#edit because i have more to say about that—those Are themes they're just not the only kind of themes

[sith-shenanigans]

[tumblr wouldn’t let me edit only the tags for some reason and i had more to come back and say with them]

"A story doesn't need a theme in order to be good" I'm only saying this once but a theme isn't some secret coded message an author weaves into a piece so that your English teacher can talk about Death or Family. A theme is a summary of an idea in the work. If the story is "Susan went grocery shopping and saw a weird bird" then it might have themes like 'birds don't belong in grocery stores' or 'nature is interesting and worth paying attention to' or 'small things can be worth hearing about.' Those could be the themes of the work. It doesn't matter if the author intended them or not, because reading is collaborative and the text gets its meaning from the reader (this is what "death of the author" means).

Every work has themes in it, and not just the ones your teachers made you read in high school. Stories that are bad or clearly not intended to have deep messages still have themes. It is inherent in being a story. All stories have themes, even if those themes are shallow, because stories are sentences connected together for the purpose of expressing ideas, and ideas are all that themes are.

[fanaticsnail]

Dreaming of you Red-Hair Pirates: Shanks, Beckman, Hongo edition when? 👉👈😔

I am gonna add a page break because I am not sure how to word what I need to say in a sfw way. Also, thank you for prompting me to really think about these guys, I love it.

Red Hair Pirates

Themes: Shanks x gn!reader, Beckman x gn!reader, Hongo x gn!reader, mdni, smut, 18+, NSFW, head canons on how they engage in intimacy, smutty thoughts.

To me: these three all fuck different.

Shanks: He's flirty, he's fun, he's a soft dom who encourages you to sing out for him as loud as you can be. If you're already loud, he's going to find that spot in you to make you louder. Switching positions, laughing all the way before that mean switch flips. Then he dishes out the most possessive, dominant, and ass-rippling back shots. He's a dirty pirate, and he knows how to handle himself. Showing you just how much strength he has in that remaining arm, he'll hold you down and staple you in heavy, languid drags of his cock deep within your stomach - before rolling you atop him and watching you whine and cry while bouncing on his lap. Planting his heels, he'll buck his hips up to help you out in having that orgasm you're both chasing together. There is no kink he hasn't done, and he is willing to explore anything that takes your fancy so long as he's in charge. He's the captain, after all.

Beckman: The king of cockwarming. He's so patient, and his restraint is hardened in the way he teases. Sure, he's happy to give in and treat you like an animal from time to time, but he wants to take his time about it. There is no quick fixes with this old man, and he knows it. All of his motions are slow and steady, not once picking up his pace no matter how much you beg for it. While Beckman yearns for someone to take care of him, he won't so easily give up that control and let someone shatter his restraint. He also wants to be close to you, sharing breaths with your heads and lips connected. He makes love, and he acts like he has all the time in the world to do it.

Hongo: While he's just as dirty as Shanks is, he has far more restraint when it comes to enjoying you. He wants you to try to make as little noise as you can, letting your body do all the talking for you in the way you snap your hips against his. As the doctor of the Red Hair pirates, he is used to showing a lot of control and seriousness in his actions, but in intimacy: he wants you to take the reigns. He's so tired, almost as tired as Beckman is. Where Beckman refuses to give in, Hongo wants you to top him due to him wanting to be empty-headed of all of those "how, where, when," questions. This doctor wants you to take care of him in the same way he takes care of his crew, and he needs to relax while you both come unravelled.

Conclusion: I am trying to find a way to word the set up in a way I can see them all enjoying the same reader. I don't want a repetition of the Cross-Guild version, and I am very much taking my time to find it. While Buggy, Mihawk, and Crocodile all are so vastly different: they're all possessive about what they want and have that need for control. The Red-Hairs don't, and I want this one to have plot with the smut to follow.

Tag list: @mfreedomstuff @daydreamer-in-training @since-im-already-here @gingernut1314 @writingmysanity @i-am-vita @indydonuts @feral-artistry @the-light-of-star @empirenowmp3 @racfoam @sunflowersatori @carrotsunshine @skullfacedlady @jintaka-hane @thenotsofantasticlifestory

[sancta-seraphina]

Hi, I hope this isn't too complex a question. What books would you recommend for someone looking to get into angels? I'm looking for anything... lore, other novels to read, comics, whatever you can offer

Oh man, please don't apologize, this is exactly my type of question! Also this post got a bit long.

Obviously, there are tons of references for lore. If you're looking for a basic run-down of angels in the Bible itself, I'm writing a series of posts on that subject specifically, even if updates are few and far between right now (I'm so, so sorry, the ballet eats all of my time):

[Biblically Accurate Angels Part I - Seraphim, Cherubim & Ophanim]

[Biblically Accurate Angels Part II - The Named Angels]

This is because the easiest and most accessible information on angels is in the Bible itself (and hey guess what—you can read the Bible for free online! If you need a translation suggestion, I would go for the ESV bibles, and there's a Catholic edition of the ESV if that's an issue. You could also get the NCB which is what I cited)

If you don't mind chewy literature, then I'd say please read Pseudo-Dionysius' De Coelesti Hierarchia, or St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica. I cite both of these in my posts on angels since they're rather standard sources of information on them, and they're also where the Catholic church gets its canon from.

A great reference, even if I don't particularly agree with everything stated in it, is Gustav Davidson's A Dictionary of Angels. Most people look at it for angel names, but I'm very interested in his sources, since many of them I've not yet managed to get my little paws on.

I'm not even going to get into my favorite sources of angel lore because this is enough for someone just looking to start. I can do a separate post on those if people want them.

Now. Moving on from lore.

For classic literature, my two obvious recommendations are for The Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost. Over on IG, myself and Jami (@a-thenais) made a little book recommendation post. [You can find it here]. Being the angels nerds we are, everything is pretty on theme and has poetry, scripture, classics... the only thing we didn't do is current angel literature.

So for that, if you want a popular series, than I'd say go take a look at @nicosraf's Angels trilogy, especially since he just announced a new short novel coming out in December!

I personally also like @marsadler's First Creation, although I'd recommend his works mainly for horror fans.

And lastly, if you don't mind waiting/are keeping a list of angel books that are coming out, well, of course I'd suggest my own series [The Divine Tragedy], even if horror isn't everyone's cup of tea. The main series (Holiest, The Harrowing, & Heresiarch) and the series of novellas (The Infernal Apocrypha) are heavy on the horror, but in my last project, the Sepher Metatron, only the third part has horror in it, and the rest of it is more palatable to non-horror fans (the very first part of the book is also fully illustrated)

But if you can read Italian, then I'd also suggest @a-thenais' Nova Apocrypha Vulgata series! These are three novels (Thanatos, Hybris, & Afasia) that she is working towards publishing, and a few additional works too. You can read about them on her tumblr, and I've done multiple fanarts for them. We also tend to consider TDT and NAV 'twins', so if TDT is something you want to read, NAV will also something you'd probably like!

If you want to follow some angel artists, then please check out my pals @ultrainfinitepit (who makes gorgeous angel pins which I hoard) and @helplessavacado, both of whom have their own unique styles and stories as well.

[luvtonique]

I wanna tell a little story. Just a little one. [Edit after typing: Yeah I ranted for a while. Oh well.]

I grew up with a dad who was extremely racist, extremely homophobic, and extremely abusive. Used to beat me and my brothers for 20+ years of my life, left us all with mental disorders and trust issues, you name it.

One such story of his homophobia and beatings is that my brother had a boyfriend at one point, and my dad hit him with a belt and screamed at him until he agreed to break up with said boyfriend, which he did.

Now cut ahead 20 years, my dad met an openly gay celebrity online and became friends with him. All the sudden, my dad was Mr. LGBT Pride. He was a writer, and suddenly started writing a book about a gay cowboy called Buck Justice. He would rent movies with gay actors in it, or gay themes, and was suddenly super pro gay.

It just left all of us disgusted, my brothers and my mom. We knew this man, but people on Facebook didn't. He had this huge friend group all the sudden of people calling him "Dad" and "Big Bob" and shit (When in reality, my dad called himself N*gger Bob and even had that written on the whiteboard next to his phone number), and he kept telling us all these stories and laughing and having a good time about how "Cool gay people are."

You see, it left a poor fucking taste in our mouth.

Because we had personally seen how horrible this man was. He beat us. He beat my bisexual brother. He was a fucking monster, but now that he was in some clique with a big popular movie star friend, he was suddenly this shining beacon of gay pride.

That's what bothers me when I see people on the internet acting the same way. I see the disingenuous nature of their actions. I see the popular people they're brown-nosing, I see the big popular bloggers and streamers they're trying to be friends with who are spouting the same bullshit.

And the reason it bothers me is because I know who these people are. I go back in their blogs like 1 month and find death threats, calls for violence, mental instability, extreme rage.

I go to their YouTube channels and find videos of them watching rats die on glue traps.

I get invited into their Discord servers and scroll back through the history of them talking with their friends and see just mountains of hate posting, calling for violence, wishing people would be killed, celebrating the death of people they hate.

That's why I don't do that shit. And why I don't tend to hang out with people who do. Because I know those people aren't really respectful people. I know they don't truly want equality.

I know the truth. From 20 years of belt marks on my back.

I know y'all are fucking disgusting people who are just pretending to be respectful advocates for equality and peace because the big celebrities and vloggers and streamers you wanna be friends with are saying the same shit.

You people aren't real. You are NPCs spouting NPC dialogue in hopes of getting some pseudo social credit score with big e-celebs while all it takes is 10 seconds of scrolling through your blog to find out you are the most disgusting, violent and unhinged person on the internet.

Case in point, y'ever seen a cat owner before?

Tell a cat owner you don't like cats.

Watch what happens.

It's been 9 years since I made a post saying I don't like cats and I still get those fucking psycho pieces of shit sending me extremely descriptive anon asks about how they want my throat to be ripped out by a dog in my sleep. That's who these people really are.

All it takes is one thing that sets them off and they go from your 11-year-running best friend of all time to a person who sends you multiple paragraphs of descriptive ways they hope you die.

I've learned from experience with my dad.

Y'all want equality? Just treat people with respect no matter what. Don't act like there's versions of people or groups of people who deserve more or less respect, because guess what, THAT'S CALLED PREJUDICE YOU FUCKING DIPSHIT.

If you have to say "I am LGBT friendly"

You clearly have something to hide (which I guarantee is like 10 posts down in your blog and is horrifically violent and descriptive) and you are the last person I would expect to actually be LGBT friendly, or any kind of friendly.

[kingdomoftyto]

I'm crying laughing, the DVDs are even worse than I remember... Season 1's menus are silent with a single static jpg of the same key character art they use for everything else, and the episodes on the Season 2 discs don't even match what's listed on the box! Absolutely stunning lack of shits given. Truly unparalleled. But I really shouldn't be surprised given... well... everything about how this series has been treated since the very beginning.

Time for a quick ~✨PHANDOM HISTORY LESSON✨~ to give newer/less hyperfixated folks more context for why the graphic novel being as great as it is is such a HUGE deal:

Danny Phantom was one of Nickelodeon's MAIN cartoons, in its time. It was a central pillar. One of the top three or four of their lineup, which is saying something when the competition includes the cultural juggernaut that is Spongebob.

Despite this, and despite its superhero theming making it perfectly marketable, it got basically ZERO official merch.

What little we did get was often ugly and very, very cheap. The dedication at the start of the graphic novel that jokes about collecting the Burger King toys? That's because it was some of the most notable merch the franchise EVER had. (I sadly do not have any of it. There was no BK in my hometown. Here's a pic from the internet, though, to give you an idea.)

If you think I'm exaggerating about that being the most significant physical merch to come out of the series, consider that the first video game had an entire menu option specifically for the Burger King promotional tie-in:

That video game, by the way, was one of only two ever based on the show. The first was an adaptation of "The Ultimate Enemy" in the style of a short sidescrolling beat-em-up, and the second was themed around "Urban Jungle" and (as far as I can tell--I've only played the first couple levels) was an arcade-style scrolling shooter. Both were for the Gameboy Advance, and both are...... fine, as far as cash-grabby video game tie-ins to kids' shows go. This was pretty normal for the time, so I suppose we did okay in that department, actually. They're not GOOD, but they're playable and have at least a bit of effort put into them.

But besides those two video games (plus a handful of simple, long-defunct Flash games on nick.com)? In the decade and a half since the show ended?

Nothing.

No books, no games, no comics, no web shorts--unless you count mega-crossovers with every other Nicktoon (a la Nicktoons Unite), or soulless promotional material like "Fairly Odd Phantom" (which, trust me, despite being the first new DP animation in over 10 years was not even worth the effort of watching).

...I think there was a limited edition FunkoPop once?

So yeah.

A Glitch in Time is not just the first cool, well-made thing we've seen from the franchise in a while. It's the first THING we've seen since the show. PERIOD. And arguably the first worthwhile supplementary material to EVER come out of the show, depending on how you feel about those GBA games and the Nicktoons crossovers.

This franchise is widely beloved even now, almost 20 years after it first aired, and it feels like that fact is now, finally, FINALLY getting some official recognition.

PLEASE read A Glitch in Time. Tell other people about it. The series--no, the fans--deserve this (and more of this, if the folks in charge see enough of a response and decide to grace us with any followup). It's LONG overdue, but better late than never.

[mistydeyes]

miss americana: gaz edition

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series summary: The 141 has varying thoughts about Americans which range from finding them wildly entertaining to thinking they’re the worst people on earth. However you challenge their perspectives when you meet them. Something about you makes them feel a little more patriotic ;)

summary: When you finally move to the UK, there are a few things that confuse you and Gaz is more than happy to help out! From realizing cars are not automatic to the different colloquialisms, he enjoys clarifying the differences in culture.

pairing: Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x American!Reader

warnings: none

a/n: FINALLY something that I don’t have to do research on because I’m from the US🦅🎆 I have other parts planned to this as well!

also these are 100% inspired by all the questions I ask @lundenloves, she entertains my constant surprise and shock lol

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Whenever you go out with Gaz you ask him to “translate” for you.

When you first walked the rainy London streets with Gaz, you felt like a toddler with all of your questions. "Why does that stationary store have a sale on condoms?" you asked, confused, as you directed his attention to the sign that displayed a sale on rubbers. "You mean erasers?" he corrected, laughing. Next was when you saw a store you liked and immediately directed him inside, saying you needed pants. Despite how cute you looked while shopping, he had to correct you saying they were trousers and that pants had a very different meaning. Finally, the most egregious example was when you went to a restaurant and ordered biscuits to accompany your savory dish of soup. Once the waiter laughed in response, you looked at Gaz confused. "A biscuit is not like what you get in the Southern US, it's more of a cookie," he explained as you flushed with embarrassment. You would have to do some research next time and consult your British tour guide.

You’re an absolute menace when he goes to the grocery store or what he calls the grocers. You will go up and down the aisles, picking up whatever you fancy.

"Where are those chocolate oranges?" you demanded as you went down the aisle with Gaz. He pushed the cart, or trolley as he called it, which was already filled with a variety of snacks. Anything that looked distinctly British and that you knew you couldn't get at home, went in the cart. He had to hold you back from getting biscuits and crumpets. "Do you think we're having a tea party?" he joked as you waddled back with your selection. "Can we?" you asked, excitedly, and Gaz knew you were going to spend another 30 minutes in the tea aisle. "Let's just find you some Terry's and then we can consider getting tea," he corrected and you pulled the cart rapidly ahead. "I'm going to buy a whole orchard of those oranges."

Later on, you did buy a bushel worth of oranges and Gaz gently rubbed your stomach after you ate two entire ones. "They're just so good," you mumbled before you regretted the lactose coursing through your digestives.

Sometimes you’ll entertain him with distinctly American experiences.

"Did I ever tell you I was going to join a sorority in college?" you mused as you sat on the couch. He looked down at you before replying. "A what?" he questioned and you laughed. "You're telling me you've never heard of Greek life!" you exclaimed as he shook his head. You sat up for this fun explanation. "Essentially, if you're a girl you join a sorority and you spend like 4 days meeting the sister, trying to get them to like you, and then you're given a bid," you explained, he nodded as if this wasn't a foreign concept to him. "Then you all gather, usually in a football stadium or field, and they call your name as well as the sorority you're in and you run towards them." At that, he looked in horror. "It sounds cultish," he remarked and you lightly punched his arm. "It's cute! Everyone dresses up in different themes like 'Las Vegas' or 'Teddy Bears'," you smiled but he still shook his head, "it's the hazing that's cultish."

You will always insist on driving but Gaz remembers the one time he let you drive.

"Kyle, just let me drive!" you exclaimed as he beat you to the car door. In all honesty, you were a little used to being on the passenger side back at home but nevertheless, you were annoyed at his constant insistence at driving. "No," he simply said, "need I remind you what happened last time." The minute he said that you remembered the first time he tried to let you drive. First, you were surprised it was a stick shift rather than an automatic but it was nothing to worry about. It took you a few streets to get used to the changing gears but Gaz still had confidence in you. It wasn't until you pulled into a shopping center and started driving on the wrong side of the road that he made you park and take over. "It wasn't that bad!" you exclaimed, buckling into the passenger seat. "Love, my life flashed before my eyes."

He’ll make fun of you when you order coffee with a smile and try to make a friendly conversation with the barista.

As you entered the coffee shop, you were easily the happiest one there. It was 7 am and even Gaz wasn't as cheery as you are. "Good morning, how are you?" you smiled at the young barista. She returned your smile and eased her tired shoulders. "I'm doing alright, what are you having today?" she replied and you took a minute to think. “Just a cup of coffee for him,” you replied, pointing at Gaz. You pondered for a minute as you strained to look at the signs. "What do you think is good here?" you questioned and her eyes lit up as she began to list the options. "If you're looking for coffee, a cortado is my favorite, but I personally recommend trying our tea," she recommended and you nodded. "Hmm I'll take both," you cheerily replied, watching as she typed in your order. When you pulled out your wallet, you looked around curiously and the barista noticed your hesitation. "Is there anything else I can get you?" she asked before you looked up at her. "You don't have a tip jar here?" you wondered and she let out a laugh. "We don't, more of an American thing," she answered and you frowned slightly. You let her know to keep the change and waited patiently for your order at the end of the coffee bar. "You're too cute sometimes," Gaz said, kissing your forehead gently. He made sure to get a picture of you with your two cups, captioning it, "They finally got their cuppa!"

He helps you navigate the surprisingly easy currency and pricing system.

“Kyle I need more,” you corrected as he handed you a handful of notes. You had gone souvenir shopping in London but forgotten your wallet at his flat. “What do you mean, that’s enough,” he replied as he flipped over the postcards to check if he did his math correctly. “What about the tax? You forgot about that,” you said triumphantly and he laughed in response. “Oh this is one of your American things,” he said, his new favorite term to use, “Love, you pay what’s on the sticker.” Cue your shocked face as you couldn’t fathom the moment of anticipation as your items were rung up at home. On the ride home, you were sure to explain to Gaz the ins and outs of the different taxes including that there was no clothing tax in Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. “I cannot believe you don’t know how much you’re paying when you go up to the till,” he remarked, shaking his head in dismay. “The what?”

There are some disagreements on the meaning of different words (especially ones that you both share but mean two completely different things).

On a rare day, the entire 141 was free, and Gaz decided to introduce you to them. You returned back from the grocers and were surprised when Gaz began preparing a late lunch. “We’re not going to eat at the bar?” you asked, noticing him turning the stove on. “No, no they don’t have food there,” he corrected as your face turned to confusion, “what do you think the bar is?” Upon your explanation of an American bar with cheap drinks and greasy food, Gaz laughed and kissed your cheek gently. “If you want to go to a pub, I can just let them know the change of plans. There’s plenty around,” he responded and went to put the items back in the fridge.

When you arrived at the lively pub, Gaz made sure to sit you next to Soap so you could listen better to his thick accent. While you appreciated the gesture, the Scotsman still spoke a mile a minute. Despite your initial uneasiness, you soon fell into lively conversation and entertained everyone with your stories from college and things you found differently in the UK. "I think the time zone was the biggest issue," you said in response to Ghost's question about your transition to living abroad, "although, the lack of ceiling fans was interesting." They all laughed in response before Gaz interjected. "Tell them about when you ordered a baked potato," he joked and your eyes immediately lit up before you went into a long conversation about your experience. As everyone laughed at your bewilderment at the lack of serving the side with bacon, cheese, and sour cream, Gaz looked at you fondly, his favorite American.

[waitmyturtles]

As I did last week, I have more constructive criticism for Jack & Joker, so, trigger warning again, please fly away if you can't deal with objective criticism of your faves.

What frustrates me about the construction of this show is that it's tripping on its own feet. And I shouldn't use the indefinite article; I should call out director Tee Bundit directly, because we saw him do this in spades in Step By Step. Tee did everything he could to avoid building a real narrative romance between the SBS leads, and the emotional beats that succeeded their late-series intimate breakthrough were not syncopated properly to match the development of a convincing relationship.

The incomplete beats at hand here are not as bad as they were in SBS. What's keeping me going on in Jack & Joker is that, at least, we are getting separate emotional development trajectories for Jack and Joke -- and a nice, hearty head-smack from Ah Mah at the end of the episode, towards Jack and his inclination to shut down and keep his shit internal. Ah Mah is trying to get Jack to know how to act as family, and she did the same with Joke's father earlier in the episode.

Like I said last week, I think this show has some really wonderful family-related thematic gems like the ones I just mentioned for this week's episode. Yin and War are acting these themes out with heart. Jack's in a really tough spot. The robber clowns will get together again next week to try to get him out of his tough spot.

And I know many of us are upset with Joke's dad, as I am, too, he's a real piece of shit, but his scenes with Joke struck me as very real to the experience of an insanely strict Asian dad. I've written about this too many times to count, but the ability of an Asian parent to cut their kids off like that is a concept that majority Western culture hasn't contemplated, except in instances of religion, sexism, bigotry, etc., but anyway -- that kind of cut-off doesn't exist as part of the everyday Western mentality about parenting, whereas in Asian parenting styles, to reject the patriarchal hierarchy could mean permanent separation, as Joke's dad has enacted to Joke. The fact that the motherfucker reconsidered AFTER EATING JOKE'S FOOD struck me as deeply sexist ("the way to a man's" blah blah, UGH), so I'm glad Ah Mah told that bitch off, but I did think those scenes were done well and realistically.

Anyway, where this series is absolutely lagging is in the EDITING. All these rich people games. I think there are many more concise narrative ways that we can be told that the rich play with the lives of the poor, than to give us bloated scene after bloated scene of literal gaming. Forget metaphors! Just give us some well-written, snappy dialogue about how these rich people are total assholes! We'll believe it!

And at the same time, I'm feeling bad for Rose, honestly. She likes Jack! She has no idea her crush on him is caught up in this Boss bullshit. She's gonna be hurt! And they're gonna rob her house now? I mean, I think what Tee is saying (I think?!?!?!) is that what comes to her, she deserves, because she's as scummy as the rest of the other scummy rich people (Ajahn Pichai, was that you?!). But like, this is her dad's shit?! So she gets automatically blamed because she's a nepo baby? I mean, I guess, if you're a reader of New York Magazine, that's reasonable thinking, but like, some of us are moral thinkers here!

This shit is complicated, and for an episode that was ONE HOUR. AND. 21. MINUTES. LONG., we could have a shorter AND clearer episode that could have scrubbed at the grout of these otherwise very interesting moral quandaries. But instead, we got video games from some dusty-ass rich boy who needs a goddamn bath.

I know, I know we haven't gotten the intimacy payoffs for any of the implied couples yet, and maybe this is part of YinWar's intention in having so much control over their script. But I did wonder if I was watching a Series Y/BL, or if I was watching a dramedy instead. I don't really care what genre it's in. But what I would like is for the themes to be crystal-clearly focused so that us, the viewers, can lean into what the cast and showmakers WANT us to care about -- which, thematically, I'm unclear on at this moment.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Heyo! Do you have a personal ranking of all TWST (JP) events?

Though another random thing I want to say is about the events, do you think some events are more forgotten about than others??? I say this because I think the Sunset Savana Tamashina, Endless Halloween, Wish upon a star and Beans Day are usually not talked about as much as other events like the Ghost Marriage and Fairy Gala events.

Unless this is all just the TWST stuff I'm usually fed...

I haven't ranked all of the events myself since a lot of them fall into a "they're okay" middle ground category. (Besides, my rankings would be outdated and I’d have to come back and edit my list every month when new events come out.)

What I will say is that my favorite events right now are the following (in no particular order): Glorious Masquerade, Fairy Gala: If, Wish Upon a Star, Ghost Marriage, Beans Day (I + II), and White Rabbit Fest. I give more in-depth thoughts about my favorite events here!

I personally have not noticed a significant skew towards certain events over the others, though of course this could vary a lot depending on the smaller TWST circles you run in and/or what your social media algorithms feed you. The general trend tends to be a huge burst of discussion or related fan content during or around the time of the event's run or rerun, then the hype dies down once the event ends. Most of the event-specific content you'll see after the events (at least in my experience) are theories/analyses calling back to details mentioned in the events. TWST itself certainly doesn't discriminate against certain events; to this day, they still sometimes come out with merch for their earliest event, Beans Day. There's probably going to be another wave of event-themed merch to coincide with the later events.

To explain maybe why you may perceive certain events as more popular than others: not all events are created equal, and not all events drop interesting lore that people find worth discussing. The endings for Tamashina Mina and Endless Halloween Night were, as I recall, contentious or not well-received by pockets of the fandom. This could explain why they're not talked about much. Wish Upon a Star was notable for being the first time ever we saw the boys' individual rooms, but other than that... there wasn't anything that exciting to most. A lot of their wishes were self-explanatory or expected, and Idia's conflict is also one that is explored or otherwise mentioned many times over, which could result in a lack of fandom interest.

Beans Day has its age to consider. As the oldest event, it has maybe just eroded in memory due to the passage of time. Additionally, it's one of the few events (outside of Halloween ones) to prominently feature the entire cast, meaning everyone is fighting for the spotlight and thus makes it harder for specific events or interactions to stick out in people's minds.

And as to why Ghost Marriage and Fairy Gala are popular? I'll be 100% honest, I'm pretty sure it's because of the aesthetics. FG does not have a fantastic story, but man, do those outfits look good. GM is in a similar situation (who doesn't love a cute guy in a suit?), and it has the distinction of being the one and only TWST event with an overt "romance" theme (which appeals to the dense population of yumes and/or shippers in the fandom).

[submalevolentgrace]

Question about hand prostheses; would it be more worthwhile to get them if the character had lost BOTH hands, or would it still be easier to just learn to do stuff with their feet/mouth/whatever? Does how far up the arm the severing point is make a difference to whether it's worth it, like a wrist is relatively easy to do things with but a shoulder is not? (Also, I recommend Sigdi Thundershield from Order of the Stick as a character who doesn't use an arm prosthetic and manages just fine without.)

i get that there's no way for any one asker to know how often i get asks like this, and probably 2/3rds of the time i don't even answer them, but when i do i like to try and mix up my responses based on what i can glean from the way the question was asked. if we're going to call ourselves writers, let's engage with the text given. so here's what i've got this time:

i have already written out my opinions on the topic of upper limb prostheses in fiction. it's long, carefully and purposefully constructed to deliver all the information and emotion i think possible and necessary... short of sitting down one on one for hours at a time of interview style back and forth to really dig down into it. you've ostensibly read it - that writing, my pinned post - because you're responding to it and had to metaphorically step around it to get to my ask box. and yet... i'd say in it, i overtly expresses 3 major themes; the first two of which already answer your questions, and the third of which should hopefully have inspired you to not need to ask them at all.

so based on that, and how you constructed your question, from my perspective i reckon there's one of two possibilities going on here:

1) you've already written/conceptualised a character with one or more cool robot arms, and you're unwilling to do the introspection or self-editing to change that and 'let go of them', so you're looking for loopholes and where exactly the line is drawn. you want permission that it's okay from that tumblr blog linked on those 'how to write disabled characters' lists. why not just accept responsibility as an author, and change your character? or...

2) you want to write a character that has a robot arm or two because it lets you score Disability Representation Points with your audience for including a Disabled™ character, but like, not in any awkward or difficult way that including someone actually disabled would, like a real amputee or someone in a wheelchair or blind-without-magic or whatever. why not just write a disabled character, with a disability you understand?

neither one of these explanations for your ask reflects on you particularly well as a crafter of fiction, so hopefully i'm just being a pretentious judgemental bitch and you composed this after only half skimming my writing while barely awake, or some fourth other option that makes you look better.

but then again, in response to an essay where i laid out my feelings on medical abuse in pursuit of normativity and and a society that treats me as barely human because of the shape of my limbs, you suggested to me a character whose backstory seems to be 'trauma porn for easy pathos', from a webcomic that, in my time at least, was famous for jokes like 'a lead sheet blocks detect evil so you can't prove he's a psychopath' and 'the gang tries increasingly insane ways to spy on the genitals of their gender ambiguous companion'.

which is to say, i'm fucking tired of self-described writers apparently not really thinking about anything they're writing; in their work, in their joyful suggestions, or in their clumsy asks to a clearly hurt individual on an obviously sensitive topic.

[tibby]

i think it's partly bc of rerecording her albums and having fans love the vault tracks that she now feels she cant leave anything on the cutting room floor just in case

i definitely think that's part of it, but - and i say this as someone who likes a majority of the vault tracks - i think it was a good thing that they were initially left on the cutting room floor. including them originally would have detracted from what the albums were trying to say.

speak now and 1989 are the best examples of this. the point of speak now was two things: taylor wanting to prove she could do it on her own, and each song referencing a specific person or scenario. with the exception of when emma falls in love (the weakest of the lot imo) and castles crumbling (which has a feature), the SNTV vault tracks are more...vague in who/what they're about. and sure, if they'd been released on the original album with the secret messages we might have more context, but that isn't something we can say for certain. speak now is the only album that's about multiple people and we can pinpoint who or what each song is referencing (except maybe sparks fly which was included for the fans, and haunted but that could be because i've never cared enough to investigate if it's about john or joe).

as for 1989, i think the vault tracks are definitely stronger than some of the songs that made the cut (as much as i love WTNY and HYGTG, they're not her best work), but i don't think they would have fit into the story she was trying to tell. whether taylor successfully made an album that is about independence and not love is up for debate, but she claims that was her intention. IION and say don't go aren't great fits for that story, especially since it was one she was trying to tell within the secret messages.

i think red's biggest problem is that it was already too long of an album (which is also part of speak now's problem). i think the red vault tracks fit the theme of all the varying degrees of love, but red TV clocks out at over two hours. it's possible that forever winter in particular was too raw a song to release at the time (has she played it live yet? i haven't kept up with eras tour that much).

and while i love the fearless vault tracks, i do wonder if including them would have earned it less acclaim. they're good songs, but fearless is by far her most polished album imo. even the deluxe tracks, which i also adore, kinda take away from how well rounded the standard album is. it's very possible it's only capped at 13 tracks because cds back then could only hold so much, but i also think that it was a better decision for the marketing of the album itself.

but now, with ttpd and the eight million versions of midnights, it's harder to find the good shit because it's surrounded by so much filler. and yeah, part of it is that some of the songs on those albums are just...not good (bejeweled my deepest enemy), but i think a culling would have greatly benefitted them. ESPECIALLY with ttpd. taylor's always been songwriter who releases stuff that could be diary entries, but at least before it was like...you at least edited this. now it just seems like we're getting every single journal entry as is. and it's tiring. 31 songs is too much. hell, 16 songs for lover was too much.

ultimately i think it comes down to the fact that she no longer gets any push back from the people she works with, and fans are both willing to accept quantity over quality and (for many swifties, but not all) there's just a refusal to criticise her work at all. and i think taylor's desire to constantly release new content (which i think is a combination of a constant need for relevancy combined with the fact she's always writing) combined with being surrounded by yes men and adoring fans is impacting her work negatively. which has been the case since lover if not earlier, but i think midnights/ttpd are her most glaring examples of it.

anyway lmao sorry this got long. sorry for never being on here and then finally showing up to have opinions about taylor swift. do you guys still think i'm hot.

[alice-after-dark]

Stayed Friends AU Random Facts - Valentino Edition

Just some random thoughts I had about Valentino in the Stayed Friends au if anyone cares. For the most part, this is a more lighthearted au, so expect that things will be different. Not to say there won't be seriousness and drama, but generally this is just for fun.

TW for Angel having serious self-loathing and canon-typical triggers.

-Valentino is not nearly as much of a toxic dick in this au. Why is he not nearly as much of a toxic dick in this au? Because it's my au and I do what I want.

-He is still the same flamboyant asshole diva, of course, but the actual abuse factor is way down. He does still throw tantrums when he's especially upset, but he's far more likely to break things than hurt others...at least not his employees. Miscellaneous Sinners on the street are fair game.

-Valentino and Angel actually have a good relationship. Valentino unapologetically plays favorites.

-Alastor and Valentino are not...friends. They're more like two beings who tolerate the other's existence for the sake of a mutual friend. Valentino thinks Alastor is a pompous stuffy prude and Alastor thinks of Valentino as a dumb sex-obsessed degenerate. Every encounter with them in the same vicinity comes with the Exasperated Vox TM disclaimer of "Al, don't be an ass. Val, don't antagonize him."

-Vox and Valentino are friends-with-benefits.

-Valentino has been aware of Vox's crush on Alastor from the very first time he ever heard him talk about the deer demon and never misses an opportunity to tease him about it.

-He offered Husk a blow job as a thank you for protecting Angel from the loan sharks. Vox and Velvette have a sit down with him about how sexual favors are not appropriate corporate thank you gifts.

-He does...vaguely better when Angel asks for the day off to comfort Charlie after the reveal of Vaggie being an angel. He uses his smoke to instantly send a feel-better gift basket to Charlie with ice cream, chocolate, and...Angel hides the break-up-revenge themed porn videos before she sees those. At least he got it two-thirds right...

-Velvette, Mimzy, Rosie, Niffty, Angel, and Valentino definitely have Girl's Nights once a month, typically at the V Tower or Rosie's house. Post battle with Adam and the Exorcists, they get Charlie and Vaggie to join in (Stayed Friends!Valentino and Vaggie bonding over wing care, just saying).

-Valentino is the first person to find out Angel is crushing on Husk. Val puts Travis in charge, tells him to call in a replacement, and skips an entire shoot while Angel has a breakdown in his office about not being good enough to deserve love.

[desultory-novice]

Hi hi! I'm going to answer a couple of different video based asks all in one post because they all follow a similar theme~!

EDIT EDIT: I realized that no one could actually access the links because I took screenshots and added links to the video following each ask!

[VIDEO]

Oh yes! It was one of the first videos I watched when I decided to be brave and finally join the fandom! I remember really liking it, though I don't remember the video contents itself well...!

:cues up for a rewatch:

Heh! Heehee! It's still quite a lot of fun! Years later, I can notice clearly now that this video relies very strongly on what I understand is a controversial/outdated interpretation of Void lore based on the EN translation which is...well, it's the Star Allies English Translation... (As for the details of WHAT it got wrong, o~hhh, I'm not going to get into the Void stuff ~ You'll have to go to other Kirblrs for that! I'm too busy with fixating on my personal blorbos! XD ) However! The end bit about who Kirby is and what Kirby represents? That part of the video remains golden and is something I am 100% in agreement with!

Edit: I realize now you said "videos" and if they're the ones I'm thinking of, then I think I did watch the whole series back then and enjoyed it very much! Sorry for not giving my modern day thoughts on them individually. I didn't want to make you wait too long on this!

[VIDEO]

AH! I just saw this one a few months ago and YES! Yes yes yes! Ohhh, yessss! I agree! It's funny to watch this one back to back with Designing For's video about how the early games were kind of empty fluff compared to the lore-heavy Kumazaki era when Star Warper highlights one of my FAVORITE things that's been gone for so long!!

...I would be SO happy if they focused more on this kind of "natural" world building and character exploration. I suppose, if I have one criticism of Kumazaki, it's that he maybe TOO MUCH of a writer? It's okay to focus where he specializes in, and he's really good at it, but I hope that Star Allies "micro cutscenes" mean we might get them back in a new title, rather than a "last nod" to Kirby history...

This reminds me, I never did anything with this (got swept under by RL) but I came away from this video thinking that I would LOVE to make a series of cutscene animations for the games that don't have them! Just imagine what silly things Kirby or the rest of the characters are getting up to before handing the action back to you!

(Gosh... I don't think I have the experience necessary for this but... with all these collabs, I wonder if anyone would be interested in forming up a collab to make cutscenes for the games that don't have them? I don't know if there's that many animators in the fandom, maybe splash images would be enough? ...Interesting thought?)

But one last enthusiastic yes! As an outspoken fan of, "Show us the daily life of the people in Dream Land PLEASE" this video speaks to me. And I'm glad others feel this way!

[VIDEO]

I KNEW THIS WOULD BE THE CAKE SCENE! I LOVE THE CAKE SCENE! Honestly, I don't know anyone who doesn't just burst into kittens when faced with the cake scene...! It's so cute...! vvv

Speaking of the 25th Anniversary Concert, I have to share my other favorite moment and unfortunately I can't find the full video to refresh my memory (...pulled down for copyright, maybe?) but there was one silly moment when they asked Kirby how old he was, like HIM not the series, and he's like "...I'm 25! ^o^" and of course, it's silly and ridiculous and everyone laughed and for those fans who see Kirby as a very young child, it is just the picture of a child being silly and saying whatever but...as someone who always saw Kirby as growing up with me, I beamed a little with pride? XD

And I think that's the way it should be, maybe? The things Kirby says can be as interpretable as Kirby themselves! ...Reminds me of another quote from Kumazaki that he didn't want Kirby speaking (in Japanese) in the globally streamed 30th Anniversary concert as they did in the 25th because he wanted everyone across the globe to "understand Kirby equally." That if he talked in just one language, a limited number of people would understand him, and everyone should be able to see themselves in Kirby!

It was a very sweet gesture - even though I myself missed hearing Kirby talk in Japanese! Ahh well, at least I'm surrendering my bilingual priviledge card for a good reason! XD

[VIDEO]

OH! Ni~ce find, Anon!

I've seen the fan animation of the phone skit and one more but I was wondering where I might find the rest...! Thank you, video anon!

These are soo~ooo cute! And you're so right! Kawata-san's Kirby really is perfect! I say that feeling the same way about Oomoto-san's Kirby too though...! They're all perfect! This kind of voice (and short skit style) would be perfect for a series of official shorts imo! The kind of ones that occasionally get released on Twitter and the like. (Not that I don't already love the animations made by Courtesy!)

And ahhhh, it's so nice to hear Kirby speak full sentences too~ I really, really enjoy this interpretation of Kirby! I can't believe it's from as far back as 1994! Amazing! Truly amazing!

-

Thank you, anon(s) for the fun video links! And I hope everyone has fun watching them too if you're not familiar with everything listed here! If you ask me, everything here is worth a listen!

[feelingpure]

Fellow Travelers | The Orange Elephant in the Room

Alright, let's talk about it.

For those who've watched the available episodes of FT so far; I'm sure we've all noticed the citrus haze they all seem to be living in.

Especially if you've attempted to edit/GIF any portion of it. The struggle is real and I'm sure has inspired many colouring dilemmas.

And we're all asking "WHY?!".

Now, I'm writing this having not looked up anything about it. So I dunno if anyone responsible has made a formal confession.

One of my initial thoughts around it was; okay... so is this just a 1950s thing? But after watching (and rewatching) episode 2, I feel like it's part of the story in a different way; It's clearly a stylistic choice, yes (I should hope that doesn't just happen by accident). But it also seems to double as a narrative choice.

Putting the rest, with image examples, under a cut because it's kinda long.

Warm vs Cool

The conclusion I've come to is pretty simply, one that we've seen used across media in a lot of movies and shows. Warm tones used to colour scenes that are meant to literally be 'warm'; a loving environment or somewhere where the character(s) feel like they can be themselves. Cool tones used for scenes where it's quite the opposite; a cold hostile environment where the character(s) does not feel welcome. Gradients in between for all the neutral/'greyarea' spaces.

Consider

Cool/neutral outdoor bench scene (with park spies around):

Maybe it's an indoor/outdoor thing? No...

Indoors (even with the mandatory orange lamps nearby) they stay pretty neutral:

Night time/day time thing? No...

Night time vs day time in Tim's apartment:

Compare it to day time neutral alone Tim in the same room before. The difference is that he's with Hawk, out of sight of any would be naysayers.

So yeah, while I am mad about the colouring for giffing needs, I do think what they're doing is pretty neat, and the POC in the show look glorious in the warm tones.

The warm/cool motif is dialled up even more in episode 2, with the contrast of Mary's warm welcoming party and Hawk's cold af family gathering (even though they still have the orange lamps/sconces around, they add nothing to the warmth):

🥺 Ugh, Tim at Mary's party. Might be my favourite part of the episode, alongside the kissing n spooning. Anyway...

The transition of Mary from the same living room where she hosted that party, to the kitchen they were just questioned in:

That transition made me start paying more attention and go back to rewatch previous scenes just for colour themes.

Interestingly Hawk's apartment seems to live in this neutral/warmish space. It was more warm earlier in the episode, especially when they were in the bedroom the morning Tim left his glasses. But in general it's a lot less warm than Tim's apartment when compared; still their skin glows with a hint of tangerine:

Of course, not only the lighting/colouring but their outfit choices say a lot. Tim is usually in the warm browns with his dress, while Hawk pretty much sticks to black, white, grey (hints of a cool toned blues and reds in his ties). This coupled with the differences in their own living space probably reflects a lot about the character and how 'welcoming' they are to others. Idk... or I could just be thinking too much about it.

This is another really interesting transition in episode 2. As Hawk hangs up the phone in that cool toned side room, opens the door to the main room of a gay bar, the warm tones literally seem to absorb him in. Which makes sense, this is obviously a gay friendly place in San Francisco. He doesn't have to try to hide any part of himself, like he probably was still trying to do on that voicemail to Lucy just before.

Now, I could go through and screenshot a load more examples (some scenes with Lucy are interesting, and that lounge/club), but you probably get the gist, you see the pattern. If not before, on your next watch, you'll certainly see it.

This has got longer than intended; I'd be surprised if anyone got this far, I did NOT fully organise my thoughts before I started this, I just began rambling and I feel like it could've been more organised and laid out better. But if you have thoughts about the colouring, I'd really like to see those too. 🤗

[etude-in-citrine]

Detective Conan Drama CD: A Written Challenge from the Detective Boys

So I've noticed this drama CD has been out for more than ten years (October 2011) but the most I've seen are tidbits of it, especially regarding a.. certain scene. (￢_￢) No one has really translated the whole thing though and after taking that mantle it myself, I see why... If anyone is interested in matching this to the drama CD video, be my guest but I ask of you just to ask and credit me. ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)

So heads up before we start (warning: super long), I translate most of the terms to English but kept some Japanese terms like most honorific like -kun, -san, etc. I sometimes would switch between Professor/Prof. and hakase but they're both the same. However I have switched meitantei to great detective since it's a smoother transition in translation and it has a nice ring to it.

I also kept classic Conan phrases like oi oi, arere, barou because they're too iconic not to. (*´∀`)♪

I decided to differentiate Kaito and Kaitou Kid because Yamaguchi has a specific way of voicing them, just like how he does with Kid and Shinichi.

Italics are thoughts

Bold is codes/ciphers

*(word)* are actions

TN is translation notes to clarify riddles/codes/jokes that get lost in translation.

And I have loads of side comments in forms of SN(side notes) so apologies if it ruins your experience.

Also to make this a more amusing read, I litter face emojis in some of the dialogue, mostly those with strong reactions.

Watch out for this face specifically (◕∇◕) because that means Conan is speaking in his cute childish voice.

Now with all that mumble jumble out of the way, enjoy!

*Watching Detective Red Jacket*

Ayumi: It was so interesting!

Genta: Detective Red Jacket was so cool!

Mitsuhiko: Yeah! The action and story were perfect! It's the best movie I've watched! Number 1!

Ayumi: Yup! There's no doubt about that, right Conan-kun?

Conan: You think so?

Ayumi: Eh?

Conan: I figured out the killer in 5 minutes.

Haibara: Is that so?

Conan: And also- Ah.

Ayumi: What's wrong Conan-kun? You suddenly turned around.

Conan: Nah. It felt like someone was watching me..

Kaito: Shoot this is bad! To think these guys were watching the same movie as me. And it just had to be the seats right in front of me...

Conan: Was it my imagination?

Haibara: Well, what were you planning on saying?

Conan: Well the protagonist Sannomiya Kazunori's acting wasn't very good.

*crunch*

Ayumi: Huh? What's wrong Ai-chan? You're crushing the pamphlet very tightly.

Haibara: Uh.. a-ah-

Mitsuhiko: I know!! Why don't we all go to Mitsubo shop? If I remember correctly, the Detective Red Jacket special edition is being released today!

Genta: Let's go then!!

Ayumi/Mitsuhiko: Yeah!!

Conan: You guys seriously like it that much? Sorry but I'll head back first. See you guys!

Genta: What's with Conan? Always saying stuff and being a wet blanket just when everyone is so enthusiastic.

Haibara: I'm going to buy another new pamphlet.

Ayumi: Sure..

Genta: Let's hurry up and go!

Mitsuhiko: It'd be bad if it sold out! Especially since it comes with a special poster of the protagonist Sannomiya Kazunori as a bonus.

Ayumi: Oh, Ai-chan came back.

Haibara: Tsuburaya-kun, is that true?

Mitsuhiko: Uh yeah.

Kaito: It's true that Detective Red Jacket is super cool! A far cry compared to certain midget detective.. (SN: (≖_≖ ))

*theme song playing*

Conan: Detective Conan Drama CD A Written Challenge from the Detective Boys

Agasa: So in the end, you weren't able to buy the Detective Red whatjamacallit's book.

Ayumi: Yup that's right!

Mitsuhiko: A middle aged man with a weird hat bought the last book in stock!

Genta: That's definitely harassment!

Mitsuhiko: Right!!

Genta: Because no way an old man would be a fan of Detective Red Jacket!!

Kaito: *old man voice* Well turns out he was a fan~ Hehe. Sorry about that but I'll partake myself with the last book in stock~ (SN: childish.. (￢_￢;))

Agasa: That certainly is a bummer. *ahem* Now here comes a question!

Detective Boys: Ehhh?!?!

Genta: Another of Prof's pun quiz??

Mitsuhiko: It's so sudden as always.

Agasa: Sorry about that.

Which martial arts is most suitable for you guys today?

A) judo 受動

B) kendo 剣道

C) karate 空手

Ayumi: Eh? Ayumi has never done any of them before.

Mitsuhiko: Me too.. I'm bad at martial arts after all.

Genta: Ran-neechan would be karate though.

Haibara: The answer is A) judo

Agasa: Eh? Your reasoning behind it?

Haibara: Kendo and karate have thrusts ( 「突き(つき)」(tsuki)) but judo doesn't have any. In other words, it means we're unlucky (TN: phrase: 「月(つき) がない」(tsuki ga nai):not having luck on your side) right?

Agasa: Bravo!! That's the correct answer!!

Mitsuhiko: I see. We have no luck, huh? That's true..

Genta: But that's all Conan's fault right?

Agasa: Huh? What do you mean?

Genta: Because even though everyone was so hyped up in the movie, Conan kept saying stuff that spoiled the mood!

Mitsuhiko: But I don't think that has anything to do with not being able to buy the Detective Red Ja-

Haibara: It's related, don't you think?

Mitsuhiko/Ayumi: Eh?

Haibara: They say "Once you start finding faults, your luck/moon will leave you". I think there's some truth to that.

Genta: *whisper* Don't you think Haibara is somehow scary?

Mitsuhiko: She's probably angry because Conan-kun badmouthed Sannomiya Kazunori.

Genta: Ehhh??? Does that mean Haibara is a fan of Sannomiya?

Haibara: (ʘ言ʘ╬)

Mitsuhiko: *shriek*

Genta: W-w-what?

Mitsuhiko: Haibara is glaring at us with scary eyes..

Genta: Huh-Waahhh! Her eyes are a little..Ahhh.. I might have leaked a little...

Mitsuhiko: But that kind of expression is also quite lovely. (SN:(￢_￢;) Is Mitsuhiko an m??) But now that you mention it, Conan has just been talking down on us.

Genta: Sometimes I want Conan to be (surprised and) speechless.

Ayumi: Well then, let's all challenge Conan-kun then!

Genta: Challenge Conan?

Ayumi: Yup, let's all prepare super difficult problems and let Conan solve it.

Mitsuhiko: Ahh... but don't you think the riddles we think of will be solved very easily?

Ayumi: To make up for that, we'll have Prof. Agasa and Ai-chan to participate with us, right?

Agasa: Sure.

Haibara: That sounds interesting.

Agasa: Now that we've settled on it, let's start the plan.

Haibara: First the words for the cipher.

Genta: Hmm you're right. Okay Haibara, we'll leave you to a really difficult one!

Ayumi: No Genta! We're all going to think for it!

Genta: You're right.

Mitsuhiko: To start off..

Kaito: A challenge to the great detective huh? It's gotten interesting! I was wondering what was up so I'm glad I made the right choice to place the miniature microphon- DAAAHHHH!!!! Y-you idiot! Go over there!! I'm not a telephone pole!! \(º □ º l|l)/

(SN: I think some birds pooped on him. Poor guy, I thought you knew how to deal with them considering you own doves..)

Conan: So what business do you have with me?

Ayumi: We Detective Boys are sending a challenge to Edogawa Conan-kun!

Conan: Ha?

Mitsuhiko: In other words, it's like this. We're going to send four codes for you to solve from here on out and have you find the treasure that's somewhere around this city.

Genta: The time limit is until 5 in the evening! So you have 2 hours!

Conan: Oi wait just a minS

Ayumi: If you can solve all the codes and find the treasure until then, it's Conan-kun's win!!

Haibara: But if you can't find it, it's Edogawa-kun's loss.

Ayumi: Here! The first code is in this envelope!

Conan: No, like I sai-

Genta: *gibberish sounds* You can't open it yet until 5 minutes passed. You got that?

Mitsuhiko: Well then, let's hurry to our designated spots!

Genta/Ayumi: Yeahhh!!!

Conan: Oiiii you guys!!! *Detective Boys run away* It's not like I agreed to this and they ran away.. Haibara, what's the meaning of this?

Haibara: Who knows? Isn't it because you don't normally treat them nicely?

Conan: Huh?

Haibara: So, what are you going to do?

Conan: Even if you tell me what to d-

Haibara: A great detective will accept any challenge, wouldn't you agree?

Conan: What's with you? You've been quite snarky today.

Haibara: You think? Isn't that your imagination? Ah, 5 minutes passed.

Conan: *sigh* Fine! If you're going to go that far, then I'll participate. *rips envelope* Is this the cipher?

"A comedian hates octopus(お笑い芸人はタコが嫌い)"?

Haibara: If you go to the location this code indicates, you'll be able to get the next code.

Conan: An octopus huh? If we're talking places that have octopus, the first things that you would think of is a fish market, a sushi restaurant, or an octopus ball(takoyaki) stall.... Ha! As if!! It's not even worth trying to deduce! Such an easy riddle! Just to add onto this, it's not just comedians, exam students hate octopus too.

Haibara: Heh...

Conan: Something a comedian and exam student both hate is failing/falling (滑る(suberu)). In other words, the location this code is pointing at is a sliding (also すべる(suberu)) octopus. If you put it that way, there's only one place like that in this town.

Conan: So, why are you coming with me? Aren't you Genta and the others' side?

Haibara: I'm here as your observer.

Conan: Ha! With such easy riddles, I'm not going to stoop so low and cheat.

Haibara: Not that! I'm here to see if you're going run away in the middle of this challenge.

Conan: Run away? Yeah right! Look, we've arrived. It's here.

A sliding octopus means that, the octopus playground slide.

Random girl: Mister, hurry up and slide down already!

Mitsuhiko: Ah, I'm sorry. I'll slide right away. *slides down* As expected of Conan-kun, to think you arrived here already.

Conan: This is only park to have a octopus slide in this town after all.

Mitsuhiko: But! This is only the beginning! Here. This is the second code.

Conan: Oi, I'm telling you in advance. I'll be able to solve codes of this level in a heartbeat.

Mitsuhiko: Muhuhuhuhu. The next code is going to be even more difficult. Well then, I'll be waiting at the location of the treasure!

Conan: Good grief. So what's the next riddle?

"Economy at Siberia(エコノミーでシベリアへ)"?

Economy...Siberia?

Haibara: What's wrong? Weren't you going to solve it in a heartbeat?

Conan: Shaddap!

Haibara: Don't hold yourself back meitantei-san!~

Conan: *huff* Like I thought, Haibara seems to be in a bad mood. I don't know what happened, but spare me from your venting.

Travel agency saleswoman: A travel ticket to overseas is currently discounted in this campaign at the moment!

Conan: It seems Ayumi and the others aren't around. It seems a travel agency would be too straightforward as expected.

Haibara: A~rere~ It can't be that with economy and Siberia as keywords, you would think it's a travel agency right?

Conan: Hufufufufufu! I was only coincidentally passing by!

Haibara: You're right! A great detective like yourself wouldn't make such a childish deduction like that right?~

Conan: Hmph, shaddap with all the nitpicking. Just you wait! I'll solve it for you right now!! (*｀□´)

Economy and Siberia, there should be a different meaning to them. First economy, other transliterations have meanings such as 「経済(keizai)」: economy/finance, 「節約(setsuyaku)」: economy/savings, 「景気(keiki)」: economic activity/marketing. Hm? Mm?? 「けいき(keiki)」? 「ケーキ(keiki)」:cake.. Siberia... Siberia cake.... I see! I figured it out! It's this way Haibara! Follow me!!

Haibara: Ah!

*opens door*

Pastry waitress: Welcome!

Haibara: Isn't this a pastry shop? Why?

Conan: Don't play dumb with me. Well whatever! I'll explain it to you right now.*in the cutest childish Conan voice* Excuse me, do you have Siberia cake? (◕∇◕)

Pastry waitress: Yes! It's right at the far end of that case!

Conan: Thank you!!~ (◕∇◕)

Hehe! This is it! A Siberia cake is sweet bean jelly sandwiched between the Castella cake. It was popular between the Taisho and Showa Era. But nowadays, you barely see it around anymore so this is the only shop in town where you can buy this fabled cake. I can't imagine Ayumi and the others to be aware of this so I bet Prof. suggested this.

Haibara: pachi pachi pachi (TN: it means clap but pachi sounds cute so I kept it)

(¬へ¬) Hmph. As expected. It was a perfect deduction, although it's very fustrating. Yoshida-san, you can come out now.

Ayumi: Okay.. Aww you found out. Here, this is the next code.

Conan: Sure, thank yo- Oi oi! We're still doing this?

Ayumi: Obviously!! This is our challenge after all!! (｀ｴ´) Don't flake out until the very end! See you! *goes out the shop*

Conan-kun is amazing as expected! We might not be able to win even with Professor's and Ai-chan's help. Ah! *bumps*

Kaito: Oops! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?

Ayumi: I'm okay! I'm sorry! *runs away*

Kaitou Kid: Now then, I guess it's about my time to shine.

Conan: Hah... what's next? *rips envelope*

The panda shop is a fruits parlor without fruits (パンダのお店はフルーツがないフルーツパーラー).

Haibara: This one is simple. You can just check all the fruits parlors in town.

Conan: You're one to talk. Judging from all the previous riddles, you can at least tell that it won't point towards the location the code writes word for word..

Hm? Word for word? I see!! It is supposed to be seen word for word!

Genta: *badge beeps* Is that Ayumi? Eehhh?!?!?! Conan already cleared it?! Are you for real?! An hour hasn't even passed yet!... Okay I got it! Wait for me at the final place! See you! *beeps* So does that mean Conan will be able to arrive here quickly then? Ooohhh!! Is that Conan?.. Hah, wrong person... AAHH!! OVER THERE IS-

Agasa: Genta-kun.

Genta: Yes?! You scared me.. What is it? It's just Prof. Don't scare me like that!

Agasa: Haha.. sorry about that.

Genta: Anyways why are you here? Aahh! Did you come here to play pachinko?

Agasa: Of course not! I came here to trade places with you.

Genta: Huh? Trade?

Agasa: That's right. When you think about it, it's not proper to have an elementary schooler constantly wait in front of a pachinko (gambling) parlor. We're talking about Conan-kun. He'll arrive here momentarily. Leave this place to me and you should head to final destination.

Genta: I see! That's smart Prof! Okay I got it! This is the riddle! *hands envelope* Then I leave this place to you Prof!

Agasa: Sure!

Kaitou Kid: Leave it to me.

Haibara: How did you figure out it was a pachinko parlor?

Conan: Hm? I just followed it literally. It's because it's a 'fruits parlor without fruits'. Without the fruits, you remove the fruits from fruits parlor and it just becomes parlor. And then, you can call a pachinko by its other name parlor. Oops! *ding dong* Excuse me! We're getting off!! (◕∇◕)

*getting off the stop*

Haibara: So then, what about the panda shop?

Conan: It's the name. The pandas in the zoo further down at moment is named Lily and Xinxin. Hey Haibara, read the pachinko's name on the signboard.

Haibara: Parlor Lily...

Conan: There you have it!

*enters parlor*

Agasa: I've been waiting for you Conan-kun. You have such good timing!

Conan: Professor! That paper bag...

Agasa: Well, since I was free, I wanted to kill some time. It kept on coming out one after another nonstop! (SN:じゃんじゃんバリバリ,(janjan baribari)(￣∇￣*) Reminds me when Kaito disguised as Subaru in the New Years opening) It's a big fever dream!

Conan: 'Continuously nonstop' you say? Huh? *opens bag* it's all candies....

Haibara: Professor. What do you plan on doing with those candies? (・∀・#)

Agasa: What's this? Do you want it? Then take as much as you want! I can't eat it all by myself after all.

*realization hits*

Haibara: Is that so? You're going to eat it...

Conan: You're... not Agasa-hakase are you?

Agasa: Hm?

Conan: Haibara strictly monitors Professor's meals and nutrition. For you to talk about eating candy so casually in front of Haibara... The real professor would be trembling to his bones and would definitely never dare say something like that.

Haibara: Saying trembling was unnecessary.

Conan: I'm sorry...

Agasa: As expected of the great detective..

Kaitou Kid: Hmph, it seems you've figured it out!

Conan/Haibara: Kaitou Kid?! Σ(ﾟДﾟ)

Kaitou Kid: Well then well then~ What I have produced here is a single red rose. There are no tricks or contraptions. One two three *poof* Wow how mysterious~♡ The red rose swapped places and became a challenge notice~

Conan: Wow how mysterious~ What do you mean by challenge notice?（￢へ￢）

Kaitou Kid: Nah~ I just happened to coincidentally witness a scene of some innocent little boys and girls that wanted to make Conan-kun speechless. It looked interesting so I decided to partake myself as a contestant. (SN: Sure Kaito.. I'm sure no listening devices were involved when you happened to hear them right? (;￢_￢))

Conan: What?! (��ﾟ皿ﾟ)

Kaitou Kid: You'll naturally accept my challenge right oh great detective!? *throws a flash bomb*

Conan: So bright! Y-You bastard!! He disappeared...

Haibara: Kudou-kun, open the envelope!

Conan: S-Sure.. *rips open the envelope*

To my beloved great detective,

I will be appearing at one of the following jewelry stores at 5 in the evening today.

イ(i): Niaoka Jewelry

ウ(u): Jewel Yuki

エ(e): Crystal Gem

Now to figure out where I'll appear, try your hand at deciphering the next code.

Orion's children all know this. Four of the sons love taking a walk. Three of the sons gaze at the sky. Five of the sons are left-handed. (オリオンの子供たちは知っている。四つの息子は散布好き、三つの息子は空をみやげ五つの息子は左利き)

The end. I wish you the best of luck,

Kaitou Kid

Haibara: If it's 5pm, we have less than 30 minutes. For now, let's contact Inspector Nakamori and have the police guard all three stores.

Conan: S-Sure... *dials* *uses Shinichi's voice*

Shinichi: Hello is this Inspector Nakamori? This is the detective Kudo Shinichi. I've just received a challenge letter from Kaitou Kid.

Haibara: It means we won't be answering to Kid's challenge but it can't be helped... This isn't a game after all.

Shinichi: Yes. The place where Kid will appear? That is... I will definitely figure it out within 30 minutes. So can you please stay on standby until then?

Haibara: Kudo-kun?!

Conan: Heh.. Haibara. You told me this right? A great detective will accept any challenge.

Haibara: Hmph. You idiot.

Conan: Now that that's settled, the Detective Boy's treasure hunt will have to be put on hold. We don't have time.

Orion's children all know this. Four of the sons love taking a walk. Three of the sons gaze at the sky. Five of the sons are left-handed.

Haibara: Show me the first page.

To my beloved great detective,

I will be appearing at one of the following jewelry store at 5 in the evening today.

イ(i): Niaoka Jewelry

ウ(u): Jewel Yuki

エ(e): Crystal Gem

Isn't this a little strange?

Conan: Hm?

Haibara: Normally, the order of the katakana is generally either ア(a)イ(i)ウ(u) or イ(i)ロ(ro)ハ(ha).

Conan: Right...

Haibara: But what's written here is イ(i)ウ(u)エ(e). Why didn't he start from ア(a)?

Conan: Hm.. there must be a reason behind that. But, let's decipher the code first.

Haibara: Then let's start from Orion's children. What is the meaning behind it?

Conan: Hmmmm... Kid is aware of Ayumi and the others challenging me with riddles. If he took advantage of that opportunity, then this code is like theirs. There's no doubt it's guiding us to a specific location.

Haibara: And that's where we'll get the hint about the jewelry store.

Conan: Yeah.. now that you mention it, if I remember correctly, back then there was a movie theater called Orion Seat right? But it's already been demolished and became a plot of land.

Haibara: If we consider any other areas with the term Orion, myth「神話(shinwa)」, Beltegese 「ベテルギウス」, Orion's belt「三星(mitsuboshi)」: Three Stars).. Hm? Ah! Mitsubo shop!

Conan: That's it!

Haibara: Then what about the children part?

Conan: I'm not sure. But let's go there first. We might be able to figure something out when we're there.

Haibara: You're right. Okay.

Conan: Mitsubo shop. There should be a clue to which jewelry store Kid is aiming at inside this shop.

Haibara: The Detective Red Jacket will come out again soon. Please look-... Look....Look.........

Conan: Hey Haibara- SCARY!!! W-What's wrong Haibara? You have such a scary look on your face. Σ(Дﾟ;/)/

Haibara: I-It's nothing.

Conan: Hm? An automatic eclipse machine...(TN: it was really difficult to hear so I'm not entirely sure if this is accurate. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Haibara: Orion's... children!

Conan: Let's go check it out!

*runs*

Haibara: If that's the case then the next line is

Four of the sons love taking a walk. Three of the sons gaze at the sky. Five of the sons are left-handed.

But is it referring to three siblings?

Conan: Oh about that, don't you think it's strange then? If they were siblings, then isn't it more natural to refer them as 5th, 4th, and 3rd and follow them by age? (TN: the way 五つ(itsutsu), 四つ(yotsu), 三つ(mitsu) is used is either by numeric counters (ex:I would like 3 of these please) or comparing ages(ex: He's the 3rd child of the family))

Haibara: You have a point. It's quite strange to order it by fourth, third, and fifth.

Conan: Which means those numbers doesn't mean age. It's referring to the amount. Let's first find stuff that comes in four.

Haibara: Things that come in four? *bumps into child* Ah!

Random lady: Ah! I'm sorry. Are you hurt anywhere?

Haibara: I'm okay.

Random lady: Jeez! Cut it out already! I told you it's dangerous to run around the bookcases already!!

Haibara: Bookcases? Look Kudo-kun! There's four bookcases!

Conan: There's.. four! Then what's the three referring to? There should be some type of rule that contains three. And that hint is most likely within 'taking a walk', 'sky', 'left-handed'. I see! I figured it out! 'Love taking a walk' means to walk! It's four so that means you have to walk to the fourth shelf!

Haibara: Then what does 'Three of the sons gaze at the sky' mean?

Conan: It's 'gaze' so you count from the bottom. It's three so it's the third row!

Haibara: The third row is... the children's literature!

Conan: 'Five of the sons are left-handed.' So counting from the left is the 5th book!

Haibara: One.. two.. three.. four five. *picks out the book* This? This book is.. Sans Famille 「家なき子(ie nakiko)」!

Conan: Sans Famille「家なき子(ie nakiko)」?... I see! So that's what it means! *realization* I figured it out which jewelry store Kid is aiming for!

Conan: The store Kid is aiming for is Jewel Yuki!

Haibara: There's only 7 minutes until 5pm! I'll notify Inspector Nakamori!

Conan: Sure! I'll go ahead and head towards the store!

Conan: I won't make it if I just run! Guess I'll go retrieve my skateboard then! *opens door* I'm home Ran-neechan!! Ran-neechan, I'm leaving! *door closes* TURBO ENGINE FULL POWER!!!! 🎵

Just you wait Kaitou Kid!!!

Conan: Where are you?! Show yourself Kid!!

Kaitou Kid: As expected of the great detective. Impressive that you figured out it was this place.

Conan: It took quite some time to arrive at finding Sans Famille「家なき子(ie nakiko)」 but everything fell into place after that. The biggest indication was the three options. Instead of using ア(a), イ(i), ウ(u) nor イ(i), ロ(ro), ハ(ha), you opted for イ(i), ウ(u), エ(e). (TN: I'll be utilizing the Japanese translation of the book title rather than the original because it would only make sense with this cipher)

「家なき子(ie nakiko)」. There is no イ(i)エ(e) 「いえがない(ie ga nai)」. In other words, you remove the イ(i) and エ(e). Therefore the answer is ウ(u)'s Jewel Yuki. (TN: To further explain this, the hiragana for 家 is いえ(ie). なき(naki) can mean lacking or non-existing so Kid used this word play of removing the いえ(ie) literally with his options)

Kaitou Kid: Right on the mark! Hehe, maybe it was a little too simple. (SN: For a guy who was planning alongside the rest by himself, I'm pretty sure Conan appreciates your 'easy' riddles more than what the Detective Boys and Agasa planned together. Also there's a transition to Kaito in voice here but I'll be using Kid because that's how Conan perceives him.)

Oh? They're as punctual as always. Guess I'll take my leave for today. Besides, I already got my hands on today's loot. *poof*

Conan: Eh? Is that.. Detective Red Jacket special edition? You're going to stoop so low to steal something like that?! (＃ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ

Kaitou Kid: *splurts in offended* So rude!!! Of course not!!!! Σ(｀Д´#)

Conan: Hah?

Kaitou Kid: I bought it with my own money obviously! (SN: as a 'law-abiding' citizen *coughcough*)

Conan: BOUGHT IT?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!?!!! YOU?!?!?!?! Σ(○ﾛ○￢)

Kaitou Kid: Yeah...

Conan: A PHANTOM THIEF?!?!?!!?!?

Kaitou Kid: Nngh..

Conan: THE DETECTIVE RED JACKET SPECIAL EDITION?!?!?!!?!

Kaitou Kid: *speechless as he tries to regain his poker face* ...Doesn't matter. You wouldn't mind if a phantom thief came to like detectives, would you? (σゝω・)σ (SN:(￢_￢;)........)

Conan: Eh? (ﾟﾛﾟ) (*Conan's turn to be speechless*)

Kaitou Kid: SEE YOU!! *escapes*

Officer #1: Kid is running away!!

Officer #2: After him!! We're definitely going to catch him!!!!

*police sirens blaring*

Conan: Huh.... Ah? Another envelope. The seal is open. *opens envelope* It's Ayumi and the others' fourth riddle. Hmmm? Kid's message seems to be included in this. 'I deciphered it for you as a bonus. The answer is the bathhouse.' Barou, it's already past the time limit.

Haibara: He's arrived.

Genta: Ooohhh!! He's here he's here!!

Ayumi: Conan-kun!!!

Conan: Yo!

Mitsuhiko: As expected of Conan-kun to be able to solve all the codes. BUT UNFORTUNATELY-

Detective Boys: TIME'S UP!!!!!

Conan: I know...

Ayumo: Then you'll obediently admit defeat right?

Conan: Yeah...

Ayumi: Hmmm? I can't hear you~

Conan: It's my loss.

Detective Boys: Huh?

Conan: Like I said, it's my loss.

Genta: What did you say?

Mitsuhiko: We couldn't hear you.

Genta: Yeah not at all.

Conan: *sigh* It is my loss!

Detective Boys: YESSS!!! o(^o^)o

Ayumi: We made Conan-kun admit it!!

Mitsuhiko: We did it!!!

Genta: Now that we're here, let's all take a dip here!

Mitsuhiko: That's a great idea!

Ayumi: Ayumi loves the bathhouse!

Haibara: Good work Kudo-kun.

Conan: Haha shddap....

Genta: What are you doing Conan?!

Ayumi: Ai-chan hurry up!!

Haibara: I'll be there.

Conan: I mean, not only was I forced to run around the whole town, the true identity of the treasure is just a bathhouse called Yuu Treasure. (TN: Unless I see the kanji for yuu, I'm unable to translate it) That's it?! That's all my hard work amounted to?! It's probably one of Agasa-hakase's ideas again.. Jeez he has no taste, not even a shred of it!

Haibara: This place.. was actually my idea though. (#ﾟ∇ﾟ)

Conan: Ehh? ((ﾟ□ﾟ;))

Genta: Aahhh that hits the spot. It feels so good.

Mitsuhiko: Yeah...Bathhouses are really nice once in a while.

Genta: Right? Oh yeah Conan. Since you lost, wash my back later.

Conan: Don't joke with me. I never signed up for that.

Kaitou Kid: Stop being a sore loser.

Conan: Aahhhh!! Where the hell did you come from?! Σ(°Дﾟ/)/

Kaitou Kid: I suggest you should gracefully *wash face* do what they tell you.

Genta/Mitsuhiko: Kaitou Kid?!?!?!?!

Conan: *speaking underwater* Why the hell are you here?

Kaitou Kid: Hehehe... Magicians are elusive. *sirens blaring in the background* Nah~ The policemen were so persistent you know?

Conan: You know... if you're taking a bath, you should at the very least remove your silk hat.

(SN: What the honest... what the hell are you doing taking a bath with your hat (and possibly your monocle) Kaito? Did you even remove your costume? (￢_￢;) Bruh Kid, you're sullying your dad's outfit)

Genta: You need to put more strength in it Conan!

Conan: Sure SURE!

Genta: As gratitude for us everyday.

Conan: For who?

Genta: Don't say everyone.

Conan: *huff*

Genta: Oh yeah Conan. Haibara was mad at you all day right?

Conan: Yeah... What was that? Did I do something?

Genta: ?!

Mitsuhiko: Conan-kun you didn't realize?

Conan: Heh? 'Didn't realize'... so I did do something?

Mitsuhiko: Aahh... Conan-kun really doesn't understand a woman's heart.

Genta: Right?

Mitsuhiko: You ready? Haibara-san is actually Sannomiya Kazunori's closet fan. But despite that, you decided to badmouth him in front of her!

Conan: Eeeeehhhhh?!?!?!?!? Haibara is Sannomiya Kazunori's fa-

Mitsuhiko: Ssshhhhh!!! Your voice is too loud!!!

Conan: Pah! If I remember correctly, Sannomiya Kazunori is one of the members in the Fubuki Idol group right? That Haibara?! There's no way she's a fan of such a popular idol!!! Haha!! Ahahhaha! That's a lie!! Ahahaha!

(SN: Conan is willing to dig his grave super early apparently ((( ；ﾟДﾟ))) )

(In the girl's bath)

Haibara: ( º言º╬╬)

Ayumi: Ai-chan? Where are you going with your bath towel wrapped around you? E-Eeehhh? That's the boy's bath- Hiiiieeeeee!!! Ai-chan's face.. is so scary!! ((( ；ﾟДﾟ)))

(In the boy's bath)

Conan: Kyahahaha! Because this is Haibara we're talking about! You know, Haibara! For Haibara to be an idol fan, that's impossible. No way that's happening!

Genta: Hey stop that!

Conan: Huh? Why? There's no way she's an (idol) enthusiast after all.

Mitsuhiko: Idiot!

Conan: Huh?

Mitsuhiko: Conan-kun!

Conan: What is it?

Mitsuhiko: Behind behind behind behind behind behind-

Conan: Cow? Moo moo~ (TN: Mitsuhiko is stuttering the word 後ろ(ushiro):behind and Conan stupidly mistakes it as 牛(ushi):cow.

ε-(ｰдｰ) And I thought Kaito was the insensitive one.)

Mitsuhiko: Behin-behind you.

Conan: Behind me? What's behind m- Uop-!!!

Haibara: (╬ಠิ益ಠิ) Sorry about being an ENTHUSIAST!! *SLAPS*

Conan: Ooowww!!

Kaitou Kid: Heh. The tongue is the root of calamities, great detective. (TN: A proverb meaning the more you speak, the more you'll put your foot in your mouth.

Wise words you should follow as well, our fellow magician (￢_￢;))

[aurianavaloria]

👑 The King - An Analysis ✨

I've already stated my love for the Kingdom of Heaven soundtrack in a previous post, and in case it wasn't already obvious from my ambience edits, "The King" - essentially, King Baldwin's theme - is one of my favorite tracks on the OST album (if you're curious, "Burning the Past", "Crusaders", "To Jerusalem", and "Ibelin" are my other faves); it so effectively encapsulates his character with several simple variations on a single melody, on top of just being a lovely piece to listen to. What follows is my amateur analysis of this track (fully enabled by @atomnolly - please go check out their art, they're amazing). Please note, however, that I have absolutely zero experience with musical composition and theory. I'm just going by what the piece invokes in me, as a listener, in relation to Baldwin's character in the film.

I'll primarily be analyzing the OST's version of the track, which brings me to my main gripe about the way this piece is presented in the film and one reason why I'm doing this analysis to begin with: there's actually two variants floating out there - the basic OST album version and the Complete/"Full Expanded" album version, the latter of which is how it was implemented in the movie. Unfortunately, in the film, you never get to hear "The King" as its own full track like you do with "Burning the Past", for example. Instead, it's spliced up over the course of several scenes, one of which has nothing to do with Baldwin himself. 🙃

Go figure.

Because of this, I'm using the full "suite" version from the OST (called the "Album Edit" on the complete soundtrack) as, oddly enough, it is far more coherent to listen to than how it actually shows up in the film. More on that later.

The suite opens up with an intro that is called "Golgotha" on the complete soundtrack (unfortunately, Tumblr isn't letting me upload my audio clips no matter what I do, so we'll go by timestamps instead - I highly advise docking the video in your sidebar while you read for convenience). Between 0:00 and 1:20, we get this soft, meandering, mysterious melody on duduk, accompanied by equally mysterious female vocals that briefly drift into a brighter, almost angelic sound. This change in tone is backed by what sounds like a glass harp before the duduk repeats the initial melody.

I've noticed that the "tinkling" glass harp often shows up in the film to seemingly emphasize something ethereal or supernatural, and we mostly hear it in connection to Baldwin, although it does spring up in other places on occasion. Each time it's used, it invokes the slightest bit of tension, as if it's a cue to think more closely about whatever it is the viewer is looking at.

Even more intrinsically tied to his character, however, is the presence of the Armenian duduk, which, if I haven't missed anything anywhere (which I could have), doesn't appear in any track other than those clearly associated with the king. In this way, I think we can effectively say that, as far as the KoH soundtrack goes, the duduk is "his" instrument - fitting, considering his Armenian heritage.

As a side note, this is why it's strange and somewhat frustrating to me to have this intro segment tacked onto Balian's visit at Calvary in the film, because, after hearing it as part of "The King" suite on the album edit, it's obvious that the duduk signals Baldwin's presence. Yet at this point, the king hasn't even been introduced and won't be for a few more scenes. I do believe it replays in full after Balian's invitation to speak with Baldwin, but it is almost completely overshadowed by his conversation with Sibylla, leading the viewer to possibly attach it to her rather than her brother.

Back to the duduk. The Armenian duduk, a double-reed instrument traditionally made of apricot wood, has a very distinctive sound that's been described by listeners as everything from mournful, lonely, and haunting, to relaxing and soulful, to majestic and even romantic, depending on how it is played. This powerful versatility is certainly demonstrated in "The King", beginning with this introduction that I would say ventures into "haunting" territory. In fact, it almost feels like a lure - a siren's call for listeners.

After that call, we get the beginning of what is "The King" on the Extended soundtrack and the first appearance of the leitmotif that is attached to Baldwin from that point forth. Between 1:20 and 1:50 on the album edit, we have a very "gentle" (as @atomnolly put it 😁) melody played on a flute, first heard when Baldwin is beckoning Balian to come closer, again accompanied by the glass harp. While starting at a lilting higher pitch, it soon trails off into a lower one before a slight pause, and then a slide of strings precedes a repetition of that same melody at a lower pitch than the first. A solemn tension builds from then until 2:24, at which point, in the Complete soundtrack, it is very obviously and awkwardly chopped to silence. 🙃We'll get back to that in a bit.

This introduction of Baldwin's leitmotif is a very interesting point of the suite, because the almost light airiness of the flute doesn't last very long. It soon gives way to a much richer, even "darker" sound. For me, this represents what belies the almost angelic appearance of the king - there's far more depth there than his friendly introduction might suggest, and this is reflected in the music itself... brightness intertwined with mystery, and possibly a little danger (this is a king we're talking about, here, with all the power that position provides).

This mystery is further emphasized when the duduk comes back in, echoing the leitmotif between 2:25 and 2:50, and it is further strengthened by the dual presence of the glass harp and growing strings supporting it. Unfortunately, this part doesn't show up at all during Balian's first conversation with Baldwin; in fact, it is put off until the middle of "Terms" on the complete soundtrack: the discussion with Saladin at Kerak. IMO, it would have been far more fitting to have it in the background during the most serious part of Baldwin's lecture (a la my first atmosphere edit); this is really the second-strongest iteration of his leitmotif and should have accompanied his most powerful quote in the film.

What comes after is the closest thing we get to a battle theme for Baldwin. From 2:50 to 3:06 we get another repetition of the leitmotif by the duduk, but in its strongest form: at a higher pitch but with greater power than before, it is accompanied by drums and backed by strings that give a sense of urgency. This is the king on horseback, both right before the meeting with Saladin and immediately following. Utterly gone is the glass harp - mystery gives way to majesty.

The leitmotif then continues with even stronger strings alongside the duduk at a lower pitch from 3:07, almost overpowering it, before being repeated a final time by horns at 3:22. This, I believe, is essentially a royal fanfare of sorts; brass has been associated with military and nobility (as the ultimate leadership of said military) since ancient times, and it is here that the score emphasizes Baldwin's role as commander of his kingdom's army. Again, unfortunately, this part isn't kept singular to Baldwin and is replayed in the future scenes of Balian's battle at Jerusalem - it's possible this is intended to evoke the memory of Baldwin, but it further takes away from the composition's uniqueness.

At 3:37, then, we get a small "falling action" portion that actually doesn't appear where it was intended. According to Drake55116's analysis, this particular bit was actually supposed to play while Baldwin dismounted his horse and approached Raynald in Kerak's courtyard, but was ultimately cut. I'm not sure why - it has a definite sense of "impending doom" to it, not just for Raynald, but for Baldwin himself, as this becomes his last great "hurrah" as king. Both the string and horn buildups are wonderful and really emphasize it as the climax point before the disaster that follows.

After that, interestingly enough, the portion that appears at 4:17 on the album edit is actually put where the leitmotif chops off suddenly during Baldwin's earlier conversation with Balian on the Extended soundtrack. To be honest, I think it would have served just fine during or even after Baldwin's interaction with Raynald instead. The slide of the low strings and the slightly discordant horns continue that regal majesty, but also provide appropriate tension for the situation.

Briefly returning to the initial conversation between Baldwin and Balian - there is one portion of the theme that is reserved for the Complete soundtrack and doesn't appear on the OST album edit: at 56:28 there is a unique high string version of the king's leitmotif followed by a slower, half repetition by the duduk, which has had an echo added to it. It essentially serves to "close-out" their conversation after Baldwin gives his orders to go to Ibelin. This iteration is much, much softer in tone, and with the echo and the growing glass harp sound alongside it, it seems to purposefully emphasize the ethereal mystery of the king, but this time with a definite positive tone... perhaps reflective of Balian's hopeful outlook on him?

Back to the album edit. From 4:42, the leitmotif appears again as an even higher flute than it first appeared, almost delicate. A deliberate pause follows with emphasis on the glass harp between 5:06 and 5:15 before the duduk echoes the theme one last time... the softest and slowest it's played on the whole track as it extends to the end. Here, from 4:42 onward, is the dying king. A certain innocence is reflected in the high flute notes, weariness and vulnerability conveyed through the duduk. Despite being the gentlest segment of the suite, it is perhaps the most powerful way to close it out, the prior strength and mystery quite literally fading away into nothing.

In essence, I think "The King" would have been much more effective presented in the movie exactly as it appears as a suite on the OST, going precisely in that order and restricted to Baldwin's appearances alone. As a whole, it perfectly illustrates the king as a character - the flute and glass harp reflecting the angelic elegance, the horns the majesty, the duduk the mystery, power, and tragedy. Harry Gregson-Williams's composition is beautifully-deep despite its relative simplicity, and it adds so much to every scene in which Baldwin appears; thoughtfully-crafted to invoke the above feelings in the audience, it effectively enhances the Leper King's brief but powerful presence in the film.

[beepbananabus]

Now that you've shared your favorite newer h20vanoss moments, what are your favorite older moments?

oh YESSS

as stated before, a lot of those moments are interwoven into videos, buuuut there are other more concise moments that I can link below in no particular order :)

EDIT: this was so long so im putting this under a readmore :)

chick-fil-a date. I think its so cute that evan immediately slides into a seat with del and stares at him for a good second. like there's just this moment shared between them, and then the passing of chicken back and forth ;; (focus on the number of chicken in his inventory!). like idk, there's not even a bit tied to this. they're just being them <3

"Oh... he's gone." I don't know what's crazier to me. either its the way that evan says that line with so much softness in his voice, how much he wants him to be there, or the fact that he proceeded to follow his NPC for like a solid 5 minutes straight. LIKE. WHAT? this man has it BADDD i stg,,,

"Leave these guys- Screw these guys." out of the whole mc series, (besides Doomsday because that shit is peak. unparalleled experience.) this is one of my top favorite moments bc its just?? so soft?? just these two sneaking away from everyone, the quiet childish-like giggling like they're two kids out past curfew, and then you have evan commenting: "they're going to be so pissed when they realize that we're gone", like them solidifying their companionship together,,,, UGH i love them sm ;;

"Why don't you marry him while you're at it?" i swear, one of the most common themes between them is the constant (joking) reference that they're together/married. its one of my favorite themes abt the two bc it's so sweet and so funny at the same time, like they do bicker like married couples and you have evan just going off on it SO casually, SO normally, like this wasn't a role he even had to think about. unmatched, actually.

"feathers" Insane to think that we have an honest-to-god parallel to evan calling del 'blueberry', like omfg?? it's so so sweet and i love how almost flustered evan reacts <3

the nether star fiasco okay okay there's SO MANY THINGS that i love about this. it's the immediate trust from evan to del, handing him that nether star with the idea of keeping this bit between the both of them, ignoring the fact that it was brian who gave him the star. then evans reaction to del throwing it out into the open, how he says his name as they're both holding back laughter at the knowledge that they're screwing with the crew. then brian coming in, peeved that evan shared it with del, but did you really expect him?? to not do that?? THE evan?? the evan whos always been a sucker for del?????

want you club okay this one has me by my NECKKK BECAUSE what do you MEAN evan has this elaborate song about risky love that is forbidden, yet he can't help but fall into it deeper and deeper every time- then he edits this song into a mission and he asks del how it sounds??? HELLO??? and then the compliments, the "they're all here for YOU, man!!" the deep immense focus on del throughout ALL of this,,,

boop! its such a small detail, but i LOVE how they move immediately to each other, almost as if GTA has transformed into a version of themselves where they can touch each other across the entire country. they do it so mindlessly, so full of expression and affection, and casually, just moving forward and boop, they've knocked into each other. and the isolation from the others, how they've practically left everyone behind and it's only the two of them now. not to mention the scene earlier where they had just begun the race and while everyone else is happily racing off, evan WAITS for del to catch up to him, then they're off again. he WAITED for him!! not a single word is passed but if del's not going, then he's not going either! and ADGHSAGHDAH RAHHHHGDHA them ;;

"i'm glad that you're here with me, delirious" there's not enough words for how many times this video has me screaming, has my on my KNEES, because oh my god??? i adore the way that he says this with just this soft yet confident tone, like he's so sure in himself of del's company. oh my god. anyways, im going to wade into a river now.

"That's why I'm not angry" This one's a bit lengthier with it stretching to 8:40, but every second of it is worth it, and onwards. evan is playing with delhere. and im not talking about like. playing as in playing the game. he's doing a bit with del and del only. it reminds me of like, stereotypical girls when they get a guy to chase them while giggling, like they're PLAYING TAG right now. just the two of them. evan didnt even kill del. evan probably WASNT PLANNING TO. he was just messing around with del probably and was going to leave him alone after this, like i kinda wish that didn't happen to see what evan WOULD've done. just??? their fucking BANTER in general, then their soft comfort at the end?? like that is INCREDIBLY out of their gamer persona, like i cannot state this enough. they have their moments together. AND THEN THEY PROCEED TO FOLLOW EACH OTHER AFTERWARDS AS GHOSTS??? OH MY GOD???

there's so many more videos like scenes from their minecraft series, gmod, gta v, but this is long enough as it is, so i'll pause it here <33