#hes aware of timelines but i dont think he knows as much as the fandom likes to think he does

[dimonds456]

If you told post-pacifist ending Sans that he was the final boss of the geno run, and/or that he's the hardest boss to beat in the Underground, he would not fucking believe you

[vegalocity]

Ok so- with the release of seson 6 of lmk, i gotta know.

OBLIVION AU QUESTION

Would MK use nezha as a way to test the oblivion on celestials? And priceed to make him “happy“!with Lu Jing? Like obliderate bkth tbeir minds? Cuz i dont think he’d be too happy with Jing after season 6

.......

Okay so like you ABSOLUTELY have somehow found mine and @unseelie-robynx's discord, yeah? lmao

Okay so the way we have it with Oblivion is that there's a mechanical component to what 'kind' of person is affected by it, the basic version works on demons, Porty made a secondary track that effects Xiaotian and works on humans as well, and Xiaotian post-bad end ends up making one bespoke to Xiaojiao to work on dragons

Since this whole thing sort of subverts the timeline after Season 3 (Xiaotian in his distrust of Azure just fucking Oblivion juices him right off the bat and both figures out his plan and 'cancels' it in his head, completely throwing Xiangliu's plan out the window lmao) then Xiaotian doesn't really have any personal experience with Li Jing (and me and Robynx are sort of also making our au a liiiitttlllleeee bit more myth accurate in relation to a few things, and Li Jing and Nezha are one of them, there is sincere hostility between them actually lmao) and most of what he knows from him is what he gleaned from nezha on that day and his own knowledge of the myths.

which don't paint a very flattering picture as to Nezha's home life.

Xiaotian does essentially use Nezha as the guniea pig for the 'for celestials' track (essentially combining all the tracks including the one he uses on SWK and (allegedly) Macaque into one wall of franken-sound) and monitored his reactions in real time so he did basically make the celestial track bespoke to Nezha's brain.

essentially his plan had been to use Nezha to make sure the celestials don't try to run interference and 'stop the good thats been done' since Xiaotian's at this point gotten EXTREMELY black and white and maybe a little more like Azure than he wants to pretend to be and has slowly grown to resent the celestial court in a lot of very real ways, and he doesn't want to chance them deciding that he was bad actually and undoing all the 'good' he's done.

So the plan was to use Nezha out the gate to keep the celestial host off of their back, and then should their good buddy the lotus prince return... then they can help him.

The plan with nezha is ironically a play on the whole 'is nezha an adult or a child' debate that this fandom sparked that everyone else seems to scratch their heads over because we thought that Xiaotian would be bothered over the cosmic unfairness of Nezha not really getting a childhood, and much like the plan had been with liu 'er, to sort of... force him into a childish mindset, ideally erase his memories of his actual family and just sort of... in their eyes 'let him have the childhood that was stolen from him'

I don't know what he would do if he got his mitts on Li Jing but i DOUBT it would be anything pleasant. If he got his hands on either of Nezha's brothers there might be a sort of merciful 'well you were ALL victims of him really' and give them a chance to 'repent and start over' but i think most likely outcome for Li Jing if it presumably wouldn't blow up in his face would be to either FORCE him into the idealized parent situation (but with some sort of twisted undercurrent of the true Li Jing being AWARE but unable to do anything beyond the 'correct' behaviors and words) or just... do the same thing he would do with spider queen in the stories where the rebellion gets busted, just... fully Get Out him and make him a 'free use helper'

[nonbinarygamzee]

idk i think insisting, when people talk about gamzees characterization through the lens of a child denied autonomy, that what was going on Wasnt mind control or coercion in preference of insisting its all about revelation of their role as their own prophet is kind of myopic. it feeds off of the assumption people are ignoring that aspect rather than saying that in a situation where the very reality of the world and circumstances gamzee was born into were constructed to assure the propagation of that self forming paradox, what is considered "autonomous" becomes very blurry, even aside from knowing LE is quite literally a stand-in for (colonial, patriarchal, etc) oppression. gamzees religious views are not an unrelated problem that form the consequence, they are a tool to ensure the progression of power and dominion. homestuck has many iterations of characters becoming aware of their own space within a narrative, and gamzees breakdown is a culmination of many things, not the least of which being that realization. with it, the knowledge that the role they are set to play as a plot device is wholly necessary for the revolution of the narrative regardless of what they may want or how it will make people see them. if there is no gamzee to ensure the validity of the alpha timeline there was simply no homestuck and they do not do not have the resources to want or care beyond that. to me if the whole takeaway of gamzees mental breakdown is solely what they say to karkat whilst attempting to get a rise out of him/beg for help in active crisis then idk.... try looking at a story beyond what the (compromised) cast say directly? or dont its your choice but! boring!

more than all of that though i think its just kind of mean. i do not value what is necessarily "objective" about a story because a story is valuable far beyond authorial intent and that goes tenfold for a story that holds a deep resentment for its audience crafted through the lens of a guy who up until like 2014 or so was profitting off of how funny open "ironic" bigotry and being mean was (and then continued to do so, just arguably more covertly). theres so much more value to me in what people who relate to a lonely child with addiction issues and a friendgroup that almost exclusively openly berated or ignored them coming into contact with the adult figure of violence and suppression have to say about all of it. idk its strange that as someone whos felt very much barred from "fandom" that i have to sit here and defend "fanon" interpretation because so many people buy into the intellectual superiority hussie sells to you like he does not resent all of you the same way he does everyone else lol

[faorism]

thinking about @bisexual-enby-jellyfish talking about the lack of time travel fic in the fandom, and got me thinking that since canon is satisfying, instead of fix its, we gotta have break its.

BITTERSWEET CANON COMPLIANT PONDERINGS AHEAD

canon lev:red era and pardison is out on a mission for alecs non-leverage side hustle, and they are going to a specific town which they remember distantly eliot talking about it, from years back, how that was a moment of decision for him early in his military career. it was there—eliot admitted when he was feeling especially vulnerable, with a smile that was supposed to be funny but really wasnt—it was there that put him on the path that lost his soul. that comment has a lot more weight now, after eliot saying he has lonely he has been for years (which still haunts parker), and how apparently he told sophie he cannot be redeemed (which is now haunting hardison), and because of all the hitting eliots body is starting to betray him (which scares them both). maybe before they left, they had a tense argument. eliot wanted to go with them, but pardison was like?? you legit told us this is #trauma for you, no. and eliots shrug of a response to what it would put him through sat ill with them.

the memories of eliots unhappiness gives pardison the willies but they try to move on, but something feels... off? anyway MAGIC the resonances of eliot's soul-ache draw the two in to a long abandoned military coup base and they get sent back to around 20/21ish eliot (with alec around 35, the age difference between them but reverse in of s1).

they dont meet right the second they land, but its close: eliot finds pardison in the active base, and he rescues them because he thinks hardison and parker are his retrieval targets. (parker... was under the impression eliot wasn't able to get in time to save the real target in his timeline?? hardison just grumbles uhh.... multiple universes are a headfck irl.)

eliot is on an extended mission, one of his first serious solo ones, one that is clearly testing him out for recruitment for special ops. so hardison and parker can't be whisked away and has to stick around eliot For Reasons with an assumed identity. pardison realizes that eliot's mission can be better resolved (aka little/no bloodshed) with a con, and they convince eliot to go along. they aren't there long per se, but there is a lot of thrills and suspense and tension and idk plot stuff, i hate plot stuff so imagine that's happening in the background.

throughout it all, hardison and parker treat eliot like they normally would... which is utterly familiar and intimate, which throws young eliot. and by throws i mean seduces accidentally. eliot gets all heart-eyed, which hardison and parker don't notice right away because they miss their home time, but also eliot just always kinda acts like that. eliot is falling so hard but he tries to be respectful because obviously pardison is together, but a man can dream...

hardison and parker have Talks about how important it is to not change the past, as much as their presence undoubtedly has changed something. but as much as hardison is genre aware, it's harder for him. the rawness of eliot's confession—that he doesn't think he can ever be redeemed—sits heavily on hardison. and he also is like... why are we here, why were brought back? maybe we are supposed to heal a hurt, right a wrong, maybe... parker just wants to go home.

but she is the one who breaks. eliot is shot at and hurt while protecting them, and the screams from parker and hardison are just... gut wrenching. and as hardison is patching eliot's shoulder up and parker is wiping down eliot's dirt and sweat-drenched face, eliot is like... something aint right with you two. hardison tries to deflect with a joke, but eliot is like, no. you... know me. you care about me. please—he interrupts, when hardison is about to deny harder—the truth. and hardison and parker look at each other. she nods so hardison tells him. some of it, but enough. he tells eliot that they know him from the future. they work together, but it's more than that. parker and hardison arent sure how they came back, but they know some of the why. maybe. they are gonna help eliot, and maybe they get back to their time. maybe not. but they aren't gonna abandon eliot here if they can help it.

eliot gets quiet and is like... do you... are we... and hardison furrows his brows. eliot decides to be brave, braver than he may have ever felt before (and thats saying something) and he asks, are we together? and parker is like, yeah he just told you, we are a team, have been for years, we're family and eliot is like no not... hardison and parker are like what?? and eliot just shakes his head and is like, when you say family, you mean...?

hardison pauses from his stitching to say, you two have a permanent kill switch for my computers in case i go evil mad scientist. and parker says only you and alec can look over my harnesses before i jump. i don't double check your work anymore. hardison says you... and what can he say that would make sense to this eliot? what would have the weight? you let us take care of you.

eliot's eyes go wide, hardison's observation landing just right, and here is where parker meets her limit. dont enlist, she says

and eliot, stunned, tries to make a joke to cut the tension choking him: he looks over his gear and is like, little late for that, darlin'.

and parker is like, don't join black ops. go to aimee back as soon as you can.

parker breaks because... parker sees this eliot, this softer version of himself and parker loves eliot, her eliot, but also this one. she didnt know what eliot had lost but now she knows. she knows and she has the power to do something. she can't hoard eliot away when things can. be. better. for. him. she knows what make us us, but...... us is a lonely eliot. us is an eliot that feels damned. us is an eliot who deserves so much more, everything, anything. they can promise him robot bodies, but there's something else they can give him. a life beyond what he... what he had to make with them. a life with whatever eliot calls a soul.

hardison gasps parker but doesn't disagree with her, and if eliot had doubts they were from the future or had some special knowledge about him, this was proof enough.

and what'll happen if i dont?

parker hugs herself tight: you can have a good life, el. the one you want.

what do you know what i want? and god, he sounds so much like their eliot but also so much his twenty/twenty-one years.

it's what you've told us, hardison says.

and what about what we got? parker and hardison don't say anything. i don't think its enough? i ever say that? exactly that?

parker and hardison want to say yes, but they can't. they also cant quite say no. both hurt. the lack of clarity burns.

as parker and hardison try to find the words to convince him, eliot just sighs. in your time, did i even tell you i love y'all two?

and parker... okay, look there's a lot going on and she is very very sad and she is always very very shocked. so she responds, you don't love us.

eliot gets that... that fucking martyr smile of his: the way you treat me? respect me? and... you two are gorgeous. funny. smart. there's no way i aint in love.

and parker is like. you can't know that.

eliot is like, i can because im halfway there myself. more than halfway, if im honest.

and parker and hardison are... floored. no, you can't love us, hardison repeats. he is sure of this. he has to be.

eliot: future me or now?

hardison: either. both. eliot, you can't love us. eliot can't. that... that doesn't make sense. no. god, what have they been doing for fifteen years if... no. god no. if eliot loved them, he would have said something. they would be together. no. this eliot is so green and young and unbroken and... this eliot doesn't know their eliot. he's wrong. he... has to be.

eliot frowns. so i trust you with everything i am but i aint in love, you aren't enough, and... and you want me to take a different path. away from y'all

hardison: it sounds awful when you say it like that.

eliot: it doesn't sound like a good situation, from where im sitting

parker: we just want you happy, eliot. even if it means we cant have you.

eliot sobers. nods. i won't promise you i will. but... i will consider it.

and that's what parker and hardison want but they are just… spooked. but so is eliot. he withdraws and says he has it from here. hardison and parker try to insist they need to help, but eliot gives them a stare down until they take the out.

after that... things are heavy. but the con is rolling along fine, and above all else, they are professionals. as the con is wrapping up, parker is planning out the last details about the gloat and she's like, we won't be there but you should... and they are like oh. yes. that.... that's gonna happen. that will be when they leave.

the con goes well until inevitably they hit a snag, so when they are gonna break up for separate parts of the con, the departure is on a much more sudden time frame than they expected. they three look at each other because they know they won't see each other again, not like this. maybe not ever again.

as parker and hardison try to find the words to leave eliot behind, eliot just sighs. i told you i would consider leaving the army but you gotta answer me and don't lie.

parker: anything

eliot: is there a time you are alive now because i was there? not... not any hitter. specifically me.

oh. tear well up in parker's eyes. not fair.

because parker thinks about a sunken cavern of ice. that one shouldn't even count, any other hitter would probably have just told her to leave the body from the beginning. parker does not care. eliot saved her in more ways than just convincing her to climb out of the cave in the end.

and hardison thinks of that second day, technically the first twenty-four hours.... thinks of eliot pulling hardison up before the warehouse blows up. maybe the choreography of the day would have meant hardison didn't fall, or maybe he did live but was injured, or maybe a million things. eliot steadied hardison, was his friend, his confidante, the one who held him first when hardison came up from the ground.

so the answer yes then?

parker: it's not that simple

eliot: why can't it be?

parker makes an unhappy sound. the time is running out. they need to get to position. now. but...

hardison holds eliot by the neck, as eliot once did him, and says. you once told me all i had to do was to show you the way and you would save the world for us. we want to show you the way to save your soul, whatever it takes, whatever happens to us, because... that's what love can look like, too. we just want what's best for you, whatever that looks like. just think about it. okay?

eliot looks like he wants to resist, but hardison squeezes desperately, trembling.

okay. i'll think about it.

hardison draws eliot close, into a hug. thank you.

eliot clutches him back. goddammit, he whispers, no explanation.

parker is there when hardison pulls back an inch. eliot hugs her too, and says into her ear, make sure he doesnt get into too much trouble without me, alright?

parker does not say anything at first. says, goodbye, eliot, with their cheeks squeezed together, that's how hard she's hugging him.

bye, park.

and so.

they part.

they finish the con, and parker and hardison are so incredibly anxious about what the repercussions are gonna be (they are willing to take them, for eliot) and also are already like, mourning eliots place in their lives because they love him

they finish out the con and they feel the tug and they get back to the present. its done. they did it.

parker and hardison are shaking and things seem similar enough, that means eliot had to have chosen them.... no, no, they can't get their hopes up.

......they had to have found a way without him. they had to, because that's what eliot would have wanted from them in exchange for his soul.

but just as they get their bearings, there's a sound just a little away. they stiffen; parker gets ready to fight. but it's...

oh.

eliot holds them close and he's like, god, it's been weeks i've been checking every day

you can't be here, hardison says

you promised you would consider it, parker says, distressed

and eliot... doesnt respond with confusion, i... knew it had to be around now if it really was you but i was never sure it was real before

parker, face tucked squarely into eliot's neck: you remember us?

i didn't or... i didn't include you in my mission report. there was no proof yall existed and then the next deployment, the very next one, they... they got me. held me for months. i was convinced yall were a fantasy to give me hope. over the years, i thought maybe, maybe it was... but no, it couldnt be. but since y'all vanished, it's been coming back. eliot's fingers dig into them where he's holding them. its been coming back, ive been remembering, and ive been here, waiting

hardison, tears flowing: we told you to go home. we warned you. you could have been okay.

eliot pulls back to meet hardison's eyes: when you left, i imagined my life if i went back. it... wouldve been nice. married to aimee, likely, but that would've never lasted. not forever. too the same, all passion and no patience. mightve gone to work for my dad. itd be comfortable. a decent life.

parker: it would have been good. safe. you would have been happy.

eliot shakes his head: i chose the army first, before you showed up. it was always gonna be what i did. i was stubborn, then, and i didnt understand the scope but i was following it to its ends.

hardison: so it was all for nothing.

eliot: no, fuck. no. you showed me a way to keep my soul, but whatever happened to it, a way i couldnt take, but i at least knew, somewhere deep inside... eliot stops, tries to untangle them.

hardison: what did you know?

eliot: i'm here that's what matters

parker: please

eliot: even then, i knew at least... my soul might be lost but i would always know where my heart was

parker: oh. you love us

of course, darlin'. eliot swallows.

you never told us

you never told me

hardison: we didnt want you to leave

eliot: i never wanted to give you a reason to push me away

parker: we're so stupid.

hardison puts his forehead to eliots. like really really stupid. you said you liked us because we are smart, but we're so dumb, man

theres so much to resolve. so much doubt, so many feelings to untangle, too many misunderstandings to air... but for now, when eliot laughs and says at least youre still pretty, and hardison huffs offended before trying to tickle eliot saying oh did you say petty? i heard petty did you hear petty parker? and parker is like, oh i think i did and they overpower eliot with tickles and ninja attacks that lead to cuddles and kisses.

and the soul-pain will always linger for eliot, that won't ever go away. not quite. but in the warmth of their silliness on a spot that once hurt so bad, there... their laughter brings something that has been there longer than eliot knew to look: a heartsong of devotion, of care, of love... and that? that wont ever go away

[heliianth]

I'm not the same asker, but may I inquire about the opinions on Sonic you think are unpopular? If you're uncomfortable still then... What do you think of Silver haha

im not uncomfortable per se, just dont want to rain on other peoples parade. i usually make characterization posts looking for feedback and similar viewpoints, and bc i know my sonic opinions are unpopular at least from what i can see i wont receive that so it makes this subject offputting for me. but u asked so i shall deliver

im not a huge fan of the interpretation that sonic internalizes or suppresses everything, or considers his "hero role" restrictive or burdensome in the sense that he cant show weakness, etc... maybe im just an adventurehead and new games have more basis for this interpretation, but it kind of feels like the fandom exaggerating traits in order to make sonic an interesting pov character when hes really not meant to be...? thats not to say sonic isnt interesting in general, but i dont think hes equipped for carrying a narrative by himself so usually people try to give him some deeper traumatic internal world to explore when i personally dont think its there, lol. ive said before that i think the most interesting sonic stories to me arent really about Him so much as his effect on other characters and thats why im so mehhh abt this take.

thats not to say sonic doesnt withhold information about himself. in sa2 he very blatantly lies to amy about his thoughts and oftentimes tries to keep others out of harms way by doing stuff himself. but i dont think this is martyrdom or needing to "fulfill his role as a hero" so much as him just feeling some responsibility as, for a while, the oldest kid in the friend group. he doesnt consider himself a hero but hes aware that younger characters, like amy and tails, look up to him so he doesnt want to talk to them like he would a peer. he is generally more serious with characters like knuckles who are around his same age and do not hold him to this pedestal. we see as tails and amy grow he begins to be more relaxed and less "big kid needing to remember his audience" now that they arent as young or star-struck.

splitting up this paragraph to avoid more wall of text but in regards to this ^^^ i also think most of it is just that... hes a private guy. he doesnt particularly want ppl to know whats going on in his brain all the time, has a personal space bubble, doesnt hang around the public often and lots of times doesnt talk much in very social situations. tho i wont knock ppl for trying to find a deeper more psychological reason for it, i dont personally think there is one... hes just an introverted dude. some ppl just dont like talking abt themselves and get awkward abt it.

also what i think of silver? not sure. i think he has good potential... but sonic teams fear of 06 after it flopped so hard didnt let him grow to meet it. i think his arc in that game was unfinished and suffered from the timeline reset. but i also dont remember lots from his story, so i may have to revisit it. i like him in those early days like in rivals, but im afraid to say i dont find him very fascinating nowadays :( sorry! i get why others do tho

[are-you-still-writing-that]

Drink With Me To Days Gone By

Event: Whump - The Musical

Fandom: Homestuck

Characters: Rose Lalonde & Dave Strider

Warnings: Dommed Timeline, Suicidal Ideation, Major Character Death

Prompt Used: Day 4 - The Song referenced + Survivors Guilt + Failure

Have fun! Story under the cut <3

"Drink With Me To Days Gone By"

Dave didn´t need to look at the screen to know who was writing to him, when his computer let out a little ping! There was only one other person, that was stuck in this hell with him.

The gears kept turning below his feet, and sometimes he felt like the heat of the magma was only rising. Sometimes he wondered, why he had to be stuck in a place literally called „The Land of Heat and Clockwork“. It wasn´t even that he wasn´t used to the heat – He was. Houston, especially in the summer, could get hellish – but to be stuck in what felt like an active volcano was a bit much.

He certainly felt like Rose had gotten the better part of the deal. Yes, it was raining constantly, but come on „The Land of Light and Rain“ sounded downright pleasant compared to this.

The constant ticking had gnawed at his nerves. Not even to mention the strain on his patience that his damn kernelsprite was. He couldn´t stand to hear it cackling any more. It would dive him sooner rather than later insane. If it hasn´t done so already.

With a lazy hum, he swiped for his laptop, while reclining on one of the spinning gears, getting slowly rotated with it.

- - tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] - -

TT: I have an idea, that might just work.

TT: It is a bit unconventional, but I genuinely believe that this will be the breakthrough with our problem.

TT: Dave, not that I don´t admire, that you seem to have learned great restraint.

TT: I would appreciate it more, if you could answer me by now!

TT: Dave?

TT: Are you still there?

TG: don´t get it twisted

TG: where else would i be

TG: not like there is anyway for me to leave

TG: you know we re both stuck here

TT: Yes, while I am fully aware that you and I are both stuck, I would still request of you, to not leave me hanging like this again.

TT: You started to worry me.

TG: rose

TG: srs?

TG: dont even start

TG: change of topic

TG: you were saying something of getting us out of here

TT: Indeed. I believe I might have discovered a way to save this failed session of our game.

TG: kay...

TT: Do not doubt me now!

TT: I know I have brought forth many plans to this day, but I can fully envision that this one will bring us to our goal!

TT: Dave, you can jump through time, that is right?

TG: yep

TT: And this is the crux of this debacle!

TT: You will need to jump back into a point in time, where John hasn´t died yet, and convince him to not engage in this behaviour which ultimately caused his demise.

TT: This will be how we can save Jade as well, which will be our ticket to finally have a chance of beating this ludicrous game.

TG: rose

TG: cmon

TG: when was the last time you slept

TT: I am being serious David!

TG: not my name

TT: This is the only chance how we can proceed in the game.

TT: Don´t you want to at least try it before you declare it as a fellow failure.

TT: Do you not want to see our friends again and give them another chance at survival.

TT: I would have never gauged you as being such a cold-hearted person!

TG: calm down

TG: i aint saying i dont want to save them

TG: i just think that it sounds a bit crazy

TG: have you been listening to the whispers again

TT: I have not, and that you imply that this approach is just the product of the influence of the Horrorterrors quite frankly wounds me deeply!

TG: sorry

TG: but whats the goal here

TG: i go back in time and what

TG: just leave you here by yourself

TG: all alone

TT: That is the plan indeed.

TT: It´s a sacrifice I would be willing to make, if it meant that in some other timeline our friends do indeed survive.

TT: And you never know, maybe my consciousness from this timeline will merge with the new Rose.

TT: But even if it didn´t Dave, I do not think I can go on any longer like this anyway.

TG: what do you mean

TT: I feel like I have finally reached the end of all hope and patience I had these last few days.

TT: I genuinely fear, that if you will not at least attempt this plan, you will end up alone soon enough anyway.

TG: are you okay?

TT: No, I am not.

TT: And I probably have not been for quite some time.

TT: Dave, you have to try this, otherwise it will all have been for nothing, and I can not bear that thought.

TG: yo rose, not to sound too worried here, but that sounds not like you

TG: at all

TT: I´m sorry, Dave.

TT: You have to try.

TT: That´s all I ask of you.

TG: hey, hey, hey

TG: now hold your fucking horses and think about it again and im sure you see how fucking bad of an idea that is

TG: like what would i even do without your smart comments all the time

TG: rose?

TG: hey rose!

TG: dont do it!

TG: please

- - tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] - -

That wasn´t good. That wasn´t good at all! That was quite clearly the opposite of good!

Dave started to quickly switch through his tabs, to find his server player window, where he had the chance of getting at least a visual of Rose. He hoped he wouldn´t find her already dead.

He breathed out a sigh of relief, when he simply found her sitting on the floor. Her knees pulled to her chest, as Jaspersprite was swarming around her. It was obvious, that she was crying. Her make-up was running down her face in streaks, as Jaspersprite brought her blanket after blanket. And the odd fish or two.

Seeing, that Rose was at least taken care of at the moment, Dave leaned back, to consider her plan in detail.

There was some truth, to what Rose had proposed, and it might just work after all. But while Dave could jump through time, he wasn´t so sure, of the effects this would have on both him and Rose on the other hand.

He didn´t know, if such a big jump was even possible for him. At this point, he had only ever jumped back for hours, rarely days. Now he would jump back month. But even then, if it worked somewhat like his smaller jumps, there would technically be a paradox. He could also run into the problem of accidentally duplicating himself.

It would be a sure sign that this timeline had been cut off of the one he would create by jumping back, and while his head was filled by all the other timelines, he was pretty sure, that the same wouldn´t become true for Rose.

This also meant he was leaving her to die here. There was no one there any more to keep her company, as even the trolls had stopped bothering them. She would be by herself. All alone. Forever.

He wasn´t sure, if he could be cruel enough to do this to her.

After all he could already see the effects of her mental state deteriorating right in front of him. At the beginning of this game, he could have never even imagined, that Rose was even capable of breaking down crying like she was at the moment.

But on the other hand, he had to be honest: He missed his friends.

He missed pretty Jade and his witty John. Both of them gone. John to the trickery of one of the trolls, and Jade because John couldn´t get her off the island any more, before the meteor hit. The game having become unbeatable with the two of them missing.

He only needed to save John, to stop him for taking off the way he had done before. He knew he could do it. The biggest hurdle was getting the jump right, but afterwards everything should be easy for him.

The cackling of his sprite, shook him from his contemplation. He never should have mixed that crow with that creepy puppet. Lil Cal was truly as useful as a pair of two left shoes.

He turned back to Rose, who was staring at her screen as his computer pinged once more.

- - tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] - -

TT: So, what do you say?

TG: you know what

TG: i´ll try

TG: but i might not make it and there is something that has been bothering me

TG: would you mourn me

TG: not too be annoying or conceited or anything

TG: sometimes i just wonder with the state of how things are now

TT: Of course I would, you big oaf!

TT: You are all I have left of the old world.

TT: I would mourn you, if you had to leave.

TT: But I am also sure, that you will survive.

TG: thanks

TG: that really means a lot to me

TG: and

TG: rose you are important to me too never you know

TG: never forget that

TG: dont do anything rash because i will try to get you out of here as well

TG: i try your crazy plan but in turn you have to promise to stay alive for me to save you as well you hear me

TT: Of course, I will endeavour to stay around for as long as possible.

TT: I am very sorry, if I had scared you with my little episode.

TG: dont

TG: just stay you hear me

TT: I promise.

TG: good

TG: everything is just great up here

TG: okay

TG: i have to go now

TG: i try your crazy idea

TG: goodbye rose

TT: Farewell, Dave.

- - tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] - -

With that he slowly got to his feet. He put his laptop away, and made sure that his sword was where it was supposed to be. He knew he couldn´t bear to take on last look at Rose, as it would break his heart. Instead he slowly got ready to leave this timeline behind.

He was still hesitant, and he recognized it, when he started to stretch.

Dave sighed out, annoyed with himself, but continued with this little waste of time. It wasn´t like these few more minutes, would make a jump that would span over a few months any more difficult or not.

When he was ready, he envisioned the date, he was trying to travel to. He spared one last thought for Rose, before he vanished from the clockwork gear.

Darkness surrounded him. He could feel time stretching out around him, as he was pulled through it. It disoriented him for a moment, as he couldn´t place himself in it any more. Dave didn´t know the difference between up and down for the moment, as he felt like he was wildly flung around.

It took a moment, before his natural abilities took hold.

He could feel how his interference was opening up new timelines, while others died. Dave was also aware of what timelines were being locked in place, while others were still open to change. The information settled slowly within him, and before he knew it time spat him out again.

All he needed was a quick look around to see, that it had worked.

A younger version of him was staring at him, eyes wide with surprise behind those damn glasses. From the corner of his eye, he could see how Lil Cal was about to be thrown into the sprite by Jade, and so he just waved at his younger version before throwing himself into the sprite.

Even though everything was filled with light, his head being invaded by the game, it didn´t hurt. He wavered under the weight of what had just happened, before finding his balance once more.

It was quick work to convince this younger version of him, to warn John away from Terezis plan, as he looked over his shoulder to catch the first glimpse of his previously dead friends in months, though the part of him, that came from the game also fed him with new and disorienting information now.

He couldn´t help the giddy smile, that crossed over his face, that surely seemed strange judging by his younger versions put upon glance. He let his lips quirk up into a mischievous grin, as he looked back at his best friend once more.

Dave had missed those blue eyes, those stupid jokes. He had simply missed his friend. Missed how he talked and how that nerd always played around with code. Almost reverently, he adjusted his glasses.

He could see Rose on the screen, who was her snarky and a bit pompous self again. She still looked so happy or well as happy as she could get. It saddened him, to truly see for the first time, how much these last few months had taken their toll on her.

And god what a treat it was to see Jade, who was still around at this time as well. Her grin seemed infectious as she bounded across her island from one point to another. So full of life and joy. Never once silent.

It was so strange that he could actually see them again, but he vowed to not think too much about how this game had changed him. Information still flitted around his brain, never settling. Almost like a run-on code. He hated it, just as much as he adored it, because it allowed him to keep track of his friends.

Though, with all the information he had at hand, it still took him months to realize something else.

While he still didn´t try to think to hard about it, when the realization finally set in, that his friends weren´t really his friends any more. That they saw him as nothing more than a spare. Treated him differently, than they had always treated him before. When he had to acknowledge, that his friends had all died months ago. That he was the last one alive from their little group.

Dave didn´t try to take it to heart, which had broken and shattered long ago, back when there was nothing but desperation and fear, when his name slowly became Davesprite.

[caelumsnuff]

okay honestly i am not even an active listener to the damn series and had little to no interest in caelum as a character so i hate how often this drama rears its head but:

apparently erik says caelum is a child and shouldn't be shipped? but he also said that daemons emerge as grown adults and also that caelum was 24 so i guess i'm just confused as to how both of those things can be simultaneously true? are empathy daemons automatically children except regulus for some reason? if so then why have gavin joke about making innuendos at them?

i feel like there is so much waffling from him on this topic and it just creates the space for this incessant argument because both sides have quotes and information to draw from instead of him just consistently committing to one answer- going by timeline and the daemons spawn fully grown thing i'm personally assuming he's an adult but then! It seems like he can't make up his mind about how he wants the character perceived so!

i agree with your point. All this talk about it is annoying and Erik is inconsistent with things like this.

And even if he was consistent in both audios and outside of them, i don't believe in the Word Of God. Like. Ever.

It is not an artist's place to dictate exactly how you interpret their art. What is the point in engaging with art if you're gonna have the artist spoonfeed you how you're supposed to feel about it, or how you're supposed to interpret it? What it means to the person viewing it is just as meaningful as what the artist intended, thats part of the joy of art. What happened to critical thinking? To thinking for yourself?

Also it is absolutely not their place to tell you how you can and cannot act in fandom spaces; Who you can and can't ship, what art you can and can't make, or what fics you can and can't write. This is our space, not theirs. I could not give a damn what he says, I'm posting transformative work on sites meant for fandoms. I'm not forcing anyone to read my fics. Whether they like it or not, the rules of fandom spaces also apply to the original creators.

There's zero point in all this arguing. There's different interpretations of this character because there's different ways to interpret everything the characters say. Some of them make more sense to me than others, but like youre free to interpret it however you want. I understand that people have different interpretations, and thats fine, but you shouldn't be trying to force them upon other people.

No one, as far as i am aware, has written NSFW/ship of Caelum in which he's depicted as a child. I think it's weird to look at peoples' fanfictions in which they have written Caelum as an adult and decide he's a child in it instead, but like..... i guess it's in their power to do that??? You are free to interpret art however you want, even if it upsets you to interpret it in that way. Don't know why you would, but go off i guess.

Also, as a last note: Antis need to stop throwing around words that they dont understand and handing out serious accusations of pedophilia over a fictional 24 year old man.

[bawmbo]

hi, thank you. youve opened a can of worms that cannot be closed

killer is such an interesting character to me. i realized that im not actually too sure where to start but ill start with his timeline;

the idea of a character whose home was slowly destroyed for reasons outside of their control and beyond what they couldve ever thought was real is an incredibly interesting concept to me. i also love psychological horror and reality breaking type of things in relation to it.

to be transformed into something outside of the bounds of definition, and live with the consequences of that, of your loss of autonomy is terrifying. to be named under that total loss is horrifying. to know that everybody will only know your name and never what you went through to get there, that no one would even really care. not that you could get yourself to. theres so much potential with the idea of someone who wants to drain your world of everything for entertainment, and they can forcefully recode it, and they do not care about you because you are just a game character to them. and you are the only one aware of this. and when youre taken out of the timeline by a strange man who can also forcefully shift your control of your situation, everyone will only know you as just as bad as him. as a murderer with no reason. and every time you look at this man (nightmare) all you can feel is the same hatred you feel for yourself. you cant help but feel like youre the same. but this isnt about nightmare as much as i really do love him and writing his character (also super passionate about him)

i have a lot of problems in general with his fandom portrayal and the fact that we either see him as portrayed as either incredibly childish, dumb, very sexualized, etc. and its okay to want to write him how you want to write him, have fun, just not our cup of tea

to us, hes incredibly agile, quiet. hes eerie and incredibly smart and much more aware of whats going on than he lets on. he has lost all respect for anyone who claims theyre more powerful than him, and the way he taunts is by bringing them back to his level (or just doing things he knows pisses them off but not enough to get him killed for it. massive staring problem and wont elaborate on it). and while he can be flirty, where i understand the sexualization comes from.

i think i just crave more in depth characterization from him. how terrifying he is during battles, how he knows the knives he fights with better than the air he breathes and the placement of his feet just as much. how he could be using his magic but its difficult to fight him even without it. the absence of what he could be doing and the presence of how difficult what he is doing showing through. his disconnection from the world around him and how hard it is to realize that everything around you is just codes. that everything is malleable in the wrong hands and everyone lives their lives blissfully unaware of how quickly things can change. and how he could be deeply angry by this but never actually feel it well in his chest like he sees with others. he isnt indifferent, and at some point, somewhere he might express that care. but he cant. and this is it. and he doesnt know how to move on from that.

maybe when he gets close to people his relationships end up showing slow signs of trust. when he does trust people is he surprised if they leave? how scared is he to depend on anyone when no one was ever there to? maybe one day he finally learns to sleep with his chest or back exposed and around people. and his version of hanging out is going "hey i know a spot" and its a 50 minute walk through a closed off forest but its beautiful. and youll probably get some diseases, just gotta hope you dont. the next place is probably a feral cat colony hiding in the sewers hes been feeding and slowly gaining the trust of. hes weird.

in general i really do love complex characters and think about them a lot. and i love seeing how complex characters can be written. i love exploring the possibilities with him and i find that when we either write him or collab stories where we write characters interacting with him, we have a lot of fun and end up thinking about him a lot.

my friend @nullandvalid is a big killer enthusiast too and if you send him an ask you could probably get a big rant too. (also @thaltro. both him and null write killer super well imo. been incredibly fun to listen to them talk about how they write him and engage in writing stories with them) thank you for giving me time to yap about it, ill probably be thinking of more in the meantime but this is all i have atm fhahaha

another one for fun, pretty experimental. this one was one of those "draw regardless of whether or not you think it looks good" things. swore to myself the next utmv character i drew and posted was gonna be fell but here we are. gonna try to get used to posting things that i dont consider my best work. hi killer love you dude

[theriverdraws]

Do you think Sans knows about Flowey's powers? I'm not sure, because on the one hand on the Genocide route he keeps calling it "the anomaly", as if there was just one and the PFC complex is it.

But on the other hand, then what the heck is the Grillby's warning about? It doesn't make sense that he'd assume a golden flower that can make conversation with his brother on several different places is done by someone with a bright blue Echo Flower, which can only repeat what it hears and not make any kind of conversation. I highly doubt Papyrus would omit such details about his dear new friend.

It also wouldn't make sense to warn us about a mere prank on Papyrus if he actually believed that, since it wouldn't affect us in any way for someone to give Papyrus "advice, encouragement and predictions", and the flower only appears "when no one else is around" so we'd be extremely unlikely to see it happen firsthand anyhow.

Sans' workshop has also been proven to preserve objects and writing across resets, so wouldn't someone who had to fight an unkillable evil being (as we know Sans did) be keeping track of it, at least some of the time?

I figure Sans knows Flowey used to be the anomaly and that he's dangerous, so he warns us (unless we kill Papyrus in which case we can go die for all he cares), but he does it indirectly, since he knows that Flowey tends to follow people around and could be listening. Also, maybe it would be a bad idea to let any time-manipulating anomaly know he is in any way aware of past timelines, because if he knows that means that you can maybe get him to react differently if you come at him just right, and that's "fun", and might therefore lead to even more resets, which he decidedly must NOT want.

What are your thoughts?

I dont think Sans knows about Flowey at all. It's obvious they had a battle in one of the timelines sure, and Sans knew about it then, but I don't think he knows about it in the "current timeline", since he thinks the anomaly is Frisk.

The fandom surely built this idea Sans remembers all the past timelines but he really doesn't. He's aware that they exist, because of his studies or something, and he's great at reading people and whatnot, but he doesn't clearly remember them.

The most he remembers canonically is just as much as any other character, it shows in deja vus of sorts so he could piece it all out - but again I don't think there's solid proof he remembers flowey? Because again, he thinks Frisk is the anomaly.

So I don't even think that warning was about flowey, it was to keep an eye out to whoever is tricking Papyrus. It's not like Sans went to interrogate him, so maybe Papyrus could have only told him "Oh yeah I was talking to my flower friend! He is very helpful! :)", and of course the other details Sans told us and stuff. And I mean, I guess the echo flower was just a theory of his, the point was that whoever was doing this was sketchy as hell and since Frisk is literally a time God who talks to everyone or something, they could probably find whoever was doing this (and they did lol).

Sans never mentioned the flower was a golden flower as well.

Anyway that's what I think about it dndjdj.

[jjheejz]

About Internet Water Army in the case

This is an ongoing update about the case from start to development. List of all related posts can be found on this blog's pinned post (link provided at bottom of each post as well).

19 August 2021 update: Added the scale of his success for reference, before bonus below

18 August 2021 update: Added timeline of events, orange title in post, found out the official English term for Immoral Media = Internet Water Army)

Major updates since first draft: Added bonus, added disclaimer, certain info details

Originally posted on 16 August 2021

[The purpose of this post is to provide a perspective as to why the Media is raised/blamed regarding the issue. Especially for international fans, as all the encounters happened on Weibo. Also, those who were on weibo, do read through if you will. So although it's lengthy, do try to read all, at least if not the last two parts].

The Media referred by most, is not the common perception of the Entertainment Industry (celebrities, directors, shows, channels, staff etc), but the dark side of the Entertainment industry: Antis, toxic fans, toxic marketing accounts. They are called Internet Water Army💧.

Toxic Marketing Accounts is one of the things they do, these accounts on Weibo has millions of followers, each of their post likes are in the hundred thousands (buyable) to give credibility to passer-bys. Some use similar names to Official accounts, some use similar logos. Their posts are usually subjective or aims to steer view points of a certain celebrity/movie/show. Before the latest update of this post (18.08.21), I just group them all together and term them as Immoral Media*.

*Below is my original post using my original term because at point of first draft, I did not know the official term (so have changed/added the term from Immoral Media to Internet Water Army in content below but retain the content based off first draft).

If you have chased before celebrities, or just simply passed by an article about certain celebrities, recall how some title that caught your attentions were like. Clickbaits is one of the many things they do. If GZ is your first and you do not have Weibo, then this read(link) is good enough.

Just as the term Immoral Media (Internet Water Army), it’s immoral and unethical, but they exists because they are paid to do so. Who pays them? Entertainment Companies, and maybe other Organisations

Normal Media/Marketing vs Immoral Media/Toxic Marketing/Internet Water Army

When a show or movie comes out, the normal Marketing department will generate outreach and buzz so that people know a show is airing soon/know the show exists etc. Official announcements are not enough, because there isn’t much context (limited content to put up as well) so having some other Marketing accounts do the buzz in a planned period to gain awareness through posts, some articles about the casts, the plot summary, the production details etc is normal. This is Marketing, bigger companies will probably have stronger Marketing departments (aka influence) and can hire more Marketing accounts to generate buzz. Celebrities (aka casts) themselves, are also Marketing point.

Then we have the Internet Water Army/Immoral Media, these are what they mainly do:

Create Fanfiction-rumors: Creating rumors about celebrities to shift audience perception of them. [eg. XX was seen with XX leaving a hotel, XX was drunk on Event Y and did ZZZ to AA, XX is dating BB and has been in a relationship for N years etc]

Honing their brain degrading skills: Come up with titled clickbait headings/ trending topics with negative written contents. For articles, exceptionally out of heading content related to the celebrity. [Refer to Baidu, it’s a winner of these, feel free to Google Translate]

Regressing their common sense and understanding skills: Take everything a celebrity does completely out of context in a negative way and create a topic out of it [eg. XX said AA is a ---, “XX raised his finger, a sign of ---?”, XX pushed BB aggressively on Variety Show Y - A competition variety show, XX is in beef with CC because XX was caught giving CC the eye]

Using their fingers to stir shit and bathe each other in it: Escalate all smallest form of possible tension created by fans/themselves into a huge thing by acting as the fandom's fans/lurk in fandom chat groups, and voicing their disguised opinion to spread tension/exaggerate severity of the issue [eg. XX fans mocked AA - in groupchats: tbh I've never liked AA before, AA just gives off a vibe that I dont like and now this? It just disgusts me even more > Yea, i feel this way too. AA has problems / XX Lurkers expressing views on XX about NN, slowly to NNMHFXW - XX did NNMHGT - I cannot accept NNmHfHw, I'm leaving = multiply by 1000++]

Epitome of a self-deteriorate: Creating something out of nothing and react to that something negatively to gain massive attention/reaction [eg. “XX raised his hand on show Y” - dk what XX fans are thinking, are they literally blind? XX fans are tasteless just like XX hahaha / “XX did community service” - they are acting / “XX breathed” - From the start, i thought XX was NN, but I am so ZZZ that XX breathed. Goodbye fandom, i’m leaving. Those who still want to stay I urge you to rethink your life choices] - if I may add, Xiao Zhan’s fanfiction case as well. 

Metaphor - Ability to use bare hands to collect paychecks from the urinal/toilet bowl where their boss/client peed in: Doing all of the above.

Apologies for any term offense, but not apologetic of the term context. This is what they do for a living. Any normal human being who do not like anything, will generally not be interested at anything about it in the first place, so to have some antis/toxic fans knowing certain things and inside jokes/references in their posts questions their goal.

On involved in Internet Water Army/Immoral Media 💧

Fans on weibo during these few months witnessed many of the above on GZ. From rumored girlfriend (spammed with articles) to mean and nasty comments on trending topics, to bouts of insults and fake emotional cryouts by certain fan accounts that GZ's office has to release a number of Lawyer’s letter to them. 

Aside from WOH there were also a few other BL adaptation films that were actually released this year but they did not reach exponential success like WOH. BL adaptations are so highly followed by because this is the key to wealth. Literally. Successful BLs like The Untamed and  Dao Mu Bi Ji saw the amount of wealth fans are willing to spend on the celebrity as compared to say BG or idols (younger fan groups). This is why when WOH shot up exponentially, Immoral Media start to sweat.

Major anticipated adaptations were supposed to air this year eg. Hao Yi Xing(HYX), Sha Po Lang(SPL) etc but was severely held back due to the stricter change in BL adaptations submitting their scripts for approval regulations (WOH manage to submit earlier before the change). Because of this, most final films were rejected and they have to keep re-editing, by then WOH was already months into reaping tonnes of major brand endorsements, shows/movie casting, variety show appearances etc, something that is seen as too successful in the Immoral Media’s eyes, because they have to create buzz for other celebrities, some are specific celebrity oriented and thus circulate rumors about having endorsement opportunities shifted from celebrity X to GZ (think fanfiction-rumors and shit stirrer) causes tension in celebrity fandoms. - A real event just in July:

The Untamed’s cp fandom is called BJYX which had always been in the Top 1 of Cps for 2 years dropped for awhile to Top 2, over taken by LLD. Both of them had a war and hated each fandom, one fandom is somehow not allowed to like the other fandom even casually after everything broke out because it started out with some BJYX toxics photoshopped GZ on of portraits .

Also another case of which he wore the same costume as WYB did in a previous photoshoot and it became a useless comparison of who wore better, who looks better, degrading the other. (Finger stirring shit).

Now apply all of the above things the Internet Water Army do and we have them earning money, while both fandom reacts and hate each other.

In LLD, our own fans started suspecting each other on who is a spy from BJYX and what not.

The first few months of Internet Water Army saw LLDs mostly mocking them because the average age is 30-40s, they know and see through all of their intentions so nothing was big. They were trumpeting and LLDs didn’t even care, what with all the doing tedious stats was not even important to them.

Over time, as the issues they create became more and more serious LLDs did start to care, reporting Toxic Marketing accounts/toxic fans became a daily task, go vote for GZ at certain polls etc, solo fans, and LLD fans also split apart. Solo fans think cp fans use GZ to furnish their fantasies, and cp fans thinks they are the ones furnishing their dreaming-girls fantasy with (aka my boyfriend).

There was also a period where LLD had a habit of continuously mentioning “we are in the 30-40s so we can see through everything about the media, we are all fans for the first time, we are good at spending money (because of purchase power compared to other fandoms)” it was prevalent for so long it felt odd, ‘chasing celebrities the first time’ in particular sounds more vulnerable as a weakness than a strength / sth to be proud of.

Gradually, more secretive/insider confirmed ‘sweets’ were flying around. Fans advised each other to not circulate, and the mindset of “if you know, you know, dont tell.” (This is a problematic mentality, of which fans will still be curious to know and search for it themselves, but this secretive hook is unhealthy. Over the long term, it becomes hard for existing fans to know a lot of things properly to judge for themselves, especially those who knew and publicly reacted, but blasting those who ask and telling those who know to keep quiet, this did not help some to understand why on certain things, even so for international fans, dont know and dont understand, causing misunderstandings. Yes, certain information should not be shared, so why should you react about it publicly in the first place? - Internet Water Army effect)

The last few months (for example the July fan war) created a tonne of seriousness and anger. A period even broke out with a tonne of ‘insider confirmed sweets’ (which is LLD’s daily dose of happiness), it was hard to tell what was real and what was fake. Trending topics became negative and everyone warned each other not to enter because it will give the trends ‘views’ and trend statistics, in reality entering there is to enter an exhibition by the self-deteriorates, collecting the fandom's traffic data (it's a sure lose for fans each time they enter the topic). Everyone even starts thinking that the trend’s popularity was caused by each other (it's true but it can be bought daily and not caused by fans). There was a raise in the number of fans who were getting emotional because they want to protect but Internet Water Army kept coming and got worse, because fans, tbh, not just GZ fans, every other celebrity’s fans are always fighting with an Army, getting played and plotted in that Army's calendar.

Even so, despite all of these, LLD is actually a fandom Internet Water Army may find the hardest to break because they understand GZ so much, they could tell what are fake news regarding GZ, because among everything above, there are still plenty of logical fans to stop many fans from drifting too far and debunking them. Why? 30-40s are grown up adults.

Why 13.8.21 and the Japan issue is plotted?

First of all, in the political climate of China, there are many political dates in a month that is NO-Entertainment news. Because it’s the honoring of certain important political events. It’s like Remembrance Day, thus the sensitivity is higher. On these days, there are usually no news and even the Internet Water Army zip their pants. This year also marks the 100th year of the Chinese Communist Party(link)

Secondly, he had no work schedule on 13 August 2021. A great full day to focus on any other news (because if he had schedules, everyone will turn their attention to his events, what trumpeting outside is just bird chirps). 

Thirdly, when the news broke out, especially about the shrine, the reception was actually quite serious within the fandom so the scale of this might be big but to what extent in reality?

Lastly, 15.8.21 marks the 76th anniversary of the announcement of surrender of Japanese in World War 2(link). Also a day of NO-Entertainment news. 

Timeline of events:

13.8.21 - [His rest day, Eve of Chinese Valentine's Day, Japan News broke out] His rest day, no schedules = increased attention about him online. Lowered guard among fans because they are getting ready for tomorrow's Chinese Valentine's sweets = Caught off guard = Huge break out of fans' reactions

14.8.21 - [Chinese Valentine's Day, Eve of the 75th Anniversary of the announcement of Japanese surrender] Keep a wishful and happy demenaor to not destroy the mood, suppressed thoughts about ZZH's Japan news

15.8.21 - [75th Anniversary of the announcement of Japanese surrender, Official announcement of ZZH's boycott and all China social media account ban] NO-Entertainment news day, Solemn day, not allowed to voice anything so the fandom can only wait for tomorrow to start voicing out/debunking but before they can wait out, the boycott and social media ban happened, every official accounts about him was gone overnight, fans had no time to react

17.8.21 - [All official fandom accounts related to ZZH and JunZhe were locked/removed]

Forced to be silent since the day his matter broke out, over the course of official news release with everything taken down in a day because of the Japan correspondence, his accounts banned overnight across the Chinese media and the overnight cancellation, fans could not speak anything about it. Overnight cancellation like this scale happened for the first time in China, leaving no time to react by the fandom, by the time they can, they are silenced.

When the period of events occured within a set of special dates, it’s not coincidence.

Conclusion

Because he was too successful and had many actually honorable past things, and a hard to influence fandom, Internet Water Army view him as a huge threat enough to want to destroy him, because it’s hard to defeat. With a chance they have, they will hold it till the end, bringing up this issue to the Government during this period also shows a sign of how scared they were of him and perhaps his fandom to plot something like this.

Updated on 19 August: Here's a screenshot of assumed calculation on the scale of GZ success for reference while chatting with a fellow fan, assuming GJ also has 27 brands, and there are 1000 brands. Rationale of numbers used: Only big brands can hire big celebrities.

Bonus

Mentioned in the first post, will mention again in case. After the news broke out within 2 days, there was a drop on his weibo followers from 18.9mil to 18.7mil. 200k+ drops, if the politics was such a big national issue, there should at least be a huge drop, even at least a million right? Because weibo is a China-Chinese majority right? Nope, we get a puny 200k drop.

What's funny? The self-deteroriates:

Translation: "Are his fans bought? Why didnt he drop fans? Those people got brainwashed to this point?" / "I've never entered his weibo and today i feel like having a look yet it showed I've followed him. All his fans were bought right? It disgusts me, i immediately unfollowed. This kind of process is worse than WYF..." / "i dropped fans because of him...no...I just reposted 2 posts and I've dropped 4 fans?"

Isn't the tone and regressing brain cells, all too familiar and same?

//

Added above, will remind again to read this link. It has an even more in-depth knowledge on who are paying them.

So what should we do? Link here

Related posts 🛏️:

[inimikal-archive]

Thinking  about  my  favorite  awful  alien,  so  heres  a  headcanon  drop !

The  reason  we  hardly  see  anyone  from  Frieza’s  race  outside  of  their  family  in  the  main  timeline  is  because  they’re  almost  extinct.  Much  like  the  saiyans,  Frieza’s  people  are  rare,  few  and  far  between and  in  current  day  its  believed  those  who  do  still  live  are  part  of  Frieza’s  family.  ( This  is  obviously  with  the  exclusion  of  those  from  Alternate  dimensions  or  time  hoppers  & so  on.  Though  the  universe  is  huge,  it  wouldn’t  be  a  stretch  to  say  there  are  others  out  there  somewhere,  just  to  be  friendly  to  all  the  OCs  in  the  fandom. ALSO  note  these  are  just  MY  personal  headcanons  &  they  dont  have  to  be  followed !  I  know  they  are  completely  outside  of  fanon  norm. ) 

Frieza’s  family  was  the  ‘royal’  bloodline  of  their  species.  This  was  due  to the  mutation  they  possessed  which  caused  abnormally  &  overwhelmingly  high  power  levels  at  birth.  Frieza  &  their  “father”,  King  Cold,  were  particularly  potent  examples  of  this.  This  mutation  does  not  effect  everyone  in  their  family  as  Cooler  is  not  considered  to  posses  the  mutant  gene.  This  gene  granted  them  favor  among  their  family  &  species  given  the  high  power  levels  it  gave  them  &  thus  what  forged  the  “royal”  line.  

Frieza’s  species  were  very  similar  to  the  saiyans  in  the  way  that  they  valued  strength  among  all  else  &  often  considered  things  such  as  kindness  &   love  to  be  a  weakness.  However,  while  the  saiyans  were  considered  barbaric,  Frieza’s  kind  were  thought  of  as  aristocratic.  They  were  galactic  snobs  of  epic  proportions  who  looked  down  upon  most  other  races  throughout  the  cosmos.  There  were  little  tears  shed  for  their  apparent  destruction.  Though,  there  are  very  few  creatures  in  the  galaxy  long  lived  enough  to  recall  any  of  this.  In  present  day,  Frieza’s  kind  are  looked  upon  as  a  type  of  unicorn  or  mythical  creature.  However,  thanks  to  the  notorious  actions  of  Frieza’s  “modern”  family  line   they  are  also  pretty  well  feared.

The  exact  specifics  of  what  happened  to  Frieza’s  species   is  unknown  ( Translation:  I  haven’t  decided  the   exact  details,  but  yes,  Beerus  was  involved.  )  Not  even  Frieza  has  any  idea  what  exactly  happened  to  their  kind.  King  Cold  does  not  speak  of  it,  if  hes  are  aware  of  what  actually  happened.  It  seems  to  be  considered  a  shameful  event  &  thus  not  spoke  or  thought  of.  Frieza,  in  general,  knows  little  of  their  own  kind,  their  culture  &  the  like.  Frieza  was  born  long  after  their  near  extinction.  What  little  Frieza  does  know  is  passed  down  from  Cold  &  it  would  seem  Cold’s  knowledge  is  also  second  hand.  King  Cold  is  thought  of  as  the  current  eldest  living  member  of  their  kind.  However,  again,  its  possible  not  even  he  is  old  enough  to  have  ever  lived  naturally  on  their  home  planet.  Its  suggested  the  event  that  lead  to  their  near  extinction  happened  even  before  Cold  was  born,  given  Chilled  was  already  functioning  as  a  space  pirate  during  his  own  time &  he  far  proceeds  King  Cold.

The  planet  trade  organisation  was  founded  by  &  has  been  maintained  by  Frieza’s  family  &  kind  after  their  own  world  was  destroyed.  Control  of  this  immense  galactic,  criminal  empire  was  passed  down  for  generations  before  landing  in  Frieza’s  hands.  The  organisation  was  founded  after  Frieza’s  species  home  planet  was  destroyed  &  the  aliens  realized  there  was  a  profit  to  be  made  in  conquering  &  selling  planets  to  similarly  “homeless”  aliens.  With  their  unchallenged  power  levels,  they  were  able  to  pull  this  off.  It  is  thought  however,  that  originally,  the  survivors  of  Frieza’s  kind  attempted  to  settle  &  trade  peacefully  with  other  planets  as  refugees  but  found  every  attempt  they  made  to  be  met  with  hostility.  Growing  impatient,  eventually  the  “Frost  Demons”  started  to  take  what  they  needed  by  force,  exterminating  any  opposition.

Again,  Frieza’s  race  are  exceptionally  long  lived.  Frieza  themselves  is  at  least  60  years  old  in  humans  years,  though  appears  to  be  little  more  than  a  matured  adult  psychically.  Frieza  was  roughly  16  when  they  were  given  the  title  of  Emperor  of  the  planet  trade  organisation  &  this  was  a  gift  to  them  by  Cold.  Needless  to  say  it  was  one  hell  of  a  sweet  16.  However  its  also  true  that  Frieza  demanded  this,  so  it  wasn’t  done  at  random  & King  Cold  has  always  helped  Frieza  maintain  the  organisation  from  the  shadows,  even  as  an  “adult”  Frieza  has  co-controlled  the  planet  trade  organisation  alongside  Cold  &  Cold  is  respected  as  &  considered  as  much  of  its  “owner”  as  Frieza. 

Frieza’s  race  are  “simultaneous  hermaphrodites.”  Their  race  did  not  have  separate  sexes  very  much  like  the  Banana  slugs  of  earth.  Friezas’  people  do  have  a  sense  of  gender  expression  but  it  varies  from  individual  to  individual. Some  express  more  masculine,  others  more  feminine,  then  there  are  some  that  remain  in-between / undefined.  Frieza  tends  to  be  androgynous,  though  is  also  known  to  lean  somewhat  femininely.  They  were  able  to  both  reproduce  asexually  or  sexually.  Cooler  was  born  from  the  union  between  Cold  and  a  mate  who’s  name  was  Krisp.  Cold  was  ultimately  disappointed  that  Cooler  did  not  posses  the  mutant  gene  &  was  considered  a  ‘normal’  child.  Thus,  it  was  believed  that  as  a  result  Cold  could  never  have  a  proper  heir  in  Cooler.

What  happened  to  Cold’s  mate  is  unknown.  Its  possible  they  were  killed  in  their  line  of  business.  They  would  have  been  Frieza’s  parent  as  well  had  this  not  occurred  but  due  to  this  event  &  Cold’s  discontent  with  Cooler’s  lack  of  their  prized  ‘mutant’  gene,  thinking  of  him  as  a  poor  choice  for  an  heir Cold  chose  to  have  another  child,  thus  created  Frieza  asexually. This  was  considered  a  great  success,  given  Frieza  was  in  fact  born  with  the  mutant  gene,  something  that  was  pretty  much  guaranteed. 

Cooler  is  at  least  10  years  older  than  Frieza.  Due  to  Cooler’s  non-mutant  status,  he  had  to  train  hard  to  keep  up  with  Frieza’s  natural  born  abilities.  Cooler  did  in  fact  train  hard  enough  to  keep  up  with  his  baby  sibling,  however  it  never  seemed  to  be  enough  for  Cold.  As  a  result  there  is  definitely  a  strong  rivalry  between  the  two  siblings  & a  deep  bitterness  Cooler  feels  toward  King  Cold  & Frieza. Frieza  was  never  really  ‘good’  or  ‘kind’,  they  were  not  ‘made’  evil.  Frieza’s  species  for  me  take  a  lot  of  inspiration  from  reptiles.  They  are  born -  or  perhaps  ‘hatched’ -  formed  &  intelligent,  not  like  a  typical  infant,  much  like  a  baby  lizard  leaves  its  egg-  able  to  fend  for  itself  for  the  most  part.  From  “birth”  Frieza  was  considered  exceptionally  powerful.  Their  callous  &  wicked  temperament  was  very  heavily  encouraged  by  their  parent,  although  Frieza  was  also  feared  by  Cold.  They  were  not  ‘abused’  or  neglected  in  any  typical  sense  that  might  serve  to  ‘excuse’  Frieza’s  behavior. 

That  said,  “love”  &  “affection”  seem  to  be  very  muted  in  Frieza’s   life.  King  Cold  was  not   exactly  cruel  to  them  in  any  way,  but  his   affection  was  more  or  less  given  by  spoiling  Frieza  with  material  wealth  &  praise  &  as  a  result  Frieza  has  little  concept  of  actual  affection,  particularly  on  a  psychical  &  emotional  level.  Its  foreign   &  uncomfortable  to  them  to  witness  or  experience  those  type  of  emotions.  That  being  said  Frieza  obviously  has  some  kind  of  care  for  their  Father  which  extends  in  some  way  to  their  brother  despite  their  fierce  rivalry.  What  largely  formed  Frieza  into  the  “monster”  they  are  is  lies  more  in  their  nature.  Frieza  is  not  human,  does  not  conform  to  human  standards  of  culture/behavior/morality  &  is  from  an  entirely  separate  evolutionary  chain.   It  also  should  be  noted  that   Berryblue  was  Frieza’s  nanny  of  sorts,  she  guided  &  cared  for  them  & perhaps  spent  more  actual  time  with  them  then  their  actual  parent  from  their  birth,  on  to  present  day.  As  a  result  she  seems  to  have  a  closeness  to  Frieza  no  other  creature  has  ever  had.  They  would  not  call  her  a  ‘mother’  or  be  caught  likening  her  to  one  for  a  number  of  reasons  ( despite  the  true  likeness ), however,  but  she  holds  a  “rank”  no  one  else  outside  of  Frieza’s  class  or  species  could  ever  posses  as  a  result.  

[logically-asexual]

because i'm procrastinating, the timeline of how Jon Cozart's After Ever After radically changed the course of my life.

I am terrible with years and keeping memories in a coherent timeline, but I'll try and might make up some fake dates accidentally.

around 2012-2013 i was in middle school and my classmates and i had a facebook group, like it was done back then. and a friend made a post sharing this silly Disney Parody. i watched it and thought it was soo cool and clever and also spent more time than i'd like to admit trying to figure out whether it was four identical guys or only one. (it was too impressive for my young mind, i still am impressed by it now)

then i proceeded to tell my friend when i saw her that i loved the video and we learned the lyrics and would sing them constantly, with one doing the accompanying rhythms and one singing the song (including, very importantly, the "p a i n t subscribe!" at the end).

then a few years later, around 2016 i created a tumblr account (that i barely used) because of facebooks page "people of tumblr", i only reblogged grunge or emo posts because i wanted to have that aesthetic.

i don't know if it was in that same year or until 2017 but i went on youtube and remembered this after ever after parody and then went to watch a bunch of other videos in the same channel. i thought jon was hilarious and edgy and hot so i became a fan.

while watching his content, i watched three videos he did with Thomas Sanders, but i can't for the life of me remember in which order. i think it was in this order:

Vine vs Youtube song

RIP Vine Agony parody

I've been shipped with Jon Cozart (on thomas' channel)

and at this point in my life i had somehow unlearned a lot of ugly predjudices i had (i don't remember how. i just gradually became a little better person) so when i watched that last one i was like "oh that's so cool that these (straight) men are comfortable in their masculinity enough to make a video like this!"

and i also liked watching it because i thought jon was So Cool and i was a teenage "girl" with no friends so i of course was playing along figuring out how compatible i was with him. and i also thought "oh this Thomas guy is very cool, too, i seem to have more in common with him actually"

i also remember watching the vine videos and thinking "oh this is the Storytime! guy!* he can sing??" and though i feel very little attraction, any time i see a man can sing i do feel it so much.

*i didn't have vine, i only watched compilations that popped up on facebook, mostly those Storytime ones.

so in the beginning of 2017 i caved and watched videos by thomas. and it was when i found Sanders Sides and i feel in love. my crush also moved from jon to thomas* lol. he was nice and sweet and relatable and attractive and his voice was so comforting. and i was aware of his presence on tumblr because he used to be very popular here before the exclusionists ruined everything. after watching Sanders Sides i followed some sanders sides blogs, of course.

*i didn't think much about his sexuality until i became a bit more of a fan and saw people arguing in the comments of his videos about it. everyone thought he was bisexual because of his vines and he insisted that it was only acting so i didn't speculate, but i did think he was attracted to women, specially after the valentine's video with valerie (listen.. it probably didn't fool actually perceptive people im just dense as hell). i found out he wasn't (like everyone else did) with that pride video in june 2017, and in a video after that when he corrected joan about not being bi. after that my crush died (for that + other silly reasons lol)

which then lead to the actual changes. the queer presence in the fandom took over my dash, i learned so much, i had no idea how little i knew about everything. for one, i dont remember exactly who put the definition of asexual in my dash but im sure i wouldn't have been so open to identifying with it if i hadnt become so used to seeing all blogs talking about it and reading fanfics with people giving the sides so many different identities. and being asexual is a big part of how i see myself now. its important, i filter a lot of my experiences throught this knowledge, and it's good!

then i also found out thanks to thomas' videos what being non binary was. because i heard it first from joan, who for some reason i thought was a trans woman who was using neutral pronouns while they felt comfortable enough to transicion completely. i now know that's not how it works. but that was the first step. i really learned so much about gender and also how i see the world has changed thanks to this new perspective i had never considered. i don't know what hot takes i would have now if it weren't for this. i knew back in 2016 i did have so very bad ones.

now more dominoes..

while i was patiently waiting for jon to post more videos and sneaking a peek into thomas’ channel, before getting well into sanders sides i watched

an awkward duet

this cover of waving through a window

this cover of birds

dear happy

human

city of stars

all with dodie, all absolute gems, lovely, gorgeous, spectacular, and i loved them but i didn't really care about dodie in particular (for some incredibly stupid reason) but i did get immersed in this fandom for specifically Jon, Thomas and Dodie, mostly comprised of bisexual people who shipped the three of them or couldn't decide who to ship with whom lol. but generally as a trio of friends they seemed like a really cool group and i loved the energy. they gave me this vibe of cool older cousins to look up to.

and from here two big changes:

first that cover of waving through a window made me cry so much. i knew that they were into musicals and i do like musicals but i was never into theather so i never knew what they were all talking about. i had heard thomas name dear evan hansen and also i had seen it around on tumblr. but that cover of waving through a window moved something so fundamental in me idk. it was An Experience. I watched it once sitting on my living room by my piano and cried so so much.

so i went and watched dear evan hansen as soon as i found a link to a bootleg. and it was incredible. the story was something i had never seen before, the emotions i felt were also so special. i felt so heard by several of the characters in a way that i just never had. it also changed my view of myself and of some personal struggles in my life. and to this day i think i have been able to cope with these problems a little better thanks to this musical. it's also the first theater musical i watched before i went on to watch a few others and realize that i adore the genre. after it i watched heathers which also had affected a lot the way i cope with my emotions, although maybe that's not such a big impact but big enough.

the second change was eventually giving in to the youtube recommendations and discovering dodie as an artist.

and god. her music. losing my mind. i couldn't believe what i had been missing. same as with dear evan hansen, it was so fresh and different from anything i knew before, and felt so much closer to me than any other music. the themes of her lyrics were stuff i couldn't find anywhere else (not that i’ve ever been good at finding music), that i didn't even know i was looking for. it always was so comforting, even when they were sad and made me cry. i bought her vinyl album last year because i love her so much.

also through dodie i have found many more artists that make up most of my current taste, like orla gartland and tessa violet and mxmtoon.

and well lastly, of course, Sanders Sides.

the first sanders sides i watched was the Q&A (it was the most recent one then). i realized when they brough up "last week's video" that it was a series so i watched the previous episode Losing my Motivation, which i loved. then i went back to the Q&A with more context and then i watched everything in the right order.

several things here. first Logan and Virgil as characters helped me figure a lot of stuff out about myself and my identity. they also helped me build it. i really didn't have much personality and only had a few traits that stood out somewhat as a kid. but during high school with these characters i was able to like, spot some things about myself that made me different from others, that i liked, so i could build upon them to create a more solid sense of self. stuff that already was there but i was unaware of or was just avoiding. now i feel like i have it more clear and it has helped me be more confident about who i am and interact better with people and make friends.

janus + my psychologist also have formed another part of who i am today which is a little shamelessly selfish but in a healthy way. im okay with it. i need to practice more kindness but i'm not an awful person and i am not hurting myself as much as i used to.

ALSO that. tumblr and dear evan hansen helped me realize that when you have serious issues with anxiety you look for professional help so i did when i was having an awful time in my last year of high school.

also i never drew much as a kid because i thought i sucked at it. and i did. i wasn't very creative and the assignments in art class never made sense to me. but sanders sides was so important to me that one day i thought.. damn... i have to draw this specific image i have in my head of these guys or else!

which provided three things: a nice peaceful way to cope during that bad year of high school in 2017-2018, nice online friends who i could talk to when i had nobody else, and also the idea that i do like drawing and that maybe i could get better at it with practice.

and i'm not much better now than i was before (many other artists i’ve seen have had much more radical transformations) but i have developed some sense for aesthetics and stuff that i didn't have and i also realized that i would like to know more graphic design.

which led me to think that a major thing i want to do as a professional is write and illustrate science articles. another huge part of what i am becoming, with great consequences for my future, thanks to me forcing myself to draw these silly characters in silly situations because i knew nobody else would.

...

so yeah. everyone say thank you jon...

that's all i can think of but it's probably enough. i don't know if anyone will read through all this but i felt like wasting a little time and sharing this.

goodnight.

[justalokifanaccount]

Episode 6-Play by Play Reactions (Spoilers)

I’m so nervous and excited. Disclaimer: I have spoiled a few minor things for myself for this episode because I’m a self sabotaging dummy who does this whenever I get anxious about a form of media I am watching.

I’m so friggin nervous ahhhhhhhhh

Please tom Hiddleston, don’t do me dirty

Screw you renslayer

Istg if anyone betrays anyone I’m going to riot

Man I miss Classic!Loki already

Isn’t this the music that played when Steve?

OH MY GOSH IM GOING TO CRY WITH ALL OF THE AUDIO REFERENCES

Lol the peter quill lines are perfect because I legit just watched GotG

Nelson Mandela?

Vision???

Lmao Sylvie saying “open your eyes!” Gave me legend of Zelda breath of the wild flashbacks

My heart is rattling against my rib cage with excitement and anxiety

Spoopy castle

Aha another scene or at least location from the trailers!

Oof they’re both anxious too

Pretty gold veins

You were pruned before he even existed? What? No you weren’t? You were kidnapped but not pruned. You were only just pruned lmao.

If kang isn’t the baddy I’m gonna look like such an idiot

AGHH!

Good God that stopped my heart.

He who remains?

KANG?

I don’t trust you Miss Minutes

Man I wanna kill Thanos

Miss minutes I don’t trust you, TEMPTRESS!

If he could make it work, then why couldn’t he allow the timeline to break free normally then huh?

“We write our own destiny now.” Bite me Miss Minutes

Ren Slayer I hope you get chucked into space

How self aware is miss minutes exactly?

I’m actually surprised that Renslayer doesn’t know who it is

Miss minutes is so creepy what the freak

The music is so damn good

“Are we sure he’s even still alive?” Judging by the opening of the door, I’m assuming that yes.

Uhhh hi?

Is this kang?

Or Ryuk lmao

I’m hoping he’s more serious than this jokey seemingly unserious dude. I need some angst.

Is this Kang?

Cmon

So much for easy to kill I guess

Where’s doctor strange when you need him?

I bet classic!loki could kill him easily…

I miss alligator Loki and kid Loki…

Doctor strange sanctum vibes

Hey heart, can you stop beating in my chest? You’re gonna kill me

HAHAHAHAHA YESSSS MOBIUS

Kill her please. I won’t be sad. Do it.

You’re not sorry. Shut up.

HAHAHAHA YEA BOIIIIIII

Ohio? Oh gosh is this a school?

RENSLAYER???

Hahaha she’s just a principal

HAHAHA BREAK THEIR MINDS

Don’t you dare insult my Loki. Love you Sylvie, but she’s nothing compared to Loki in my mind and never will be.

This music is gonna give me a heart attack

Help

Oh so this has happened before?

Wannabe God…

My BPM has got to be like 100

Paved the road? Soooo are you a Loki or???

Who are you? Please be kang or else I’m gonna friggin have to eat a rock like I promised.

This dude is literally a Fan Fiction writer oml

Sylvie? Please trust Loki. Don’t betray him.

Yea yea Renslayer I know that it’s crazy your whole life is a lie but you’re an idiot.

You’re a variant too you dumb dumb.

Yea you betrayed him. You betrayed the timeline.

Where the hell are you going?

PRUNE HER

DO IT

OH COME ON

PRUNE HER FOR CRIPES SAKE

Ughhhhhhh cmon Mobius…

In search of free will? What? Then WHY NOT TAKE MOBIUS WITH YOU

Dang that was disappointing Mobius got knocked down that easily…

Oh my gosh Tom Hiddleston’s voice is rumbling in my headphones good God

Kang?

Kang?

KANG THE CONQUEROR?

PLEASE

GIVE ME AFFIRMATION

Oof even he has variants

Dude loves Apples more than Ryuk

But he also sat on the chair like L

Is he like a celestial? Related to one?

Hush you wannabe Saint

Alioth?

Okay but HOW did you harness its power. What’s your technology then? You can’t just say that and not explain how.

Is he drunk?

Okay L

He’s like L, Light Yagami, and Ryuk all in one.

Your variants? Then who are you?

GAMBIT LIKE FROM THE X MEN UNIVERSE? I’m kidding… sigh…

Okay mandalorian

My heart is still beating fast why

If I don’t make another appearance again, know I died of a heart attack

Why would he give up control huh?

Is he a Loki?

“I’m older.” Dude you look like you’re 30 tops. What’s your secret? How are you immortal if you’re only man? Or are you not a midgardian?

Both sitting with swords.

Multiversal war heh? DOCTOR STRANGEEEEE THEYRE AT IT AGAIN

He’s kinda calling her out a lil lmao

Both of them

HEART CAN YOU CALM DOWN?? I TOOK MY PILLS! WHY YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A PANIC ATTACK.

Hello? Something happening you didn’t expect?

Threshold?

Of what?

This dude is a good actor. He’s playing the demented, crazed, power man well.

What’s the third option? There can’t only be two.

My heart is friggin dumb. Can you not??? I’m legitimately annoyed by how hard and fast it’s beating.

What’s that in your hand buddy?

Bud?

What, is it an honesty detector or something?

You can really tell this guy is tired of life and everything

Aaaaand they’re fighting

Girls girls, you’re both pretty. Can I go home now?

Oh no…

Sylvie, no, stop it.

SYLVIE!!! Trust Loki!

Cmon there has to be a third option

Sylvie DAMMIT

TRUST HIM

Protagonists fight before the climax cliche *ding!*

GET OUT OF MY HEAD CINEMASINS

Dammit now she knows magic too

HE DOESN’T WANT THE THRONE YOU DUMB DUMB

“I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want a throne. I just want… I just want you to be okay.”

OH?

OH?

HELLO?

It’s the onceler fandom all over again

Kiss and betrayal

COME ON MAN

Loki can’t catch a break. He just gets betrayed again and again.

How did she know how to use that.

Oop. Rip.

“See you soon.”

Sylvie, you messed up.

Now what?

Poor doctor strange. Dudes gonna have his hands full lmao.

Tom Hiddleston BETTER be in Dr. Strange Multiverse of Madness

My chest is actually moving from how hard my heart is beating what the heck

Poor Loki

All he knows is pain and hurt. And whenever he thinks he’s getting love, love, like a dagger, hurts him.

CMON TOM DONT MAKE ME CRY WITH YOUR STELLAR ACTING

How is this going to end????

WHAT

WHAT

WHAT

Mobius???

WHY DID MOBIUS FORGET HIM

NEW STATUE? IS IT TOO LATE?

WHAT

THATS THE END????

WHAT?

BUT

BUT

BUT

WHAT???

WHAT

WHAT

WHAT

WHAT

WHAT

HOW

WHY

WHAT THE HELL?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN CREDITS??????????

Funky music but…

WHAT

WHAT IS HAPPENING

WHY DID MOBIUS FORGET LOKI

WHY DID THE TIME KEEPERS STATUE GET REPLACED?

END CREDIT SCENE?

SEASON 2 CONFIRMED OKAY SO

AGHHHHHHHHHH!

I—WHAT?

BUT

BUT

WHEN IS SEASON 2???

HOW LONG WILL I HAVE TO WAIT?

WAS THAT KANG OR DO I HAVE TO EAT A ROCK?

WILL SEASON TWO FOLLOW DIRECTLY AFTER SEASON ONE OR IS THIS LEADING UP TO THE DR STRANGE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS AND WILL SEASON TWO FOLLOW THAT?

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH

MY HEART

SYLVIE WHY

YOU TRAITOR

BUT AT LEAST IT WASN’T A BETRAYAL IN THE WAY I FEARED IT WOULD BE

BUT STILL

I AM LOOKING AT THE CREDITS IN THE OTHER LANGUAGES TO SEE IF THEY REFER TO HE WHO REMAINS AS KANG

I DON’T WANT TO EAT A ROCK

MY BRAIN IS MELTING

MY HEART IS… AGHHHHHHHHHHH

[curious-menace]

Rogues age headcanons?

so  i was scrolling the riddler headcanons tag and a post by @canadian-riddler inspired me to make this.  i cant find my bradly games guide with the info in it but i did go and get the arkham timeline from the wiki for reference

https://arkhamcity.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline

i also remembered that batman is stated to be 32 in one of the games. but i cant for the life of me remember which one. i have a suspicion that its Origins which would make him roughly 44 by arkham knight, so im going to try and use that as a measuring post for the other rogues. if i can find the source ill link it in the replies

Also before y'all yell at me for ruining your Headcanons, none of this is confirmed. I just worked them out based on the in game evidence but that doesn't make it canon. It's up to interpretation.

Also also this is just for the Arkham series. Idk about the rest of the canons out there. Gotham Riddler is much older than batman, Gotham scarecrow starts the show as a child. It's confusing.

Penguin

He’s obviously the oldest of the rogues currently active. He has a terrible grudge against the wayne family, bruce and thomas included. im going to say hes in his 50-60s because that would put him just a bit older than Thomas wayne, giving them time to be active and at eachothers throats before batman was a thing. its difficult to tell with him because hes a smoker in canon, obviously that ages people. he also seemed to get much older overnight between city and knight which are only 9 months apart. the voice modulator he has also doesnt help, so i dont feel confident saying more than 50-60 by the time of AK. i guess you could look back and say he appears to be in his late 40′s in origins. slap on 10-12 years and it would be something like this: AO= 46-49  AA=55-58 AC= 56-59 and AK=57-60

Two-face 

He’s a little bit easier.  we know he and bruce were friends (ignoring his connection with batman )at one point so they have to be roughly the same age. i cant find any concrete evidence  for when  harvey became twoface, only that it happened after arkham origins and before assult on arkham. ive also been informed by wikipedia that to be elected DA you generally have to be around 30. because of that, i think two face’s age plays out like this : AO=30-32 AA=39-41 AC=40-42 and AK= 41-43 

Poison ivy 

another slightly easier one. although ill admit there isnt much evidence, what we have is pretty solid. In the cold cold heart dlc its possible her visitors badge in the lobby reading “pamela isley- visitor ”  this tells us shes not yet a doctor, because we know she goes on to work for gothcorp under Dr woodrue. why would she only have a visitors pass if she worked there in origins? presumably she has already graduated from university, otherwise she couldnt be an intern. so that would make her timeline something like this : AO=22-24 AA=31-33 AC=32-34 and AK 33-35

Riddler

Riddler and scarecrow were probably the hardest ones for me to do. when i replied on indys riddler post  is said he had a degree in criminology but now i cant find the evidence for that. i know he has some sort of degree , he’s the head of the GCPD’s cyber crimes unit they wouldn't give that out to anyone ( although the possibility does exist that he faked the qualification to get the job but im not using that as a factor in my sums) 

Given that he is a genius, we could maybe put his graduation age at 18-22 rather than the normal 22-24. Im going to assume that he’s been working for the GCPD for a few years so that he could build up his network to the size we see in ao. that would leave us with a timeline like this : AO=20-26 AA=29-35 AC=30-36 and AK=31-37. 

im aware much of the fandom thinks he is much older than this, putting him in his 40s but i think his lack of selfcare, obvious heavy smoking habit (given the cigarettes in his hideout in ak) and overall poor health both mental and physical have made him age beyond his years. for me, personally, i canon him to be 22-24 in AO and 32-35 in AK 

Scarecrow

honestly given how little we see of him physically and due to the fact we cant eve see his face, scarecrow was the hardest to place. An easter egg in Origins :Blackgate referes to him as Dr crane , revealing he is already a doctor so he’s got to be at least mid 30s by then (given the average age for a doctorate and professorship is 33-37) Ive scoured the internet looking for answers but this is the best i can come up with: AO=33-37 AA=42-48 AC=43-49 and AK 44-50 

Harley Quinn

Simlarly with Ivy, shes working towards her doctorate in the time of Origins. given that she was in blackgate its likelys he knew Dr Crane before he became scarecrow, perhaps even worked under him. she appears young in origins but shes not a teenager. id have to put her at 20-24 given shes already got some sort of degree. We know she goes on to become a doctor by the doctorate certificate in the steel mill in arkham city so she must have achieved it before becoming harley quin in roughly year 6 of the time line ( origins being year 2 and knight being year 11-12)  with all this in mind i think her timeline must look a little like this: AO= 20-24 AA=29-33 AC= 30-34 and AK=31-35 

Well that's all my thoughts for now. If you have any other ideas, questions or want to add to my post feel free to HMU 💜💙💚💛🧡❤️

[popculturebuffet]

The Loud House Reviews: The Cow-Pie Kid and Saved by the Spell

Welcome back Loudiacs.. I .. don’t know what the fandom calls themselves. And given I dont’ know anyone personally in the fandom and the going into the tag is like living in a living nightmare.. it’s easier to keep workshopping a name till either someone tells me or I find one that sounds right. Loudites.. there we go that didn’t take long. Point is we’re back in The Loud House, In The Loud House for the first regular coverage, i.e. when I cover a show as It comes out of the season. And I was lucky enough to actually see the episode same day this time and with a promo that at least gives me images to work with, so yeah, i’m pretty pumped. And not just because I can cross this one off because SOMEBODY has a birthday tommorow.. no not me, that was last month. 

There ya go. But yeah the show’s back. I’m excited, your excited, i’m scared because nick dosen’t give a clear schedule out ahead of time so i’m left wondering when one’s going to pop up and when to get it on my schedule now I have one... it’s a good time. Seriously though Nick needs to get their scheduling in order. So i’m happy to be back, your happy to have me here, but probably not happy to have spoilers so let’s take this under the cut and we can talk about cow pies, magic, and ... how this block is weirdly almost all lincoln episodes. 

The Cow-Pie Kid:  Yeah.. this was the only bit from cow pie kid I could find. Tons of stuff to mine from for saved by the spell. Nothing for that one. Weird.  Anyways our story opens with Lynn’s baseball team, who we’ve met before.. and include friends who have played other sports with her and that guy she had a crush on for all of five minutes because the writers kinda forgot L is for Love happened for anyone but Luna and Luann. 

Okay look MOST of the love intrests introduced there were not great and while Lincoln needs one NOW, at the time he really did not as the Ronnie Anne thing had not, and still has not, been properly resolved. Still vastly prefer him with Stella and her with Sid, i’m just saying closure would be nice.  Look i’m getting off topic point is one besides Sam, who was great out of the gate and not just for being gay.. though that was a lot of it, and Benny, whose objectively a really sweet kid and damn likeable. Luaggie shippers feel free to boo me, I understand.. dosen’t change my mind or the fact Poly exists to fix that. I mean why not both I ask you.  Besides them, we had Chazz, a loveable chubby guy who Leni was into and worked at clothing store and knew his fashion stuff. and was charmed by her romantic gesture. He just seemd sweet and it was implied via background stuff they were still dating.. but he hasnt’ shown up since despite her working AT the mall and that being her main arc for the last two seasons. 

Just why? What’s wrong with the chubby fashion boy? Why? Did they decide they had too many romance arcs.. at exactly two? I get focusing on sam, because duh, and because that was awesome.. but you’ve had 2 full seasons since then and again Leni and him now work in the same location if not the same store, which in itself is a plot. I don’t ask much from you show.. well okay I do but let me clarify I don’t ask much from you that you could actually do: I know i’m never getting my a diffrent world style spinoff with lori and bobby. I know Zach is going nowhere and i’m just going to have to get over it, I will not, but I DO know you could include chaz and just won’t. So do that at least. I will put up with several more seasons of Zach if it means this adorable love story continues. It’s even easy enough to pick up this late: they are both stupid. Work with that. Gah... coach if you’d please. 

Thanks coach. Okay so one tangent later we’re back to the episode. Point is her team is loosing even though Lynn’s the captain now, and while she’s perfectly encouraging it’s not winning games. Lynn is understandably dejected in the car not helped by the sports commentor guys from the game... commenting about it on the radio...

I mean.. I get sports can have dry spots and all that but who covers a middle school basketball team on the radio that isn’t the middle school radio station. I mean I genuinely can’t decide which is more sad... a radio personality doing a children’s baseball game on his own show, or having so much trouble getting one that he’s apperaing on the middle school radio show. And I COULD say it’s just a guest spot but he’s talking like he knows what’s going on intmatiley> Did his daughter ask him to? I mean I know radio’s fallen pretty far but I dind’t think it was that much in the basement. Do a podcast at least man. 

Okay before I go on another Tangent point is Lynn feels it’s her fault as Captain.. which granted whoever the coach is should be .. but it genuinely looks like they don’t HAVE a coach. Maybe they had to sack him to pay for the newly refrubished av department? I dunno. Point is she feels bad and Lynn Sr vows to cheer her up.. before stopping for farm fresh eggs. Which.. yeah can’t blame him. He’s a cook, and Liam’s family likely has good prices. He can buy for both home and restraunt at once. I mean he has a van and only one occupant at the moment. Don’t judge him.  But this little detour DOES help Lynn’s mood. Her problem is the team lacks a decent pitcher, since Lynn herself was banned for throwing one at a heckling goat. The Lawsuit is ongoing and that made me laugh a lot. But Lynn finds Happy Gilmore style that Liam.. has a really great arm. Granted instead of actuall balls it’s with cowpies because this series really loves a shit joke, hence the title and the new nickname for liam, the cow pie kid.. but compared to some of the series toilet humor it’s a lot less in your face. But with Liam being so good Lynn can’t help but sign him to the team and Liam being a sweetie pie is happy to agree.  I have.. not hid even for a second how much I liked Liam or wanted him, and Stella, to show up outside of Lincoln episodes more often, or even get his own again. That day.. has come. Not only does LIam now have a roll entirely outside his friend group, but this episode’s about him and Lynn together.. not in that way.. yet. Someday.. Point is my boy is in the spotlight and I could not be happier.   And thankfully.. Lynn’s at her best. What I feared would be an episode about her overtraining him and making him not enjoy the game, htat old chesnut instead.. she just genuinely helps mentor him. She’s tough but fair as she helps him get his aim right as he’s used to firing Cow Pie’s, so the weight distrbution is off. So she helps train him and .. it’s really cute honestly, with her genuinely helping him and showing a softer side and later realizing she had him thinking about it too hard and just having him not think.. and going by instinct naturally works for a carefree and easygoing guy like liam. Wouldn’t be suprised if he went ultra instinct eventually.. but that’s for another episode. They also have a pig pile together.. which sounds bad but is just pigs piling on liam and lynn gladly gets on top of the pigs and god that sounds worse. next scnee. 

So Liam gets ahead and becomes the star pitcher for the zanarkand abes.. I mean the Royal Woods Kangaroos, and they just keep wining and wining and wining. Their like glomgold: all they do is win... but probably with less attempted corpse dancing. Problem is as we see during the montage Liam’s arm is slowly but surley getting cramped and while he wins hte next game.. his arm gives out from noodle arm. The good news is with rest, he can fix it, as her injury prone friend Paula, whose somehow allowed to play with crutches despite ALL the legal and moral issues that raises explains. but they don’t have days to rest it. So insane plans it is!  So Lynn goes to her sisters for herlp..specifically lisa int he hopes her mad science can either fix his pain or turn him into the hulk. Neither happens.. yet. I mean LIam is so sweet if he IS a hulk, we won’t know yet. But the green door will.. it always knows. IT ALWAYS KNOWS.  Lynn bemonas her luck.. before Lucy appears!

I JUST said last month when reviewing 11 louds a leapin that I missed the duo of her and lynn and lo and behold here we are. While we dno’t get much of the two fo them, it is still nice to see Lynn suprised by her scares and Lucy trying to use the dark arts to heal his pain.. which actually works. Lucy’s upgraded from wants to be a witch to full witch. 

So yeah her dark magic works and now Liam is fine just fine as the championship game approaches. Until naturally it isn’t. While Lucy STOPPED the pain, she didn’t make anything better, just numbed it so Liam’s arm’s pretty bad and Lisa suggests there’s a 70 perfecnt chance he’ll wreck it if he does so.. and while Lynn is naturlaly, given one of her main traits is asshole, ready to risk that.. she realizes she can’t. Rusty is on her team following her orders.. and no matter how good a W feels.. she can’t trade in someone’s health for one. Honestly bettter than most sports managers ngl. So Paula subs in and misses, loosing them the game.. but Lynn. takes it in stride, having realized she can win next year and having finally realized what being the leader REALLY means. She can work on paula’s curve, give Liam a break, and win next time... which she’ll have because time dosen’t work normally in this show’s dimension and a solid timeline is just a pipedream, so she probably has another year of being 14 to redo this and has become aware of it. I’m scared and excited for what that means.  Liam celebrates with a pig pile of two and we get a REALLY fucking cute shot of the two being happy and what not before a pig jumps on them still though.. yeah I ship it now. Liam taps into the space where I thought a black void of misery and douchebaggery was but ti turns out is in fact a heart, something few can do with Lynn and Lynn can protect him form bullies and is perfectly suited for his rough hewn farmboy styles. Point is their cut.e And so was this episode. IT was a really nice return to the series and it was again REALLY fucking great to see one of Lincoln’s firend,s and one of the GOOD ones at that, get a starring roll without him. HOpefully this keeps up and hopefully we see more of these two. 

Saved by the Spell:

RUSTY SPOKES IS TRASH (Ring) I don’t have a saved by the spell font that’ll have to do. Point is he is but before we get to Rusty being Rusty, Lincoln is doing magic tricks at the table. 

Point is he’s excited to do it at the talent show. The next day his friends discuss doing something to make them look cool to everyone. WHich.. kids. i’ll level with you. You. are. NERDS. As a massive one in both size and nerdiness myself, there’s nothing wrong with that. 2/3 of you are lovely people. You’ll be fine. But you are geeks, and should be proud of that.. not so proud you evolve into an incel or it’s adjacent form of assholes mind you, but still proud of who you are. You are never going to be that cool by trying to appeal to everyone. Just be yourslef and the cool comes naturaly. Like kool aid, which is naturally made by milking the Kool Aid man. Be you. 

But instead they decide to do a dance routine which..  let’s face it.. is probably just this spread across 6 people...

Point is maybe don’t do that. Also when Clyde does a dorky but endearing dance and says their going to shake their groove things, Rusty pipes in with “But cool”... and while sadly not as glorious as EVERYONE looking enitrely done with him like last time we saw this tool, Clyde clearly still does while the rest of hte Lincrew have no idea what the hell he’s on. I think their just.. numb to his stupidity and ego at this point.  But when Lincoln shows off his magic they all hide him, fearing that magic.. is well for younger kids and this won’t play so well. Which isn’t an invalid fear: this is middle school and from personal experince, middle school can be hell.. and also one of hte best years of my life which shows the vast gulf between the two schools I was in but was also not the point. the point is kids can be cruel and maybe don’t do this. But lincoln gonna do it anyway because he has confidence.. and frankly given there was an ENTIRE episode about being yourself instead of putting on an asshole suit of armor to avoid being hurt, which Lynn finally took off again last episode, he’s right.. but the rest of them all feel THEIR ALL GOING TO LAUGH AT YOU. and since they don’t know if he has latent psychic powers or not can’t risk him getting pigs blood dumped on him so they plan to find some way to trick him out of it.. Clyde of course gets his stomach in nots because he’s not good with schemes or lying ot his best friend, both of which this is and requires. 

Also Stella’s in the lead, as she should be. And she helps as her positive attudie makes what their doing come off as it should: KINDA douchey, but not intentionally so, they just worry about hteir freind getting pummled.. possibly by his own sister but now sh’es possibly with Liam that’s probably not as much of a worry. Or Chandler but frankly he’s going to do that no matter what.. and is probably getting his ass kicked himself by older kids who won’t toldeate his bs, so your clear. But their fears while a bit unfounded are understandable and well inteitoned if misguided, as we don’t know LIncoln’s act at this point or how well it’d go over with a mostly tweenager crowd, who can be the best as we’ve seen in recent tv.. or aboslutel monsters.. same deal. You either get Luz or you get BOscha, the inbetween is rare. 

So cue our usual setup of a bunch of attempts to do something in a row, but like I said while i’m not a fan of reptition if it’s done well enough it works and with it’s rather sizeable supporting cast , LIncoln and Friends episodes usdually do make it work. In this case it does as each of the sensational 6, lincoln and clyde asid,e try their hand at it. Liam, being the golden child, just has the most direct and obvious route: swipe his magic stuff.. and runs off without letting them talk it out but unlike Rusty in the next attempt, his plan was actually viable.. he just gets tangled up in the scarves and taps out.  Rusty is next ....and his idea is to.. show lincoln his killer dance moves to convince him normally. 

Yup pretty much that. And somehow out of the four plans, RUSTY’S is the only one that dosen’t bring up any serious moral quandries. I know i’m shocked too. He just thinks his moves will do it when no they won’t, please stop it hurts to watch and I can’t turn the fuck away. This is my job you redheaded kanker sore! Gah it thankfully ends and is unsurisingly unsuccesful. 

Also unsuprisingly, i’ve been waiting since i got that image to use it on Rusty. And as a third dollop of unsuprise I did not have to force it in any way shape or form. Point is it’s Zach’s turn as during the last two he’s been pushing really hard to use some form of brainwashing on his friend.. yes .. really. 

Thought Rusty would be the first loud house character to get that one but hey if the shoe fits. Seriously I thought rusty was the creep among them but at least you know.. altering someone’s throughts to suit your own isn’t his go to move. Being excetsivly cocky and coming on too strong is but still better to take THAT out of the Zach Morris playbook than “brainwash people into dooing whatever you say because tha’ts not creeptagious.” And unsurpsingly it does not work.. on Lincoln it woroks on Meyrl for some reason. Thankfully it dosen’t though just.. Zach needs no power epsiecally over the mind. 

So UNSUPRSINGLY, Stella has the working plnan.. and also unsuprisingly the last three just did theres by running off, running off and shouting the loudest. Again somehow Rusty is NO LONGER the most obnoxious one of the group. Zach won that title this episode. He’s still the most pathetic.. but i’m the most done with Zach who adds nothing to the dynamic or the planet or anything and I wish would just go away. Your home planet needs you. 

But yeah Stella has the winning idea: pretending to be “Yodel Boy”, a student who was humilated at a talent show last year, proving sh’es not only a decent actress (I mean it’s obvious i’ts stella in a wig, padding and lederhosen, but points for the accent being okay and hey she’s in middle school), but also the smartest of them. Only one of those is a suprise. It works and Lincoln agrees. 

So the night of the talent show they’ve caught him up to speed and prepare to celebrate, only for clyd eto open the wrong locker and reveal the yodel boy suit. WHy it was in there instead of at Stella’s house where this wouldn’t happen?

But yeah the cat’s out of the bag and lincoln leaves, depressed his friends think that little of him and lied to him. Which.. yeah completely fair. They tried talking to him, it did not work.. they shoudl’ve just left it at that. It would’ve SUCKED if he got bullied true, but it was his choice to go out there and take a risk and do what he loves. As someone whose constnatly self concious and had to fight to start writing like i’m doing now, I envy that kind of youthful confidence and thus wholly support him. 

And finally.. so do his friends. Realizing they’ve been kinda crappy, they introduce lincoln instead and work as his assitants.. and.. it works. Stella gets sawn in half, Zach gets astounded by a card trick, and Liam wears a bunny outfit which is just.. precious. Good boy. Best boy. It’s a huge hit.. and we also get to seesome of the new background kids including one with pink hair who looks kinda nb. I’m just saying one of you should take a crack at them, they seem nice. But for now our heroes are haield as heroes, and the other 5 apologize to lincon and they do their now cemented and fucking adorable group hug. Happy ending to a pretty great episode, with decent gags, a good relatable plot, and Rusty being just the right amoutn of obnoxious. Good stuff.  So that does it for this week. If you liked this review like or reblog it, check out my other work and come back later today for some duck content. and every week once the show returns. Until the next rainbow, it’s been a pleasure. 

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Comparing RWBY and YGO DM: The Handling and Evolution of Themes

Hey! Its been a hot minute since I last posted anything RWBY-related but Im laying in my bed right now and Im sick and bored so I guess we're doing this. Today I will do my best to analyze what I percieve to be the main themes and messages of both of these shows, or more specifically, how theyre handled narratively. Im mostly focusing on that part because, while these series do have similar themes and messaging, they are still a few things in which they are wildly different. And with that, lets start with this essay-post-thing!

1. Theres something we need to adress first

Okay so, before we can really talk about this, theres something I feel the need to clarify here: Neither of these stories was "planned from the beginning".

Now, I dont think a story being planned from the beginning or not nesscessarily makes the story any better or worse by default, however, it is still important to acknowledge because the way the story is planned is going to affect every facet of it. Things are not going to be foreshadowed properly, things are gonna be set up only for nothing to come of it, the story might drastically change directions, characters might act differently, etc, etc.

And, this is bit off-topic but, it's much better to just admit that the story was not planned than trying to pretend that it was. Like, there are a lot of reasons why I tend to be so forgiving towards YGO even though its not very good, but one of them is definitely the fact that, as far as Im aware atleast, the guy who wrote it isnt pretending to have had this big master plan all along and neither is the fandom. With RWBY on the other hand... yeaaaah, its kinda the opposite. From what Ive seen of RWBYs fandom, there seems to be this pretty popular narrative that everything was planned even though it clearly wasnt. Thats pretty bad and honestly lowers my opinion of the writers so much more than if they would just admit to not having a proper plan.

Like, I initially consumed YGO like this: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh (aka Season 0), like, a quarter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (I still havent finished it)

In all three of these we have the character of Yami Yuugi, or just Yami. Broadly speaking, he is an ancient egyptian gamer spirit who lives in a magical puzzle that has not been solved for 3000 years until this highschooler named Yuugi Mutou comes along and solves it, thus setting him free and allowing him to possess Yuugi and have access to the vague magical powers of the puzzle.

In Duel Monsters he's perfectly fine most of time, morally speaking. There is an instance of him almost murdering a guy and its a bit unclear what exactly happens to those he mindcrushes but overall he's very much a pretty good guy. In Season 0 most of what he does is set up these games for bad people, where they will go insane no matter what they do. From how I understand this whole Shadow Game, Penalty Game stuff, if you lose a Shadow Game, you get violent and intense hallucinations and you will always cuz yknow, gamer spirit. But if you try to cheat, which most of the bad people do in this show, you get violent and intense hallucinations as a punishment.

Since the two anime are generally considered two different continuities, its perfectly fine that Yamis characterization is wildly different in both of them. But in the manga both of these characterizations appear, basically one after the other with no real arc or consequences, for that matter. Why is that? Simply put, someone thought it was a good idea to try to turn an episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror manga into a more traditional, more plot-driven battle shounen. From what Ive heard, it was apparently largely because of network interference or something, but the point is, it changed directions incredibly drastically with little planning and everyone knows this and I can understand that for the most part.

In RWBY we have the character of Blake Belladonna, who, in the first 3 volumes/seasons atleast, was this aloof, more toned down loner-type character with a pretty strong sense of justice. She's an in-universe marginilized racial minority and she clearly cares about racial injustice. The way its initially framed makes it seem like she had a very hard life and no stable support system, which is what eventually pushed her to join a Civil Rights group/Terrorist organization (good god, the Faunus subplot is so awful, I could write a whole essay about it but Im already de-railing rn so I'll just save that for later).

Then, in volumes 4-5 it turns out her father is actually like, the mayor or chief of this island-place called Menagerie and she grew up in this big mansion with multiple guards/servants. Oh and also, apparently "space is a commodity" on there, so theres that. She still retains large parts of her personality but she's kinda like, worse somehow I think. I cant really describe it in a meaningful way but I hope you get what Im saying anyway. Then in Volume 6 she confronted her emotional abuser Adam (sorry for not mentioning him sooner but yeah, he was like, her abusive boyfriend, which is something that a lot of people disagree with but I wont really say anything about it either way because I dont really feel any specific way) with her friend, Yang, and ended up killing him.

After all that, she pretty much lost the rest of her personality, as well as her arc about all the Faunus stuff. She just kinda became the meek, generically nice, recovering abuse victim. Why? Well, the actual reason is that they didnt plan out shit and are just kinda flying by the seat of their oversized clown-pants and if they and the fandom just admitted it, I would have less of an issue. I still wouldnt be as forgiving towards RWBY as I am towards YGO because the crux of the issue, for me, is just that I dont particulary like RWBY but also like. Do you really expect me to take MKEK seriously as writers after admitting to not have a timeline because iT wOuLd CaUsE pLoThOlEs?

However, since they want us to believe that everything was planned out from the beginning, the explaination would be.... Idk, they deliberately butchered one of their main characters?? Because.. they hate her?? Maybe????

So yeah, that was quite a detour however, I would like you to keep this mind going forward.

2. Themes of the Early Series'

First, what do mean by 'Early Series' for both of these shows respectively? Well, for YGO that would have to be Season 0 or if youre reading the manga, everything pre-Duelist Kingdom. Basically, the part of the series thats a episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror series.

For RWBY that would be the first three Volumes, also known as the Poser-Era. Back then it was just kinda an action series that took place at Anime Warrior Academy (also known as Beacon) with some pretty bare minimum worldbuilding, character-driven plots and developments but now its more of an epic high-fantasy story with more of an emphasis on plot as opposed to just action.

The themes and messages in Early YGO are kinda vague, very confusing to me and if you were to follow any of it literally that would be pretty bad. For now Im just gonna say the main themes are Friendship and Identity and mostly focus on the Identity aspect.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out RWBYs deal but I think the main themes for Volumes 1-3 are also Friendship and Heroism. Once again, I'll mostly focus on Heroism and touch on Friendship more briefly later.

I dont have much more to add to YGOs themes right now, so I'll briefly go over Heroism in RWBY.

In RWBYs setting there are these man-eating monsters called Grimm that have basically infected the planet. In order to deal with that, they have people called huntsmen and huntresses that kill them and protect people. Theyre trained at special academies like Beacon and go on missions there and stuff like that. Our four main characters, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, are training to become huntresses and one day they go on this mission to clean up a grimm infested city block with one of their teachers. Obviously, that takes a long time so they have to camp out in one of the empty houses. Weiss, Blake and Yang cant sleep because theyve been thinking about this question that their teacher asked them when they were fighting grimm: "Why do you want to become a huntress?"

They have a heart to heart and we find out about their motivations; Weiss wants to bring honour back to her family, Blake want to distance herself from the White Fang (that terrorist organization I mentioned earlier) and as an extension from Adam, Yang wants to have a life of adventure. They also talk about why Ruby wants to be a huntress and it turns out that she judt wants to help people. Unlike the others, she has no motivation besides that. We're meant to listen to that and look at her as a sort-of personification of Heroism: kind, but not naive, strong and most of all, selfless. The others on her team are not portayed as bad for not being like Ruby by any means but we are clearly meant to admire her the most out of all of them.

Okay, now comes the part Ive been looking forward to the most:

3. How did these themes evolve in the Modern Series'?

Alright, before we can really delve into the way they evolved in YGO I'll have to give you a brief summary of the character progression. At the start of DM, during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Yuugi is just that; A darker Yuugi. Hes more confident, bolder, his voice is deeper, hes somehow taller, more ruthless, all that good stuff. Notably, he doesnt actually seem more skilled than Yuugi even at the start of this story, but he's still dependent on Yami. Yami on the other hand, has no identity of his own or even hints at one at this point. He's just The Other Yuugi.

Then during the Battle City arc, they find out that Yami was actually a pharao prior to being sealed in the puzzle, he just didnt know because of amnesia, I guess. So now they need to find out his real name and then send him to the afterlife because hes meant to be dead, but not before saving the world from being swallowed by darkness, which is also a thing they have to do now.

Then we finally get to the Memory World arc, where Yami, Yuugi and the rest of the gang astralproject to ancient egypt via puzzle magic. Yami is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who all these familiar people are, while Yuugi & Co are trying their best to help him. Then some weird shit happens and it turns out that all of that is not just Yamis sealed away memories, but also a giant D&D Shadow Game that will destroy the world if Yami loses. So now theres Pharao!Yami who is still clueless on the metaphorical and literal playing field and Player!Yami, who is kinda controlling himself now? I guess?? Yamis opponent, The Spirit of The Ring, has something similar to that going on where hes both controlling and properly participating in the game. So Player!Yami is now fighting against Player!TSoTR, Pharao!Yami is now fighting against Thief King Bakura (who is like, the human, ancient egyptian version of the Ring Spirit) and Yuugi is now fighting against Yami Bakura (who is like, the human, modern japanese version of the Ring Spirit). Yuugi gets Yamis real name, he and the gang go over to Pharao!Yami and tell him his name, meanwhile Player!Yami is also somehow helping as well and they defeat the Ring Spirit, thus saving the world. Then they travel to modern Egypt, the Ceremonial Duel happens and Yuugi wins, sending Yami to the Afterlife where he can finally rest and that was the series!

I originally wanted to recount the stuff that was going on with the Ring Spirit and his host as well because they parallel eachother, but this summary is already far too long and I think youll get the point without me needing to explain any more.

My point here is, that the story went from being vaguely about Identity, maybe? to being very clearly about Self-Discovery and Learning to Be Independent. I think this is a very good way to evolve the messaging of your story. How does RWBY track on that?

Well, uh... its not great. I will acknowledge that they have tried to introduce new themes and ideas since, even though I wont really be talking about them in this post. But yeah, the whole Heroism thing really regressed.

Like, I didnt explicitly say it when I was explaining grimm earlier, but theyre not going away. The grimm have always been there and people who sign up to become huntsmen and huntresses are effectively signing up for a job that will never truly be done, no matter what they do. Characters like Ruby and even more minor ones like Phyrrah have shown us that that doesnt matter when youre a hero. No life isnt worth saving, no grimm isnt worth killing, no criminal isnt worth arresting. Then, in volume 6 they find out about Salem. Salem is the Big Bad of the show, shes immortal, controls the grimm and is supposed to be very powerful.

What do our heroes do? They give up. Sike! They were just mindcontrolled by monsters or some shit, of course they didnt give up their mission (which is to bring an Important Macguffin to a city called Atlas, sorry I didnt mention it)!

But then they arrive in Atlas (which is llike, a city thats floating over another city called Mantle) and yknow, they do some plot stuff thats not really important right now until the city gets invaded by Salem and this big grimm army she has.

What do our heroes do? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and some side characters are chilling, drinking tea in a mansion and Yang and the B Team were actually trying to do something, but even those efforts seem incredibly minimal.

Oh wait, I also forgot to mention that Ironwood (a fairly minor, vaguely antagonistic character up until now) wanted to lift Atlas even higher to save Atleasian civilians from danger while leaving Mantle vulnerable to Salems invasion.

What would be the most heroic thing to do?

A) Let Ironwood lift Atlas, get as much support as they can down to Mantle and save as many Mantle civilians as they can from the invasion

B) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas but then split up in order to protect both Atlas and Mantle civilians

C) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas and then dont do anything else

Congrats! If you choose C, you think exactly like the writers!

And I just

This is so mindboggling to me, I feel like I shouldnt even have explain how this is bad. And like, it wouldve been so easy to actually make them seem herokc through their actions, to make it seem like they did try but no.

I have never seen a central theme be this botched, how in the world did they do that? Why did they think it was a good idea for Ruby "The Embodiment of Heroism" Rose to sit in a mansion doing nothing, no planning, no organizing just ..... God, how are they this bad? Like, this doesnt even have anything to do with it being planned in any way, this is just straight up incompetence

4. Very briefly touching on friendship

The friendship is awful and its not solely because they all have the same opinions. They barely interact with eachother outside their designated pairs which leads to it all feeling incredibly hollow. Theyre also practically indistingushable from one another now, which is a shame because it wasnt always like that. Like, I dont think the characters were that well-developed in earlier volumes but they were very well-characterized. But now we've gotten to a point where you can literally copy and paste one characters dialogue onto another and literally nothing changes, it really sucks.

5. Some closing words

Damn, this took way longer than I thought it would and now Im pretty exhausted. I have no idea how yall always write these but props to you! I feel like this ended up a bit rambly but overall, Im pretty proud.

Please let me know what you think of the points I brought up! Id also really appreciate some tips on how to get better at these longer posts because I am planning on writing more in the future (not the near future, probably but yknow).

Thats all I have to say for now, thanks for reading!