#especially since it leads directly into the events of episode 8

[imsosocold]

Heyyy, I rewatched the entire series again, even looking over the dumb, boring unfilling episodes.  Looking  back there are soooo many loose  plot threads like Amity being Lilith protégé,  Lilith's scrying portal (which Belos was implied to be able to see back through), Lilith’s “ go back to your world” speech, Hunter being tasked to spy on the Owl Family, Luz’s witch's cloak, anything with elves etc.  Anyway I’m still confused about LOTTT of stuff. I'm just a little guy, if people don't slowly and patiently directly explain to me what things mean I will spend almost the entirety of a series completely misunderstanding important lore and only getting it around the climax. If anyone has answers that’s goooodddd.  I’m kindaa having an episode of my own right now hahahhah.

1)How were the Hexsquad students  able to overpower the fully trained Emperor's Coven scouts, scouts part one of one the, if  not the strongest coven who’s had way more years of experience and training ?

2)How and why was the cursed Owl Beast scroll dropped? What exactly did Covenheads  think was going to happen during the Day of Unity, especially regarding the human realm? What about Odalia, who knew for a fact that the draining spell was a thing that would hurt people? She expected for her family be "made royalty in the new world" but what would that new world be? What about Kimikora’s who’s apparently been spying on Belos for a while, enough to know about the Golden Guards, the Collector, and the draining spell? She  still wanted to impress the Emperor, even knowing he intended to kill everyone including her?

3) Why didn’t Belos try to present his own POV of events in Hollow Mind? Why did he let Hunter and Luz walk around and make their own conclusions?

4)What are the  “Inner Willow” and “ Inner  Belos”?  Are they separate from their outer counterparts?

5) What does Belos think the  Grimwalkers are? Does he think they’re reincarnations of  Caleb or copies of Caleb or separate people made from the same stuff of Caleb or empty vessels that Caleb can communicate through?

6)Why did Belos put a coven patch onto Hunter if he expected him to  become Caleb?

7)I still don't understand at all how draining spell works, I think people have to be branded with coven symbols to work but then what about Hooty and all the general Isles wildlife?

8)What age was Hunter created as? He grew up “naturally” right? He went through the growth stages a typical witch or human would despite not being either, right?

9)What are demonics?  How separate are witches and demons? How are demons generally treated in society?

8)Eda just stumbled upon door just like that? That easy? Why was it there? How did she know how to use it?

9) Why do some witches have less human features than others ( such as a horn or an extra eye)?

10) How did Belos bring back Basilisks?  Like, I’m sure the Collector helped… but how?

11) Literally anything about the Collector’s powers, both trapped and freed?

12) Did Philip know  Luzura the Crab Maiden was human?

13) Why didn’t take Lilith and Luz try to take the Collector’s disc away  from Philip? He just tried to sacrificed them and it’s implied to them he did it before.

14) Isn't it  implied through the Owl Beast’s flashback that there’s landmasses outside of the  Boiling Isles? Are any of the characters ( besides possibly Eda) aware of this?

15) Why didn’t Belos stay  until the Draining Spell entirely finished? He has all the reasons to stay in the Boiling Isles and ensure his genocide concludes as planned, especially since he could easily collect palismen from all the dead witches.

16)Lilith was Belos’s left hand, even without magic wouldn’t she at least have political and cultural knowledge of the Isles?  Her naivety really offput me honestly.

Question to myself: Lilith, after not properly reading through the scroll, cursed her sister leading to her having to deal with immense suffering since her childhood. This caused immense harm to their parents as well.  Lilith then joined  a Coven that pushes for capture and punishment for witches like her sister and enforces everything Eda fights against. Lilith did this for a “ cure”  against Eda’s wishes and even mocked Eda for her condition.  Lilith almost  killed Eda by forcing her  to be delivered by Belos and nearly killed Luz  in the process . While Luz was forced to watch her mentor and mother figure being forced away from her, Lilith spouted some speciest shit towards her. And during any of this time, she hypothetically could’ve  shared the curse.  Why do I like her so much? Question to myself: Lilith, after not properly reading through the scroll, cursed her sister leading to her having to deal with immense suffering since her childhood. This caused immense harm to their parents as well.  Lilith then joined a Coven that pushes for capture and punishment for witches like her sister and enforces everything Eda fights against. Lilith did this for a “ cure”  against Eda’s wishes and even mocked Eda for her condition.  Lilith almost  killed Eda by forcing her  to be delivered by Belos and nearly killed Luz  in the process . While Luz was forced to watch her mentor and mother figure being forced away from her, Lilith spouted some speciest shit towards her. And during any of this time, she hypothetically could’ve  shared the curse.  Why do I like her so much?  

[thekaijudude]

Ultraman Anime Season 3 Review

This was absolutely the best season by far, theres much less inconsistency and plotholes this time around. And with 12 episodes, it definitely felt more comprehensive and less rushed.

Tho there were still some sticking points which Ive made a list of while binge-watching the season such as:

1. I felt that the portrayal of the scene where Hayata supposedly “dies” couldve had a much greater impact if it was shown that Shinjiro was able to identify Hayata on the rooftop prior. It was really weird to see Shinjiro act out when the blast imploded when previously it was shown that he couldnt even make out what was happening on the rooftop.

2. The whole idea of “Bemular being Ultraman” point has been put off so far by this point that seeing him working behind the scenes felt so painful and contrived to watch cause no one from the main cast really “acknowledges” him even tho they should since hes literally Ultraman. And with all the events tied to his existence, aka Shinjiro’s 2nd awakening and the Space Contraction event from Season 2, has no one bothered to consult him on the validity of the Universal Alliance Council? 

3. Daisuke later pointed out that Bemular was Ultraman, but previously no one seemingly make the link so to have this reveal being taken so nonchalantly at that point feels like a total waste of dramatic reveal (but then again, its a reveal thats been late for 3 seasons alr so..). But in fact, they didnt even outright reveal that, they just simply pointed out that Bemular somehow has access to Specium, as a manga-reader im like bruh wtf is this, its like the anime writers are trying their absolute best NOT to establish this connection like wtf

4. I found it really weird that Adad didnt really bother to give more info about Mephisto to Dan, sounds like prolonging the plot for no reason and being mysterious for the sake of being mysterious, because there was really no reason why shouldnt, especially since at that point in time, the SSSP were dealing with the Univeral Alliance Council as a whole, which threatens bascially everyone

5. Anyone else had the feeling that Taro was nerfed for the first half? Dude was just reduced to shooting fireballs and not literally sprout actual flamethrowers and pulses of pure fire like in Season 2

6. So Rena just stupidly decided to trust Seiji even tho his suit was spotted killing her dad? Plus Seiji’s filmsy explanation was really weird considering he was framed.  This is some Asahi-leveling of illogical behavior coming from both sides since this new piece of revelation shouldve stunned and alarmed both parties in question 

7. There was a pretty convenient plothole here, that Taro told Ide that he was gonna go to the hospital that Endo is at but Shinjiro went to the hospital that Ultraman and Zetton fought in, and only later it was revealed that apparently its the same hospital wut? Alot of conveniences here this season

8. Another convenient point to hasten plot progression was Bruh Jack and Rena showing up at the SAME town that Shinjiro and Taro are in even tho they came from vastly different locations? Jack had just arrived from the US and Rena literally came from the Alien city

9. Another convenient point was why didnt Zarab just killed off Endo instead of leaving him alive in the first place tho? In fact, why was he hurt in the first place? It was obvious that Mephisto already knew about the “Calamity” plan, and Jack even detailed it out to the rest later on. In fact, why didnt Bemular just pop up to the SSSP and explained wtf was happening to Shinjiro and how to manage it, it was apparent that he knew what was going on from the get-go but seemingly as an act to artificially prolong the plot, he refused to talk directly to the SSSP and this bascially setup the redundant chain of events that lead to Endo’s assassination attempt

10. Valky pointed she had different goals from Mephisto, but we have no idea what it was even till the end? Was it a planned subplot that got abandoned again?

11. While Taro did came to the conclusion that the there was indeed the existence of Fake Ultraman, this was truly only valid to explain the cases of Shinjiro going berserk in the 1st and 3rd instance. We saw that Shinijiro truly went berserk during the 2nd instance when he envisioned Zetton for the 2nd time but he didnt really point that out either during Taro’s monologue.

12. Bemular died too quickly and we still don't have an in-anime explanation why he became like this

13. So it was never really explained why did Shinjiro not evolve into a Giant of Light again? And why is evolving into a Giant of Light a bad thing either? Would he lose himself after evolving or...? Cause it wouldve helped if we had more exposition on this, this whole line of logic of Shinjiro becoming a Calamity was very obviously rushed and botched considering its aided by the fact that Bemular for some reason, refuses to actually provide his expertise on wtf is going on with Shinjiro throughout the season

14. The various “visions” Shinjiro had throughout the season was so random, literally the exact same situation as Orb in UFO having visions about ES of all things, except in this case, this was purely done for convenient plot progression like bru

Overall, it was kind of rushed near the end because the fact that Shinjiro still went out of control seemingly on purpose in the public eye made it still hard to believe he didnt had his power under control

Plus from the standpoint of the public which was deluded so deeply by Mephisto prior and had their reservations, truly it wouldve been less convinced. Esepically at the end of the day, Mephisto and Edo’s of logic makes complete sense and the anime totally sidestepped addressing the crux of the conflict between the 2 ideologies with no reconcilation, it ended up being reduced to Shinjiro’s personal character development instead. Especially so since Edo and Mephisto were sort of lumping their attitude towards the New Ultras with the impact of the original Ultraman itself

But this season gets BIG bonus points as imagine my surprise when Maya was still alive lmao (since yall know from my s2 review that I really didn't like how they handled Maya's character then) for the post-credits scene, but it still dosent explain the plotholes of the other Warudan aliens in the previous season

Again, this was definitely the best season by far and with EVEN MORE exciting action. 

Although this is the final season, I doubt TsuPro is actually done with this venture since Season 2 was Netlflix Japan’s Number 1 anime last year and I have no doubt Season 3 would be the same this year. And tbh, this is literally the final season purely because the Manga just simply doesnt have enough content at this point to warrant a 4th Anime Season. So I suspect that this sub-franchise most likely continue with as said, the Tiga/Zero route and either theyre gonna be following the Novel concept of also including the previous Ultra suits from the first 3 seasons, or itll be a totally brand new, fresh slate with totally new suits and characters involved only.

Personally Im hoping itll be a mixture of the 2, but for this to work, they would most likely have to nerf Shinjiro and have him being able to only use the Type B suit. And I really hope we get to see the suits of other ultras like the ones we saw some years back like Gaia, Max, Hikari etc

In fact, I believe I read somewhere that theres gonna be some news about this on the 21st of this month, so stay tuned

[solalunar-eclipse]

Sonic Boom -  S3E7

Episode title: Slow Growing

Word count: about 4300 words

AN: We’re finally coming up to this fic’s first major plot point! (I’ve been waiting for this for quite some time...)

First | Previous | Next

...

It was a beautiful sunny day, with only a single cloud drifting across the otherwise pure blue sky. Tails typed away busily on his Miles Electric next to Amy, who was reclining in a deck chair on the beach. The crash of waves and the sound of seagulls would have been more than enough to leave them both perfectly at peace…

…had it not been for Sticks hyping up Knuckles a few feet away while he worked on lifting weights.

“Twenty-eight! Twenty-nine! Thirty!” the badger cried. Immediately, Knuckles dropped his homemade barbell into the sand, strolling over and brushing his hands off.

“How do you like that?” he said proudly, stretching out his arms. “That’s a new weight record!”

“I would like it better if I wasn’t trying to relax.” Amy shot back acidly.

Tails smiled weakly. “Congratulations?”

Sticks huffed, rolling her eyes. “Relaxation. Who can relax when aliens could abduct us all at any moment?!” She sprang into a defensive position. “We should all be training! Right now!”

The echidna beamed somewhat obliviously, delighted to be receiving attention for his work. Unfortunately for him, though, his moment in the spotlight was promptly stolen when Sonic returned from his run—and immediately tripped over his own feet and faceplanted into the sand.

“Sonic?!” Amy cried, rushing over to help him up. “Are you okay?”

“Ugh…thanks, Ames.” he muttered, shaking sand out of his quills. “Just think I might need new shoes soon, these ones are wearing out.”

“New shoes?” Tails called. “I have a few spares in my workshop, but I’ll need to retake your measurements just to make sure they fit right.”

“Why do you need new shoes?” Sticks asked, getting down on her hands and knees to squint at his sneakers. “They don’t have tracking chips in them, do they?!”

Sonic smiled awkwardly. “Nah, I just run so fast I wear down any shoes I use after a while. Tails makes me special ones that don’t break as fast, but nobody’s figured out the secret to invincible shoes yet.”

“If they do, they’re probably an evil mastermind.” Sticks whispered dramatically.

[Generic creepy music plays as the camera zooms in on her face.]

Behind her back, Tails tried very hard to look innocent all of a sudden.

“But anyway, what’re you guys gonna do now?” the hero asked, flopping down on a chair with a casual air that was just a little too practiced.

“Amy and I are going to try decoding some old Ancient writing I found recently!” Tails exclaimed, his tails swishing back and forth.

Knuckles waved his hand in the air, bouncing excitedly. “Ooh! Ooh! Me next!”

“Go ahead, Knux.” Sonic said good-naturedly.

“Sticks and I are going to go treasure hunting in the caves today!” the echidna announced proudly. 

The hero pouted. “So I guess you’ll all be busy then, huh?”

“Sorry…” Tails said, embarrassed. “We didn’t even realize!”

The others cringed guiltily. “I mean, you can hang out with us if you want!” Amy suggested.

“Or you can come searching for treasure with us!” Sticks offered.

“Nah, it’s all good.” Sonic said, waving a hand. “Actually, I was thinking I might hang around Shadow’s cave a little, see what happens.”

“Are you sure?” the pink hedgehog asked. “I don’t know if that would work…it might just irritate him.”

“I won’t push it too far, don’t worry, Ames!” Sonic said confidently. “After all, when have I ever made him that mad?”

The faces of the other four spoke volumes.

…

[The same intro sequence plays as usual…with one minor change—all of Sonic’s scenes are now him interacting with Shadow in some form or another.

No villain reveal occurs this time. The camera instead shows a video of the town square, with Shadow sitting on top of a building. The film has an amateur-ish quality to it, as the camera shakily zooms in on Shadow. Suddenly, he seems to notice the attention, teleporting directly in front of the cameraperson before smacking his palm into the lens. The camera shakes for a moment, and then the feed cuts to static.]

[The sequence then continues, before ending with the title of this week’s episode.]

…

Tails bounced around in his workshop like an overcaffeinated ping-pong ball, setting everything up for Amy. The center of his messy workstation held three different tablet-shaped items hooked up to various wires in his workshop. All three had some sort of strange, neon blue text in an unrecognizable language filling up their screens. 

“I’m just about finished downloading all the information on these!” he exclaimed, gesturing in the general direction of the complex wiring.

Amy walked over to the desk that held the whole setup and began to pore over the language. “I can’t translate every single word of these, but some of them look like logs of complicated events. Thankfully, I brought my dictionary, so hopefully we should be able to get at least a bit of a picture about what these are saying.”

“We can’t actually get a picture, they’re just words.” Tails called from the other side of the room.

“You know what I meant!” Amy cried, folding her arms indignantly. 

The fox giggled. “Yeah, I do.”

“But anyway,” he continued, “is there anything else I can do to help? I’ve already made double backups of the text in case something happens, and I wanted to give one to you. You know, in case some sort of catastrophic explosion happens here.”

“Knowing you, that’ll happen three times before the week is out.” Amy remarked, smirking as she took the spare USB drive from Tails.

“Hey!” he huffed. “I’ll have you know that the explosions I make only cause problems for other people, not for me.”

The pink hedgehog laughed. “Let’s just hope one of those people is never me.”

Tails raised a brow ridge. “Help me translate these, and I might just throw in a ‘free protection from explosions’ coupon as well.”

“Alright then!” Amy said, a bit of laughter in her voice. She planted her hands on her hips. “Guess I’d better get to it!”

…

Meanwhile, deep within the caves on Mt. Tall (because yet again, the inhabitants of Seaside Island and Hedgehog Village in particular proved themselves to be terrible at naming locations), Sticks and Knuckles scavenged for mechanical items…or anything else even remotely shiny, honestly. 

The echidna’s arms were already half full with various trinkets and treasures, so all he could do was walk and watch as Sticks skittered on ahead, peering into various cracks and crevices. “Ooh, here’s another one!” they cried, pulling a tangle of copper wire from where it had gotten wedged behind a rock. “This should help with my monitoring-government-monitoring device!”

“Aww, it’s not heavy enough to add much weight.” Knuckles said sadly. “I wanted to see if my training made me stronger!”

Sticks smiled conspiratorially. “Don’t worry—we can definitely make some weights out of the best rocks we find after we’re done!”

Knuckles’s expression brightened considerably. “Awesome!”

Suddenly, though, Sticks’s eyes widened as they caught sight of something just behind Knuckles. “Wait…what’s that?”

“Uh…another cave?” he asked, frowning in the direction Sticks was pointing.

“No, not the opening!” they cried, rushing up to the entrance to another cavern, which had initially been hidden by an outcropping of rock. “These carvings around it…they look old. They might even be Ancient carvings!”

“Isn’t that what you just said?” Knuckles asked. “I at least know that old and ancient are the same thing.”

Sticks sighed, shaking their head. “I mean big-A Ancient, not small-a ancient.” they explained. “Like the group of people, not a description.”

“Oh…” Knuckles said, frowning. “Oh! I get it now!”

The badger did a small fist-pump, grinning. “Alright! Now let’s go inside and see what’s there!”

They took one step forward, then two—and then promptly vanished with a shriek.

…

Sonic stretched and yawned overdramatically, wandering back and forth outside of Shadow’s cave. “Hmmm, it’s really boring out here. If only there was someone nearby who I could hang out with…” he called.

A dark shape appeared just at the edge of the sunlight that spilled into the cave. “You’re being ridiculously loud. What do you even want.”

“Didn’t you hear? I wanna not be bored anymore.” Sonic shot back.

“I meant,” Shadow continued, stepping forward reluctantly into the light, “what do you want from me?”

The hero’s smile broadened, and he began to shift eagerly in place, stretching out his legs. “Well, since you asked so nicely…a race.”

Shadow frowned for a moment, processing his suggestion. “And what’s in it for me?”

“Isn’t the chance you might win enough?” Sonic asked hopefully.

Slowly, a smirk began to spread across the striped hedgehog’s face. “You’re on.”

They lined up directly in front of the cave. Sonic crouched down into a sprinter’s start position while Shadow fired up his skates. “Alright, so we’ll do a lap around the island, and whoever wins gets bragging rights for the next…week, okay?”

“Deal. And no cutting across the middle.” Shadow said.

“Aw, come on, Shads, why’d you even think I’d do something like that?” Sonic asked.

“I just don’t want you to think you can start cheating once you fall behind.” Shadow said. “Three…”

“Two…” the hero muttered.

“One…”

“GO!”

Sonic tore off instantly at top speed, while Shadow took just a second or two longer to ramp his movement up to his usual pace. “Hey Shadow!” Sonic called smugly. “Guess now you’re the one who’s only as fast as a panther, huh?”

The striped hedgehog growled, a mixture of irritation and embarrassment twisting inside him as he shot ahead. After a minute or two of furious skating, he managed to pull even with Sonic despite the other’s early lead.

And then, as was to be expected when two supersonic hedgehogs were competing with one another, they both began to show off. Sonic rushed up a tree and hopped from branch to branch to avoid the obstacles on the ground, while Shadow leapt over roots and shoved aside boulders as if they were nothing. 

Once or twice, the hero showed off a breakdancing move or an extra complicated flip, and Shadow spent an entire mile and a half skating entirely backwards. Before long, they had both lost any sense of trepidation or embarrassment, and were (though the latter would never admit it) simply just having fun.

Eventually, though, after a few beats of silence, Shadow suddenly noticed that the lack of taunting had stretched on too long and looked to his left.

Sonic wasn’t there.

When he looked around, in fact, the hero wasn’t anywhere to be seen at all. Shadow skidded to a stop and hesitated for a few moments, before blasting back the way he had come. 

He retraced his steps through the forest, searching for any sign of Sonic, but he found none. Eventually, he ended up back at the exact point on the trail where he had last seen the other, and began to carefully follow the blue hedgehog’s tracks. 

After a few minutes of light skating, he began to hear something off in the distance. It didn’t sound like wildlife, nor anything else natural.

It almost seemed like…yelling?

“….me! He….”

Shadow raced towards the sound, and after a moment he began to realize what it was. Sonic was in danger and (presumably) unable to rescue himself, and so was shouting as loudly as possible for help.

If it was dangerous enough to make him drop his ego and cry out, then Shadow had to be prepared for whatever might have hurt Sonic. As he drew closer and closer to the sounds, he summoned some Chaos energy into his hand…

…

“Any progress so far?” Tails asked, returning from his trip into the house for some drinks.

“Yes, actually!” Amy said happily, sitting upright and stretching briefly after being in one position for so long. “Did you find any tea?” 

“No, sorry.” the fox said sheepishly. “We only really have soda, hot chocolate, and decaf coffee, so I got you the decaf.”

“Soda and coffee? In the same house as Sonic?” she asked, raising a brow at him.

“I know, I know…it used to be regular coffee, for when I wanted to spend a late night working in here. When Sonic moved back, I caught him trying to break into my caffeine stash, so…I threw out the coffee really fast before anything else could happen.”

“Well, that’s sensible, at least.” Amy said, taking a sip of her drink. “So what do you have there?”

“Hot chocolate for me.” Tails shrugged. “I like it better, it just doesn’t have the same kick. But anyway,” he continued hurriedly, seeing Amy eyeing him with her ‘lifestyle makeover’ look, “what did you find?”

Thankfully, the pink hedgehog turned back to her screens at that and began to scroll through the text, looking for something in particular. “This first one is a log of various flora and fauna at the time—a lot of the names are difficult to translate, but the level of detail here is amazing! It also has an entry on Granifer giganticus, which is really helpful.” she began, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

“And this next one is…a log detailing the days up until Lyric’s defection. Apparently, the Ancients weren’t prepared for war at all, so the news that he was acting suspiciously just led to some sort of ‘council inquiry’.”

Tails rolled his eyes. “A government that actually tries to help its constituents? You really expect me to believe that?”

“I know it sounds really weird, but it was real!” Amy said.

“And this final one…it’s a log of the robots that they left behind after the war, when their civilization was devastated.” she finished sadly.

Tails leaned a little closer—and then froze. “Wait…what are Mighton and Bolts doing there?”

Right in the middle of the page of Ancient text, a picture of the two robots stood out clear as day. Amy’s eyes widened. “I’d only skimmed over that part, let me see…” she breathed.

Suddenly, she sat upright so quickly she almost knocked the chair over. Wavering in place, she cried, “Tails! This says that Mighton and Bolts—and all the rest of Roboken—are Ancient creations!”

The fox’s eyes widened. “Of course! Their civilization is so advanced, it makes perfect sense!”

“Which means,” Amy continued, now looking almost curiously at Tails, “that you built a robot that could successfully control Ancient technology.”

Tails’s eyes widened excitedly. “I did, didn’t I? I wonder if I could engineer something to access other systems the Ancients built?”

Amy jumped to her feet. “We could learn all kinds of things about their knowledge and their culture!”

The two began to laugh maniacally for a minute, complete with crashing thunder and blinding lightning outside. (Evidently, Tails wasn’t as afraid of storms when they were used solely for dramatic effect.)

Then, Tails scrambled to his workstation to start building, while Amy sat back down and began to scroll through the information with an entirely new level of energy…although it might’ve been the coffee, too.

…

The echidna rushed to the edge of the pit as hai friend’s scream faded into nothing, staring down into the darkness. “Sticks? Sticks?!?”

“I’m okay!” she called, her voice echoing up through the cavern. 

“Oh, good.” Knuckles sighed, relieved. “Can you get back up here?”

“I don’t know…” Sticks muttered, taking a look around. “It’s pretty dark down here.”

“You should’ve worn some special sports tape like mine!” Knuckles called from above, pointing at his glowing red accessories.

The badger rolled her eyes. “I don’t need sports tape to see in the dark.” She smeared some glowing bioluminescent algae (directly from hammer space, of course) on her bo staff, holding it out as it cast a green glow on the ground in front of her. “Not when I have nature to help me, anyway.”

As she continued forward, the staff began to illuminate what appeared to be a…computer terminal?

Sticks lifted her weapon higher, and her eyes widened. 

“Knuckles?” she said, her voice echoing strangely off the walls. “I found some tech, but I think it’s too big for anyone to carry…”

“Ooh! What is it?” he asked excitedly.

“It looks like a giant computer.” Sticks called, frowning at it. “But…it’s broken. Probably doesn’t even have anything worth salvaging by now.”

“Aw…” Knuckles muttered, disappointed. 

Suddenly, the badger noticed something else lying nearby. “Hey, wait! There’s some vines down here!” she exclaimed, hurrying over to them. “I can use these to get out of here!”

Knuckles frowned. “But if you’re down there, how are you supposed to get it up here?”

Sticks began tying one end of the vines to her bo staff, before moving back to the center of the room and holding the staff up like a javelin. “Just like this.” she said, staring up at the hole in the ceiling with determination.

“Yeah!” Knuckles called out. “Throw it as hard as you can!”

She took a couple of steps back, before running forward and throwing her staff as far as she possibly could. It arced up, higher and higher…

…and then Knuckles remembered that he still had his arms full of Sticks’s treasures….

…even as the staff began to fall just short of its target.

Dropping the items, the echidna scrambled forward, throwing himself flat so that he dangled halfway over the edge—and managed to catch the improvised projectile just in time. Carefully, he shimmied his way back onto solid ground, before adjusting his hold on the rope so that the bo staff wouldn’t break.

Immediately, Sticks began to free climb directly up the rope. “Nice catch!” she called.

“Thanks!” Knuckles shouted back.

After a minute or so of climbing, Sticks clawed her way over the edge with a hand from her friend, and lay flat on the floor for a moment just to catch her breath. “Ugh…wow, that sure was something.”

“Well, duh—it was an adventure!” Knuckles said. 

Sticks hauled herself to her feet, smiling even as she began to pick up the scattered wiring and shiny objects. “You’re right! And a good one too.” She smeared some more of the algae on the walls as a warning to future travelers, complete with an arrow pointing at the pit. 

Meanwhile, Knuckles began gathering up some rocks, never deterred from improving his workout regime. He tested each one’s weight briefly before deciding whether to keep or toss it, and eventually ended up with four or five that seemed worth saving.

“Thanks for coming out here with me.” Sticks said, bumping Knuckles’s arm with her own.

“Anytime!” he replied cheerfully. “Just…maybe don’t almost die next time? That was pretty scary.”

“But we made it out alive!” the badger cried excitedly. “I bet nobody else is going to have a story half as cool as ours!”

Knuckles grinned. “There’s no way that could happen.”

…

[Meanwhile…]

Shadow burst into the clearing, fully prepared for a fight—only to see Sonic trapped nearly waist-deep in a patch of mud. The hero was desperately clawing at the grass nearby, but couldn’t seem to find any purchase on the ground at all.

The striped hedgehog walked forward with a sigh and grasped Sonic’s forearm, hauling him upwards. Suddenly, though, Sonic flailed and pulled away as Shadow began to drag him out. “No, wait!”

Shadow frowned. “What?”

“My shoes!” Sonic cried. “They’re stuck—if you keep pulling I’ll lose them!”

“They’ll be ruined this way anyhow, but fine.” he muttered, before warping them both a safe distance away. 

The hero looked down at his shoes and legs, wincing. “Ugh! I didn’t even know that much mud could stick to a guy…gross. At least I was going to get some new shoes soon anyway.”

“Well, now that you owe me a favor, I’m going to go.” Shadow said, turning to walk off. “Don’t run into a mud patch next time—I want to beat you based on actual skill, not because you had to forfeit.”

“Hey!” Sonic cried. “I didn’t forfeit!”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “Are you trying to tell me you can race like that?”

Sonic kicked the toe of one of his shoes against the ground, embarrassed. “No…”

“Exactly. Now leave.” he growled, stalking off. 

The hero grabbed Shadow’s upper arm suddenly. “Wait!”

“Don’t touch me.” Shadow barked, tearing Sonic’s gloved hand off himself.

“Sorry, sorry!” Sonic said, holding his hands up defensively. “It’s just…I don’t think I can run like this at all.”

“What do you mean? Just take off your shoes if they’ve been damaged that badly. You might have to take a slower pace than usual, but that could actually be good for you, you know.” the striped hedgehog shot back.

Sonic shook his head, a blush rising on his face. “I can’t. I’ll…I’ll injure myself if I do.”

Shadow tilted his head to one side slightly, confused. “What?”

The hero winced, rocking back and forth on his feet for a moment—and then he kicked off his shoes entirely. Shadow stiffened, averting his eyes.

“Chill out, I’ve got socks on.” Sonic said teasingly, a smirk on his face. “Besides, all that wearing them’s going to do is make me cold and wet.” He shuddered involuntarily.

Shadow huffed irritably, still refusing to look down. “Shut up.”

“But anyway,” the hero continued, “the thing is…Ihaveflatfeet.” He rushed out the last part of his sentence, his face reddening again as his ears drooped.

“You have…flat feet?”

“Embarrassing for a guy whose thing is running fast, right?” Sonic cut in, laughing awkwardly. “Hah, but anyway, yeah, I have that, didn’t know what it meant for a while so when I was a kid I had bad sneakers and bad running form and all that good stuff so I basically ruined my ankles and now I have to wear special shoes and be extra careful and—”

“Sonic.” Shadow cut in. “Does this mean that you really can’t run back to your house?”

“Y…yes.” he admitted, practically shrinking into himself. “And, uh, I wondered if you could warp me there?”

Shadow frowned. “Unfortunately, I can’t warp long distances. I would have to skate back.”

“Nah, that’d be, uh, weird, haha.” Sonic said quickly, looking anywhere but at Shadow’s face.

The striped hedgehog blinked. “Why—oh.” he said, his eyes widening almost imperceptibly. “Yes, I see.”

After an awkward pause, almost out of nowhere, Shadow grasped Sonic’s wrist with one hand and his back quills with another, before essentially throwing the hero over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Well then. That length of travel may be out of the question, but I will instead take you to the beach, from where you may call someone else to bring you home.” he said, his voice tight and brusque.

“I would say I’m grateful, but also this feels really unheroic.” Sonic muttered.

Shadow glared at nothing. “Don’t be grateful.” he grumbled, and then blasted off. 

Within seconds, they had arrived at the beach. Shadow dumped Sonic on the sand unceremoniously and zipped off again, before returning with his now ruined shoes. “Here. Dispose of them properly—they cannot be classified as anything less than a biohazard now.” he said sharply, still averting his gaze.

An awkward silence fell over the beach, broken only by Sonic’s brief call to Tails to come pick him up. As they waited, the hero moved down the beach slightly so that the ocean waves began to wash away the mud on his legs—though he flinched every time the water so much as brushed his fur.

(Shadow pretended not to notice.)

After a while, Shadow cleared his throat. “I do not consider your…need for specialized shoes to be worth embarrassment.” For emphasis, he lifted up his leg, displaying one of his own skates. “I can certainly run quickly on my own, but these do help to optimize my speed. It is only natural that you would require something similar.”

Sonic tilted his head and looked up at him, raising a brow. “That’s awfully decent of you to say.”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “I merely consider you to be…almost (but not quite) equal to myself. That is all.”

“Awww, does that mean you like me?” Sonic asked, smirking. He knew he was pushing it, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

“That is highly questionable.” the striped hedgehog shot back, but his mouth was threatening to curl upwards as well. “Do I respect your abilities? Sometimes. Do I find your presence amusing? Rarely. But liking you…”

Before Shadow could finish that sentence, his ears perked up as the whir of a plane motor became audible. Within seconds, he had vanished into the forest, with only a mild depression left in the sand to show that he had ever been there. The hero got up and waved happily at Tails, glancing back at the place where he and his rival had been sitting only once before letting Amy help him onto the plane.

As the three heroes took off, Shadow watched from his perch on the branch of a tree, uncertainty making him tense. He had wanted to laugh at the very notion of liking any of the pathetic inhabitants of this island, let alone his greatest rival. 

But when he leapt down from the tree and began to skate off back to his cave, even when he arrived there and spent much of the rest of the day brooding…

…he still couldn’t bring himself to say that he disliked him, either.

Shadow closed his eyes, leaning back against the cavern wall with a sigh. He thought back over everything that had happened so far, from the storm to the carnival and now to this, as well as everything in between. Only now, as he looked back, could he see the slippery slope that he had taken from hatred to grudging acceptance, and then to…

When had he become so soft?

[roll credits]

[shyrose57]

Brothers anon and ah, its just me than. Links on tumblr break half the time for me sorry bout that!

1: Mostly how it looks in the actual episode but with some changes. Its gaint, even has multiple floors, most rooms have a glass dome roof with iron railings (3-4) lining the bottom of the glass. The hallway typically have windows leading up to the roof, but the roof and both floor are a mix of materials like iron, copper, wood, and even gold. The most complex room is the Council room, which has a a higher roof than the rest, with mostly wood railings that go all the way up and lead to a circle at the top. The Council is the group that leads Mizu, they have 1 leader of every Idol to represent the different opinions of the citizens, with 1 special member that doesnt belong to any Idol, and is instead used to represent the opinions of people who either haven't chosen a idol yet, got kicked out of a idol following, and just to give a unbiased opinion most of the time. They do make most decisions, mostly those relating to topics like construction, farming, money distribution, where people can live, etc. And they also mostly agree on most subjects and don't agure, but they do have massive disagreements on topics and problems like Representation in other Cities/Kingdoms, trading, visitors and immigrants, and sometimes supply missions. 

3: Situations like taking care of his siblings (I have decided Benjamin shall have siblings) and friends, and he was also put under extreme stress as a kid in school and family life, but unlike Ranbob, he managed to successfully communicate his struggle and find coping mechanisms. Also when he went off to live by himself for a bit, he was under sudden extreme situations where he had to make split second decision. So he just learned from everything thats happened to him over time. 

8: Levi exists purely to make Watson and others go insane. People claimed it was made up because they claimed most events as unrealistic (like Doomsday, Techno escaping a death trial, Pandoras Vault (they believed it impossible for something to be inescapable)). Plus the fact it seemed cruel such young people where faced with such trauma that no sane person would let it happen, and the fact most historical important items couldn't be found, people claiming that they where made up (also cause if the land was that exposed to such devastation, it would've collapsed on itself). No to both of those, by this point their to far away from Dream for him to have a direct meaningful affect on the group, and while the residents of Kelalen know it was Dreams sword, the group does not know. Nope! Mizu came about years after Kelalen was forgotten about and shamed. And Mizu was only made because of the growing number of believers in the SMP history was causing disruptions in both the political sense and educational sense, so it was made to separate the "outcasts". Though Mizu eventually grew as big as most cities, and greatly civilized and advanced, though they where still often "forgotten" about and basically seperate from the Kingdom that set them up and became their own place (though not officially). 

They do have a friendship! Its not super close but their definitely friends. Ranbob is definitely a worrier, he heard that two of his friends almost died he immediately goes to them and fuses over them. And when their recovering he doesnt leave their side, infact Benjamin has to drag him away from the two just to get him to eat. And he refuses to sleep unless he's like directly on top of them. Yeah, Cletus challenges Grievous to a parkour challenge over a Delta Basalt, and he happily accepts. They end up giving everyone a heart attack after Cletus slips and almost falls onto a magma block. Jackie plays in soul sand and dumps a handful down Rans shirt, Watson teaches Charles and Isaac how to make gold from gold nuggets and more Piglin culture. When Cletus is cleared to be ok and Jackie stops getting soul sand in areas he didn't even know existed. They all sit in a circle and decide what they should try first, with Ran and Watson watching carefully and preventing them from drinking anything that they recognized as harmful. But other than that they just let the others do whatever. 

10: Because he couldn't use it, when Dream was a full human he used to be able to access his powers at his own will. But after his spirit got linked to his mask his power greatly reduced. To the point he relies on others for his powers, more specifically, he needs them to be exposed to him for a certain amount of time (like 2 weeks) until he can use their own essence/spirit to help his powers. When the group of people came after Ranbob left, they stayed for a long time, especially after they took the mask with them. Dream got the power back. Cause it is a "I worked to hard to give this up." Type situation. Ranbob was his first victim and the first person he had control over in decades, he considers Ranbob the puppet he was meant to have and refuses to let him go. Everyone is the nat to him, but specifically Ran. Cause Ran was the only person who survived the murders, so Dream sees him as a kill that was taken from him that he needs to fix. Everyone else to him is nothing more than an annoyance, and he's more than happy to use them as nothing more than a stepping stone to kill once he's done with them. 

13: Ran is stronger than everyone else, Jackie is faster than everyone else, and Watson is more acrobatic than everyone else. Sorry can you reword "Is Jackie considered stronger than them aside from shared tactics, or is it the other way around?"? I dont completely understand sorry. Kind of, I'll say. There can only be 3 ranking members, but it can also be 2 Corporals and 1 Sergeant. 

14: They where caught off guard, but also knew something must be going on due to the fishermen staying closer to Ranbob than normal. He never got too far, as he isnt very fast and Charles and both Isaac tend to be fast enough to get him. If the episode is really bad bringing him back can lead into physical fights but it rarely gets into that, as it seems like Ranbob really doesn't want to fight them most of the time, and holds himself back.

Well, I hope it’s working for you now, cause that sounds less than ideal, honestly.

1: Well, Mizu sounds gorgeous, quite frankly. As for the council having a member of no idol, what about that? People can get kicked out from an idol group? Why? Do some just never choose an idol? Also, how’s the housing situation there? Are there like, apartments on one of the floors, or something? Why does the council not really agree on outside affairs?

3: Not gonna lie, I’m rather curious. What kind of life did Benjamin lead to be under such heavy stress? Does he relate to Ranbob because of this? And what was he doing when he lived on his own to need to make fast-paced decisions? Also, siblings! What’re his siblings like?

8: He sounds like it.

And hm. There are several things I’ve taken from this. 

Do totems no longer exist, if they don’t believe Techno could have survived, or did that particular piece of the story just get left out over time?

Has Pandora’s vault fallen? And why would people find it unbelievable? If it’s the future, shouldn’t they have even more advanced technology than that? Or is it simply the lack of evidence that leads them to disagreeing about it’s existence? 

They don’t believe people would have been so cruel to the younger ones? Oof, um. Well, at least that says something about the future, I guess. 

Mizu sounds like it has an interesting history in it’s self. How do Ran and Ranbob feel about being in a world that basically shunned the people of what would eventually become their home? Do they ever have issues when people find out they originate from Mizu, or worship an idol? From how you put it, it seems like that wasn’t really looked upon well, since they shunted the people who did it to Mizu.

Friendships for the win! Maybe not close, but it sounds like an interesting dynamic. Charles honestly seems pretty mild, and as you said, shy, so putting him with Mr.Random And Chaotic certainly sounds like something. How did these two become friends?

And honestly, it sounds like everyone had a lot of unique experiences in the Nether. It also sounds like Ran and Ranbob were probably an inch from a heart-attack the entire time, considering the shenanigans ongoing. It sounds kind of cute that Ranbob was only sleeping when he was close to them though, and it gives me the image of a giant fluffy cat, so win-win there.

10: Interesting. Was Ranbob not enough to fully return that power to him when the Fishermen first came and took him? Or did Dream just not think they’d get that far and not react in time, when he still had that power from his puppet?

And, uh, wow. Dream was certainly off his rocker before, but that’s definitely cemented now. Is anyone aware he thinks of Ranbob in such a way? Does Ranbob know? How are everyone’s feelings on that-besides y’know, ‘gonna murder Mr.Mask Man’. How does everyone feel about being considered as ‘nats’?

13: Huh. And yeah, I confused myself rereading that. Basically, is Jackie considered stronger than those two? You said they were mostly on par, because of the shared tactics, so when it comes to cutting those shared tactics out of the picture, does Jackie come out on top?

14: So the gang could tell? If I may ask, what were the tells that gave Ranbob away?

[collectsfallenstars]

Azaleas for Lt. Jeong Taeeul: A close reading of Kim Sowol’s poetry in “The King: Eternal Monarch”

Korean Literature is divided into the Classical Period and the Modern Period. Literature under the Classical Period is heavily influenced by Confucianism, Buddhism, and to some extent, Taoism.  The earliest form of literature came about in the 8th Century during the Shilla Kingdom.

The break-off point between Classical and Modern Literature is found in the Choson Dynasty which lasted from 1392 to 1910.  Modern Korean Literature flourished when the Chinese writing script took a backseat to Hangul, the Korean alphabet.  It was developed by King Sejong, or Sejong the Great, who ruled between 1418 – 1450.  If you watched the first episode of The King: Eternal Monarch, that huge statue of a seated king in the middle of Gwanghwamun Square where Lee Minho hugged Kim Goeun without any warning? That’s King Sejong.  Thanks to him, Korean language and Korean literature flourished.

Now, during the Choson Dynasty, two kinds of poetic forms came about— Shijo and Kasa and some of the most common subject matters from these poetic forms can be found in the Kim Sowol poems that were used in the kdrama, “The King: Eternal Monarch.”  These are the themes of nature, grief, and the loneliness of traveling.  However, when used against the backdrop of the drama, the poems, written during Kim Sowol’s lifetime between 1902-1934, take on a new life.

Let’s take a look at the poet’s life first and see how it informs our understanding of some of his poems.  He was born in 1902 in an area that now belongs to North Korea.  He suffered from a troubled childhood with a father who was mentally ill and beaten up by Japanese construction workers and therefore was unable to provide for his family.  Kim Sowol was then raised and supported by his grandfather and his aunt.  It has been said that it was his aunt who sang folk songs to him and told him traditional stories during his childhood and that it was this that stirred his love and talent for poetry.

But aside from poetry, he also loved a woman named O-sun.  However, during their time, love rarely played a role in marriages and they were soon married off to different people.  O-san then committed suicide at a very young age and losing her led to the first and last poetry collection that Kim Sowol ever published— “Azaleas.”  His poetry carried the quality and rhythm that could be found in old Korean folk songs, possibly the ones his aunt had sung to him when he was a child.   However, Kim Sowol found it hard to find his place in the world with just his poetry but without O-san.  He committed suicide in 1934 at 32 years old.  He remains, to this day, the most beloved Korean poet.

INVOCATION OF THE DEAD Kim Sowol

O shattered name!
 O name parted from me in mid-air! O name without owner! O name I’ll call until I die!

The words left in my heart,
 In the end, I wasn’t able to utter all. O you whom I loved! O you whom I loved!

The red sun is hanging from the western summit. The herd of deer also cry sadly.
 Atop the mountain that has fallen off to the side, I call your name.

I call your name til I can’t bear the grief of it. I call your name til I can’t bear the grief of it. The sound of my call sweeps forward but sky and earth are too far apart.

Though I turn to stone standing here O name I’ll call until I die!
 O you whom I loved!
 O you whom I loved!

This poem is largely different from the rest of the collection because it is loud in its grief while the rest in the collection are like “Azaleas,” quiet, subdued and dignified in their sadness.  In this one, the persona calls out to the beloved directly with lines that begin with an expulsion of breath and grief in “O,” and punctuated with exclamation points.  But even in this intensity, the persona still can’t call out the beloved’s name.

There are several reasons for this.  It pains the persona to even say the beloved’s name.  Or it could be that the beloved’s name is as lost to the persona as the beloved is.  Or it could be a staunch denial of the beloved’s departure.  I’m going to go with the last one.    

This poem is closely linked to the Korean pre-funeral custom called the Chohon, which involves calling out the name of the dead 3 times by the Sangju, the chief mourner who is usually the closest family member of the deceased. They go to the roof of their house, face north, and wave the deceased traditional shirt or blouse in the wind.

This stems from the Confucian belief that the human being is made up of the Hon (ethereal soul) and the Baek (corporeal soul) and the union of both is what keeps humans alive while their separation means death.  The Chohon is then performed to keep the Hon from leaving the world because they hold on to the hope that they can bring back the soul to the dead. It is only when this ritual is finished that they can confirm the death of the person and then they can begin with the funeral rites.

Now, in the first stanza, “O name” appears 4 times in 4 different ways that can’t be called a repetition.  The second stanza only contains 2 of the same lines with “O you” in it. The third stanza has one line with “your name” in it while the fourth stanza has only two lines with “your name.”  The fourth stanza contains 3 lines but 1 has “o name” and the 2 have “o you.”  The persona avoids the Chohon, even though the beloved is gone.  By refusing to turn this into a Chohon, the persona evades thinking of the beloved as completely lost.

“O shattered name!” is a reference to the separation of the Hon from the Baek, resulting in the death of the beloved. “O name parted from me in mid-air” speaks of someone being gone too soon, someone who is only in the middle of his or her life. This could also mean that they are gone before the persona could even hold them, like a ball thrown in their direction and disappearing before it can be caught.  “O name without an owner!” is especially painful because even though the name belongs to no one now, it’s still in the memory and on the lips of the persona.

The second stanza has many different translations but the gist of it means that even at this point when the beloved has been lost forever, without any hope of return, he still can’t bring himself to say the beloved’s name and complete the Chohon.  He refuses to accept her death.  Undoubtedly, this sentiment comes so close to Kim Sowol’s loss of his own beloved, O-sun.

The third stanza speaks of the setting sun and the lament of animals— it is grief found at the end of something.  The top of the mountain replaces the roof of the house the persona should be on top of because they did not belong to a house, to anywhere, really.  They probably belonged to other people too, like KSL and O-sun.  

On the fourth stanza, the persona stands on top of that mountain, calling out the beloved’s name and hoping to bring back their soul, knowing it is impossible. The grief of this practice in futility comes to him in the realization that the sky and the earth are too far apart.  No matter how long he stands there calling out her name, or how loud he can be, she will never hear him, nor return.

But even under the light of his sad epiphany, he remains steadfast in his love for her. He says he will call out her name until he dies, loving her and only her, for the rest of his remaining life and possibly even after death.  It isn’t too far off to think that this may have been exactly what Kim Sowol felt at the death of his beloved.

Now, how does its use within the world of The King: Eternal Monarch add another layer to the poem.  In the third episode, Lee Gon (Lee Minho) stood in the middle of a bamboo forest arguing with Jeong Taeeul (Kim Goeun) about his name.  He’s trying to convince her that a parallel world exists alongside modern day Korea and in that parallel world, Korea is spelled with a letter C and operates as a Parliamentary Monarchy.  He is also trying to convince her that he is the king there.  Jeong Taeeul, being a police officer, insists on asking for his identification, his name, and he refuses to give it because there is a rule in Corea that no one is allowed to use the king’s name.  At this, JTE makes fun of him and asks him if he is Kim Sowol, quoting the second stanza of “Invocation of the Dead” to him.

Spoiler alert, they eventually fall in love.  But this moment leads LG to a bookstore in search for Kim Sowol’s one and only poetry collection, “Azaleas.”  He finds it and opens it to the poem that JTE quoted to him.  In the background, we hear Lady Noh, whom he eventually gifts the book to, reciting the poem. It switches to LG’s voice at the last line, indicating that he had read the poem as well.  On screen, the frame is split between JTE and LG, directing the viewer to relate the poem to the pair of lovers.

The poem then acts as, of course, a foreshadowing of the events to come. Spoiler alert, no one died. So obviously, the poem does not act in its original capacity as some form of elegy for the dead.  What it does do is drive home the point that LG and JTE are going to have a love that will be threatened by separation.  Love between two people from parallel worlds with a ticking time bomb for a gate between them will not be easy.  It will also be painful, should the separation be permanent.

Now, if one were to ask you, if you knew how painful this love was going to turn out to be, would you still have allowed yourself to fall in love?

LG’s answer will be a quick yes. He’s been in love with JTE for most of his life, and has literally held on to her name, by her ID, since he was 8 years old.  JTE, on the other hand, took longer to gain access to, and use his name.  He gives his name to her on the 5th episode, and she uses it to him on the 6th episode.   She now has his name and will now know what to call out and hold on to, when she loses him in the future. Spoiler alert, she gets him back on the last episode.

So even though they don’t exactly lose each other like the persona and his beloved in “Invocation of the Dead,” or even Kim Sowol and O-sun, who lost their beloved to the sky while they remained on earth, the poem points us to a different kind of physical separation— that of two parallel worlds. While the persona in the poem vowed that he would defy time and space by loving her until his death, and even beyond, in the world within The King: Eternal Monarch, that vow was fulfilled.  They found a love that could defy time and space.

(from Episode 10, The King: Eternal Monarch) *if anyone can help me find the title for this poem, I shall be eternally grateful to you ^_^ ---------------- by Kim Sowol

When the sun goes down over the white rapids, I shall wait by the gate. Between the shadows of the birds singing at dawn, I see the world brightening up In its still calmness. With my eyes fixated on the traveler passing by At the break of dawn, “Is that you?” “Is that you?"

By the tenth episode, LG and JTE have redefined and upped the game for long distance relationships.  Much like the Kasa poems from the Choson Dynasty, the 2nd and 3rd poems used in “The King: Eternal Monarch” have grief and loneliness in travel as their subject matter.  Long distance relationships have it easy now with plenty of choices for communication and travel (except now, with the ongoing pandemic).  But one can only imagine what it was like for a lover to leave during the feudal Choson Dynasty.  There is no assurance of a safe return, nor of an actual return.  The waiting would seem endless without any word, just silence for months or even years.  One can’t just text, “Where u?” every five minutes, or mark oneself safe during a village siege.

LG and JTE had to contend with this aspect in their relationship as both held important positions within their own worlds.  Cellphones bought in one world would not work in the other.  There’s no magic two-way mirror, faces in fireplaces for a Fire-call in the Floo Network or even owls, crows, or pigeons. Do despite being lovers in the 21st Century, LG and JTE’s temporary separations and the subsequent waiting in between visits feel like those from the Choson Dynasty.

This poem is a prime example of that with a persona who vows to wait for the return her beloved.  She positions herself by the gate by sundown and stays there until dawn.   She stays in the shadows of the birds who see the dawn before she does.  This image is especially powerful in its quiet strength and fierce loyalty. The persona vows to wait for her beloved even through the darkness of the night.  No matter how difficult or painful it is to wait, she will.  And even if she doesn’t see the light of the dawn, or the end of this long night, she will still wait. She survives the nights of waiting by holding on to hope, despite the dire circumstance.

And life rewards her with the safe return of her beloved.  It seems only fitting that this poem is read aloud during their brief reunion under a moonlit night in the bamboo forest.  They are a long way from dawn, but hope and strength are there.

Note the way that Kim Goeun, who plays Jeong Taeeul, delivers her lines, “You’re finally here. Did you just get here?” as if they are the same line even though one is a statement and the other is a questions.  Her inflections do not change.  This echoes the last two lines of the poem, “Is that you?/ Is that you?”  The repetition allows for a slight change in emotion— the first is a question, an expression of disbelief, while the second is filled with relief.

(from Episode 12, The King Eternal Monarch) *if anyone can help me find the title for this poem, I shall be eternally grateful to you ^_^ ---------------- by Kim Sowol

What is your reason for doing that? You were sitting alone by the stream The green grass was sprouting And the water was splashing From the spring breeze You promised that even if you go, You won’t be gone forever.

That is what you promised I sit by the stream each day And think about something endlessly

When you promised that even if you go, You won’t be gone forever Were you asking me not to forget you?

This poem plays on memory and remembrance. In the first stanza, the lovers are in the beginning stage of their relationship when everything is like spring—  new, full of hope and potential for growth.  While at this stage, it is easy to make promises like, “Even if I go, I won’t be gone forever.”  It is meant to comfort the one who could be left behind. In the middle of bliss, that promise might sound comforting.

But as the poem progresses to the second and third stanzas, the persona is now alone on the same stream.   No longer in spring nor the middle of bliss, the persona is left only with the vow that her beloved made to her.  And it provides no sense of comfort.  Instead, it makes her realize that the vow had been made as foresight.  Her beloved must have known of his imminent departure and it was the only way he could ask her to wait for him— because every act of remembering him is an act of loving him.  And when there is love, surely there must be hope for a return.

This poem is read by Lady Noh in background while LG and JTE are getting their picture taken— an act of remembrance, of keeping something frozen in time so that one can always remember the moment.  Ironically, this is also the time when the world freezes. This is the side effect of one half of the Manpasikjeok crossing over into the parallel world.  This is the moment that Lee Gon is made even more aware of their impending separation.  The gate between the worlds is beginning to crack and the amount of frozen time keeps increasing with every crossing.  Pretty soon, he will have to choose between righting the wrongs that Lee Lim created and staying with JTE.  He is the King of the Kingdom of Corea��� there is no question what his choice will be and he knows it.

He goes through all of these emotions in the hour that JTE and the rest of the world spends frozen in a smile.  JTE is still in spring but LG is already far off into the future.  But when the world unfreezes, LG slaps a smile on his face and has his picture taken with JTE. This is the perfect adaptation of the third and last Kim Sowol poem used in “The King: Eternal Monarch.”

AZALEAS Kim Sowol

When you leave, weary of me,
 without a word I shall gently let you go.

From Mt. Yak
 in Yongbyon
 I shall gather armfuls of azaleas and scatter them on your way.

Step by step
 on the flowers placed before you tread lightly, softly as you go.

When you leave
 weary of me,
 though I die, I'll not let one tear fall.

“Azaleas,” the titular poem of the Kim Sowol poetry collection, is not included in “The King: Eternal Monarch” but I think it is still important to discuss it as it relates greatly to the character of Lt. Jeong Taeeul.

Outside the context of the kdrama, the poem “Azaleas” has a persona who is the embodiment of dignity and strength in the face of utter devastation.  The persona, by saying “When you leave,” shows her awareness of his inevitable departure.  She knows in the future that he will leave her because he will get tired of her.  And yet, she continues to love him.

And when that dreaded by unavoidable day comes when he leaves her, she vows to let him go as gently, and as lovingly as she can.

She promises to decorate his path away from her with flowers from her hometown.  This is seen as an act of blessing.  And although it’s tearing her apart in the inside, she refuses to let him know that him leaving is killing her.  So it’s an even classier way of saying, “To the left, to the left, everything you own in a box to the left, don’t you ever for a second get to thinking you’re irreplaceable.”

Now, while Lee Gon doesn’t get tired of Jeong Taeeul in the drama, he does eventually leave her in order to save both worlds and right all the wrongs his uncle made.  And in the 15th episode, when she finally realized that Lee Gon had made his choice and it did not include her in his world, she actually says the words, “I don’t think I can stay here and endure it alone…I think I’ll die.”  Spoiler alert, she did not die. She does get stabbed though, but she did not die of waiting.

Instead, she found a way to get to him.  Although it was unsuccessful, she did manage to kill Lee Lim of the present while Lee Gon killed Lee Lim in the past.  She’s definitely not the type to spread flowers on the feet of the man who leaves her and then goes to cry quietly in the corner.

But the thing is, the azalea flower is the key to all of this.  Azaleas are wildflowers that can be found in the deepest areas of forests that were previously destroyed due to deforestation or wildfires.  According to “The Plant Book of Korea,” azaleas are known for their endurance and long lifespans.

So when the persona in the poem “Azaleas” spreads the flowers in the path of her beloved, she is reminding him that she will survive his departure.  And when used within the world of “The King: Eternal Monarch,” Lt. Jeong Taeeul is the wild and resilient azalea flower.  She will not stay in her place and simply wait for him to come back.  She tried to find a way to get to him.  And when that did not work, when being strong meant loving him even in his absence and waiting for him even if there was no hope in his return, she still mustered up enough courage and strength to love him and wait for him.  And in the end, her strength and resilience were rewarded with the return of her beloved.

REFERENCES:

“(485) Poet Kim So-Wol.” Koreatimes, 10 Jan. 2008, koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2008/01/137_17042.html.

Foundation, CK-12. “12 Foundation.” CK, flexbooks.ck12.org/cbook/ck-12-chemistry-flexbook-2.0/section/2.1/primary/lesson/matter-mass-and-volume-ms-ps.

“In the Midst of Death, Let's Have a Party.” Korea JoongAng Daily, koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2007/10/28/features/In-the-midst-of-death-lets-have-a-party/2882042.html.

Klaudia Krystyna Writer. “Korean Funerals: Traditions, Customs and What to Expect.” Cake Blog, www.joincake.com/blog/korean-funeral/.

Korean Literature (Character of Korean Literature, Korean Classical Literature, Modern Literature of Korea), www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/literature.htm.

“The Most Beloved Poet of Korea, Kim So-Wol.” The Yonsei Annals, annals.yonsei.ac.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=1896.

국립민속박물관 . “Temporary Spirit Tablet.” Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture, folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/537.

[gascon-en-exil]

A Game of Thrones 10th Anniversary Season Ranking: Part 2

Link to Part 1

Time for the bottom half of the list. The four seasons here will surprise no one, but the order might.

#5 Season 6

You can tell what I most what to talk about here...but there's an order to these things.

S6 actually has a bunch of great ideas, but they drown beneath the most slapdash plotting and character work the show has seen yet in order to set the stage for the narrower conflicts of the last two seasons. It's notorious for bringing back characters who haven't been seen in a season or longer only to kill them off (Balon Greyjoy, Osha, Hodor, the Blackfish, Rickon, Walder Frey) or awkwardly graft them back into the main plot (Sandor Clegane, Bran). There are plot threads that ought to be compelling but are too rushed in execution, like the siege of Riverrun, Littlefinger's hand in the Battle of the Bastards, or Daenerys's time back among the Dothraki and then finally getting the hell out of Meereen. Arya hits on the only interesting part of her two-season sojourn in Braavos - a stage play, of all things - only for it to stumble at the end with a disappointing offscreen death and some incomprehensible philosophy ahead of the start of her murder tour of Westeros. There's also so much cutting off the branches, enough to be conspicuous; the final shot of Daenerys leading an armada of about half the remaining cast she assembled partially offscreen says that better than anything else. Well, not anything....

Highlight: Without exaggeration, the opening of S6E10 is easily my favorite sequence in all of GoT. The staging, the music, the mounting suspense even as it becomes increasingly obvious what's about to happen, the twisted religious references particularly in Cersei's mock confession to Unella, Tommen throwing himself out a window because he can't deal with the reality of how terrible his mother is, how Cersei gives absolutely no fucks whatsoever about murdering hundreds of people at once in a calculated act of vengeance largely prompted by her own poorly thought out actions - I love it all. It's the single most masterfully-executed act of villainy in the whole show - Daenerys torching King's Landing probably has a higher body count, but the presentation there is all muddled - and if I had any doubts about Cersei being my favorite multi-season major character they were silenced in this moment. The explosion of the Sept doesn't sit perfectly with me, because I liked the Tyrells and because of what I said about deaths like theirs and Renly's in the previous post under S2, but I think that unease only cements the strength of this sequence. It's an overused phrase in fandom these days, but GoT at its best is all about moral greyness that gives its audience room for multilayered reactions. Cersei nuking the Sept and making herself the sole power in King's Landing, which in a sense is just a more overt example of the kind of character/plot consolidation elsewhere represented by Daenerys's armada, is one of those events that's impossible to approach from a single angle if you care about any of the characters involved. And hey, it's not in the books (yet, presumably), so unlike Ned's death or the Red Wedding the GoT showrunners can take the credit for realizing this one.

Favorite death: Even leaving aside the Sept and related deaths there's a lot of good ones to choose from in S6. Ramsey is cathartic but too gory for me, Osha's was a clever callback but a little delayed, it's hard to pin down specific deaths when Daenerys incinerates the khals, and Arya only gets half credit for Walder Frey and his sons when she saves the rest of the house for the opening of S7. I'm thinking Hodor, not so much because I enjoy his character or the manner of his death but because it's a clever bit of playing with language (that must have been hell to render in other languages for dubbing) wrapped up in some entertainingly murky consent issues and some closed time loop weirdness. It's all very...extra? Is that the word for it?

Least favorite death: Offscreen deaths continue to be mostly letdowns, in this case Blackfish and the Waif. Way to botch the ending of Arya's already near-pointless Braavos arc, guys. Speaking of Arya, this spot goes to Lady Crane, whom the Waif somehow kills with a stool or something. It's a dumb way to send off an entertaining minor character.

#6 Season 8

I swear that I'm not putting S8 this high solely because of Jonmund kind of sort of happening. I've never been very interested in either of them and the sex would be far too bear-on-otter to suit my pornographic preferences, but even so the choice to close out the series with them is hilarious.

I really don't need to elaborate on why S8 is down here; everyone who's ever watched the show has done as much in the nearly two years since it wrapped up. I do however need to explain why I've ranked not one but two seasons below it. My biggest argument here is that I don't believe it's fair to critique S8 for problems it inherited from earlier seasons. A non-comprehensive list:

Mad Queen Daenerys: unevenly built up beginning from S1 and continuing in some form through every following season

The questionable racial optics of Dany's army: also seeded as early as S1 and solidified by S3 with the Slaver's Bay arc

Cersei only succeeding because she makes stupid decisions and then lucks out until she doesn't: apparent from S1, directly lampshaded by Tywin in S3, fully on display with the Faith Militant arc of S5-6

Jaime not getting a redemption arc or falling in love with Brienne: evident with his repeated returns to Cersei throughout the show as one of the most consistent elements of his character, particularly in S4 and during the siege of Riverrun in S6

Tyrion grabbing the idiot ball/becoming a flat audience surrogate mouthpiece: started in S5 around the time the showrunners ran out of book material for him and wanted to make him more of a PoV character and his arc less of a downward spiral, although I've seen arguments that changes from the books involving his Tysha story and Shae set him on this trajectory even earlier

The hardening of Sansa's character: began in earnest in S4 and never let up from there

The strange ordering of antagonists: set down by S7's equally strange plot structure - the Night King had to come first with that setup

CleganeBowl and the dumber twists: from what I've heard the whole thing of writing around fans on the internet guessing plot twists started pretty much when the book content ended, so S5-6 maybe?

Yes, there's plenty to criticize about S8 on its own merits...but just as much that was merely the writers doing what they could at that point with deeply flawed material.

Highlight: This may sound cheesy, but the better parts of S8 are almost all the cinematic ones, whether that's E2 being a bottle episode with tons of poignant character send-offs before the big battle, a handful of deaths with actual satisfying weight like Jorah's and Theon's, and an epilogue that incorporates both closure for individuals and the broader uncertainty of messy socio-political systems that GoT has always been known for before working its way back to the Starks at the very end for some tidy bookending. Even imperfect moments like the Lannister twins' death and the resolution of Sansa's character felt weighty and appropriate based on what had come before.

Favorite death: Forget about the audio commentary attempting to flatten Cersei's character; Cersei and Jaime Lannister have an excellent end. Cersei especially, as the scenes of her stumbling her way down into the catacombs as the Red Keep crashes down around her really show off how her world is abruptly falling apart and how she retreats into her own self-interest at the end in spite of her demise being at least partially of her own doing. There's some stupid moments associated with these scenes, like Jaime dueling Euron to the death and CleganeBowl, but I can excuse those when the twins end up dying exactly where you'd expect them to: in each other's arms, in a ruined monument to their family's grand ambitions that, like Casterly Rock itself, was taken from another family.

Least favorite death: Quite a few dumb ones in S8 have become forever infamous. Missandei sticks out, and for me Varys too just as much because of how the writing pushes him to do the dumbest thing he could possibly do purely for the sake of killing him off ten minutes into the penultimate episode. But no one belongs here more than Daenerys Targaryen, killed at the height of a rushed and uncertain villain reveal by a man who takes advantage of their romantic history (who is also her family, because Targaryens) to stab her in a moment of vulnerability - pretty much only because another man tells him that Daenerys is the final boss. Narratively speaking that might be the case, but even so this is the end result of multiple seasons of middling-to-bad buildup. Not even Drogon burning the symbolism can salvage that. Also Fire Emblem: Three Houses did this scene and did it better.

#7 Season 5

...Yeah, we're going to have to go there.

Sansa's rape is not a plot point that personally touches me much. It's terribly framed in the moment and the followup in later seasons is inconsistent at best, but it's not a kind of trauma I can relate to. On the other hand, in the very same episode Loras is tried and imprisoned for homosexuality, and Margery faces the same punishment for lying for her brother. That hits much closer to home, not just for the homophobia but also for the culture war undertones of the not!French Tyrells persecuted by a not!Anglo fanatic who later reveals himself to be the in-universe equivalent of a Protestant. The trial is just one part of Cersei's shortsighted scheming, just as Sansa being married off to Ramsey is part of Littlefinger's, and both of them get their comeuppance in the end...but it's unsettling all the same. I especially hate what the Faith Militant arc does to King's Landing in S5, swiftly converting it from my favorite setting in GoT to a tense theocratic nightmare that only remains interesting to me because Cersei is consistently awesome. What's more, pretty much everything about S5 that isn't viscerally uncomfortable is dragged out and dull instead: the Dorne arc, Daenerys's second season in Meereen, Arya in Braavos, Stannis and co. at Castle Black. The most any of these storylines can hope for is some kind of bombastic finale, and while several of them deliver it's not enough to make up for what comes before, or how disappointing everything here builds from S4. S4 has Oberyn, S5 has the Sand Snakes - I think that sums up the contrast well.

Highlight: S5 does get stronger near the end. As much as his character annoys me I did like the High Sparrow revealing his pseudo-Protestant bent to Cersei just before he imprisons her, and there's a cathartic rawness to Cersei's walk of atonement where you can both feel her pain and humiliation and understand that she's getting exactly what she deserves (and this is what leads into the climax of S6, so it deserves points just for that). The swiftness of Stannis's fall renders his death and that of his family a bit hollow, but it's brutal and final and fittingly ignominious for a character with such grand ambitions but so little relevance to the larger story. The fighting pits of Meereen sequence is cinematic if nothing else, and even the resolution to the Dorne arc salvages the whole thing a tiny bit by playing into the retributive cycles of vengeance idea (and Myrcella knows about the twincest and doesn't care, aww - no idea why that stuck with me, but it's cute all the same). Oh, and Hardhome...it's alright. Not great, not crap, but alright.

Favorite death: I don't know why, but Theon tossing Myranda to her death is always funny to me. Maybe because it's so unexpected?

Least favorite death: Arya's execution of Meryn Trant is meant to be another one of the season's big finale moments, but the scene is graphic and goes on forever and I can't help but be grossed out. This is different from, say, Shireen's death, which is supposed to be painful to witness.

#8 Season 7

I can't tell if S7's low ranking is as self-explanatory as S8's or not. At least one recent retrospective on GoT's ruined legacy I've come across outright asserts that S7 is judged less harshly in light of how bad S8 was. If it were not immediately obvious by where I've placed each of them, I don't share that opinion.

Because S7 is just a mess, and the drop-off in quality is so much more painful here than it is anywhere else in the series except maybe from S4 to S5 (and that's more about S4 being as good as it is). The pacing ramps up to uncomfortable levels to match the shortened seasons, the structure pivots awkwardly halfway through from Daenerys vs. Cersei to Jon/Dany caring about ice zombies, said pivot relies largely on characters (mostly Tyrion) making a series of catastrophically stupid tactical decisions, and very few of the smaller set pieces land with any real impact as the show's focus narrows to its endgame conflict. As with S6 there are still some good ideas, but they're botched in execution. The conflict between Sansa and Arya matches their characters, but the leadup to that conflict ending with Littlefinger's execution is missing some key steps. Daenerys's diverse armada pitted against Cersei weaponizing the xenophobia of the people of King's Landing could have been interesting, but there's little room to explore that when Cersei keeps winning only because Tyrion has such a firm grip on the idiot ball and when Euron gets so much screentime he barely warrants. Speaking of Tyrion's idiot ball, does anyone like the heist film-esque ice zombie retrieval plotline? Its stupidity is matched only by its utter futility, because Cersei isn't trustworthy and nobody seems to ever get that.

And how could I forget Sam's shit montage? Sums up S7 perfectly, really. To think that that is part of the only extended length of time the show ever spends in the Reach....

Highlight: A handful of character moments save this season from being irredeemable garbage. As you can guess from my screencap choice, Olenna's final scene is one of them, even if Highgarden itself is given insultingly short shrift. S7 also manages what I thought was previously impossible in that it makes me care somewhat about Ellaria Sand, courtesy of the awful death Cersei plans for her and her remaining daughter. The other Sand Snakes are killed with their own weapons, which shows off Euron's demented creativity if nothing else. I like the entertainingly twisted choice to cut the Jon/Dany sex scene with the reveal that they're related. And, uh...the Jonmund ship tease kind of makes the zombie retrieval team bearable? I'm really grasping at straws here.

Favorite death: It's more about her final dialogue with Jaime than her actual death, but again I'm going to have to highlight Olenna Tyrell here for lack of better options. She drops the bombshell about Joffrey that the audience figured out almost as soon as it happened but still, makes it plain what I've been saying about how Jaime's arc has never really been about redemption, and is just about the only person to ever call Cersei out for that whole mass murder thing. There's a reason "I want her to know it was me" became a meme format.

Least favorite death: There aren't any glaringly bad deaths in S7, just mediocre or unremarkable ones. I still think the decision to have Arya finish off House Frey in the season's opening rather than along with their father at the end of S6 was a strange one that doesn't add much of dramatic value.

[inappropriatemuffins]

MD KaiJou ideas - Part 2

Kaiba: Starting scenarios

See Part 1 here

See Jonouchi Scenarios here

See Combined Scenarios here

See Mid-arc Dramas here

Generally Kaiba has to make the first move to invite Jonouchi into his life somehow (usually as a friend), as it is very difficult to convincingly shift his worldview without significant time and energy.

Because of this, there are various scenarios that are concocted to trigger this change in his life.

1) Mokuba hangs out with Jonouchi

Mokuba is developing an ongoing friendship with the main cast, with Jonouchi being a close friend. This causes Kaiba to constantly interact with Jonouchi at a consistent rate.

This is the best way to get a healthy relationship going between Kaiba and Jonouchi. Kaiba may try to push Mokuba away from the group but is likely to adhere to what Mokuba wants.

Jonouchi can start to learn more about Kaiba as a person and start to understand him. Kaiba will likewise learn about Jonouchi via Mokuba and eventually may open himself up to him.

Can get Jonouchi acting as an older brother too towards Mokuba.

For extra drama, could get Mokuba to have a one-sided crush on Jonouchi for a while.

2) Kaiba is prescribed friendship

Kaiba’s mental health is declining in some way (e.g. depression, manic episodes, etc) which is notably affecting his work. His psychiatrist/doctor/therapist recommends seeking out friendships and developing a trust system (Note: I am not a doctor - this advice is made up for the scenario).

Kaiba, who is taking this seriously and is now determined to improve himself, is now a bit more open to inviting Jonouchi (and the rest) into his life - especially now that he is making an effort it.

Can possibly even have Jonouchi be the perscriber, although that can make for an unhealthy doctor/client relationship.

3) Kaiba gets his coffee from the cafe Jonouchi works at

Kaiba gets his daily coffee from the Kaiba Corp coffee shop that Jonouchi works at. This opens up interactions with Jonouchi in a frequent manner.

This does, unfortunately, have the problematic ‘boss dating subordinate’ situation.

This also assumes Kaiba likes to get his own coffee. Maybe he uses it as an excuse to take a break from work?

4) Kaiba is an alcoholic

Kaiba is in a situation that leads him to alcoholism (not helped by Japan’s work drinking culture). A drunk Kaiba at functions can often lead to different scenarios, especially if Jou is a bartender or waiter.

Darker narratives can extend this to drug use.

5)  Kaiba starts recreating other duelists in VR using AI

This can be a space for him to safely explore his sexuality, or even to just open himself up to said AI (since he has complete control over it) 

This can sometimes lead to Kaiba simply settling for the AI and not the real person, although that in itself can make for some decent drama.

Can also explore narratives around the ethics of misusing AI based on real people.

6) Mokuba has left Domino City

Mokuba has decided to do his own thing in America (either extending Kaiba Corp or his own dream). This can intensify Kaiba’s loneliness, and thus he becomes more chatty or a bit more open to more interaction in his life.

The amount of distance between the brothers can vary. Could have Mokuba leave on a bad note and never communicate at all, or could have him chat to Kaiba every other day online.

For darker narratives this may result in the aforementioned alcoholism and/or declining mental health.

7) Kaiba is broke

Kaiba has become broke, his company has tanked, or the company has been taken from him in some way.  This can even out the wealth gap between Jou and Kaiba and have them on a similar playing field.

Jonouchi could offer him a home, and can teach him how to be thrifty (should Kaiba needs to learn)

Depending on Kaiba’s mental health, he can either be driven to climb his way back, or be in despair and lose all hope.

Bonus points if Jou is a key factor in helping him get back ahead.

8) Kaiba is having dreams about Jonouchi

This can be sexual, intense or just very personal. Reasons for this happening can vary, but sometimes there doesn’t need to be a reason

This can cause Kaiba to try to figure out why he is having these dreams, and what it may mean (if he has mellowed in his dub-version’s skepticism).

Thus leading to observations and potential interactions with Jonouchi. (Or alternatively attempts at avoidance, which Jou picks up on and bugs him about)

9) Kaiba’s new bodyguard is Jonouchi

This allows for a lot of interaction between them, however does mean Kaiba has power over him as an employer.

Potential to have Jonouchi rescue Kaiba or get injured trying to protect him - thus providing potential hurt/comfort scenarios.

Can increase drama by having high stakes scenarios with big injuries.

10) Jonouchi’s dance/singing/performance impresses Kaiba

Kaiba attends a concert and finds Jonouchi performing (dancing/singing/etc), and is impressed by the performance.  Lots of potential threads here.

Kaiba could become a secret hardcore fanboy

Kaiba could be seduced by the performance (either intentional by Jou or not)

Kaiba could sign him on to Kaiba Corp events, leading to more interactions

Can lead to private performances, and/or Kaiba listening to Jou’s music in his spare time.

11) Kaiba is in a coma / deep sleep / can’t wake up

Often attributed to faulty VR tech. Mokuba/Kaiba Corp creates some technology to allow Jonouchi to enter his mind and pull him out.

This has the benefit of Jonouchi being able to see the true Kaiba inside his mind - which can allow Jonouchi to understand and empathise with Kaiba much more.

This can lead to angst / dark narratives if unveiling some of Kaiba’s more twisted mind.

See hospital scenario for when tech can’t help.

12)  Kaiba is stuck in VR

Very similar to the coma one, but he can now access digital technology so can interact with the outside world should he need to.

Also Jou would not be delving into his mind directly but simply into the VR world to retrieve him.

Could utilise glitching for humor and/or drama.

13)  Kaiba decides to experiment with his sex life

May go out to a gay club undercover (where Jou goes/works), or go to a private sex work company (which could also be where Jou works).

In the case where Jou does sex work, could either have Jou and Kaiba meet there by surprise, Jou try pretend that he is someone else (in the event Kaiba does not realise he works there) or could have Kaiba specifically choose Jou (to Jou’s bewilderment).

14) Kaiba is competing with a rival company (that Jou works for)

Kaiba finds there is a rival company making their way into his territory and are making a name for themselves. Jonouchi, ideally, is involved with this company professionally.

This can elevate Jonouchi to a level that he can interact with Kaiba on at a professional level.

15) Kaiba discovers and befriends Jonouchi online

Can be done with VR avatars or random screen names, leading to drama at the reveal.

Bonus points if Kaiba has no idea it’s Jonouchi, and/or vise versa. Can lead to drama on the realisation on who each other are.

Alternatively, Kaiba may be a fan of Jonouchi streaming and become a bit of a fanboy (without Jonouchi knowing)

16) Kaiba sponsors Jonouchi as a professional duelist

This can lead to many potential interactions.

Main issue is the boss/employee relationship dynamic - Kaiba has significant power over Jonouchi.

Bonus points if Kaiba loses a duel to Jou at some point, causing drama.

17) Kaiba is recovering from a recent breakup

He may seek a rebound, or possibly Mokuba may seek Jou to help Kaiba recover.

Can enter into dark/abuse narratives with the ex.

Main difficulty here is getting Kaiba to trust anyone ever again after having his heart broken.

18) Kaiba is injured and is currently in hospital

This can either be for major injuries (e.g. gunshot wound, head injury) or minor ones.

This allows people to possibly visit him (like Jou). Depending on the injury he may or may not realise they are visiting (e.g. coma).

19) Kaiba wakes up, after having fallen for and started a relationship with Jou in a dream

For when you want a quick start to pining but don’t want all the setup

.A bit of a cop out, but it does the job.

Darker Narrative Scenarios

These are the more angst/dark/disturbing leaning scenarios. These are ok for large hits of drama and angst but often ends up changing Kaiba’s personality significantly depending on how his mental health goes.

1.) Mokuba has died

This would be a very traumatic event for Kaiba, so this will nearly always lead to a dark narrative often with mental health breakdown.

Can lead to suicide scenario.

Can lead to major personality shift

2) Kaiba has become suicidal

There can be a variety of reasons that lead to this.

Often the story has Jonouchi be present should Kaiba nearly attempt, opening the door for Jonouchi to help him.

This dark narrative may end up overburdening Jonouchi if not careful.

Mokuba often needs to be out of the picture somehow, or something to distance him from his brother.

Mokuba could be the person to bring in Jou and the gang to help.

3)  Kaiba is kidnapped / trafficked / trapped

Jonouchi helps to rescue him and so Kaiba feels indebted to him. This can open up interactions.

Generally it’s Mokuba who seeks out Jou to help.

Kaiba may attempt to avoid Jonouchi afterwards, depending on what state he was in when Jonouchi rescues him.

4)  Jonouchi has recently died, but has come back as a ghost and is haunting Kaiba

Usually a bittersweet scenario, unless a way to bring Jonouchi back to life is construed. Alternatively could eventually have Jou live in VR world a la Noah.

Kaiba may start to suffer from being haunted, depending on the nature of it.

Can have many ghost shenanigans such as: ghost commentary,  Jonouchi voyeuring Kaiba, awkward moments where Kaiba can’t respond because he is in company of others, and various attempts to communicate should Kaiba not hear him

Can reverse the scenario so that Kaiba is the one who has died, and Jou is being haunted. Often here, headcanoni is that Kaiba is either in denial of his death or is desperate to find a way back to life.

5.) Jou sacrifices himself for Kaiba or Mokuba

Bittersweet in that Jou is already dead. Could have an affect on Kaiba’s mental health.

Bonus points for combining with the ghost scenario

That’s all I have for now. Next will be starting scenarios for Jou - click here to view the post.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWDTWB 1x07: Truth or Dare

Okay, let's talk about TWB, ep 8. We saw a time of interesting symbols in this episode.

First, we see Huck. She's on her own, scouting ahead. She sees some walkers walking by on an overpass. So, a miniature bridge of sorts. She saw one walker that had a backpack that she wanted to raid for supplies. This walker to me was that it was wearing a dark red jacket. We've seen this symbol pretty often lately. Clothing the color of the cloak in Beth’s cell.

Huck took some boots off the walker. That's important because of the missing foot/shoe symbolism but also @frangipanilove​ has done quite a few posts about how the trunk and boot symbols are similar. It all points to Beth being left in the trunk of the car.

Huck also finds a pin on this walker. This made my jaw drop. It turned out to be the insignia of the Marines, which Huck has a tie to. But what really struck me about it was the bird on top. Look at this. We saw this exact bird in Still and in a shot with Beth.

My fellow theorists and I are always going back and forth about whether this is a Phoenix or Thunderbird or an eagle or something else. Given the blue field, stars, and red banner, I always wondered if it was some sort of American patriotic thing, but maybe this picture represents the marines. Either way, the fact is, we can tie it directly to Beth. Also keep in mind that the Marines are all about water.

They drink Mountain Dew in this episode. @wdway​ reminded me that we saw a Mountain Dew bottle in Still with Beth and Daryl. I also thought they treated the Mountain Dew in this episode a lot like it was alcohol or moonshine. They talked about how long it had been since that had it and made yum noises, saying it was so good, etc.

In one of Huck’s flashbacks, she's in a bar. They have a dart game, and there's a jukebox. All Bethyl symbols.

Later in the episode, Tony has a flask, so we do see some alcohol. And the kids play a drinking game. It’s truth or dare, which is a little different than “I never,” but still. It's a drinking game.

There's definitely an art theme. Iris talks about the Louvre and then Percy sets up a little art room for her. I'll come back to that in a minute.

There’s a dark tunnel moment, when they go in looking for the fuel. (Dark Tunnel Symbolism).

In Huck’s flashback, she and her fellow Marines use thermal vision to discern which of the people in front of them are walkers in which are alive. I thought that was interesting in and of itself, but the thing that jumped out at me is that the walkers, who were obviously cold because they're dead, were blue. Kind of a blues clue as @frangipanilove​ would say.

When Hope and Huck were up on the roof, the stars were very bright and obvious. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it almost felt like an emphasis on the stars to me.

They encounter a guy in the basement who takes Hope prisoner. Lots of important background symbols in this scene. Lots of yellow, which reminded me of the basement of Grady when Beth and Noah try to escape. 

There were blue coolers, and even a fire extinguisher sign, which we’ve often seen in the background of scenes tied to Beth.

We also get a clear shot of Huck’s watch here. It’s hard to see, but I think it matches the grandfather clock in Still. Second hand between the 10 and the 11 (so perhaps at minute 52 or 53) and hour hand on the 3. 

They also had a queen of hearts theme. So, it's the poker queen theme. I won't go too much into that, except to say that it was present.

Then Iris went to meet Percy and he'd set up the back of the truck as though it were the Louvre, so she could look at the art. There were actually quite a few things that stood out to us here. We looked into several of the paintings.

One that @wdway​ pointed out is this famous painting set during the French Revolution called “Liberty Leading the People.” 

We like the idea that it's a revolution being led by a woman. Kind of interesting, no? We’re hoping the woman here Symbolizes Beth rather than Iris, but we'll see. The two books she looks at seem to be fictional, but when I looked up the one about the great masters of art, Caravaggio was always listed as one of them. So, another possible tie to Grady.

Furthermore, Iris falls asleep under the art setup and we see her wake up. This is pretty much an altar or shrine to all things art, and the way she’s laid out, rather than curled up, kinda looks like a Snow White pose. So, we’re thinking this is definitely a resurrection symbol. Especially as it happens under the Mona Lisa (arguably the most famous painting/woman in art) and the painting of Lady Liberty leading a revolution.

And hey, I’ll grant you that, normally, I would say this all represents Iris, and it might in some way. But we already know TWB is a limited, 2 season event. Then it will be done. That doesn’t necessarily mean all the characters will die or anything, but I can’t see them doing anything quite this important, either. Especially given that they’re still teenagers.

I think this represents a revolution against the CRM led by some woman. Three guesses who I think that woman will be, and the first two don’t count.😉

Also, the place they’re staying at is apparently a country club with a pool, as evidenced by this sign that the camera focuses on for several seconds. So more ties to Still and to water in general. (Also remember that in last week’s episode of Fear, Sherry’s group was hanging out in a dry, vacant public pool. Ties and parallels, my friends. 😉)

That's most of the symbolic stuff. We found out some interesting things in this episode, plot-wise. They found some encrypted data from the CRM. I'm definitely curious to find out what that's all about. The episode ended with Tony dying, Percy disappearing, and it looks like Silas might've killed him.

Most of us agree that that's probably not what happened. Or at least there's more to it. It seems a little too obvious that they're trying to make us believe Silas is a killer. I don't think he is. Personally, I feel like Percy is the Lizzie of this situation. But again, we'll just have to wait and see.

Thoughts?

[goldstarnation]

MARCH 2021 GOLD STAR MEDIA SCHEDULES & REVIEW

Members may earn 3 points each (up to 6 points) for writing, by the end of April 7 KST:

A solo para of 400+ words based on their monthly schedule (does not count toward your monthly total).

A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) based on their monthly schedule.

Threads do not have to take place directly during an important date listed on the schedule, but must be related to what the muse is mentioned to be doing in the paragraph explaining their schedule/the company’s schedule for the month and/or their thoughts on the mentioned activities or lack thereof.

These schedules may be updated throughout the month if new information needs to be added.

Reminder: February schedule posts are due by the end of March 7 KST. Please do not post schedule posts in the fmdschedule tag.

OVERALL COMPANY

Delays in construction have the opening date of the base Culture Complex delayed by a few months more than anticipated, but the idols are still on schedule to participate in preparing materials. This month, all idols will go into a studio to film short videos that will be used for a AR photobooth where fans can “take pictures” with their favorite idols. The videos they need to film will be pretty simple: sitting on benches and standing in a few different poses in front of a green screen (examples: 1, 2).

Important dates:

March 1-March 31: base Culture Complex museum AR photobooth filming (admin note: muses may encounter idols from other companies while there).

GOLD STAR SOLOIST 1

After spending a good part of last month preparing, she has to film her special Yoo Heeyeol’s Sketchbook episode this month. It will be an all-day filming since she’s the guest for the entire episode, which is formatted like a mini-concert with talk sections in between. 

Important dates:

March 13: Yoo Heeyeol’s Sketchbook filming (to be aired: March 20).

GOLD STAR SOLOIST 2

Her first cover video uploaded onto YouTube by Gold Star was well-received, so they’ve arranged for her to film another cover video with their resources. This time, it’s a cover of Pink Sweat$’s “Honesty” to keep in the lane of R&B, but showing a more vulnerable side this time. 

Important dates:

March 18: “Honesty” cover video filming.

GOLD STAR SOLOIST 3

March brings with it the end of his North America tour with six more dates mid-month across the United States and Canada. He doesn’t have many schedules when he’s back in Seoul, but his management passes word down to him that Gold Star is finalizing the details for him to begin to prepare for a comeback with a mini-album in late summer.

Important dates:

March 11: Before We Begin tour concert at Palace Theatre in St. Paul, MN, USA.

March 14: Before We Begin tour concert at Macewan Hall in Calgary, Canada.

March 16: Before We Begin tour concert at Neptune Theatre in Seattle, WA, USA.

March 17: Before We Begin tour concert at Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, Canada.

March 18: Before We Begin tour concert at Wonder Ballroom in Portland, OR, USA .

March 21: Before We Begin tour concert at The Warfield in San Francisco, CA, USA.

SILHOUETTE

"You’re The Best” is a success and well-received for showing Silhouette’s versatility as a brighter hit after the more intense “Sixth Sense” last year. After they end their music show promotions, Silhouette will immediately fly out to New York to attend KCON there. Once they return to Seoul, they’ll head back into the studio to record for a Japanese comeback with a full-length album.

Important dates:

March 19: End of music show promotions

March 20: Performance at KCON NY at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, USA.

March 21: Performance at KCON NY at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, USA.

ARIA

Aria will continue to prepare for their concert through March, including the solo stages they began preparing last month. Their tenth anniversary is approaching next month, as well, and for that, they’ll be releasing a special fan song. It won’t be promoted at all, like all of their fan songs, but they’ll go into the studio to record the song this month and film the music video at the end of March.

Important dates:

March 28: “Everybody Ready” M/V filming.

ORIGIN

Origin spends the beginning of the month in Seoul, continuing to prepare for their Japanese comeback with fittings and the photo shoot for the photo book and teasers. Mid-month, they’ll be back in North America to do more dates of their concert tour, but once they return, they’ll film the music video.

Important dates:

March 3: M/V and stage outfit fittings. 

March 7: Photo book and teaser photo shoot.

March 10: Map of the Soul tour concert at FedEx Field in Landover, MD, USA.

March 13: Map of the Soul tour concert at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.

March 14: Map of the Soul tour concert at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.

March 19: Map of the Soul tour concert at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL, USA.

March 20: Map of the Soul tour concert at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL, USA.

March 24: ‘Stay Gold” M/V filming.

IMPULSE

Impulse makes their anticipated comeback next month, meaning that in addition to days in the practice studio, they also have to shoot photos for their album and the comeback teasers. On the twentieth, they’re scheduled for a long day of filming for their comeback music video.

Important dates:

March 18: Photo book and teaser photo shoot.

March 20: “All Night” M/V filming.

 ��� PULS2

No schedules for the month.

Important dates:

N/A

FUSE

Fuse has been chosen as the new faces of Shilla Duty Free, and will do a promotional photo shoot for the company before the halfway mark of the month passes. While they’re on set for the photo shoot, they’ll be asked to sign a few albums and other pieces of merchandise with special, heartfelt messages for contest winners.

Important dates:

March 11: Shilla Duty Free promotional photo shoot.

↳ FUSE B&W

In addition to getting fitted for outfits for both their debut and their follow-up single promotions, the sub-unit members will be spending a lot of time in the studio this month to perfect the choreography for both “Monster” and “Naughty”. The focus is on “Monster” since it’s what they’ll be promoting first, but their choreographer anticipates that “Naughty” will take longer to get down.

Important dates:

March 25: M/V [2] and stage outfit [2] fittings.

ELEMENT

Element will film their comeback music video in the second week of the month. Between the MV filming and the comeback, they’ll mostly be rehearsing and doing last minute fittings and meetings, but they’ll also be taking a trip to the United States to perform during music festival SXSW’s Korea Spotlight event. Once they fly back to Seoul, their team’s focus is entirely on the comeback.

Important dates:

March 8: “Red Moon” M/V filming.

March 17: Performance at SXSW in Austin, TX, USA (also performing: BC Soloist 1).

March 24: Release of “Red Moon” & Red Moon mini-album + press showcase, music show promotions continue through April 24.

FEMME FATALE

Now that their tour is over, the members of Femme Fatale are expected to focus completely on preparing for their comeback. This month, that means continuing to nail down their performance in addition to attending fittings for their music video and stage outfits. As fashion is marketed as an important part of Femme Fatale’s image, fittings are especially important for them. Near the end of the month, they’ll shoot their teaser photos for the comeback.

Important dates:

March 18: M/V and stage outfit fittings.

March 28: Teaser photo shoot.

VIVE

Everyone must be moved into the dorm by March 8 and be living there fulltime. Their debut is quickly approaching, with a much shorter preparation period than idols would normally have under Gold Star, so everything is moving two times faster than it would normally be. Vive will not only record their mini-album this month, but also learn the choreography for the title track and b-sides “Cat & Dog” and “Blue Orangeade”. In between their already hectic schedules that also include fittings and photo shoots, each member of the group, as well as the full group, will also film an “introduction video” which will serve as additional hype for their debut:

Leader/lead vocal/lead rapper

Main vocal 1

Main vocal 2

Main rapper/main dancer/vocal

Maknae/lead vocal/lead dancer

Full group

Important dates:

March 14: M/V and stage outfit fittings.

March 20: Introduction Film filmings.

March 26: Photo book and teaser photo shoot.

[wits-writing]

Ultraman Z Ep. 8: “The Mystic Power” (TV Review)

(Original Air Date: August 7, 2020, Director: Koichi Sakamoto, Writer: Sotaro Hayashi)

Kaburagi’s experiments to create Monster Medals continues in this week’s Ultraman Z as he gathers the material to push past the limits of the Z-Risers fusion to create the devastating Five King. Meanwhile, his plans to gather those materials lead to one of the weakest story threads in the show so far.

[Full Review Under the Cut]

Celebro, the alien possessing Kaburagi, has been gradually getting more focus over the last few episodes. The momentum around his role in the story this time comes from Juggler following up on his investigation into his operation after finding Kaburagi’s nametag after their encounter last episode. Juggler being the first character we’ve seen call Celebro by his name suggests that he’s connected to why Juggler’s on this Earth to begin with. We also get more of how Celebro’s been operating to obtain the materials he needs for his experiments to create Monster Medals. We see he’s contracted two shapeshifting Alien Pitt sisters to obtain rare specimens for him this episode. Brainwashing them to gather more sample when he needs more. That he refers to the use of these materials as “an experiment” shows a detachment from the damage he’s causing. What matters is seeing how he can use the power of the tech behind the Z Riser and the medals to his own use. Juggler’s investigation confirms a bit of this when he finds a notebook Celebro’s been keeping on Kaburagi’s desk, containing the details of Ultra Medal creation written in an alien language.

Last time I discussed the use of sunset as a lighting choice during the Ultraman fight. The fights in this episode go forward into battles set at night (or just darken the sky when Tri-King appears early on.) While the magic hour lighting of last time provided darker shadows cast across the Ultras, the fight set against the night sky emphasize contrast. All three of Ultraman Z’s forms have their bright colors pop against the dark navy of the sky during the fight against Tri/Five-King. This is itself in contrast with the first fight in the episode, when Sevenger and Windom are fighting Tri-King. The cloud coverage Tri-King brings creates a muted palette emphasizing the dire situation of the two robots being overwhelmed by the fusion monster.

The time between these two fights gets split between Juggler’s previously mentioned investigation into Celebro and the part of this episode that I’m the most mixed on, Yoko and Yuka’s subplot. I spent a decent part of my discussion of the previous episode on how I felt the two characters weren’t given much to do with prominent guest characters showing up. The way this episode uses the time they’re given makes me feel like I jinxed something by bringing it up, since they spend a portion of this episode captured by the Alien Pitt sisters. The sequence of events that get them caught is a series of misunderstanding caused by Yuka finding Haruki’s lost Z-Riser in the aftermath of the first Tri-King. One of the sisters sees this and takes them both under the assumption one of them must be Zett’s human form. Her decision to take them both coming down to her impatience to figure out which one it might be is a genuinely funny touch.  

While Yoko and Yuka getting stuck with the role of capture victims is eyeroll inducing, there are a few things I enjoyed about their roles this episode. The opening sparring match at STORAGE headquarters between Yoko and Haruki makes a fun low stakes character moment between them while emphasizing Yoko’s fighting skills. Rima Matsuda as Yoko is especially impressive in this scene and the later fights since it’s clear she’s doing quite a few of these gymnastic moves on her own. The scene also works as a reminder of how much she outmatches both Haruki and Yuka in fighting skills. A trait used to humorous effect when Yuka pouts about being challenged by Yoko during the training exercise when they both know she’ll lose. Yuka’s fun as usual whenever she gets to express her passion for all things alien or monster related. That’s best displayed when Yoko and Yuka get broken free by Haruki and get to fight their captors. Yoko takes part in a more direct fight with one of the sisters. Meanwhile, the other spends most of that time running from Yuka as she asks to study her up close. These aspects don’t balance out what doesn’t work in their story, but they’re still nice to see. Though one thing I hope doesn’t get forgotten about in this subplot in the two of them seeing the Pitt sisters delivering more alien samples to the possessed Kaburagi. Since they barely remark upon “this guy is wearing the uniform of the guys that clean up after our monster fights” in this episode.

The main attraction for this episode is the debut of the latest of Ultraman Z’s fusion forms, Gamma Future. When the fight against Five-King takes a turn for the worse, Juggler decides to finally give the Ultra Medals he’s had since the end of episode one to Haruki and Zett (him being their source remains unknown.) This form is primarily based on the first three Ultras from the Heisei era of the franchise, Tiga, Dyna, and Gaia. Zett’s description of the three ties into the “mystical” theme of Gamma Future as a form. While the other two sets have been described by the rookie Ultra as “masters” and “brothers”, he only describes these three as being from other dimensions and that he’s only heard of them from Zero. It gives the sense that the three are mythic even among other Ultras.

Gamma Future’s look is set apart from Alpha Edge and Beta Smash primarily by its golden breastplate, a design choice taken directly from Tiga. There’s also a sense of grace and precision to how Zett moves in this form, emphasizing how it’s less physical than the other two. The attacks of this form are shown in three forms; energy tendrils, the summoning of the three Heisei Ultras to blast Five-King, and finally shrinking down so Zett can go inside Five King and blast him to pieces from within. It’s easily the most unique of the form debuts so far if nothing else.

“The Mystic Powers” leaves me with the most mixed feelings of any Ultraman Z episode so far thanks to how it misuses Yoko and Yuka. Though the advancement of the Celebro plot, presentation of the monster fights, and debut of Gamma Future are still enough to keep it from being even close to a bad episode. It’s still a well-constructed show and I hope it doesn’t repeat these mistakes to often in the future.

If you like what you’ve read here, please like/reblog or share elsewhere online, follow me on Twitter (@WC_WIT), and consider throwing some support my way at either Ko-Fi.com or Patreon.com at the extension “/witswriting”

[bccity]

AUGUST 2020 BC ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULES & REVIEW

Members may earn 3 points each (up to 6 points) for writing, by the end of September 7 KST:

A solo para of 400+ words based on their monthly schedule (does not count toward your monthly limit).

A thread of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) based on the monthly schedule.

Threads and solos do not have to take place directly during an important date listed on the schedule, but must be related to what the muse is mentioned to be doing in the paragraph explaining their schedule/the company’s schedule for the month and/or their thoughts on the mentioned activities or lack thereof.

These schedules may be updated throughout the month if new information needs to be added.

Reminder: July schedule posts are due by the end of August 7 KST. Please do not post schedule posts in the fmdschedule tag.

OVERALL COMPANY

Last month’s photo sessions for the base Culture Complex were a success and it seems like the project is off to a solid start, although some idols may be called back in for reshoots, especially for the 3D imaging, as necessary this month. All of the idols under BC, Dimensions, and Gold Star have been tasked with a new duty for the building this month: filming videos that will accompany some of the museum exhibits. The videos will be once again filmed in a studio, this time in front of a green screen, and the idols will be asked to talk about their feelings about important career events like their trainee days, debut, song releases, and major achievements. They will be given all of the subjects they are expected to talk about beforehand to rehearse their answers, and the director may request different wording or delivery of their answers as seen fit. (admin note: Muns have freedom about the specific topics muses are asked to talk about here within the guidelines given above, but any talk about scandalous or negative occurrences will be avoided.)

Important dates:

August 1-August 31: base Culture Complex museum intro videos filming (admin note: muses may encounter idols from other companies while there).

BC SOLOIST 1

“Love U” promotions continue with fan signs, music show promotions, and an appearance on Weekly Idol to film. After her promotions end, she has two festivals squeezed into the very end of the month: one in Incheon and one in Los Angeles (KCON). She will fly straight out from Incheon following the conclusion of her performance at that festival in order to arrive in Los Angeles in time to check into her hotel and get in rehearsal before her performance at KCON on the thirtieth. At KCON, she’ll perform a special dance cover of Ariana Grande’s ‘God Is A Woman” that’s she prepared throughout the month and the dance practice, filmed before KCON, will be released the following day for fans.

Important dates:

August 2: Fan sign in Gangnam, Seoul.

August 5: Filming of Weekly Idol appearance (to be aired: August 12).

August 16: Fan sign in Mapo, Seoul.

August 29: End of music show promotions.

August 29: Performance at Incheon Airport Sky Festival (also performing: Fuse).

August 30: Performance [2] at KCON LA (also performing: Knight, Alien, Lucid, and Gold Star Soloist 3)

August 31: Release of “God Is A Woman Cover” dance practice.

DECIPHER

Music show promotions end on the thirteenth, but there’s a quick turn around on their comeback and the members are told before promotions even end that they’ve already been confirmed to make another comeback in November. They’ll hear the demos of the confirmed tracks shortly before “Love Paint” promotions end and then almost immediately after they do, they’ll be expected in the studio to record for their next mini-album. The album only contains two full-group songs, and the other four are solos for four of the group’s members as follows:

Maknae/main dancer/lead vocal: “Paradise”

Lead rapper/lead dancer/vocal: “Good Love”

Main rapper/vocal: “With”

Main vocal: “Happy Until Now”

Important dates:

August 13: End of music show promotions.

August 25: Performance at Korea Times Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA, USA (also performing: Gal.actic, Unity, and Fuse).

         ↳ Decipher R & V

No schedules for the month.

Important dates:

N/A.

         ↳ CHAMPION

As Decipher finishes promoting their comeback and Unity makes their own comeback, a hold is put on touring, but BC and Dimensions have managed to land the members of the sub-unit a deal with Korean Air and they’ll be recording a special CF song for a music and safety video collaboration to bring more international attention to Korean Air following CHAMPION”s success overseas and to bring more domestic attention to CHAMPION, who are still not wholly accepted as a unit by fans of their main groups.

Important dates:

August 27: Korean Air x CHAMPION “Let’s Go Everywhere” MV and Safety Video filming.

BEE

In the final two days before their comeback, BEE is in Hong Kong for the last of their Live Concert: B concerts. They return to Seoul on the tenth and go to their press showcase venue immediately from the airport. It doesn’t come as a surprise to most anymore that “Darling” does well on the charts and wins over the hearts of the public and neither fans nor the public seem all that opposed to the brighter sound in comparison to BEE’s most recent releases either. Fan signs and music show promotions continue for the members through the end of the month.

Important dates:

August 8: Live Concert: B concert at Star Hall in Hong Kong.

August 9: Live Concert: B concert at Star Hall in Hong Kong.

August 10: Release of “Darling” & Everyday 4 mini-album, music show promotions continue through September 10. 

August 16: Fan sign in Songpa, Seoul.

August 23: Fan sign in Mapo, Seoul.

August 30: Fan sign in Yeouido, Seoul.

         ↳ 2BEE

No schedules for the month.

Important dates:

N/A

KNIGHT

Their new sub-unit makes their debut this month, but work on their comeback doesn’t cease since the members of CHAMPION are in Seoul this whole month. With the album recorded, August is designated as the month to learn and practice the choreography of the title track and b-side “Jekyll” until the group has them down by memory. From August 28 to August 31, all of the members will be in Los Angeles for their performance at this year’s KCON LA.

Important dates:

August 30: Performance at KCON LA (also performing: BC Soloist 1, Alien, Lucid, and Gold Star Soloist 3)

         ↳ White Knight

No schedules for the month.

Important dates:

N/A

         ↳ CHAMPION

As Decipher finishes promoting their comeback and Unity makes their own comeback, a hold is put on touring, but BC and Dimensions have managed to land the members of the sub-unit a deal with Korean Air and they’ll be recording a special CF song for a music and safety video collaboration to bring more international attention to Korean Air following CHAMPION”s success overseas and to bring more domestic attention to CHAMPION, who are still not wholly accepted as a unit by fans of their main groups.

Important dates:

August 27: Korean Air x CHAMPION “Let’s Go Everywhere” MV and Safety Video filming.

        ↳ Knight Light

Knight Light makes their debut this month and while they may not have the digital appeal of the main group or White Knight, their album sales are the top of the top for a sub-unit, which had been more BC’s aim with the unit anyway. Three title tracks is a lot to promote nearly every day on music shows and since public appeal isn’t BC’s priority with this unit anyway, their debut promotions are limited to music shows and fan signs.

Important dates:

August 3: Release of “What A Life”, “Closer To You”, and “Just Us 2″ & What A Life mini-album, music show promotions continue through September 3. 

August 4: Fan sign in Jongno, Seoul.

August 9: Fan sign in Mapo, Seoul.

August 16: Fan sign in Gangnam, Seoul.

August 23: Fan sign in Seocho, Seoul.

August 27: Fan sign in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul.

LIPSTICK

Queendom takes full priority for Lipstick’s schedules in August. The show hasn’t begun airing yet, so it’s hard to tell how it will due in ratings beyond the buzz it’s steadily creating in online communities, but BC hopes the show can bring a new surge of life into Lipstick’s fanbase before they make their next comeback. This month, the task is cover songs, and Lipstick will be covering the famous “Coming of Age Ceremony”, a song they’ve actually covered before, which could be a risk if their fans are bored of it, but has also been a crowd-pleaser when they performed it before. Full details of Queendom filming for this month can be found here.

Important dates:

August 24: Queendom episode three & four filming (cover song stage).

August 27: Episode one of Queendom airs.

         ↳ Lip Gloss

No schedules this month.

Important dates:

N/A

CHARM

CHARM continues to tour in the middle of the month, this time in Europe. The concert has been a success so far and this only seems to be continuing as the group wraps up their tour. The Berlin date marks the final one of the tour and BC doesn’t have plans for them to tour again until next spring, at which point they’ll embark on their first dome tour in Japan, at this point. Staff encourages CHARM to give their all for their final tour dates instead of letting the repetition get the best of them.

Important dates:

August 18: Ode To You tour concert at WiZink Center in Madrid, Spain.

August 20: Ode To You tour concert at La Seine Musicale in Paris, France.

August 23: Ode To You tour concert at The SSE Arena in London, England.

August 25: Ode To You tour concert at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany.

         ↳ CHARM U

No schedules for the month.

Important dates:

N/A

WISH

WISH’s tour continues with two more dates in Japan in August. Though they don’t have any more comebacks planned for this year, BC has decided to have them release a special single for their fifth anniversary that they won’t be promoting: “Downpour”, to accompany a special concert only open to official fanclub members they’ll also be holding around their anniversary. This month, they’ll record the song in the studio.

Important dates:

August 25: WISHlights Tour concert at Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan.

August 26: WISHlights Tour concert at Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan.

[anywaylots]

thoughts re: Adventure Time

So hey! I just recently watched Adventure Time for the first time in its entirety. All ten seasons, all 283 episodes (give or take), every bit of lore and backstory. And since I’m working on having more thoughts about the television I watch & would someday like to create, here are my thoughts!

Part 1: The Watching Experience

It’s tricky organizing a review for such a ginormous TV show, so I want to begin with how I felt watching it. Since I just got off the train of watching Regular Show, and Steven Universe is one of my favorite pieces of media in the world, I was no stranger to the 11-minute time slot that AT uses. It’s actually quite impressive to squeeze all the necessary stuff into 11 minutes, and when it comes to cartoons, most of the time that’s all I can really handle. AT didn’t waste time getting to what the episode was about.

That being said, much of the first 7 seasons had me going through a little bit of whiplash with every episode having almost nothing to do with the one before it. At the start, AT is not a show that you necessarily need to watch in order. Much of the lore is dropped unexpectedly and doesn’t really matter in terms of season progression until you get to The Lich and onward. 

I expected the lore to become more important as the show went on, but that never really happened. Likewise, I thought a lot more things would lead to immediate changes in the show as a whole, like, for example, The Lich, the Flame Princess breakup, Finn’s dad Martin, or Betty entering the picture. I thought that once these things had their big episodes that the show would change DRAMATICALLY afterward. But in most cases, the episodes directly after them were just kind of typical episodes. 

That could annoy me (and it sometimes did), but if I try to be more open with how I watch TV, what I can take away from this is that AT is not Avatar or SU. It’s not about one singular plot that the whole show is inching toward; it’s about Finn and Jake and their many adventures in Ooo. Viewing it from that perspective is much more comforting. Like, “Okay, that big event just happened, by life still goes on! Let’s see what Jake’s kids are doing, or where the hell BMO is.”

Part 2: Later AT & the Finale

The second part is going to cover most of the end of the show, mostly the last few seasons and finale.

Once Stakes was introduced, the show finds its footing again. A miniseries tucked into the seventh season, focusing on OUR QUEEN!!!! Marceline? Priceless. I was here for this. Finally, a plot line taking up 8 consecutive episodes, I loved it. I feel the same way about Islands and Elements. I especially loved creepy gigantic Bubblegum. I liked Fern’s introduction at the end of Islands, and I liked all of Finn’s mom’s backstory, too. 

Now for the finale. 

I’ll say that first off, I would have liked more GOLB buildup, because he is so so terrifying. There were definitely hints, like The Lich mentioning him or Magic Man being involved with him. But I still would’ve wanted more, like through nightmares, legends, Ice King knowing about him, or (love of my life) Prismo possibly mentioning him, etc etc. That being said, what we DID get was sooo good. 

The structure of the finale was, in a word, brilliant.

I enjoyed how there was one half about all the characters’ kind of mental state and inner trauma, especially Finn and Fern. I enjoyed Fern getting his own resolution before this giant final boss of the show. The second half was very action-heavy, and I liked that a whole lot. Dividing it in this way felt very Neon Genesis of them. 

Framing the end of Finn and Jake’s story within the beginning of two new adventurer’s story was a magnificent idea! It really illustrated this idea that no matter what happens, life goes on. There will always be more adventures to experience! 

That idea is what I took away from the show. After the Great Mushroom War nearly ended the world, life still went on. Joshua and Margaret were still a couple and still had children. New life came into the world, like Bubblegum, and people grew up, like Marceline. Life found a way to continue and blossom so much that the sadness of the war was forgotten. And the cycle continues!

Highlights

Best parts of the show to me were:

Tree Trunks (thrice divorced GODDESS)

Ice King (sorry man uwu)

Betty (love her!)

Marceline (come on)

Marshall Lee (COME ON!!)

Jake’s song about how he loves his life in S7E25 (best song)

BMO (i mean...)

Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant (duh)

& all the songs! Rebecca Sugar, you better work!

--

I hope to do more TV reviews, for myself or whoever wants to read. Peace B)

[crimsonblazw]

I'm 8/9 episodes in to my Jungle Fury/Gekiranger watch through and I have some initial analysis. In general I've always loved the theme/aesthetic of the series concept, from the way the suits are reminiscent of tracksuits and other sports/martial arts garb to the way they use Ki for attacks and forming their Megazords. The tldr is that both series are very good so far and does the theme Justice even in where they differ,but the deeper dive is below.

Gekiranger

Characters

To start I think this team is my favorite "initially only three people team", I'll start with Gekired/Jan who was raised by tigers and has a childlike/simple nature on top of being energetic which gives him this Goku/Tarzan vibe.

His development so far seems to be a journey of enlightenment as he continues to be disciplined in Jyuken and begins pushing past relying on base emotions and instincts to achieve something greater,by learning from not only the team's mentor Xiafu (who's mantra of training through everyday circumstance holds true even when he's not directly involved) but also his teammates ,with Gekiblue/Retsu being more aloof and uptight but allows his sense of technique to inspire Jan as well as others, and Gekiyellow/Ran being more calm and focused showing Jan that her dedication to practice allows her to quell any feelings of anxiety during battle.

Miki is an ally and secondary mentor figure to the team grounds the series with her down to Earth presence while providing support for the team using her athletic company SCRTC to develop the team's gear and weapons (something I think is very cool/unique and fitting for this series), I also like the surrogate mother role she plays to Jan which fits given she already has a child named Natsume who has had a few helping roles herself and appropriately acts as a sister figure to Jan.

In terms of villains I'm currently more curious to see what happens going forward since I know some scattered details about later events and Rio hasn't really been fleshed out just yet, though I do find Mele interesting so far showing that her loyalty/thirst for Rio began when he revived her due to sensing their "mutual sorrow" which I suppose made her the ideal right hand woman. When this loyalty is put to the test when the leader of the Venom fists offers her true reserection in exchange for betraying Rio and she decides then and there serving Rio is trully what makes her happy.

Plot

Each episode so far is framed with two key ideas; "everyday life can be used to further the team's training" and the concept of characters representing Mind(referred to as technique here),Body,and Heart. Each episode so far shows how various activities no matter how innocuous can be applied to Jyukrn discipline,as well how each member represents the archetypes of Mind/Technique(Gekiblue/Retsu),Body(Gekired/Jan),and Heart (Gekiyellow/Ran) and why they're synchronization is the key to victory. It definitely adds more dimension to their overall development and I'm a sucker for this type of symbolism as well as watching characters master their craft and improve with new lessons over time.

Jungle Fury/Comparison

The team dynamic definitely has the skeleton of Gekiranger's but adds it's on flare (which I think is the best way to do adaptation in my opinion). The main team still carries the Body, Heart, and Mind symbolism and even has an excellent example of how each member represents this in the first two episodes with Casey (representing the body) having a lot of potential as a newcomer, but is unsure of himself so Lilly (The Heart) uses her compassion and positive/mature nature to encourage Theo(the mind) to inspire Casey and help him master his weapon, all of which perfectly demonstrates the type of synchronization the team needs.

Something more unique is the relationship between the characters,in Gekiranger Retsu and Ran accept Jan rather quickly with a few initial clashes here or there with their overall friendship before he arrived seemingly being more "professional" for a lack of better words. In JF you really get the feeling that Theo and Lilly have been close friends for years with their chemistry even hinting at something a little deeper. When Casey enters the dynamic he instantly has chemistry with Liily which Theo feels threatened by, leading to some initial infighting the group has to work through and resolve.I

think it's one of the best explorations of team dynamic PR has done, especially with how maturely the whole ordeal is handled. individually I think Casey journey in gaining confidence isn't to different from Jan's journey to enlightenment,Theo's uptight and perfectionist nature is a rather straightforward adaptation of Retsu's personality ,and Lilly is my favorite with a very fun but mature personality that builds on Ran's more focused and level headed personality.

RJ is also a fun mentor character who's unorthodox teaching style parallels Xiafu's philosophy in addition to him just being very charismatic and personable. Like Miki Fran grounds the show as a civilian character who balances out the more intense parts of the ranger's dynamic and allows them to bounce off of someone who isn't involved in the action. Jared/Daishi is interesting,the show quickly establishes a strong rivalry between him and Casey built on Jared's strong pride and aggressive nature clashing against Casey's Kinder and more meek one with the difference between their rivalry and Rio and Jan's rivalry being how the former seems to clash over Rio being Xiafu's disgraced student and Jan more or less defending the honor of his Xiafu's teachings.

Another notable difference between Jared and Rio is while Rio is more aloof Jared is actively abusive (at least initially) and agressive towards practically everyone including Camille ( who's basically a perfect adaptation of Mele) which only makes sense as someone who was more concerned with his pride and power over others.

Overall

Both series are off to a great start and I'm probably going to move through both very fast. Next time I'll post it'll be thoughts on the new Masters ,the new rangers,and other developments. Please share your thoughts below.

[gracekraft]

Steven Universe - Punching Up

It’s the end of the year and I wanted to spend time reflecting on the Steven Universe comics that I spent the better part of the year writing.  I feel like they come out so fast that I don’t have time to properly talk about them.  So as the volumes have started coming out, I thought I would take some time to talk about each of the stories featured in each collection!

Issues #5-#8 are collected in this Steven Universe Punching Up, #5-#7 are stories I wrote while #8 was written by the incredible Melanie Gillman!  The stories featured in here were some of the first stories I came up with when I pitched them to Boom.

Issue # 5 - A Day in the Life of Lion

Illustrated by the stellar Meg Omac! ( @magecom )

I always thought it might be fun to make a story featuring the kind of mischief Lion gets up to when Steven is around, which seems to be like 80% of the time.  I also remember there was a Steven Universe panel a while back where a little kid asked where Lion was, so I thought kids might enjoy a Lion story too.

I was honestly a little surprised I was allowed to do this since it’s a departure of the Steven’s point of view only that the show goes for.  I normally try to keep to that in writing the comics but thought it might be fun to deviate away from it slightly.

This story is essentially a series of vignettes about Lion’s day, so pretty much exactly what the title says.  I always love those episodes in a show where they deviate away from the usual story and story-telling format where we get a glimpse into the life of a character we don’t see as often but their POV on events is refreshing.  I also love those stories about the secret life that pets lead when their humans aren’t around a la Hamtaro.  Sadly Lion does not have a fun crew of other magical lions to go on adventures with, but he still gets up to some innocent mischief around Beach City.

Lion and cat Amethyst’s shenanigans were definitely inspired by a super old comic I made about them interacting.  I always thought it would be cute if Lion was curious about cat Amethyst and took care of her like a little kitten.  Cat pals!

Lion messing up the things in Pearl’s room is definitely taken from many an experience of my dog doing the same.  He gets into anything that isn’t behind a closed door or out of his reach, and it’s not unusual to come home the a grand mess.  Sadly no matter what you say he won’t understand you, only act innocent and leave the scene of the crime.  Thus Lion is no different.

Lion’s adventures on the boardwalk were fun.  Sadie and Greg are some of my favorite humans, so I enjoyed giving them a little spotlight, especially with their wariness yet acceptance of the magical pink lion that inhabits Beach City.

I thought a short detour to Rose’s fountain would be a nice peaceful, introspective moment within the comic.  But even when it seems a little deep, Lion still has his cat antics and moves on.

I also wanted to give Lapis and Peridot a little spotlight since I always enjoy their barn life shenanigans.  I’m really happy with how Meg captured each of their personalities in this scene, it translated very well from the script!

Lion finally gets his lizard prey after traumatizing Peridot.  Honestly I still have no idea what those lizards are.  Tiny gem mutants? Gem-infuenced fauna?? Whatever they are Lion eats them so I continue to add them in.  And of course I had to end these adventures with a brief encounter with Garnet, who has a silent understanding of Lion.  And then bookending it with Connie and Steven’s return, blissfully unaware that Lion even moved from the spot they left him.

Peach Panther and Purple Puma

Illustrated by Rii Abrego! ( @riibrego )

My inspiration for this was Amethyst’s line to Pearl in “Back to the Barn” when she says “Hey Pearl, you should come wrestling with me sometime!”  I thought it would be fun to revisit the wrestling ring once more in the comics, Tiger Millionaire was one of my favorite season 1 episodes and we pretty much had seen the last of it in the show after “Tiger Philanthropist.”  Thus, this is supposed to take place later in time than it appears based on Amethyst’s season 1 attire in this issue, but sometimes miscommunication happens in the higher management.

I wanted to write a story where Pearl gets out of her comfort zone and lets loose for a while.  When I first wrote this story, I was still dealing with burnout and insecurity after my previous job ended, and I channeled that frustration into this story.  At the same time, this is also one of my more self-indulgent stories in that it’s filled with a lot of things I like (Beach City Underground Wrestling, Pearl and Amethyst having a fun time together, cute character shenanigans etc.) so it was great expressing my feelings in a story I especially enjoyed.

Inventing Pearl’s wrestling persona was really fun and I’m grateful to have had to chance to add something fun like that to the comic canon.  Between Purple Puma and Tiger Millionaire, I figured Pearl’s persona should match the cat theme, and I really liked the sound of Panther (goes well with Puma).  Pink Panther already exists so I tweaked it to be the Peach Panther.  I’m super happy that Rii captured the exact look I was going for with Pearl’s outfit.  Pearl is not a fan of shapeshifting (and now we know why) so I figured she would be able to at least give herself an outfit and Steven would help jazz it up with the silly pink cat ears.

I’m not the most knowledgable about wrestling so I did a lot of research to get the names of moves right for Mr. Smiley’s commentary.  I also had to go back to see what the names of the Beach City wrestling team names were and what the individual fighting names were.  It was fun getting to pick my favorites to feature in the comic!

I loved writing the last page because it has those cute, wholesome interactions I am all about in Steven Universe.  I’m also super happy with how well my script translated to the final pictures!

The Crystal Gems and the Sea

Illustrated by Meg Omac!

I love revisiting tiny details from the show in the comics, and this one is no different with the focus on the Gem Sloop from “Cat Fingers.” I thought it would be fun to have the Gems and Steven go on a mission where they couldn’t simply warp there, a fun sea-faring mission!  There’s definitely several stories in addition to this one where I figure out a scenario that I’d like the write and then work backwards to figure out how the characters end up there.

Steven and Onion stories tend to involve G.U.Y.S or G.A.L.S one way or another, so I thought it would only be fitting to start the story off with them.  While Steven has matured quite a bit from the earlier days of the show, he still has a childish wonder about him, and I figure he still does that thing where he sees something in the spur of the moment and thinks about how fun it would be to also do that thing, and then he finds a way to do so.  While he won’t go to the extent of jeopardizing a mission to have fun, if he can still fit some games into a less dire mission then where’s the harm?

I’m really happy with how the character acting came out for the Gems’ and Steven’s interactions.  It warms my heart to see how the Gems have grown to trust him more and more as the show progressed.  I wanted to add some moments that reflected this growth and had fun writing it in.

Also I have to share the description I wrote for the eel monster because this is the kind of stuff I actually write to give an idea of what I’m trying to describe.  She also ended up looking like an aquatic cousin of Centipeetle, and Sea-ntipeetle if you will.

I see some folks picking these comics apart for details that hint at something in the show, but I’ll be completely honest, while I do my best to write close to what’s believable for the show, nothing ties directly to it.  Any monsters or instances that seem to hint at something greater are usually just completely coincidental!  But it makes me happy that folks enjoy what I add in the comics.

The action panels for the fight are some of my favorites.  They came out nice and dynamic are really convey the type of action I was hoping for.  Fun and exciting!

I always see some folks complaining about how “townie” episodes are boring filler, but I just can’t disagree more!  There’s definitely some townie eps that are among my favorite episodes, because even if they’re not about epic Gem adventures (though some still are) they feature important lessons for Steven to learn from his human half.  I thought it would be fun to have Onion and his Dad be integral to the mission because townies and the human half of Steven’s life is just as important and valuable.

And that concludes the issues I worked on in volume 2 of the Steven Universe Ongoing series.  I still really love this first batch of comics.  Rii and Meg really hit it out of the park and added their personalities to the comics and made for very fun reads!

[confrontingbabble-on]

“A common point of criticism against the Bible is the Genesis creation narrative. According to young Earth creationism, which takes a literal view of the book of Genesis, the universe and all forms of life on Earth were created directly by God sometime between 5,700 and 10,000 years ago. This assertion is contradicted by radiocarbon dating of fossils, as well as modern understanding of genetics, evolution, and cosmology.[58]

For instance, astrophysical evidence suggests that the universe is approximately 13.8 billion years old.[59]

Moreover, 10,000 years is not enough time to account for the current amount of genetic variation in humans. If all humans were descended from two individuals that lived less than 10,000 years ago, it would require an impossibly high rate of mutation to reach humanity's current level of genetic diversity.[60]

The argument that the literal story of Genesis can qualify as science collapses on three major grounds: the creationists' need to invoke miracles in order to compress the events of the earth's history into the biblical span of a few thousand years; their unwillingness to abandon claims clearly disproved, including the assertion that all fossils are products of Noah's flood; and their reliance upon distortion, misquote, half-quote, and citation out of context to characterize the ideas of their opponents.  — Bully for Brontosaurus by Stephen Jay Gould

According to one of the world's leading biblical archaeologists, William G. Dever,

Archaeology certainly doesn't prove literal readings of the Bible...It calls them into question, and that's what bothers some people. Most people really think that archaeology is out there to prove the Bible. No archaeologist thinks so. [...] From the beginnings of what we call biblical archeology, perhaps 150 years ago, scholars, mostly western scholars, have attempted to use archeological data to prove the Bible. And for a long time it was thought to work. William Albright, the great father of our discipline, often spoke of the "archeological revolution." Well, the revolution has come but not in the way that Albright thought. The truth of the matter today is that archeology raises more questions about the historicity of the Hebrew Bible and even the New Testament than it provides answers, and that's very disturbing to some people.[61]

Dever also wrote:

Archaeology as it is practiced today must be able to challenge, as well as confirm, the Bible stories. Some things described there really did happen, but others did not. The biblical narratives about Abraham, Moses, Joshua and Solomon probably reflect some historical memories of people and places, but the 'larger than life' portraits of the Bible are unrealistic and contradicted by the archaeological evidence....[62]

I am not reading the Bible as Scripture… I am in fact not even a theist. My view all along—and especially in the recent books—is first that the biblical narratives are indeed 'stories,' often fictional and almost always propagandistic, but that here and there they contain some valid historical information...[63]

According to Dever, the scholarly consensus is that the figure of Moses is legendary, and not historical.[64] However, he states that a "Moses-like figure" may have existed somewhere in the southern Transjordan in the mid-13th century BC.[65]

Tel Aviv University archaeologist Ze'ev Herzog wrote in the Haaretz newspaper:

This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that the God of Israel, YHWH, had a female consort and that the early Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai.[66][67]

Israel Finkelstein told the Jerusalem Post that Jewish archaeologists have found no historical or archaeological evidence to back the biblical narrative of the Exodus, the Jews' wandering in Sinai or Joshua's conquest of Canaan. On the alleged Temple of Solomon, Finkelstein said that there is no archaeological evidence to prove it really existed.[68]

Professor Yoni Mizrahi, an independent archaeologist who has worked with the International Atomic Energy Agency, agreed with Israel Finkelstein.[68]

Regarding the Exodus of Israelites from Egypt, Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass said:

Really, it's a myth [...] This is my career as an archaeologist. I should tell them the truth. If the people are upset, that is not my problem.[69]

Also...

Biblical archaeology has helped us understand a lot about the world of the Bible and clarified a considerable amount of what we find in the Bible. But the archaeological record has not been friendly for one vital issue, Israel's origins: the period of slavery in Egypt, the mass departure of Israelite slaves from Egypt, and the violent conquest of the land of Canaan by the Israelites. The strong consensus is that there is at best sparse indirect evidence for these biblical episodes, and for the conquest there is considerable evidence against it.  — Peter Enns.[20]

And...

much of the archaeological evidence demonstrates that the Hebrew Bible cannot in most cases be taken literally, many of the people, places and things probably did exist at some time or another.  — Jonathan Michael Golden.[22]

Many fields of study span the Bible and history; such fields range from archeology and astronomy to linguistics and comparative literature. Scholars also examine the historical context of Bible passages, the importance ascribed to events by the authors, and the contrast between the descriptions of these events and other historical evidence.

Archaeological discoveries since the 19th century are open to interpretation, but broadly speaking they lend support to few of the Old Testament's narratives as history and offer evidence to challenge others.[a][21][b][23][24]

Biblical minimalism is a label applied to a loosely knit group of scholars who hold that the Bible's version of history is not supported by any archaeological evidence so far unearthed, thus the Bible cannot be trusted as a history source.[25][26] Critics of the authenticity of the New Testament such as Richard Carrier and Paul N. Tobin argue that pseudepigrapha within the New Testament invalidates it as a reliable source of information.[27][28]  Author Richard I. Pervo details the non-historical sources of the Book of Acts.[29]

Elizabeth Anderson, a professor of philosophy and women's studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, states that "the Bible contains both good and evil teachings", and it is "morally inconsistent".[9]

Anderson criticizes commands God gave to men in the Old Testament, such as: kill adulterers, homosexuals, and "people who work on the Sabbath" (Leviticus 20:10; Leviticus 20:13; Exodus 35:2, respectively); to commit ethnic cleansing (Exodus 34:11-14, Leviticus 26:7-9); commit genocide (Numbers 21: 2-3, Numbers 21:33–35, Deuteronomy 2:26–35, and Joshua 1–12); and other mass killings.[10] Anderson considers the Bible to permit slavery, the beating of slaves, the rape of female captives in wartime, polygamy (for men), the killing of prisoners, and child sacrifice.[10] She also provides a number of examples to illustrate what she considers "God's moral character": "Routinely punishes people for the sins of others ... punishes all mothers by condemning them to painful childbirth", punishes four generations of descendants of those who worship other gods, kills 24,000 Israelites because some of them sinned (Numbers 25:1–9), kills 70,000 Israelites for the sin of David in 2 Samuel 24:10–15, and "sends two bears out of the woods to tear forty-two children to pieces" because they called someone names in 2 Kings 2:23–24.[11]

Anderson criticizes what she terms morally repugnant lessons of the New Testament. She claims that "Jesus tells us his mission is to make family members hate one another, so that they shall love him more than their kin" (Matt 10:35-37), that "Disciples must hate their parents, siblings, wives, and children (Luke 14:26)", and that Peter and Paul elevate men over their wives "who must obey their husbands as gods" (1 Corinthians 11:3, 14:34-5, Eph. 5:22-24, Col. 3:18, 1 Tim. 2: 11-2, 1 Pet. 3:1).[12] Anderson states that the Gospel of John implies that "infants and anyone who never had the opportunity to hear about Christ are damned [to hell], through no fault of their own".[13]

Simon Blackburn states that the "Bible can be read as giving us a carte blanche for harsh attitudes to children, the mentally handicapped, animals, the environment, the divorced, unbelievers, people with various sexual habits, and elderly women".[14]

Blackburn criticizes what he terms morally suspect themes of the New Testament.[15] He notes some "moral quirks" of Jesus: that he could be "sectarian" (Matt 10:5–6),[16] racist (Matt 15:26 and Mark 7:27), and placed no value on animal life (Luke 8: 27–33).

Blackburn provides examples of Old Testament moral criticisms, such as the phrase in Exodus 22:18, ("Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.") which he says has "helped to burn alive tens or hundreds of thousands of women in Europe and America". He states that the Old Testament God apparently has "no problems with a slave-owning society", considers birth control a crime punishable by death, and "is keen on child abuse".[17] Additional examples that are questioned today are: the prohibition on touching women during their "period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19–24)", the apparent approval of selling daughters into slavery (Exodus 21:7), and the obligation to put to death someone working on the Sabbath (Exodus 35:2).[18]  “

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Bible

[balerios-blog]

Season 4 , Ep 8 thoughts

Before I begin I want to say that the issues that I have is with the writing and what I feel is an extremely poor direction the show as a whole has been through for quite some time now. I do not like Game of Thrones as a show, but I do not have issues with those who choose to portray their muse based on show events. I am going to handle it is based on characters (Jon, Sansa, Daenerys, Missandei, Jaime, Brienne and Cersei):

Brienne: Definitely deserve better treatment than what she received and I do not think I can properly put into words how angry I am for her.  

Jaime: My issue with Jaime and his behavior last night is his actions contradicts this ‘redemption arc’, which is extremely confusing. What he did to Brienne is typical fuck boy shit and I am not happy with it. Killing Cersei better be worth the pain he caused Brienne.

Cersei: My main issue with Cersei as a character on this show is how her behavior is always justified, but Dany is labeled as ‘mad’ or ‘power hungry’ for doing the same thing Cersei is. The double standard is unacceptable and for the last eight seasons I have been wondering where is all the ‘mad queen’ energy for Cersei? I want to touch her treatment of Missandei, but I am going to save that.

Sansa: Up until this season, I really have not paid Sansa much attention. My main issue with Sansa and how she is being written is how volatile she is. This post pretty much sums up how feelings with Sansa and I find her behavior to be unacceptable. Jon told her something (which I will get to because he should have kept his fucking mouth shut like Daenerys told him to) and instead of keeping her brother’s confidence, the FIRST thing she did was run and tell Varys and Tyrion. Her behavior only confirm what Dany was trying to warn Jon about in the first place. She has made it VERY clear to me that her only intention is to ensure Dany does not sit on the Iron Throne; her exact reason for being so hostile to Dany honestly have NO IDEA AND SOMEONE NEEDS TO EXPLAIN IT TO ME! Sansa and Dany have similar stories and considering how Cersei is a common enemy to them, being an ally would have made more sense.

Jon Aegon: I have no fucking clue what is up with Aegon Stargaryen. His behavior, how he is treating Dany is so extremely frustrating and hurtful to watch. He turned his back to her, ignored her plea of keeping his secret and now it clear he has decided to abandon Daenerys all together. For Jon to do this considering how much Dany has lost and sacrifice for him makes my blood boil. In addition, the question I need someone to answer for me is what was his intention of telling Sansa and Arya when he DOES NOT WANT THE IRONE THRONE? JON DOES NOT WANT THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, SO WHY TAKE THAT AWAY FROM DAENERYS I CANNOT UNDERSTAND. In addition, his treatment of Ghost was so heart breaking, and for D&D deciding to throw away Jon’s characterization and give him something he does not even want is ridiculous. I am not expecting much from Jon next week.

Daenerys: As someone who has fought Show! Dany’s characterization since the very beginning, having such a change of heart is crazy. The last two seasons Daenerys has soften and let her guard down. She surrounded herself my people she believed were good council and would help her achieve her life’s goal of taking back the Iron Throne. Her plan was set and everything was going, as she wanted – until she met Jon. Meeting Jon changed a lot for Dany; she put her war on Cersei on hold and followed Jon back to The North with Drogon, Rhaegal (Visierion died as she saved Jon from the Night King and the White Walkers) and her armies to fight in what she believed was right. She did not want to just save the North; to save Westeros from the NK and protect her people. When she arrived to Winterfell Daenerys was met with such hostilities and mistrust from everyone; Sansa using any chance she had to be snarky to Daenerys as if she did something to her. Dany wanted to prove she was not her father, she wanted to help the people and you would think after losing the Dothraki, a vast portion of the Unsullied and her most trusted and beloved advisor that would have been enough.

But of fucking course, it was not.

Instead of thanking Daenerys for the sacrifices she had made for the North, she was met with even more disrespect and isolation. While Tormund was praising Jon for riding on Rhaegal (like he wasn’t beyond the wall with Jon and she also said his fucking life), all I could think of was where was Dany’s congratulations when she was the reason her dragons were present in the first place? I cannot even imagine how alone she must have felt and the only person who knew how to comfort her was gone. She BEGGED Aegon not to say anything to anyone about his true identify and what did he do? After everything Daenerys has loss for him, Aegon decides to betray her trust to people HE KNOWS are plotting against her. She tells him she loves him and he has nothing to say to her. The North as a whole made it very clear they had no interest in helping her and so Dany went out on her own and once again lost. Missandei and Rhaegal were losses I do not think Dany will be able to recover from. Their deaths will culminate for Dany not taking any more shit and more importantly, being so angry with herself because she knew she should have followed her gut. She should not have given Tyrion so many chances, not to trust Varys and of course to follow Jon to the North. Dany should have went directly to the Red Keep the moment she came to Westeros and everything would have been over. However, of course she cannot do anything without being called the “Mad Queen’ or threating to be too consume with power. D&D have zero clue how to properly write female characters; a woman in power should not be perceived as negative. A woman should not have to experience tragedy and be the stepping-stone for a man to achieve his purpose. It is this kind of misogynistic writing that has repelled me from the show for so long and I HATE how this is it ends for Daenerys. It is not fair her entire series arc is just being used to propel Aegon forward; I am so angry by this.

Missandei: My heart is so heavy still for my beautiful butterfly daughter. I knew that she was going to die, but the brutality of it has made so angry I doubt I will watch another episode of this show. As a woman of color myself, I can identify with how Missandei felt during her time in the North. To see people they do not look like you do is always uncomfortable, but from a young age, we are taught to make the best any situation. However, to be treated so horribly, to have people look down upon you because you are different is so damn hurtful Missandei was uncomfortable and clearly separated from Daenerys for the majority of their time in the North. During the battle of Winterfell being in the catacombs with said people and having to listen to someone JUDGE the person you know has given up everything to be there is frustrating.

Especially when it is someone, you believe in and know that their efforts are being completely disregarded.

She believes in her Queen, Missandei knew if she wanted to leave and no longer be by Dany’s side, she would have let her go without any questions. This loyalty and love for Dany is what ultimately leads to Missandei’s death; a prisoner in chains to a woman who viciously murdered her just prove a fucking point. D&D did not consider Missandei as a WOC who spent the majority of her life in slavery would be HUMLIATED by dying in chains. She did not deserve to die; they did not need to kill her so savagely for the shock factor. People gave Daenerys so much shit for killing the Tarlys, but I have not seen the same energy for Cersei who killed someone completely innocent.

Overall, I am drained from the inconsistencies and shit characterization from D&D. The sad thing is my expectations were so low for this season and for them not even to hit par says a lot. I am so done with a show I cannot even began to describe. I just want everyone to die and I hope Daenerys burns KH to the fucking ground.

Fuck everything at this point.