#hybrid theory arc

[aerithisms]

i think my problem with this dw season arc accusing the audience of fanbrain for theorising about ruby is that it both feels deceitful and isn't actually that compelling from a character perspective. the season goes out of its way to build up supernatural mystery around ruby and even invokes susan more heavily than ever before in a way that is deliberately trying to get the audience to make those connections. and then it turns around and says you stupid idiot why would you ever try to connect these dots i have deliberately tried to get you to connect.

building up a mystery only for the character to be ordinary is an impossible girl arc redux only this time accusing the viewer of failing to see the humanity of the companion, whereas the impossible girl arc was turning that accusation on the doctor. 7b didn't really blame the audience for viewing clara as a puzzle and in fact several times spells out the fact that clara is perfectly ordinary before the big reveal to give the audience a chance to catch on. as 7b goes on, instead of laying the mystery on thicker, the audience just gets more and more affirmations that clara is a normal human being (rings of akhaten, journey to the centre of the tardis, hide). i found this approach compelling because it was rooted in character, focusing on the doctor's disconnection from humanity/the gendered dynamic of a man treating a woman as his manic pixie mystery to pull him out of grief. s14's meta approach of accusing the viewer feels both unfair, given it has deliberately led the viewer towards theorising, and personally less compelling to me because it wasn't tied into character in any way.

the thing about rey's parentage in tlj is that the reason rian johnson chose to go for that reveal was that it was the only answer that was interesting. none of the theories - rey is a skywalker, rey is a kenobi, and even the eventually canonical rey is a palpatine - were interesting or satisfying because they brought nothing compelling to the table for the story being told. the only satisfaction to be gained from those answers was a fanbrained "omg rey is important because she's related to that guy from the other movie." on top of that, rey desperately wants her parents to have been important, to give her life and her abandonment some kind of significance. so them being ordinary provided the most compelling trajectory for her character because it was the thing she least wanted to hear. it forced her to do the most introspection and growth, as well as tying into the film's themes about the capacity of ordinary people to be special. it wasn't just a choice made to "gotcha" the viewer, it was rooted in character.

i don't think ruby's mother being ordinary accomplishes the same thing. by invoking susan, s14 is engaging with the most egregious example of the doctor's streak of abandonment, which has potential to be very compelling in relation to ruby (and now also the doctor's) own abandonment issues. theories that ruby might be susan, or be somehow related to susan, or somehow related to the doctor, weren't just fanbrained "omg she's related to that guy i know from the classic series." they were theories genuinely rooted in character and the potential to explore both the doctor and ruby's issues with abandonment. and this is something the show willingly led fans towards by invoking susan so much in the first place. so for the show to turn around and act like they were shallow out of nowhere ideas when they were not shallow and were based on potential character conflicts the show itself deliberately invoked, feels misguided.

as well as that, ruby's mother being ordinary does not require that same growth from ruby as it did for rey because it is exactly what ruby wanted to hear. she never wanted her mother to be important, she just wanted to know who her mother was and have a connection with her. so finding out she was a normal woman who still loves her and wants to be a part of her life is everything she's ever wanted. it doesn't introduce interesting conflict for her the way rey's parents being ordinary did for her, because they were written as different characters with different hangups over their abandonment.

tl;dr i don't necessarily dislike ruby's mother being ordinary as an idea but compared to the things it was inspired by - 7b and star wars - it is not nearly as compelling in terms of how it relates to the characters or themes. and the meta angle, while conceptually interesting, doesn't quite work for me because it feels a little manipulative of the audience.

[legumeofknowledge]

Nifty is Eve in disguise

This theory adds onto to a few other popular ones, that being Eve is Alastor's dealmaker under the guise of Lilith, and Eve is the cryptic "Roo." What I propose alongside that, is that she's hiding in plain sight among the hotel guests, and that disguise is Nifty.

Spoilers up to the season 1 finale below:

Evidence:

When you think about her in conjunction with the show's established themes it falls into place: Adam, the s1 antagonist is a misogynist who wanted Lilith's obedience. Eve will foil Lilith; while she's all about hating subservience and breaking chains, Nifty is a parody of the stereotypical 50s housewife, 'likes being forced' and spends her time cooking, cleaning, and obsessing over men. Eve was created from Adam's rib to ensure his next wife would lack the autonomy to rebel. Designed to be the epitome of Adam's submissive ideal, it makes sense Eve would choose a 50s housewife as her disguise, they resonate with her.

The old logo is her face / her and Lucifer's placement on the prime cover.

She collects little pieces of men because that's what she was made from / is enamoured with Pentious in particular because he's a snake. "never leave me again" <- double meaning alert. / "HATED THAT SONG" because she was never offered forgiveness so easily. Not even Charlie catching her in the trust fall is foreshadowing; unlike Lilith who had Lucifer, no one came to her side when she committed the original sin.

The all-female exorcists were made by Adam to serve him. Their masks have horns like Lilith and a missing eye like a cyclops. They're hybrid clones of the two wives that left him. Eve is the only character in the intro whose eyes we haven't seen.

Every large ensemble show has a mole arc and she's the only one with no established goals. It's always the one-note gag characters you should look out for.

There's no confirmation if Nifty made a deal with Alastor. I think Eve is the one who's got him 'on a leash' though he thinks it's Lilith. He lets Nifty follow him around and she plays up the fangirl persona to keep a close eye on him.

It's the perfect refuge in audacity disguise. Acting innocent in hell in suspect. Being an unhinged stalker raises no questions. Alastor himself says he has no idea what tf her deal is.

I made this theory a few days ago but I was delighted to see more evidence in the final episode. See this?

It's elaborate foreshadowing disguised as a gag. She's not just doing this for the funsies she is MAD mad. Vengeance!

Conclusion:

Whether this means she's the big bad or unlikely ally, I can't say. If it's the former, her goal is to be redeemed with the other guests and enter heaven so she can get revenge on everyone else. S1 leans heavily into heaven vs hell so it would make sense for the final antag to be a 3rd party wildcard who wants to burn both sides to the ground for failing her. Heaven casted her out, hell unintentionally doomed her to an eternity of suffering with the fruit of knowledge, then left her.

Nifty be Shifty.

[emmitaaa4]

Addressing some fandom BS inconsistencies

Gwyn was shadow mommy, Az was shadow daddy, they were gonna have shadow babies with her extra super pliable bones.

I audibly chocked when I read this @nikethestatue (btw everything said in this post was on point). No but seriously this is how they sound, too many of them insisting that there is nothing wrong with basing the likelihood of a ship on who has the more suitable uterus to be with a man... cause supposedly they're just picking up on the hints SJM wrote for them? She likes babies for HEAs so ofc children are the end all be all of a relationship, plus there's absolutely no way that she could ever write an adoption plot SJM is literally adopted and has done it in other series. Selective reading strikes again.

A minimum amount of critical thinking would tell you that 1) the infamous *magical uterus change* scene was about nessian (& feysand), not about any ship; 2) if SJM had written Nesta changing Elain's uterus, it would have given too much away, not to mention 3) how disturbing/violating it would have been for Nesta to change her sister's reproductive anatomy WITHOUT HER CONSENT?! None of it makes sense narratively; my girl Nes would never, especially given the trauma they both suffered from having their bodily autonomy--and so much more--ripped away by the Cauldron.

This argument is so trivialized that I see it every other day on reddit/tiktok/*insert media app*, and yet elriels are the toxic side of the fandom? The ones whom people are allowed to insult, to ridicule for theories all made in good fun, the women that are villainized over a difference of opinion? Don't get me wrong, there's assholes on both sides and people keep calling one another variations of delulu (and the nastier personal attacks). But by painting this fandom-wide villain there is such a lack of accountability for the plethora of harmful talking points spread by other portions of the fandom. (I've been silently reading the anti-elain & anti-elriel tags for like a year, and I'm on tiktok. Yes, I have self-destructive tendencies).

Anyways.

I never understood either how people ever actually thought (or well still think) that gwynriel would happen BEFORE elucien?? It makes no sense logically, narratively, or in terms of characterization & the arc she's set up for Elain, Azriel, and Lucien. Yet it took one controversial bonus chapter for people to decenter Elain in her own story, that is make her choice of romantic partner--which SJM spent 3+ books setting up--Azriel's. It took one bonus chapter that soo many readers are still unaware of, to brush Elain off as a "sexual object" Az is using to distract himself until his therapist-extraordinaire Gwyn comes in and heals him all up. Because ofc she will: she's badass and not the "passive and weak and boring" Eplain (aka "Plant" or "brain dead gardener"), she fits the YA archetype of the spunky warrior-girl so she can handle his darkness, and SJM supposedly spent time fleshing her out because she wrote her as a LI for Azriel; she's made for him, she is what he needs to grow (I actually enjoyed Gwyn's character btw, just pointing out how silly it all sounds). “Next book is a love triangle between Elain/Az/Gwyn” “Elain will turn evil or is secretly evil”. So you're telling me that SJM would pit Elain & Gwyn against each other in a love triangle over a man... all because of a necklace that was not even mentioned once in the actual books? Please, let's be logical for a second.

All this because instead of reading the bonus chapter in the context of the books, some people are reading the books in the context of the bonus chapter. Which now that I think of it is probably why so many people mischaracterize Az the way they do--because yes we know enough of his character to know half of the stuff the fandom diagnoses him with is questionable. Azriel? Entitled incel x fuckboy hybrid (gotta be the first of his kind, minute slay ig)? Interesting tell me more. No joke I saw a semi-popular post on here where a gwynriel said they read the bonus WITHOUT HAVING READ ANY OF THE BOOKS. I'm sorry, ship wars are silly and believe it or not idc who ppl ship, but it makes it hard to take some of the things they say seriously.

All this to say that the fandom isn't even debating the right thing. If you consider everything SJM has said in her interviews:

(she's been planting seeds for Nesta & Elain's book since acomaf; she knows who she is writing the first 2 books about + is keeping things open for the 3rd one--with 5 different ship options--which automatically rules out "Elain will close the series"; she said she's doing research for Elain's book in the ACOFAS bonus & there's seeds for future bookS in acofas; all she said recently about her beloved *heroines* and the themes of fate/true love/choice she finds *very* interesting & wants to discuss)

and if you also consider all she's written in the actual books (elain's characterization + the overarching plot in general & how she fits into it), then it's pretty evident that Elain's book is next.

The question then would be who is the MMC / 2nd PoV in her book, aka would acotar 5 be an elucien or an elriel story? Because logically, gwynriel was always a consequence of elucien. I honestly do not understand how people don't see that.

Oh and they always think they're gagging elriels with the "obviously Azriel is the next MC" as if elriels aren't saying the same thing? And we're the ones twisting info and not making sense. It's just funny at this point.

---sidenote: I realize that this post generalizes some things, and I just wanted to say that I have interacted with lovely eluciens / people on either side of this headache of a ship war. My hard limit is Elain haters though... back off I say 🤺 BACK OFF 🤺

---sidenote 2: I would have written this as a reblog except im not entirely sure how tumblr works and I get no visibility from them rip.

[exo-raskreia]

I've seen an idea floating around that Bleach should've had a much darker ending, that Ichigo should've remained single and left Karakura town entirely after TYBW.

To use a Lord of the Rings reference, its his "Frodo returning to the Shire" moment. After everything he's been through, everything he's been forced to suffer through in the grand game of several degrees of narcissistic sociopaths, Ichigo should've just quit that whole life entirely and started fresh elsewhere. Because how is he able to find peace or rest because he's been forced to fight two wars before he'd turned 18, that the wars should've scarred him so deeply, no amount of help can really fix it.

What do you say to that idea?

Well, it sounds very unlikely. Ichigo hated being a regular human, as proven by the Fullbring arc. He missed Rukia and having the power (particularly shinigami power) to protect. He loved being a shinigami. It's when he feels most alive. He hated his Hollow side, only wanted Fullbring to regain his shinigami powers & see Rukia again, & he didn't seem to have any attachment to his Quincy power. When he was given the choice in the final arc to choose between his hybrid powers, he chose shinigami. (Unfortunately, Kub0 threw it all out the window with that nonsensical ending 🙄).

Ichigo had made many friends in Soul Society. Some of who gave him some of their power to make him a shinigami again in the Fullbring arc. Ichigo himself had inspired them to become better, to have different ideas (once again, Kub0 threw that out the window when he showed the rebuilt Sokyoku Hill in that ending 😒).

He wasn't necessarily loyal to Soul Society, however. He was loyal to Rukia & her ideals of what it means to be a shinigami. She inspired him. There is an interesting analysis on that here and expanded on here. She helped form the type of shinigami he wanted to be & what should've lead to big & better changes to Soul Society. Bl3ach was supposed to have a heroic ending in which Ichigo & Rukia had changed the system. Soul Society was, & still is, corrupt, so it should've changed (if it was meant to have a happy ending, that is). But nothing did. This post is an amazing analysis & theory on Bl3ach's narrative & where it was maybe supposed to lead to.

The only trauma Ichigo ever seemed to show was when he couldn't protect his loved ones. When he lost control to his Hollow & it killed Ulquiorra at the dome; he did not feel like a victor (it was only Rukia who snapped him out of it). And when he kept getting toyed with pathetically by Ywach in the circus performance that were the last chapters (he had no proper backup nor encouragement from, say, *ahem* Rukia. Urahara's last words, anyone?).

So, I doubt Ichigo would've left it all behind in the way you described. However, it would've fit right in with the "choosing unhappiness to defeat Ywach" theories... Being away from everything that made him feel alive would make him unhappy, wouldn't it?

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

CX-2 Theory

I know we all think that he's Tech, Cody, or even a Crosshair clone, but what if he's actually a regular clone with traits of all the Batch? It would explain a lot for sure.

Look, Tech is very near and dear to me as he is to all of our little TBB community. But unless he got snatched by a ship mid air, I just don't see how he could've survived such a massive fall and a railcar. We do know that Hemlock found his goggles, but they could've been ripped from his head during the fall. Even if it was his reanimated corpse, we don't have time to fully explain it. 4 episodes are left and there are still so many unanswered questions. Also, it would be so heartbreaking for it to be Tech, but not the one we know and love. We don't know if it's possible to break free once a clone is fully 100% conditioned. And with Emerie getting the redemption arc treatment, I also think we just don't have time for a full Winter Soldier Tech mini arc. But I could be wrong.

Here are the things we know about CX-2:

his voice changes inflections from Crosshair, Tech, and regular clones

he can snipe as well as Crosshair

he's a tracker like Hunter

he's extremely durable like Wrecker

he's good with technology like Tech

his height is that of a regular clone

Having CX-2 be a weird hybrid of all the Batch, mainly Crosshair would be extremely twisted and show how messed up Hemlock is. (It also explains why he seems to be like 3 different people constantly). Crosshair hasn't told us everything yet (and for good reason; he's traumatized). I have a feeling that once CX-2 is revealed, we will also get information from Crosshair as to what happened.

Thoughts? I personally think that this would be the more interesting route, but that's just me.

[leikeliscomet]

We Failed the First Black Doctor (Part 1)

We failed the first Black doctor.

I know you’re thinking ‘What the hell, I didn't do anything to Ncuti!’. That right there is part of what I mean. When tabloids and fans say ‘the first Black doctor’, our minds go straight to Ncuti Gatwa and rightfully so. Some fans might say Lenny Henry. Some fans might even say Peter Davison. When I say ‘First Black Doctor’, I mean Jo Martin. I think about the Fugitive Doctor. I think about how in only one episode she appealed to so many fans. I think about how she carried a gun and ripped off a Judoon captain’s horn. I think about how a great character was fumbled so badly by the show. I think about how fans barely think about her now. I think about how the first Black doctor was done so dirty. Your next thought is probably ‘Well isn’t that Chibnall’s fault?’. In a way, yes. But also no. What exactly went wrong varies from writing processes to behind-the-scenes structure to fandom politics. To unpack why Fugitive was done dirty, we need to start from the beginning. 

Series 12 would be a complete 180 of series 11; returning monsters, a more energetic soundtrack and heavier reliance on Doctor Who lore (or whatever was left of it). Apart from a vague Timeless Child namedrop in The Ghost Monument, Thirteen’s run was smoother than her predecessors in terms of less overwhelming narrative arcs. No Hybrids or a Time Lord Victorious, just a girl and her fam. Until one day in Gloucester, a tour guide named Ruth would transform in a lighthouse and essentially change Thirteen’s life for the rest of her run. What seemed like an RTD-esque Judoon episode turned into the debut episode for a brand-new incarnation of the Doctor. And we never saw it coming. And neither did Chris Chibnall apparently. In an interview, he revealed that the script for Fugitive of the Judoon was already underway and the Fugitive was a last-minute addition. This was red flag no 1. A last-minute character wasn’t inherently a bad thing, as it was assumed Fugitive would return again in the second half of series 12 and likely in series 13. These appearances were lacklustre, but I’ll go into more detail later. Fugitive’s casting made a lot of noise; bad and good. Right-wing sides of the fandom were outraged at a Black woman playing a role they thought was exclusively for white men (no surprise there) and plenty of comments fuelled with misogynoir, antiblackness and colourism were thrown her way too (no surprises there either). What made this outrage worse was Fugitive’s ambiguous role in the timeline. Many were angry about Fugitive being before One and thought it disrespected William Hartnell’s legacy of being the first incarnation of the show. Contrary to popular fandom belief, Chibnall didn’t actually confirm if Fugitive is pre-Hartnell or not, he left her placement vague on purpose. We as fans have reason to believe so because she didn’t have a sonic and we saw One to Two’s regeneration on screen along with One’s companions, so we know she couldn’t be between those two. Pre-Hartnell is a ‘fanon’ theory, but this doesn’t take into account how Fugitive's TARDIS is a police box already. Another popular idea in the fandom is the season 6B theory. We know Two regenerates into Three, but the physical regeneration is never actually shown on screen, so a sneaky incarnation between them is possible. But again, the missing sonic does poke a small hole in that theory. Fugitive did however state she was smart enough not to need one rather than saying she didn’t know what it was, so maybe the 6B truthers were onto something. The Timeless Children promised to answer these burning questions and didn’t. So, we were back on square one, assuming we ever left it in the first place. With Chibnall also confirming Fugitive is not from a parallel universe, so she had to fit into the main lineup but not after Thirteen, figuring out the origin of the Fugitive became a painful and lengthy debate for answers we never got and probably never will.

Fortunately, details about the Fugitive would end up in her design process. Costume designer Ray Holman added elements of previous doctors in her design. The tweed in her jacket comes from Eleven, whilst her black trousers and boots reference Twelve. Her boots are also for combat purposes, drawing parallels to Three in terms of martial arts ability. Additionally, the colourful shirt she wears is Kente cloth, a colourful Ghanaian fabric, giving a small African cultural nod to our first Black doctor. Jo Martin has spoken about the importance of representation in interviews, stating she didn’t see a lot of Black characters growing up and how Fugitive allowed Black kids watching the show to have someone to look up to. She also noticed the Black and mixed race cosplayers and has shouted them out on her Instagram page. Many pictures and stories on her page showcased fans of colour in blue jackets and yellow glasses, giving the Fugitive her well-deserved flowers. For the first time, we had a doctor that looked like us and this was what made the Fugitive groundbreaking. A dark-skinned Black woman with locs playing the Doctor is something I didn’t see coming. A wish and a hope maybe, but seeing it come into reality definitely touched me. Not only was I seeing a Black woman of my complexion as a main character in Doctor Who, but she was the main character. Not only that, but her backstory was engaging. Why did she run away? Who is she running from? Where does she fit in the timeline? Within one episode, Jo Martin had already captured the ‘Doctor essence’ needed for the role, with some even saying it challenged Whittaker’s performance.

Enter Ruth. We see her get ready and head to work on her birthday. We don’t know a lot about her but she seems friendly. Her partner Lee on the other hand seems a bit sketchy. Fast forward, Judoon are on the hunt for the fugitive who they assume is Lee. Thirteen and the fam swoop in to help the two out. Thirteen knows something is wrong and she can’t place her finger on it. But as time goes on the situation spins out of her control. The alleged tour guide has ripped the horn off a Judoon’s head, an act of dishonour and humiliation. Thirteen’s doubts grow as the two reach the lighthouse because the holes in Ruth’s story are starting to show. Why live in a lighthouse? Why have a blank gravestone? Enter the Fugitive Doctor, previously Ruth. The lighthouse was her fob watch, hiding her memories and true identity. Lee was her companion playing a role similar to that of Martha Jones in Human Nature/Family of Blood and gave his life to save her. Taking that story, we now see how it plays out from the other side; from the POV of Martha Jones as protector to the POV of the Fugitive as the protected. In this 50-minute slot, we already have a backstory for this new doctor that still leaves room for the imagination. On board the Judoon ship, Gat is defeated by Fugitive with a gun she didn’t even have to fire. As she timed this according to the ship’s acceleration, Gat’s shooting takes place in interstellar space with no laws so Fugitive gets away with murder. Almost literally. She’s confident with a powerful presence and takes control of the room, contrasting Thirteen’s more chaotic and vulnerable approach. Thirteen and us as the audience are stunned as this complete stranger has saved the day and made it look so effortless. From there, the groundwork had been done for a new main character in the Chibnall era cast. But this wasn’t delivered.

Part 2 ->

[born-in-hell]

This ending felt kind of frustrating. Dont get me wrong, really liked watching it. But it just felt... too much? And too little at the same time. There were just so many plot points that went unexplained and brushed over, while new mysteries were introduced. It felt like a cliffhanger for a cliffhanger's sake. There was no satisfying ending to Purgatory bc there was no ending. Literally, it didnt end. They announced pt.2 with other people.

And Purgatory was a plot that interrupted MANY other ones. Just so u guys get the picture im listing some of them:

rebellion (etoiles and fit),

soul vultures & grim reaper (bbh),

presidency & nether comeback (forever),

cell's comeback (cellbit, bagi, pac and mike),

fed infiltration (foolish),

past lives (cellbit & bagi/bagh/pierre/fit)

Here's also a list of all the unanswered questions and lost plot points i could think of, regarding all of the qsmp:

Who was the cursed team? The eye didn't mention it once during the ending.

Who is the Eye?

What the organization behind Purgatory is? Was it only 1 entity?

Still no answers abt what is the federation besides the worker hierarchy and that there is something stronger than it.

Still no answers abt Arin or the computers

What did qforever achieve by going to the nether? Was it all for nothing?

What was the Judas book? Was it related to Purgatory?

How did qPac get out of the Nether to go to Purgatory??

What were and what was the purpose of the Mini-mes?

Elquackity. Just Elquackity.

Antoine????????????

What does comic bbh recieved mean?

What does the egg story the islanders got on the maze mean??

What are the eggs?

Why were the islanders and eggs kidnapped by the Eye?

Why are they cracking? What are those cracks?

Why was the fed conducting hybrid child experiments?

What was the eye's intention? Why did they want to prove the islanders were bad people so much?

What does that radio convo they listened to on the maze mean? Who were the ppl talking?

Black cucurucho/evil cucurucho/baribal. How does he fit in the purgatory arc? What is it?

Why did the fed send qWilbur away to do shows?

What is the black substance?

What did they do to quackity? Why quackity?

Why was qmax told to build a nuke, how did he carry it into purgatory and why did he set it off on egg island?

What was the island b4 the current events? Where did the people that lived there go?

Why did qbagi's and qcell's parents live on quesadilla island? What were they doing there?

What did qCellbit discover that made the feds send him away?

What happened to Sofia?

Why did that guy tell qMax to build Sofia?

How did dan and spreen die?

What is Project AB?

Why was Dappers hat on the puzzle b4 the dice game?

Why was the first game directed to qBBH? Why was everyone else just tp'd?

What did the "Humans believe in god because they dont have answers. You are inteligent" line Cucurucho said to qBBH mean?

What did they do to qFelps when he was kidnapped??

What did the Fed do to qCellbit while he was infiltrated?

Is the rollback implied by qForever's insanity cutscenes canon? Or were they dreams/hallucinations?

Who is the rebellion and what are their goals and motives??

Why were they targeting the eggs?

What are the codes?

What is Codeflippa, who is she affiliated to?

Who is the Special Guest and why did the Fed buy muffins by their request?

Who is the Duck?

Who is the Host?

What did the egg's Purgatory messages mean?

Why were they first kidnapped?

Why did Elq kidnap Dapper?

The Angelic Cucurucho??

There's certainly more, but these were the ones i remembered. Also, yes, there are theories, implications and semi-confirmations for a lot of these. But no clear direct answer. Just fan work.

There's so much going on. While the regret arc was happening, the mysteries were simpler and the stakes were a lot smaller. We had the fed, the eggs, the island and the codes. That was it. The main goal was to get off the island but now. It ended in a satisfing way bc it was a linear tale that followed naturally and wasnt too long.

Happy pills was also a satisfying arc bc it ended clearly. We got the payoff we needed from it.

With the eggs disappearence arc, we've been suffering for too long. Theres always a new clue. We are always so close but too far. When we think we'll get an answer and a conclusion, we just don't. For the story to have felt complete we needed answers. What we didn't need was a cliffhanger. Another one.

[quantumshade]

Can you elaborate on the Clara Oswald reverse regeneration I’m so so curious to hear about it

yes i can thank you for asking <3

so series 8 and 9 are all about clara becoming more and more like the doctor -- to the point where they function basically as the same creature (see, the hybrid arc DOES make sense!) and she forgets just how vulnerable and human she is. here's another post i wrote on her character arc as a whole.

but in face the raven specifically, she knows she is going to die for several minutes before it happens. she knows her death is coming, and she does her very best to accept it. she is determined to meet her death with grace and bravery, to "die like she means it". "I know it's gonna hurt you," she says, "but please, be a little proud of me?"

she steps up to meet her death with her arms outstretched, she screams in pain like every cell in her body is on fire. but instead of popping up with a new face, bursting with golden energy, she takes one last, desperate breath, exhales black smoke, and falls to the ground dead. in short, it's a reverse regeneration.

i think it'll be easier to just show you what i mean, given that a lot of what holds this theory up is the framing and direction of these scenes.

does any of this make sense. are you seeing what i'm seeing.

(tagging @silikat and @lyratelifeformapproximation bc they both expressed interest in hearing this theory :3 love yall)

[leliosinking]

Okay wild thought, but what if after Avatar 4/5 are done filming.. Bailey came back? But hear me out.. what if she was recast as Merrick? Like the character would have to be massively overhauled, but imagine the surrealist potential of having both Bailey and Delainey on screen and using the séance/possession sequence to essentially alternate the role within the space of that scene? Like they would still be playing separate characters but they would also both be playing both roles? I’ll try to explain.

I should say that this will only work if you ascribe to the theory that 2022 Dubai is occurring in a hybrid of the Merrick and Prince Lestat timelines. But essentially imagine Armand filling in for David Talbot (and we would be scrapping the grooming) and Louis would be working towards the séance. It would also immediately give him something significant to do once his primary arc is finished after season 2.

So I was thinking about how you could essentially film the summoning scene 4 times, and then use the edit and lighting to strategically alternate between Bailey-as-Merrick conducting the ceremony, Bailey-as-Ghost!Claudia posessing Merrick (maybe even in Claudia’s costume???), Delainey-as-Ghost!Claudia, and finally Delainey-as-Possessed!Merrick.

And they could really play this up throughout the course of the season. Like maybe when Louis initially encounters Merrick he confuses her with Claudia (similar to Joel mistaking strangers for his daughter in The Last of Us) but you can also play with the audience’s perception, as by this point we will be more familiar with Delainey as the character and occasionally having either actress fill in for the other could add to a deliberate sense of confusion and mysticism that comes with the character.

Louis and Merrick’s relationship could also be more of a surrogate father/daughter thing, rather than romantic, thus filling in more of Talbot’s excised role (but again, without the grooming) while still keeping an air of mystery around Merrick.

I guess I was just thinking about how Game of Thrones was able to recast/upgrade Dean Charles Chapman from playing Martyn Lannister to playing Tommen Baratheon and this could be a similar opportunity to create a sort of full circle moment for an OG cast member, while sort of winking at the audience.

Or maybe it would all be annoyingly meta I dunno lol.

[lucariogirl369]

So...I got a Striker related theory...

Every time I watch the HB s2 episode Oops, this Striker scene near the end has been and always will be burned in the back of my brain.

Just by looking at THIS screenshot in particular, you can tell one of two things going through this man's now unstable mind; knowing he screwed up big time and is about to die...or, the biggest theory of all that a lotta of us HB enthusiast and Striker simps have theorized SINCE the dawn of his introduction back in The Harvest Moon Festival...he's about to relive some trauma.

I do have a multitude of theories about everyone's favorite lil' cowboy from this side of the Wrath Ring, but this singular screenshot alone already speaks volumes. One of which is that he lost his family during sometime in his childhood and/or he was once a husband/father at one point in his life, and seeing how he despises royals (despite the fact he only worked for Stella to get to Stolas...probably to get to her next, but that's a theory for another time), he probably lost them during a fire a royal family set upon his homeland and now he's reliving the horrible memory all over again.

But for this post, I'm sticking with the one during his childhood. Again, seeing how he hates royals, bluebloods, anyone who's a part of the "rich life" or is a part of the royal families, etc. His family grew up with not much but managing to barely get by with what little they had.

Only managing to afford food, clothes, a home, etc. If his family were to have more money in the pockets, they'd save it for emergencies or celebrations like birthdays or other holidays. This would've made him a target for bullying by richer families add to the fact that he's also a hybrid. No, seriously, he's a hybrid. That aside...

I would also assume his family either worked for a royal family under contract or were put into slavery and he witnessed the treatment his parents and possible siblings received throughout his youth. Which would explain why he hates royal demons, overlords, and the like.

As for the fire...I theorized what happened was the following; his parents didn't have enough to buy for food or anything else, so, they made the riskiest decision by stealing from a royal family so they'd at least have enough for a meal, but ended up getting more so they could afford not just the necessities, but luxuries as well for their children.

That would end up being the biggest mistake of their lives. Once the royal family found out, they immediately attacked Striker's homeland, burning everything to the ground and destroying and harming the residents who lived there. Striker's parents and siblings getting the worst torment and torture of all. His parents told him to run and to not look back, but once he was far enough and he did look back...he was traumatized by seeing his family burning to death, no thanks to the noble demon taking his family away from him.

Maybe I'm looking too deep into this, but IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE! His speech also signifies more from Western Energy!

"Not every ring is some fancy-ass city. With some fancy-ass mansion, that only FANCY-ASS royals get to live in! Some of us have hard lives to live! And some of us, have EVERYTHING we care about taken away by fuckers like you!"

From his speech about royal demons to Stolas, his "deal" to Blitz from Harvest Moon Festival, and the screenshot before the explosion says a LOT about what happened to Striker! Now, whether or not we see an official flashback from the Spindle Horse crew or at least get some kinda backstory for Striker, it would make a lotta sense as to why he is the way he is!

Ngl...I feel so bad for him! I wanna take 'em home, wrap 'em up in a fluffy blanket, feed 'em ice cream, and hug and snuggle him until he has a good cry and feels better! Our little cowboy has suffered enough and needs some loves and DESERVES some kind of redemption arc! 😭😭😭

[ohits-starflower]

I will say the chance of a Phil qsmp stream this week is low but never 0.

Yeah he may just do hardcore and chill. He just went through a heavy arc and may just want to ~vibe~ especially when there’s no new leads on where the kids are (I was kinda excited for Cellbit to do something with the info that Bagi got but he’s taking some time off which is good.) But in terms of practically his hardcore world isnt gonna disappear. It will always be there. And he /gen enjoys the qsmp server. He’s said so many times he’s down to go on and be there, that he’s already hooked. (This is after I’ve seen many people say he’s just a hardcore player when yes he is, but he’s also stated how much he loves the server.)

Also the place he’s being kept isn’t hidden (unless admins decide to copy and paste it away). Yes, it’s far out, but it’s just sitting there. Tubbo, if he tried hard enough, could go looking for it. And Phil could literally just be like “lol let’s log on” cause he just does what he wants. He could have more lore planned (maybe ending up in a fed observation like Baghera if the hybrid theory wants to be strengthen or we get a vague clue for the kids.)

All I’m trying to say is that Phil is just a guy.

[cherubchoirs]

do you ever think about how effortlessly humans are capable of 'calculating' trajectory arcs in gravity? do you ever think about how instantly we do it without a single bit of math happening? do you ever think about how v1 would probably need human brainmeat to calculate the coins' arcs with such speed and precision?

interesting point....having a computer augmented with human brain matter would provide a hybrid that may account for the other's flaws. bc like humans love to sell ourselves short on how we don't have any "cool" adaptations, when the brain is literally a supercomputer in your skull!!!! it's highly sophisticated and while its shortcuts can be a nuisance to us, they are also brutally efficient and make a vast majority of what we do possible. this kind of intuitive math is pretty advanced, we just don't often consider it because all the math of it is a background process rather than conscious computations on arcs and velocity. i love v1 being powered by a quantum computer, and a supercomputer could absolutely make split second calcs on a myriad of things (especially with advanced ai learning that trains it more and more on what to expect) buuuut....v1 is. dinky. sci-fi tech and all that, but i think this is a much more interesting direction to go in. v1 can still have its quantum processors, but supplemented by brain material to make learning and shortcutting much more efficient/accurate. plus i mean. the human brain has many adaptations of the brain of a predator. it's all the brain that processes edges, making them much sharper in our vision than what is likely there in reality for hunting purposes (handy for picking out individual members of a herd). one of the theories as to why we immediately look toward movement in our peripheral vision is not fear of being hunted, but our own prey drive. just the fact that we developed this level of intelligence at all is indicative of us being predators (much more difficult to hunt than graze). so really...giving v1 that animalistic, millions of years of evolutionary work for free? slap that on a real supercomputer and you might just make the best killing machine yet.

[doctormastertardis]

I'm trying to understand the love for Clara Oswald, so I am rewatching her episodes... :) I'm not a hater, after all lol...

I also just want to re-hash my memory on The Great Intelligence, because I HAD this nagging theory about Ruby Sunday and her "snow" ability, which is connected to my theory that Ruby is a human embodiment of the TARDIS, which is also connected to my theory about why the "old Gods" of Classic Who are coming back in relation to The Flesh + Nestene Consciousness, which circles back to my theory on the return of the Toymaker's connection to the Timeless Child Arc (aka origin of the Doctor).

ANYWAY... back to Clara :)

I think the set-up between Clara and Eleven was well-written actually!!! I always did prefer her "incarnation" as Oswin Oswald over her "21st century existence". I even hoped she would ORIGINALLY be a scientist from the far future, and THAT was one of the reasons why I was initially disappointed regarding her character-trajectory.

I can understand "The Hybrid" concept from an interpersonal viewpoint. I can appreciate it as a metaphor for a toxic, co-dependent relationship only IF the audience is willing to shed light on the Doctor's history with his OTHER human companions.

And yes, it is inevitable that the Doctor as a "whole entity" (not necessarily just Twelve) would give back Clara Oswald the Gift of Eternal Life, as she did end up DEAD because of her carelessness and over-confidence due to Twelve enabling her when he tried to bring back Danny from "hell" per Clara's request.

These are a bunch of domino effects that resulted from Clara jumping into his time stream... Perhaps, Twelve's "duty of care" stemmed from the fact that he wouldn't exist without Clara. Literally. She saved him across all his timelines from the Great Intelligence (dun dun dun)-- he'll be back, mark my words. Perhaps, that was a metaphor for co-dependence. I mean, duh, it is!

She saves him from "dying", and he in return stops her from "growing" as a person.

I would have probably been satisfied with Clara if her story had ended when she jumped into the Doctor's time-stream, but alas- we wouldn't have Missy if that was the case. AND WE ALL LOVE MISSY <3

Might I also remark that it is *GOOD* writing that they also included "Me"/Ashildr (code: warrior) in The Hybrid plot, because the Doctor made this Viking girl immortal and "less human", and in a parallel circumstance he did the same for Clara... He quite literally stopped Clara's death, the same way Clara stopped HIS many deaths.

So yeah, ok, Clara didn't deserve her own TARDIS (imo). But seeing as she's "stuck" with Me (who I personally interpret as Clara's very own "dark" Doctor replacement; hence the poetic name "Me"), I think having her own TARDIS is more of a KARMA-- like, a traumatic time-machine that takes you anywhere BUT home?

In hindsight, I was bitter about the fact that Clara Oswald got her own TARDIS because it renders all the other human companions "unimportant"? Now that I'm older, I'm realizing that Clara "mirroring" the Doctor from a perspective of a broken heart (per se) can definitely be narrated from a perspective of:

"WOW THEY REALLY WERE TOXIC FOR EACH OTHER BECAUSE THEY BOTH WANTED TO AVOID THE INEVITABILITY OF DEATH."

If I decode The Hybrid in terms of human relationship, I would say that they stopped each other from GROWING. Because "death" = rebirth. And without death, life becomes stagnant.

[anthurak]

@Strqyr pointed out that while Salem is in Vale she probably prohibited Cinder from going to Vacuo, but she might go there anyway since she snuck off to Amity against her orders.

Yeah, as I noted in my Volume 10 theory-post, I imagine that Salem has set up shop in Vale in order to finally locate and secure the Crown of Choice, and thus wants to keep Cinder close on hand to open the vault once they find it.

However, I do agree with you point that Team RWBY's return is likely to throw a wrench into this plan via re-triggering Cinder's raging hateboner for Ruby once she finds out her nemesis isn't actually dead. Now Salem might try to placate this by noting that Cinder can go murderize Ruby AFTER they find the Crown, but of course I doubt Cinder is willing to be that patient.

Which in turn could show Ruby and co. forcing Salem's hand in a number of interesting ways: Perhaps by tightening Cinder's leash to keep her line, thereby risking turning Cinder against her. Or perhaps Salem simply decides that Cinder having that pesky 'choice' is becoming too much of a liability.

Imagine if Cinder does manage to sneak away and makes it all the way to Vacuo and is about to fight Team RWBY when Salem finds out and decides that Cinder has lost her 'free will' privileges and hits the proverbial 'assuming direct control' button on Cinder's grimplants, fully transforming Cinder into a Grimm Hybrid.

But then of course that ends up massively backfiring on Salem when Grimm!Cinder takes an epic silver-eye blast from Ruby and is not only purged of her grimm-control, but also CAPTURED by the heroines.

So congrats Salem, your Fall Maiden has now been captured by the heroines, been shown how much you actually care about her, AND is around those that can facilitate a redemption arc and finally turning her against you.

Good job XD

[dekusleftsock]

Okay okay, I said I would talk about my theories on Ochako’s feelings for Toga, but most of it is based on simple parallels between bkdk.

Lets start with Katsuki Bakugou: Rising.

I can hear you saying, “Oh but Ochako hasn’t sacrificed herself for Toga/the other way around”. Correction, they haven’t done it yet.

What do I mean by this? Well, let’s look at a more closely relating parallel in the newest chapter.

These two panels align just, so well. TOO WELL, in my opinion. Too well to ignore.

Honestly I could see an Uraraka Ochako: Rising in some way. Some sort of apology for not seeing her as human; to show that she does genuinely care about toga. How she couldn’t stop thinking about her.

And yes, I’m well aware of Toga’s genuine acts of violence and Uraraka’s justified view of her at the time. I’m not saying she’s a bad person, but I’m saying that she isn’t a perfect person in this situation either. Even in this chapter, Toga was not seen as a “full on villain” until this rejection.

Hell, she’s just following orders now because she thinks that will be her only purpose from here on out. Ochako and Toga need to prove their worth to each other, because if they don’t then they will never even accept themselves.

Ochako is like (and I couldn’t put this as well as angy-grr has), a weird hybrid between Izuku and Katsuki. She has Izuku’s martyr complex and Katsuki’s determination to win. They are both her biggest assets and weaknesses. Weaknesses that have been exploited, assets that she’s learned to be a better person.

And god, all for one is watchful. I’m sure at one point or another he’s going to use their love of each other against the other in some way, like keeping Toga to stay in line and keep fighting, or for Ochako to sacrifice/hurt herself in order to save a villain. It’s a double edged sword, they either have to literally refuse to express their feelings or hurt themself to do so.

And, while I do dislike Twice’s death, (bc it makes me sad not narrative reasons) it had so much purpose in Toga’s arc. It makes her have to question the ideas of death as valuable or not, is life valuable or not, and does she truly want to hurt the ones she loves, or does she just want to express the way that she’s been treated all her life?

Like, okay yes, Toga partly acts the way she does because of her quirk. But god dammit, it’s also because she’s expressing her trauma. On other people. She can kill whoever she wants, whenever she wants, because she loves them SO MUCH! Because, even though she hates her parents, that’s how they “expressed” their care and love for her.

That’s what this scene was referencing. She views love as something she’s willing to let destroy her. Love is destruction, and if it’s not her then it’s the other person. She wants love to be tangible, yet out of reach. Like Sato or Izuku.

So when her first true experience with love, familial love with twice, it leaves this question:

Because this, THIS MOMENT, is a lasts act of desperation. To find love without violence.

Just because toga seeks out violence for love, does NOT MEAN that she actually WANTS it. Unhealthy behaviors don’t just happen. Horikoshi is very much pushing nurture over nature throughout the story, so I feel like we focus too much on Toga’s quirk and the consequences to it, and not WHY there’s consequences in the first place.

You don’t just grow up and decide “I like when the people I love are bloody and beaten”. No, that’s caused by a deeper issue, one usually because of an innate experience.

Yes her eating the bird as a child was supposed to show that she had an attraction to blood, I know that, but we are also dismissing this the same as the heroes (like ochako) have throughout the story. “She was such a good kid until her quirk made her commit such violence!” THATS the storyline the news pushes.

And then when the reporter comments on it, she says that it is due to a society that actively suppresses quirks. Quirks, quirks, quirks. Who’s entire identity also surrounded the fact that he had a strong, flashy quirk that made him worth something?

And tell me, if Katsuki’s quirk truly was apart of his anger issues and general “explosive personality”, then why does he lose it the more he uses self introspection? Why does the explosive energy slowly descend into something more of a mask? If Ochako was bubbly because her quirk was cute and made her float, then for the love of god, why does she get more serious?

We have ignored this repeatedly as a fandom. Quirks are nature, isn’t that stated by people who are actively suppressive? Like Toga’s parents? Like AFO?

Toga isn’t violent because of her quirk, she’s violent because it was the only way the people who cared about her expressed love. For the love of god, Sato was literally in a fight when she fell in love with him. And Ochako, our amazing girlboss who’s changing the world, has finally put the pieces together.

Quirks aren’t nature.

And the fact of the matter is, you don’t come to that conclusion without a deep understanding and care for another person. You don’t see past that “nature” they’ve been taught. From Aizawa, to Mitsuki, to Izuku Midoriya.

Hell, Uraraka thought Katsuki was just that stubborn! That there was no changing that! And yet, and yet, Izuku fucking came anyway. He came and he made kirishima take his hand because of WHAT OCHAKO SAID!

THIS is what Ochako’s character has been leading up to. Because she loves toga, and she doesn’t want to let her go. You don’t just, start wanting to save someone you see as irredeemable. That you don’t care about.

[sugar-grigri]

I'm very curious about your idea that Denji will eventually sacrifice himself for Asa. On one hand, you have the foreshadowing where Nayuta says that Denji can't die while the panel is showing Asa (Yoru)'s sleeping face. On the other hand, the theory is in tension with Denji putting Nayuta first. I'm pretty disappointed by how Nayuta reacted to him seeing Asa so I do hope he grows out of catering to her every neuroticism, but at the same time it shows his growth to put family before some girl he met. Thoughts?

I wish Denji would die

You want to hurt us anon with this kind of thinking, but I love the tragic so this is perfect! So here we go!!!

I have already made a post on the fact that Denji had indeed evolved. It's obvious that the one in the first part didn't put up any emotional barriers because he had no cues giving his blind trust to whoever would feed him. The one in the second part, although he shares the same desire to desperately find a girlfriend, does not trust blindly: whether it is the fact that he denies Yoshida having ever met him (during the assassins' arc) on the pretext of not seeing what he was talking about, or the fact that he will listen more to his family's (Nayuta's) warnings rather than plunge into the euphoria of a shared kiss with "Asa". 

But I'd just like to make one thing clear: to me, when Nayuta orders Denji to stop seeing Asa, it's not out of a need for control, or even extreme possessiveness, it's primarily an act of protection. I mean, not only is Yoru the one who initiated the kiss, but she also wanted to try to make Denji her weapon again immediately afterwards (you can tell by the fact that she puts her hand on Denji's head immediately afterwards). Obviously Denji as a hybrid being cannot be transformed, but the fact remains that Yoru did have very bad intentions which could be perceived by Nayuta when she entered the room. 

The purpose is clear: Nayuta does not follow the precepts of her predecessor by isolating Denji to manipulate and control him, she does it precisely to avoid that he suffers again by giving his trust too quickly. In other words, the clear difference between these two parts is not only that our hero has evolved but also his entourage. He now has a loving one that protects him from obvious dangers. 

We can't deny the fact that Asa (because of Yoru of course but still) is dangerous for Denji, I'm the first to adore Asa but precisely because she is more than imperfect and has many flaws: the moment when she looks for a target remains a comical but also tragic episode, because Asa and Yoru do something more similar to Makima's behaviour than Nayuta's herself: they dehumanise him. 

Denji has done nothing wrong, doesn't deserve to die, but he is somewhere between a cat and a criminal. 

I'm not saying this to put Asa on trial, but to show that Asa is a real threat to Denji. Moreover, Yoru is Chainsaw Man's natural enemy. 

Nayuta and Denji have a strong bond because their demons are related to family and motherhood. Denji was looking for a mother figure in the previous incarnation of the control demon, Makima. While his own demon, the demon that represents the fear of chainsaws (a tool originally invented for childbirth), dictates the birth and death of demons with the sound of chainsaws.

What I'm trying to say is that between the control demon who always wanted to form a family with the chainsaw demon, and now that they do, their family is powerful because Denji in his individuality but also the two demons that make up the siblings are intrinsically linked to the notion of family. 

I say all this to show that what Denji has to overcome in order to bond with Asa is not a "neurosis" as you say, anon. In my opinion what he has to ignore is his own family. 

That's what would make Denji's fate brilliantly tragic: losing everything by putting himself in a vulnerable situation. I don't know if it's over-interpreting (but I love it), but I didn't see many people talking about the cat figure that comes up several times: 

- Denji is between the cat and the criminal 

- Asa lost her mother because she wanted to save a cat 

- Denji's first appearance is him saving a cat

The cat always seems to be linked in one way or another to the notion of sacrifice, whether it is by the fact that Asa wants to make Denji a weapon, the sacrifice of Asa's mother, or the fact that Denji did not knowingly save another person to save a cat.

But this is a figure that was initiated in the first part: Power was willing to sacrifice herself to save her cat. In the same way, she also sacrificed herself to save Denji. If we follow the previous logic, he plays the role of the cat. 

That is to say, we die for Chainsaw Man, his family also died for him (Aki wanted to stop everything to protect them, Power died again for him). 

In my eyes it is a figure that sooner or later will reverse itself. I said it before but the theme of impossible love, of opposing families, of a game of secret identities, are Shakespearean codes. So tragic. 

Denji will not listen to his family or even his past mistakes and will be led to tie up with Asa.

For me, and I hope so (I love angst), this story will end badly. Denji, who is desperate to be in love, will get what he wants :

he will die for love.