#i continue to be fascinated by mew

[chickenstrangers]

ONLY FRIENDS | EPISODE 4

YOUR EMERGENCY CONTACT HAS EXPERIENCED AN EMERGENCY by CHEN CHEN (2022)

[syrena-del-mar]

Very Rarely Do Men Know How to Be Altogether Good or Altogether Wicked

The last five minutes of today's episode left my mouth gaping, it really felt like I was watching a catastrophic accident happen in front of me and I just couldn't look away.

I wasn't completely sure on how Sand was going to learn about Ray and Mew's history, but I sure wasn't expecting that Ray's feelings would be exposed in such a volatile way. Maybe I’m in the minority here, I’m not exactly sure because I’m seeing a mixed bag of reactions, but I don’t necessarily agree that Sand ever needed to find out about Ray’s feelings for Mew. Much less from Boston.

This is partially going to be a bit of a continuation of my thoughts that Boston has a Machiavellian personality, followed up with SandRay's relationship becoming the unsuspecting 'victim'. Again, I'll be using pulling from Machiavelli's The Prince, but I'm also using his work Discourses on Livy. [Title credit to ch. 27 of Discourses]

Boston, still the Machiavellian 'Prince'

“Another difficulty to be added to the one mentioned above is that a state that becomes free creates for itself enemies rather than friends.”

― Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy

Let me be upfront, I don't hate Boston, I actually enjoy the chaos he brings, but he's a fascinating character to break down and really analyze his actions. The last five minutes was, in my opinion, the most chaos that he has caused out in the open. This was never a situation of Boston 'saying what needed to be said.' This was Boston seeing an opportunity to take control of someone and doing so by unfairly outing Ray's feelings. I, again, stand by the idea that Boston is not a narcissist, but rather a Machiavellian personality type. This doesn't make him a 'villain'; Only Friends does a good job at showing that there are no villains in real life, just incredibly shitty people. Boston is simply a dick, who chooses to play with his friends to feel a sense of control when he doesn't have it. Has he ever cared for his friends? Does he keep them around simply for convenience? Hard to say. That doesn't make him evil, it just makes him a first-class jackass.

In my post where I had stated that he was more of a Machiavellian rather than narcissist, I came to the conclusion that, 'In his viewpoint, he is the kingpin, even in his group of friends, because he believes that he's the one that controls how his friends move since he knows how Mew is developing feelings for Top and is aware of Ray's feelings for Mew.' This time around, he practically admits it right after purposefully revealing Ray's feelings for Mew, "I just want to keep track of my best friends' romantic moments.' Boston hoards information so that he can throw it in people's faces when it fits him the best, there's no 'good intentions' on his keeping tabs on his friends.

Boston knows that TopMew are going to sleep together, they're serious and he's out of the running. Is it simply ego or is it because of self-interest? Whatever the catalyst is, he essentially has nothing holding him back anymore. He's seeing his "friends" getting "serious", while he's out there dealing with known (and unknown) filming of one-night stands he had being used as revenge porn. That'd hurt and anger anyone, but from what has been shown, Boston thrives off of control and so having his sex life used against him would feel like an even bigger blow. They're minor events that are snowballing and Boston likely needs to feel that control again. It's why he pushes Nick down without a second thought when Nick is trying to pull him away (opposed to how Ray lets Sand pull him back). So he claims that control back, he deliberately reveals what he knows, purposefully taking Ray down with him. While he may be feeling like shit, at least he'll be better off than Ray, who's left to pick up the pieces.

Sand and Ray, the intentional destruction of the 'kingdom'

“In general you must either pamper people or destroy them; harm them just a little and they’ll hit back; harm them seriously and they won’t be able to. So if you’re going to do people harm, make sure you needn’t worry about their reaction.” ― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

Yes, Sand and Ray are in a “situationship.” Yes, they’re constantly getting both physically and emotionally closer. Yes, Sand is developing feelings for Ray (arguably vice versa too). But that’s it. They started off as friends with benefits and while they’ve been shifting around, neither one has fully crossed that line. There was no defined area in the relationship, at least not before the implosion. They’re barely getting to know each other, Sand even calls Ray out because he knew that Ray had never noticed him before, not in a way other than just the Bar Performer.

Ray is working through who he is without Mew, without his crush on Mew. He's come to the realization that while he put Mew as his #1 for many years, he's knows he's not that for Mew, and is slowly coming to the realization that he may have never been. These are his feelings to work out and his alone. Sand and Ray are first and foremost friends, as they had agreed upon and they happen to hook up often. This was what they agreed upon. Even if one or both of them are catching feelings, it does not mean that Ray has an automatic obligation to come clean to Sand.

Arguably, Boston was unaware of this set up, but honestly he didn't need to know. This was not his business, Boston didn't suddenly spill the fact that Ray has had feelings for Mew for years to look out for Sand. No, this was an intentional hit on Ray, where he was positive that it would hurt. Boston has repeatedly used Ray's feelings for Mew for his own convenience (Exhibit A: Meddling at the pool party), whether it be to get Ray to react in a certain way or to have a punching bag. He knew how defensive and reactive Ray would get when he brought up RayMew's kiss and supposed sex (was this ever confirmed?) that they had.

Boston speaks in definite presumptions when he talks about others, he does this to Top and he did it to Ray. He spins realities to how he sees fit and with the confidence that he speaks in, he makes others believe him. It's why Mew never questioned that Top is accustomed to sleeping around and didn't think that Top really wanted anything more than sex, because that's what Boston specifically told him that Top was like. It's why now Sand believes that he has no hour in Ray's life, even when Ray gives him the opening to ask more, because Boston purposefully spoke in definite terms. Even the most secure person would be left feeling unsure and unbalanced.

So when Sand, who knows that their relationship is based on being friends with benefits, is confronted with words from Ray's supposed friend who explicitly states that Ray is in love with Mew and that he's being used as a rebound, what else can he do but believe that?

What little trust and rapport that they had started to build up has come crumbling down. They're frantically gathering the pieces of a 'kingdom' that has been turn into dust, the aftermath of the Prince's wrath. It's why Ray scrambles for the bottle and it's why Sand shuts down. How can they react to what Boston did, when they're struggling to salvage the little remnants left behind of what was supposed to be a blossoming relationship?

[adarssuggestionbox]

While He Sleeps

@rivendellwatch

Elrond's POV

- After an hour of careful kisses and a lively game of chase through the forest, I have finally gotten my kitten to rest for the day. For his comfort, I have left my chest bare, as he seems to have less of an issue with terrors in his morning snooze. I had him settle in his beautiful thicket for extra comfort. His hollow tree bed is, as Adar calls it, his sanctuary.-

Elrond-*It occurs to me that perhaps uruk sleep during the day as less threatening types who enjoy the sun are awake at this hour. They are, after all, tormented creatures seeking solace, for they know what lurks in the dark places of the world.* -Such brave, resilient folk they are.-

*My thoughts are soon interrupted by the fine-laced breaths of my sweet uruk. The gentle streams that push against my skin send a zip of tingling that spreads about the area as if fresh healing waters had been popping there one drop at a time. Tears tug at my eyes as I stare down at Adar's beautiful sleeping face.*

*I can't resist the urge to stroke his cheek. Each caress is as gentle as the one before it.*

Adar- *My pet is fast asleep, snuggling closer, letting out whimpers of various sorts with each of my gentle touches. Even in his sleep, his submission is breathtakingly majestic. With his neck fully exposed while splayed over my chest, the sun beams bounce off the beautiful scars life has granted him.*

Elrond-* I place a hand over my lips, feeling my heart skip with the sound of leaves in the breeze.* You truly are one of the most beautiful men in my life... I wish you could see as I do. *My fascination with his scars begs me to allow my fingers to play with each curve and imperfection they provide.* You are as lovely as the sun, you sleep beneath my dear.

Adar- *His sleeping form shifts, letting out what sounds like a small mew of a tiger cub at rest. His even breathing chest and small mewing snores are like medicine for the eyes and candy for the heart. He then shifts, draping a leg over me to pull me closer. A low, sleepy growl rolls out of his mouth before his snoring mewing returns.*

Elrond- *I feel as if my heart will burst.* How did I ever become lucky enough to witness such a sweet moment? *My urge to protect him now grows stronger.*

* Again, I can't keep my hands to myself, as they need to pet his gorgeous raven locks*

Adar- *A warbling half-mewing-coo escaped his throat as he wiggled closer to set his head over my heart. His tongue inevitably slipped out and idly began licking the spot. Soon, he began to whimper much like a kitten in distress. Then my darling's movements shifted sharply with a face twisting closer to anguish.*

Elrond- *As usual, when I'm hyper-focused and quick to react. I hold him tightly, petting the bridge of his nose*

*In a hushed tone, I speak to him.* I have you, Darling. Chase the terror away. *I kiss the top of his head*

Adar- *A sleepy growl falls from his lips as his eyelids part when he lifts to look at me. An almost reptilian-like trîl lazily rolls out of his throat before he licks the side of my face and lies back down. However, he isn't satisfied until he snatches my hand to nibble lightly. Only then does he return to sleep with mewing snorts.*

Elrond- *I can't afford to starve off sleep any longer. But I certainly will continue to try if it means I get to witness this beautifully rare sight a moment longer. Right now, my heart feels as if it is whole.*

[spockandawe]

So, I'm more than a little obsessed with a new danmei novel, 'Evil As Humans'! The setting and characters are great, but the author also has a FABULOUS talent for incredibly vivid and memorable descriptions of these wild scenes. I hope this is just the first of many art pieces for this book! It's been a hot minute since I was regularly doing art like this, so I'm still scraping the rust off, but this takes me back to ye olde late stage hs days, when I think my art was at its best. And this is just one early scene I bookmarked for illustration potential, and I'm not even done with the book yet! Unshaded lineart behind the cut, because as much as I love my lines, I'm pretty delighted and fascinated with how the shading made this one pop

Expect me to continue howling about this book at length, it's truly been rewiring my brain. That being said, I think this is the last time I plan to draw a perfectly normal and unremarkable cat 🤣

“Meow…”

As soon as Xie Baocai’s voice fell, a soft mew sounded.

Immediately afterwards, there was a strange booming sound in the air, like a scalpel cutting through skin, and suddenly a gap opened out of thin air in front of the window.

A grayish-yellow mucus dripped slowly down the gap, attracting sticky filaments in the air before melting silently into the floor. The fat, fleshy limbs drilled out like loaches, moving completely symmetrically from left to right. Within five seconds, the weird “flower” bloomed again.

The “flower’s center” was facing the three of them.

In the thick darkness, fourteen dots of red light flickered and would move from time to time.

The soft, fleshy limbs danced lightly in the room; their rhythm matched the beat of the heart. As the fleshy limbs “opened the screen”, brain-like folds glowed in the moonlight.

Xie Baocai stopped yelling and stared blankly at the behemoth stretching along the wall before gradually revealing a disdainful smile.

“Hahahaha. I thought it was something, but it turns out that bitch is still obsessed with raising cats…”

[that-dreaming-dragon]

If you're accepting asks for the fictionfolk game, I have some questions!

23.) Have you ever considered fictionlinking? If you already have, what made you decide to do it? (In this case, what made y’all collectively ‘link Aurelion Sol?)

26.) Have you ever questioned being fictionhearted? If you already are, what started your questioning into that connection?

28.) Have you ever questioned being a fictionbased archetrope? If you already are, what's your archetropal identity? (In this case, what’s it like having Mew as a pararchetrope?)

Ohhh! specific questions! I like! Answering according to the fictionfolk ask game

23.) Have you ever considered fictionlinking? If you already have, what made you decide to do it? (In this case, what made y’all collectively ‘link Aurelion Sol?)

So in an alterhuman server, we'd met a Shyvana and a Smolder. They were talking about League of Legends. I played it before, and I still wish I could go back and play it one day. But anyway, they were talking, and because Smolder was a recent release at that time, there are more dragons now, like, an actual playable champion. Within the game setting, you usually need 5 for a team, but in the smaller map, you can have 3, so I contemplated the logistics of a three-dragon team to make up the full set. I lament the fact that I'm not another dragon from LoL, but wouldn't that be fun and funny to make a full dragon team if I were to link Aurelion Sol?

Except, you don't really joke about stuff like that. Or maybe I don't.

I'm never too interested in linking identify-as identity, which can make the linking process trickier, harder to pin down feelings, or ways to maintain the link. (I couldn't clearly articulate the why yet; it's an essay-worthy side topic for sure. Perhaps due to me already dealing more than enough with my one kintype with my shapeshifterness and varied draconity that comes with more discovery as I go, or I just prefer to explore the other sort of alterhumanity, in defiance or fascination? Perhaps a bit of both and more.) I had the linktype in the back of my head for a while, but it didn't really go anywhere. Then come April Fool, following the same jokey vibe, I (half-)jokingly set up a proxy.

A little side note before I go on, during that time, we were sorting out our plurality and general median business, but it's all extra fuzzy at that time.

Setting that proxy up was like what we were missing. After a whole day, we feel like something is settling with our identity, or multiple identities. You see, we I'd use pluralkit proxy to help anchor our my form (cause just Ryuu/I shapeshift, the others don't. Median shenanigans, I tell you, can't switch the self pronoun around easily at times), and apparently it has that same affect on helping link a identity.

I should do that for our digimon (also another vaguetype) linktype.

I probably could have finished the answer in that first paragraph. Yet I feel that, to truly answer the "why you link", you need to answer the "why you continue to maintain said link". Figuring that out helps the linking process in my honest opinion.

Because the anchor is only one of the steps. Did I mention it settled multiple aspects of our identities? Remember me mentioning that we were figuring out our plurality and were having trouble? Turns out, it's like a key clicks into place (HA! The amount of alterhuman pun I just used in that sentence). Having an identity together actually helps distinguish us--Akumu is more pronounced, with a stronger individualization. We are like a reverse hydra. Having Akumu helps in other aspects as well. Aurelion Sol is a purple dragon, I'm orange, but Akumu is purple. You see where I'm going with this? This linktype was never a single dragon thing; it's a teamwork effort between the two of us. Also, quoiluntariness makes everything extra funky on what's the cause or the effect.

There are other personal symbolisms we also tied in and tossed into the soup/salad that is the vaguelinktype. Opportunist linkers that we are. In the end, the identity sort of grew beyond us, brought us closer together as a Constellation (which I did not even realize until this moment how perfect the whole thing is). Truly, we started linking this as a "I want to be part of this" sun, silly thing to "I want to put all these things I realize are precious to me together, and along the way, I realize I can do these together with we."

The fun of quoiluntary linking, did you find something new, or did you find the right trigger that awakened something within you? Because these days, we are very much a starry dream dragon.

As a footnote, since I did mention it. When Nova (@nova-dracomon) was first making the Fictionfolk Webring, there was a temporary draft showcasing the digivice (featuring Hortense as her Dracomon X self) as the webring icon, I jokingly said that maybe I should link a digimon. Mind you, Digimon is a source that's dear to me prior to this, and probably with others talking about it more in servers, renewing my interest, one thing led to another, it's yet another case of "probably don't joke about linking stuff because it might just happen". It's not a stable identity yet, but I'm trying to document the process as much as I can to hopefully write something more coherent on it. Oh, this time it's going to be a linktype the whole Contellation (trio of us) will be linking together :D

26.) Have you ever questioned being fictionhearted? If you already are, what started your questioning into that connection?

So, I had to dig around my own activities and guesstimate a bit on the timeline. I really suck at this kind of pondering. I'm always quite amazed when people can pinpoint when or how their questioning process starts or the moment of awakening. I don't remember that y'all!

When I go into a fandom that sticks to me, if it has a lot of transformative potential, I will dive deeper, and if I enjoy the fanfics? Boom, hyperfixation. Down the rabbit hole of exploring the fandom proper I go.

I'm not really sure which came first. Like so many of my identitype, egg-or-chicken is a neverending question that has no answer whatsoever. Maybe the questioning spark the fandom interest, or swimming in the fandom ocean spark that curious pondering. Maybe it's because Naruto is the orange ninja, maybe it's because of Kurama and Naruto's relationship dynamic in fanfics, or maybe it's all the found family or team-as-family and the whole bunch of fix-it feel-good fic. Regardless, there's an inkling of something alterhuman going on there with Uzumaki Naruto and all that surrounds him.

Like taking a stick to a piece of unknown object, I poked at it. I don't remember if this is my second or third alterhuman identity that I questioned, since you can argue that my kardiatype only got separated from me cleanly after the term was coined, though you can also say that it's been in the back of my head since forever. And maybe all my friends being some form of fictionfolk helped push that curiosity, and learning about all types of alterhumanity beyond otherkinity may or may not have added to the wonder, further pushing me to question, "Maybe I can have this too?"

It was for a while with me questioning between synpath vs hearttype due to it being very specific single character (or potentially a whole clan), since some distinguish synpath as for a specific character, and hearttype being applied more for a whole species, or in this case, a clan. I ultimately decided that it is a hearttype.

28.) Have you ever questioned being a fictionbased archetrope? If you already are, what's your archetropal identity? (In this case, what’s it like having Mew as a pararchetrope?)

Good thing the pondering was still fresh XD

A while ago, some discussion was happening within a Pokémon alterhuman server. It led me to contemplate how I'm not a Pokémon, but I feel like I can be considered one. It's hard to tell if that was why I say Mew is a paratype-archetrope, or if my having that feeling is after I declare Mew an archetrope, and me picking Mew specifically is because of the paratype feelings. You gotta love paratype shenanigans /genuine

Why Mew?

I, as a dream dragon, am not an animal sort of dragon. I would take on the label of monster, not because of me seeing myself as monstrous, but more the property of what I am as a creature is a spiritual sort of critter, like a RPG monster. Or, more of a Pocket Monster. Once upon a time, I tried linking Dragonite as a hearttype, because physically, it looks the closest to me, orange and chonky and deceptively speedy. Remembering me saying that you should ask the question of "why do you continue linking the thing"? I didn't have much solid reason or elements to help me maintain the Dragonite heartlink, and it ends up fading away. It's a surface-level, aesthetic sort of connection; it won't last long, and it didn't.

Tell you a secret, I kind of dislike the color pink, a lot. If it's associated with me, I will try to shake it off like it's some sort of nasty substance. Largely because of gender, you gotta love society and their idea of gender associations /sarcastic

And what a great irony. Dream is often tied to the color pink, my first and only flight in Flight Rising is Arcane (pink), and my pearlescent eyes are freaking literally rose-tinted! Also, I happened to enjoy P!nk's music quite a lot. To continue that irony, I don't feel an archetrope feeling towards shiny Mew, but the regular Mew. I can't even say why, it just is. Don't you (in general for anyone) dare assign/diagnose some sort of alterhuman thing going on between pink and me, I will bite.

I digress.

Mew, to me, is all these tropes and archetypes.

Mystical side character

Little l legendary/mythical

Divine being

Secret unlock character

Mischivious folklore entity

Powerful support side character that's not final boss level

There are probably more that I can't think of right now. But me being myself is me fulfilling the Mew archetrope. In being a dream dragon, which is an always constant state of existence, I am always embodying the Mew pararchetrope. (neat combination by taking out one a, Solomon XD)

[bengiyo]

Only Friends Behind the Scenes Ep 7

The biggest takeaway this week is that @shortpplfedup is right about Top. Jojo comments that Top is sad now because he is an underdog. I also liked Book talking through the mental steps he went through for Mew in deciding to burn that artwork and how he enjoyed trying to hurt Top.

Force is also so funny. I love his confidence and his spirit.

If you'll allow me a moment of simping, we should talk about Book's thighs more.

I also enjoyed First and Khaotung making fun of Ray still looking cool even though he crashed his car. They looked really satisfied with their partnered work this week.

It's fascinating seeing the poolside fight with Top from a crew perspective because Khaotung continues to maintain Ray's drunken miscoordination the whole time, while Neo maintains Boston's tendency to stand outside of this drama.

The timing of the pool kick is actually kind of incredible because Book has to jump after Neo immediately. I enjoyed the cast joking about the scene afterward. Neo suggested he deserves an award and he is CORRECT. Khaotung and Lookjun jokingly fist pumping for Mew was also great.

This cast clearly enjoyed this project a lot.

Once again no Mark in the BTS this week. Jojo, please show me my boy!

[coastclan-clangen]

MOON 02. (New Leaf.)

Honeyspot, Embersight, and Robinbrain took a sunbath and had a little small talk. ↷

. "How is Sandburn doing, Embersight?" The three cats sat under the mid-day sun just outside of camp. The refreshing breeze resulted in the soft clanking of strung-together shells behind them that hung from the top of the rocky camp entrance. Embersight lay in between the two with his flank to his right. His tail brushed the warm sand as it swayed to and fro. "Great," he purred, "very busy feeding Littlekit unnecessary tales of RubbleClan." A chortle puffed through Robinbrain's maw. She was to Embersight's right and curled within herself. Her chest fell up and down with a rhythm. Sleep was nipping at her paws thanks to that hefty fish she had for her afternoon meal. "That's great," mewed Honeyspot from Embersight's left. She lay in a loaf position with her paws tucked neatly beneath her chest. Her eyes remained half-closed as she spoke. "I haven't seen them in my den for a few moons." Embersight purred. "I'm glad," he said between the rumbling within his throat. "No offense, of course," he added with a flick of his tail. "None taken," Honeyspot assured. Her ears pushed themselves to her right to take in the singing of the birds that new-leaf brought. "The song birds always bring good fortune," she reported. "I'm glad that new-leaf is here," Embersight agreed. "The first moon of it flew by." "Indeed," Honeyspot echoed. "It seems to be taking a toll on our dear deputy," the she-cat chuckled at the sight of Robinbrain. Her lack of response let Honeyspot note her rest. His rumbly purrs continued between Embersight's words; "It's good for her. I ought to wake her soon, though," he decided before standing up and stretching. A large yawn revealed his yellow-stained teeth. He sat and began to wash himself, "she said that she was going to lead a hunting patrol at sunhigh." Honeyspot allowed silence to lay in the air between the three as Embersight washed and Robinbrain slept. It was not until she, too, began to wash at her chest that Embersight spoke: "Make sure to grab something from the fresh-kill pile on your way back to your den." The herbalist purred in acknowledgement of the warrior's reminder before rising to her paws. "You'd better wake Robinbrain," she mewed with amusement in her tone. She studied the deputy's fur for a moment as it rose and fell before swiveling to the camp's entrance. "I will," Embersight meowed as Honeyspot pushed through the shells. The flick of her tail assured Embersight that she had heard him. He turned to Robinbrain and prodded her with a sheathed toe. "Wake up," Embersight mewed with a soft undertone, "it's almost sunhigh. Did you forget about your hunting patrol?" A grunt from Robinbrain resulted in a chuckle from Embersight. "I'll meet you inside," he meowed, "with the cats that you requested earlier this morning. Don't be late," he jested as he stalked into the clearing of the camp.

After the Clan finds a strange two-leg object, Furzenudge notes that Owlheart has been a little too fascinated with it. ↷

. "I don't know," Furzenudge mewed. She sat with her tail curled over her mits. Hidden by the thick fur of her tail were her paws that nervously dug at the sand beneath them, "he just can't keep his eyes off of it." Shadowstar nodded at Furzenudge as she rambled on about Owlheart's odd fascination regarding the two-leg object that yesterday's dawn patrol had brought back. As the elder continued her incoherent venting, Shadowstar gazed over her shoulder in the direction of Owlheart who, sure enough, was hunched over the object and sniffing at it. "Furzenudge," Shadowstar interrupted, "would you relay this information to Robinbrain?" He rose to his paws and began stalking past the elder and into the clearing. "I'm going to talk to Owlheart about it." "Oh," Furzenudge squeaked, "of course, Shadowstar." Shadowstar had already escaped earshot of the elder when she began calling for the deputy. "Owlheart," the leader mewed once he was a few fox-lengths away from the mediator, "a word?" He sat to his left with the tip of his tail flicking to the right of his haunches. "Of course," Owlheart mewed as he looked up from the object. "Is everything okay?" He asked with a flick of his ear. He could not help but feel as though Shadowstar's eyes were sharp claws that dug through his own when they met. Shadowstar nodded, which resulted in a relieved sigh of Owlheart. "You seem to be rather interested in this two-leg trash. What's peaking your curiosity?" He gazed upon the small object. It was a half circle connected to the end of a straight line and sharp at the end. Despite being crafted of metal, it was a deep green color. Owlheart followed the leader's gaze and studied the object, once again, from where he sat; "We see these things along the shoreline constantly. It makes me feel like they're a blessing in disguise from StarClan, like we should be putting them to a use of some sort." Shadowstar followed Owlheart's paw as he curled a singular claw into the loop of the object and brought it to his face. It dangled before his nose as he sniffed it yet again. With a disapproving snort, Shadowstar asked: "What use would these objects hold for us? StarClan is usually direct about blessings, if any. You should speak with Honeyspot before making claims about our ancestor's motives." Owlheart refrained from answering. He grasped the circular part of the object with two toes and brought it to his left ear. "What are you doing?" Shadowstar asked. His tail had begun swaying from side to side and his eyebrows furrowed. Owlheart closed his eyes and inhaled a sharp bout of air. With a swift motion, he pushed the sharp end of the circle into the bottom of his ear. It pierced through the thin flesh and came out the other side of his ear. He exhaled through his maw and met Shadowstar's claw-like gaze once again with a nervous smile; "Maybe they can act as a sort of accessory," he mewed with twitching whiskers. Shadowstar stared for a moment that Owlheart could have sworn was an entire moon. "Go to Honeyspot's den," he finally ordered, "and clean yourself up." Owlheart read his expression as angered, but his tone lacked emotion. "I respect your outlook on these strange objects," he continued as he stood, "but you should have consulted with an herbalist before doing something in the name of StarClan." "Yes, Shadowstar," Owlheart dipped his head obediently. He got to his paws and padded across the clearing to the herbalist den. He flicked his left ear - It felt heavier. "But the deep green compliments my pelt quite nicely," he boasted to himself. With a prideful smile painted across his maw, he slipped into Honeyspot's den. "Voledash will love this!"

AUTHOR NOTES. ↷

couple new kitty mentions this post! hope yall like it :3 also sorry for disappearing for two weeks (itll happen again) owlheart is totally a favorite of mine out of the characters introduced thus far hehehe Last Moon, Next Moon, Beginning.

[ask-eden]

Etoile: Like for example! In most Universes... Earth's creatures are CARBON based lifeforms... So what I find a barren planet.. and try to make lifeforms that are NITROGEN based! Or BORON based!

Etoile: Or I see what happens when I plant the same seeds of DNA.. on a planet with only ice! Give it a chance to evolve and grow in new ways that are foreign to how Earth works! Or a planet with no seas! Etoile: Or I make non habitable planets, habitable! In my solar system, I terraformed Mars! I planted the seeds for a whole new set of life to occur! It is much greener than it was before! Etoile: Although... none of the life I've been able to cultivate is.. sentient.. most are still only plants.. or in the early bacteria stages.. I do have some with some fishlike creatures on it! Etoile stops, flipping upright to continue speaking Etoile: I did.. not get to create the lifeforms on Earth. It was not my job. I never got to create life and only ever had to work with what was given to me by another.. I never got to experience the true Origin Mew life... Etoile: The progression of life is extremely important to me. I love to see life thrive and persist through anything! It's extremely fascinating to me and I'll continue seeing how life begins in any setting! And I-

Etoile stops suddenly, gasping loudly and her short fur puffing up a bit Etoile:- AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO INTRODUCE MYSELF TO YOU! Look at me mewling away at you like a kitten!! Forgive my manners! Etoile bows in respect to Kyurem and looks up with a grin Etoile: I was given the name "Etoile" by others long ago, so that is what you can call me! Or you can just call me Mew if you prefer! I am accustomed to both! - - - -

[ @askthehoenngods ] [ First two panel backgrounds by @/sinnohsiblings ]

[autisticbokutoenthusiast]

one thing i find interesting about where ray is when the show ends is that, in many ways his arc is just beginning (i don't think this is specific to ray im just having a bunch of thoughts about him)

i think this is because a lot of who ray is as a character is tied to the baggage he carries. a lot of his conflict is him being stuck, living in the past as others move forward. his feelings for mew are stuck in that moment mew showed up when he felt truly alone, his alcoholism is tied to his mother's, his self-worth is tied to his childhood and his dads money, (even netutral things, like his music taste comes from what his mom left behind), and so on. his relationship with sand begins because this baggage triggers some low self-esteem induced carelessness with his life that sand saves him from, in that moment he is so caught up in his past he just can't bring himself to care about even having a future.

*sandray interlude*

one thing i also find super fucking fascinating is that sand is almost the opposite. sand lives exclusively in the present, always living to try to make it to tomorrow. he doesn't like to hold a grudge because he likes to leave the past as the past, he isn't too lost in the concept of the future etc. the times we can see ray start to break out of the cycle he's in is when he's with sand. he smiles, he's free, he discovers new music, he discovers new experiances, he imagines himself being able to have a future for the first time, he even goes to rehab. even just visually speaking, his clothing changes to be influenced by sand as the show goes on.

we see sand as a bar singer who thinks its fun but doesnt think he'll become a professional musician, we see ray listen to the records his mother left behind, and we see them both pick new music together and plan to go to music festivals. we see sand's life in the present, ray living in the past, and together they can imagine a future.

ok returning to my original point we see ray get to decide to change, and we are left with that. i like to imagine the ray we know at the end of the series is a version of him willing to fight to break out of being overshadowed by his past, that he can dictate the direction of his life starting from someplace new. i also find this interesting given what we know of ray's future plans from the finale. him co-running the hostel is techniquely new but its also in his dad's old house and the set of a lot of painful moments for him. then there's sand's moonshining, sand saying he wants to stop selling his plum whine and find a new hustle is growth considering he's giving up something stable for him in present in order to help ray's recovery in the longterm, ray however says he should continue selling the plum whine but they can change the brand name. similar to the hostel this is something technically new but ultimately drenched in the past.

but these things aren't as significant imo because ultimately the most important thing about him in the finale is he has become somone who makes future plans at all.

[rocketturtle4]

Only Friends and the communication pay off that I desperately need to scream about. (Plus a little bit of meta about themes of acceptance)

Back after Ep ah 3? 4? what is time anyway, I wrote a post about:

I love how Only Friends is exploring and portraying communication

I have been continuing to enjoy this central theme of communication and honesty being portrayed. And me and the watchbuddies have been fascinated by the way forced honesty, rather than honesty by choice, has been flowing through the last couple eps and wrecking the relationships.

But this ep? Oh. My God.

The Pay off

THE PAY OFF

Lets start with the quite little victory laps me, @shouldiusemyname and @plantsarepeopletoo were doing through nearly every convo of this episode...

Ray Mew:

Kind of hard to read in tiny but we got it completely, Ray and Mew went to progress things physically, it got stopped, Ray got angry and then lo and behold we got that final (Beautiful) Ray Mew convo about how they were both basically using the other... Also Orya calling the survival of the Friendship as well 10/10

Also Paprika gets all the credit for the Honesty Theme

Also Sand Ray...

FINALLY COMMUNICATED SOBER (and then they kept doing it we got, what, 4 talking scenes??)

But then This Ep was all...you want honest communication huh?

HOLD. MY. BEER.

Sand Ray communication (plus more there was so much this ep, their journey of communication was so goooooood)

Ray Mew Communication (x2)

Boston Nick communication - or well Nick to Boston, but we got to leave something for the rest of the series

Nick Sand communication, not that they needed it but again oh my god, honesty leading to continued/further closeness.

Only Friends is really hammering home the point

And the point, in this ep, was about Honesty, Communication and ACCEPTANCE

Top voiced acceptance for Mew's needs in that moment, even as it wasn't what he wanted.

Nick accepts Boston's choice in that moment, even though it wasn't what he wanted.

Sand accepts Ray's conflicted feelings in that moment, even though it wasn't what he wanted. And in this case, also clearly conveyed that he wouldn't be waiting around if he got a better offer, while Ray figured himself out. and Ray had to accept that.

Even Cheum and Mew got a bonding moment over honesty and acceptance

...

There's so many things I could say with all the themes and connections whirling through the show.

The way honesty and surviellance are intertwined with forced honesty causing breakdown and Top's choice not to force Ray and Mew into that, even after he'd been forced, lead to him unknowlingly regaining some of Mew's trust.

Further links into discussions on the generational divide and the juxtoposition of presenting a queer community so reminiscent of the decades before technology permeated through our society and yet dogged by technology at every moment (@shouldiusemyname and I have been talking about this one a lot - how the present and the past are colliding in this show to show how things have and haven't changed from before the turn of the millenia)

The way hope continues to permeate through because being in your 20s is messy, and it's supposed to be, but that doesn't make anyone to broken to be loved.

More pain shall definitely come

Because a moment of honesty does not lead to perfection, and these characters still have a lot of growing to do...

But I am continuing to adore the honesty of the show

it's characters

it's themes

it's relationships

it's emotions

I'm adoring the heart of Only Friends

and I can't wait to see what's next

[phlurrii]

Ok so follow up to my "design" question and what actually sparked my curiosity. Since Meau chose what everything looked like, did she also design modern mew before bucket was born? Or was modern mew natural evolution?

I find it pretty fascinating that Meau birthed the first modern mew after being betrayed (via her neck tube) and these modern mews do not have said neck tube. Design flaw? Or an intentional choice by Meau so her descendants will never have to experience at least one thing she did.

She did very specifically design Bucket to look how they do, smaller, no second neck, short fur, etc. She never wanted her child to ever face. She doesn’t see herself as a flaw in design, but she does acknowledge the things that cause weaknesses. The neck allows a secondary and much greater power source, but can be yoinked or grabbed. And after what she endured… she’s not interested in that trait ever continuing ;3

[slayerkitty]

Only Friends and the (Lack of ?) Narrative Frameworks

Something I have been tracking as part of the ongoing discussions about Only Friends is the use of the narrative framework for each episode. I've been tracking them since episode 3 when we realized during our discussions that there were different frameworks that were being used and what they meant in terms of the story the show is trying to tell.

So it was very interesting that we went five episodes with various frameworks in place only to suddenly not have one in episode 6. (Whether episode 7 has one is something I'll come back to later.)

So when I put out my current narrative frameworks post, I wanted to see what people thought about the sudden lack of frameworks when we've had them so consistently to that point.

On that post, I put these thoughts up for discussion:

Have we moved away from the use of narrative frameworks? Is it because everyone is saying the quiet parts out loud? Is it because we’re no longer only seeing what they want us to see or want each other to see? Is it because the characters have stopped lying to themselves and each other? The use of the narrative frameworks was so fascinating to me as a story telling device and that it was used for about half the show feels important so the lack of them is jarring (on purpose?).

@twig-tea commented on my post with some thoughts about it as well as bringing it up in a post of their own and through our discussion we came up with what we thought might be going on.

Up through episode 5, each episode has it's own narrator (except episode two, which sees everyone serve as narrator) and the story is being told through their perspective (to a point). With episode 6, it's distinctly lacking a narrator and a framework.

The change is so marked that it felt jarring to me because for almost half of the show to have a framework and then to not use one? What are you trying to say, P'Jojo?

After speaking to @twig-tea, it appears that maybe Mew's glasses were more than just a metaphor for him (in that losing his glasses and getting Lasik finally means he can see the truth about Top) but also for us, as the audience. The characters have had their "rose-colored glasses" removed and all that's left now is reality.

Episode 6 is dark, literally. As in, the lighting. The episode starts off bright and sunny with Top and Mew in the pool, having a great time, being in love. The brightness continues right up until Mew has Lasik. The scenes after that progressively get darker. Mew goes back to his apartment, his room lit dimly. Ray meets Sand and the bar is darkly lit. There is a brighter moment with Boston, Nick and Boston's dad, but then Nick and Boston end up in Boston's dark room (it's so on the nose). The Ray and Boston confrontation seems (to me) to be lit indirectly. Then we get all the YOLO scenes - dark, dimly lit, and where the truth comes out. Sand driving after Ray, the Cheum and April making up in artificial light (and isn't that a statement), Nick and Boston lying in a dark room. And of course, the amazing Mew and Top scene, lit only by candles.

The reason this episode has no framework is because the characters are no longer living in the fantasy they've made up for themselves. The lighting and camera angles have indicated that we are in reality now. They are saying the quite parts out loud; they are no longer lying to themselves and each other (or us). That's why the framework had to disappear.

So prior to episode 7, I wondered if episode 6 was going to be the only framework-less episode. If episode 7 didn't have one, would that mean that we would no longer have them? Would they come back?

What's interesting about episode 7 is that upon first watch, I did not observe a framework. Then I had that conversation with @twig-tea, who in addition to her insightful comments, also linked me to this twitter post courtesy of P'Jojo.

I'll copy @twig-tea's loose translation of the tweet here:

Essentially he says they filmed short clips of everyone giving three words on Boston as the intro to ep6 framework (as well as this video of Mew cussing Boston as the camera holder out. Pretty sure he basically says "your name is Asshole-Ton" to the best of my crappy Thai) but then decided that Boston's character stood on its own, actually, the audience already knew who he was and they didn't need that extra framing going into the ep.

EPISODE 7 WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A FRAMEWORK AND THEY TOOK IT OUT!

(And while I agree with P'Jojo that the episode doesn't need a framework per se, because it does stand on his own and us as the audience do know who Boston is without the framework, I WISH HE'D LEFT IT IN.)

Having said that, imagine how this episode would be if they left in Boston and his video camera recording his friends opinions of him. It paints certain other visual moments in this episode way more into a serious focus than an over the top dramatic moment.

Moments like this shift into a different view if you think of this episode as Boston's "home movie".

(gifs are courtesy of @chickenstrangers who did me a huge favor!)

Mew's the villain, Ray and Mew are sleeping together, Mew rejects Top, and Boston is the victim.

Now, I don't know how much weight we can put behind these moments as a framework because they took the overarching framework out of the episode.

Still, as @topmeow pointed out, the dramatic "super zooms" (as I like to call them) are indicative of a soap opera/reality tv/telenovela editing that is still fun and adds interesting visual moments throughout the episode. On their own, they potentially do one of two things. They either present the characters who get the zoom with the consequences of their actions and/or they could always be indicative of us slowly headed back into fantasy (back into episodes with a framework). Whether or not that's what we're doing will be answered in the next episode.

Tagging the Ephemerality Squad: @lurkingshan, @waitmyturtles, @wen-kexing-apologist, @chickenstrangers, @ranchthoughts, @twig-tea, @clara-maybe-ontheroad, @distant-screaming

Apologies to anyone I forgot!

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 05/04/2024

Hey there everyone it's Chaotic Beans! Hell yeah! We're a little angle girl and THERES A BEAN! Oh well hello there Mr bean! Thank you for welcoming me! So we're in the planet of the beans and we gots to find all the beans and explore the beans to find the planet!!!!!

Season 7 Featured on: RIPBLOX

Ripped by The Green Spy, Grambam36

Requested by airy! (Request Form)

Remember just two weeks ago back in March where I was making several posts in a row about rips containing jokes I had little to no knowledge of? Y'know, Poké Village, Viva La LOWAS, Luna, mi Amor - all rips that struck a beautiful emotional chord with me, even though I lacked the full knowledge of what it was in tribute to. In a way, Hey there everyone it's Chaotic Beans! Hell yeah! We're a little angle girl and THERES A BEAN! Oh well hello there Mr bean! Thank you for welcoming me! So we're in the planet of the beans and we gots to find all the beans and explore the beans to find the planet!!!!! is also part of that lineup - only here, its a cacophany of sources I had no clue about making me laugh way harder than they should.

Now, this is the first rip I've covered so far from Season 7's ROBLOX day, an event celebrating the game's 17th anniversary with rips of all sorts made in honor of the game. And as someone who both didn't grow up with it, and has no idea what the platform is like nowadays (other than the concerning monetization), I spent pretty much the entire event as clueless as can be. But even before I had this rip requested to me, it showed up from time to time in my recommendations - something about the ridiculous game title and cover artwork grabbed my attention, so I decided to take a peek.

To put it simply, Hey there everyone it's Chaotic Beans! Hell yeah! We're a little angle girl and THERES A BEAN! Oh well hello there Mr bean! Thank you for welcoming me! So we're in the planet of the beans and we gots to find all the beans and explore the beans to find the planet!!!!! feels like some sort of sensory overload. The original chaotic beans theme by SkyTheFloof is already a high-energy silliness overload song, bringing back memories of rips like :D or Wario's Hampster Mine - its energy is positively infectious, and it's a great touch that the visuals of Hey there everyone it's Chaotic Beans! Hell yeah! We're a little angle girl and THERES A BEAN! Oh well hello there Mr bean! Thank you for welcoming me! So we're in the planet of the beans and we gots to find all the beans and explore the beans to find the planet!!!!! are intentionally made to resemble its YouTube upload. What could then amplify that silliness more than - as The Green Spy and Grambam36 both are best at doing - a good ol' YTPMV?

On the complete opposite side of online silliness, 14 years ago, we saw the upload of the video "cat planet", by the fascinating internet personality raocow. I truly do wish I knew more about this specimen - he's been making "Let's Play" content on YouTube since near its very beginnings in 2009, and has since uploaded new videos almost daily with an unmistakeable goofiness to his commentary, a rhythm and bounce, the kind of voice that just sounds as if he's smiling the whole way through. His playthrough of cat planet sits as his most viewed video for good reason, its such an interesting time capsule of what online content once was, silly, unfiltered, improvised, made entirely for fun - an energy that, I suppose, ROBLOX creators just like SkyTheFloof are continuing to champion today? Either way, the legends behind SUNGORE and Mad Mew Mew Becoming Uncanny, some of SiIvaGunner's greatest YTPMV rips in its entire run, join forces to unite these two pillars of pure, distilled :3-energy. Its the chaotic beans theme with raocow's cat planet commentary melodically added to the song's backing and melody, a duet of two sillies - a shot of pure sugar that I cannot get enough of.

Through just this one rip, I learned a lot about ROBLOX, a lot about raocow, a little bit about internet history in general - and I learned how to have an absolutely :3 time. Hey there everyone it's Chaotic Beans! Hell yeah! We're a little angle girl and THERES A BEAN! Oh well hello there Mr bean! Thank you for welcoming me! So we're in the planet of the beans and we gots to find all the beans and explore the beans to find the planet!!!!! is just such a lovely time, such a cracked idea for a rip yet one I'm glad its two rippers pursued to the end, to give us such true sillycore music for ROBLOX's anniversary. I can never get it out of my head for too long, the two sources are just so infectious and endearing in isolation alone, but hearing raocow's rambles about the lovely cat planet to the tune of chaotic beans just amplifies it to a whole new level, the perfect merger of old and new.

So- congratulations, ROBLOX Day - You got one out of me. Maybe one day I'll take another plunge to see what else you have in store...

[drifloonz]

PLEASE CONTINUE RAMBLING ABT MISSINGNO I WANNA HEAR MORE OF UR THOUGHTSSS

basically, the missingno ramble came about bc i always thought that initially, pokemon were always supposed to be able to be turned into data and shit. eg, how pokeballs even work, how the pc works, how trading works, etc.

this is kind of long ( not really but a few paragraphs ( nevermind i made it longer. ) ) so im gunna put it under a readmore just so i dont irritate ppl in whatever tags i put this in

idk if theres evidence for this, it just feels like pokemon implied that more and has been recently backtracking and going "oh no theyre not actually like DATA lol." and kind of retconning it. but maybe im pulling all of this out my ass but idk it felt early gen pokemon was much more in that sort of direction. there were a lot of different directions in early gen pokemon in general, i feel

ANYWAYS given that i subscribe to that more than whatever theyre doing with the canon explanations for shit now ( also not helped by my general fascination with technology, ai, and glitches esp in fiction and how interesting they are if written well ), i think missingno is just . a glitched pokemon. which obviously. but. Like. it used to be a pokemon. they can be made easily if something fucks up in the data transfer from physical to pokeball or pc or during trading or something like that.

well, maybe not easily- i imagine missingnos are only made from particularly bad cases of this. complete malfunctions and breaks, probably. which would also be why missingno and glitch pokemon like the bad egg, M', female symbol, ? symbol, whatever other ones you can think of were much more prominent early gen and pittered out more in later games ( not entirely obviously, but yknow ) - technology advanced more and became more secure so these types of things happened less often.

and i think in terms of possible mew clone, they are clones of mew that could not turn into ditto because an error happened technologically. instead of biologically/physically, which is how ditto wouldve been made. why are they in the shore? who knows. maybe theyre kind of thoughtless and just somehow get physically dumped into the cinnabar shore. god knows why its kind of hard to integrate game glitch to actual story/lore but by god im doing it.

anyways. because of this in strangled red, i think missingno isnt an all powerful entity. i think its just something that fills miki's corpse with garbage data and puppets her around like a zombie. which would be oddly fitting for a pokemon that i think could be caused by a trading fiasco or other technological malfunctions that happen to pokemon in those sorts of things.

miki just got the worse of it physically, not glitch-wise. she just died. which, at least she got to go out and not be in eternal limbo. until, well, steven stepped in, but who knows if shes even sentient enough or if her soul is even in missingno-ified miki at all. i think its slightly there, just a fragment of it- but its mostly a husk.

when the trading incident happened, i imagine that if there's an error the failsafe in whatever trading mech you use immediately sends the pokemon back to the original trainers, but something screwed up in the wiring so she likely turned physical at the wrong time while still in the trading tube, which then ended up with the wires being wrapped around her neck, or maybe even stabbing into it.

i like to think in the strangled red universe it's a not very common thing that maybe even was the first or only reported incident. steven and mike just got extremely unlucky.

... which probably did not help stevens rage about the incident, losing his prized unique charizard who could evolve faster than any charmander ever has, and tank supereffective damage easily amongst other things and to the fact that it probably only happened to him. or at minimum a few other people ever.

why does steven know about missingno? likely tales when he was in cinnabar during his original journey about it. strangled red is a year or so before the canon story but i doubt the mewtwo thing happened exactly a year before reds story, so missingno still being there. yknow. makes sense if you think it exists like how ditto does. ( failed mew clone ) .

the only reason missingno has power is because it is a glitch, it is corruption, physicalized - in a way it was not meant to be even further than how a glitch is. pokemon can turn into data. you can see how that'd work. anything that can be digitized in the pokemon world, it has power over. i imagine something thats meant to be there like a normal pokemon or human would get corrupted by it if it touched or remained in an area too long, or if it were commanded to attack. which is why missingnos in universe have insane levels, odd or stolen cries ( along with the fact some of them just used to be a normal pokemon likely ), and are physically just a jumble of data or taking images from random pokemons appearances, and even the skeletons or ghosts of them.

ironically they are like miki, but if miki after the incident corrupted digitally and physically, and went into a state of limbo instead of outright just dying due to technical malfunctions. they probably barely remember their former lives or what they were supposed to be and become very mindless.

i also think this has interesting implications for the trade incident if it ever happened again with pokemon with trade evolutions. i don't think they'd die, i think they'd become corrupted in a similar but different way to missingno - like an unintentional and glitchy evolution akin to porygon-z.

anyways.

steven is desperate for anything and everything to bring her back, and maybe tried multiple methods beforehand if you think he was that desperate, but hey. missingno worked. even if miki's just a puppeted corpse being controlled by a mindless thing that used to be a pokemon. who is ironically, controlling a corpse of a pokemon.

[p-receh]

If you're still doing the character thing

2, 24, and 25 for sonic or amy :D

Hai Maiprim! I still am btw! I decided I won't putting it down very soon. I think this will be a fun task since I like answering ask box. I may be late but I'll always try to not left any questions behind. 😁

Wait, Sonic or Amy? How about both? 😅

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

- Sonic

The misinformation about hedgehog's fear of swimming. We previously witness accidental mistake made by the technology issues, this one however was purely man power's mistake. Despite the differences, this mistake is also become a unique trait to establish the character's value from the very first game. We don't need to know what his weaknesses are by reading his profile or interviews, we could already experienced it in practice. That is why the aquatic levels are both challenging and "frustrating" to some players (including me 🙃).

Full article. I can't stop laughing when sir Iwata asked about this in the Iwata Asks series lemao.

The other canon continuity I respect about Sonic Team is the core conflict about Nature vs Industry that is still showcased in the current game. Sure, this series--to this day-- is objectively "diverse", with a wide range of media, gameplay, music, graphics, and story. But this premise has not changed throughout three goddamn decades. It is surprisingly amazing to be fair how many times this series went down, they still managed to raise and gain success.

- Amy

I love that they have some background story behind her Piko-Piko Hammer. In Tails Adventure from Game Gear, there's an item called Pikkon Hammer.

Even it's not officially confirmed that's the exact same hammer she uses but it was really clear that's basically the concept of Piko-Piko Hammer before finalized it in the creation of Amy Rose.

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

- Sonic

Ah, there's one that I felt really intact to my brain! Him and Mario in my opinion were reminded me of Percy and Jason from the Heroes of Olympus series. My 16 youth self constantly screams: 'This is totally Mario & Sonic holy shit!'. Their bonding was really cool and hilarious, that's also why the third book is my favorite of the series X'D.

- Amy

To be honest, Amy has many fandoms that remind me of her. She's a kinda mix of Sakura from Naruto, Heart from Sugo Chara, and ichigo Momomiya from Tokyo Mew-Mew, Sonoko from Conan... there's more but that's all I can think of honestly.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

- Sonic

Again I talked much the first time I met him here. One of his most fascinating aspects is obviously his design. Before I know Sonic, the antrophormo.... Bleugh how do people nowadays say it? Ah, "Fury" style design that I have usually known about animal humanoid characters for years. Whether a simple cartoon or a heavier one like Beastar or Tom & Jerry. Or mixed up like half animal, half human(like the famous Centaur for example).

Until Sonic came in.

Concept art by Naoto Oshima and Yasashi Yamaguchi

In the first place, I can see he was inspired by Mickey Mouse or 70's cartoons based on his concept art. Yet, his final product is full of originality that almost has no resemblance to Mickey. The modern era also portrays his personality further. He is still imo one of the best designs, ever. His looks already steal the show from the very beginning before getting to know what his perks and traits are. I was interested in his looks without knowing what his abilities were. To be honest, I didn't know the meaning of the word "Sonic", heck I didn't know he was a hedgehog at that time. (I swear when I looked the CD package of Mario and Sonic, I legit staring at his design for hours. Only to analyze what the heck was he supposed to be. Yes, my 12 year old brain was not braining)

Earlier I learned about him, to me he is such a happy and quirky dude with a style. Moving so free like the wind itself without any regrets. That's how I see him the moment he entered the field in the first cutscene of 06.

(Talk about an entrance! 👀. Que to 02:25 , "Event: Sonic Appears" is one my fav Sonic introduction scene is series. Hear that glorious rearrangge ver of His World beibeh! 😎)

But the one that made me falls into this giant pit hole of this series was when I watch Colors after 06 and this scene happened.

Even though it short as heck, but the way he suddenly turn into serious was caught me off guard. I literally opened my eyes wiiide as egg benedict. Sonic Team sure ain't lying about Sonic in serious mode!

(original article, fan translation)

It's always such a rare moment but when he does, he's ridiculously scary! He looks like a different person! And I'm so glad this rare trait still respectfully presented in other media till today.

(Yeah I know 06 got tons of that but that kissing scene destroyed my youth brain that I forgot most of them afterwards lol)

My opinion of him tbh hasn't changed that much. As much as Sega has made some of the dumbest decisions ever, at the end of the day, I can't hate him. All of his VAs are great to each of their own with no exception (I'm not joking. Even I like my own country's ver of Sonic), His one-liner quotes are motivating and inspiring to me. His games really encapsulate fast action sequences and pioneers with the term "speedrun". His music resonates with me to this day. He truly is just a guy who seeks adventure above everything. And he is one of IP platformers outside Nintendo that's still strong as now. Which is really amazing to observe.

Yes, I get it, He can never beat Mario with all his glory. But hey, like it or not, he's the only contender left to match his style. Even if it takes time, I can hope the path that the Sonic Team chooses now... slowly but surely Sonic will be at least on par with Mario in terms of quality (and popularity in Japan).

(Straight to the point. 😎👌)

Even his very first page of his jp manual book from the first game says this:

Rough translation :

"Sorry for being cheeky.

Fusy people are the worst.

I don't do it for justice, I just do what I like to do.

But nevertheless I won't betray you."

- Amy

I always loved an energetic and optimistic trope girl so it's no surprise that Amy filled the checklists. Her main color code happens to be pink aaaaaaand she has short hair(quills in this case)! XD. She's instantly become my fav in the selection phase from the moment I laid eyes on her. She is probably one of the few characters to actually wield a weapon in the series. A female character using a giant item to fight is never old and she's no exception.

What I like the most about her is that she's essentially the mother of a group. Never give up hope when everything is ruined. As much as she is loyal to Sonic, even she bravely steps in against Sonic for what it's right to her.

In my opinion, her perks of protective over Sonic from strangers somehow led her to actually be the one who reassures and helps them in need. And she always did with most of Sonic rivals: Shadow, Silver, Blaze, Chaotix, you name it.

She's that simple! But why the fuck is she still being misinterpreted by fandom? Allahuakbar uuuuuuurrrggghhh I can't...

To be fair, both of them are the highest debated topics in the fandom. Every account can say their opinions and can stir other opinions in a flick of a switch. It's rapidly quick and miss. They constantly change and twist the debate per second, then magically forget for a week until they argue the very fucking same topic. This cycle tremendously repeats every month, every year! It just never ends!

It had gotten seriously worse since the pandemic and I. had. enough. This is why I never admit myself as a sonic fan specifically on the internet. I think I already explained enough before, so I don't want to add anything else.

I honestly love Amy US and JP voice. But as non both speakers, Sega must have created a middle decision to solve the confusion for Japanese and overseas players, especially in the west. Cuz hands up, their cultures are pretty in contrast with how distinct the scripts and the voice lines are. My only suggestion is the Sonic Team makes two different angles of a cutscene to match both tones. This strategy surprisingly has already been used by RGG, another dev team under Sega, since Like a Dragon 7.

I don't expect them to do another cgi attempt, nononononono. 06 and Unleashed are enough. But does it mean the Sonic team must do double animated scenes for US and JP scripts? From how the scripts were written in Frontiers, I .... guess so?

I mean, what else is left then? :/

[delta-holonfoil]

Greetings!

I’m Professor Blair S. Tenaza (she/her), and I’m now the head researcher at the Holon Research Tower, located in Holon City in, you guessed it, the Holon region! Our topics of interest at the HRT are as follows:

Find and study the mythical Pokémon Mew

Research the effects of electromagnetism both on the region and on its Pokémon, including and especially Delta Pokémon

Develop and refine artificial equivalents to existing Pokémon (this task primarily falls to our lead roboticist and his team)

Now, I’ll share a brief primer on Delta Species and Holon, as I know that is certainly the least known aspect of our research here. Originally, Holon was a region devoid of people. It wasn’t especially habitable for humans, and so Pokémon were its sole inhabitants. Then my predecessor came along and established Holon City and the HRT, specifically in pursuit of Mew. His machinery used in the search emitted electromagnetic waves on a scale previously unheard of, even beyond the special magnetic fields found in places like Mount Coronet and Chargestone Cave.

Prolonged exposure to these extreme waves altered the Holon ecosystem permanently, resulting in many Pokémon permanently obtaining different typings and mannerisms. Some of these Pokémon, remarkably, are recognizable as extant regional forms! For example, Kantonian, Alolan, and Galarian Meowth are all native to Holon now, where before only the Kantonian variety existed, and Cyndaquil evolved here become the once thought lost Hisuian form of Typhlosion. Many other Pokémon took on entirely new forms, such as the Gardevoir family becoming Psychic/Steel-types, and exposing a male Kirlia to a dawn stone produced an entirely new Psychic/Dark-type Pokémon known as Callord. For these altered Pokémon, the designations Delta Species (for all) and Holonnite (for the unique ones) were introduced.

These accidental changes to the environment were seen as both fascinating and concerning, and studies on their full impact were launched. It was quickly deduced that not only would removing the electromagnetic waves not revert these Pokémon to their previous forms, but that doing so would be detrimental to their health. Furthermore, it was discovered at this time that the islands off the coast of Holon’s mainland, distant from Holon City’s emissions, also held Delta Species. Prism Island was laden with crystals that seemed to be producing Delta Species, which briefly drew comparison to the Terastal phenomenon before further research confirmed no true link. Meanwhile, the further-out Scale Archipelago was found to be a nesting ground for Dragon-like Pokémon, and home to new forms that were determined to be natural Holonnite variations.

And that more or less covers the basics! I can get into Holonnite geography another day for those curious, but I think this post is plenty long already. Just know that those early days of research were nearly 20 years ago, now, and much of the staff here at the HRT has changed since then. We feel very strongly about not altering Holon’s ecosystem any further, and work hard to ensure the continued health of all people and Pokémon in Holon.

Finally, allow me to introduce the Pokémon I keep as research aides!

Claire the Castform. She helps me with studying the weather here in Holon, which has also been impacted.

Sprout the Holonnite Meganium (Grass/Ground). He’s great at judging the health of plant life, another important aspect of our impact.

Trace the Holonnite Smeargle (Normal/Ghost). He sketches anything I need documented, which is great because it can be hard to take pictures here in Holon. There’s solutions, but I just find him much more reliable.

Beacon the Artificial Starmie (Water/Steel). One of our robotics team’s creations. It’s extremely reliable for taking electromagnetic readings, and a trustworthy ride if I need to do work out on Holon Lake or along the coast, above water or below!

Shade the Alolan Persian. She’s my tracker. If I’m looking for a specific Pokémon, she’s almost always able to hunt it down. I chose her over the other Meowth variations present here because her Dark typing further helps in keeping a low profile to observe wildlife.

Magnus the Scorlev (Electric/Flying, evolution of Holonnite Gligar). He’s my aerial transport, and incredibly in-tune with Holon’s electromagnetic field. There’s quite a few options here for those needs, but what sets him apart is that Holonnite Gligar are a natural Delta Species from the Scale Archipelago!

Plus Zed, my PoryPhone. We use PoryPhones here in Holon because Porygon are already here and already proven unaffected by the extreme electromagnetism. We actually impose some fairly strict regulations here in order to protect visitors’ Pokémon, and that includes barring entry for many species which might be impacted by Holon’s unique conditions.

OOC

Oops! I made another one! This time it’s inspired by the Holon region, an official setting from the TCG in back 2005! With my own personal twists, of course. I made a big list of Pokémon known to officially be in Holon (regular or Delta), and then did some minor retcons if a Delta Species resembled an existing regional variant. For any missing evolutions (released in Gen 4 or later) I’ve invented entirely new evolutions to replace them, and for any existing Delta Species that didn’t match a regional variant, I’ve devised a new Holonnite variant matching the card game’s typing. Unlike in the TCG, it’s not just a glow of energy, but a whole new form

And yes, Blair is aware what else HRT stands for. It’s something of an internal joke at the Tower because a sizable portion of the team, herself included, is trans :)

My main blog is @tlblitz, and I also run @tlblitzle, @zenith-exploration-guild, and @squallsong-survival