#i felt very tbh creature abt it like not terribly high highs or low lows but it was good overall i think?

[viiridiangreen]

also i turned 26 today and it was mostly just like. A Thursday. Got to work from home tho if i had to come into the office on my birthday i would've.............. prolly not done anything drastic but i wouldn't have liked that at all lol

pros: we ordered some Special Cookies (if u haven't tried alfajores u r Missing Out), hung out w partner, & their family sent nice messages. finally dipped my toes into franchise mode in planet zoo (so not following a set Theme but starting my own park from scratch with a Likely Overambitious habitat for Spectacled Caimans with an underwater viewing gallery. it's gonna be rad if i can avoid running out of money hhhh. i'll post pics when i've added foliage / rockwork / the actual critters lol) & we're about to do this week's destiny story update thing rn.

cons: my family was A Bit Weird abt it esp my aunt on my mom's side like she typed a whole thing in whatsapp which started with "I think about you almost every day" and then she deleted it when i didn't look at it within a few hours haha.

[benevadeca]

Relistening to razia's shadow bc I belatedly realized they posted their new version of it and not that they changed any of the lyrics or plot but hm! Just as confused as I've ever been and honestly fr guys am I missing something. I do not understand the plot lol my feelings for it are very "makes no sense. compels me tho" i mean

all of this critism coming from someone who has no knowledge of any possible lore that may or may not exist abt this and has never interacted w anyone about it but just listens to the album sometimes and has seen the youtube puppet play <3

OK so the whole theme being "the unrelenting constancy of love and hope can rescue and restore you from any scope" aw <3 except it literally never does lol like Prophecy Boy dies in both acts.

It's truly the unfeminist of albums I mean. My 2017 memories of making an entire AU where I change the lyrics to all the songs with our #girls bc they suck TBH. honestly I just need to break down my gripes song by song okay so

>missing piece

OK!! so they were both very gifted but it's only arima and his man angst that goes off committing arson??

>life is looking up

it's literally Oh The Scientist being cringe and creepy like give ur son boy some encouragement damn :/ guy who caused it: I'm staying out of it. also the "but the sculpture of the earth was looked upon by jealous eyes" okay so there's always trouble in paradise got it, but the whole "dark and the light" theme is so confusing

>spider and the lamps

i hate the "crawl inside her" line soooooo much i think of it in my head as "crawling insider" like...he's a spy a creep a guy offering a new (worse) perspective on a guy who's at a mental low under the guise of helping him when he's really manipulating him. etc.

>toba the tura

literally in 2018 i had a whole animatic planned where the reason nidria leaves is bc she's literally a leader to her people and it's her making the tough choice to choose the responsibility she has to them who are now, idk refugees or whatever? etc etc. so yeah the irony of ari being the guy who's like "when i die you will realize" only for his terrible actions to be what forces nidria, who never even expressed any real desire or felt any necessity to Show Off Her Skillz, to take this active leadership authority figure role. anyway what was i talking about.

oh yeah uh, ok so i love toba bestie <3 love that they're a #girl in the new version like yes feminism. we love a genderfluid goat and i loved the singer but the "my words will tear through the air" line which is SO powerful in the original was kinda mediocre ngl. so yeah disappointed there but otherwise <3

i had a whole character concept for them in the far past but i've forgotten it honestly and relistening and watching wow they're kind of a cop huh? this is me going with my 2017 AU where the dark v/s light thing is a veiled xenophobia metaphor taking inspiration from the mechanisms high noon over camelot album. but yeah in this view the "every dark corner will soon see the light" is very civil servant performing their duty that, oops, kind of involves a punitive judgemental form of justice that negatively disenfranchises some more than others.

but again, the dark v/s light thing is so unclear like rly acting as if it's unpopulated when he's ari is banished or whatev ("desolate throne" but people do live there?? or once the light-people leave the land gets re-populated by the dark-people who were possibly implicitly expelled from there? going w the fantasy racism theme + the weird unexplained sickness thing i think the disparity between them is at least partially due to physiological differences in a nocturnal vs diurnal creatures kinda way. vampires who can't stand light vs guys who would wither away without it. etc etc.

But also again fuck Oh The Scientist the entire "you've broken the trust of your father's love" when was that love expressed?? and hello NIDRIA??? who has like a whole song about expressing her love!!! not even a "the truth of those you love" more encompassing kind of lyric just the very narrow vision of it is so :(

>the oracle

lots of nitpicks bc i'm a hater on this one <3 but another contender for worst line in the musical "in her lock he will turn the key" makes me GAG. not even like a "together they will turn the key" in a "these TWO guys will fulfill the prophecy bc it's a TOGETHER issue bc we all saw what happened last time when prophecy was left up to Just Some Guy, with a girl also there"

ALSO the "Their true love will be strong enough, To erase the wrong we've done" line i'm so bleh over? Like it's not abour ERASING the wrong it's about being able to look it in the eye and move past it! facing it and confronting it in order to work together to build something that learns from the mistakes of the past that is more equitable and lasting. so yeah idk just simple lyrical changes like "to move past"

Also the "will be strong enough" is so hamfisted....add some ambiguity or a touch of hopefulness or desperation bc we already saw prophecy isn't all it's caked up to be! "with their love, may it be strong enough" or smth. idk man!! idk!!

>the exit

the new ver literally has pallis like. push him to the ground at the beginning? BOO!! he's shown to be not understanding but still caring through his coldness, and also it's unclear what the prophecy is but in the beginning and the end "you really are the chosen one the calculated sacrifice" LIKE?? no wonder he was against it!! either knowing ur brother will die and/or being the killer??? yeah i think i'd be unhappy too abt my younger brother chasing a suicide mission.

and as for adakias and how literally his whole thing being feeling trapped, not fitting in, forced to fill a role he doesn't feel suited for, yearning for understanding and newness, etc.

and anura ALSO feeling those things!! self-recognition thru the other etc, and then for the next song to like immediately pivot to "and now they are going to settle down and have kids :)" it's SOOO infuriating. "to float away, and settle down" SETTLE DOWN????? AFTER ALL THAT YEARNING FOR A HERO'S JOURNEY???? WHAT DO YOU MEAN

>it's true love

literally changing all of anura's lines bc again misogyny the musical.

"I never would guess your touch could, Fill me with such thoughts to marry you, have your babies, too" BLECKKKK

TO ME changes to: "...guessed someone could Fill me with such a tender feeling, how, Just to be with you, Is it too good to be true?"

Also the "Adakias, can't you see that I knew at first kiss?" >> "can't you see that without you I'd have never escaped" this line is partially bc i couldn't hear what she was saying lol but it sounded vaguely like this to me and fit with the themes of like. desperation, loneliness, finally finding someone who understands you and the desire to cling to that person, the whirlwind that mixture of things can spur you into making looking before you leap decision making, etc

also more lyric changes but i would simply change "i can't let her learn about my past" to "if i let her learn about my past" with a yes maybe? :) hopefulness to it, that then pivots to the "if she found out where i came from" of the original. the back and forth!! the desire to entrust your full self to the person you theoretically has this magic connection of love and understanding with that you don't want to lie to!! but that is shadowed by the fears of being forced back to a life you don't want. instead of just "oh yeah and i will simply keep this a secret, forever, regardless of how much this endangers the people around me :) what could go wrong"

>meet the king

literally the narration at the end w/ the "the king as his greed" HIS GREED??? bro he literally knew he was hiding something and ofc he was concerned for his daughter making a crazy rash decision based on someone who very well COULD just be after her for status!!! and who did end up getting her sick and almost killed!!!!!

songs written by someone who doesn't get the plot of romeo and juliet. and also addy constantly ending his lines to the king with "You Fool" BRO that is not how u convince ur date's dad to like you!!!!! and way to give away ur not just some commoner who tf talks to royalty like this you loudmouth. KIDS

but also on the other hand what even is the sickness plotline....def puts a weird bit into my xenophobia metaphor plotline but as a plotline itself even without that it's so nonsense!!! means nothing to me!!!!

>holy the sea

i think this song fucks love the boat chorus :) i do think the "sits atop ur family tree" thing is kinda boring like booooo no fancy chosen one bloodlines, i say in a work where the only characters are all monarchists or smth, the reincarnation thing is on thin ice but i'll allow it bc making puppets is hard and i support reusing character designs in a "same guy but slightly different and to the left bc see they are Parallels" i fall for it every time.

>doctor doctor

lol literally i cant listen to this song it's so. like the music is fun but the entire plot and lyrics are soooo

i mean addy was rly gonna just sell anura to the creepy doctor without her consent bc, what? "Trust me, I know how this must go!"??? BRO as if you've trust her with anything!! and if it's not your fault in the first place!!!!

>the end and the beginning

i was always very confused where tf the doctor went in this song until i saw the visual of the door just falling on him. everybody say thank you pallis

the way it doesn't make sense tho lmao <3 "she would never RLY like u bc she's a spoiled princess who needs a prince" BRO?? damn that's crazy where the hell would we find one of those? and if not every character in this song is royalty???

"these two have been on quite an odyssey" :( i would also like to witness the odyssey. also belated question why in the new version are so many of the characters kind of gay (the spider, the king, pallis and his puppet hip thrusts)

and the way the entire song is abt her and pallis forcing her to justify herself to him but she like. barely has a line in it!! also the amount of lyrics i simply have never known bc im looking it up now on genius lyrics and damn where tf was i supposed to get maharaja and maliloquently from

more lyrics i dislike and change in my head: "please listen, I really can explain...Now you know the truth, but that knowledge shouldn't change the nature of our love" > "I really can't explain...Now you know the truth, and though that knowledge may change the nature of our love" the meaning is found in the acknowledgement that ur actions have consequences!! that you can't go back from but you can face up and be willing to accept that they will affect you moving forward!! and ofc the nature of it will change bc it NEEDS to change bc as proven by the lies and harm that's been done, it should change and that change can be something for the better.

the way she has NO like individual lines after the truth reveal tho. feminism loses :(

also the end like "we regained our science" HOW??? WHEN?? sorry i wasnt there for that lol. narrator living in a different sphere of existence. "cause an idea is only relevant if it's being thought upon" sir i have not gotten what the idea is.

anyway thoughts on just the musical as a visual:

i prefer the original spider puppet i just think the black light was better!!

they rly made him green huh....weird.

the weird blurs on the camera sometimes...like when pallis goes in for the stab and it has this weird overlapped motion blur what even IS that.....

i do like pallis and addy's little outfits :) brother who cant dress themselves

them holding hands in the meet the king song is cute. like children at mcdonald's "he asked for no pickles" kind of look.

the very end narration being all "never surrender :)" (image of guy bleeding out on the floor) is. quite the choice