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littlesailorinthesun · 5 years ago

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retcons, the timeline, and shining nikki

I recently received the Lore Files book, and though it’s in Chinese, a few friends of mine have helped me dig through it. If you aren’t aware, the book is a 2020 release: an official compendium of lore as well as an artbook. It’s only available in Chinese, but it is what it is; at least I don’t have to concern myself with bad translation this way.

This post is less of an essay and more of a rant, for what it’s worth. But to those who like the story as much as I do, perhaps you’ll find it interesting as well.

The lore book is... comprehensive.

It’s interesting what it decided to go into detail on, and what it decided not to. Many characters had about as much information as you could glean from their first story appearance and did not go into further detail, such as the Mayor and Starlet. Some were surprisingly more elaborate.

It answered some questions, though not as many as I would have wanted. As was implied before but never directly stated (my nemesis), Bobo is the descendant of the True King, aka the “Lightbringer” - an unofficial translation, but apparently pretty true to the literal meaning. What’s more, even more information was given about this mysterious figure, such as his real name, exactly when he lived and died, and a few more specifics about his life.

However, it didn’t confirm many popular implied-but-never-directly-stated fan theories (a topic I hope to elaborate on later on this blog). It did give a couple of shreds of evidence that supported them. But I’m sort of a person that likes solid proof, if you understand what I mean? That’s why I take so much care to write when something is unconfirmed.

New information

Some more information it gave contradicted some older information. One of which I’m a little sensitive to is regarding Ace. She was previously listed as a Sagittarius on a Weibo post, and a little-known (I think?) fact is that this information was reflected in-game during the Brave New World event! In the pavilion screen, each character (Bobo, Lunar, Kimi, and Ace) had a constellation next to them that corresponded with their canonical zodiac, so there were multiple pieces of evidence indicating Ace’s zodiac. However, her new zodiac is Aries with a birthday of March 28. It also contradicted her height and made her seven (!!!) centimeters shorter than her previously-stated height (167cm -> 160cm).

Other characters with new birthday information given were Xiao Zong, Nidhogg, and (I guess) Cesare. (We could have assumed Cesare’s birthday was the same as Chloris’ before, but it’s nice to have confirmation.) While the book gave us Nidhogg’s age (28), it did not directly state Xiao Zong’s in his profile. However, a glimpse into the timeline at the back of the book showed us Sayet’s year of birth, and Sayet is canonically older than Xiao Zong. The only thing is, Sayet would be ninety-seven were he still alive today. Xiao Zong being younger than 97 feels, frankly, absurd to me, considering this is a man who apparently lived so long he got bored with life. It’s also possible that he lied to Sayet about his age. But this is all we have to go on!

What about Shining Nikki?

At first glance, this book seems to be a shockingly unifying force that marries Love Nikki lore and Shining Nikki lore. Spoilers for the ending of Love Nikki, but we learn in the very first chapter of Shining Nikki that Nikki saw Lierlide, a god-like edgy handsome white-haired boye (let me thirst okay), destroy all of Miraland and that’s basically why she’s not in 680 anymore.

Well, the book has several pages with pictures of Lierlide and the Ark, and even an explanation of what the Ark is. That’s pretty cool.

But then you flip to the timeline at the end of the book, and you’re left scratching your head.

Shining Nikki has a detailed account of the Apple independence war, set years before the main story, but the timeline writes that Apple gained independence in 147 New Era after an uprising against colonial rule - two very different dates given.

It also writes that the Mercury Bank was established in 478 New Era, which is even more absurd. Even just a glimpse into SN lore will show you that Mercury is already a major financial presence. (You can even see one of their buildings in this recently-released PV!)

Finally, the last thing that was not in the lore book (from what I’ve seen), but was released at the same time as the book was released, is a post that claims, among other things, that the first computer in Miraland was created in year 556. Given that we see actual computers in Shining Nikki as well as a host of other technology, even social media, I don’t think these two facts are reconcilable.

So are they trying to be compliant with Shining Nikki or???

Resolving the gaps

How does one resolve these inconsistencies in the timeline? It seems that they’re trying to do just that by claiming that, around the time of Shining Nikki, everyone entered an extended shared dream. This shared dream also included advanced technology and, to an extent, influenced the world afterwards. Information about the dream was written both in the post linked above as well as in the book. It feels like what they are trying to insinuate is that that shared dream is Shining Nikki.

However, this was never stated! The only things we know is that the dream and Shining Nikki were said to happen at the same year. The shared dream occurrence is meant to be an explanation for why they started their calendar over, NOT an explanation for Shining Nikki. As I understand it, they don’t actually have an explanation in Shining Nikki, and from what I’ve seen, only Nikki has called it “year 0″ there. I don’t know what calendar system they currently think they’re using. Please feel free to correct me if you know more, though.

Even this feels shaky, though, when you try to think about how long this dream would have lasted if every piece of information given in Shining Nikki that contradicts this timeline was included. Mercury (the man) is over a hundred years old, and he’s not the only ridiculously old person who has memories stretching back years. Would people have been born inside the dream, like the eighteen-year-old Haizhe who is strongly implied to be an ancestor of Kimi’s?

It feels like they could have easily just not included these contradictory things in the timeline. It is not like the writers of this book didn’t know about Shining Nikki’s existence, as the entire book opens with it. So it seems likely that they are doing it on purpose to fuel the theory that Shining Nikki happened, but it happened in a dream-world, and the progress they made was lost when everyone woke up. If this is true, I’m guessing the meta-reason for doing this would be so that SN could do whatever it wanted with the plot and still have it be an enjoyable experience.

But remember, it's all just a theory, a game theory

I’d like to stress again that this is still only a theory and that not every piece of evidence holds up. However, it’s something I’ve been throwing around in my head, and receiving my copy of the book and going through it brought it back to the forefront of my mind.

It’s also pretty clear that considering the book retconned other previously-stated facts, perhaps this is just yet another mistake, and they aren’t that familiar with Shining Nikki after all beyond how LN is meant to end. Or perhaps they decided on purpose to only join the two stories with LN at the end and SN at the beginning, and beyond that each story was free to include its own lore without having to confirm each individual detail with the other, which sounds like it might make logistical sense. I don’t know the full story regarding who writes what, to be honest, so this is just me throwing things at the wall and hoping they stick.

Finally, as pretty much all of this information I just wrote about was never officially translated to English, I’d like to thank the amazing translators of this fandom who have provided us with so much valuable information from both Love Nikki and Shining Nikki. Being able to read the text as translated by someone who understands the story is incredibly valuable. The things I wrote about are not based on Google Translate in case that is a concern. But I’m liable to mistakes like any other human, so let me know if I misspoke.

#love nikki #love nikki lore

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sternenteile · 4 years ago

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THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

tagged by: @battleshell ; we all care blue, u do, i do, we all do tagging: holy shit my whole dash because exorbitantly long memes are the BEST. i aint even sarcastic when i say that, i love this kind of shit. u GOTTA do it.

my muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. [ he is in two fandoms, in fact. he is both a fan-favorite from super mario rpg, the very first in the line of mario rpgs we’ve gotten over the years, and a pretty popular smash bros. request. he even got a mii costume in 4 and a spirit in ultimate as a result of the love. he’s very beloved, to the point that i’d, even as a geno fan myself, deem him a bit overrated. why? b/c where is all the love for all the other smrpg characters!!! they are all good. i love them all. ]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. [ i mean ?? i’ve met and seen many people who have/had crushes on geno so ??????? but i don’t think it’s like. that. ghfskjhgsg??? ]

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. [ oh yes, he is undeniably very strong, both in personality and in battle. he is often seen as the level-headed straight man of the party in smrpg (which, in the case of my geno, is... semi-applicable LMAO), a star spirit with unwavering bravery and confidence. his in-battle stats are also pretty crazy, favoring geno as a glass cannon and enemy sweeper. he is also the only character in the game to have a move that will insta-kill any enemy besides bosses. well, and exor. idk why exor, but there ya go. needless to say, pretty much everyone in the fandom agrees that geno is a powerful mfer. why wouldn’t a literal, living star be? ]

Are they underrated? YES / NO / IDK. [ as i mentioned before, there is no shortage of him being underrated in the fanbase. i’d even say he’s a little overrated. some people treat smrpg as ‘that game with geno in it’ rather than everything else it has going for it. i love star boye as much as the next gal, but pls appreciate smrpg as a whole. it’s such a vibrant game with a colorful world of characters to love. ]

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO. [ he is actually, completely central to the plot. the subtitle of smrpg is legend of the seven stars, which directly relates to geno’s core mission: to find the seven star pieces and restore star road. the rest of the gang had different ambitions, but they all ended up banding together over geno’s objective. one could argue he mostly is the exposition-granter and could be replaced with anyone else, but i feel he’s irreplaceable. smrpg would be so different without him, like it or not. ]

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. [ i wouldn’t say he is the protagonist, obviously, as that is very much mario’s spot. that being said, he is a pretty obvious deuteragonist for smrpg, given how much the plot revolves around him. he’s relevant to mario, for sure, as well as peach, mallow, and bowser. he’s relevant to many characters beyond them. he represents the fight for everyone’s wishes to be able to come true. he’s, uh... very relevant rofl. ]

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO. [ the star spirits are somewhat known in the mario universe as entities capable of granting wishes, kinda like fabled gods with a tinge more evidence and reality to them. geno himself isn’t a known name, not like the seven star spirits of star haven, but his people are decently known. he, however, is not. ]

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [ he is basically the epitome of ‘good’ until you overthink star society like i do lol. not all wishes can be granted, what constitutes as a ‘good wish’ is subjective, why some good wishes still can’t be granted anyway, etc. it puts him more towards neutral good with a dash of lawful and an undercurrent of chaotic, given his rebellion against his superiors. ]

How strictly do you follow canon? — i mean, it isn’t hard to be strict to mario canon when there isn’t that much of a foundation to work with anyway lol. it’s all rather simplistic until you get into the nitty gritty of it ??? that said, geno is built on a lot of headcanon. like, a lot a lot. star society and its rules for star spirits of his kind, his relationship with rosalina (a matronly figure), his relationship with the seven star spirits, the fleshing-out of his basic personality traits shown in smrpg, etc.? headcanon upon headcanon.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals. — a star possessing the form of a children’s toy, like toy story but with more cosmic pew-pew. a chill and sassy guy still learning the ways of how earth (and other planets) work on a more intimate level, meaning there will be lots of adorkable moments as this curious one makes discoveries. sometimes attempts to innovate with what he learns to be ‘ahead of the curve’, leading to interesting results. (he likes to sip bubble tea, but replace the tapioca pearls with star bits. good result. mopping a counter-top because it would be ‘more efficient’? not-so-good result, got him lots of stares.) straight outta the 90′s, so be ready some of that rad 90′s slang and know-how from back in the day. (what do u mean they’re bringing back dunkaroos? that’d mean they stOPPED MAKING THEM?!?) very intrigued with new technology, became stuck to his smartphone upon discovering them, fell into the time-sink that is animal videos on youtube. he’s humble and likes to relax, have a good time, and relax w/ the squad. video games, netflix binges, the whole nine yards, he’s gotchu. he is a hell of a fighter and loves to fight, as well. help him push his abilities, and he’ll help you with yours. likes being a little shit for fun, only to an extent (harmless moments of impishness, not serious, hurtful pranks). has a sense of humor that is easy to tickle, even with stupid dad jokes and classic puns. the brother-friend that will fire lasers at ur enemies for u. likes to play violin. cute. super cutie. v. tiny in his star form. almost five whole feet of sparkly, twinkly fun. likes super soakers.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?). — despite intrigue to learn more about the world around him, there is only so much that he does know. societal norms are often beyond him, and there are just so, so many earth hobbies he is not aware of. without handing him a bone, it makes him a little more limited than someone who’s more savvy. he is prime slice-of-life material, but that may also make things rather dull in an rp without an extra twist to spice things up. (thankfully, his being a total SNOT sometimes helps with that.) in canon and strictly in canon, geno doesn’t really have much personality, something that this geno has plenty more fleshed out. a good chunk of fandom finds him to be incredibly boring and droll, to which i personally disagree, as there are little things in smrpg that hint towards him having more to explore.

What inspired you to rp your muse? — funnily enough, seeing smash bros. fandom railing on geno fans + hyping him up all at the same time made me revisit smrpg after having only played it as a teenager. i expected geno to be a boring slate of nothing like fandom often portrays him, but i found that i was terribly wrong. with a newfound perspective on him, noting little details that defied my expectations for this li’l guy, i decided to give him a geno whirl and see what kind of expansion i could do with his character. the amount of lore i came up with him and started wondering about piled on and on and on, and i realized that he had so much more potential than what nintendo and square properly tapped into. (some of it is also a matter of being timely, though, meaning later mario materials such as rosalina, star haven, etc.) i wanted to flex out that potential and see how much i could fill this little doll up with, and lo and behold, i rp him today with extensive amounts of development poured into him with love. to put it simply, there was so much untapped potential that i wanted to share with the world, to show geno the love and in-depth exploration that he deserved, to show that he was more than what he was given.

What keeps your inspiration going? — chattering about mario lore with pals, whether it relates to geno or not, reading, watching shows or videos that remind me of him, learning more about cosmology and the universe we live in (and boy, i’ve learned a lot of neat stuff!), revisiting my childhood (the 90′s) since it’s very geno-appropriate, drawing The Boye, literally anything to do with playing, watching, or doing ANYTHING with smrpg/paper mario 64/smg1&2, and probs a lot more. i’ve got a lot of fuel in me for this guy lol.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO? [ on one hand, of course i hope that i do! on the other hand, i mean... nintendo and square don’t do jack for him, so i think almost anyone can do him more justice than they have, lbr. it’s... not hard... :’) ]

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO / SORT OF? [ ok i gotta just copy-paste what blue said in her response because my god, she nailed it: “you know when you have a concept and in your own mind you can see it clearly, without fuzziness or confusion, but you can’t seem to put it clearly into words without it turning into an essay because you need to connect all the other points that’s in the single concept you envisioned? yea.” basically, this but in spades, because i have a huge amount of headcanon and lore that i’ve either not gotten around to writing about yet or am purposefully staving off (wink wink). i have written a lot for him, though! it’s just... comparatively so little to what all i’ve thought up over-time. ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO [ not! often! enough!!! ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO [ all i know is fine dining, breathing, and adorkable starman. ]

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO / SORT OF? [ funny enough, i’m pretty damn confident in my portrayal, albeit still very modest. i mean, i am at least confident that i give depth to a character that had so little, and i feel like geno is just... real. (not literally ofc i mean like, he FEELS realistic.) he’s got character perks, character flaws, strengths, weaknesses, personal issues, ongoing obstacles, relatable themes where appropriate, interests, knowledge (or lack thereof), daily routines... i could go on. if nothing else, i at least feel good about trying to make geno feel less like some exposition character and more like a person. considering he wants to achieve personhood that most of his kind never gets to find, it’s oddly poetic lmao. ]

Are you confident in your writing? YES / NO. [ eehhhhh. i mean, i guess it’s fiiiIIINE, but i often feel like i lack a certain pizzazz, something that’ll keep people interested and intrigued with what i write, giving enough material for them to adequately bounce back. on the same token, i like to babble with my prose, so i often worry about going on and on and on way too much. stale, quantity over quality, substance-less writing is what i fuss over the most. ;; ]

Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO. / SORTA. [ sensitive to empathy and other peoples’ emotions, yes. i’m an insanely empathetic person, and i have a lot of love to give. that said, with only few exceptions, i have a pretty iron-clad skin. sometimes, i daresay it’s to the point that i often misjudge what other people can take, and i feel i can end up being too harsh and forward. that being said, it is also a good thing at times. harsh or not, if i feel a certain way about something, i make that shit known and i make it known as loud as it necessarily should be. i don’t beat around the bush; rather, if i have a beef, i will make that beef known. consequently, if i have love to give, you damn well better be ready to swim in a pool of hearts and your favorite kind of cookie (if applicable). ]

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal? — as long as it isn’t complaints with lack of substance/reasoning, yes! even if i may not always agree and may take things with a grain of salt, i am insanely receptive to criticism, even over the pickiest things. it’s something i’ve grown used to due to prior rp venues being particularly harsh. i will never throw a fit or act like a child if there is something i could do better with geno. in fact, there always will be! i’m not perfect, and i love to hear about ways i can improve and do better. it’s paramount in a hobby like this.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character? — LET’S-A FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why? — sure, i’d love to know! it can make for some neat conversation!! c:

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it? — that’s a’ight. i’m sure there are things about my geno that won’t resonate with everyone, especially given he’s a very sentimental character for old fogies like me lol. as long as there is no disrespect thrown this way, it’s all good. this stuff is subjective, after all.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it? — oh, a lot of people really hate geno lol, but i’m guessing this means personal portrayal only. in such a case, i would be curious as to why, admittedly, but i acknowledge that i am not owed anyone’s reasoning. if they really, absolutely hate my geno, then it’s their prerogative, whether they want to give a reason why or not. again, it’s all good unless immaturity and disrespect rears its head. i won’t tolerate that and will ignore any such behavior.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors? — sure, it happens to the best of us!

Do you think you are easy going as a mun? — i’d like to think that i am! i’ve often had people tell me that i’m very nice and mature, but of course, i have no right to say how i come off to other people. that is not in my territory to judge, only theirs. that being said, it’s not easy to upset me or anger me, and i’m more often willing to listen and pal around than not. i’m the living embodiment of (shrug). i am just (shrug).

#★ ; ( ooc. )#★ ; ( meme. )#★ ; ( headcanon. )#WHHHHOOOOOHHHHH THIS WAS A BLST #THANK U AGAIN BLUE I LOVE THIS

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