#don’t have ​high expectations

[rosy-crow]

They’re going all out with the Norse mythology, hehe. I mean, that’s dope - but I’m starting to wonder if they want the characters to actually represent different figures in the myths. I’m not an expert though. Seph definitely has a snake theme going….with his outfit and his association with the Midgardsormr, I suppose.

But this stuff about Odin and Nibelheim is referencing certain parts of Norse lore…?

I know Nibelheim comes from Niflheim, which is at the bottom of the World Tree and the land of ice and fog (CLOUD)

But it’s also the land of the dead, and I guess Odin ferries the dead….so, they are kinda going with that.

IT’S KINDA WEIRD THEY CHOSE THREE CHARACTERS THAT DIED OR “DIED” IN CANON DHFHD. Vincent “died” in Nibelheim, Sephiroth did as well, and Angeal died in Modeoheim. But the last teaser had them mentioning Tifa too? So why did she end up there?

@foreststarflaime If you have any thoughts on the Norse stuff, I’d love to hear! I trust your knowledge of myths more than my own 😅

[starstruckodysseys]

i’d love you if your name was written nowhere 🤝 whatever you do, you’re gonna do great

[bowiestarzzz]

God I genuinely don’t get why people hate Nightheart so much. Every reason they have is they’re actually just angry at the authors not at Nightheart lol. Like you’re allowed to hate whatever character u want but I just saw a comment saying the fandom should scalp every Nightheart fan alive and it’s like woah okay. Jesus he’s just a cat dude

[holyrunawaychild]

Wolf King Character design details I like (part 4):

Credit for all gifs goes to @soranatus.

It feels only appropriate to start with a fan favorite. And the one Curtis Jobling himself said he had ideas to make a spin off for.

Building off something I had said in a previous post, they really just made him Sinbad. In the best way possible he has the confidence and charisma to steal every scene he’s in.

His outfit is as flamboyant as he is and sells his entire character when you meet him at the inn. It’s an look that stands out from all of his fellow werelords, even in the show’s higher fantasy setting in comparison to the novels. Doubt he’d have it any other way.

A deep v-neck that shows off the merchandise, combined with the asymmetry of his gold ring and bracer highlights his swashbuckling flair. His belt adds an element of Namor the Submariner to his look (I’m not joking Namor has had a very similar fit in the comics). He has fins on his boots.

I repeat.

Fins.

On his.

Boots.

I know it’s in style with every other Lyssian Werelord we’ve seen, but Vega. It’s a bit much.

Especially when he’s already wearing a shark tooth necklace. Or at the very least something meant to invoke that imagery. Using beads to replace actual teeth.

In fact the subtle intricacies of his necklaces makes me think it might be something that part of Cluster Isles culture. I could imagine the Counts of Cutter’s Cove being gifted this when they ascend to the throne. A remnant of their islander culture prior to integrating into the 7 Realms.

The comparison to the few “canon” illustrations we get from the books to Vega’s Wolf King interpretation actually shows the differing aesthetics of both versions.

The Wereworld novels have a very grounded take on their fantasy world. In fact, outside of the magisters and werelords, Lyssia a fairly low fantasy setting. As such the characters are designed with more grounded outfits. Something it likely inherited from A Song of Ice and Fire which clearly influenced Rise of the Wolf.

Wolf King heightens the fantasy, leaning into the setting’s fantastical elements to allow a suspension of disbelief for the audience to accept a knight, a african warrior and Sinbad all can logically exist together and in the same room.

Case in point.

In terms of his Sharklord form, the animators were able to get his personality through the difficult medium of a shark head. A major factor for this is the change to his eyes.

In the books, Vega is constantly described having black, soulless eyes while in shark form. While accurate to real sharks, Wolf King opted for the glowing eyes they have for every Werelord. This, along with prominent brows, allow him to easily emote even without a mammalian face.

Another essential part of making the sharklord work is his movement. As opposed to other werelords in the series, Vega doesn’t hunch over as much while transformed. He still moves like himself most of the time. Which allows for his confident, swashbuckling personality shine through. And, for Vega, personality is everything.

For some non-character design details I loved:

Vega mentioning throwing Hector and Gretchen to his “less civilized kin” felt like a nod to Deadeye, the Hammerhead. Though the books never officially mention a blood relation between the two, it makes sense that their shared nature as sharklords would denote them as kin. Regardless of how distantly related they are, if at all.

The following section contains spoilers for later books/seasons.

Shout out to the art team for making Casper and Vega resemble each other. Honestly was a bit surprised to see Casper this old. Personally I always imagined him as like… 10. Not the same age as Drew. Though do not complain. Makes me eager to see Shah next season.

Speaking of our favorite hawklord (the only competition is Red Rufus), I actually think the show is already teasing Shah and Vega’s relationship. As well as possibly hinting at how it’ll alter it from the books.

Wolf King firmly establishes that Vega had close connections with Wergar during the old days. They shared dreams of conquest and glory in Omir. Vega pledged loyalty and stewardship to Drew early in the prince’s life (presumably on his naming day or christening — whatever the Lyssian equivalent is to that).

Vega was a part of Wergar’s personal circle, in spite of him being much younger than the others. He’s the only one of the older generation to not have crow’s feet or other age lines.

Who else was in this circle? Baron Griffyn. Meaning there was a strong likely chance Vega interacted with Shah during this time.

I think they’ll change the circumstances of their relationship to be one they kept in secret, as opposed to a fling. With Vega hoping and promising Shah that one day he’d ask for her hand.

Of course, that never happens.

Given how old Vega seems —mid-late 30s at the earliest — as well as Casper seemingly aged up to match Drew and the crew — Vega (and likely Shah in turn) was in his late teens/early 20s.

It would line up with Leopold’s conquest. Making the reason Shah and Vega never had that ‘dream’ in part due to the war, Vega losing the Cluster Isles and Shah going into exile with the other Hawklords.

“You can’t have everything you want.”

It feels like he’s talking to his younger self as much as he’s talking to Drew.

All that dramatic theory crafting aside, I still want Vega and Shah’s reunion to go like this:

Vega: Ah, Shah.

Shah: *decks him across the face*

Drew and Vega:

[adastra-rising]

Which miraculous ladybug character would work a minimum wage daycare job with screaming toddlers (asking for a friend)

[tillywunderwing]

Starting a challenge for IEYTD artists: draw prev’s Phoenix! :D

[kaontic]

Energon Universe Editors:

The Cobra Commander we’ve seen before:

Nah, let’s be real. He was lighter than air.

[emi-the-gremlin]

Controversial take (maybe?)

I think we need more of mr. Payne being the good parent, like don’t get me wrong I adore all the good Mrs. Payne fics (definitely check out that tag) but she’s the only one who’s actually been described negatively, parenting wise.

Not to mention it also just balances out the group, Charles has daddy issues, Crystal has parental issues, so therefore it stands to reason that Edwin has mommy issues, right?

[bikananjarrus]

sabine kneeling and pulling her hair back so she can cut it off in the same way that kanan did in rebels is actually something that can be SO personal

[unordinary-diary]

Seraphina and Arlo: The Brainwashing of High Tiers

Exposition:

— Remi, Episode 50.

There is a heavy implication that Seraphina and Arlo were raised in much the same way. The pressure on Seraphina comes from her parents, so I’ll extrapolate that the same goes for Arlo. This raises the question: how do the authorities create such a strong societal pressure on such a small percentage of the population? Most high tiers will probably not know any other high tiers besides their parents. Take Wellston Private High School for example: it’s the most prestigious private school around, and canonically has the “highest concentration of high tiers in the region”. There are six high tiers in Wellston. Apply this to god tiers specifically, and there are only three. Not to mention that this current group of students is uniquely strong, even for Wellston. In Rei’s senior year, he was the strongest at 5.8 max.

So much of this brainwashing relies on the parents to do all of the work, and it only takes one or two people to break the cycle. So how are the authorities creating this immense pressure? One tactic could be by isolating high tiers. There is a very widespread concept that one shouldn’t associate with those outside their level range. A caste system like this that affects everyone is much easier to create and maintain than an expectation for a small group, and it also means that high tiers are only being influenced by those who are also high level. This creates an echo chamber. I’ve researched cults and how they brainwash victims, and the first step in the process is isolating them in exactly this way.

But, if there are so few high tiers, how the hell are they supposed be isolated from other groups? The answer is that high tiers are just isolated in general. Take a look at Arlo: his only friend is Remi, and even her, he keeps at an arm’s length. Arlo is only close with Remi in the first place because he was close with Rei, who, at the time of meeting Arlo, was presumably close in level with him. [EDIT: I forgot about Holden, which I think says a lot about his relevance. He is kept at more than an arm’s length and doesn’t seem to have any actual influence on Arlo, let alone a deep relationship. He is also not presented as an equal.] Take a look at Seraphina: before meeting John, she didn’t seem to have any friends other than possibly Arlo. Seraphina and Arlo pre-John seemed to have had more of a professional relationship, and while they were not close in level, Arlo did fit the bill of being a fellow god tier, and strong enough to also be brainwashed.

Now let’s look at Remi. In episode 60, Cecile says to Remi: “And yet here you are... Always hanging around those two monkeys, Blyke and Isen. Letting them treat you as an equal even though you’re in a completely different league.” This struck me as odd because, aside from Cecile herself, the Wellston students closest in level to Remi were Arlo, Blyke, and Isen. And who is she friends with? She actually was doing a pretty good job at following that social convention, unless Cecile wanted to be friends with Remi, which she clearly didn’t. But... her friends were still not close enough to her level. Was she supposed to just not have friends at all? The answer seems to be a resounding yes. Can you think of any genuine friends that Cecile has either?

Friendship simply isn’t considered a necessity for high tiers.

But... why is it that Arlo and Seraphina were brainwashed differently? Creating a societal norm for an isolated group of people is one thing, because those people’s mindsets feed into each other. Putting pressure on individual families to keep them in line, but doing it all in different ways? That would be near impossible. My theory is that Seraphina recieved the typical high tier brainwashing, and that Arlo was raised differently because he was being groomed to work for the authorities. Seraphina didn’t have a set career path planned out for her, but if she’s trying to be “perfect” by the standards of those controlling her, she’s bound to end up going in a direction that pleases them. Arlo on the other hand was specifically planned to become an authority figure. That’s why his brainwashing is so centered on leadership. Also, growing up with direct contact to the authorities makes it more possible for them to customize his brainwashing in this way.

But does all of this apply to high tiers in general, or is it specific to god tiers? Let’s take a look at the high tiers in Wellston. We have Seraphina, John, Arlo, Terrence, Remi, Cecile, and Blyke. John is a unique circumstance because he wasn’t raised by high tiers, so we’ll cross him off the list. Terrence was also unique, so we can cross him off as well. Remi was different from the norm as well. Why is that? Well, Remi actually wasn’t raised by high tiers either. Rei said on screen that both of his parents were elites. We can cross Remi off. Blyke doesn’t fit the bill either, but that’s easy to explain. He was an elite for a large part of the story, and he shot up rather quickly. We don’t know much of his family, but he probably wasn’t expected to be a high tier at all, and was raised as an elite. (All of this also serves to emphasize how much of this brainwashing comes from a person’s parents.) That leaves only Seraphina, Arlo, and Cecile to look at.

Cecile does seem to have high tier brainwashing, but it’s not nearly as intense as with Seraphina and Arlo. She doesn’t seem “obsessive”, and she wasn’t one of the examples Remi mentioned in chapter 50. It’s clear that high tiers are brainwashed in general, but god tiers are kept on a much shorter leash. This makes sense, obviously, because keeping a population in control like that is less necessary the lower the level. However, it’s also a chicken an egg situation: god tiers are both more important to keep in control, and also easier to keep in control. It’s important to note just how many exceptions we had to cross off. People like Remi and Blyke aren’t actually that unusual— a lower leveled high tier is much more likely to have non-high tier parents, or to have not always been a high tier themselves, or just in general, to have way more day-to-day interaction with non-high tiers. The brainwashing gets more and more diffused the lower down the ladder you go.

[brontes]

nearly allergic to women’s anything — “women’s issues” like taxes? infrastructure? foreign policy? “women’s theology” like the nature of the trinity? calvinism vs arminianism? this also extends to girl math, girl dinner, and even to some extent girl talk

[xanandhix]

Realized I’ve never post this on here before

[aquamarinebling]

Finally have time to play through detective beebo!!! it is so cute already and im not even 2 minutes in..

[pizzazz-party]

System Collapse: at this rate the corporates are going to shut down this planet and enslave its people as salvage… unless we put on the biggest talent show this town has ever seen.

[itspileofgoodthings]

had a very nice realization about peace, especially spiritual peace, the other day. (Been brewing for a while.) and it’s just: peace is for the non-peaceful.

[hardlypartying]

people forget that this is a tv show, everything is deliberate and the people who refuse to believe rafe and kiara could have anything “all she did was cut him loose” ect. yeah and they made k.i.a.r.a do it on purpose, just like the WRITERS put them in a room together and made them work together, not coincidence. everyone is so stupid like they are obviously being set up for something. they deliberately have a different more unique bond than rafe and the other pogues (apart from sarah obviously) like picture almost any of the riara scenes from season 4 with like cleo or something??? exactly, it’s not coincidentally that it’s always them

Exactly! “All she did was cut him loose” yeah, cut loose the very same murderer people are so worked up over lmao. It’s such a funny thing to watch the crowd convince themselves it’s nothing while simultaneously making it such a Big thing.

The fact of the matter is that rather than going after her actual boyfriend she was more concerned about Rafe’s safety 😗 and that’s absolutely nothing yup yup. And it’s completely irrelevant the way she was wholeheartedly concerned about him fighting those guys in Morocco! Kiara does not give a fuck about him! And Rafe is sooooo not hung up about their time in Barbados, time heals all wounds and it’s been years! No way he still thinks about it— he mentioned it on the ride to Morocco? Fluke!

Also picturing Cleo in the place of Kiara made me giggle. Rafe would be at the bottom of the ocean. That’s for her man and Sarah 💞