accepted and I believe it is White who first started this chain of events.  I think Pink is the most loving and caring of the Diamonds. I feel IF Pink was shattered by White (IF) then for a short amount of time Pink might have stood with Rose wishing to protect the Earth she was born on. Maybe she was planning to return the humans to their world, maybe this is how our Rose learned to love all the Earth and all the creatures that lived on the Earth. But White did not like this. This was not how Diamonds ruled.  So White put her foot down and Pink finally sided with her older sister and against Rose or stood against her sister and protected the Earth with rose. So Rose shattered Pink to save the things she loved or Pink stood against White to protect the things she loves and in the process was shattered. But this was a sister, White could not tell Yellow or Blue this fact and used Rose as a scapegoat.  Of course the White Diamond shattered Pink Diamond theory fall’s apart when you consider that Ruby claims to have seen Pink Diamond be shattered and while we don’t know how true that is other gems have backed up this claim. There is the possibility that Ruby didn’t see what she thought she saw and that Rose told what story she needed to tell (who would believe a rebellious leader who says that a Diamond shattered another Diamond) but as for now we don’t have any information on why White would want to shatter Pink?  White Diamond wants things to stay the way they are, this is what works for her and what has worked for thousands of years and maybe she’s not ready to see how her society is falling apart. The lack of resources and need to re-purpose Gems like Jasper (Who went from one army to another) hints that maybe the Diamonds are fighting other wars possibly other much larger rebellions, inspired by Rose herself.  White Diamond has tasked Yellow (and possibly Blue who is incapable of much due to her state of depression and so most of the work falls upon Yellow these days) to manage colony's and resources. With Yellow under constant pressure to work and Blue so emotionally devastated that she is incapable of doing much thanks to physical and mental exhaustion White Diamond seems to be the highest authority and has her sisters firmly under her control. 

Redemption for the Diamonds So far every “Villain” introduced (aside from Jasper) has had a Redemption arc. Corrupted Gems are proved not to be evil but feral, unable or incapable of higher thinking and so far we haven’t really got any human Villains unless you count Kevin. (I count Kevin as a Villain)  The question is could the Diamonds change?  They rule a broken society, everything is wrong. Gems live in fear of their higher ups, from Pearls to Peridots and from Peridots to Agates and from Agates to Sapphires and from Sapphires to Diamonds everyone fears those above them. Fear is the ideal weapon of a dictator. Those who do not fit into society (be it corruption or rebellious) are shattered and it is this fear of being shattered that keep everyone in their place. We agree that something needs to change and if it is the Diamonds that change, that see the errors of their way then the entire society can change.  You can’t just remove a ruler and think that things will be okay, it would be utter chaos if the Diamonds were gone (be shattered or bubbled) and it wouldn’t be long before Gems like Agates and Sapphires assumed control in the Diamonds place. You have instigate change slowly, educate the people and make them see that yes freedom is better but freedom with some laws and rules to make sure it does not become lawless and chaotic.  I could see a new society being born free of the Diamonds, I could see Blue and Yellow possibly stepping back or instead leading something more democratic. However I also don’t think this could be possible with someone as old and as unchanging as a figure like a Diamond. But if Peridot can go from hating the earth to fighting for it I’m sure the Diamonds could come to some form of understanding that perhaps there needs to be change.  Nobody here agrees with how the Diamonds rule. It is wrong and it needs to be stopped, but as we have seen in the latest episodes Yellow and Blue are not without feelings. But they are also figures that represent discriminatory leaders in power. The prime examples are:  Blue who sees Garnet is unjustly horrified by this new fusion, this new way to show love, this new person. She orders Ruby shattered because Ruby is “just a common Ruby” and Blue diamond is “protecting” her precious Sapphire. But Garnet is not someone to hate or be repulsed by she is strong because of the love that makes her who she is. But she is something brand new and the Diamonds don’t like change.  Rose was new (possibly never leaving earth) and we don’t know which Diamond Pearl belonged to. (Though I assume she was White Diamonds, as she remembers Homeworld fondly and she is mostly white and was given to Pink Diamond as a gif.)  So we don’t know how many times this had happened but I’m going to assume Garnet was brand new. 

Garnet at the time was a fusion unlike any other, Blue was replused not because it was fusion but because it was a new fusion. Garnet was something to be be feared. Imagine IF the temple that Steven lives in was an accurate representation of a combined fusion between Rose, Pearl and Garnet, imagine the power that fusion would have. Fusion is said to be “A weak tactic to make weak gems stronger” by those in power. The reason is to squash out any thoughts that you would want to fuse with someone that wasn’t the same type of gem as you.  It keeps gems in their place. It keeps those who are in power in power and this is what the Diamonds want. They don’t want a fusion leading the people, though I suspect a fusion like Garnet would actually be the best type of person to lead gems.  The cluster / forced fusion gems created are both geo-weapons and abnormalities. Other gems would look upon these creatures in disgust and perhaps this is the reason that Gems (along with the “weak tactic” bullshit Jasper repeats because that is what she was told) didn’t fuse with other gems. They didn’t want to turn into “monsters” or risk being shattered and made into these monsters.  However the question then becomes Do the Diamonds deserve a Redemption Arc?   Honestly I’m on the fence. On one hand I think a lot of characters need redemption arcs but on the other hand you look at the atrocities the Diamonds have committed and it becomes less clear.  But this is a show about change, about owning up to your mistakes and doing you best to fix the mistakes you made and move on with your life. Its about growth, its about love, its about forgiveness and family.  And Steven is the type of person who will eventually mature enough to know that yes the Diamonds did bad shit and maybe that should not be forgiven (certainly not forgotten) but his very nature also dictates that he might teach the Diamonds the error of their ways though you could argue how do you teach someone so unaccustomed of change to change?  I do think this shows end game is to enact a change in Gem society so they can have a happier, brighter future. Where Pearls are no longer slaves and where fusions like Garnet can exist and where Bismuth can build what she wants in peace. 

[caveartfair]

7 Things You Didn’t Know about Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright on the balcony of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum during construction, 1959. Photo by William H. Short. Courtesy of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives. New York, NY.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, under construction, ca. 1956–59. Photo by William H. Short. © Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, New York.

Frank Lloyd Wright is synonymous with American architecture. His prolific career spanned over seven decades, during which he built 532 buildings throughout the United States. Wright embraced experimentation, but he was also a pronounced intellectual who developed influential theories about urbanism and environmental architecture.

On the occasion of his 150th birthday, we celebrate his life by looking deeper into some of the lesser-known aspects of his work and life.

1. His childhood greatly influenced his ideas about architecture.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Marin County Civic Center. Photo by Thomas Hawk, via Flickr.

Frank Lloyd Wright, V.C. Morris Gift Shop. Photo by Thomas Hawk, via Flickr.

Some might even say that Wright was predestined to be an architect. His mother, Anna Lloyd-Jones, thought that her son would be a great builder and even before he was born, she decorated his nursery with pictures of Gothic cathedrals to inspire him one day. An engagement with nature was also ingrained early on; both of his parents were avid readers who introduced him to Transcendental Philosophy and he spent many of his summers working on his uncle’s farm.

Throughout his education (he was homeschooled until he was 11), Wright learned the value of learning by doing. One of his most significant early influences came from his exposure to Froebel training. His mother purchased a set of the educational building blocks created by Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the first kindergarten, when Wright was nine. Interacting with the Froebel blocks gave Wright a very tactile, direct experience of architecture, while reinforcing the idea that one could design the world, not just represent it. In his old age, Wright would still remember this experience: “The smooth shapely maple blocks with which to build, the sense of which never afterwards leaves the fingers: so form became feeling,” he once wrote.

2. He originally wanted to make the Guggenheim out of red marble.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Restoration Completion Photograph by David Heald. © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.

Discussion surrounding Wright’s innovative design for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York has most often focused on its spiral. But, had the architect been able to realize his initial vision, we might have had something more startling to talk about.

Wright wrote of his plans for the project in January 1944: “exterior: red-marble and long-slim pottery red bricks.” Hilla Rebay, the art advisor to Solomon R. Guggenheim at the time, quickly quashed this in a 1945 letter by saying: “Red is a color which displeases S. R. G. as much as it does me.” She recommended yellow or green marble instead. Wright, who was usually uncompromising, did not push the matter further, but he designed a new scheme with an exterior made of white concrete and polished marble gravel. When the building finally opened in October 1959, Wright had already passed away in April, and the color had been changed from his specification of “PV020 Buff” to a shade of cream and very soft yellow.

Red—more specifically, a shade called “Cherokee red”—was Wright’s favorite color and carried great symbolic value. In an article he wrote for Architectural Forum in 1938, he quoted plant physiologist Kliment Arkadevich Timiriazev, who said that “the color red is invincible. It is the color not only of blood—it is the color of creation.” He used the color in many of his residential projects (at times despite his client’s wishes).

3. He was a dealer of Japanese art.

Katsushika Hokusai, Fuji from Honganji Temple in Asakusa, Edo (Toto asakusa honganji), 1831-1833. Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Purchased from the Frank Lloyd Wright Collection. Courtesy of the Hammer Museum.

Wright had a lifelong fascination with Japanese art, which had a great influence on his aesthetic. “I remember when I first met the Japanese prints. The art had a great influence on my feeling and thinking,” he once said. “When I saw the print and I saw the elimination of the insignificant and simplicity of vision, together with the sense of rhythm and the importance of design, I began to see nature in a totally different way.”

He amassed a significant collection of Japanese ukiyo-e prints on several trips he made to Japan, beginning in 1905, and significantly between 1917 and 1922, during which time he was living in Tokyo and working on building the Imperial Hotel there. Back in the U.S., Wright sold these Japanese prints to a long list of private collectors, and on multiple occasions exhibited his collection in museums.

Selling the prints, or using them as collateral, was a financial backup during the periods when his architecture business was slow. In fact, during the Depression, he was forced to sell much of his collection to pay off debts. But Wright’s reputation was hurt in 1920 when he was accused by an expert in the field of selling prints that had been altered or “revamped.” Wright alleged that his print dealer in Tokyo, Kyūgo Hayashi, had fooled him, and as a result Hayashi went to prison for a year. It remains unclear if Wright was involved in the matter; reportedly, the architect was known to add colored pencil or crayon to the Japanese prints he owned.

4. He developed his own comprehensive theory of “organic architecture.”

Frank Lloyd Wright, Taliesin West Complex. Photo by Greg O’Beirne, via Wikimedia Commons.

Though Wright was not the first to use the term “organic architecture,” he started  developing his own definition for it early on in his career. His mentor Louis Sullivan was well known for the mantra “form follows function,” which was famously expanded by Wright to “form and function are one.”

Wright’s organic architecture differed from those who came before him; rather than focusing on imitating natural forms, he looked to reinterpret ideals found in nature. “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature, it will never fail you,” he once said. Wright’s organic principles center on creating connections between the inhabitants and the landscape, the use of new materials like glass and steel to achieve more expansive spatial relationships, and maintaining respect for the properties of materials. Most important to Wright’s organic architecture was the belief that architecture has an intrinsic relationship with its site and the historic time in which it is built.

5. Some of his most beloved buildings were plagued by maintenance problems.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater House. Photo by Mariano Mantel, via Flickr.

Wright was indisputably a design innovator, but some experts have noted that, in the interest of getting things built, he would look for shortcuts during the construction process. The structural engineer working on Fallingwater warned Wright that there wasn’t enough steel in the structure to support the poured concrete. Though Wright overruled him at the time, the engineer’s fear was justified when the building needed a serious renovation down to the structural level, lest its famous cantilever would drop into the water.

A long list of complaints including leaking roofs, weak foundations, and drainage problems plagued many of his commissions, but Wright considered these issues the price to pay for innovation. This attitude is perfectly captured in an anecdote from Herbert Johnson, one of his clients, who called Wright during a dinner party to report a leak on his head. Wright replied by simply suggesting he move his chair over.

6. He proposed a “mile high” tower in 1952.

Unveiling the 22-foot-high (6.7-meter-high) visualization of The Mile-High Illinois at the October 16, 1956, press conference in Chicago. Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright (the Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York).

Pedro E. Guerrero. Sixty Years of Living Architecture: The Work of Frank Lloyd Wright in New York. 1953. © 2017 Pedro E. Guerrero Archives.

Wright designed over 1,000 buildings, of which only 532 were realized. Among his unbuilt works, the “Mile High” Tower proposal of 1956 for Chicago stands out. If it had been built, it would still be the tallest building in the world today. Standing at 5,280 feet and 528 stories tall, the building would have required a foundation deeper than the height of the Empire State Building. Wright estimated that just three of these towers would be sufficient for the entirety of New York City.

Though certainly fantastic, the project was technically feasible. Many of Wright’s critics postulate that it went unbuilt because it was an ill-advised publicity scheme. Architectural historian Lewis Mumford wrote that “all of Wright’s egocentric weaknesses were crystallized in an ultimate fantasy…a proposal that violated every canon of Wright’s own conception of an organic architecture.”

7. He loved cars and collected them throughout his life.

Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (the Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York). All rights reserved.

Though Wright’s birth in 1867 was well before the advent of gasoline-powered automobiles, he was a fan of cars throughout his life. The car as both form and symbol would inspire his ideas about design.

Wright was enamored with speed. His first car, a Model K Stoddard-Dayton roadster, was the same model that had won the first automobile race, which was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909. He went on to collect cars throughout his life, including models from Bentley, Mercedes, and Jaguar, among others. His signature vehicle was the Lincoln Continental. Around 1940 he ordered two Continentals, both painted his favorite color, Cherokee Red.

Early on, Wright was conscious that the prominence of automobiles signaled a cultural shift in America. His plan for the the utopian Broadacre City—which he developed from 1932 through the end of his life—was based around the idea that the near-universal availability of mass-produced automobiles would fundamentally decentralize American cities.  

—Alexandra Alexa

from Artsy News

[reinedeslouves-blog]

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