#do i look like i know what a ''meta'' is. i JUST got a hype KJHFG

[hypixelskyblockquotes]

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 17/12

Anonymous asked: re: your responsive timeline theory: "There is nowhere, however huge the multiverse is, where Sam Vimes as he is now has murdered Lady Sybil. But the theory is quite clear. It says that if anything could happen without breaking any physical laws, it must happen. But it hasn't… So what people do matters! People invent other laws. What they do is important… It means the multiverse isn't infinite and people's choices are far more vital than they think." - night watch you and pterry seem to be on similar pages about this lol

Oh, nice! That's one of my favorite moments in all of Discworld, and I've brought it up before when discussing Paradox Space.

I'm pretty sure I was thinking about it when I came up with Responsive Timeline in the first place. Having someone reference it in an ask is a fun way to bring things full-circle.

@necrowyrm asked: Welcome Baaaaaaaack!!!!!!!! @whyequalsemexplusbee asked: I've literally had this date marked on my calendar, Act 6 by the new year let's goooooooo! @goldsleeps asked: it's very nice to have your particular pale green showing up on my dash again. @skaiamechanic asked: I am so happy to see your notifications again whenever you post. Welcome back, you're one of the main reasons I'm still on Tumblr, and good luck getting to Act 6! @elkian asked: Welcome back! I'm hype to see you post again :D good luck with your goal, but please take care of yourself! @nebularious asked: On the 1st day of Christmas, thewertsearch gave to me!

Thanks, everyone! I'm happy to be back, and I'm finding I have a lot more energy after taking a little break. Onwards to Act 6, indeed!

@morganwick asked: There literally, actually is a Burger King less than 40 minutes from Rose's house. That may sound simple and obvious, but when fans figured that out after this ran it practically blew their minds.

Her area is fairly remote - but there's a limit to how remote you can really be when you're living in the state of New York, right?

(^ she knows nothing about US geography)

@animation-recaps-by-sean asked: The troll sprites didn't automatically die at the end of the game, it's implied that Jack hunted them down and killed them

Wait, really? I had a little search through the comic there, but I can't find any statements implying that this is the case, unless they're in a walkaround somewhere.

Maybe I missed it - if so, send me a link and I'll take a look!

@catlikeascendant asked: idk if you go here but are there any ships you are interested in/think will be canonized? like it or not, it is a pretty important part of the story!

Thewertsearch dot tumblr dot com is a certified Rosemary nation. That's the only ship I'm really ride-or-die for, and the only one I am absolutely 100% sure will be canonized.

If you're interested, I made a full list of my ships back at the end of Hivebent, which I still mostly stand by - although I might need to rethink the ones involving Gamzee, specifically.

@relaxxattack asked: it’s so crazy that your “jump back in” point is perhaps the most fast paced and high stakes part of the entire comic. i absolutely love this arc, but i do NOT envy having to grapple with it directly after a hiatus!

I know, right?

Honestly, it's probably a good thing. The pacing is really energizing me - I haven't been able to blog at this pace since early Hivebent.

@morganwick asked: "The terms of a God Tier permadeath are defined according to the case of the individual - which implies that Heroic and Just are subjective, even to Sburb. It sounds like there might not be any ironclad rules, and that everyone's ruling works differently." Or as another liveblogger put it, when she got to the line in question: "In other words, 'by Andrew Hussie'."

Heh. That's what it ultimately boils down to, doesn't it?

I can grumble about 'canon' and 'meta shenanigans' until I'm blue in the face - but at the end of the day, the story will go in the direction that Hussie wants it to go. No ifs, ands or buts.

@krixwell asked: I actually think the "no lying" thing is essential to making Doc Scratch as intimidating as he is. He makes it pretty clear that (assuming it's real) it's a self-imposed challenge – he's handicapping his own manipulation just for fun, and he's still massively confident that what he's doing will work out exactly how he wants it to anyway. Normally such hubris would be a surefire sign of a character's imminent downfall, but because he's near-omniscient, we the readers know that his confidence isn't unfounded. We know he has very solid reasons to believe his main designs cannot not succeed, even with dark pockets here and there. I just think it does a fantastic job at selling the idea that his designs are inevitability itself, his guidance hopeless to struggle against, his words the rails on the one way track of the alpha timeline.

Hm. I do like that, I have to say.

It's fun picking away at Scratch's chatlogs, trying to find statements that are technically 'false' - but the fact that he presents himself as truthful and yet succeeds in his manipulations anyway is very strong characterization. And it's that much stronger if Hussie's intention was that Scratch really, truly never lies.

[dailycass-cain]

It's been A LONG TIME, but I feel I am so gonna have to catch up on my thoughts with Birds of Prey. So tonight I'm gonna do a three-parter.

Tonight, part 1 will cover #9-10. So let's start with my thoughts on the two issues.

Starting off, this issue means a bit to me three-fold as #1 it occurred during the character's anniversary month.

#2 Artist Jonathan Case once again draws the character (having gone to town with the character in Batgirls #14).

#3 said GORGEOUS AAPI variant cover by Phillip Tan and Elmer Santos. I remember seeing Tan's Cass at a C2E2 a few years ago and nabbing the print (for myself and a friend). He always drew a nice Cass, and I'm glad AT LAST he drew an official one.

As for the issue itself, it's a nice beginning piece to the new arc as the Birds are basically lost trying to find Babs, along with figuring out their new surroundings.

For the special costume given to Cass this issue. I saw an article via Screenrant going into detail on how edgy this suit gives off.

I agree it does, but also to a degree of how maybe she views herself internally. Though of all the unique designs, I'm quite curious on how the artists throughout this arc corresponded with writer Kelly Thompson on the unique looks to each Bird.

Regardless the "Victorian Era" Birds as I view this issue give a very Gothic style and lend to the twists and turns this issue has.

Which, leads into one of the major moments Cass gets in the issue.

The first is a move hyped on the covers during the first arc: Barda launching Cass via a fastball special.

The moment had me squeeing as we get our first tag team move of the two and I hope there is MOAR from them besides the old classic (which you can't go wrong with).

The Birds rescue Babs, and for the briefest of moments everything "seems" right, but well Thompson remembers something OTHER writers kind of neglect with Cass.

In that, she can tell when someone is not truly themselves and is a walking lie detector.

It's a brief, but if "you're in the know" of the character, yeah Cass would easily see via a few steps of body language and behavior that Babs wasn't really Babs.

It's a character quirk that a lot of writers usually overlook coughs some Batman writers coughs.

Again, Dinah trusts Cass 100% with her insight (as the series has already established) and attacks "Babs" and we get out fight in the issue: the Birds vs. this mangled Bat Babs creature.

This issue also feels like the closest meta Thompson has regarding the whole Babs as Batgirl in the issue too. If you take in the fact that her costume has a rather "classic" look to it. And well...

And that leads me to the only downer of the issue because like the Birds themselves, as the reader we are left clueless as they are as to whom or what is behind all of this.

However, for this "one and done" different look. I'll give it being something totally different and again this series trying something new (akin to what we've gotten in the first arc).

Case's art is still stunning, and though more minimalist (compared to his Batgirls issues) still packs a punch. The costumes and crazy demon she-bat Babs still pops in my head.

I just wish we got more information other than the teases for the issue, but this is an unfolding story and like the Birds I'm here for the ride.

Birds of Prey #10 continues this wacky out-of-this-world adventure this time with a 50s twist that has the same dark edge of the prior issue. So what about the Cass within? Well...

Again, another artist of Batgirls helps with the issue as we get Robbi Rodriguez (who's been drawing A LOT of Cass granting 2016 me a wish) and Gavin Guidry on art duties.

Their art compliments the setting within the issue with this 50s to 60s style with a dark undertone (like the prior issue).

So the issue begins with the newest suits we get a '66 version of Cass. The suit itself uses a bit of what we got with the '66 bat costumes but we get Cass bits to it. The bat symbol. The belt. Oh hey! A domino mask! How Black Bat of this suit!

I do love the look, and for a "66' Batgirl" look for Cass checks all the boxes making it different from Babs' look.

Though I have to admit it's weird that Babs herself looks a lot more like her short-lived Sean Murphy bat ears look than something more to her '66.

We also get A LOT of exposition in the issue of what's going on, why someone is targeting Babs, and HOW this is happening.

And it works for me given well we need that info dump and this does feel like the part where we NEEDED this. Even if it does feel like a slight retread of Megaera from the first arc.

However, with one tiny bat twist…

The big fight for this issue is the Birds vs. a corrupted Barda. And oh dear me she is utterly terrifying. But like I said we get a twist, and it is SOOOOO Cass-characterization perfection.

Instead of a brutal fight between the two new friends we get Cass trying to reason to Barda, knowing the New God can beat this on her own.

The moment between the two is just SOOO Cass. Akin to so many stuff with the character in the past. Thompson just GETS Cassandra Cain as a character.🥺

If there's any really nitpick of this issue I have is this issue felt so quick. Like we get so much info, Possessed-Barda, Cass does Cass thing, and that's it. I kind of wish we got more but I get we're sprinkling the Sin and Vixen stuff for later.

But man, Barda/Cass are just the anchor of this series period. Their friendship is something I always wanted and this series hasn't disappointed. I can't wait when Thompson repays this with Barda coming to Cass's aide or does this.

I KNOW THIS IS COMING.

I just wonder WHEN and if I'll have tissues for this moment when Barda unleashes hell or shows this compassion to free Cass from whatever bind.

But yeah Birds of Prey has been my favorite book of the early half of the month, with Tec always complimenting it for the back half.

[piracytheorist]

Spy x Family 30 Day Challenge

Day 1: How did you get to know Spy x Family?

I'm actually pretty difficult to start new series. I might check out something out of curiosity, and if it doesn't catch my attention within the first two or three episodes, I give it up and move on. Similarly, I'm not really big into anime, as I also don't actively look for new stuff to watch. Stuff usually finds me XD

So I started seeing posts about Spy x Family as recommended posts on tumblr. I got a vague impression that it's about a spy, an assassin and a telepath acting like a family together and I was like huh. But not much else. I also noticed that people seemed to love it A LOT. Usually, when I see such obsession on something from tumblr I get curious to see if it matches up to the hype. I took a quick look at the tag to see what the vibe was like. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing this fanart on the tag and that caught my attention, so I went like FINE I'll check this thing out.

First episode in and I was a goner. Pretty much everything about it drew me in, so even from that early on I could sense the obsession setting in XD I was definitely humbled for my "is it REALLY worth the hype?" doubts XD

But yeah, that was in August 2022. I binge-watched cour 1 immediately, finished it in a few hours, and then I picked up cour 2 pretty much as soon as it was out, and things just went on like that, with me waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for new anime episodes while I struggle to keep myself from indulging into the manga XD It's kind of a unique experience for me, I must admit, but I do love this story so much and it's SO juicy for meta content, which I also love, so for me it's perfectly worth it.

[sylvaridreams]

I'm going to try and word this better than I did at 1 am venting on cohost last night, and maybe slightly gentler. I haven't finished the SotO update from yesterday. I got home, played for a couple of hours, did some meta on the current map, triiiiied to get myself to go back to story... and I couldn't.

I was BORED. It was quite honestly boring. Any dialogue that matters is Peitha talking to her people. I am a stage prop that occasionally vocalizes expositional questions and fires arrows at grunt mobs.

I could physically feel myself losing any remaining interest in the story as I clicked "what does this mean? What do you think of Peitha's plan?" type questions (which offer a poor illusion of choice in conversation. Look! Dialogue options! You can click all of these in any order you like but you must click them all!)

Why should I care about this story? I'm being brought along as the muscle that Peitha doesn't really need. I'm not offering anything special I'm terms of skill. I'm not an invaluable resource. I'm not even being utilized as the leader that gw2 has ALWAYS made me! It's always been "You're out there leading the armies, commanding all the way from the front line to the supply chains!" Now I'm just kind of around. Run a few events and come back. Characters refer to me and I apparently have no in-game response. MY CHARACTER doesn't seem invested.

And so many new characters. Every drop, it's like, have a bunch more named people! I was learning names during drop 1, and know some of the Wizards off the top of my head, but honestly I’m not bothering anymore. Why should I? Even if Nexus isn't killed off in the next chapter I play, I'm never going to meet this character again after he stops serving the story.

And where IS the story? Where is the meat? Drop 1 was at least interesting to me. Secret society hiding demons from the Commander. Getting sucked into this strange and horrifying place. Getting the life beat out of Alba by a hulking, terrifying demon and crawling away in fear. Escaping into the arms of strangers and getting this unknown voice in Alba's head, talking to him, saying what he wanted to hear, teasing him. Him refusing to tell anyone she was in there, because he *trusted this unknown voice in his head over all these strangers.* The story lulled a lot and it wasn't like... prime gw2 content. But it had a few hooks. When in Amnytas, Alba GASPED "Peitha!" right outside of the next story step and said "I can *see* you," and I turned my camera and saw what I knew, what Alba had to have suspected, confirmed. That there was a demon using his mind as a lounge. THAT was a moment, it was SOMETHING!

At least it was fun at points, at least there was some small amount of intrigue and mystery. And from there it was all just, "take a backseat, Wayfinder. This isn't YOUR story." I'm getting nothingburger bites out of each new story drop. Oh we went into Nayos to take the fight to them and killed Peitha's model reskin cousin. Anything else that drop? Anything? No but next time we recruited some general to fight with us! Can I get a smidgen of story? Something to hang onto? The only thing this drop that hasn't been "Don't care didn't ask plus I've seen your character model elsewhere" was Alba being called "that ugly creature" by a kryptis.

That's all I've got. I'm not enjoying it. I don't like SotO. And it is not for lack of trying it, it's not because i just don't like change and don't wanna see something new and different! This expansion feels like an empty parody of Guild Wars 2, and it feels like a slap in the face to anyone who was invested in Tyria. Pre-release they really hyped up that "It's time for new places and new people! We're gonna get a new cast and explore a vast new world!" I CARED about that world, which we still had SO MUCH left to explore. Are the borders of the map even the ends of the world of Tyria or does it keep going? Who cares. There's shit going on above the clouds. I cared about those CHARACTERS. Does Alba get to see people that he loves and cares about ever again? Is he making it to the wedding? Does he get a chance to go home and see anyone? Like yes we are not chained up in the Tower between instances, we can still play the game in those old maps, but the characters have been written out of the story.

And frankly these new ones are shitty replacements. I don't care about these people. I maybe had some small amount of "OK cool its Zojja I know her!" but it's not like I had any deep care or feeling for her. Not personally. Peitha was interesting at first but being brought along as part of her nameless, faceless grunt entourage has made me lose a lot of interest. She's not going to be a core character post-SotO. She either dies at the end, or takes over as King, and at best becomes a very occasional callback. "Ah, King Peitha! It's been some time, how is Nayos!" She's not going to reclaim the throne and then ignore rebuilding her people's infrastructure to hang out in Commander’s brain all day or join them on quests. We are a temporary ally and a stepping stone for her story.

Which sucks.

In terms of the rest of the SotO cast, it again feels like a pale imitation of prior Gw2 content. Like they're saying "remember season 1, meeting all those people one by one who would become your best friends and allies in life? 🤔 " and then they didn't even do it that way. Season 1 was a gradual introduction to these characters that you were given time, story, and Reason to care about. If Braham, Rox, Marjory, Kasmeer, Taimi, Rytlock, and Canach had all shown up and said "oh we're the Best Friends Patrol. Come along with us stranger!" I would have felt like a tag along. Not an equal in the group. Instead we met on level ground. We became a team together, we became friends together, each of us a vital part.

Which is opposite to how it feels now. These characters have deep history going back AGES. I just showed up, no one respects me, I'm not privy to any information or details on who is who and why should I care, I don't Get story time to ACTUALLY hang out and meet these people and develop my OWN relationships with them. When I leave, they will not care. I'm just being brought along like a lost kid at this point, until we reach customer service and they can drop me off, or until I wander away and find another deep group to follow.

I don't like this story. I don't like the setting. I don't like the characters or the group dynamic. I don't feel like an EQUAL in this expansion, I don't feel like I matter. Anyone could stand here and ask supporting questions to drive the dialogue between the 2-3 characters that actually matter, which again, does not include me.

And FRANKLY I hate that no one can say anything that isn't glowing praise of GW2 and Anet and every little detail is just scrumptious don't worry I love it, without a bunch of vague posts filtering in about "so much Negativity, everyone is a HATER, you just don't support The Writers and want them to FAIL, well then stop playing the game and delete your account and blog and go away forever, REAL fans LOVE nothingburger" to shun whoever dared say "I didn't like some or all of it." I'm happy for you if you're liking SotO but I am not. I'm sorry if you don't understand that criticizing something that I've played for a decade doesn't mean I hate it. I'm sorry if you can't take the MILD CONFLICT of me or someone else saying "I love this thing that you love too but I don't like how the new part feels" but most of us learned about conflict in kindergarten or at least through children's picture books and TV, so idk. Maybe you just need to cope at that point.

As it stands I don't like the expac. I don't see Anet turning it around and blowing my mind with the ending. And I really don't even care how it ends. I was asked the other day "how are you going to handle Peitha?" (in terms of the canon that I write, which has already moved past the end of SotO.) And frankly I was like. I dunno. It doesn't matter to me. She's either dead or on the throne, I don't care much either way. We could get the huge plot twist at the end that Peitha was the big bad or Isgarren or WHOEVER THE FUCK, and I wouldn't care. None of this matters to me. I'm going back to Tyria with my writing. The rest is filler.

[fushiglow]

Gojō Satoru and Ryōmen Sukuna: symbols of celebrity?

What does it say about Jujutsu Kaisen's influence and popularity that it could convince the two leading national newspapers in Japan — rivals and competitors — to run a joint marketing campaign where readers must buy both papers to complete the set?

The attention to detail is incredible, too! Asahi — Sukuna's paper — is one of the oldest in Japan. Meanwhile Yomiuri — Gojō's paper — has the largest newspaper circulation in the world. Such a brilliant way to illustrate "the strongest sorcerer in history vs the strongest sorcerer of today" in promotion of the new volume. Extra points for the fact that the two newspapers have opposing political leanings, too.

I'm really fascinated by this — so, some thoughts on celebrity and the fourth wall in Jujutsu Kaisen below the cut!

One of the things I love most about this series is how self-aware it is at times. I feel like Gege Akutami is quite purposeful is how he uses his characters to speak directly to the audience, especially in recent chapters. Along with the 'tickets' for Mei Mei's livestream and the promotional video that's reminiscent of a wrestling announcer bigging up the event, the entire campaign for the release of volume 25 feels like it's breaking the fourth wall in a way that's perfect for Jujutsu Kaisen.

It also makes me even more hopeful that 'The Battle of the Strongest' is going to be a film, if only for the meta effect of the audience 'purchasing tickets for the livestream'. Imagine if they market it so you feel like you're actually paying to watch this fight between two gods unfolding in real-time on the other side of the world? Considering how successful the first one was, I have no doubt the film would perform incredibly in the box office too, further adding to the meta effect.

The potential for hype is enormous and I actually feel like they won't disappoint, simply because Gojō is too much of a money-maker — look at the DVD sales drop off from the Hidden Inventory arc. I know I bang on about the chapter all the time, but this is spawning all kinds of additional thoughts to my analysis of Gojō in 236, especially regarding how he's written as this almost unknowable character.

I feel like Akutami's interest in the dark side of the entertainment industry actually shines through in Gojō the most out of all his characters, because he's practically a celebrity both in-universe and out — people made an actual shrine for this character when he died, as though he's the People's Princess or something!

Everyone knows who he is, but no one knows who he *really* is. He's beautiful and isolated and powerful and lonely, and it makes absolute sense that he sought understanding from Sukuna, because he's kind of like the blueprint for Gojō — a legend about whom everyone has a story, but no one really knows anything at all.

I promise I didn't make this post just to plug my fic, but it's a neat little coincidence that the precarious power dynamic between celebrities and the general public is a big theme in the most recent chapter of my idol fic, Over the Threshold. The reason I started writing a music AU in the first place is because this topic is something I have a personal and academic interest in, and the parallels between the 'strongest' and a music industry legend are simply too good to ignore.

Perhaps it's because it's on my mind as I'm writing the fic, but the marketing for the new volume got me thinking about the symbiotic relationship between artists and their fans, and I'm wondering if Gege is going to bring this into play somehow. Could it have something to do with the source of Sukuna's strength and therefore the key to beating him? Conversely, could it have something to do with the loss of Gojō's strength if he returns without it, making his death a symbolic death of celebrity instead?

I love the idea of the death of the 'strongest sorcerer' (the celebrity) bringing down the veil that separates him from the people around him (the public), allowing them to see Gojō Satoru for the very first time. No longer 'the strongest' or the Six Eyes or the one-man Gojō clan — not a symbol or a power ceiling or a weapon or anything like that — but simply a person, which is all he really is at the end of the day.

Am I coping by twisting myself into knots hoping that Jujutsu Kaisen is about the deconstruction of celebrity? Maybe, but at least I'm coping in a very smart and sexy way!

Just kidding, I'm still undecided about whether I think a Gojō comeback is likely. However, I completely disagree with people who say his character arc is finished or there's no space in the narrative for his return. I also disagree with those who say there's no evidence for it, because I think if it happened it would seem incredibly obvious in hindsight. It's a bit like Sukuna taking over Megumi — very few people saw it coming at the time, but when you look back, the clues were sprinkled all over the place.

Time will tell, but this story is really special to me whatever happens in the end. We all love to shit on Gege Akutami — and sure, he's not a perfect writer and I don't like a lot of his decisions — but when he gets it right, it's genius level stuff. Considering how overworked and commodified and exploited mangakas are, I think he deserves a lot more credit for the stories and characters he's weaving, and his art has never looked better if you ask me.

Anyway, I rambled a bit at the end, but here's my idol fic if you want to deconstruct Gojō as a celebrity some more. It's *so much* fun, I promise!! Did I make this post just to plug my fic after all? You can decide.

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse Trailer Thoughts

Can I just start this post off by saying that I am totally normal? Over this movie? Perfectly reasonable in my level of hype and mentally well in every way? Mhm, trust me. Anyway, onto the blurbs!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Seems Miles is at his teenage rebellion stage

-Miles' teacher telling him he's not doing too well in Spanish in front of his Puerto Rican mother is an ouch (in that it's hilarious, but not for him. Sorry Miles)

-Seems there's gonna be a rift between Miles and his parents now that he's Spider-Man full time and very much keeping it secret from them; maybe this movie is where they find out?

-Across the Spider Verse seems to also have a core theme of Miles going against the grain and doing things his way, forging his own individual path for how he wants to do Spider-Man. Looking forward to seeing a more grown up Miles that is able to go further into his self-exploration now that he's reaching older teen/young adulthood.

-I think Gwen and Miles might get together this movie which... eh. Alright. No hate to the ship, but the first movie felt very platonic save for Miles liking her cause she's a pretty girl, and rip to cishet society but that ain't enough to sell me on a relationship. Maybe they'll get some development in this movie? Until possibly that I'm just gonna enjoy them as friends personally

-Apparently Oscar Isaac voices Miguel... Doctor Strange was not kidding when he said the multiverse got screwed in NWH

-Here we have Jessica Drew, Marvel's first (continuous) Spider-Woman! She looks awesome, and based on how often she appeared in the trailer, I'm assuming she will play a key role.

-I also suspect she will help push the narrative around ATSV's theme of parenthood, with Miles having issues with his own, and Peter becoming a father.

-Regarding the race change for Jessica, I earlier referred to her as the first "continuous" Spider-Woman, because she was the first woman to notably don the spidey title. However, the first official Spider-Woman was actually a one-off character named Valerie the Librarian. Originally, Valerie had no powers; she instead went around as a non-super helping Peter Parker's Spidey in any way she could. Spider Verse has always been by black people for black people, so it doesn't surprise me that they (allegedly) are honing back to Valerie, a black woman and the first official Spider-Woman, to base Jessica's appearance on. Goes to show the creators did their homework, which I'm pleased to see.

She is so beautiful ma'am please take my hand in marriage; also, she's pregnant! She is literally hero-ing while pregnant, which I've realized is not something we really see like... ever. Granted, because its dangerous, but Spider Verse has always made strides to give more diverse female representation, and a pregnant spidey mirroring pregnant working women seems to be next on their list. Happy to see it!

-We got Miguel O'Hara! Admittedly I'm not the most familiar with him, but one doesn't traverse Marvel comic fandom without having heard of this guy. Based on what I'm seeing in the trailer, he looks like a very fun character and I'm excited to know more

-"Don't even get me started on Doctor Strange and the little nerd back on Earth-199999." I am... so normal about the acknowledgment of the MCU in Spiderverse. The multiverse really is converging, which on a meta sense is something I absolutely love so I am very excited to see where the Marvel universe heads.

-Also people have been saying Feige stated the MCU was Earth-616 and Spider Verse went against that, which they're happy about, so if someone could fill me in on what happens in Earth-616 I'd appreciate it!

Peter's back! And he has a spider baby! From what I've seen this is Mayday Parker, daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, and she does indeed get her father's spider abilities in the comics. Perhaps we'll see more of her in the future?...👀

Stab me, it would hurt less.

(Looks like Gwen's backstory is being explored more, which is a hooray moment, but its exploring her trauma, which is less hooray.)

And of course... the meme, made multiversal. (Is that fucking PS5 Spiderman)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's about it, very excited for this movie, also afraid, but mostly excited! See y'all when it drops!

[whiskeysmulti]

Tsuna Rejecting The 10th Title Is No Surprise When You Understand Giotto (Meta)

.Whiskey. I know the ending of Hitman Reborn kind of floored some of us, but if you analyze Tsuna's character, and you understand Giotto better it makes more sense. Keep in mind Tsuna was hyped the whole series as the 10th Vongola candidate by Reborn. But at the end he still rejects the title, shocking at first until you look at Giotto's ideals. Remember at the current state the Vongola is your traditional Mafia organized crime ring which is what Tsuna saw it as the whole time. There would be generations worth of bloodshed, corruption, and crime on his hands if he accepted it. By this point Giotto's soul is probably highly pissed off watching what had once been basically a vigilante group he created to protect his village be turned into an organized crime ring and it probably really pissed him off, like we're talking extremely pissed him off. Also keep in mind no other generation got the full power of the rings to unlock because Giotto probably got pissed and said "No, you're not getting my power if this is what you're going to do with it." Giotto never wanted to be a Mafia boss, he was told he had to protect the people of his village. Tsuna doesn't want to be a Mafia boss either, he's constantly being told by Reborn that he'll make him into one, but it's not what Tsuna wants.

Tsuna carries the will and ideals of Giotto, which makes it no surprise that he doesn't want to be a Mafia boss and rejects the title, Giotto never wanted the Vongola to become a Mafia to begin with, they were both just doing what they had to in order to protect their friends.

[ohsunnyboy]

zerobase1 and how they play genshin | zb1

WHALE | META | CASUAL | NOT A GAMER

TAGS: headcannons, crack-ish, lowercase intended

A/N: as a genshin player and zb1 enjoyer, i own a wealth of knowledge. if you don't know what i'm referencing or talking about then i'm sorry lmao i get rly into genshin

WORDS: ~600 (~100 each)

WHALES 🐋

GYUVIN - ok puppy dog has no spending sense and would swipe swipe swipe until he got the character. or somehow get his account robbed and card details stolen. wouldn't swipe for c6 on characters but would swipe for all the skins.

plot goes soaring over his head. though, he'd get 100% completion completely on accident bc he runs from chest to chest completing everything bc ooh shiny. (it's what i do)

definitely hops across different coop worlds to be an absolute menace. steals all your starconches, beatles and cor lapis and leaves.

a whale so team comp doesn't quite matter, but i feel like cool burst animation is a must.

RICKY - need i explain? he doesn't even play the game often, he just sees a cool looking character and swipes. feels like he would c6r5 a character if he really liked them. would get surprisingly into event content just for the exclusive items etc. cares mildly about the plot and zero for the exploration.

would play cool and pretty characters bc when you're a whale, team composition just doesn't matter.

META 🎮

MATTHEW - a confirmed nerd by his sister so you bet he's an enthusiast. pays attention to kqm, twitter and future patch leaks. grinds out for the spiral abyss and has op asf team combos. would spend but only if he knows it's worth it.

enjoys the plot and characters, but not massive on exploration. still enjoys all the characters thoroughly and knows more lore tidbits than most. is the sweetest coop friend.

GUNWOOK - okokok he'd be apprehensive at first until he pulls like c5 benny and a eula then the world of dps (damage per screenshot) awakens. fights wars in the trenches of the honeyhunterworld comments section. stays updated and dips in and out of the game.

secretly stays about for plot. finds exploration boring but can admit it's pretty. the dude who refuses to swap characters when doing coop domains. does a boss blitz when bored.

CASUALS 💫

HANBIN - ok only got it bc the kids said he should. (gyuvin uses him to get the coop achievements) actually ended up staying bc wow everything is gorgeous, the plot is engaging and the characters have depth! and it's all free ?? goes about it at a decent pace, doesn't do spiral often, just finishing floor 10.

tcg enjoyer and event player.

ZHANG HAO - TEAPOT MAIN god yeah hella into the teapot. only completes the story and everything for the teapot. comes on sometimes to help hanbin out or bc someone else needs mats from his world. has a solid overworld team for collecting mats etc.

mildly enjoys the plot but exploration is where it's at.

NOT A GAMER 🌱

JIWOONG - only got it bc everyone else did, found out it took too much space on his phone, deleted it. tried playing it on gunwook's pc but had to play zhongli with his shield up 24/7 bc mechanics are hard okay! does see it as pretty and that yeah some characters are worth spending money for but there are better ways to find enjoyment in life.

TAERAE - doesn't mind it. he just doesn't see the hype over online characters. if and when he does play, it's on someone else's account and on the tcg. man loves the tcg, making decks and sweeping the floor with everyone.

has insane pull luck.

YUJIN - hmmm he sorta thinks it's cringe but gyuvin makes him play it. defo a valorant kid. tried to make a gun didn't work. plot doesn't matter much to him, interested in some character backstory but dips out when it comes to exploring. yujin defo thinks childe, xiao and alhaitham are cool. paimon gets on his nerves the most.

i had lots of fun doing this so i hope you enjoyed ! leave a like or reblog if you did :) ⭒ masterlist

[notthemonthbutmarch]

Emilie is ruining me.

I love her design so much, she’s so pretty, her voice is adorable, she has that “cutesy with a dark side” personality I like so much in characters, but she’s a dendro burning support and I hardly EVER play dendro bc I hate how niche it is— but I have plenty of pyro dps characters that I could probably use with her. I don’t even like Kinich or Mualani that much— their designs are good and their mechanics are sick but out of the five star units I like Xilonen and Mavuika the best so what’s the point of pulling for characters I don’t really like just to have them for the new nation when a character I actually like is in 5 days?!

The only character I want from 5.0 right now is Kachina, I like her the best, and odds are she’s gonna be free, so if I spend my freemogems for Emilie I can still get Kachina. And then that makes saving for Xilonen in what could be 5.1.

I just don’t know what I want to do. I don’t want Mualani to get the “Wanderer” treatment on my account (I pulled for Wanderer bc I didn’t want to miss out on the hype but I started loving Yoimiya so I skipped Yoimiya for Wanderer and now I hardly use him bc I was disappointed I didn’t have Yoimiya).

At the same time, I never play dendro and I don’t know if Emilie’s more versatile now or if she’s still heavily locked in burning, because I hate the niche of playing with dendro. I want a team set up with like one dendro unit and a bunch of other units like what I can do with basically every other element. I’m not heavy in the meta but I also want to be able to use Emilie happily! Rn the DPS I use the most is Clorinde and Navia, and Emilie definitely won’t work with Navia or is Emilie on a spread and aggravate team good or do I need to switch back to using Arlecchino?!

I have liked Emilie ever since her drip marketing, I have always thought she was adorable— I know a lot of people wanted that lavender design and that lavender design was absolutely adorable and I wish Genshin broke out of their color palettes more often, but it still doesn’t deter me from liking Emilie’s design. She’s so unique looking, we haven’t had a character that looks like her in my opinion. It also doesn’t help that I really want to lose my fifty fifty and get Dehya too, genuinely love Dehya and have been waiting to lose my fifty fifties to her but she never comes home, it’s always fucking MONA.

At this point I’m considering just rolling until I get a 5 star like I did with Xianyun, but I know my luck in this game. I have not won a fifty fifty since 2023. And I do not mean the 4.1 rerun with Neuvillette, I mean February. It’s been over a year since I’ve won a fifty fifty. In that time I’ve pulled for eight more five stars, all of them lost fifty-fifties. The only one who was a win was Lyney during the House of the Hearth banners because of the said fifty-fifty loss on Xianyun. I have 200 and some wishes, if I go for Emilie I frankly will have nothing left— and school is starting back up. I have a full schedule, I don’t know how much time I’ll have for farming primos in Genshin. I could probably work my way back up to 180 by the time Xilonen comes around— especially since leakers are saying it’s either gonna be her or Chasca, and if it’s Chasca that’s such an easy skip meaning two patches I don’t pull in. There’s also the eventuality of Kokomi’s rerun. I would skip anyone for Kokomi on my account, and I know she’s not coming in 5.0 so that still means that if she possibly shows up in 5.1 then I can maybe grind enough primogems to get her.

Kokomi is on my priorities, but I also am not gonna sit here and miss character after character for the chance to get one copy of her. So AGAIN— Emilie.

Do I get Emilie? Do I pull until I get gold? If I lose my fifty-fifty what happens if I don’t get Dehya? I’ve also been waiting for Diluc to show up! I’ve played this game since 2022 and have not gotten a single Diluc— I only just got Jean in this year. Maybe I just pull for gold and pray it’s Emilie or Dehya so I have a guaranteed Mualani or Xilonen? I don’t hate Mualani and I probably will try to get her whenever she reruns because her gameplay looks sick as hell. I don’t know— I really, really want Emilie and I really want Xilonen and I know the reason I want Mualani is because I’ll feel like I’m missing out on the cool new mechanics but if I just wait for the character I do like them I get to enjoy those mechanics when they do arrive.

SHOULD I JUST SAY FUCK IT WE BALL AND SPEND EVERYTHING ON EMILIE???

DO I LET FATE DECIDE AND PRAY THAT DEHYA IS THE ONE THAT COMES HOME WHEN MY HUBRIS IS SMITED?!!!???!!

DO I JUST BE PATIENCE FOR THE LEPORD WOMAN AND FISH GIRLIE??

SOMEONE HELP ME.

[nebelihood]

Hey!! First of all I just want to tell you I love your content so much, your looney toons and hey Arnold content bring me so much nostalgia and the las comics have given me emotionally damage (in the best way I promise)

Also I know this may be out of topic but about your opinion on LT back in action?? I'm so hype about it not only is one of my favorites movies but the reason I know there's more about this characters that it lead on

I tell ya every time I see the campfire scene with bugs and daffy I tear up a little, you can see the weight of resignation and tiered in him when they talk and even bugs; who's been trying the whole time to get him back on the show and miss him, doesn't contradicts him or even spoke about it and just fade like that.

I know the ending is supposed to be a meta ending (a movie inside a movie) but there's something raw and tender about this part that doesn't fit 100 in it but at the same it does

I believe this scenario wasn't really scripted (in the movie universe) that way that it's not supposed to be taken seriously or being deep but it did and it was, that something real happened and they let it on to us see a fraction about it.

I could ramble on and on about this and analyze the whole movie but Im sorry for the full on paragraphs and Im not sure it it was ok to message so Im dumping all of this in here

Exited to what's up store next and nervous where Lola and porky talk is leading!! (⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

DUDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YOU EXPLAINED IT SO WELL!!!!! AGH I WISH I HAD THE MENTAL CAPACITY TO REACH THAT AGH

I love coming back to read this cause AGH I LOVE IT- IT'S SO TRUE! Like I felt that if you shifted your perspective before watching ltbia you could see all the baffy crumbs like all the tension and the date and the looks and ALL AJAGSJF BUT HONESTLY IT IS AN SCENE THAT FEELS OFF. LIKE- why is it there? what does it bring? What does it imply? the way Bugs didn't even reply? He didn't joke about it or attemped to comfort him as if to teach kids how to be a good friend (like with the excuse to teach something) And at the end, even though Daffy saved Bugs it's not like he got recognized by the rest of the characters and barely by Bugs cause he didn't get what he wanted which was to be called a Hero by him??? LIKE THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WITH IT? IT'S AGH IT FEELS LIKE THERE'S MORE TO THAT SCENE!!!!

(Also THANK YOU!!! dumb your thoughts here any time you wantB) LOVE THEM)

[desultory-novice]

heya dess!

about ten million years ago i sent you an elaborate ramble about galacta knight's moral status. this isn't calling you out for not answering (i literally sent you a wall of text) and my opinions have since changed anyway, but i remembered this recently and got morbidly curious about your own take on gk's moral status. dw though... if you don't want to answer this one either, that's ok!

I pride myself on liking every Kirby character. That said, I never loved Galacta Knight. Curse of the over-hyped character? He was too cool. Too beloved. "When's Galacta going to become canon??"

And, just to be petty/salty for a moment, that he had no concrete persona except "See something; kill it" but has been frequently (?) made into the softiest, gentlest woobie amongst the cast next to Kirby (also his existence influenced a lot about Kirby's portrayal in the fandom, ie: "When's he gonna get HIS wings???", and he and Meta together became the template for what everyone's Knight-sonas would look like, meaning that being a cool orb in armor became more commonplace than rare) just caused me to get bored with him real quick, I think? </SALT>

COUGH!

...But I did some looking back at Galacta for this ask and... I can see the charm! I still don't see the "wooby" part (Which I assume has something to do with the "wrongly framed" theory) but I'm growing to respect Galacta as a character of interest. With that out of the way, let's tackle some of the things you brought up in your old ask as well as my own feelings on where the Aeon Hero sits as "a hero!"

...

It's all very interesting, isn't it? One thing that stood out to me, doing some research on this matter for this ask is that Hyness's speech implies (at least, it implied to me) that one of Galacta's other great deeds alongside helping seal Void was defeating Nightmare.

("Nightmare of a Galactic Crisis" just seems too potently worded for me to believe otherwise. The Japanese even matches up.)

But if Galacta defeated Nightmare... what the HELL was Parallel Nightmare thinking by summoning him to fight on his behalf?! (Ignore the fact that Galacta immediately destroys him. The key is that Nightmare either thought he could control the Aeon Hero or that the Aeon hero would share his goals. Which is FASCINATING~!)

I can't help but think that Galacta's story has some serious twists...

There's another thing, that may be referring back to the "destroy a planet or two" thing and that's Galacta's sealing. He's sealed in crystal and of course some people have made the connection between Galacta's crystal cage and the fairies of Ripple Star. (Usually with the queen of the fairies having a MUCH bigger role than anticipated.)

But like, there's a thing I just realized was in his Planet Robobot flavor text that isn't in the English version. (I know it's a matter of the pause screen text not having enough room for the twice-as-long English but why's it always gotta be Planet Robobot XD )

"Records remain of his being sealed in many different eras."

One could argue that it's all the same sealing but why would multiple different eras need to record the same guy getting sealed if he were only sealed away ONCE. So, that's interesting. Galacta's seal was never permanent.(1) In fact, it seems to be frequently un-permanent. So they have room to cause villainous havoc between freeings.

(For a borb who looks like an angel, he's doing a really good job acting like your classic "Sealed for 100 years but never destroyed 'Demon King.'" I guess that's what makes him and Meta Knight such interesting compliments. The noble devil and the demonic angel? Well, we still haven't decided if Galacta's demonic yet.)

And speaking of the strength of Galacta's seal, I found a weird little detail looking up his fight in RtDL DX. (I had to watch a recording because I spent my whole fight with him screaming in terror and spamming guard because I had exactly one HP left and didn't want to die before reaching Magolor Soul. Thank you, Sand ability!)

In RtDL, the Crystal descends and Galacta slowly opens one eye and then the other. But this changed for DX! Galacta descends with both eyes open. Which shouts consciousness to me.

...I'm rambling away from the topic of whether Galacta is a hero or not. Don't mind me. I'll try to pivot back in good time.

Actually, let's pivot back a little now, because in USDX, he's not summoned from his crystal state, he's just summoned. Which makes sense because like... going entirely by the cutscene, it looks like Galactic Nova actually transports Galacta through time to fight Meta Knight. Like, Galacta in the middle of their villain phase!

We do see Galacta sealed in crystal immediately after this image is shown, but the Nova doesn't bring the sealed Galacta before Meta Knight. Star Dream does. I wonder if that's a difference in power between the two clockwork stars? But I think this "where Galacta was snatched from" is probably the real reason Gala utterly demolishes Star Dream but doesn't attack Galactic Nova. The Gala that Star Dream summons has already been sealed/betrayed/etc.

They don't trust anyone. The Gala that Nova summons is at the height of their "feared across the galaxy" phase but has not yet been captured or has reason to fear capture/re-capture.

...And then you have the Galacta that Morpho Knight absorbs. What's funny about that Gala, and kind of tragic, is that Gala seems to be the calmest of the three. I say this because they actually pause when Morpho comes near. They even look...cutely (!) confused.

So, did Hyness summon a Galacta that was even earlier in his timeline than the one Nova summoned? Which was earlier in his timeline than the one Star Dream summoned?

Although where in Gala's timeline is RtDL?? Galacta appears before us in crystal, is then released, and actually FLIES OFF after defeat without being resealed. Is this the Galacta that "destroys a planet or two?" The opening of the RtDL rift after the crystal prison reforms suggests that it was the Planet Robobot Galacta that would go on to appear in RtDL, who then flies off and... maybe it's that Galacta that appears in Star Allies, to meet his end at Morpho's hands...

By the way, I totally forgot that Morpho does the "friend heart"/"friend move" thing to Galacta before absorbing him! (Dess is beginning to think that maybe the reason I didn't have strong feelings for Galacta Knight is because I just never stopped to pay attention to all the little things that make them interesting!)

So Gala has an interesting timeline and we can see that their level of aggression really depends on where in the timeline you find them. I don't think they were a planet destroying monster when they were first sealed. At least, their most "murderous" incarnation (Robobot) is implied to have gone through some ~stuff~ even AFTER the sealing.

But the fact that (Parallel) Nightmare considers them a potential ally suggests that they were...hmm, "problematic" to certain people toward the tail end of their "Aeon Hero" phase. Those people probably being the Ancients.

La la la~ I smell a cover-up~ la la la~

And so, we're back to the "Galacta was framed?!" theory. To be honest, I don't know what was up with the image Galactic Nova shows us above of Gala in the smoking wreckage but it's important to note that we don't see WHAT it is that Galacta has destroyed.

And while the Magolor epilogue implies Halcandra was destroyed in a great meteoric firestorm of some kind, I would just like to note that Halcandra at that point would have also been potentially ruled (?) by a monarch who quite possibly wore The Master Crown. An object that has been as much as stated to have been poisoning/poisoned by the previous bearers so, yeah. I don't think Halcandra would have been in a good place, if a crown-bearer sat on the throne.

(And wouldn't killing a king and destroying their country/planet be considered something worthy of taking Galacta's title of "hero" away from them and labelling them a galactic level threat?)

So, yes. I think Galacta's "moral" status depends on where in the timeline you are. I don't think they were ever "evil" but I think they probably a dangerous sort of "good-hearted extremist" era in the past and in their later years, that devolved into an aggressive and paranoid "As far as I'm concerned EVERYONE is an enemy and you'd better believe I'm not letting them strike the first blow!"

There's some Gala thoughts to chew on!

Happy Birthday, Galacta Knight!

--

(1) Honestly, I wonder if the crystal thing is less of a "seal" and more of a curse? :Dess's mind hears "fairy curse" and starts vibrating: It could be something that affects them intermittently? We've seen Galacta be "destroyed" in USDX (amusingly, their wings "pop" off. Although that is the only time that happens so could be retconned) Anyway, it's not their destruction that causes the seal. Sometimes they just fly off after defeat too! (To destroy more planets??)

This implies there's another trigger for when they become crystal...

But speaking of the "crystal," RtDL DX in Japanese specifically mentions that their seal is actually made of "gem" - the same "gem" used in "Gem Apples." Which going by the Magolor Epilogue, gem apples appear to represent either a) magic power b) the soul or c) the Master Crown. I don't think it's made clear which exactly, because all three are kind of muddled together in Magolor's case. But the fact that there ARE those connections with "gems" + Galacta's "gem" seal activating intermittently is all just VERY interesting to me.

Now go and speculate away, my pretties~!

[your-dear-memmy]

Tokyo Ghoul:re ending thoughts +Juuzou meta p. 2 

[Sooo I just finished Tokyo Ghoul:re and I've got quite a lot on my mind abt the last arc bc this series has consumed my brain]

Warning: SPOILERS!!

I've heard plenty of people complain about how rushed it was, and while reading the ending I didn't think it was too huge of an issue, but man do I feel unfulfilled right now. The dragon arc went by so quick that it's like nothing ever happened at all, and most of its emotional weight was lost on me. 

But first of all, I want to talk about the Implications. 

What is up with the Dragon's orphans slowly gaining the intelligence of 5 year olds, and the characters speculating that was how ghouls were born?? what?? how was that just merely mentioned, why was it only glossed over?? My mind EXPLODED at that notion. 

Is there gonna be a new species of ghouls now that will gain the same intelligence as ghouls and humans, while still posing a threat? It became all about changing the world in the end, but it just seemed to really center around Kaneki’s own happy ending, because these implications for the world are astounding. Certainly, what Kaneki truly wanted was to keep his loved ones safe, but what I mean is that the consequences for the world as a whole aren't as positive as they're presented to be.

IT FEELS LIKE EVERYTHING WENT BACK TO THE START!!

Maybe these dragon orphans are supposed to represent a vicious cycle of life and war or whatever, but that wasn't really explained because they're just THERE. It feels like the war was all for nothing because now there's new enemies people are losing their lives for, and are being trained at academies to engage in combat with. Perhaps they're new enemies that kill parents of children that go on to become new-age "investigators" to avenge their families, like it used to be against the entirety of ghoul-kind.

It's obvious not every ghoul would play along so it makes sense there are still some harmful ghouls, but these dragon things gaining intelligence is seriously mind boggling. Wdym that's how ghouls were born?? And yall are exterminating them? Why are they attacking?? 

I feel like my time just got wasted cuz what do you mean these new enemies are getting smarter? Will they reach the iq of a real person soon enough? WHAT DO YOU MEAN they're starting to look more and more like humans? 

Is there gonna be yet another one eyed king to make peace with the dragons, the ghouls and the humans?? Is it necessary for this common enemy to still have to tie them together post-war? 

Why does it sound like a shitty set up for another sequel when we know damn well Ishida never wants to do anything with manga anymore, since he talked about how stressful working on Tokyo Ghoul has been for him? If it was a philosophical choice, then Im afraid I did not understand it, though I’d certainly love to.

That aside, in regards to the ending I have to say I liked the emotional weight of the discussion between Donato and Amon (what was even the point of Takizawa being there?), as Amon finally admitted he still loved his “father” despite his absolute evilness, and Donato actually loved him as well. 

The Uta vs Renji was cool ig though it didn't truly feel like there were any stakes (I can't say I mind them becoming rivals once more but it certainly could’ve been done better, as the clowns have been hyped up for SO LONG…), and I couldn't bring myself to be sad about Irimi and Koma when they were brought back for basically one panel and died the next, even though I really liked them :-(

I was kinda chilling with the Furuta fight, and I guess Furuta wishing in the end to have a normal life was a sign that it truly did all stem from his Washu inferiority, though he remains very weird for wanting to have children with an unwilling Rize. (The Dragon Rize stuff was epic) Overall, Furuta was a cool villain, so it's fine. His opaque motives and his monologue are not too bad at all.

I'm conflicted about Mutsuki’s role in the ending and how they behave after succumbing to and accepting their trauma. Their story is truly tragic and I understand the psychological reasoning as to why they’d latch onto Kaneki and lash out (they also sa’d Uta apparently, believing him to be Haise’s corpse? Uta changed his face shaped another time as well, so I do believe that was him), but them suddenly being badass once they remembered their trauma isn't really my cup of tea (which is ironic considering how many times Kaneki himself got “being suddenly badass because of trauma” moments) I liked them and the portrayal of their mental instability in the island arc but afterwards I didn't care much for them.  

Also did I miss something or are Amon and Akira not in the end?? Am I tripping??? Maybe some chapters didn't load because why wouldn't they be there? I'm so confused. Amon and Akira have def been in my top 5 favorite characters of the entire series, so safe to say I'm very puzzled.

Takizawa fading into obscurity is just so sad thatt I don't even know what to say, he just came back to watch and then do his thing after he was tortured and sa/d by Kano into being how he is now. Not everyone's gonna get a happy ending, obviously, but damn😭

One of the best parts of :re was most definitely Urie’s character arc- everyone's character arcs, really!

Tsukiyama’s character arc was spread onto the whole series, and tbh I completely dig it, even though the Tsukiyama raid arc probably could’ve been done even better. At first I thought he was gonna groom Hinami, but he turned out to be an actual gentle”-flower-man” lol. I like him!

Arima’s tragedy was so beautifully done, I swear. Def one of my absolute favorite parts, if not my favorite. It lives in my head rent free. 

I literally gasped so hard when it was revealed who Hide had been hiding as the whole time, Ishida's foreshadowing is truly insane. I already knew he was alive, but I was still surprised. He started to feel sm more like a concept tho, if that makes sense, haha.

And finally, my son: Juuzou Suzuya .

People were a bit harsh on Juuzou’s ending, I think, though I can definitely understand why!  

I don't think Juuzou understood what Marude really meant about making his own decisions- at least, not at first.

Juuzou is 29/30-ish I think, in the ending?? He's been working so hard all these years, just for Shinohara, to become him as if that's what he wanted from him.  Or so, that's the last we see of of his motives, though that's before the dragon war, so years back.

After the dragon war, his development feels null because it wasn't fully explained: we aren't told whether juuzou reflected on Marude’s words and decided to stick with the new ccg because he wanted to for himself. We aren't told whether Juuzou developed a sense of justice, and that's why he does what he does, or if that's what he thinks his assigned purpose is and he's simply just sticking to it because he thinks that's what shinohara would've wanted, or he simply doesn't know what else to do with himself. We don't know whether he actually embraced his scrapper/slaughterer role (as I said in my other meta) in a healthy manner or if he just stuck with it because that's what he's been all his life and he doesn't know how to be anything else.

We can speculate, but that brings it back to Shinohara. No manner how you look at it, if Juuzou hasn't reflected on himself and his motives after all these years, then meeting Shinohara once more would shatter his expectations, as it wouldn't just be happy tears and such. That's the man he's fought for for so, so long, and it's really hard to think of how their relationship would be. During those years, Juuzou idolized Shinohara a lot in his mind, which is why he initially wanted to be him. He loved Shinohara, and so what Shinohara stood for must've been, by proxy, just. So, if Juuzou hasn't removed himself from his delusion by actually maturing past the point we see him in before the :re time skip, then it's not gonna be as pretty for him because it wouldn't match his built up expectations, and that's why I find it rather bittersweet.

For someone so traumatized, I don't think Juuzou could ever fully recover, as trauma alters the brain; but, for the sake of my sanity, I'll think he chose to keep fighting for himself rather than because that was the role he was put in. I want to believe he's found how to be his own person, and just likes working together with his squad AND also sees Shinohara on a weekly basis. I JUST WANT HIM TO BE HAPPY DAMMIT💔💔

[With that said, I've been scavaging Ao3 and soon fanfic.net for fanfictiona to quench the void in my heart, but there aren't many that are Juuzou centric. I shan't give up just yet, though! Maybe I'll find one that'll make me feel less bittersweet about Juuzou and Shinohara!]

[riacte]

oh yeah season 1 was still a shitdown, although i d say the moments of highest toxicity were in early season 2 (mcc 14, the first pride event etc), but i feel like that early era, as toxic as the fans were and how terrible some participants turned out to be, was when there was most excitement about the event. i actually really liked season 3 (mcc 30 was epic, mcc 31 was the Hispanic win, all the non canon events were incredible), but people were so used already to the event, it was fun but it was kinda a routine (which is why several participants and fans got really into other events like blockwars my beloved and why the non canons were so memorable). Now it seems like a comeback to those times, especially with so many hermits and with some big names like feinberg and smallant going in (remember the hype when ranboo and dirt block entered? It feels kinda like that, it really shows there is an interest on mcc by the wider mc community and not only by tjose who are already close to the event) Still need more female newcomers though (Eloise, and Mysticat and Cleo comebacks come on!!)

Ohh yeah early S2 had both highest toxicity and viewership (was that also the BM discourse period?), which is why I'm glad there's less eyes on MCC now. It's crazy looking back at MCC fancontent (fics, art, animatics, meta) and see people treating their players like they're in a story and the teams were actually teams in a narrative sense and not a stats sense. The novelty and initial connections were super fun.

I'll be honest. I kinda forgor the hype when new players entered but I remember the hype of MCC17 teams 😔 I know lots of people have lost interest in MCC (me in S3) and it's kinda like.... yeah sure, if it doesn't bring what you enjoy, then whatever. But I like the vibes after KO, it's been sweet. Hope it stays.

I mean, I'm obviously biased, but I like the addition of hermits because they're OGs to MC as a game and well respected (unlike S1), also they bring good vibes esp when teamed together. Like False said bye to her team quickly so she could run to her hermits 😭 like they really do operate under the same banner even on different teams. I watched a bit of Yellow from Fruit's pov and omg False really is just a scrunkle sometimes 😭😭 popping in and out randomly to say something sarcastic / important then darting away and then after the event she bolted to the hermits' vc hahahaha

[a-la-campanella]

Since the 1.6 update is approaching us, here are my thoughts from the latest livestream!

Huge fan of the recent livestreams featuring the characters (rather than the voice actors) bringing us the news. It makes everything feel so much more immersive and highlights the whole "This program is brought to you by the Interastral Peace Corporation" thing.

As for the upcoming update... Critter Pick looks like it'll be a fun event! It'll be a good way to explore the new areas of Herta Space Station, too. I wish we could keep them as permanent pets; if the Trailblazer unlocks their own room on the Astral Express one day, we could keep the critters as an event memento.

Looking forward to new additions to the Simulated Universe as well. I haven't finished everything about the Swarm yet (mostly because of how time-consuming it is to grind through SU), but having more things to do in-game will make sure I'm never out of options for things to do, I suppose.

I don't particularly care about the new optimizations to Forgotten Hall. My RNG on artifacts is trash, so it's not like the optimizations really help me out. They're more so for players who play by the meta and actually clear all the stages.

The most exciting part of the special program would probably be Sunday as our final special guest. I'm hyped for Penacony! For a number of reasons, but mainly because of the various factions we'll get to see interact with each other. Stories (whether they're events or permanent content) that feature characters from different regions and/or factions crossing roads are always fun! I hope it's like the Genshin events where characters from all kinds of different nations got together in the same scenes, like Hues of the Violet Garden (the Inazuma poetry event from 2.6), the Perilous Trail Archon Quest (ft. the Chasm), Summertime Odyssey (on the islands in 2.8), Windblume's Breath (revisiting Mondstadt's Windblume, 3.5)... you get the idea.

Conceptually, Penacony and The Family sound pretty noteworthy. It's giving cult-like vibes, and something about Sunday feels inherently suspicious, especially in the way he speaks and presents himself.

Penacony/The Reverie as a place "where one may travel freely between reality and Dreamscape"... well, Penacony is the Land of Dreams. It's a place that only exists as a dream, "where time forever stands still" (Data Bank -> Relics; Penacony, Land of Dreams). There's an underlying cruelty to being such a place where everything is in a sense stagnant like that, and I hope the game embraces that wholeheartedly. I'm curious to see how they'll try to approach the themes of "dreams" and "time".

Key players from Penacony are the are five great families and The Reviere - it's possible we won't get to see representatives from all of the families, similar to how we stuck to the Xianzhou Luofu while visiting the Xianzhou Alliance. The representatives we'll definitely see are, according to the livestream:

Sunday (?)

Robin (possibly from the same family as Sunday; hard to say, as she could be referred to as "sister" to keep up the notion of being a Family or as a sign of affection/a close relationship, though she also has wings like Sunday so who knows)

Misha (from The Reviere)

Firefly (from the Iris Family)

Gallagher (from the Bloodhound Family)

From the guestlist, some speculations:

Duke Inferno is going to be someone to pay attention to. The Annihilation Gang isn't the Antimatter Legion, but it does follow Nanook, and anything involving Nanook is going to demand our attention. Besides, he's probably going to be involved in the source of our upcoming conflict what with planning on wrecking chaos in Penacony - so he thinks, "Penacony will just be another pitstop along the way [on the pilgrimage to Destruction]" (Data Bank -> Relics; The Ashblazing Grand Duke). Probably not playable.

Likewise, Stellaron Hunter Sam has to be important... I wonder how much his IPC bounty is. Elio probably told him to go to Penacony, but I wonder why Sam instead of anyone else.

Adventurine? My. IPC representation is always fun. I hope he interacts with the Trailblazers, and that we get more information about Qilpoth from him (though that's rather unlikely). During the cutscene where we fought Cocolia, we obtained Alisa Rand's lance while Qilpoth drew their hammer and seemed to draw their gaze at us. It's possible the Trailblazer is an emanator, but you could argue otherwise too. I'm looking forward to seeing what the IPC thinks about that, if the Trailblazer really is an emanator of Preservation, or Destruction, or anything at all.

Not much to say on Dr. Ratio. He'll be there.

Garden of Recollection memokeeper Black Swan... hey, I wonder if we'll get a reference to the Messenger on the Astral Express, since she's from the same organization.

Sparkle, representing the Masked Fools... I love the Masked Fools, they're so goofy. She's probably here to have a good time, shake up chaos, and be on her way.

Acheron from the Galaxy Rangers? We'll get to see more from another side of Lan's followers.

A bunch of the upcoming characters look interesting. I'm not invested in most of the characters, mainly because their fits look... super uncomfortable. That's a me thing, I don't care about most characters unless their lore piques my interest or I vibe with their outfits. Characters I am interested in, however, and expect to be playable:

I'm partial to Ruan Mei, she seems promising! I do wish that she wore a lab coat, she would absolutely pull it off and it would bring out the scientist part of her character more. (Nobody in this universe seems to care about lab safety with how much skin some of these characters show.)

Sunday for sure. His personality is serving... something. I don't know, I like his voice though. And the wings!

Aventurine looks cute... that's about it. His interaction with Topaz strike me as kinda funny. I want to see more from IPC coworkers, especially when Diamond gets introduced in more depth.

Sam, because mechas go hard, and I want to collect all the Stellaron Hunters.

For the same reason, I'm going to grab Elio (and Kafka on her rerun; skipped for Blade and I already had Jing Yuan to fill the same meta-niche).

Screwllum is a maybe. He's a mecha, but his personality is kinda ehhh for me.

Dr. Ratio! I'm glad he's going to be free. I'm not a fan of the right side of his outfit or his animations and wouldn't feel very happy pulling for him even though I want him. They picked an odd place to show skin and it doesn't really mesh well with the rest of his design. His attack animations are funny but rather boring and there's not much going on. As a character, I genuinely love how obnoxious he sounds. Judging by the 1.6 livestream he and Herta have Beef(TM) for sure... or that might be a Genius Society vs Intelligentsia Guild thing. Either way, it's bound to be interesting.

Misha's cute. His hair looks cute. I hope his personality will be cute, too.

Maybe Robin, if her dress doesn't look too plain. She's a superstar and she'll be singing for us at the festival! Perhaps we'll get a dedicated cut scene, music video, and song sung by her.

They're mostly guys. That's within my expectations. I don't have much investment in a lot of the female characters so far, to be honest. I like March (it's hard not to care about her), the Stellaron Hunter girls, Sushang and Bailu, and everyone else is fine. They're there, they help flesh out the world, but I'm not particularly attached to any of them. I guess you could say the same thing about a substantial portion of the cast in general...

Anyways, these are my thoughts. Looking forward to version 1.6 and hope everyone wins their 50/50s!

[kittyprincessofcats]

RWBY V9 E8(!) meta - NND is real and Little is totally Penny, the 2nd

[tw for death, suicide, torture, psychological torture, animal death]

Just to make one thing clear up-front: I have not yet watched V9E9 and I’m writing this before watching it because I still wanted to get this theory out there even if E9 proves me wrong right afterwards lol.

(Basically, I was originally going to write this before E9′s release, but a) my constant stomach pains were making it hard to write anything and b) E8 was really hard for me to deal with, so I needed some time to recover from it all before I could bring myself to rewatch it. I was wondering if I should now even bother to write this at all, because what if the next episode proves me wrong right away? But screw it, I’m in this fandom to have fun and I wanted to at least belatedly jump onto the “this episode is a NND-angst fiest” hype train, so here goes nothing.)

I initially thought the only reason E8 upset me so much was Little’s death and yes, that was the main reason. (I just really, really can’t cope with children or child-like characters dying in media. Yes, I know they’ll be fine because ascension (they better be!). Yes, I also know it was thematically necessary regardless of whether they’re Penny or geniunely just a little baby mouse - they represent the last bit of hope Ruby still had and she needed to lose that. I understand all of that, but that didn’t make the way it happened any less disturbing to me.) But upon rewatch, I think that wasn’t the only part that upset me. Ruby drinking the tea and especially the entire torture-show before that weren’t easy to watch either (her getting beaten up by the Ozpin illusion made me look away).

That said, it still is an absolutely brilliant episode and I’m so thrilled it finally gave me the all NND-angst I’ve been asking for and more. (I’m a bit miffed that I couldn’t fully enjoy that angst because... yeah, but still!) Also shout out to all my fellow NND-shippers who’ve been writing the most brilliant posts about this episode! I haven’t replied to them, but seriously, you guys have been the happiest part of dealing with this episode - and I will be repeating some of what all of you have already said here because it felt wrong not to include it.

So, enough talk, let's get into this episode:

Right off the bat, there’s this brilliant conversation between Ruby and Little:

Ruby: Why are you still here?

Little: Uh... what? I promised.

Ruby: I promised to serve Atlas as a Huntress. That I’d keep people safe. That I’d be there for my friends.

Little: But... we can go back.

Ruby: No! You don’t know what I’ve done! What I couldn’t do! I can’t do this! I could never do this. If you stay with me, you’re going to end up dead, too. Just. Go. Home.

Little: But you’re my...

Ruby: I said go!

So... we agree that from Ruby’s side this conversation was about Penny, right? Ruby just had her fight with the others and got yelled at by Jaune who blamed her for Penny’s death and now she’s blaming herself. Little says they promised to help Ruby, to which Ruby points out her own “broken” promises. The cruical part to their misunderstanding here is that Little thinks Ruby means WBYJ when she talks about being there for her friends, hence their reply of “But we can go back.” (But we can go back and then you can be there for your friends.) But Ruby wasn’t talking about WBYJ, she was talking about Penny (“I promised to serve Atlas [...]. That I’d keep people safe”) and she can’t go back to save Penny. That’s why she snaps at Little and tells them they don’t know what she’s done, “what she couldn’t do” (=she couldn’t save Penny), and tells them to leave before they end up dead, too (=just like Penny).

Also “But you’re my...” took me out. Was it supposed to be “But you’re my home” 🥺? (Or maybe “But you’re my purpose”?). Whether Little is Penny or not, that line is so incredibly sweet (it definitely supports the idea that they are Penny, though!)

In general, I just find it interesting that Ruby is having this convesation (about Penny, even if that part isn’t spoken out loud) with Little. And that she’s specifically replying to Little’s promise to guide her with her own failure to protect Penny (as if that had something to do with each other, as if she was talking to Penny).

Can I just say, I love how all of Neo’s illusions are just slightly off. Penny’s expressions are all wrong and her “Sal-u-tations” had the wrong emphasis. Pyrrha seems all off too and not just because of the new engine. I love how all of them are just slightly wrong (except for Roman) and that only makes them creepier.

Okay so I can’t take any credit for this observation, it was @desib717​ who wrote a brilliant post about it here, but upon rewatch it really stood out to me too, so I still wanted to include it: The way these two shots follow directly after one another makes it look like Little is crooking their head in confusion at the sight of Penny - as if they’ve seen her before and are confused to see her here like this.

Again, I’m not the first to point this out, but the fact that Neo doesn’t even make Penny angry and just portrays her as *sad* because that’ll hurt Ruby more... ouch.

Penny’s swords (that have been used as a symbol of Ruby’s grief throughout the volume) separating Ruby from Crescent Rose (her identity) - again, I’m not the first to point this out, I just wanted to still include it here.

Illusion!Penny: “Can you imagine what that’s like? To be completely and utterly failed, time and again, by someone who meant the world to you?”

And there’s our semi-confirmation. Penny canonically meant the world to Ruby. (I thought it was the other way around at first, but no - again, shout out to everyone’s NND-metas for explaining this! - Penny isn’t real here. This is just Neo’s illusion. This doesn’t necessarily say anything about how the real Penny felt about Ruby. However, Ruby’s reaction to hearing this confirms that Penny did mean the world to Ruby.) Seriously, how are you going to watch this and tell me the writers aren’t at least somewhat intentionally implying NND here? Sure, you can platonically “mean the world” to someone, but like... they’re really laying this on thick, I’m just saying.

(Also the fact that even Neo, who didn’t even know Penny all that well, still picked up on this enough to realize how to portray Penny’s feelings to hurt Ruby.)

Baby mouse, just run away please... they love Ruby so much don’t touch me 😭. They just wanted to help; I’m not okay 😭. I swear if we don’t get some sort of confirmation that Little is okay by the end of the volume I might just actually drop the show Okay no, I probably wouldn’t, there’s still my girl Cinder to root for but like... I’d at least think about it.

Again, not my observation, but every dead person turns into someone alive they have something to do with, and Penny turns into Yang (both love Ruby).

Curious Cat: “When a poor little heart is broken, I can fill it with mine.”

Are we going to talk about how the CC specifically uses the expression “broken heart”, which is known to have a romantic connotation? Ruby’s grief for Penny is referred to as a “broken heart”. Nuts and Dolts is literally real, I’m telling you!

Also later, when the CC decides to possess Neo instead, they say: “You’ve lost something most important, haven’t you?” - so they’re directy paralleling Ruby’s grief for Penny with Neo’s grief for Roman here. And idk about you, but to me the framing of Neo’s feelings for Roman definitely seemed to be romantic in this episode, I mean look at this:

So yeah, if this^ is also how Ruby felt about Penny... you get where I’m going with this.

Tiny mouse just actually takes on an eldritch creature because  they love Ruby so much. 

I’m not going to include pictures of what happens directly after this, because again, I genuinely find it too upsetting - but the music and the framing and how it’s Little’s death that finally pushes Ruby over the edge... at this point I really just want Little to be Penny because seriously, the romantic framing of it all (dying togehter, ascending togehter, come on!):

(Shout out to @cosmokyrin​ for your brilliant NND as Romeo and Juilet art and commentary; that was my favourite piece of fanwork to come out of this episode!)

Another super important thing to go into here is the fact that Ruby ascending confirms that the cat was lying about non-Afterans being unable to ascend. When they first said that only Afterans can ascend, I thought “oh well, there goes the Little is Penny theory” - but now we know people from Remnant can ascend and it’s implied they will ascend if they “die” while in the Ever After.

So now the only question is - was the Central Location (the doorway-place between Atlas/Mantle and Vacuo) a part of the Ever After? I can’t answer that for sure, but we know it definitely wasn’t a part of Remnant. Looking back into V8E12 Creation:

Weiss: “We need to funnel everybody through a central location first.”

Ambrosius: “You’re gonna have to tell me more about about this central location. For starters: Where is it?”

Yang: “Here. A place like these vaults. Wherever they are, they’re not part of Remnant. Only accessible if you know the right way in. Seems like a safe enough place for thousands of refugees.”

Ambrosius: “You kids are either smarter... or much more foolish than you realize.”

Keywords being “not part of Remnant”. And Ambrosius’ reaction as well as his “Do not fall” warning makes clear that he knows exactly where the central location is and where falling will make you end up. Long story short, I’d say it’s at least implied that the central location was part of the Ever After and therefore, if the same rules apply there, Penny couldn’t have died, she would have ascended.

So yeah. Now watch me be clowned by the next episode right away, but I’m saying Little is Penny.