#funny enough I'm not using any of these images for my drawing. i just think they're fitting

[savourysaltysweet]

Finally drawing Royal Margarine Cookie... I hope everyone is ready for my Tamino propaganda as I will be using him as reference

[blackwaxidol]

I'm so pleased with how Ru'thûn's disguise is turning out. She looks great...

[lu-is-not-ok]

Sorry I'm actually obsessed with the Daiyu-Baoyu theory and I'm rotating it in my head forever. I'm not sure if I'm actually onto anything here but when thinking about it I recalled this CG from the TGS trailer

and I remember thinking about how odd this picture seems because it's so Un-Hong Lu-like. Because from what we've seen, Hong Lu has never even gotten close to being this angry. And yet, they showed us this picture in a trailer before the game even released. It's obviously something they wanted us to see and keep in mind. But so far, there doesn't seem to be anything we can think of that can draw this kind of reaction out of Hong Lu, who seems to just redirect or avoid upsetting topics altogether.

When reading your theory, I remembered this CG and noticed that he's facing the right, meaning we can't see his jade eye. This isn't the first time they've obscured something important from us in the trailer (e.g., Don Quixote's eyes), so it's not a stretch to say they're intentionally hiding his eye. This suggests that something might be up with it in this scene that we aren't supposed to know yet, like, for example, being removed.

If we assume that Baoyu's memories are in his eye, which has been put in Daiyu's body, as well as Kurokumo Hong Lu's attitude being the most Daiyu-like, then it would explain this CG a lot better, because it's not really Hong Lu or Baoyu. It's Daiyu.

Sorry for the very long ask, I got excited. Again, I'm really just rambling and speculating. What I do know is that I'm really enjoying this theory, and thinking about writing a fanfic with the premise because it is so fascinating to me!

Funny you bring up that CG in particular, since the subject of it has come up on this blog before! That being said, I unfortunately can't find the exact post where I talked about it, so I might as well do so again - especially since we now also have more insight on Hong Lu as a characer.

The full CG that cut-in comes from can be seen in the Story Demo video for the Alpha Version of Limbus, as a preview CG for the 1-5 node on the very early version of Canto 1's Story Node map.

Notably, this CG does not appear in any Cutscene/Story Demo videos post the TGS Teaser, meaning the CG must have been scrapped at some point between that Alpha Version demo and the post TGS Teaser demo. Whether it was scrapped after it was used for the Teaser, meaning it was still part of the story at the time, or whether it was scrapped before but PJM decided something about that particular image of Hong Lu was important enough to the Teaser to include it anyway, is something I don't think we'll ever know.

Unfortunately, with how early the CG seems to have originally been placed in the story, I doubt it has anything to do with Daiyu specifically. However, I do now have my own theory of what that cutscene might have entailed, as well as why that would contribute to it being scrapped.

Judging by the leftmost panel, it's easy to deduce this was where Yuri's backstory was originally meant to be explained, as in the whole site burial and survivor's guilt thing would be brought up. The fact that the explanation would later be moved to be inside the Dungeon rather outside would on its own be a good reason to scrap the CG, but there's something else about it that I realized only recently.

In the game proper, Yuri reveals her trauma almost exclusively to Gregor (and initially Ishmael), as all the other Sinners have already passed out due to the gas grenade. However, in the hypothetical scrapped scenario where the reveal came outside the Dungeon, every Sinner would have a chance to hear it and react to it.

So, what kind of reaction would fit the other two panels on the CG? The middle panel of Rodya comforting an uncomfortable looking Yuri while Hong Lu looks innocently confused, followed by a panel with the angriest looking Gregor we've ever seen clashing with the angriest looking Hong Lu we've ever seen?

Here's what I think could have originally happened in that scene (and this is Entirely Speculation, we have no proof of this actually being the case):

I believe, after sharing her story, especially the point about trying to escape the site burial, Mr. Hong 'I am always ready to accept my own death' Lu would act confused and ask something along the lines of "Why didn't you just stay?" or a variant of such. Why didn't you just accept it, why didn't you just let it happen, why did you try to fight it, etc. Essentially asking why, if Yuri was going to feel such guilt for surviving the ordeal, would she ever bother trying to survive in the first place.

This would, understandably, piss Gregor the fuck off, as he himself holds a good deal of guilt for the fact he participated in the War and survived through it. There's a high chance of him trying to verbally rip into Hong Lu, to tell him that he has No Idea what it's like to have to live day by day trying to survive just long enough to see tomorrow, what it's like to have one's life turned into hell without them having any choice on the matter, what it's like to feel the need to run away despite knowing that it will leave them with the guilt of not being able to save anyone else. He's some sheltered rich kid after all, how could he know what it's like to actually suffer?

And I think something like that would be enough for Hong Lu's facade to crack. Because no, Gregor is wrong. Hong Lu knows exactly what it's like, more than anyone should know he does. He might not even be responding with much in this cutscene, even just a hostile "You know nothing about me and my life." would be enough to set the tone. That whatever is going on behind that smile of his is so much worse than what it seems.

...And that's why I think it was scrapped. Because a peek behind Hong Lu's mask in Canto 1 would be too early.

Hong Lu's slow unraveling of his lies is just that - slow. It took us until Just This Recent Canto to get a somewhat clear confirmation that no, the info he gives about his Family is not to be trusted. It took until Canto 3 to see him be the only Sinner actively willing to lie and until Canto 4 to show us he's a good actor. Revealing that Hong Lu has a very different side to him underneath the curious cheerful persona as early as Canto 1 would completely alter the pacing and trajectory of his arc. You'd have a reason to suspect him from the beginning, rather than have a chance to be just as fooled by him as Dante and the other Sinners are.

So no, I don't think that CG is meant to show Daiyu. But I do think that CG was meant to be our first hint to the fact that Hong Lu isn't being honest with the others, at least until it was decided it was too soon for such a reveal.

[gloomy-prince]

SUPER OLD RAINBOW! ART THREAD!!! Open only if you are brave enough to face teen me's cringe art...

(mostly joking but fr white Mimi and skinny Boo jumpscare below)

Very first digital piece of Boo and Mimi circa 2011!! I was 14 when I drew this. Usually I'm able to look back fondly at super old art of mine but this one does make me cringe a liiiiittle bit. Mimi girl what are you wearing, why are you white. Boo also had pink eyes in the beginning, which she would continue to have for several years to come (even in the current iteration of RAINBOW! they were pink at first, I later recolored those pages) but it was only later that it was due to the color scheme of the comic and not because they were literally pink. I'm pretty sure they were meant to be contacts, because their hair is and always have been dyed rather than anime-esque natural colorful hair, so that was some crazy dedication from Boo back in the day.

More 2011 art showing off Mimi's goth/scene-ish style and green eyes. They were initially meant to have pastel and neon fashion senses, respectively. The story was already named at this point, only a few days or maybe weeks into its inception, which is impressive considering it has taken us literal years to name other stories (I'm looking at you, Phantom Pains)

this one is from super early 2012! Interesting to think that this was less than 9 months later since it feels completely different to me. The first version of the comic had started at this point, and the pink and green color scheme was just starting to develop. This lineup features some characters that would later be cut. Lucian and Lily were friends of Boo, and Cecilia was Mimi's ex girlfriend. Notably Clarice is not on this lineup, and frankly I'm not sure why.

A picture I drew to commemorate 50 fans on RAINBOW!'s smackjeeves page, mid 2012. Boo's outfit resembled a recolored version of her 2011 outfit, but I have no idea what Mimi is wearing. What. are. you. wearing.

Chibi-ish drawings of Boo and Mimi cosplaying various characters, from early 2013. Homura Mimi is very funny to me, I really don't know why I didn't draw her as Kyoko. I assume I was trying to keep them as paired characters, but I didn't do that with the Sailor Moon or Disney ones, so I who knows why I did it with PMMM. Mimi's hairstyle changes to a shaved cut somewhere around this time, but it is much more dramatic than her current undercut, and her hair is still pretty long. Boo is wearing a closet cosplay of Fluttershy that I myself wore once. These also resemble the chibi-ish drawings on the chapter intermission pages of RAINBOW! Vol 1.

A character study I did in late 2013, which would be shortly after I made a major style shift into the art style that would eventually develop into the one I currently have. At this point, Boo was meant to be fatter than Mimi, but the execution wasn't really there at all. There is also a doodle at the bottom of me and Sunny at the time (I am the one with long hair), expressing thanks for 300 fans on smackjeeves. Considering it had 50 in mid 2012, the readership was pretty slow growing back then.

outfit exploration for Mimi, circa 2014. At this point I started to expand the color scheme a little bit more so that not every character would be paper-white, though she is still very pale even though she is no longer meant to be white anymore. None of these outfits really resemble her current style, and I don't particularly like any of them either. It took me a very long time to settle on a fashion sense for her.

an Adventure Time-eqsue drawing of Mimi and Boo that I actually drew less than two weeks after the previous image despite the difference in things such as the way the hair was drawn. I had to include this one because it blew up overnight, which was a huge deal for highschool me, I remember checking my phone at school a lot because it was just getting hundreds or even thousands of notes over the span of the day. I think it has something like 16,000 notes. Still the post with the highest number of notes I have by far, so I guess I peaked in high school, whomp whomp

More fashion exploration, this time of Mimi and Boo, from early 2015. The color scheme is starting to approach what it currently is, but much more dull since I used to be afraid of bright colors. Mimi's fashion sense is starting to get closer to what it currently is, but the pastel goth influence that was popular in early-mid 2010s tumblr is apparent. In chapter 1, Boo wears an outfit that is extremely similar to the one with the bear shirt, except it's a rabbit instead. The dress that Mimi gives to Boo is also almost identical to the depiction of it here. This drawing implies that Mimi was originally going to be present in the film noir scene where Boo finds her mom, which is interesting...

Another cast lineup! This one is from late 2015-early 2016. Mimi is wearing an outfit pretty similar to what she wears in chapter 1 but with the colors altered. The execution of Boo's body type is starting to improve but she's still kind of pear-shaped. Mimi is also a little more square, and her hair finally looks like the style she has now. Clarice gets to be in the lineup this time and she is SUPER tall. I think she is still taller than Milo. And Mimi is around 5'7"-5'8", so Clarice must be around 6 foot by that logic.

The original version of chibi-ish Boo riding a bike in her Kiki outfit, from 2016. I think it was meant to be a banner of some kind, possibly for tapas or tumblr. A newer version of this drawing features as a chapter intermission drawing in the physical book.

The original cover for RAINBOW! from 2017. The color scheme is finally starting to get a little brighter! This is actually a redraw of an older drawing from 2014, I want to draw it again someday. Also, I was going by Rain at the time.

A drawing I did in late 2017 for a class in which we were meant to try digital painting and I went for a very simple approach. I like that Mimi's legs are a little noodle-y. This is also the first drawing where Mimi's eyes are no longer green, but dark pink instead. By the language of RAINBOW!'s color scheme, that means they are brown. Boo's eyes are still pink, however.

Another drawing for a class, this time from 2018. I can't remember the specifics of the assignment, but I used the opportunity to draw the playground and Max, the dog, for the first time. I like the way the trees look in this. That little snip of hair by Mimi's ear also made a reappearance here for some reason.

The original version of the drawing that would become the cover of RAINBOW! Vol 1, from mid 2019! I believe I drew it to be a banner on Tapas, but I used it for tumblr as well.

And lastly, Boo and Mimi outfit sheets from 2019-2020. I messed with them for a while, hence the timeframe. Boo's eyes are finally green, which I changed since I liked the idea of Mimi having green hair and pink eyes, and Boo having pink hair and green eyes, as if they are reflected a bit in each other. Outside of RAINBOW!'s color scheme, Boo's eyes are actually blue though. It took about a decade, but I finally settled on a fashion sense for Mimi.

BONUS ART!!! 💖💖✨✨ I thought these would be better grouped together rather than chronologically with the rest.

RAINBOW!'s banners from its era on smackjeeves! Smackjeeves didn't have square/circular icons but rather these thin long banners which could also be animated. I thought that was so fun, so I always animated them at least a little, even though one doesn't seem to work. It was customary to write girls love/boys love on the banner of mlm/wlw romance stories then, so almost all of them say that. I still see that trend on some comics on webtoon and tapas nowadays. They are from 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2017. I don't believe the 2017 one was ever used.

And RAINBOW!'s icon throughout the years! I always refused to change it, only update it, because I thought it was really cute. They are from (approximately) 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021.

And finally, art from 2021 of Mimi with her cousin August, who will be the protagonist of our next comic, Phantom Pains. Weird to think that we'll be on that comic in foreseeable future, since it is also over 10 years old now. Bit of a passing the torch type drawing to end on. 💕 If you made it all the way here, thanks for reading! Hopefully it was fun and didn't hurt your eyes.

[fannishstuff]

FIDDLEFORD PSA!!!!!!

OKAY, THIS HAS BEEN DRIVING ME ABSOLUTELY BONKERS FOR A WHILE NOW.

Dear Fiddleford McGucket fanartists:

First of all: draw how you want. The following is not intended to be judgmental, just educational. <3

On to business:

Here is how you fingerpick a banjo.

This is three-finger. There are more styles, but this is how I play. (I did not include fingerpicks because Fidds doesn't use them in the show and they're a pain to draw; you can also play just fine without them, although they are useful.)

Fingerpicking is usually done on a five-string banjo. Old Man McGucket's theme sounds like it's fingerpicked to me. Please note that your pinky and ring finger are planted on the banjo itself, next to the strings.

The first two images are to show posture, the third image is what it would look like to draw:

When I'm just holding my banjo and not playing it, my pinky and ring finger just naturally rest this way because it's comfy.

Here is how you play clawhammer style.

This is just an approximation; I almost never play clawhammer. The big thing is that your fingers curl in in a "claw" and you pick with your thumb.

Here are the tuning pegs on a five-string banjo.

In the show, Fiddleford has a four-string banjo, not five-string. (We see two banjos; they are both four-string.) Honestly, that surprised me. I'm not sure what the folk scene looked like in the 80s, but most players you see today have five-strings, so I think they were just streamlining the design.

EDIT: I was wrong! His banjo has a disappearing and reappearing fifth nut!

A four-string banjo has four tuning pegs at the top, like any other instrument. The fifth tuning peg is about a third of the way down the neck.

BONUS: Nobody gets into this much detail, but clever eyes will notice that the string widths look funny. If you have played a bass or guitar, you're used to the top string being lowest and thickest, the bottom string - which is the "first" string - being highest and thinnest. A four string banjo is tuned like this, but with a five-string banjo, the fifth string is the same diameter as the first.

Anyway, there are plenty of great banjo video and image tutorials on the internet if you want to get into the weeds, but I got the impression that a lot of you have literally never seen a banjo being played often enough to even realize how different it is from a guitar. Some people absolutely do strum banjos like guitars - in fact, I think that's more common with four-strings - but the McGucket music we hear is very obviously not being strummed.

There! Now you may freely choose to draw his hand however you want to, and it won't be from a place of ignorance. <3

(Oh, one last thing: that round thing that comprises the body of the banjo is literally just a drum. Drumming it is fun. You can and should draw Fiddleford tapping his banjo with the tips of his fingers like I do.)

[apriltempleos]

october 1st 2024: drafts!

preacher: i'm attaching slightly improved versions of our original drafts, but i'll also include mine and scott's garbage sketches under the cut because i think they're a little bit funny

(image id available through tumblr's accessibility options)

this is a slightly revised version of my original concept for "APRIL".

the main functionality i wanted for "APRIL" was for her to be able to read out words from the templeOS god word app, and ideally without needing keyboard input – hence the microphone. ideally all of her parts are going to fit inside a hollowed out mannequin or doll, which will probably just be the torso, so that she's more portable. for the same reason, i want her to run off a power bank – i want to be able to take her places!

if we manage, we're going to give her an animated LED face which moves to indicate when she's speaking. the way i first pitched it, i wanted it to also change a bit depending on how she "felt" – for example, frowning if the environment was hotter than ideal for the raspberry pi to operate on. but that's a bit beyond our current scope right now. i don't think we even ordered a thermostat.

scott drew the following wiring diagrams based off my original sketch. here revised digitally for readability's sake.

(image id available through the tumblr accessibility options although i fear it's not very good in this case. feedback appreciated).

scott: I decided to go with the raspberry pi zero 2w because it's what I've got experience coding on, it's relatively cheap for the "brains" of the operation (heh) and can perform both tasks from the godword prophecy generation, speaker operation and led matrix operation simultaneously. Plus its small enough to keep the circuit lightweight and fit inside the initial mannequin design.

This drawing fits no kind of engineering standard by the way lol. It was an initial sketch closer to a wiring diagram to see how it'd physically setup and wrap my head around transforming it from mains power to being theoretically portable and running on powerbanks. Unfortunately the LED matrix is really fucking power hungry so needs its own power supply of really specific voltage and current draws hence all the converters.

Also because Im using the smaller and cheaper pi, as oppossed to a stronger system like the pi4, it doesn't have any audio out jack so I plan to use the micro usb for audio out which means yet again I need another adapter for a soundcard and usb to micro usb adapters and all that jazz. Usually sound out can be done through the GPIO pins but the LED matrix takes so many pins that I cant really take anything form them so I had to look for other ways of doing it. Plus this way I get to add a soundcard so if we wanna add microphone support or anything later on we can :)

(Also this is all a little obtuse because I'm trying to do it as much as plug and play and screw terminal style as possible rather than actually solder connections for ease of access and initial setup, but this also works for modular design and component swapping later too so its cool.)

preacher: another reason we're going with plug&play is becauuseeeeee i don't own a soldering iron 😭 it's ok. it's ok.

our silly initial drafts under the cut for your viewing pleasure.

preacher: these were made around 2 weeks ago, so about september 15th ish.

as you can see the first "APRIL" drawing was beautifully drawn with my fat fingers in the facebook messenger photo editor. i think it holds up. lol.

[sodapopseagull]

My little creature of a custom durge. He's a College of Lore bard whose main purpose is to Misty Step into the middle of everything, activate Phalar Aluve, and be a total pain in the ass with Cutting Words. On honor mode I play him as a swords bard tav alongside my friend's open hand monk and the combo is rancid.

Paris is a very old, pre-existing OC that I use for any game with a custom character creator because I hardcore struggle with making new characters for things. I initially intended to romance Karlach with him because I thought it'd be a good match, but then Gale happened to both of us LMAO

Wanted to share his ref plus a little drawing based one of Gale's patch 6 kisses! Beware, extensive Paris yappin' ahead ⬇

Paris is a resistant, and eventually redeemed, dark urge whose story runs alongside my friend's tav Ralum (the dragonborn in the 3rd image). Pre-nautiloid, the two of them have a rather nasty encounter where Paris, completely lost to himself under Bhaal's will, attempts to end Ralum in an act of typical Bhaalspawn bloodlust. Ralum manages to survive by swearing a paladin's oath against his would-be killer and using his newfound divine healing to stitch himself back together just enough to survive. Ralum never caught sight of Paris due to the nature of the attack, so when they encounter one another after the abduction, they actually get along swimmingly.

Paris and Ralum become the party's de-facto leaders, Paris as the face and Ralum as the muscle, and they get along quite well. There is a quirk to the tadpole connection between them- it's looser, both because Paris's brain is twenty kinds of damaged, and because of their unknown personal history. For a good while after they first meet, their thoughts bleed into one anothers' heads. Ralum is able to get a hold on it quickly, but Paris can only do so much. Apart from the occasional, very loud thought about Gale's big butt though, it isn't so bad.

Then, into Act 2, when pieces of the dark urge's history fall into place, and Paris starts to put together the forgotten details of his past, he realizes that he is the target of Ralum's oath. Not wanting to get Divine Smited into oblivion, he keeps it a secret. Unfortunately, most of the clues regarding the dark urge's history are like, easily observable conversations and artifacts, and Ralum isn't far behind on figuring things out. By the time they reach Rivington, things are tense and scary and bad. There is a clear line drawn through the party through rising tension alone, and then act 3 stuff happens so-

I have a fic planned about their journey together, but as someone who is still new to writing things with the intent to be read by others, it's too big a project for me to feel confident in continuing at the moment. I might break it down into a series of oneshots, but at some point I do want to get it all down. I think it'd be fun, and my pal seems to enjoy the rambles 😊

Also- GALE. Paris is so obsessed with Gale both because they have remarkable chemistry and because I'm obsessed with Gale and Paris is my character so... yeah. It was a love-at-first sight thing for Paris, but since he feels that way about tons of people who show him a shred of kindness (he had a crush on Ralum for about a tenday after meeting him post-nautiloid) he doesn't take it seriously at all. Gale is fun to talk to (Paris is a yapper to rival Gale, make no mistake) and he's funny and admittedly quite cute, but so are a lot of people, and Paris is so off from the abduction, amnesia, and illness from his urge that he doesn't really have the bandwidth to think much more on it.

What ends up solidifying their bond initially is pain. Gale has chronic pain from the orb, and due to the absolutely wild shit Kressa Bonedaughter and Orin did to the dark urge, as well as the fact that a durge seems to suffer sometimes severe physical consequences from resisting their urge, they both feel like shit all the time. While Paris generally keeps his pain hidden, Gale can recognize it. Paris, meanwhile, finds a lot of catharsis in offering Gale relief, as if it's proof that he's more than what his dark urge demands him to be. They make a habit of spending their evenings together over a glass of wine and a bit of healing magic. Sometimes a book, but Paris's brain is usually pretty fatigued by nightfall, so Gale will occasionally read to him.

By the time the act 1 weave scene happens, there is already a pretense of intimacy to it, and when Paris pictures the pair of them cuddled up and watching the stars together, it goes over quite well. I don't think either of them are ready for a proper romantic relationship- Paris cannot remember how his last one ended (spoiler, it was VERY bad) but he carries a lingering anxiety around the prospect of entering a new one, and Gale has all of his Mystra baggage, but there is a newfound sense of commitment and a real promise of something in the future.

They're both extremely devoted partners and are honestly kinda gross by the end of the tadpole adventure with how mushy and in love they are. They are tragically separated at the end though, as Paris goes to Avernus with Karlach after Wyll is severely injured in the final battle, and that has NOTHING to do with the fact that it gives an opportunity for bloodweave to develop in the 6 month timespan between the defeat of the netherbrain and the reunion party. (Paris is polyamorous and doesn't know if he'll survive Avernus, and he tells Gale that he deserves whatever love comes his way. He asks that Gale not wait on Paris's return, but if there is a place for him in Gale's heart when he returns, he will gladly come back to him.) At the party, a very eager Wyll takes Paris's place at Karlach's side, loaded with newfound ranger skills honed under the careful guidance of Minsc and Boo (Karlach and Wyll geeking out over Minsc and Jaheira is so CUTE and the idea of Wyll training as a ranger under their tutelage, especially so he can make his way to Avernus to be with Karlach, makes my heart explode), so Paris ends up going back to Waterdeep with Gale and Astarion.

Idk if things develop romantically between Paris and Astarion beyond their mutual love for Gale. What I do know is that Gale deserves to be trapped between two men who want to eat him, affectionately.

Also, trans Gale is a really beloved headcanon to me, so Paris and Gale are a t4t couple yeaaaAAAAAAH BABY

I could go on forever about this dude, but I think that's enough for now. Writing Paris/Gale fic makes me feel a little silly, unfortunately, but I do want to take a shot a more down the line. I like them a lot haha.

[ribbonetteart]

Tribute to one of my favorite movies of all time + the franchise that has me in a death grip 💖

a bit late for Christmas but at least Valentine's day is around the corner ^^;;

Process below if that interests you:

AS I SAID EARLIER, I had been working on this piece as early as December of 2021 😱!!!

This was the original sketch! I was inspired after learning about Blaze's own design inspiration coming from Takarazuka theater, as well as it being the Nutcracker season so this film was in bouncing around in my head.

and this was allllll the way back in 2021 ^^; I had put the idea to paper to capture the image in my head immediately. But the idea in my head was extravagant and beautiful and would certainly take time to complete, as well as the patience and skill to work with watercolor 😔 I've certainly done my share of watercolor, both physical and digital, but I still feel like my physical watercolor work is a fluke, and I was still a novice digital artist at the time of this sketch.

In short, I wasn't confident my skill could live up to the vision.

So I would put this on the back burner. It wouldn't be ready in time for Christmas, and I could use this as an opportunity to hone that digital art experience so it could be ready next year!

2 Years Later...

It's December 5th. Fuck it. Let's crack this open again, I tell myself.

SO starting with the line art, it's actually 2 different brushes layered over one another.

I also changed Sonic's expression to be more love struck-looking, because I'm a sucker for romance.

The image on the left is a watercolor line brush, while the right is a pencil brush. The reason I wanted a water color look was because I thought it would make the illustration look dreamy and fantastical, and I wanted that to extend to the line art as well. However, my usual lines on traditional usually veer more towards thick and cartoony from years of studying the Sonic art style, so I really felt like I was working against myself here. I had also asked friends for their input and they preferred the lines on the right as well. If my followers actually do read these blog posts, I'd love if you could comment which line art style you prefer drawing or looking at.

The happy medium was to just combine the 2. Here's a better look at that:

I like it! I think it combines the solid line with the rustic water color grain. Best of both worlds :]

For the actual painting, The most notable thing I can say is that getting the right pastel-y color was VERY difficult to achieve for someone like me who often loves to use bright and saturated colors in her art. I feel like I really set myself up to do one of those "evil art style" or "opposite art style" challenges I've been seeing around. I had to repaint Sonic at one paint because the blue of his fur was WAY too saturated for the style I was going for:

I started with painting Sonic and Blaze in first and then working on the background. I think that's probably the backwards way of doing it but one of the perks of digital art is you can do stuff any order you want when you have layers.

The background wasn't actually as difficult as I thought it would be. I wasn't going for any difficult perspective, and I was using a reference so that could be it. I'm usually averse to backgrounds but I really wanna tackle more of my weak points in art. I actually had way more fun than I was expecting, painting the sky and adding texture to the grass. I think I had the most fun rendering the water coming from the fountain (which you can't even see too well anyway, lol).

Funny enough, I had just about finished painting the characters and background by early January. So why am I posting this in February?

The Flowers...

In case you don't know. I love flowers. I love looking at them, I love learning about flower languages, I love drawing them. so seeing that my reference image showed flowers circling the fountain, I was excited! I was already having more fun than I expected to be having (working against my usual style, rendering a background), so how could this be a pain in the ass?

Well, I am my own worst enemy 😞I couldn't exactly identify each flower offhand from this screenshot alone. The texture of the flowers is kinda grainy, since I don't think the animators were expecting viewers to look too closely at the set piece to use as reference for my lovingly crafted crossover fanart. If anyone has this in high quality though, please tell me.

(I think I actually got this reference from a tumblr post but I can't find it on my blog for the life of me nor can I find it in the tags I'm so sorry)

I'm a huge stickler for details so I really wanted to be as "accurate" as possible in my illustration. I can hardly identify some of these flowers with confidence. I think there are roses in there? or tulips? I'm not sure if those yellow flowers are roses or some kinda petunia or if I'm way off.

I'm sure these details won't matter to most viewers but it was EATING AWAY AT ME. Eventually I decided to try drawing in flowers that might look similar to the ones in the reference. Or some based on their flower languages. I was certainly overthinking it ;;;; It led me to going "fuck it" and just throwing in whatever I wanted. There are no irises visible in that screenshot but I made it the centerpiece of the flower ring. Who give a shit.

I made some guides for me to follow: The blue ring was so I could make sure the flowers make a half circular border around Sonic and Blaze. I was envisioning how it could look as like an icon or sticker or something, which is why it's framed this way. then the second guide is the sketch of the flowers I made. I always do line art and I'm not great at just improvising with color to paper, or color to screen in this case.

The rest of this process is then just working on each flower piece by piece (with the help of the mirror tool of course) with varying degrees of detail. Some flowers are more abstract than others, and I had debated if that would look jarring and disrupted any kind of harmony I was trying to maintain with the style parameters I set for myself. And then I decided I was overthinking it once again which is why this was taking me nearly 2 months to complete.

At some point during this process, my wifi went out for a whole week! Of course, I could still work on this illustration offline, but I had a lot of tabs open with a bunch of reference images on there (plus I like to listen to music while I draw otherwise I lose focus and I had neglected to download a varied selection on my phone or laptop 😭 Learn from my mistakes).

The most tedious of this process was making each set of gladioluses a unique color.

Was it worth it? You tell me! I think they're pretty, at least.

Along the way, I repainted the grass because it wasn't symmetrical (It didn't need to be but I had been using the mirror tool for a lot at this point and it was bugging me). I made other little final adjustments, like color adjusting the leaves on the flowers, lowering the flower ring border, and so on.

Ultimately, I'm extremely satisfied with the final product. I had my heart set on doing something like this for a long time. I had so much fun just experimenting throwing on color or not worrying about technical stuff. Of course, I did do what I usually do and overthink it at some points, but I'm working on it!

I've wanted to do an extremely indulgent AU illustration and other drawings for a Sonic x The Nutcracker story for a long while. I will be totally honest, I'm still a little embarrassed to share stuff like this, even after years of posting fan art online. It feels like the more self indulgent something is, the more people might judge me for it ^^; But I wanna practice what I preach and kill the thing inside me that cringes at my harmless attempts at joy and whimsy.

I would love to do some more drawings for this AU, but maybe post them around December when it would be more seasonally appropriate. I hope you'll stick around for it!

If you read this whole thing to the end, thank you. Whether you follow my blog or not, I hope you have a lovely day :3💝

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x51 - Hell's Jester, Piemon / The Crest of Friendship

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Jou decided he needs to forge his own path by following in Yamato's footsteps. Meanwhile LadyDevimon made everybody extremely uncomfortable as part of Piemon's master plan to squick the Chosen Children into leaving his front door.

Now, with LadyDevimon's death, Piemon has come out to attend to what remains of the assault team in person.

We open on Jou searching for Yamato, while Yamato's harmonica music paradoxically plays in the background.

Narrator: Around this time, Jou, with harmonica in hand, was searching for Yamato. Gomamon: JOU, LOOK!!!

Gomamon draws Jou's attention to an abandoned swan boat.

Gomamon: IT'S YAMATO'S BOAT!!! He must be around here! Jou: But we don't know how long it's been here. We aren't even certain that Yamato was the one who used it. Gomamon: That's fine! We're sure to find him. By now, Yamato probably also thinks that it's about time he rejoined us anyway.

Jou examines Yamato's harmonica.

Jou: You're right. It was my idea to go look for Yamato. I can't be having second thoughts now! Gomamon: Yeah, exactly! You've become a lot more manly lately. Jou: What's that supposed to mean? (playful, pokes Gomamon) Are you saying I wasn't manly enough before?

Jou and Gomamon both break into laughter. Gomamon seems very pleased by Jou's decision to forge his own path, but he was also satisfied when they were still with Mimi's nakama. So it seems like Gomamon's just happy regardless of what Jou chooses.

As with Gabumon, it's most important to Gomamon that Jou be the one to make the choice for himself.

The dub opens by implying that Joe and Gomamon have been searching for a while now.

Joe: We've looked everywhere, Gomamon, but we still can't find Matt. Gomamon: Maybe your harmonica playing has been keeping him in hiding. Joe: (sarcastic) Mm. Everybody's a critic. Gomamon: Hey, Joe! LOOK OVER THERE!!! Joe: What is it? (Swan Boat) Gomamon: It's Matt's boat! He must be close by! Joe: But we have no idea of when he left it, or if he was using it at all! Come on, we'd better keep looking. Gomamon: Don't be such a downer; This is our first clue in a long time and I want to see a little Get Up and Go-mamon!" (Joe inspects the harmonica) Joe: I guess I'm still pessimistic 'cause when we found Matt's harmonica, it led us nowhere. But you're right. He could be nearby. Gomamon: Now, that's the spirit, Joe! You've become a real man lately! Joe: Oh, I get it now. (playful, pokes Gomamon) So you're saying that I wasn't a real man before, huh? Gomamon: (laughing uncontrollably) Joe: Are you man enough not to laugh when I tickle you?

This is really good. The bits about their search fudge the events a bit. They followed the harmonica music to Elecmon, who told them about the swan boat. Then they crossed the lake to pursue the swan boat, and now they've found the swan boat. This has been a pretty straightforward tracking mission so far.

The dub seems to imply that, after crossing the lake, they found nothing and had to wander aimlessly for a long time. But now they've stumbled back onto the trail by chance. This is a much messier version of events.

However, the playful banter between the two is a top-notch and entirely faithful adaptation of the original dialogue. Dub Gomamon also implies that Joe's been (badly) trying to play Matt's harmonica in the time since we last saw him, which is a funny mental image.

Meanwhile, outside Piemon's observatory, WarGreymon is on the offensive.

Calling Dramon Killer as an attack, WarGreymon volleys rapid-fire stabs at Piemon but struggles to land any of them. Piemon darts and weaves too easily through his attacks.

WarGreymon finally manages a solid hit when he surprises Piemon with a kick, knocking him back into the roots of a large tree. But Piemon picks himself up, seemingly no worse for wear.

Taichi: GOT HIM!!! Piemon: Muhahahahaha! Do Chosen Children truly rely on such childish tricks? Taichi: (surprised) What!? Piemon: My expectations have been dashed. I thought you'd be tougher than this. Koushiro: WarGreymon's attacks aren't having any effect at all! Hikari: (worried) Onii-chan, are we okay? Taichi: (determined) We're fine.

This fight is going badly. They landed a hit, but didn't seem to do any damage and had their successful hit written off as 子供騙し kodomodamashi, a composite of 子供 kodomo meaning "child" and 騙しdamasi which means "deception".

Kodomodamashi is a transparent, juvenile trick that only a child would think is clever.

Of course, what it says about Piemon that he fell for a kodomodamashi goes unremarked upon due to how intimidating he is right now.

In the dub, WarGreymon calls Dramon Killer as "Mega Claw". Probably to avoid the K word, even though they already solved that problem in the past by calling them "Dramon Destroyers".

Tai: I think we won! Piedmon: Hahahahahahahaha! Thank you for the sparring match, WarGreymon. Now I'm ready for the main event. Tai: Oh, no! Piedmon: Once upon a time, there were these DigiDestined. And then Piedmon destroyed them all. The end. Izzy: No offense to your storytelling skills, but I'd like it better if your ending were different. WarGreymon: IT WILL BE!!! Kari: We can't win unless we're all together! Tai: (worried) Where are they!?

This scene is very different. Piedmon isn't so dismissive of the children's abilities here; He simply blusters menacingly, including a callback to the Dark Masters' debut when he told the kids a twisted faerie tale of their own impending deaths.

Kari and Tai here use their lines to remind the audience that we're trying to buy time for reinforcements to arrive. It also makes a stronger transition into the next scene, as we find Sora and Takeru searching for the others.

Angemon seems to have reverted to Patamon between episodes, as the three of them are all riding Birdramon's talons. Sora uses her Digivice's radar function to try and scan for the others.

Sora: The Digivice still isn't reacting to anything. Patamon: The powers of darkness must be too strong. Sora: (thinking) How are we supposed to find them in this vast Digimon World? Takeru: ...Sora-san? Sora: What? Takeru: Will we find Onii-chan? And all of the others? Sora: ... Takeru: Sora-san? Sora: We'll find them, no matter what. (starting to freak out) If we can't then we're all.... Takeru: Sora-san! Sora: Ah! Takeru: ...are you okay? Sora: (polite laugh) Sorry about that. I'm fine! We'll find them.

Despite the fact that Sora is clearly only pretending to be okay while the stress eats her alive from within, Takeru accepts that answer with a smile. He's eight.

Sora: (thinking) I have to bring everyone back, or else we won't be able to defeat Piemon. This world... We won't be able to stop it from being destroyed.

Despite her attempt to keep Takeru from fretting over it, the stakes coupled with the seeming impossibility of her task are weighing heavily on Sora's mind.

In the dub:

Sora: The Digivice isn't responding at all. Patamon: I hope we find them soon; I'm getting airsick. Sora: (thinking) We'll never find them all. The Digital World is too big. They could be anywhere. T.K.: Hey, Sora? Sora: What? T.K.: We'll be able to find Matt and the others, right? Sora: (thinking) Should I tell him the truth? T.K.: Well, Sora? Sora: The only thing I can say, T.K., is.... (crying noises) T.K.: ...are you alright? You're not crying, are you? Sora: Just something in my eye! Don't worry! We'll find them, T.K! (T.K. smiles) Sora: (thinking) We'll find the others because we have to! Unless we fight as a team, we'll never defeat Piedmon! We can't let him destroy the Digital World!

Pretty straight adaptation.

They cut Sora's implication that Piemon is going to kill them all, replacing it with Sora breaking down into non-verbal sobbing.

Cutting back to the fight, WarGreymon attempts to land his Brave Tornado. It's gone two for two on Ultimate opponent kills so it's a good choice.

It does not go well. Continuing to fight circles around him, Piemon hurdles the attack with a jolly flip. Emerging from the ensuing dust cloud with scuff marks all over his armor, WarGreymon looks like he did more damage to himself with that attack than to Piemon.

Tailmon: He's strong! Hikari: Onii-chan-- Taichi: Everyone, stay back! Hikari: But why, Onii-chan!? Taichi: Wait until Yamato and the others get here! You just fought LadyDevimon; You need time to recover your stamina!

Taichi is still thinking ahead. Focusing on the next fight and not this one, even though the next fight is technically a part of this one. Banking not on winning this fight, but on WarGreymon holding the line until they can hit Piemon all at once.

The dub calls Brave Tornado as Terra Force.

Gatomon: He's tough. Kari: We should all fight. Tai: Everyone stay where you are! Kari: But Tai! Why not!? Tai: The Digimon are still too tired from our fight with LadyDevimon. We have to wait until we're at full strength, when Matt and the others rejoin us.

Another faithful adaptation. Kari does manage to spell out what she wants to do, where Taichi cuts off Hikari and leaves it implied. But what she wants is clearly the same in both versions.

From there, we finally go check in with Yamato and see what he's up to. He is in a hole.

Narrator: After Yamato separated from Taichi's group and became a solitary child, he tried to put his thoughts in order. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself lost, wandering through a dark cave. Gabumon: Yamato.... I have a bad feeling about this cave. Let's hurry up and find a way out. Yamato: Yeah. You're right.

Yamato agrees verbally with Gabumon, but he doesn't hurry up. Instead, he loses himself in memories, flashing back on Takeru announcing that he rescued himself from Pinocchimon's mansion.

(Flashback) Takeru: I was able to protect myself all on my own this time! (End Flashback) Yamato: (stops walking) I.... Gabumon: Huh? What is it, Yamato? Yamato: I kept saying that Takeru needed me. The truth is, I was the one that needed him. Convincing myself that Takeru needed me is how I found my place. But.... (Flashback) Hikari: That's incredible! Taichi: That's awesome, Takeru! Congrats! Mimi: We were so worried about you! Jou: You sure have grown up, without any of us realizing. (End Flashback) Yamato: Takeru has everyone supporting him. And Taichi acted more like a real big brother than I ever did.

Yamato doesn't answer. Silently, he starts walking deeper into the dark cave.

The dub takes its first commercial break following the previous scene, then we come back to Matt. They don't have the narrator to poetically set up Matt's metaphorical-made-literal surroundings, so Gabumon has to do the job. He plays the spooky cave for nervous laughs.

Gabumon: Matt? Matt: Yeah, Gabumon? Gabumon: Maybe we've been traveling in this direction a little too long. This cave is starting to give me the creeps. Let's hurry up and get out of here! I'm still not sure what you mean by 'trying to find yourself' but I'd appreciate it if you didn't look in here! Matt: Sure. Whatever.

The dub's flashback is only slightly altered; T.K. says "I told you I'd be back" instead of "I told you I could do it." But it's by far the most consistent a dub flashback has been yet.

(Flashback) T.K.: See, everybody? I told you I'd be back! I can take care of myself just fine! (End Flashback) Matt: I've been living a lie. Gabumon: You're not a real blond!? Matt: (heavy sigh) I kept saying T.K. needed me but, really, I was the one that needed him. Gabumon: What do you mean? Matt: I used to think that my one purpose in life was to protect my little brother. But then.... (Flashback) Kari: You're the man! Tai: Nice going, T.K.! Great job, buddy! Mimi: We were so worried about you! Joe: Boy, for a little kid, that was a pretty big escape! (End Flashback) Matt: He didn't need me to protect him anymore. And Tai was much better at acting like a big brother than I ever was....

Tonally inappropriate blond quip aside, this is still a pretty straight adaptation.

Gabumon's not about to let that last remark from Yamato go unquestioned.

Gabumon: What are you talking about? You are Takeru's older brother, Yamato! Yamato: I don't deserve to be Takeru's big brother. I just used Takeru so that I could feel secure in my place as his brother. I needed to believe that Takeru had no one else but me.

As Yamato speaks, a tendril of concentrated darkness moves through the cave behind him. Yamato, unnoticing, sits down in the cave and pulls his knees to his chest.

Yamato: That's why I got so mad at Taichi. I felt like he was trying to take Takeru away from me. Taichi is decisive and has strong leadership. Most of all, he treats Takeru like a man. Gabumon: Now what's brought this on, Yamato? There are so many great qualities that are unique to you too! Yamato: I always thought of Taichi as tactless and dim-witted, but I just couldn't see. Gabumon: Yamato....

This is the discussion they were trying to have back with Jureimon. This time, Jureimon isn't here to direct Yamato's anxieties. But Yamato's been thinking about this long enough for his anxieties to become self-sustaining.

He's still wandering the forest of lost souls.

In the dub:

Gabumon: But you don't have to act. You are T.K.'s brother! Tai isn't! Matt: That's just the point. I don't act like a brother at all. And even though it made me feel good to think that I was the only one there for him, in reality, all the kids were. Gabumon: Let's talk about this outside. There's something strange about this place.... Matt: That's why Tai made me so mad! I thought he was trying to take T.K. away from me! (Matt sighs and sits by the wall) Matt: Tai might be real bossy and hard-headed sometimes but he never treated T.K. like a child, which is how I've always treated him. But I'm the one who's childish. Gabumon: Matt, stop putting yourself down! Sure, you have some teenage angst, but you've been a great brother to T.K.! Matt: I used to think Tai never thought about anyone but himself, but that actually describes me a lot better. Ugh.... Gabumon: Oh, Matt....

"You have some teenage angst", Gabumon? I'll take "Lines that remind you that these children were written by thirty-year-olds".

(Matt isn't even a teenager!)

Gabumon gets an extra line so he can say, "Can we have this conversation in a less spooky and thematically resonant place?" Which is a valid interjection.

Suddenly, Gabumon notices the swirling darkness around them.

Gabumon: (gasp) Yamato! Something's wrong with this place!

The darkness of the cave surrounds and engulfs Yamato. He doesn't even seem to notice as it pours into him; His eyes glazing over with darkness.

Yamato: There's no hope for me. I can't go back and rejoin the others' nakama. Gabumon: STOP THAT!!! (scolding) Without you, Yamato... If the eight of you don't come together then this world is doomed! Yamato: They don't need me. It wouldn't matter if I was there or not. Gabumon: YAMATO, GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!!! Yamato: Forget it. Just leave me alone. Gabumon: HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT!?!? Yamato: ... Gabumon: (tearing up) Yamato....

Gabumon's saying correct things but it doesn't matter when the other person is not in a mindset to be told. Yamato's depression is spiraling, and he's dissociating. He's not really here in this conversation, and eventually he stops responding entirely.

This is intercut with imagery of Yamato sinking into a vast, bottomless ocean of darkness.

In the dub:

Gabumon: (gasp) OH, MATT!!! I THINK YOU'D BETTER TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!!! Matt: Whatever. I'm no good. I can never go back to being their friend. Gabumon: You have to! Don't you understand that if the eight of you don't get back together, the Digital World will be destroyed forever! Matt: They don't need me. And besides, seven is a luckier number than eight. Gabumon: HEY, MATT, SNAP OUT OF IT!!! Matt: Just go away. I want to be alone. Gabumon: Come to your senses! Matt: ... Gabumon: (tearing up) Matt, listen....

Super inappropriate time for a quip, dub team. Again, this is pretty straightforward in its translation, apart from the futile attempts to inject levity.

At this point, Yamato shuts down entirely. He's as still as the grave, and trying to break through with reason has failed. Only one option left: Resort to violence.

Gabumon bites down on Yamato's leg hard enough to break him out of his dissociation. Yamato gets up suddenly, backhanding Gabumon off of him.

Yamato: OW!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!?

As Yamato stands up, there's a single-frame animation error where he and his darkness aura briefly separate. As a mistake, Yamato physically goes back to his previous frame instead of into the next frame of his standing up animation, then teleports to a standing position in the frame after. Meanwhile his aura continues on into the next frame and then the one after like it was supposed to.

The aura goes 2-3-4-5 while Yamato goes 2-3-2-5.

This implies that Yamato and the aura are being animated separately, which I find fascinating. How did this mistake happen, I wonder?

Anyways.

Gabumon: There is only one Yamato in this world! Am I wrong!? So then why do you keep comparing yourself to Taichi!? Obviously you and Taichi are different! You're Takeru's big brother, aren't you? It makes no sense to say Taichi's a better brother than you are! Yamato: ...Gabumon...? Gabumon: Besides.... What would I do if you were gone!? I spent so long in this world waiting for you, and you alone! Yamato: Gabumon.... Gabumon: Do you truly want to be alone, Yamato? Because if so, then I'll leave this place by myself. But only if that's what you really want.

Gabumon's teethmarks in Yamato's leg do wonders for getting him to pay attention and engage with what Gabumon is saying. This time, he seems to actually be listening and processing Gabumon's words.

In the dub:

Matt: OW!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!? ARE YOU CRAZY!?!? Gabumon: Don't you understand, Matt!? You've got to quit comparing yourself to Tai! You're not him! It's like ice cream; He's vanilla and you're rocky road. But only one of you is T.K.'s real brother and it's not him! No matter how much he impresses T.K., Tai will never be able to break the bond that you two brothers share! Matt: Gabumon.... Gabumon: And besides, don't you think it would break my heart if you weren't here? After all, I didn't wait my entire life for you to arrive just so you can wallow in self-pity! Matt: Huh? Gabumon.... Gabumon: But Matt, if you really want to be left alone, then I'll respect your wishes and disappear. But only if that's what you really want me to do.

Accusing people of wallowing in self-pity is rarely a convincing argument against continuing to wallow in self-pity, Gabumon. In fact, that's a great way to kill an intervention by getting them defensive.

This was a little thing that's slowly been compounding but I don't like Gabumon's tone of voice in the dub. In the original, he's pouring his heart out and sounds on the verge of breaking down in tears. Which makes sense since he's actively crying.

The dub voice sounds aggressive and accusatory. There's not as much empathy for Matt here as there is for Yamato.

Also, they're still desperately trying to insert quips to keep this light, and they are failing miserably. This is still a dark and serious conversation even with Gabumon and Matt making tonally-inappropriate jokes here and there.

Faced with Gabumon's emotional earnestness, Yamato clenches his fist and answers.

Yamato: No. When I said I wanted to be alone... that was a lie. I was putting on a front. Since I was young, I've been pushing people away like that. But the truth is....

Yamato flashes back on his parents' divorce. The camera closes in on his face, as he watches Natsuko take Takeru away.

Yamato: Really, I'm lonely. I told myself no one would ever see me cry. If I had to be alone, then I was going to be a great man who can do anything by myself. But... what I wanted to do was cry. Gabumon: Yamato.... Yamato: (crying) I hate being alone.

Gabumon pulls Yamato into a hug.

Gabumon: I'm here for you! You can depend on me the way I depend on you. If you do that, then we can persevere (ganbaru) through anything!

Finally, Yamato unpacks the effects that his divorce trauma has had on him. Like Gabumon said back at the Jureimon encounter, Yamato is still, deep down, an empathetic young boy who wants to be loved and accepted by others. We've seen it multiple times throughout the series. He's always been driven by his empathy, even if he couldn't acknowledge it.

But he closes up and becomes defensive when his nerves are exposed. His fear of abandonment motivates him to push people away and try to act like a lone wolf. Even though he's really, truly not one, and never has been.

If anything, by his behavior, he's always been Team Mom, constantly looking out for the welfare of the group as a whole. Because that is his truth, buried beneath the lie he's been trying to convince himself to believe.

In the dub:

Matt: No, I don't really want to be left alone. Sorry, I never meant to hurt you. I've never let anyone get close to me before. Not since my family split up. (Brief divorce flashback) Matt: Ever since then, I've been alone. I figured if my family didn't want me, then I would just keep to myself and never tell anyone what I was feeling. And I swore I would never let anyone see me cry. But really, all I wanted to do was cry. Gabumon: Then cry. Matt: (crying) I hate being alone. (Gabumon pulls Matt into a hug) Gabumon: I'm here for you, Matt! I used to be lonely too! I wandered around the Digital World without any friends at all! And then, after I met you, I'd never be lonely again!

Yamato says that his lone wolf behavior is a deliberate ruse. That his behavior is fake. He pretends (poorly) to be a self-made island of a man who doesn't need anything or anyone, as a defense mechanism. But really, his behavior only isolates him further and makes him irate and miserable.

He is a very unhappy social butterfly, because he denies himself connection and pours all of his need for human contact onto Takeru. Who, as previously noted, slips through his armor because he can lie further and tell himself that he doesn't need anything but Takeru needs him.

Matt touches on that, but only goes as far as to say that he keeps people at arm's length. He explains that he closed himself off because "my family didn't want me", which is an obviously untrue childish exaggeration. Especially since we've met his family and we know how they feel about him.

Yamato describes himself as 一人 hitori, alone, as a result of the divorce, but doesn't cast blame for it. His story is focused on what happened in his head due to the divorce. He never implies that his parents hurt him intentionally.

Which makes it seem like this whole thing came from Matt just... misunderstanding the cause of his parents' divorce and thinking they broke up because of him. Yamato needs therapy. Matt needs a hug from his mom.

Then Dub Gabumon starts bald-faced lying about his background. Gabumon has never been alone. From the day he hatched, he's had a social network around him. He's thinking of Gatomon. He stole her backstory in order to pretend he could relate. The bastard.

Credit for letting Matt cry in the dub, though. Past episodes have taken a strong anti-boys crying stance, so that was a pleasant surprise to see.

Inspired and touched by Gabumon's words, Yamato responds.

Yamato: (smiling) You're right. Gabumon, because you were with me, I was able to make it this far. Even in the depths of this dark cave, you're still here, chasing after me. I don't have to be alone. Gabumon: Yamato! Yamato: I have the nakama too. And Takeru, Dad, and Mom.

Yamato flashes back again. This time, rather than the divorce, he sees the reunion with his parents and Takeru shortly after VenomVamdemon's defeat.

Yamato: (thinking) I'm sure I'll look much happier next time. Dad! Mom!

In the dub:

Matt: I know what you mean. Me too. After all, you're the main reason I came to the Digital World in the first place. And here I am, lost in this dark, strange cave, and you're still right by my side. That's the sign of a true friend. Gabumon: Aw, shucks. Matt: I guess I have friends. And that includes T.K. and my Mom and Dad! (Brief flashback) Matt: (thinking) Now I realize I was never really alone. People like me. They really, really like me!

Matt says "you're the main reason I came here" like that was a choice he made.

As a finisher, "People really like me" feels like a much weaker closing argument than "I'll look much happier next time my family sees me" in my opinion, but that may just be personal taste. This isn't incorrect; I just don't like it as much.

As Yamato self-actualizes, the darkness is purged from him and rises into the cave, swirling overhead. At last, Yamato sees it for himself.

Gabumon: Yamato, look! Yamato: What is that? Gabumon: It was coiling around you this whole time! Didn't you notice? Yamato: Not at all. Gabumon: I think it was trying to get inside your heart, Yamato. Yamato: It's black. ...I understand. These are the black feelings that I was experiencing just now. But you're wrong. Gabumon: About what? Yamato: That thing wasn't trying to get inside of me. It pulled out the darkness I already had inside. I think I've been carrying that darkness deep in my heart all this time. Gabumon: I see. Yamato: My isolation is what drew this darkness into me. But everything is different now!

Adding onto the thematically resonant nature of this hyperbolic place, the dark swirly-swirl is itself the manifestation of Yamato's feelings.

(I believe he has found the part of the Digital World that came from Silent Hill's data.)

In the dub:

Gabumon: Matt, look! Matt: What is it!? Gabumon: It's been around you this whole time! You mean you haven't noticed it until now? Matt: Not at all. Gabumon: It was weird. The more you talked about being alone, the bigger that thing got. Matt: It's pitch-black. ...that's exactly the feeling I had in my heart just a minute ago. I know what it is! Gabumon: Please tell me. Matt: It's the darkness that I've been carrying around with me this whole time. The darkness that's been buried in my heart. Oh, Gabumon, now it's ready to swallow me up whole! Gabumon: Like Jonah and the whale? Yamato: I have a feeling that if I didn't recognize it just now, it would have taken over my whole life. But I'm not gonna let that happen!

(spit take)

Okay so we can't use the word "holy" but referencing specific Bible passages is fine.

Then again, there was that one time Sora's mom yelled "Christ", but I'm still convinced that was an ad-lib no one caught.

Man, threading the needle of acceptable Christian references under 90's cartoon censorship is hard.

In any case, this is pretty solid. My one note is that they again removed the discussion of Yamato's feelings of isolation. Matt says this is the darkness he carries but does not go into detail about where that darkness came from, what it means for him personally. Instead, he treats it like an external threat trying to destroy him.

Which is. Y'know. The opposite of what this scene is meant to convey about Yamato's internalized darkness. That's his little trauma ball up there. Let's whack it with a stick! A stick made of love.

(Not you, Sora, this is not your time yet. Yamato has to learn to love himself first.)

Yamato: After all, I'm not alone anymore! Gabumon: That's right! Yamato: Thank you, Gabumon. Gabumon: Yamato! I've always, always wanted to thank you, ever since we met!

Yamato hugs Gabumon, and as they embrace, the swirling mass of Yamato's darkness disintegrates into pixels.

(God, I hope that thing isn't going to reincarnate into a Digitama. ...oh, wait, the Village of Beginnings is... Aww, I made myself sad. Piemon's darkness domain sucks! I hate it here!)

Yamato: You've been by my side, and I never realized. I've always had you! Gabumon: (happiness noises) Yamato: (stands up and grips Gabumon's claws) You might have to put up with a lot from me from now on, but I'm counting on you. Gabumon: I can handle that. Yamato: And I'm not going to complain anymore. Gabumon: It's fine! You can complain to me all you want. Haha! Yamato: Alright, then. I'll whisper my complaints to you very softly.

Gabumon and Yamato share a laugh. As they do, the cave around them distorts and fizzles out of existence. It was never real to begin with.

In the dub:

Matt: It can't hurt me because I'm not alone anymore. Gabumon: That's the spirit! Matt: I want to thank you, Gabumon. Gabumon: Don't mention it. That's what friends are for. Besides, I should be thanking you! You're the best friend a Digimon ever had. (Matt hugs Gabumon) Matt: Let's make a promise that we'll always be there for each other, no matter what happens. Gabumon and Matt, friends for life. Gabumon: (happiness noises) Matt: (stands up and grips Gabumon's claws) What do you say? Do we have a deal? A handshake makes it official. Gabumon: Will a pawshake do? Matt: And I promise not to complain anymore either. Gabumon: Don't start that again. If you're upset about something, you should get it off your chest. Matt: Alright, if you insist. I'll still complain once in a while, but only to you!

I appreciate Dub Gabumon calling Matt out for the "no complaining" thing. No, Yamato, suppressing your feelings and refusing to communicate what's going on with you is not the correct takeaway from this. Try again! Use your words! XD

The dub's take on the cave scene has been touch and go but I like this part. And yes, you are permitted a quip here. Now is the proper time for tension-killing gags.

As the cave fizzles out of existence, Yamato and Gabumon unpack what that was just now.

Gabumon: The both of us were just inside this huge cave of darkness.... Yamato: We've been lost for a very long time.... Jou: HEEEEEEEEEEY!!! YAMATOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Due to a lack of pronoun, it's unclear if Yamato is saying "We've been lost" as in they were in the cave for a long time or "I've been lost" as a reference to the psychological cage he'd imprisoned his mind in for years. This ambiguity may be deliberate, as both are appropriate context for this scene.

The abrupt sound of Jou screaming for them brings Yamato back to the present.

Yamato: (surprised) Jou!

Jou sprints up to Yamato, then stops and gasps for breath. Once he's caught his breath, he starts laughing and whips around to face Gomamon.

Jou: Ahahahahaha! I told you we'd find him! Gomamon: I never said we wouldn't. Yamato: (amused) What's all this, now? Jou: While we were walking here, I told myself everything would be fine as long as I believe in my path! Yamato: I see. Jou: Oh! Here.

Jou offers Yamato's harmonica to him.

Jou: This is your harmonica, isn't it?

Yamato takes it, closing his hand around it and closing his eyes for a moment. Basking in sentimentality. Then he opens his eyes again.

Yamato: Thank you.

Mission complete! I hope this helps Jou feel better about himself.

As Gabumon and Matt unpack the cave experience, the dub doesn't quite capture the poetry of the original.

Gabumon: Uh, correct me if I'm wrong on this one, Matt, but weren't we just in a big, dark cave a minute ago? Matt: That's right, and we were completely lost! Joe: HEY!!! MATT!!! OVER HERE!!! Matt: It's Joe! (Joe runs up, then stops to catch his breath) Joe: Hahahahaha! Who's the man now? I told you I'd find him! Gomamon: I never doubted you for a single minute, Joe! Matt: What's going on? Joe: I said to myself, "Joe," I said, "Just follow your own path and sooner or later you'll run into Matt!" I'm just glad it happened before I retired! Matt: I see! Joe: Oh! That's right. I forgot. Here. It's your harmonica, isn't it? (Joe gives Matt his harmonica) Matt: Thanks, Joe.

Joe's a little dub Joe about it but the whole exchange between him and Matt is nonetheless pretty accurate.

From here, we cut back to the fight with Piemon.

Piemon fires off his Trump Sword, throwing four swords at WarGreymon two-by-two. WarGreymon deflects the first pair with his Dramon Killer gauntlets, but the second pair slice past his exposed legs.

Then, moving of their own volition, the four swords fly up into the air to rejoin each other and come back around for another go. This time, all four swords slice past WarGreymon unblocked, carving him up.

Koushiro: WarGreymon is.... Hikari: (covers her eyes) No! I can't watch! Taichi: Shit!

Further attacks from the persistent projectiles bring WarGreymon to his knees. With WarGreymon struggling to even stand back up, the swords return to Piemon. Two by two, he catches and re-sheaths them on his back.

(Piemon vs. King Bradley, go!)

Tentomon: (distraught) Koushiro-han, put me in! Taichi: DON'T!!! Koushiro: (uncertain) Taichi-san!? Taichi: (thinking) Yamato, hurry!

Taichi's still holding the others in reserve for when the real battle begins, but he's running out of time and the others are beginning to question his decision.

The dub keeps the name Trump Sword for Piedmon's attack.

Izzy: WarGreymon's exhausted! Kari: (covers her eyes) I can't watch anymore! Tai: Stay tough! (WarGreymon continues to get slaughtered out there) Tentomon: Please, Izzy, let me help WarGreymon! Tai: No! Izzy: WarGreymon needs help! Tai: (thinking) Come on, Matt, where are you!?

Subtle change in that Izzy directly argues back at Tai. It's minor and makes sense for the dub's more assertive take on the character. Otherwise, mostly identical.

Cut to Sora and Takeru searching for the others.

Takeru: Ah! What's that?

Takeru points out Yamato's discarded swan boat.

Sora: Let's go take a look.

The Birdramon Express comes in low for a landing, and we go to commercial.

Can I just say that this swan boat is the unsung MVP of Digimon Adventure? Between this and the PicoDevimon sub-arc, it's put in so much overtime work to keep these children together despite their repeated insistence on splitting up.

In the dub:

T.K.: Look down there! Sora: That's Matt's boat! T.K.: But... where's Matt?

XD Sora, you weren't even there for the "Matt must have used the swan boat" conversation.

Hell, when they split up to reunite the team, it was Tai and Joe that took the boat across the lake! Matt stayed on land! You know this! You were stalking them!

Matt used the boat one time and suddenly everybody knows it as Matt's Boat forever. I hope this haunts him for life. I hope when they're forty years old, they're having a team reunion in the park and someone sees a swan boat on the lake and goes, "Matt, someone's stealing your boat!"

I mean. It is Matt's boat this time around.

But other people have used it too! That could be Mimi's boat! You don't know! XD

(Mimi, of course, having escaped being reunited by the boat this time around. Last time it was Koushiro who slipped the boat's notice. The boat does its best but there are many children and it can only do so much to gather them.)

Coming back from commercial, Sora and Takeru set foot on land.

Takeru: Onii-chan is nowhere to be found. Sora: (thinking, distraught) WHY!?!? At this rate, Taichi and the others.... (focused, determined) I'll find them. I promised! I have to find everyone and bring them back!

As if in response to her thoughts, a black void appears beneath Sora's feet. Darkness swirls, climbing up her legs. Takeru notices quickly

(There are benefits to being short.)

Takeru: Sora-san! Some black thing is crawling up your legs! Sora: Eh!?

Before she can react, a black void opens up beneath Sora, which then materializes into a deep, dark hole. Sora plunges into it.

Sora: (scream) Piyomon: SORA!!!

They don't emerge. Takeru stands at the edge, calling down into it.

Takeru: Sora-san!? SORA-SAAAAAAN!!!

(Did the boat know this would happen? Perhaps it is more nefarious than we realized. It did bring Yamato to Digitamamon's diner, after all....)

The dub lets Sora begin the conversation.

Sora: I hope he's not hurt somewhere. T.K.: We'll never find him. What are we going to do? Sora: (thinking) T.K.'s right. Maybe we should go back and help the others fight? (focused, determined) No. Tai asked me to find the others and that's what I'm going to do. I won't let him down! (Darkness appears and starts snaking up Sora's legs) T.K.: SORA, WATCH OUT!!! THERE'S SOME BLACK THING COMING OUT OF THE GROUND!!! Sora: Whuh? (Void becomes a hole and Sora falls in) Sora: (screams) Biyomon: (also screams, diving in) T.K.: Sora! SORAAAAAAAAA!!!

You get the impression that Sora's worried in the dub, but she's not quite at the "knife's edge of sanity" point that her Japanese counterpart is hanging out at.

Original Sora is hanging on by a thread, something that's apparent in both this and her previous scene. The stakes are so high but her task is seemingly impossible, and she's cracking under the pressure of those two conflicting realities.

In fact, this is the second time in as many scenes that she's had to suppress intrusive thoughts about Piemon killing them all. It's no wonder the darkness entity or whatever it is has taken an interest in her now.

Whether or not Sora can hear Takeru crying out for her, somebody does hear. Yamato and Jou come running.

Yamato: TAKERUUUUUUUUU!!! Takeru: (gasp) Onii-chan! Yamato: Takeru!

Yamato's first order of business is to hug his brother.

Takeru: Where were you!? I was so worried! Yamato: I'm sorry. I won't leave you like that again. I promise. Takeru: Huh? Onii-chan, you look a little different. Yamato: Don't worry about that, Takeru. What are you doing here, anyway?

Suddenly, Takeru remembers the current crisis. He points at the hole.

Takeru: Sora-san fell down there! Jou: (runs to the edge) EHHHH!?!? Sora-kun did!?

The boys peer down into the ominous unknown.

Takeru can be forgiven for being so excited to see Yamato again that he completely forgot Sora plummeted to her possible death two seconds ago. It's his brother, y'all.

In the dub:

Matt: T.K.!!! T.K.: Hey, that sounds like Matt! Matt: It sure does! (The brothers hug) T.K.: Oh, Matt, where have you been!? I was so worried about you! Matt: Sorry, T.K. I needed time to get my head straight, but I won't leave you again. I promise you. T.K.: Gee, Matt, you look different. Did you cut your hair or something? Matt: Nah, I just haven't been using as much gel. Where is everybody? T.K.: Some black thing pulled Sora down into that hole! Matt: Huh!? Joe: (runs to the edge) What!? Is she alright!?

I'm not sure the dub really understood the meaning behind Yamato "looking different", so they made a quip out of it. This is connected to Yamato saying that he'll look happier the next time his family sees him. Takeru's commenting on the visible change in Yamato's disposition.

Without that context, the quip's a bit of a non-sequitur, but it can be explained easily enough by T.K. having not seen Matt in a while.

I love the "That sounds like Matt!" "It sure does!" exchange. That's cute. ^_^

Gathering at the edge of the pit, the boys peer down into it. It looks eerily familiar to two of them.

Gabumon: Yamato, this.... Yamato: Yeah. This is the same cave we were trapped in earlier. Takeru: What is it? Jou: Whatever it is, we have to save her!

The boys climb down slowly into the black hole of darkness.

Jou: I have a bad feeling about this. Takeru: It's scary.... Yamato: It's okay! Don't be scared, Takeru. Your fear will agitate the darkness. Takeru: Oh! Got it!

Descending into the cave, a rock under Jou's foot gives way and he falls onto his butt.

Jou: UWAAGH!!! Oww..... Yamato: Are you okay? Jou: Yeah, the bottom wasn't too far down. I wasn't sure where I was falling to.

Once that's settled, Yamato directs the group's attention to the spooky cave.

Yamato: This is it. Jou: Where's Sora-kun? Takeru: It's so dark, I can't see. Patamon: I hear voices that way!

Everyone turns to look at the tunnel behind them.

Jou: (firmly) We'll start there.

Okay, I don't know about you guys but if someone said to me, "Your fear will agitate the darkness," that would be some scary shit that would absolutely not help me control my fear better. I was terrified of the scary hole and I am now pissing myself in the scary hole, thank you.

In the dub:

Gabumon: Hey, Matt, does this remind you of anything? Matt: Yeah! It looks just like that cave we were trapped in before. The same black thing must have gotten Sora! T.K.: You've seen it!? Joe: Come on, guys! We've gotta help her! (The boys start climbing down) Joe: I don't have a good feeling about this. T.K.: It's scary! Matt: Whatever you do, don't be afraid, okay, guys? I've realized that it's your fear that feeds the darkness. T.K.: That's easy for you to say! (Joe slips and falls) Joe: Wha--OW! Ugh.... Matt: Are you alright, Joe!? Joe: Yeah. Fortunately, I landed on the one part of my body that has a built-in airbag. (They face the cave) Matt: Very funny. Joe: Where's Sora? T.K.: We need a clue. Patamon: Listen! I think I hear something coming from over there! (Everyone turns to look) Joe: I'd call that a clue.

This is really good. I appreciate that T.K. calls Matt out for how scary that line was rather than just nodding and going, "Ah, gotcha."

They also manage to slip a well-placed quip in after Joe's fall. It's already a brief moment of levity so the quip fits in perfectly, and it doesn't replace any vital dialogue.

Following the voices, it doesn't take the group long to find Sora and Piyomon.

Piyomon: Sora! Sora, what's wrong with you? SORA, LISTEN TO ME!!! Gomamon: That's Piyomon's voice! Jou: Sora-kun must be with her!

The boys sprint down the tunnel until they find Sora and Piyomon. Sora's in the same position Yamato was in earlier: Sitting by the cave wall with her legs pulled up to her chest, covered in a black aura.

Piyomon: Sora! SORAAAAA!!! Takeru: SORA-SAAAAAAAN!!! Piyomon: Guys!

The boys surround Sora. Yamato tries to appeal to her.

Yamato: Sora, what's wrong? Get up.

After this incredibly convincing and thorough argument fails to budge Sora, Yamato tries violence.

(To be fair, it worked when Gabumon did it.)

He grabs Sora's arm and physically tries to pull her out of her sitting position.

Yamato: She won't budge. Jou: I'll help.

Jou grabs Sora's other arm and together they pull as hard as they can, thoroughly humiliating themselves as the black aura refuses to let go.

Jou: What the hell!? Did gravity change all of a sudden!?

Well, that was embarrassing. Great job, team.

In the dub:

Biyomon: Sora! Sora, talk to me! Please tell me what's wrong! Gomamon: That's Biyomon's voice! Joe: Which means Sora can't be far behind! (The boys start running) Biyomon: Sora! Sora! T.K.: Hang on, Biyomon! We're coming! Biyomon: Over here! (The boys surround Sora) Matt: Sora, what's the matter with you? Get up! (Matt pulls) Matt: She's stuck. Joe: Let me help. Matt: On three. One, two, three! (No dice) Joe: Once, it took four of us to get my grandmother off a toilet like that.

Gross. Can we go back to complaining about gravity?

Fine place for a quip, though. I just. Don't like the quip. <.<

After picking Sora up and carting her away like luggage has failed, we're back to talking.

Takeru: Sora-san is saying something. Jou: Huh? Sora: Have to keep looking for Mimi-chan... and Jou-senpai and Yamato-kun.... (crying) I have to save Taichi.... If I can't stop it, our world will end.... Piyomon: She hasn't answered me at all. She just keeps muttering the same thing over and over!

Jou kneels down and tries shaking Sora.

Jou: Yamato and I are right here! Look at me!

This seems to work. Sora looks up and sees Jou's face, though her eyes are glazed over with darkness just like Yamato's were before.

Sora: (deadpan as if in a trance) Senpai... Thank goodness.... And Yamato-kun too... Yamato: Don't worry, everything is fine. Sora: No, it's not. I can't go on like this. I'm supposed to be strong. I have to save Taichi... or the world.... Jou: Sora-kun, you're putting too much responsibility on yourself! Yamato: Sora! Your negative thoughts are turning into negative energy. The darkness in your heart is generating this cave! Jou: Wait, what!? Is that why you told Takeru not to be scared!? Yamato: This dark cave is a reflection of your dark feelings! Sora! You have to throw those feelings away! THROW THEM OUT!!!

Once again, Piemon's realm of darkness is an asshole. This is the worst stripe on Spiral Mountain. It's just concentrated death and despair.

In the dub:

T.K.: Hey, listen! Sora's saying something! Sora: I have to find Mimi... and Joe and Matt... I have to help Tai or the world will be destroyed! There's no place like home... There's no place like home.... Biyomon: She won't talk to me anymore. All she does is keep mumbling the same thing over and over again. Joe: Sora! Matt and I are right here! Look at me! Focus! Sora: Joe! You're really here... I can't believe it... and Matt's with you too! Matt: Just relax. Everything's going to be okay now. Sora: I'm afraid not. I haven't been trying hard enough. I have to get to Tai right away and help him fight because, if I don't, the world will be completely destroyed. Joe: Sora, come on! You can't be responsible for saving the world! Matt: You have to realize how strong your negative feelings are! They produce a powerful destructive energy! Sora, it's the darkness in your heart that has created the cave in the first place; Don't you get it!? Joe: Really, Matt? Is that true? Is that why you told T.K. not to be scared? Matt: Sora, listen to me. There's only one way to make this cave disappear. You've got to reach deep into your heart and erase all the negative feelings!

They start out by turning a portion of this sequence into an out-of-nowhere Wizard of Oz spoof, so that's a bad start.

The heightened aggression of the dub rears its head again. "Don't you get it!?" is a very unhelpful thing to say to someone who's having a panic attack.

From here, we zoom in on Sora's darkness-infused eye and enter her mind space. Sora floats in a black void, curled up just like she is in reality.

Sora: These feelings... What does that mean? Yamato: We're not doing this out of obligation, but because we want to do this. If you don't want to, then you don't have to. But I think it's because we wanted to do this that we made it this far. Sora: If I don't want to do it, then I don't have to.... Yamato: That's right! If you don't want to do it, then don't! Sora: That's... You're wrong! We have to do it!

Well, that was a bust. Yamato's putting in his best effort but Sora simply isn't receptive to the logic, "I mean you don't really have to save the world if you don't want to. It's fine to let your friends die and the world be destroyed. You think about what you really want."

If the stakes weren't so goddamn high, this might be a solid argument from Yamato. But as it is, it falls on deaf ears for predictable reasons.

In the dub:

Sora: I don't know if I can.... What should I do? Matt: You'll have to find the answer to that question on your own. Sora, this isn't the kind of thing you do just because you have to. If you're going to do it, then it has to be because you want to. Sora: You mean that I don't have to do it if I don't want to? Matt: Right. It will only work if you want to do it. Sora: I'm confused. How will I know what the right thing to do is?

Uh, point of order, she does not have to find the answer on her own. The whole point of this conversation is to help her find the answer. Matt didn't solve it himself when it was his turn either; Gabumon bit him in the leg to make him pay the fuck attention and then scolded him for three minutes!

Sora finds Matt's argument in the dub confusing and so do I. As opposed to original Sora finding Yamato's argument unconvincing, as did I.

Alright, senpai, you want to take a crack at this? Maybe Yamato doesn't feel the crushing weight of billions of lives on his shoulders, but Sora needs advice from someone who does.

Jou: Sora-kun! We're lost in a labyrinth and no one can help us, that may be true. But it's because we're the only ones capable of doing something about it that we're even here! Sora: We can do something about it.... Jou: Doesn't that thought fill you with courage? Sora: (excited) We can do something about it! Here and now!

That breaks through Sora's despair spiral. Inside her mind space, Jou and Yamato descend, each taking one of Sora's hands to pull her out. Back in physical space, the dark glaze vanishes from her eyes.

Sora: We can do it! That's right! Isn't that right? Yamato: And we're here for you. Takeru: Sora-san! Sora: (nods) Mhm! Piyomon: SORA!!!! (hug) Sora: Piyomon! Piyomon: Thank goodness, you're back to normal!

Awww. Yamato was trying to make it this a big philosophical thing about obligations and individual motivation. But really, all Sora needed was a pep talk from senpai. Legit, sometimes all it takes to change someone's entire day is to just tell them they're valid.

In the dub:

Joe: When this whole thing started, do you think we had any idea what the right thing to do was? Of course not! But that didn't stop us, did it? Maybe we're here for a reason. Maybe we're the only ones who can do it! Sora: We're the only ones who can make a difference.... Joe: It's working, Matt! I think we're finally getting through to her! Sora: (excited) We're the only ones... That's why we're here! (Sora wakes up) Sora: I get it now! You were right, Matt. How did you know? Matt: I kinda went through the same thing myself. T.K.: Welcome back! Sora: (nods, giggles) Biyomon: Sora! (hug) Sora: Biyomon! Biyomon: I'm so happy that you're the old Sora and not the new Sora!

With Sora's injection of positivity, the spooky despair cave once again fizzles out of existence.

Jou: It disappeared! Yamato: Because the darkness in Sora's heart disappeared. Sora: That was inside my heart...? Takeru: Hey! Taichi-san is waiting for us! Jou: Right! Yamato: To Taichi.... Let's go! Sora: YEAH!!!

It's not the full team of reinforcements that Sora was tasked with collecting. Mimi and her growing nakama are still out there. But she's got Yamato and Jou, and that will have to be enough.

In the dub:

Joe: The cave's gone! Matt: When the darkness from Sora's heart disappeared, so did the cave. Sora: I feel so relieved. T.K.: Boy, wait 'til Tai hears about this! Joe: Let's find him. Matt: Tai's waiting for us right now! Let's go! Sora: Right!

Minor difference: In the original, it's Takeru who reminds everyone on purpose that we need to hurry back to Taichi. In the dub, he casually mentions Tai and that's what gives Joe and Matt the idea that we need to go back.

This is part of the general trend of the dub trying to preserve T.K.'s innocence and childishness, which was particularly noticeable in the Puppetmon arc. But at this point, Takeru is as much a child soldier as the rest of them.

Cutting back to the fight.

Piemon fires the confusingly named Toy Wonderness at Taichi. Not even at WarGreymon; He attacks Taichi directly with a shockwave of compressed air.

WarGreymon jumps in the way and tries to block the shockwave, but enough force still gets through to throw Taichi a good ten or twenty feet.

Hikari: ONII-CHAN!!! Koushiro: Taichi-san!

Koushiro tries to run to Taichi, but Taichi calls out to him.

Taichi: KOUSHIRO, STAY BACK!!! You take care of Hikari.

Piemon hits him with another shot from Toy Wonderness. Again, WarGreymon blocks as much of it as he can, including a chunky bit; A large rock was lifted up by this shockwave, but it slams into WarGreymon's gauntlets and doesn't make it to Taichi. The wave, however, picks Taichi up off the ground and tosses him again.

WarGreymon crumples to one knee, doing his best to protect Taichi but running out of steam.

Koushiro: Taichi-san! I know protecting Hikari-san is the most important thing, but if this keeps up then you'll.... Tentomon: He's so stubborn! Taichi: (pained) It's fine. I can be stubborn or whatever. Just let me do this myself! I'll figure something out! Koushiro: No! That doesn't make any sense! Taichi: This is okay.... Koushiro: Taichi-san, do you really plan on doing this whole thing by yourself!? Taichi: Yes! What's wrong with that? Koushiro: You can't... Why!? Why won't you LET ME FIGHT WITH YOU!?!?

We rarely see Koushiro lose his cool. His politeness and civility is one of his most notable characteristics. So it's a big deal when he breaks down and starts screaming at Taichi.

The dub reuses the name Trump Sword for Toy Wonderness.

Kari: GET UP, TAI!!! Izzy: Hey, Tai! Tai: IZZY, STOP!!! You stay there! Protect Kari! (Second blast) Izzy: Tai, look. I know it's important for me to stay here and protect Kari, but in the meantime, who's going to protect you!? Tentomon: He tends to be a bit stubborn, doesn't he? Tai: (clearly barely holding on) Don't worry about me! I'm fine! I've got him right where I want him... He's exhausted.... Izzy: But I can help you! Tai: I'm fine! Izzy: That's funny. General Custer said the exact same thing at Little Big Horn. Tai: Thanks for the history lesson. Izzy: Alright then, just one thing. How come every time I ask, you NEVER LET ME JOIN IN THE FIGHT!?!?

I assume Izzy means this fight because Tai's let him join in plenty of other fights. In any case, his generally rude and dismissive demeanor means this moment of him snapping doesn't hit as hard as it does for Koushiro.

As with the darkness cave, they are trying very hard to soften things up with some quips.

Tai doing the half-conscious "I got him right where I want him!" bit and Izzy comparing him to a dead general keeps things silly and fun. This serves not to draw attention away from the fact that Piedmon is actively beating him to death as we speak, as the gags are still in service to the scene, but to make it feel less dire.

Unfortunately, Piemon's done with this. He lets off one more attack: Ending Snipe.

Clasping his hands together to make a finger gun, Piemon shoots off a bolt of energy. His shot shatters WarGreymon's armor and finally puts him down.

(So much for indestructible Chrome Digizoid. Everything has its limits.)

Hikari: WarGreymon! Taichi: War...! G-Greymo...on....

The last of Taichi's strength finally gives out. He collapses into the dirt.

Koushiro: TAICHI-SAN!!! Piemon: So, who wants to go next?

The dub renames Ending Snipe to Clown Trick, but at least they don't call this one Trump Sword too.

Kari: WarGreymon's been hit! Tai: No! WarGreymon... ugh.... (Tai collapses) Izzy: GET UP!!! Piedmon: Right, now who shall be next?

Suddenly, a voice rings out.

Yamato: TAICHIIIIIIIIII!!! Taichi: (weakly) ...Yamato...?

Taichi opens his eyes to see Garurumon and Birdramon on their way in, ferrying the missing Chosen Children except Mimi.

Yamato: TAICHI!!! Sora: TAICHI!!! Piemon: Some late arrivals. No matter; The result will be the same either way.

Piemon hangs out and does nothing while Yama runs to Taichi's side. He picks up Taichi and holds him.

Taichi: (weakly) You made it... I waited all this time for you.... Yamato: Taichi.... Taichi: I truly believed you'd come... I was certain of it.... Yamato: (tearing up) Thank you for believing in me. But I'm sorry I was so late. Taichi, you're my true friend! I won't let your friendship be in vain!

An interesting note is that Yamato doesn't use nakama here but instead goes for tomodachi. Nakama means we're working together towards the same goal. We're a team. Colleagues. Coworkers. Squadmates. And we will get to know each other and build social bonds as we move towards the same goal. That's normal.

Since Digitamamon's restaurant and up until the Jureimon incident, Yamato had become comfortable with being nakama with these people. But tomodachi, true and genuine friendship outside of the nakama's purpose? That was a bit further than he was willing to go.

But he doesn't just use tomodachi; He modifies it with honto as an adjective, which means "real, true, genuine, sincere" to show that he means it.

In the dub, we go to our last commercial after Tai passes out. Then we return to Tai passing out again to remind us where we left off.

Tai: WarGreymon... I'm coming.... Ugh... (passes out) Matt: TAI!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!? Tai: ...huh... Matt!? Matt: Hold on, buddy! We're coming! Sora: Tai, it's us! We're almost there! Piedmon: Once upon a time, there were DigiDestined. Now they're just sitting ducks, waiting for me to take target practice. (Matt picks up Tai and cradles him) Matt: Tai! Tai: Matt... you made it... I can't believe you're here.... Matt: Yeah, I made it, Tai. Hang in there, buddy. Tai: I never doubted you for a second, Matt... I know it didn't always seem that way.... Matt: Thank you, Tai. For believing in me. I'm just sorry I was so late. Tai, you have to know how much our friendship has always meant to me! And I swear, nothing will ever come between us again.

Piedmon's new line, once again playing on the Storybook Time thing from his first episode, is off. It's an odd thing to have a character say when he's just going to stand nearby and let the dramatic reunion unfold.

Unless he's being literal, and meant he was going to pop back into the observatory to brush up on his skills at the shooting range before coming back to this. Which, you know what, maybe he did.

Not sure why Tai leads with "I can't believe you're here" when the point of the scene is that he had an unshakable faith that Matt would show up, even to the point of letting himself nearly be killed over it.

Still, Matt's big speech is the focal point of this sequence, and it comes through pretty well in the dub.

They can't just have him say "You're my friend" because they've been using friend as a translation for nakama, so the distinction between it and tomodachi wouldn't carry over. So instead, he uses their friendship as a whole and pours out his feelings over how important it's always been, confessing what we now know he's been suppressing since the beginning of their journey.

This is an effective and powerful sidestepping of the linguistic hurdle present in this scene.

Yamato's declaration suddenly causes his Crest to activate.

Garurumon approaches WarGreymon's body and gives his head a nuzzle. Rainbow magic pours out of his Friendship nuzzle and suddenly WarGreymon is back on his feet and good as new.

Taichi: This is.... Piemon: What the...? Garurumon: Yamato's Crest of Friendship gave me the power to bring WarGreymon back to life. WarGreymon: Thank you, Garurumon! Now I can fight again!

Sure, that might as well happen.

Given that WarGreymon hadn't disintegrated, I imagine he means this more in a "WarGreymon was on the verge of death" sort of way than a "I literally have resurrection magic now" sort of way. Like how a defibrillator brings someone back to life, but not in the same sense that necromancy does.

I would make a joke about how the Crest of Friendship also gave Garurumon the power to heal WarGreymon's armor, but they're DIgimon. The armor is technically a part of WarGreymon's body, because he's a wire-model frame with a texture skin over it. So, actually, yeah, it does make sense that it works that way.

Similarly, as goofy as this moment is, it does kinda make sense within the established rules. The Partner Digimon are powered by the energy from their associated Chosen Child. So, basically, Yamato's outpouring of Friendship made his Crest glow super-bright, and then Garurumon used his body to channel that energy from the Crest into WarGreymon and refill all his meters - in the process, resuscitating him from his half-dead state. That does make sense to me.

But on its face, as something that just happens and then we move right the hell along, this is wild. Especially with Garurumon just staring into the camera and explaining it as flat exposition with no elaboration. XD

In the dub, it's explained like this:

Tai: WarGreymon! Piedmon: Now what? Garurumon: Matt! Your Crest of Friendship gave me strength and brought WarGreymon back to normal! WarGreymon: Thank you, Garurumon. Now I can fight again!

Pretty much exactly the same except they crossed out life and wrote normal. A minor hiccup is that Garurumon says the Crest gave him strength and resuscitated WarGreymon instead of giving him strength to resuscitate WarGreymon.

A subtle but important distinction, because resuscitating WarGreymon uses up the extra strength Garurumon was given.

While Garurumon degenerates back into Gabumon, Jou and Yamato try to cart Taichi away to safety.

Koushiro: Guys! Hurry, hurry! Jou: Taichi, are you okay!? Taichi: (weakly) I'm fine....

Cut to Piemon, who has inexplicably been doing nothing while this is going on.

Piemon: I had planned on defeating you all in an instant, but if you so enjoy suffering, then I'll relish every minute of tormenting you slowly. Yamato: This jerk never shuts up!

Yamato has been here for thirty seconds and he's already had enough of Piemon.

In the dub:

Izzy: Come on, guys! Get out of there! Joe: Tai, are you okay? Tai: I think so.... Piedmon: My first thought was to destroy you all together in one nice little package. But now I believe I'd rather do it individually, so as to prolong your suffering a little longer. Matt: You sure talk a lot for a clown!

You tell him, Matt!

Piemon throws his Trump Sword once more. Gabumon responds by Warp Evolving into MetalGarurumon.

Hikari: MetalGarurumon!

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon fire together, their combined energies destroying Piemon's four swords, which disintegrate into pixel dust as normal for Digimon parts.

Jou: YES!!! They broke through Piemon's swords!

For his part, Piemon hops over what's left of the attack as it reaches him.

Piemon: It seems the battle I've been waiting for has finally arrived!

We close here, with WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon finally reunited, and Piemon's promise that things won't be that easy next episode.

In the dub, Hey Digimon begins playing as the pair attacks. What ever happened to that cool 90's rap they had that one time?

Kari: Ha! Now he'll see what we're made of! (WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon vaporize the Trump Sword) Joe: They were able to break Piedmon's attack! Alright! (Piedmon hops over the attack) Piedmon: Well, could it actually be the case that I've finally found an adversary worth fighting? Narrator: Will WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon have enough strength to defeat Piedmon, the last of the Dark Masters? Find out on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

We will indeed find out. And the answer may surprise you!

Assessment: Ahh, the infamous "Matt wanders around a cave for twenty minutes" episode.

Piemon's realm is in an odd place. There is a clear desire to spend some time fleshing out his stripe of Spiral Mountain and getting to know what it's about. But also, what it's about is death and despair, which makes it a tricky place to write a complete adventure fantasy episode about.

This episode uses it to confront Yamato and Sora's fears via the never-explained Cave of Go Fuck Yourself. There's just this one spot in the realm of darkness where, if you go there, you get pulled into a psychic quagmire of your own insecurities.

Weird. But the Digital World is full of weird shit so it doesn't really need explanation. Digimon tends to treat darkness as, to an extent, eldritch and unknowable. More of that in 02.

In any case, this is pretty much the quintessential episode for unpacking Yamato, detailing the effects that his childhood trauma have had on his development. But it also has its detractors on account of like half the episode just being preteens having anxiety in a cave.

There's not a lot of action or running around with goofy new characters in this one, if that's what you're here for. It's very drama heavy and character-focused.

[trinkerichi]

What is your oppion on ribbun?

OOOH that's Jax/Gangle right? Oh boy you probably aren't asking for this but I feel like doing a big ramble and this is gonna be a long one. CHARACTER ANALYSIS INCOMING!

I'll preface this by saying I don't usually get too invested in shipping. I really like drawing interesting character dynamics tho, so I'll play around with the ships I see without really sticking to one. It's why I tend to draw a LOT of different ships only a few times each.

I'll ALSO preface by saying I really uh. Don't like Jax very much lmao I'm sorry. I'm not opposed to jerk characters in general, but I just didn't think any of his lines were funny. BUT I think that comes down to the fact that we only have a pilot and haven't seen much of their personalities yet. My favorite jerk characters, (Osomatsu, Bender, etc) all balance out their jerkiness by being dorky insecure losers that almost never win in the end so you kinda feel bad for them. I think if Jax ends up being written that way I'll become endeared to him. And goose has revealed before that none of the others actually like Jax so I kinda want to see that.

On the other hand, Gangle is my favorite character. She has barely 2 minutes of screen time but I love her concept so much. A friend called me out for this recently lol but all my BIG FAVS are characters that are themed around strong divided emotions. Pretending they're happy even when they're not, and having a hard time controlling their emotions as a result. (The latest ENA episode was a great example of this. Anyway.) Gangle being a sensitive flimsy pile of ribbons with a literal mask for a face? The fact that the tragedy mask seems to be her REAL face, while the comedy mask is so fragile that breaks if you so much as breathe on it too hard? I find that COMPELLING I want to see a whole series about her honestly.

Pairing her with Jax was inevitable, as is any fandom ship where the characters hate each other in canon. I usually hate this kind of pairing but this time I found it kinda fascinating! I think it's cause we don't really know a whole lot about either one of them so there's a lot of room to explore their characters through it.

I really do feel like Jax could hold a specific resentment towards Gangle. He's obviously not handling being stuck in the circus well, and he's bullying easy targets. He plays dirty. A person with high self esteem doesn't do that. Maybe he takes it out on Gangle because he hates how open she is about her feelings. He's putting on a tough and uncaring front, trying to pretend nothing bothers him, and she's out here being sensitive and fragile? How dare she! He's pushing her to her limits and she still won't harden herself. She doesn't have the energy to! Maybe she feels like she doesn't deserve to defend herself. It's so unhealthy! It's horrible!... And uh, sometimes horrible things are fun to write! DON'T JUDGE ME.

(And just so nobody accuses me of being insensitive here, without revealing too much, I've been in Gangle's place before. That's all I'll say.)

So with relationship stuff oh boy. We can take all those toxic traits to their extremes. But who would be the instigator?

What if Gangle coped with Jax's bullying by becoming more clingy. Becoming used to it.. Seeking him out. After all, he's paying attention to her right? Her warped self image being depressed and isolated in this circus for years would drive her to wanting any kind of stimulation.. does she realize this is self harm? What's it going to take for someone to step in before it goes too far?

Or on the other hand, what if Jax's fixation on bullying Gangle got mixed up in some more complex feelings.. If he really wanted to, I can see him manipulating her into a relationship just to see how many boundaries he can cross. He could have her wrapped around his little finger. Literally. He DOES have some misplaced affection for her deep down. He won't let himself think about it long enough to understand it, he's acting on impulse. She's uncomfortable but thankful for the seemingly lessened cruelty, so she puts up with it. And sometimes, rarely, between the thinly veiled insults disguised as compliments, he says something truly genuine and vulnerable. She can see it. He needs help. He needs love. But they're both hurting each other even more. It's wrong, but they're stuck now.

And now.. for the drama. Nobody can be pushed that far before snapping. As is the usual trope with soft spoken pushover characters, Gangle is a ticking time bomb. And I don't think she'd be willing to abstract entirely because of Jax, at least without clawing her way down.

Here's a fun fact. Have you seen that walk cycle video? Jax is tall, sure, but Gangle is PRETTY DARN TALL TOO. and she slouches. With her ribbons stretched to their full length she would tower over everybody. I want to see her get angry and be SCARY. I want her to stand up to Jax and lash out and scream and see him Genuinely Terrified. Everyone else caught in the crossfire too, covered in ribbon slashes. It wouldn't last forever. If the tension doesn't cause her to abstract she'll calm down eventually, or someone will be forced to break her mask to snap her out of the tantrum. Jax would pretend it didn't shake him at all, but would be noticeably quiet afterwards. Kinda shifting uncomfortably, they both avoid eye contact for as long as possible. His teasing towards Gangle never goes beyond slight ribbing again.

Whew.

Ok uh if you read this far, I don't LIKE the ship but it's a great character exercise! Hah I've thought a lot about it clearly. That being said, i usually prefer sweet cuddly ships myself. I think my favorite is Gangle/Pomni. I haven't seen this one around much, but those two are my favorite characters in the show and I'd love to see them interact! I think they could help each other with their anxieties and it'd be really cute. I don't even necessarily need it to be romantic I just think they'd have a sweet little dynamic together.

Surprisingly I've seen Gangle shipped with Zooble the most even though they haven't talked at all either and Zooble has like.. 2 lines. It might be cute but I wanna know more about them first.

As for Gangle n Kinger, I prefer them to have more of a father daughter type dynamic.

[ducktracy]

Hey, I just wanted to say that The Bear That Wasn't was one of my favorite picture books as a child, but since I wasn't aware of Tashlin back then I only learned it was his work after seeing you tweet it a while back. Revisiting it, it's still joyous and funny, but there's a deep poignant truth in the story that's very relevant to both myself and the world at large. And while Tashlin had an amazing career, The Bear That Wasn't is the work of his that I cherish the most.

I'M SOOOO HONORED AND TOUCHED BY THIS ASK!!!! thank you for sending this in!! i'm so happy to hear you have such a special connection with this book!! i really wish i had known about it sooner--one of my many artistic aspirations as a kid was to be a children's book illustrator, and that's a book that i know i would have been utterly fixated by and used as inspiration had i had it. so this makes me so happy to hear!!

and YES, I AAAABSOLUTELY recommend everyone reading this ask to read the book! you can! right here! for free! treat your eyeballs not only to these gorgeous Tashlin drawings, but a very touching and as you said POIGNANT story!! it's so fantastic. Frank Tashlin is seriously one of my biggest and most omnipresent inspirations, i swear he just about influences every facet of my life that i could possibly regard with any sort of artistic influence. he was an amazing cartoonist, an amazing cartoon director, an amazing live action director and now an amazing author!!

another book i'd love to get my hands on is another one of his, The Possum That Didn't. images are a bit hard to come by online, but the illustrations still have that same charm and it's just!! UGH! the level of talent on display!!

while images may be hard to find, there is an animated version! i'll have to give it a watch since i haven't seen it myself! i also need to reacquaint myself with Chuck Jones' adaptation of The Bear That Wasn't. i'm glad that Tash's books were regarded enough to get animated adaptations... and by his old coworkers, no less! though if memory serves, i don't think Tash was very impressed with Jones' take lol

i wasn't very happy with how it was coming out so i (hopefully momentarily) abandoned it, but a few months ago i tried doing some screenshot redraws mimicking the style of Tashlin's book illustrations in hope of creating a mock-up storybook adaptation of Nasty Quacks as a sort of "prep project" for another project i do have in mind and do want to commit to.. maybe someday i'll pick it back up. but, needless to say, his books are as big of an influence on me as his cartoons and his movies and his comics!! i'm so glad to hear this

[roboj0e]

"girl please" is a neutral phrase lmao but my bad ig. anyway, to 99% of the population a fetish and a kink mean more or less the same thing. if there's a difference could you explain it? thx... btw you're not a feminist if you think it's ok to draw or get off to sexual art of children, even if they're fictional/cartoon... you do realize a lot of shota and loli content is traced from photos of kids, right? my abuser made cartoon csem traced from my photos. :/

My dad used to force me to watch csem and distributed csem of me also exists. I actually get sent it sometimes on facebook who I know are just my dad using sock puppet accounts. Did I win the CSA Olympics? Am I now enough of an authority of this trauma to make unsubstantiated claims? I could trauma dump unsolicited on you too but I have compassion so I won't and also I'm not about to plead for my humanity from someone who won't listen and engage in good faith anyways.

I'm sorry that happened to you but it would have happened regardless of the existence of lolisho. Abusers are gonna abuse no matter what. This was the first thing I learned in therapy. What's funny is it was lolisho that help me realize my abuse. Yes I understood sexual abuse conceptually but I couldn't recognize it happening to ME until I saw my situation reflected back at me in a safe sane scenario. My therapist said it was bc I was repressing it in denial and only allowing myself to fantasize about it in a safe environment was I able to recognize it as abuse. Funny how life works like that huh.

Oh to explain I completely forgot bc I had to write this twice bc Tumblr crashed. A fetish is a sexual reliance on something to achieve sexual arousal or gratification and can be sexual.outside of sexual contexts. A kink amplifies sexual gratification, usually has to do with roleplay or sexual acts/positions/height/weight and has to be negotiated and communicated and consentual. Ppl do use them interchangeably BUT specifically with the word fetishize ur using it wrong in this case. To fetishize something there must be both dehumanization and objectification. U can not dehumanize or objectify fictional characters they are not human and are already objects.

No I don't support sexual art of children. This sort of phrasing is just a deliberate misrepresention so u can position urself as morally righteous and disengage from the conversation early and not have to examine what anyone is actually saying. They are fictional characters. They can be any age, any race and body type and have any name at any time. They are objects. They don't exist and can not accumulate trauma the way you or i can. They do not need protection.

If u don't like it that's fine. Especially considering your trauma. But ur claim is unsupported and wildly inaccurate. Do not projects ur trauma onto others especially as it pertains to facts about criminal psychology and sex crimes. This is unhealthy and will lead to paranoia that same paranoia that brought u to ur conclusion here. This is not pervasive enough in lolisho to be considered a trend or even the default. But you also could be sharing real abusive images/scenarios no matter what form of media u engage with. But that doesn't not mean we should sanitize art and media on the off chance someone could be evil. Your not exempt from the same personal responsibility ur trying to place on me just bc u don't engage in fictional pornographic material and it's not especially heinous when it's fictional art versus and any other medium. We could all be unknowingly sharing and engageing with abusive material but all we can do is protect and believe victims and figure out as a society how to reduce harm.

No banning lolisho or any media is not a solution. Studies show most csem is produced/distributed by parent/guardians. The best way to protect children is to advocate for children rights and the reduction of parental rights. Experts have been saying this for years. Children being treated like property both by law and society is what is perpetuating their abuse. Not fictional art.

Censorship is not the solution. Any historical application of censorship has always ALWAYS lead to the mistreatment and silencing of victims and marginalized communities. This will make it difficult for victims to appeal to censors and share their stories which are valuable for understanding abuse but also valuable bc it is art. And incentivizing ppl to invade other peoples privacy to be sure they have the right identity/trauma to create a specific type of art is fascism. So is censoring or banning that art. This will do nothing but silence and shame victims. This is happening still right now and has happened plenty in the past. Guilt and shame ONLY perpetuates sexual abuse.

This is also forcing ppl to engage in art and fiction with a paranoid analysis FIRST. telling ppl they can tell whose a good or bad person based on what they draw/write or engage with is not healthy and is antithetical to educating ppl on how to recognize abuse. It's irresponsible and It's giving children and teens anxiety disorders. Look at any ex anti/proship anonymous confessions. Look at the damage ppl are causing with this third grade level of word association and cause and effect. Ppl are developing POCD. Me included ALMOST.

Experts have been saying for decades now that fictional sexual material has no link to escalation into sexual violence or engaging in paraphilias. No fiction doesnt effect reality. these same psychologists that have debunked claims such as "violent video games cause violence" have also researched how it operates the same with fictional sexual material. There's no special circumstance just bc it's sex or porn.

Just bc u navigate the world on disgust and paranoia doesn't mean I have to. I listen to the science and research. While also having my own experience to draw from.

As a CSA victim with a SEX THERAPIST do u really think I would not have done my due diligence before engaging in any community?? I've done a hell of a lot of work to get where I am now. Sexually liberated and healthy. Both personal growth and LOTS of research into sex crimes. And I really don't feel like hearing regressive religiously programmed sex negative thoughts on the fiction I enjoy.

I am a feminist tho. I'm just not regressive and reactionary. 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

[gilsart]

I just KNOW that Frederick the Great is tweaking in his coffin right now with the victory of the rotten orange.

It's jover for all of us in politics 💀, we need a hero (historical political figure from Prussia who happens to be gay)

Oh no we do NOT need a comeback no thank you nuh huh not agreeing with this he better stay dead 🚩🚩🚩

All jokes aside!

I think we need to talk about this statement you made. I'm european, that means I'm not directly affected by Tr*mp's election, but I will be in the near future considering most politicians in my country love to lick fascist boots (not surprised, they're fascists themselves). This is a premise to say that we are collectively sinking deep in a pile of shit, but that I'm also used to fascist ideology comfortably sitting in Parliament chairs as I am used to anachronistic statements, so here's my two cents about what you just said.

I admit I have no idea if by "tweaking" you mean tweaking with joy or tweaking in horror, I've seen the verb being used in both contexts and English isn't my first language, but this doesn't matter. Whatever you meant, I wouldn't make a statement like this one to talk about the current situation, if I were you. Now, I know you were probably joking and that's fine, but I still feel like it is my responsibility to answer back to you with what I think about this, especially with what is happening right now: we need to stop thinking about historical figures with our 21st century mindset, ESPECIALLY when it comes to political matters like, for example, segregated and oppressed communities' basic human rights.

Especially when talking about queer historical figures such as Frederick, considering the time he was born, lived and died, he wouldn't even know what the word "gay" means. He wouldn't use the word "homosexual", he wouldn't know how to label himself, he wouldn't think like we do because we're talking about an 18th century rich white man. And he probably wouldn't align with any feminist ideology, as wouldn't most (if not every, but I'm not educated enough to speak on behalf of historical feminism) male figures from his time period. When thinking about it, being considerate enough towards oppressed communities as to, for example, not use certain slurs is a fairly new thing. The words used to describe a gay man back then would be considered extremely offensive right now – not to mention being a lesbian was equated with being mentally ill.

To mix historical figures and modern day society is anachronistic and aside from not leading us anywhere it can be extremely dangerous. What you said was innocent, I think, so I'm not accusing you of anything, and while anachronism can sometimes be funny (like, for example, a meme or a drawing) when dragged into modern society's ideology, it becomes a double-edged sword. Especially when it comes to Frederick. Idolizing him lead to some very bad stuff. N*zis glorified him as a hero and a great German leader prefiguring H*tler. Joseph G*ebbels commissioned artists to render fanciful images of Frederick, Bismarck, and H*itler together to create a sense of historical continuum amongst them and legitimise the Regime by doing so. To this day there are people who proudly call themselves "Prussian nationalists" which in the year of our lord 2024 is rather pathetic (wake up, Prussia doesn't exist anymore, guys) and deeply concerning. These people have reached out to me in the past and I ever so quickly blocked them.

When it comes to a drawing, something silly, something done lightheartedly, it is one thing. When people (not just me, people) draw modern AUs with historical figures just to have fun, with nothing problematic attached to it, that's just what it is: a drawing. But when it comes to politics let's remember that these people are dead, have been dead, and better stay dead and the fuck out of Parliament seats, politicians' mouths, and human rights movements because most of the time they wouldn't even know what the hell we're on about. And that is okay. They have done their time on Earth and we can study them, like them, make content revolving around them like I do along with many other people, but what we cannot do is use them to say they'd stand by us and agree with us because that takes us nowhere.

I'd like to end this by saying I'm not attacking you, and if you feel like I am or would like to talk about this further feel free to DM me. This is just a general message to everyone to not come to me with anachronistic takes, be they voluntary or involuntary, because I'm way too used to them not to start being really annoying.

[girl-in-the-mirrorbluenight]

Okay I've been thinking about this pretty much all day since I saw the hbomberguy and then todd in the shadows video i just have so many thoughts. While I wouldn't necessarily call myself a Video Essayist™ (I've only made a few over the years) as a youtuber and someone who has made video essays i definitely have more experience than the average person. There are so many things that stand out to me about this whole debacle i dont even know where to start.

First I want to just give a little insight into the process for making video essays from people who've never given it a shot and just how absurd it is to do the type of plagiarizing James has done. Video essays take a fuckton of research, even for pretty simple topics, but on top that you also have to make them with the medium of video in mind. it's really not enough to just take an essay you would write for a class and read it out loud. the flow is different, you have to have accompanying visuals, often background music, etc. They're a beast to make. My Twisted video for which i used literally two sources for my research (Sondheim's books and the musical Twisted) still took days of thorough reading, note taking, watching the musical, watching the musical again, watching the musical and taking notes, cross-referencing my notes, etc. For videos that synthesize multiple sources or are covering multiple pieces of media, that time goes up exponentially. Then there's writing, recording, gathering clips (often one of the most difficult parts depending on how obscure what you're talking about is), and editing. Even for a silly video like my Glee video, I still had to do a ton of research to make sure I was getting things correct, and that was a funny tier list about freaking Glee! There is just no way you could come up with a thorough analysis by just copying and pasting. Which brings me to my next point.

I think James may have thought (or more likely rationalized) what he was doing as analysis based on like the vaguest definition. When you do any kind of analysis, what you're doing is taking research from multiple different places (news articles, primary sources, existing analysis, etc.) and coming to your own conclusions, whether that's a synthesis of those different sources, or applying it to a specific thing like a movie. Really simple example is my Twisted video where I take Sondheim's writing and apply it to a specific piece of media (in this case Twisted). I'm using existing work but coming to my own conclusion. In the Spies Are Forever video, I took existing research about the Lavender Scare and the Hays Code, including primary sources from the time period, and applied it to the musical Spies are Forever. What James seem to do is take a bunch of existing scholarship, copy and paste it all together and then come to a "conclusion" that was not actually his own original thoughts but either "facts" he completely made up or something that didn't do anything to actually link his other "sources" together. I can see why it has the veneer of analysis, but making up a random "fact" you think might be true is not the same as a drawing a conclusion based on research.

I also think Todd made a really good point in the part about England's propaganda campaign against Italy around 9:30 that it's just really bad video making to not include examples of images from this so called propaganda campaign. I have a ton of examples of news clips, government reports, etc. in my SaF video about the Lavender Scare because...it was a real historic thing that happened! If something was supposedly so widespread and not even that long ago, you can probably find evidence of it somewhere. Kaz Rowe (who is also linked in the queer creators playlist on hbomberguy's vid) talked about this a lot in their video about tiktok misinfo where people often make these outrageous claims but the thing is if something so outrageous happened (like people constantly shitting on the floors of versailles), other people at the time would probably be talking about it somewhere. It's a big red flag when someone makes such bold claims and has no evidence to back it up.

Putting this last section under the cut because I go talk about WWII, Nazis, and HIV/AIDS a bit (watch Todd's video for some more context) so if you don't want to see that post is over here.

Lastly I wanted to talk about something else Kaz brings up in a lot of their videos when talking about historical topics and that is the tendency to dehumanize people of the past, often as unwashed, unintelligent masses who would just do any ridiculous disgusting thing because they were so stupid and disgusting. There are a lot of things to criticize about the people of the past and their actions obviously, but we cannot forgot that they were in fact, people. Real individual people with their own lives and dreams and ambitions and individual opinions and they have never been and never will be a monolith. Claiming anything is broadly true of "the victorians" or "the ancient egyptians" or whatever other vague historical group you want to talk about is usually a lot more nuanced than "they all thought or acted in this one particular way". I'm certainly not a historian and i've only done one history focused video but James Somerton seemed to make a lot of broad historical claims in his videos that I think fall into this trap.

The one that stood out most to me in Todd's video was the claim about Nazi body standards which is a whole mess in general that Todd goes into for a while, but the way he talks about WWII soldiers was just like...weird. Besides the fact that a lot of his claims about Nazis seem to be bordering on glorifying them and their aesthetics (gross), I think we should remember that WWII was less than a century ago. There are still over 100,000 surviving WWII vets in the US. My grandfather who was in the Army during WWII (he didn't serve overseas but he was an enlisted soldier I can literally look up his enlistment records in the national archives online) was a real person who I obviously knew personally and who died fairly recently. To think he enlisted because he was jealous of German fitness or whatever and wanted to prove how tough Americans are is an absolutely hilarious thing to think if you knew him. I'm sure there are as many reasons for enlisting as there were enlisted soldiers. When James talks about even as relatively narrow of a group as "WWII American soldiers," he's still talking about a very large group of real and diverse people and to make such broad claims that "most" or even "a lot" of them were just so taken in by strong german physiques or whatever is frankly insulting. I haven't watched the entirety of James video so maybe he does address this at some point, but from the clips I've seen it seems very generalized and implies some level of racism when WWII soldiers in fact included a lot of racially diverse people. IDK, i think if you're a supposed historical researcher and you're making a video about WWII and you don't know about groups like the Tuskegee Airmen or the Navajo Code Talkers, that's on you. I don't want to discount some of the really horrible shit that American (and obviously other countries) soldier's did in the war and how many of them held disgusting views (even my grandpa who I love dearly was not the most politically correct person to put it lightly) but Jame's claims are not criticizing any real ideology or the consequences of them, they're oversimplifying complex and harmful historical ideas and attributing them to something he pretty much made up. I'll also give you a little hint about something. When people fall into Nazi ideology, it's because they ultimately agree with the ideology, not for some surface level aesthetic reason of "fitness" or whatever. They are antisemitic, they are racist, they are eugenicists, plain and simple. They don't just think the Nazis are cool except for all their beliefs. I also think (and again I could be missing a part of the video here) the hyper focus on the Germans and the Soviets and not mentioning Italy is at the very least an oversight too. Mussolini, like Hitler and Stalin, had a pretty big campaign of promoting an ideal strong race which he tied to ancient Romans. Like this was also a country controlled by a fascist dictator that American soldiers fought in idk it just seems weird to me to leave it out. (okay edit i looked up the transcript and he does talk about Italian fascism a little bit but only about how Mussolini rose to power, nothing about his ideologies or anything really related to the main topic of body image).

And one more thing on that note that bothered me a lot. I think his claims about HIV/AIDS is probably the most well-known here on tumblr and has been pretty thoroughly destroyed by this point, but I do just want to say one more thing about it which is that AIDS isn't gone! I feel like they way he talks about it from what I've seen of this video makes HIV/AIDS sound like a problem of the past now that we have drugs for it, but that is just not the truth. There are still tens of thousands of new infections in the US each year and way more globally and yes, people do still die from it. I just don't like when people talk about AIDS as if it's this problem of the distant past, a separate era that people went through in the 80s rather than an ongoing epidemic that still does not have a cure. Safer sex, clean needle usage, and getting tested are just as important now as they were in the 80s and 90s and don't forget that.

[10hourshift]

Ok so I just remembered I wanted to make this (and also don't want it to be too long) but bear with me

Something something, I think that for a story that sure loves using eyes and the face as narrative devices it's kinda weird that meg ALWAYS keeps her bang covering her eye.

What I mean is that for a big number of characters these things (the eyes and the face) are used as a way to show different faces of the same character. Some examples from the top of my head are loon and his growth shown as him uncovering his eyes (and even if it's not becoming a new person or whatever, it's like him finally gaining courage to face the world or smth) and Cami, who always has her eyes covered, and added to that she gives a mysterious vibe to both the other characters and the audience. Who later, when we get to know her in her song, we can finally see her "true" self, and with that, her eyes. And when her "shadow eyes" appear, we can figure out that she has some struggles too (idk it's been a while since my last rewatch). (There are other minor examples, like the introduction of Fred and owynn, or when Bonnie decides to take his glasses off, but I don't want to drag this too long :p)

Because of this I wonder why it is that the series is too strict about meg's eye. The one time her eye shows up (not counting that one image of her as a kid and the bleeding eye) is in a music video (important bc only the audience sees this). This was kinda funny to me (I think ever since I saw it from the first time but ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯) bc in "no más" the song that is really about her overcoming her inner conflicts and whatnot her eye is never visible, (only at the start her bang is lifted but her eyes are closed so it doesn't count). And even after that, she doesn't have any changes in her looks. She keeps the same old hairstyle and keeps covering her eye. Even in zer0, she still has her bang, though the hairdo change is pretty cute imo, but I keep my point, WHY IS THE EYE ALWAYS COVERED???

The reason is never explicitly said, though, it's safe to assume that it has to do with her Big Past Trauma, either in a literal way (eye damaged or draws too much attention, so it's better to keep covered) or a narrative way (something related to shadows??, maybe???). So, this and the already mentioned obsession of the series to keep her eye hidden* is kinda strange to me bc it makes me wonder why it is so damn important to keep her face hidden? And also, what would need to happen for her to show her face??

*the reason I'm so persistent that is "the series" who keeps her eye hidden is bc meg is not often seen actively trying to hide her eye. But her default characteristic is her bang over like half of her face.

Tbh I don't have anything convincing enough to conclude this. As is mostly a ramble about some silly detail that bothers me a little too much. So feel free to add your thoughts if you want to, I just wanted to ramble a bit about this xd

Have an image of genderbent meg I found on the wiki for the trouble

[ckret2]

I don't really understand Bill's abilities. If I'm not mistaken, it was said that he knows lot of things because every image of Bill works like a camera through which Bill can observe this world.

And at the same time, he knows where long-forgotten treasures are buried and which lottery tickets you need to buy to win. And recently you said that Bill knows everything about humans, until the moment it is necessary that Bill did not know about something so that there would be a funny situation.

And also Bill can see the future. Is this how he was able to see where the treasure was buried and which tickets needed to be bought? Did he see in the future that a treasure would be found in some place, and tickets with such numbers would let somebody win money?

You don't fully understand Bill's abilities because they haven't been fully explained. It's on purpose. He's a mysterious guy with secrets and he doesn't sit around thinking about how his own abilities work. However, I've shared what you need to know in order to understand as much as you're supposed to about what he's done so far.

Yes, he knows lots of things because he's been spying through his eyes on earth for millennia. This is based on semi-canon info: Bill states this in the Bill Cipher AMA. ("JUST DRAW MY FORM ANYWHERE IN YOUR HUMAN WORLD- EACH IMAGE OF ME ACTS A PEEPHOLE FROM MY DIMENSION TO YOURS.")

He knows where long-forgotten treasures are buried because "long-forgotten" means the last human who knew is dead. He's not a human, he was around when it was buried, he knew about it at the time.

HOW he knew isn't explained because it isn't necessary—it's supposed to be weird and impressive that he knew and that he flung it out so casually—but it isn't hard to think up logical reasons: buried treasure has a whole lot of money in it, I'd think a few of those dollar bills could have been luckily angled to watch the treasure-buriers while they were drawing up the treasure map for where they planned to bury it. Or maybe the chest they used had an Eye of Providence on the iron lock and it could see where it was carried. Or maybe one of the people who buried it was wearing an Eye of Providence brooch. Doesn't matter. What does matter: if Bill knows about something old, it's because he has known about it.

When he's looking at the lotto tickets, his eye is bleeding and Mabel says he's looking into a higher dimension. Other places (definitely chapter 29, I don't recall if any of the other upcoming references have been posted yet) state that Bill can see into higher dimensions, which lets him see through solid objects (such as walls), but doing this makes his eye hurt/bleed. Therefore: he's looking through a solid object—the scratch-off surface—to see if the cards have winning numbers. This wasn't explained in chapter 20 because you're supposed to go "how tf did he do that," that was the goal.

"And recently you said that Bill knows everything about humans, until the moment it is necessary that Bill did not know about something so that there would be a funny situation." <- Now this here is what we call a joke about the writing process. I am not literally stating that Bill's powers are supernaturally controlled by the concept of comedy. I'm stating that, as a writer trying to craft an entertaining narrative, sometimes my decision to include a line is based less on "does this hold up to rigorous scientific & logical scrutiny given the internal rules we have constructed for this universe?" and more on "is it funny enough to balance out the fact that it's a little bit implausible?" I won't fully violate the rules of his powers solely for a gag, but sometimes it just ain't all that serious.

Here are Bill's 'sees/knows things he shouldn't' powers based on what has thus far been shown in the fic:

Knows a lot of random stuff; they're among the Lots Of Things he's observed over the millennia. This is based on semi-canon info.

Can (occasionally) see into "higher dimensions," which lets him see through solid objects, at the cost of pain and a bloody eye.

Can (constantly) see into the future; full extent yet to be explored in fic, but it's at least a few minutes. Please note that every time this has happened where we see it from his perspective, he LITERALLY SEES the future, visually, with his eyeballs. As in, he looks at the place where something is going to happen, and sees it happening there. (Places he's observed the future just off the top of my head: ch 2, 7, 18, 20, 27, 28, 34, 35—there may be others I've missed.)

Can see & hear things in the mindscape (ex: Dipper's ghost floating around) that other people (ex: Dipper's whole family) cannot

Can see in the dark (explicitly confirmed in ch 34 but he regularly hangs out in the dark startling people—ch 15, 20, 24, 26, 32)