#he was the ''true personality'' all along and implying that being a system is a barrier to a super happy ending

[npdiyozane]

I don't like BSD I'm sorry if I'm putting myself through the little sister bullshit I'm doing it for a VN that does something interesting not for a basic shounen anime with a mafia aesthetic and some questionable literary references.

[manesthia]

Thoughts on Halsin as an "atypical druid"

I've seen a number of excellent metas lately about Halsin's atypical druidism (the fact that he does not abhor the undead, does not have complete control over his wildshape, etc.). While I agree completely with those points, I've also noticed a tendency to sometimes frame this as Halsin being a "bad" druid or never really belonging with the druids in the first place. And I strongly disagree with that. I feel that Halsin's druidism is a core aspect of his character and implying that he is somehow "bad at it" robs him of something essential. The fact that he is a unique, complex character with far more depth than just "typical DnD druid" doesn't mean that he is not still a druid at heart - and a pretty formidable one, at that.

I see him as a character who has something in common with the nature deities and magician-priests of ancient myth and legend: Merlin (a mentor whose teachings are rooted in the natural world; who guides kings rather than wishing to rule himself; who mediates between the kingdom of men and animals; and who changes into an animal) and Dionysus (who celebrates multiplicity, fluidity, nature-based wisdom, carnal pleasure, the subversion of unnatural restraints - and who also shapeshifts, by the way). Druidism informs Halsin's entire belief system, ranging from his view on relationships (Halsin never uses the word 'polyamory'; instead, he speaks of "doing as nature does" and explains all of his preferences with nature metaphors - "the bear partners as its instinct dictates", etc.) to the importance he places on community. Halsin is unhappy as Archdruid not because he is just an incompetent leader or can't get along with other druids, but because he is so in tune with nature that he only thrives in communities with a structure more like the branching network of roots or mycelia - like our group of "weirdos" or his rebuilt community in Reithwin. He does know how to guide, counsel, and mediate - all of which are essential leadership abilities. But he needs to be part of an interconnected organism that grows and learns together, not the sole leader of it. To me, this is connected to his shapeshifting abilities and druidism: Halsin is connected to all other beings by literally becoming them (even if he is most attuned to his bear-shape).

Halsin speaks very highly of the grove as a place of worship (let's not forget how deeply religious Halsin is, too), but he also says that life in the grove made him feel cut off from nature. It's ironic that a druid grove runs on politics and power hierarchies (aspects of civilisation that most druids should despise), but it does. This is also a theme in a sidequest in BG2, if anyone recalls. In my opinion, the fact that Halsin feels out of place in a grove that has grown corrupted with politics and power plays actually makes him more true to core druidic beliefs, not less so.

I think the idea that Halsin doesn't get along with other druids gets taken a little too far at times, too. Members of his grove have issues with him primarily because they have been radicalised by Shadow Druids, not because Halsin is just too good-aligned for other druids in general. Note that every single druid in the grove who expresses strong anti-refugee sentiment also supports Kagha and the Rite of Thorns. Halsin welcomes outcasts into the grove because he is compassionate and empathetic as a person, yes, but also because it is part of his druidic belief in harmony, unity, and the value of life. Compare with Olodan's line:

This is not to say that I think Halsin's would never clash with other druids at all, or that I think his relationship with the grove is without friction. Obviously, part of the blame for the infiltration of the Shadow Druids falls on him. Obviously, there would be more neutral-aligned druids who would disagree with him on principle. But the fact that the previous Archdruid chose Halsin as his successor (we must assume that he did, since Halsin obviously didn't sign up for it) strongly indicates to me that the deceased, much wiser elders of the grove valued him greatly. Jaheira also repeatedly refers to him with the deepest respect.

I think it's also worth noting that there is room for nuance in druidic beliefs in the BG series. Faldorn in BG1, Cernd in BG2 and Jaheira in all three games are all very different. In many ways, Jaheira is more Harper than druid, which I think was indicated by her being a multiclassed fighter/druid in the earlier games. It also comes out in her conversation with Halsin about the Shadow Curse:

And if you tell her (speaking as Halsin) that she doesn't have to explain herself to him:

Of course, Halsin has a personal investment in lifting the Shadow Curse that Jaheira doesn't share, namely Thaniel. Only Halsin has a special connection with the very spirit of the land. This is also why he is completely unable to heal and move on until the Shadow Curse is lifted, unlike Jaheira. If the spirit of the land is wounded, then so is his own spirit. Jaheira, as a Fighter-Druid-Harper, is very much a protector of the realms as a whole (nature and civilisation), while Halsin is referred to over and over again by various NPCs as Nature's Steward, Keeper of Groves, Guardian of the Land, etc.

My argument here is not that Halsin is a more "typical" druid than Jaheira or that one is a "better" druid than the other (I love them both deeply). I'm just saying that all of this demonstrates to me how deeply intertwined Halsin's druidism is with the rest of his character. And I really, really appreciate him as a druid along with everything else he is.

I'm not really sure that I understand Tumblr etiquette regarding discussion (what is the polite way to interact with each other here? Commenting? Reblogs with hashtags? I'm too old for this site lol), but I would love to talk about this more. Please don't hesitate to comment, even if you disagree.

[pikahlua]

I mean at least with ochako, deku and shouto the author had them fight with the intention to try to save or understand himiko, tomura and touya. These characters were constructed under this little idea. But at the end none of them managed to do it and all the villains died as villains anyway and the ones that lived didn't change and afterwards the author decided to show a random kid being helped by an old lady as the proof of hero society changing or something. It felt cheap to me i guess.

"fight with the intention to try to save or understand himiko, tomura and touya" "But at the end none of them managed to do it"

...Do...do you really think they didn't manage to understand Himiko, Tomura, and Touya? Why? Why do you think that? I don't know how it could have been any clearer that understanding was achieved??

And I'm very concerned about this notion that "saving" these villains means they don't die and after surviving they completely change. Like, I'm sorry, but this confuses me the most about people who claim to be fans of the villains when they imply things like this. Think about what this would mean. Somehow these villains' grievances with society should have all been immediately and completely resolved and they change their tune like "Oops, guess I was wrong about everything ever! I love society now! Everything that happened to me was justified and I should never have complained! The heroes were right all along and I was just being silly! I will take steps for improving myself and rejoining this society that I used to hate because I mistakenly thought it wronged me!" Maybe that's not how you truly expected it to play out, but if Izuku, Ochako, and Shouto managed to talk-no-jutsu their villains in one go out of being villains, it would absolutely have come across that way. It would have been the message behind the culmination in Izuku and everyone "becoming the greatest heroes." It would have said yes, the status quo is good and correct, and people should just open up to the right people before they become villains and then they wouldn't be a problem for everybody.

What we get instead is the heroes coming to an understanding of what their villains' grievances are (again, why do you think this didn't happen?) and showing those villains that yes, there is at least one person in the world who understands them and wants to give them hope, that wants to make their lives easier. Tomura and Himiko both die with hope in their hearts. A piece of darkness inside each of the three of them is resolved by their respective heroes. Touya is granted his last wish to talk things out with his family before he dies. Himiko is faced with the question of incarceration or death, and she chooses death as a means of staying true to herself (i.e. her desire to never be caught, to live and die as she wants to). She also is able to live this new form of "love" in giving her blood to Ochako as she goes out. In destroying himself, Tomura also destroys the man who used him and was responsible for the existence of "that house" that represented all his trauma. Tomura also left a legacy for Spinner to continue in his absence and a question for Izuku to observe of society in the aftermath (which is why we see that moment with the old lady, who represented the legitimate grievance Tomura had with the society that failed to save him from AFO). All the villains maintain their LEGITIMATE grievances with society and refuse to bend to society's wishes, and thus their points, their ideals, their legacies live on. They endure within the hearts of others who are aggrieved by society, and they leave a stark impact on the heroes who couldn't change them. That's how we get Ochako dedicating her life to children's welfare. That's how we get Izuku telling all children they can be heroes whether or not they become pro heroes in the law enforcement system. That's how we get Shouto living a life where he can be and discover himself separate from the tainted legacy of his father. The lessons they take from their villains stay in their hearts forever because they are failures. Their failure was the point. They aren't perfect, they can't save everyone by themselves, they have to dedicate their lives to being the change society needs if they want to save more people, and their failures guide them in the directions where they can make that sort of impact.

Believe it or not, Crimson Riot says it best...

Yeah, that's right, the message has been prevalent in the story for a long time. It didn't come out of no where.

If the message feels cheap to you, I implore you (and EVERYONE) to engage in a thought exercise. Genuinely, try to imagine that someone in the world other than you finds the message of this story as not cheap but as earnest and meaningful and robust. Now imagine why this person would think that. What evidence is there in the manga that they would use to support it? What meaning would they derive from this ending? Try to understand the opposite point of view. Try to honestly engage with the text in this way. Horikoshi devoted a decade of his life to telling this story. Sure, some of it probably suffered from bad editing and weird changes due to elongating the story at times. It was a big story with a giant cast, and that can be a lot for any one person to manage perfectly over the course of 10 years. Maybe there are parts of the story that aren't as tight or clean as they could be. But, in good faith, please try to imagine WHY Horikoshi felt this story needed to be told. Try to imagine what message Horikoshi wanted to convey that matters to him. Don't just dismiss the ending out of hand because it doesn't immediately click for you. I think it's great you asked me about it, and I hope my answer gives you more to think about.

[darkonekrisrewrite]

Emily from Hazbin Hotel would be infinitely better at Deku's job (narratively and literally) than he is. For the simple fact that when she finds out about Heaven's dark secret, the exterminations, she is horrified and goes this is not okay, it's not okay that this is happening, I am not going to be quiet about this. If we are judging people off of one moment and are refusing to look at the context, or improvement, while allowing our people to get away with this, than this entire system is a lie. We get this in one episode, fuck it, a song

Deku meanwhile in 400+ chapters finds out horrifying truth after horrifying truth about hero society, and doesn't care, half the time it doesn't even occur that this is fucked up, and should not be happening. He is bullied for years based on his quirk status, especially by Bakugou 'well he's going to be a hero so this shouldn't be taken seriously' He learns that the number 2 hero bought his wife, neglected his not perfect quirk babies and abused all of them, and was already an ass before that, 'theres no need to bring this up to All Might, or the principal, or do anything about that, I just need to get this victim to be cool with his quirk' (this also goes for Bakugou the easedropper). His upperclassman stops him from saving a six year old in blatant danger, and both that top upperclassman, their boss, and his past mentor outwardly state/ agree with it would be bad publicity if they didn't arrest all the Yakuza at once, and that they barely care about that child after learning see was the ingredient to the weapon they were making, 'well were saving her now'. Lady Nagant was and Hawks is the personal assassin for the commission against whoever they want without trial or due process, 'Hawks is going to make a great new president of the commission'. Rody Soul was forced to support his younger siblings as a child, was assaulted by adults, was forced to turn to crime, while heroes did nothing, 'well I'm helping now (because it goes along with a larger case) so it's all good'

After all this Deku is a fucking bootlicker who is mentally so fucking lazy he has never questioned this shit ass system after all this, his values are empty because he only cares to look at the titles and not reality, he has gotten worse, not better, at this over the course of the series. Meanwhile Emily wasn't tolerating this shit day one of finding out, and she was working within this system too

Yeah pretty much true.

People say that hazbin hotel rushes things because of it's short episode count/runtime but at least it always gets to the point without going in circles for years, dragging out the characters finally understanding the message.

When something obviously wrong and counter to everything they believe in, is shoved in a character's face, there should be a reaction equal to the importance of the 'idea/theme' in verse.

In theory, it doesn't matter if their reaction is good or bad/for better or worse, because either way it should be an understood event that causes a blow to their way of thinking, based on the importance of the revelation.

Deku did that all of 1 time.

And that's putting it generously, in him mildly calling out Endeavor at the sports festival, way back at the beginning of the series.

This never happened again, not towards anything related to heroes or hero society.

It should have been a very big deal for Deku to realize that the number 2 hero was able to buy another human being as part of a eugenics goal to make a more powerful hero.

He at least should have considered telling an authority figure (All-might or Nedzu) about it, just in case there was anything else that may have been going on with Endeavor.

It should have been a very big revelation for Deku that his upperclassmen was willing to let a very clearly injured (wearing bandages) and terrified little girl go back with the guy who was obviously implied to be responsible for doing it to her.

Mirio could have beaten or at least stalled overhaul until backup arrived while Deku took Eri and ran.

(He definitely could have too, as he was able to fight against overhaul in a confined space while quirkless, for a fair amount of time.)

But until everyone knew exactly what was going on with Eri, Mirio was fine with putting the mission above a little girl's life, letting her go with someone who they knew was a dangerous Yakuza.

Gigantic red flag regarding what the heroes prioritize when the situation isn't ideal.

It ties back into hero society abandoning those who are inconvenient perfectly, leaving them to suffer and eventually become villains or die.

Looking back Deku should have realized that but because he got the approval of the system to go back and save the girl as part of the mission, everything's cool...

And this does show that he has gotten worse as the series goes on, as he's not even willing to bark back at the hero system.

Deku has called out villains all the time (Dabi, Flecturn, toga and Shigaraki), he knows how to talk back, so it's not that he CAN'T.

But whenever it's something that's got to do with hero's flaws, nothing.

It's that he WON'T talk back to heroes.

And if he really is just a kid who can't even talk back to his bosses or peers, or the "innocent" people who are responsible for (at least) half of the villains in bnha -

With the idea that they are responsible for the villain's current lives, showing how their callousness and cruelty drove the villains to that point.

-Then what the hell have we been following him all this time for?

Izuku has only temporarily saved their society, like Mirio said: "Setting things at Zero".

Is that it? The best to hope for?

Setting things back to Zero with no idea of improvement? Because it's "Impossible"??

[localguy2]

General analysis of DR Zane, S1 and S2 included (spoilers):

Man... Is this one a doozy...

Okay okay so, what I wanna touch on first and foremost is Zane's humanity, or his perception of his own humanity, because uhhh...

Folks the implications are NOT GOOD in the SLIGHTEST in regards to his Mental State and thinking process.

Something we've seen repeatedly throughout DR is that the merged realms and it's people in general don't view Zane as human, they don't see him as a person but more so a machine, or equipment.

We saw this first in S1E13 'Wyldly Inappropriate' we get introduced to "Zane Day", a day dedicated entirely to Celebrating Zane and who he is, and it sounds really sweet and it is- but...

It's celebrated in the worst possible way ever.

Zane is treated like a robot, like striaght up robot, when people speaks its all in an attempt to mimic a robotic voice, and sometimes people end up saying stuff that's really offensive to him (Zane look alike contest).

Heck, even other Nindroids are in on it.

This sorta paints a sad picture in regards to Zane, because it implies that the city (or maybe entirety of the Merged Realms) see Zane as just a robot ninja with cool powers, nothing more, nothing less.

And we see this a second time in S2E7 'Fugitives from Madness' and S2E8 'Secrets of the Wyldness', in which Zane and Cole fight off The Administration, and yet again we see how Zane's Humanity is absolutely disregard, heck it's even violated in this scenario, they don't even acknowledge him as a person, The Administration straight up calls him "Equipment".

Equipment that's to be destroyed when taken, and that's despite Zane proving himself to be an actual being multiple times to the agents.

So, what am I getting at here?

Well, in simple terms, The World of Ninjago Post-Merge doesn't really acknowledge Zane's humanity or his personhood, of course, the average everyday civilian to a lot less extent then say, an entire organisation, but the wholehearted confidence the Agents of the Administration say that Zane is an object calls into question whether it's their actual personal beliefs, or protocols set by the Administratior.

And... You know what's the absolute worst part?

Zane doesn't even TRY to defend himself.

Striaght up, he neither tries to explain what Nindroids are to people during Zane day, and just goes along with the flow.

And when fighting The Administration, he even OFFERS himself to them in exchange to let Cole and Bonzel get away, granted you could say it was part of his plan to buy him and the others more time, but his continued insistence on trying to find a compromise with The Agents sorta hammers home his whole hearted belief that he's:

A) Expendable.

B) Not a person, but a machine/"equipment".

Now, this might be over analysis on my end, but I would also like to point out the scene where he plugs himself into The Administration mech and tries to decode/hack their netrowk and systems.

In that scene, his mech gets stabbed in the back with a massive sword from one of The Agents, and instead of immediately getting the fuck out, he stays Plugged in and KEEPS trying to hack their stuff, all in the hope that he can finish it in time before he gets fried alive.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen, his circuits get fried completely and he passes out.

But, it again (directly or indirectly) hammers in points A and B, Expendable, and Nothing more then a machine.

(I would like to add as well, his this parallels nicely with PIXAL in S11 during 'Kiaju Protocol', their stubbornness, and something I've neglected to mention about Zane which EVERYONE knows, is his Self-Sacrificial and Nobel tendencies).

And you don't even have to make that many assumptions for all of this to be considered true, just look at what he says...

In S2E5 'The Spell at the Waterfall', Zane finds a plush made for him by Frohickey, of Frohickey himself.

When Zane asks why Frohickey made him this plush, Frohickey says that he made it so if Zane had any issue to take up with him, he could talk to the Plush instead (reminiscent of his PIXAL-Brush coping mechanism in S1).

And Zane... Well he striaght up lies, he says and I quote:

"I do not expiernce heightened emotions."

Which, yeah, okay buddy, sure...

Just ignore the time you shut off your emotions... Sure

But anyway, this is really really unusual for Zane to say, he might not be good at emotions, but he'd never ever deny the fact that he feels all of them.

Well... Unless he fully believes he's just a machine.

See what I'm getting at here?

If he doesn't believe he's more then machine, then he sure as hell will make wrong assumptions and judgements on his own personhood and emotions, and... Why shouldn't he?

Everything and Everyone in the merged realms sees as him as nothing more than that, regardless of previous experiences and events that have impacted him personally.

It's wrong, really REALLY wrong, but in his mind, probably not so much.

So, what do I think they writers are doing this?

I think personally, this is all subtle and slow build up to give Zane an eventual arc, perhaps in Part 2 of Season 2, or in Season 3 even.

Because, even Doc himself recognised that Zane's character has become very stale and boring during the last few seasons, and given how pretty much EVERY CHARACTER in the show has gotten something to do that involves their character, it'd be particularly odd to leave Zane out (well unless they don't know how to write him).

And it's why they're deliberately making Zane go and say these things, it's subtle, but when it's time to give him his own time to shine, it'll make a lot more sense.

This could also related to the egg/pod thing he woke up in under Imperium, because Doc also said that it's a matter for later seasons.

But it remains to be seen if the future planned Zane arc/story is connected to the egg he was in, we'll just have to wait and see really...

[hopefull-mindset]

Oh for the people following me, I would like to let you know that I do not agree with any canon interpretation that implies that Hajime and Izuru are separate people or two minds in one body. Headcanons are fine, that’s harmless and amusing to see played out.

I’m just never on bored with anyone saying that they’d make the most sense as a system or anything along those lines. I know that was popularized in 2021, I was a first hand witness to the growth, but trust when I say that completely contradicts chapter 6.

It’s more than “they’re the same person” if we really want to dissect this more, but also yeah, it’s the same damn person. We refer to them differently because Izuru does not resemble Hajime at all, so it doesn’t make sense to call him Hajime. We also do not know he is Hajime because that’s a spoiler, if you forget that you’re not supposed to know until the last chapter.

However, Hajime is Izuru Kamukura, that’s just not his name. His rebuttal towards Junko is different than the one he does before his confrontation with himself (“Izuru”) because he’s not rejecting himself anymore, he’s rejecting the name that isn’t even his to begin with. He’s rejecting the name that was given to him not as a way to individualize himself, but to tie him to hpa’s cause. There’s no reason for him to identity with that name anymore.

You’re welcome to confront me on this or reply, but genuinely I do not think it is a good idea to keep perpetuating the concept that them not being each other is a valid interpretation. As I said in the beginning, you’re welcome to have your fun but it’s not true. Why on earth would anyone look at Hajime’s arc, take scenes out of context, and then think they’re making anywhere near a valid point?

I don’t want to sound mean, but it does fucking invalidate Hajime’s arc and identity issues that you guys so clearly understand. Right. I’m ecstatic that the conversation around Hajime was reduced to this. It’s insane to me you guys can take Junko and Ryoko being the same person at face value, but not this?? It’s literally the same situation.

(Emphasis on canon interpretation because I’d be happy to review trial 6 to make my point)

[alastoridiot-meta]

I CANNOT let this continue to be the false narrative throughout the fandom so let’s just talk about Alastor and whether he will be redeemed.

The simple answer I have to this is… absolutely. Like what do you think the message of this show IS.

Alastor is a charming and likable character. He’s edgy and soft and rigid in all the right ways for fandom to take and hold onto him. Viv has said before, along with what is shown in the show, that he tends to have a weird and sort of warped morality.

On one hand, he has no problem threatening Husk, torturing overlords, and overall being a nuisance to every powerful male character that he comes in contact with.

But on the other hand, he believes in being able to control YOUR OWN fate, as said in his fight with Adam “you should know more than anyone what a soul can do when they take charge of their own fate”, implying control over one’s personhood, destiny, and general LIFE. In fact, it’s this sentence that just speaks to so many of Alastor’s true ideals in consent and soul contracts. Like yes he owns huskers soul and maybe nifty’s, but husk only furthers my own agenda of “Alastor targets people with power”, for one reason or another, those people are overlords. HE EVEN IMPLIES IN STAYED GONE THAT HIS TRUE INTENTIONS ARE DISTURBING SYSTEMS OF POWER, GOING AGAINST THE STATUS QUO.

And i know it’s wordplay for destroying the Vee’s, but with the combined evidence of: the Vee’s being the main metaphors for exploitation and taking AWAY control over one’s fate, along with heaven and what the hotel stands for, this makes perfect sense as to WHY he joined the hotel in the first place. Because it’s not for entertainment, and I highly doubt it’s any sort of power. This, along with the previous weird obsession with Lucifer and destroying overlords in general, his friendship with an overlord who values the people she employs to such an extent that Charlie still has to WIN THEM OVER… it just goes against everything the fandom would LIKE to say/think about Alastor.

So I guess what I’m getting at here is that the fandom is acting like Alastor is this big bad villain guy with absolutely no redeeming qualities to build off of, people are acting like defying powerful systems is NOT at all a redeeming quality that Charlie can’t build off of or use to make him gain other qualities.

Not only this, but with Mimzy and his entire relationship with her, how he just lets her walk into his life knowing that she brings trouble and he only banishes her when she proves once again that she brings trouble… like, I’m sorry but it just feels like people actively ignore these things because they’re looking for logical morality systems. Even people who know that this is an aspect of his character, tend to lack the capacity to understand that Alastor can and IS very contradictory.

He CAN own husks soul and make deals with people in exchange for goods or favors, while also disliking the idea of a soul not having independence and/or charge of their own fates. It’s contradictory. It’s supposed to be.

And I guess it’s this that always makes me confused when there’s fanart of a redeemed/angelic Alastor that is FILLED with comments like “I’m sorry but Alastor will never be redeemed” “it’s impossible for his redemption” “cool art but it’ll never happen”, GUYS.

WHAT. IS. THE. MESSAGE. OF. THE. SHOW.

It’s FORGIVENESS. It’s CHANGE. The entire fight in heaven is literally the angels spewing the same rhetoric when talking about Angel, but of course the show has to take baby steps to say that yes, everyone deserves redemption. Everyone deserves the right to change. Everyone can change. Everyone WILL CHANGE.

Alastor already believes in redemption, I know that based off of his conversation with Adam ALONE. What makes you think he can’t work towards it? Even if that’s not now, don’t you think a person would try anything to escape a contract? It’s probably the main motivation for Angel at all.

And I just. I guess I don’t understand how people could be watching and believing in a message about change and forgiveness, while simultaneously refusing to see that a character like Alastor could change. Abusers can change. They should change. If not for themselves, then to stop the abuse they instill in the people around them.

[strangecassette]

Mouthwashing is so haunting. A story about the consequences of enablers, of responsibility, flayed and splayed out on the backdrop of late stage capitalism. Spoilers/disorganized ramble below heed the tws in the tags

The scene where Anya points out the dead pixel on the night/day screen, and Curly says he never noticed and can't find it. He's more of a "big picture guy", just like how he minimized what the game implies Jimmy did to Anya. The whole screen is just... a metaphor for the crew. This idyllic screen, their only version of a "window" displaying the Earth's sun and moon, a mere illusion. Just like the illusion that the crew is a family, somehow bonded and friendly-- an inverse to the reality. Jimmy is a rapist, Anya was hired as the ship medic despite a lack of education/license to practice due to the cheap ass company they're all under the boot of. Swansea is a recovering alcoholic who hates his family and regards the best days of his life to be when he was deep in the throes of addiction opposed to starting a family or sacrificing decades to a company that couldn't give two shits about him, Daisuke is a burnout kid shoved on them as an intern-- but ultimately a liability and extra mouth to feed on a nearly year-long trek through space. And Curly, their keeper, blind to the danger, to the break in his illusion, which ultimately sets all of this on fire. Jimmy is the dead pixel, the error to overlook. Then there's the scene just before Curly enters the cockpit to give Jimmy his psych eval. The way he drops into nothing and lands on some random planet, only for the ship's warning system to appear around him, along with broken ladders shooting up. The way the star expands and the game literally won't let the PC look away as it swallows everything up.

Curly knew how much of a liability Jimmy was, but put his personal connection to him over the truth, the WARNING SIGNS, screwed everyone. Because Curly chose to ignore, refused to see things for what they were, past his idyllic illusion of a little crew he cared for and protected, everything went to hell under his watch. Yes, it's tragic and he had a fate worse than death, one he didn't deserve, but in a game all about responsibility, this is, ironically, all happening because he didn't truly take responsibility for the situation. One of his crew was raped and impregnated, and instead of addressing it and protecting Anya, he appeased and ignored. Sorry, this is going in circles, it's just so fucked. Not to judge too harshly, but there are plenty of "accidents" to be had in deep space. It really wasn't that hard to orchestrate one for Jimmy, or hold him in a makeshift brig-- Hell, Curly, as the captain, was the ONLY ONE with access to the gun, and he never thought to turn it on Jimmy? Because he couldn't accept the reality that this man he'd known and cared for, wanted better for, was a fucking monster. There's a real irony that the one thing Curly could have used to protect his crew, to take true responsibility over his own damn ship, Jimmy got a hold of to kill the last person who had a chance to hold him accountable. Anyway. This is a good game that managed to take heavy inspiration from Silent Hill while still being something entirely new. Play this game to get absolutely fucked up.

[chronologically-challenged]

The Magnus Archives spoilers but I keep thinking about Jon and Martin landing in the ISAT universe when the fears arrive but like. Right after post loops. So it ends up like:

1) They save these two weirdly accented guys (where one of them clearly has been stabbed holy shit) only to possibly be immediately told that they just got a bunch of evil gods in their world (oops)

2) Jon's eyes absolutely have color when Knowing things or using Eye powers in general.

3) The loops 100% count as a statement and Jon is purposely trying not to be alone with Siffrin so he doesn't munch on their trauma

4) Triple ace solidarity ruined by the knowledge their world is doomed to be plagued by fear gods U.U

5) Martin: "Jon did the fears turn this world black and white" Bonnie:"what's black and white?" Martin: "what" Bonnie: "what" Isabeau: "No but seriously what's black and white." Odile: "I think they're implying that colors exist in their world." Jon: "I see. Colors are apparently unnatural to this world." Martin: "Like that one Lovecraft story?" Jon: "what". Martin: "You know colors beyond our comprehension and what not?" Jon: "I- I suppose??" Bonnie: "Hey! Could this Lovecraft guy be from our world?" Mirabelle: "Wait no. These two just arrived here??? Unless time messed up too???" Jon: "Trust me you do not want to claim him."

6.a) Jon looks at least 10 years if not older than he actually is. He also probably can get along better with Odile anyway. Plus with different universes as backgrounds, the lack of general knowledge around his age wouldn't be obvious. Cue the moment where Jon is asked how old he is and the absolute AWKWARD silence when it's clear that both Jon and Martin are basically Siffrin's age, give or take a few years.

6.b) Bonnie: "Is 30 years old different in your universe? Are you about to die?" Jon: "From embarrassment, perhaps."

7) General discussion/argument/existential dread regarding the Fears and how they interact with this world. Honestly the gang may never forgive Martin and Jon for doing this to them. Even if they do everything they can to help them. They get more sympathy once they find out about the Eyepocalypse and the absolute hell Jon in particular went through. Doesn't mean they have to like it.

8) Siffrin finding out about Jon's knowing powers and asking him if he can Know the name of the island in the North. Jon tries. Then he starts screaming. His eyes are red. Siffrin doesn't ask again.

9.a) The horror and dread knowing that not only is their mission not done. It can't be ever again. And this time, especially if Jon and Martin's story is true... well, the King wasn't easy, but at least he was a person. You can't exactly fight a distorted universe. Their happily ever destroyed forever.

9.b) I could see a physical confrontation happening... if Jon didn't look so absolutely devastated. If he didn't say "do what you will with me, but please leave Martin alone" and Martin yelling at him for being a self-sacrifical idiot. It just sucks so much all around. But it would have been easier if Jon and Martin were bad people. But they're not. Just... broken people doing their best in a broken world. And to do their best to save their own world, the family has to work with them.

9.c) Jon and Siffrin are also idiots with martyr complexes that refuse to talk about their feelings solidarity. Shame that Jon can't help but want to eat Siffrin's trauma cause they probably have a lot to talk about.

10) Funnier note, the slow realization that Jon and Martin in an rpg world. Martin figures it out first and Jon is just. Flabbergasted. Especially when they find out the magic system is rock paper scissors.

11) "rock paper scissors transcends the multi-verse. Neat!" (Later Martin asks Jon if gun is secretly a fourth hand symbol. He does not know and will not Know. He refuses).

12) I think at one point they're gonna have to deal with the fact that statements don't exist in this world. Either Jon gets too close to taking Siffrin's statement or he's going to tell Martin the facts: there is very little way Jon can survive without being a predator. He is an avatar that needs something to fuel his existence. He doesn't want to hurt anyone else ever again. Unless Siffrin wants to write their statement down or someone else does... even then there's no guarantee it's going to be enough.

13) Perhaps wish-craft can save Jon. Maybe. Maybe not. But. The party tells them about wish-craft anyway. It's the one hope they have to fight against this new horror. Maybe it can help Jon too to get out. (Everyone deserves that chance).

I have no fic with this, my fixations are simply crossing over briefly. Hope you enjoyed the ramblings.

[kirbsmakemesmile]

I finally finished my Kirby gijinkaverse lore 😧

Remember, if you ask one question about the lore stuff after reading it all, I will draw one doodle of one character of your choice 😊😊😊

Send the questions through my ask box and your character request through my dms please!!!

Ok! Here we go! 😊😊 (please dont mind any typos)

Slight Tw: some described g0re, and implied plans of sui during one part

Ok let’s do this ok guys

Origins of Nightmare:

Nightmare was the original dark matter, and was always around because of peoples bad dreams. The thing is, they never fueled his growth because the fountain of dreams and the star rod was what kept him from becoming a huge threat. But, as generations had passed, the fountain of dreams became less of an important protective device, and more of a relic or a roadside attraction, to put it bluntly. The people had lost the knowledge of its meaning and didn’t value their peace anymore and they took it for granted, not even really acknowledging how good they had it. Anyway, a long time passed and nightmare is a puny threat to everyone, and he’s tired of it, so with what little power he’s saved up from aaallll that time saving up on bad dreams, he makes his move. He goes to popstar and shatters the star rod completely. And since the people didn’t acknowledge the importance of the star rod anymore, he went by basically unnoticed the whole time, and this began the start of chaos across the universe. Since nightmare grew to such a ginormous threat after the destruction of the star rod, the people figured they needed something big to defeat him too, and they created the GSA (Galaxy Soldier Army) and the star rod finally became a completely forgotten weapon.

Star rod and star people :

Nightmare became very successful in his plan to take over the universe at first, but because the star people (Kirby, Mk, etc.) were directly connected to the star rod (meaning they wish through the star rod, and so genetically they are connected) This is what made them a difficult species for nightmare to defeat because of the sheer power they had. (Unlike other species that would just wish on any shooting star and not the star rod) But the destruction of the star rod also had an effect on that too. The star rod allowed for wishing to be a very safe and reliable process, being able to wish any planet, any location, anytime.But without the star rod, you were not guaranteed this kind of safety, and now the children could be in danger during that process, sometimes even accidentally making wishes Wishing is a force of nature so the wish isn’t granted by a certain being, it just happens, the star rod kept that force in balance so without star rod it’s out of balance now. The wishing system is super screwed up so any large amount of emotion being said out loud could cause a wish. And the only reason why the babies of the star people were still being born with such power was because their parents still contained that star rod gene in them, so it still passed on through the wishing process. So in order for Nightmare to win, he had to destroy this species from the inside out.

Creation of Meta Knight:

Nightmares target became the firstborn child to the heads of the GSA (Sir Arthur and Lydia). So after the wish was made and the star had fallen to the ground, he made his move. He kidnapped the baby and took him to be experimented on. He turned him into a tracking device/ ambush plan, and gave him powerful, unnatural features that no other star person had. Nightmare later returned the baby to his parents, to be raised until the time was right for his plan to begin. He was raised along with three other siblings and was treated as a normal part of the family, so he never felt out of place. This was exactly what nightmare wanted

Nightmare’s plan:

At 25, Meta knight learned his true identity, through a vision from nightmare. He learned that he was a pawn to be used for nightmare’s efforts, and would be the downfall of the GSA. After finding out the truth, meta knight left the base feeling that he would be a disgrace to the GSA, and also out of fear that staying any longer would facilitate nightmare even more. However, this only opened the door. After he left, Nightmare took the opportunity to ambush the head GSA base and completely destroy it, as well as sending more beasts to meta knight after he had left to force him to return again in seek of refuge. Upon returning he saw that the base was completely destroyed and by leaving, he allowed that to happen (nightmare knew that if he didn’t leave, the ambush would be unsuccessful because the experiments he did on him made him a very skilled fighter, and nightmare needed that for his own gain, but against him he would not win). His family was nowhere to be found and neither were the other soldiers. So in this moment, nightmare physically appeared to him and tried to convince meta knight to join him. But after he refused, he took his eyes… (I’m sorry I don’t know how to describe it but he left him like severely injured like he actually ripped through his face and he was like horribly like lacerated on his face it was really bad and he was blinded like permanently).

Meta knight’s recovery:

He was left there for a while and he would’ve died, if he wasn’t found by two warriors (Jecra and Garlude) that came looking for others after surviving the ambush attack. They had their kids (Joe and Sirica) with them and were preparing things to to leave the planet with anyone they found. When they found him, they carried him into the ship and headed to one of the only peaceful planets left in the universe, Popstar. There, they cared for his wounds and helped him heal from actually being horribly ripped up and yeah.

Evil moment before warp saves him:

(Tw: implied plans of suicide in this part) After Meta knight was mostly recovered, he could only really see light, shadows, and vague shapes. His wounds had started the healing process and he was able to move around, so he left to the very edge of the woods, and he stayed there all day waiting until night. He contemplated the many things he had lost, his family was gone, his health and his vision had deteriorated, and the only life he had ever known turned out to be a lie. He went there in a bad mental state and didn’t think things could get better, so he planned to try and you know… yeah. After standing there for so long he broke down and he started like actually losing is like yelling like you are loud dude… basically just pouring out his heart in that moment of like sadness and confusion and wanting something to change the course of his life.

Warp star and star rod:

Now before I get back to the story I need to explain a little about warp. Warp star is a sentient being like galaxia, and she is also dually the star rod. After being broken, she had to be regenerated again because it’s just a law of nature, she exists with the universe no matter what, so she will always come back even if it’s in a different form. In order for her to be reborn though, she had to heal, and this process took years and years of regeneration. And for her to even be born, she had to choose a star person to be born with and to be her guardian for life, Kirby. This meant they both would rely on each other for power in the beginning stages of life (like how some sharks are born with a yolk sac, both rely on each other to an extent the shark needs food and the sac needs blood flow ☝️🤓). Anyways, Kirby and warp would be born together and that made Kirby her guardian, she is his galaxia.

Kirby:

Okay so remember how I said the wishing system was screwed up because warp wasn’t there to keep it in balance YOULL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENS 😧😧 When Meta knight started pouring out his heart, it was read as a wish, and so Kirby was sent down to him, and he accidentally made a wish.😧 Kirby was born with warp star in his hands and they relied on each other as a source of power. So meta knight found the fallen star and realized exactly what had happened.

Post wish stuff:

After hearing him out in the forest, Jecra and Garlude were able to find him and Kirby and took them back home to be taken care of. They helped him raise Kirby in the beginning stages, and helped fashion a visor to be put in his mask that allowed him to see light and shapes in a little higher definition, which helped him navigate better and see Kirby a little more.

First 5 years:

For the first 5 years in cappytown raising Kirby, things go very smoothly. Meta knight starts training with Kirby in order for him to get his agility and skill back, and hoping that Kirby may learn from him as well. He has learned about Kirby’s copy abilities, and has become a fully involved father in Kirby’s life. (He’s so devoted because while it seemed that this was another stumbling block in his life, it was exactly what he wished for in the sense that he wanted something to happen that would completely change the course of his life) Also in cappytown, Dedede has barely become king and is just now learning to handle the throne (this is important for later)

After 5 years:

After a long and peaceful 5 years living with his son in cappytown, Meta knight received a notice from the GSA notifying former soldiers and warriors that their presence was needed urgently for the next attempt to to defeat nightmare. They claimed that the GSA had made changes to its system to ensure a “safer” environment for people with kids and were convinced that this time they would win against nightmare. Feeling obligated, and also a little hopeful of maybe seeing his family again, he left with Kirby to help the cause.

The issue with the GSA:

After the ambush at the head base of the GSA it seemed that Sir Arthur and the rest of meta knights family had perished during the ambush, but it’s actually all the contrary. When the ambush happened they were able to escape using one of the ships, and they left to one of the only other peaceful planets in the universe, Ripplestar. But because meta knight had left before the ambush, they couldn’t find him, and assumed that he died during the attack as well. So why didn’t they come back to help this second time? Arthur’s leadership in the GSA prevented people from serving that had small children, or people that physically could not serve, and he just had a very good handle on the leadership in the GSA, because he knew that yes the cause was good, but soldiers are still people, not machines. He valued everyone and after the ambush he felt he had failed the GSA in the sense that some fault in his leadership allowed for the ambush to happen, so he resigned his position to take care of his family, and removed himself from the GSA entirely. So what’s the deal with the GSA now? This new system that made the GSA a “safer environment” was really all just propaganda to get as many people to fight for freedom in the universe. And while in theory yes it’s good, like let’s get people to fight for the good, they forgot the importance of valuing each soldier as a person, and they really only just needed numbers. So what they did for people with kids was, they created a ship that would send your kid into space for years, until the war was finally over. The kids would be in cryo sleep the entire time until their ship was programmed to land, and when they landed they would be granted the knowledge of what happened to their family/ parents.

2nd war:

When Meta knight arrived to serve in the 2nd war, he realized what would happen and had no other choice but to rely on the GSA’s technology to protect Kirby. The second way started out promising, but turned out to be the most unsuccessful attempt yet. By pushing their soldiers to the limit, they overworked them and it was just bad. That’s why there were so little survivors in the end.

Garlude:

Let me pose to you this situation okay, we have Garlude, and she is the best warrior okay (it literally says that in the anime) and we have another really good warrior, Meta knight, and they’re both gonna get this legendary sword okay. Logically Garlude would not lose, and she would get the sword right? At least that’s what everyone was thinking right. Anyways, when they get there, they start fighting this monster to get the sword and he gets caught and is about to die, but this gives Garlude an opportunity to grab Galaxia to retrieve it successfully, but through trying to get Galaxia, she finds out the sword was not meant for her, she gets shocked and realizes Galaxia was meant for him. Unfortunately she has no other choice but to grab the sword and use it to help meta knight, because he’s losing really bad. So she sacrifices herself by using the sword to free meta knight, and she’s electrocuted. While this didn’t kill her at first, it made her extremely weak, and vulnerable to the monster, ultimately leading to her demise. So when Meta knight, a great warrior but not the best, comes back with Galaxia but no Garlude, don’t you think rumors would start? I think it’s worth thinking about. This is how Sirica, got the wrong idea about meta knight, and how Nightmare continued reminding Meta knight of his purpose and how he would always be used against the GSA and the warriors no matter what. He was the cause of one of his closest friends’ death.

Jecra:

Jecra’s death was a statement from Nightmare to Meta knight, once again reminding him who he really was. Jecra was kidnapped during an attack by some of nightmares beasts, and he was turned evil by nightmare. Upon returning, meta knight realized exactly what had happened to him and it was like looking in a mirror, he saw what nightmare had planned for him, and desperately tried snapping Jecra out of it, but it didn’t work. Meta knight had no other choice but to go against Jecra in battle. This resulted in him having to kill his only other friend left. Once again making him the cause of his friends’ death. All of because nightmare never wanted him to forget his identity and purpose.

After the second war:

At the end of the second war, most of the warriors in the GSA had died and there were very few survivors, including Meta Knight. He escaped and once again headed to popstar to seek refuge. This is basically where the anime starts

KRBAY:

The show is basically what this time was like from Kirby’s point of view, he sees dedede and a scary tyrannical leader and the one that orders the monsters, and everything is very “kids show” through his eyes, which isn’t necessarily how it happened.

King dedede had been king for about 9 years, but his leadership has been questionable, but he was doing everything in his power to keep the peace the cappytown even if it meant doing things that were wrong. King dedede filtered what could and couldn’t be seen by the cappies, basically making them ignorant to the whole war that’s going on. I guess like all of this just to say that the show is like a very kid like depiction of what actually happened.

Kirby returns to popstar:

About a year after meta knight had returned to popstar after escaping, Kirby’s ship crash landed in cappy town. (during this year that meta knight spent in Cappytown by himself, he became very close with tiff, because she was interested in who he really was as a star warrior. She disagreed with King Dededes method of leading, and she actually wanted to know what was going on, so that’s why him and tiff are very close) The whole plot of the anime continues during this time, and since Meta knight had barely returned from such a traumatic war, he felt that he wasn’t capable of taking care of Kirby anymore and that’s why they’re not very close during the show at all.

Sirica:

Even though the show depicts Sirica coming after knuckle Joe, I do what I want and I say she arrived before Joe did. When she arrived we all know what happens we’ve seen the show, she thinks meta knight killed her mother which isn’t true and the show kind of brushes over it, that’s not what happened. After their conflict, he fully describes the story like he zones out and starts retelling everything like it happened and it’s kind of difficult to hear for everyone, but it gives Sirica the reassurance that her mother died a hero and for the greater good. She does not leave right after this, she stays in cappytown for a while, because I don’t think she would leave I think she wants to hear more about her mom and the only guy that knows a lot about her is Mk so it only makes sense.

Joe:

Similarly to Siricas conflict with meta knight, knuckle Joe comes to cappytown seeking the warrior who killed his father, we know how it goes we’ve seen it. And just like last time after their conflict, he fully retells the story, except this one is particularly more difficult for him to tell, because he actually did kill his father. Since nightmare made him one of his pawns and made him fully evil, meta knight had no other choice but to you know like… yeah. So after zoning out again and telling the story in full detail it’s very difficult for everyone to grasp, knuckle Joe does get the closure he needed, but the people (WHO DIDNT REALLY EVEN KNIW A WAR WAS GOING ON) hear that meta knight actually had a crazy war story and was a crazy fighter, and that’s how this persona of meta knight started being built up even more and people thought of him as like wow so fighter like he’s so noble and so cool. Basically treating him like a fictional character now instead of an actual dude.

Joe and Sirica:

After staying in cappytown for a while, learning about their parents and how they cared for injured soldiers, and were very noble people, they left into space to find survivors from the war, and other star warriors, to help with the final battle against nightmare that would be coming very soon.

KRBAY finale:

As the show nears its end, there’s a bit of foreshadowing that comes from meta knight, where he says Kirby will soon be going up against an even bigger foe, and the next episode starts the finale. That means he knew that Kirby would have to fight nightmare very soon, how did he know that?? Basically nightmare gave him a vision and this was like the worst thing nightmare had in store for him, in that vision he told meta knight that now Kirby would be going up against him whether he liked it or not, and he was going to take what was most important in his life, Kirby. (It’s not like super important to know this but I thought it was cool so i out it in) ANYWAYS, the finale starts and meta knight, sword, blade, Kirby, king dedede, and Tiff (she snuck on board) head into space to fight nightmare. They get there and yeah we all know what happens, and then they get surrounded by a bunch of nightmares ships. And that’s when they notice three of the ships actually helping them out. And then it’s like big reveal, it’s Joe, Sirica, and Sir Arthur and his family WHAAATTTT 😧😧😧 I THOUGHT THEY DIED (that’s his brain)

He kind of disassociates during the rest of this battle just because so much has happened and he knows what going to happen and it’s just a lot, which is why his reaction to seeing his family again is so like 😮 instead of actually freaking out. Ok let’s fast forward to the end okay.

Final battle with nightmare:

Finally we get to this final battle with nightmare, and in the show it depicts tiff being the one that gets taken by nightmare and Kirby goes after her, but I honestly think that it would just be a lot more meaningful if it was meta knight just because this final battle represents his fear of nightmare, controlling his life, and just always being around, so for the sake of this story, I’m changing it to that. Anyways, as Kirby is going after them to save meta knight, this is basically meta knights worst nightmare come true, and his fear is what is fueling nightmare at this very last battle to make him look much bigger and stronger. This is all kind of like a show to make the person fighting him think that they need a huge arsenal to defeat him, when in reality, all they need is the star rod. So at the end when Kirby reveals that he is the guardian of the star rod, that’s how he’s able to defeat nightmare. By using the only thing that could defeat him, he destroyed nightmare forever in an instant. In the show, nightmares defeat is only shown for a very small portion of the entire finale, which I think really drives the point home that nightmare was all show. He played this role of being a huge threat to hide the fact that he had such a big weakness.

Post nightmare’s defeat:

After successfully, defeating nightmare, and nightmare enterprises, everyone returned home safe, and meta knight and Kirby left Cappy town to go and see his family after all these years. They spent about six months visiting and came back to Cappytown after that.

Meta knights revenge:

After returning to Cappy town from visiting his family, he came back to a completely different town. While in many aspects, Cappytown had improved, for example, king dededes leadership, media, and education had improved. Many of the cappies continued to choose to be ingnorant to the efforts of the GSA and basically all the crazy war stuff that had happened. They treated star Warriors as fictional characters to put it bluntly, and didn’t value the freedom that they had even during the wars. One example I can give you of the Cappies ignorance to everything that was going on, is in one of the episodes where they collect little figures of some of the star warriors and soldiers, they collect these figures and don’t even know their actual names. (There was even a collectible of Jecra and like it’s kind of messed up like why are you making a marketable figure of a man that died???) It’s just very representative of how they view star warriors as a whole, just a collectible or a character. So when Meta knight had arrived to Cappy town, the people treated him like he was a celebrity and people fawned over him and made merchandise off of him and it was just really weird. This really irked him, and he kind of lost it, because a couple years ago when he lived there and he was going through things, nobody cared about him except tiff, but now since he’s a “hero” everyone loves him and idolizes him just because he lives in their town. So, his solution? IM GONNA TAKE OVER THIS ENTIRE PLACE AND IM GONNA MAKE THESE PEOPLE STOP BEING SO IGNORANT AND LAZY AND SEE WHAT I AND A BUNCH OF OTHER WARRIORS WENT THROUGH 🐺🐺🐺🐺 (this entire invasion is really just a manic episode, he completely loses it and it’s just all build up from all the crap he’s had to deal with from the cappies) During this time is when we really get to see the true power nightmare gave him though. Similarly to the evil frog thing from that one episode, he goes into this trance like state where all he can do is wreak havoc and he can’t recognize anyone he’s up against. So when Kirby goes to fight him, meta knight doesn’t recognize him, and that’s why he’s so brutal.

After meta knights revenge:

Afterwards, tiff finds him on shore and she is really disappointed. She and him end up talking things over and it’s end up okay but she realizes that he still has very serious issues to deal with. He gets fired from working for dedede, and gets a slap on the wrist but otherwise is fine (dedede didn’t want conflict so he chose this route to keep everyone happy) The people recognize that he’s also a person too, but still idolize him, and honestly this kind of raises his ego. (Until he gets humbled later) After all the games happen up until planet robobot, and that’s when it gets crazy 😧

Susie haltmann:

After being stuck in an alternate dimension since her childhood, Susie finally escapes when a rift is opened, and she finds herself on popstar. (That happens right as Magolor loses and vanishes to that dimension, they like switch spots) With no idea where she is, she steals a star ship from a garage of what seems to be some celebrity or something, idk they had a lot of cars and ships (you’ll never guess who METAKNIGHT OMG yeah) and she heads into space to find her father again. After finding haltmann works, she goes inside to see her father again after all these years, but he doesn’t remember her. Desperately she tries to make him remember, but nothing works. She ends up resorting to being a secretary, hoping maybe one day her father will recognize her again, and plotting to steal the machine that stole her father from her. She’s forced to work in a company she knows is corrupt, just to try to get her dad to remember her.

Planet Robobot:

After getting captured by someone as he entered haltmann works, Meta knight waited in a room for a representative to come talk to him, enter Susie Haltmann. Susie explains a new program called the “Mechanization program”, a new experimental initiative, which gave the person robotic armor that worked with the body to make them more efficient in fighting, and overall just an upgrade to an organic body. Two things to keep in mind though, one, Susie wasn’t really trying to do anything drastic, all she was trying to do was do something big enough in the company to impress her father so that maybe he would remember her, and two, Meta knight had recently (in previous games) been shown to be obsessed with improving his fighting skills, fighting on his own to prove his strength, and proving he’s the greatest warrior ever ( amazing mirror, meta knightmare ultra, etc.) so to him, this program sounded like free plastic surgery to hi so obviously he said yes. Before starting the mechanization process, he had to have a checkup, to make sure his health was up to par, which is how she found out he was blind.

Meta knights’ sight regained:

Before the mechanization started, Susie had to fix his eyes. She replaced them with robotic prosthetics that would help the mecha armor navigate, and after years of being blind, he would finally be able to see again. (His eyes turn yellow permanently after this game so it’s like proof) After surgery, he was extremely overwhelmed, and tried escaping to see Kirby and all his other loved ones, but since he had already signed the contract, she couldn’t let him leave, and the mechanization process continued.

Mechanization:

Technically he wasn’t turned into a cyborg, the mechanization process was more like giving the person mechanization armor that moved for them, meaning the person didn’t have to really even move, and the armor would control the person inside. The person inside acted as more of a skeleton. So the armor wasn’t a part of you (like she didn’t rip him apart and replace his entire body with robot ( except for his eyes but she just freaking made him see again so pllplppt)), it was more of an add on. (In the game the armor is completely off by the next cutscene so yeah no it wasn’t crazy cyborg stuff sorry) When he fought Kirby, he unfortunately couldn’t see him yet, because the program in the mech suit completely took over his vision, so he didn’t see Kirby until the very end.

End of robobot:

After fighting star dream and winning, he saved Kirby and they both land safely on popstar once again. Kirby doesn’t realize at first that Meta knight can see him, and meta knight stays very silent for a while taking it all in, but when Kirby finally realizes, it’s really sweet and they hug and cry and it’s just like GHHHHUHHVHJHHH 😢😢😭😭

From this point on, meta knight slows down a lot and stops trying to be insanely like in gonna be the best and I have to be strong and yeah, he retires from being a warrior like that, and spends time taking in what he hasn’t been able to see for almost 20 years.

Meta knight and Susie:

During his mechanization process, he became very good friends with Susie. Since she had just recently come back from an alternate dimension, he was the first person she could talk to, and they both had very similar traumas that they could bond over (losing their family for an extended time, feeling isolated, being related to a very bad person/ being, etc.) and meta knight felt he had, and always would have, an eternal debt to her for giving him his vision back. So there was never really intense conflict between them, they were just friends, until having to be separated at the very end.

After robobot:

After a much needed break, meta knight became a lot more peaceful and appreciated his family and his life a lot more, he finally felt truly happy and optimistic towards life in general. As for Susie, she did continue her fathers legacy by mechanizing different planets and people, but not in the way it seemed. She helped bring clean energy to different planets that needed help after haltmann works damaging their ecosystems, and she provided prosthetics for people who needed them, and helped many people regain their vision and hearing. (The reason why she was made to look like a bad guy is because since the people of popstar found out that she turned THEIR PRECIOUS META KNIGHT into a cyborg, they immediately assumed the worst and twisted her story around to make her look like she was a horrible person like her dad, which was just not true)

Star allies:

Star allies is really when Meta knight and Susie grew close. Finally being able to work on the same team helped them become even better friends, bond over shared experiences, and eventually lead to their relationship. They found someone they could truly talk about their trauma with, and it was just really great all around and it’s just sweet okay they both get their happy ending.

Forgotten land:

During forgotten land, meta knight has truly settled down and retired from his life of fighting like crazy and being crazy fighter

( I mean unless in one of the next games he comes out of retirement but we’ll see) and he focused on the slower life, he settled down with Susie, they wished for a kid, and life is really good. He will always continue to train Kirby, and anyone else, but after years of so many traumatic things happening to him, he’s now able to relax and heal from it all. 😊😊

Timeline:

Mk 25- Kirby is born

Mk 30 K 5- Mk called back to the second war

Mk 34- he comes back to popstar after the second war

Mk 35 K 6- Kirby returns to popstar (Kirby only aged one year during cryo sleep, so he should be 10 but he’s physically)

Mk 37 K 8- when the show ends and they fight nightmare

Mk 38 K 9- when meta knights revenge happens

Mk 44 K 13- when robobot happens

Mk 46 K 15- star allies and forgotten land

[marcusrobertobaq]

Why people often confuses Connor's deviancy with Hank's relationship status:

They got similar impacts after a point the story. Usually when the SI goes up are choices that also gonna impact Hank's rep positively. But as u can see they're totally unrelated, not only in the narrative but also the math system.

So, no... Connor doesn't deviate cuz of Hank. That's not true. I believe the devs themselves realized leaving a dialogue implying that would go against what they constructed and also becoming a plot hole when you're outside one specific route (an issue the game got overall).

(deviant Connor about Markus if dude got killed in Crossroads)

According to the narrative there may be 3 main reasons why he can choose deviating:

Amanda AI betrayal, when he also thought he mattered enough for CL to not lie to him (Daniel parallel);

Finding common ground with the deviants story, empathizing with 'em (esp the Tracis);

Realizing he ain't doing "the right thing" by helping the megacorporation to repress androids - he included, as they're using him as just some tool.

As he may have 3 main reasons to choose not deviating:

Believe deviants are extremly dangerous to humans, a threat to the country and to innocent people - and he's the one that can help preventing chaos from happening (CL propaganda);

Believe deviants are no better than "bad" humans he met along the way and that he's the one that can help prevent chaos from happening (CL propaganda + experience);

Fear of failing his mission, his whole purpose and ending up as 100% nothing (not useful) for Amanda - someone he got a level of attachment -, consequently ceasing to exist (dying) in the end (not even destroyed but the existence totally deleted).

In resume Connor's machine vs deviancy clash looks like a mix of doubts/conflicts about the deviancy situation + fear of "death" (ceasing to exist).

According to the narrative Connor's main topic related to Hank, something not impacted about the machine vs deviancy clash, is his worry and empathy towards Hank's trauma: mf's a traffic accident survivor, got a bad relationship with androids "cheating death" due to his own son's death as it's basically an INSULT when all the guy wants is having his kid (kids are quite a relevant topic in Connor's arc btw) back in his arms + the belief an android is responsible for Cole's death in attempt to ease his own sense of guilty.

All dude wants is Hank to overcome this trauma cuz it worsened things like suicidal tendencies and alcoholism - and also his hatred for androids.

Ain't only cuz these personal issues can make his job difficult but also cuz he starts respecting Hank and where mf came from after a point in the game, even if he "hates" the guy's guts.

I'd say Hank's experience alongside Connor in the case witnessing deviants stories confirming his negative opinion on humans made him realize he was being a coward this whole time attacking the wrong people:

and sadly his rep with Connor alone is what decides if the guy finally act upon his bullshit and "uses his suicidal tendencies" to fight for what he think it's right (telling law enforcement to fuck off definitely) or die in cowardice in his own house by his own hand victim of this same issue.

I can't help but say it's again continuation issues as this scene makes no sense when you're outside a very specific route.

A better summary would be: Connor doesn't deviate cuz of Hank, but Hank "deviates" cuz of Connor (due to bad design cuz Connor himself shouldn't be the reason he changes his mind but the whole picture imo).

I believe to fully visualize a character and context in a game like this we need to analyze each variation in the story, not only playing a specific route - the easiest one they call "full best ending", the one the game itself helps u to get - cuz it's easy losing context and also a good part of the character's range of expressions. When u do that u realize the character got a base that won't change doesn't matter how u play.

I'm offering y'all material to work with and go explore yourselves cuz i've been seeing some terrible takes recently and got "where tf is this in the canon bible?". What u gon do with this info ain't my jurisdiction anymore, my mission ends here.

[sincerely-sofie]

I'm struggling to name my own charmander, do you have any tips?

I want the name to sound natural for a pmd environment (aka not a human name)

Smol bits of character I have are:

- likes to fight

- acts first, ask questions later,

- bit of an airhead

- nerd

Oooh, this is a topic I love. Names are such a joy to tinker with when creating characters. I'll start out with a preamble on naming characters in general before getting into specific names I'd recommend for this charmander in particular!

Something to keep in mind about characters when you're naming them is who in the story is doing the naming. What is their relationship with the character? What is their opinion of them? What is their personal background? All of these things will influence the types of names your character might be given. The same is true if your character is naming themself. 

(You can ignore these things if you want to free yourself up as you name your character, of course! I just find it helpful in narrowing down my miles-long lists of names I end up with.)

In the case of Twig, I knew Grovyle was going to name her, and that he was going to come from his grass-type background with most names he had been exposed to. He named her Twig because that's a common name amongst grass-type communities that implies smallness, youth, and on the namer’s end, a devotion and determination to protect the one being named. 

Note that there's no such real-world implications in the English word Twig. It's more often used as a way to call someone scrawny and weak. The beauty of writing a story is that you can do what you want in it, and if you want the pokemon language to have a whole plethora of implications and connotations in their naming system, go for it! Just try and communicate it in the narrative somehow so that readers can enjoy it in full. 

Alright, preamble over. Let's get into the names I've found after searching up “fire related words” and exhausting every online thesaurus known to man. I'm going to assume that your charmander character is named by a fire-type, likely a family member, which will center most of them around literal flames and heat, but I'll throw in some less obvious connections as well

Hearth. This name implies a more cozy, homey setting along with a tame sort of fire. However, it may be fun as a contrasting name for a hot-headed character. 

Ember. A classic fire name, and one with a gentler sound than some of the harsher names below. 

Spark. This might be a good name if your character has moments of brilliance despite their airheadedness— like if their nerdy streak has applications that seem to give them sparks of genius. 

Pepper. An indirectly fire-related name, which may be given by a grass-type or its botanical root or a character who enjoys cooking. 

Illumina. A name describing light— again, something that might be fun for emphasizing a nerdy streak!

Fizz. An onomatopoeia of a campfire hissing and crackling. It might be good for a character that surged up in their temper, but is quick to fizzle out. I think this one is really fun, but that's just me!

Wick. Like a candle wick. I love how this sounds. 

Halo. This name emphasizes light and purity, and might not make much sense with its Christian implications in the PMD world. However, it could be used to refer to halos of light around the sun and similar things, which would negate that issue!

Aurora. I see this as being a name popular among both ice-types and fire-types. 

Sol / Soul. Depending on how you spell it, this name is a reference to either the intensity of the sun or your character’s shining spirit. Or both, if you use some fun worldbuilding shenanigans!

Pine. A bit of a stretch, maybe, but I like the idea of referencing pine cones which release seeds amidst forest fires. 

Mallow. Like the above, a reference to bush mallow and baker's globe mallow, types of plant that thrives in the aftermath of fires. 

And finally, Lychee, at my little sister's recommendation!

[joepelling]

“WHY ARE YOUR TAGS LIKE THAT?” OR: RED GUY DUCK AND YELLOW GUY ARE THE EGO SUPEREGO AND ID TO THE ENLIGHTENED MIND, A MASTERPOST

BASICALLY: the ego, superego, and id are freudian concepts of how the mind works in psychoanalytic theory. i match up the three protagonists of don’t hug me i’m scared with these concepts. here’s my insane person, long-winded explanation as to why.

THE EGO: rational, realistic, practical. the true self, the mediator between the other two. very concerned with self-preservation.

THE SUPEREGO: idealistic, critical, perfectionist. the judge, jury, and executioner.

THE ID: impulsive, childish, emotional. pure desire. associated with sexuality and romance.

the characters have been described by joe pelling as “the middleman” “cynical and fussy” and “optimistic and idiotic” respectively

RED GUY: is CONSTANTLY the mediator between yellow and duck. the only one seen in the “real world,” and the ego is the self presented to the outside world. the “worm in his brain” has to do with outward appearance.

DUCK: famously hostile and judgmental, constantly associated with the military (authority figures), even becomes a dictator in the scrapped pilot. his aggression is often targeted towards yellow, who he deems too emotional and sensitive and deserving of it the most. the “worm in his brain” has to do with morality.

YELLOW GUY: while he is often read as asexual and aromantic (which i agree with!), he has multiple “love interests,” even if none of them are played straight. his brain friends are all very emotional and have nothing resembling a voice of reason, and no way of handling warren (who can be interpreted as an intrusive thought) without enabling him. the “worm in his brain” has to do with relationships.

MISC DYNAMIC THOUGHTS: when yellow claims “grolton is the dog,” red corrects him gently and politely and duck swiftly shuts him down and tells him to shut up (there’s a lot of instances of red gently correcting yellow and duck doing it harshly, but to my memory this is the only time they do it with the exact same thing). during the friendship fight, red implies he’s told duck to stop being so harsh on yellow. duck has to intervene to remove warren (again, here a symbol of intrusive thoughts) as yellow is physically incapable of doing so on his own.

CLOSING THOUGHTS: do i think this theory is the key to understanding what dhmis is about? not at all! i personally believe that dhmis is just made for fun and with no deeper meaning than “becky and joe made something fun to make each other laugh.” do i as a psychology enthusiast think it’s an interesting way to interpret the text? yeah. my theory is flawed, for sure- yellow is concerned with keeping harmony and is usually nonviolent despite the id’s association with aggression, duck is the least likely to go along with the teachers (authority figures, when the superego gets its moral system directly from them), red often doesn’t care about the other two, among other things, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun for me to think about!

if you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading! feel free to ask any questions and i would be very happy to answer them, as i’m very passionate about this theory and love to discuss it. love you!

[clazcy]

the personae & facets of mr. pilots (both of them) (this is solely about their characters) (the author of this post has did & understands it's a medical experience)

i already made my thing on tyler & the 3 of him (sort of about myself too but that's largely system based) but this will have more detail

(also first & foremost if you're in the seizure search for epilepsy block the #not epilepsy tag so my things will stop coming up. so sorry about that)

tyler tyler - host. author of the songs (mostly). the one we see performing, the son of nico.

blurryface - split from being seized by nico & the trauma that caused. author of goner from npi. bears nico's name but is also a 'blurry face' in the sense that he has no identity besides being controlled. therefore, he tries to control tyler/the body to cope. since he holds the dark thoughts of nico, he enacts those onto tyler. he is a persecutor.

clancy - ALSO split from the seizings but also off of blurry. different from tyler in the sense that's he's more violence focused, different from blurry in the sense that his anger is directed at the abusers. son[? or belongs to the district] of keons, in that sense. author of the album clancy & the letters. also a persecutor because he WILL take control to do whatever it takes to get his way (also he has significantly less of a moral compass).

okay josh

josh josh - this is josh <3 host like tyler & he is josh joshua william dun :) also the one who performs. we don't know his bishop.

spooky jim - same seizing split. however, as seen in choker & that one tweet, he also has some sort of power from this (this is not did canon compliant sadly :( ) & how he's using it depends on whether or not he's actively being seized/controlled (weaponized?). when he's not, it's for good, changing things to pink (happy fun colour!!!) etc. when he is, he's, well. he turned his loved ones into objects. i think this stems from insecurity of losing them (choker) vs changing things for the better (tweet, especially since tyler puts so much emphasis on changing hair to change/control self, it implies spooky was helping him regain control). i think this power is at least semi exclusive to spooky because it's blue, & the bishops use that as their :( colour.

torchbearer - re: clancy, but he's not violent. different path, leader of banditos et cetera. not free from anxiety, but significantly better at coping. i uh. headcanon he has the same power as spooky but uses it to light torches. that doesn't mean anything necessarily but i think it's cute.

questions this answers (kind of) & questions i answer

why is josh always blurry in photos?

a. this is tyler (collective) 's writing & i don't think he (in the story, as the character) realizes that josh is also collective. or

b. he does, but he (as clancy) doesn't see torchbearer (his only counterpart) as a person because he isn't violent. i feel like he's not ready to accept him.

c. something something psychosis they are one person all along fight club style. i hate this one (victim of forest fic) so i hope it isn't true.

who was the one in the trench mvs?

tyler i assume. he spent the longest in trench (within the collective) & has the most story with it.

who's the one in the overcompensate mv?

clancy boy

are there any more within the collectives?

probably not, since this is a story. however. the different facets/or outfits they wear/ways they sing you get it etc could also be different ones maybe. i don't think they are & if they are i doubt they matter as much.

i'm outta questions someone send me more so i can elaborate

[yuurei20]

Idia Info Compilation part 1: Riddle and Being a Housewarden

A running theme with Idia is his fear that people are mocking him behind his back. His main paranoia in the Wish Upon a Star event is being “targeted” by people who will laugh at him; he says outright that he “can’t parade around without worrying what other people think of me”.

At various points he also expresses concern about becoming a “global laughingstock”, making “a huge fool of myself in front of the entire school” and that Jamil will “blab about (him) to everybody, and soon the whole school will be talking about me behind my back”.

Idia says, “I just want a life where I blend in quietly and nobody notices me” and “working with other people kind builds my aggro”.

Idia doesn't seem to have friends, and Rook explains that “We all sparkly in different ways. The Roi de sa Chambre shines when conversing with his own heart. He is not one for forming friendships with scads of people.” Riddle summarizes this with “in other words, he’s a shut-in”.

In most interactions we have seen between Idia and the other students, they do not really get along: he misinterprets Malleus’ enjoyment of a quiet evening with an enjoyment of the opening ceremonies.

Idia mocks Malleus, saying, “‘Oooh, look at me, I’m the high and mighty Prince Malleus and I’m sooo different from everyone else”. When Malleus asks why the day is importance enough to warrant ceremonial robes (having not been invited to the ceremony) Malleus says “I simply cannot understand the meaningless things humans do at times. Though I suppose that’s what makes them so interesting.”

Idia takes offense, announcing that he knows that he is “not fit to stand in front of people in fancy places wearing fancy clothes”, that he is “locked into the evil route with every bad ending ever and there’s nothing I can do about it” and runs away—later reflecting, “I wasn’t born with worth and talent like other people, like Mr. Malleus. How’d I forget that?”

An interaction between Idia Riddle spans two different vignettes and gets referenced in an event: Riddle calls Idia “the most irritating person I’ve had the misfortune of meeting”, to which Idia responds, “Here it comes! Unsupported generalizations to promote the true agenda! Everyone must assimilate! Individuality must be stamped out!”.

Riddle calls him out on being too scared to speak to others face-to-face (an accurate assessment, with Idia himself saying that nothing scares him when he’s in a mask), but bold enough to insult them through doors and accuses Idia of foisting his duties upon Ortho. Riddle calls him incompetent and unreliable, venting to both Vil and Trey about it afterward.

Idia gets his revenge in Book 5 by designing a text-to-voice system for a presentation he had to give in order to “wipe that smug look right off of (Riddle’s) face”.

When Ortho cautions him for picking on an underclassman, we learn that Riddle has been a house warden longer than Idia himself, implying that Idia did not become housewarden of Ignihyde until his third year.

Despite Ignihyde’s reputation for “being home to introverts who dislike having any sort of attention called to themselves” and students who excel “not just in magic, but in engineering as well”—which seems to suit Idia perfectly—Idia says he never wanted to become housewarden, likening the position to being “a glorified errand boy for his underclassmen”.

[severance-official]

please PRETTY PLEASE share your meta about anything from the show 😔🙏♥️ (and also thanks for being here and giving updates. we probably have to wait a long time so let's make the best of it)

okay im giving up The Bit of being Lumoncore to answer this, namely because i have to start with this : anon i adore you, thank you so so much for send me this ask and for your enthusiasm! I'm so grateful ❤️

and yeah, the wait between seasons is already so rough, and having double strikes in the middle definitely extended the timeline. But I've got hope in my heart to see season two before 2026.

Anyway, the meta about this art, and specifically about Helly/Helena

So I have to start by saying how much I adore the overlap style of color in the art. Not only is it beautiful and evocative of both the raw energy in postmodern art and the overlay of the self that is commented on with the severance process, but it really hits at the core overlaps between Helly and Helena.

The caption "self-loathing" feels directly focused on Helly hating Lumon and also specifically hating her other half. Her journey begins with "I don't want to be here" and then she's immediately told that escape is impossible because Helena wants her to be here.

"You are not a person, I am."

Helly is a person and she refuses to let anyone tell her otherwise. She cannot leave, and her hatred of Helena results in self harm because it's the only way she can harm Helena, because, of course, they are the same body.

If Helena is a person, then so is Helly. And if Helly has to suffer, so will Helena.

Both of their hands on the chopping block, but only Helly holds the blade. The extension cord noose.

Helly only gets what she wants when she causes harm. But that's still not enough.

She nearly dies when she hangs herself and Helena still sends her(self) back there.

Why?

Because if Helena is a person, then Helly is too. And I would argue that Helly is trapped, but Helena is too.

The main things we learn about Helena are at the gala. Another one of my favorite posts that goes along with this meta is this comparison of the apology repetition and young Helena reciting the core principles. Lumon is a cult, Jame Eagan is obviously a true believer of that cult, and he has indoctrinated Helena into that same cult.

Cults are abusive. I fully believe Helena was abused as a child. Even if the only evidence we have is "repeat this mantra before bed, no I wont let you sleep until you do" I would consider that abuse. And we see the psychological abuse of the severed workers and we see the implied physical abuse with Mark's bruised knuckles. So who knows what else Jame authorized to happen to Helena growing up, but I can't imagine it was good. Cults never are.

Helena is trapped, just like Helly is.

Helly's (self)hatred of Helena is more than just Helly hating her oppressor, the person sending her back here. And it's more than just Helly's hatred of Lumon, as Helena becomes a good motif not just for an individual (like Mark's outie is) making a small bad choice, but as part of the institution facilitating the pain on a large scale.

If we follow the theory that the innies/worksonas carry a core element of the innate personality of their irl counterparts, then my argument is that Helly contains Helena's own self-hatred.

Not the hatred of an outside force, not even the hatred of her father (thought that probably is there too).

The hatred of the fact that she is part of a system she, even with all her privilege, is not safe in. In a system that says "you were given the noose, but get back in there". She is letting this system chew her up and spit her out.

In part, she doesn't know anything else.

But I think Helly shows us that some small part of Helena knows this is wrong. She does not want to be here and she wants out.

Helena can't get out. Helly's odds are worse, but if there is a way out, she will find it.

I would like to conclude this thesis with the open eye at the center of the original drawing. Helly knows her own internal truth (I want out) but is not allowed to see the larger pieces at play, who controls Lumon, and what the real world is like. Helena lives in the real world, but cannot access the inner strength to get free. Perhaps she's been brainwashed in this cult for so long, she doesn't even conscious know she wants to be free of it.

It's only when they're "together" with Helly controlling their shared body in the real world, that they have any shot at getting out.

But the tear track, under their shared eye? I believe there's a moment, when Helly sees Helena say "I would never ask them to do something I am not willing and excited to do myself" that she learns they're both trapped. And we've done this all from Helly's point of view but I bet, waking up choking? Being in the hospital only to go back down the elevator again? Helena has had the same realization.

If Helena is a person, so is Helly. If Helly is trapped, so is Helena.

They finally see the full picture of what they're up against. And the tragedy would be, even together, how matter how hard they fight, they might not win.