#i think my ultimate goal is going to be to try and find the creator of this potential bot

[sunderingstars]

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✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER! ⌝

sampo analysis m.list

— a silly little overview of different "sampos" i find interesting

— not meant to be taken super seriously or canonically, but can tie in to some of the theories i have

— in the true spirit of elation, these aren't hills i'm willing to die on, just ones that are fun to play around with :3

— feel free to use for writing/art inspiration!

— i add to this periodically as new sampos catch my eye!

— word count: 3k (good lord)

— 🎭s indicate aha!sampo

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🎭 sampo "midlife crisis" koski

— at risk of losing his aeon/emanatorhood

— doesn’t find anything funny anymore

— tired of being behind the scenes

— becoming a buzzkill (having “lines” he won’t cross)

— taking drastic measures to improve his quality of life (fucking off to a random ass snow planet to scam people)

note: may lead to a villain arc — sampo "renewed vigor" koski — in which he remembers why he used to love tormenting people, conquers his midlife crisis, and returns to pure elated insanity. this is bad for everyone involved for obvious reasons

🎭 sampo "how're you gonna win if you never take any risks?" koski

— aha took drastic measures to secure their success, either through memory erasure, mortal transformation, giving up power, or all three

— under the radar, civilian aha

— trying to circumvent “destiny” through delusional self-confidence

— enter sampo i mean aha i mean sampo i mean aha i mean s

sampo "ceaseless watcher's special little boy" koski

— not aha but aha definitely likes him

— perhaps an avatar or emanator of some sort

— whether he likes aha or not is up for debate

— can easily turn into sampo "ceaseless watcher get their ass" koski, in which sampo becomes a little too fond of invoking his status as aha's favorite to accomplish his own goals

alternate possibility: he’s aha’s favorite due to his pathetic nature and slutty hip windows, he just doesn’t know it. he thinks his luck is due to his own talent & skill (it is literally outside eldritch forces beyond his control)

sampo "close enough" koski

— not an actual aeon, but rather a vessel for aha’s power or consciousness on varying levels

— perhaps akin to caelus/stelle being a stellaron receptacle

sampo "let's get you back to bed grandpa" koski

— the wear and tear of a long life has taken its toll on him

— despite the infinity of time, he has become out-of-sync with newer masked fools members, who regard him as an “old timer”

— isn’t shown much respect, and is frequently asked why he isn’t as cool as he used to be

— also know as sampo "L + ratio + fell off" koski

— “peaked in high school” energy

— can be either aha, emanator, or similar high status

🎭 sampo "in rehab" koski

— aeonic existence isn’t easy and can, in fact, take a toll on those that ascend from human forms

— he finally decided that maybe he should make a change

— and has thus embarked on a healing journey

— therapeutic exercises include: scamming people, starting pyramid schemes, selling artifacts on the black market, and more!

sampo "ultimate dealmaker" koski

— in a contract or some sort of deal with aha in exchange for power, money, or a combination or the two

— possession? who knows

🎭 sampo "i'm not mad i'm just disappointed" koski

— doesn’t understand why his children have strayed so far

— “where did i go wrong? why do they think this is funny? do they even care about the worm?”

— has the energy of an exasperated parent watching his kids flush car keys down the toilet again

🎭 sampo "horrified creator" koski

— aha & the masks have outgrown their creator (sampo) and have gone off to do their own aeonic thing, leaving him behind

— he thinks it’s all insane, actually, and he’s very disappointed and very tired

— trying to pick up the pieces of whatever mayhem the aha!masks cause

— aha!masks keep him around for fun

— “i should never have laughed at that goddamn baby”

sampo "me and aha kiss on the weekends" koski

— just a silly little guy who has somehow wormed his way into the heart of an eldritch being

— in it for the mind-bending sex

sampo "blasphemy" koski

— technically affiliated with the masked fools but doesn’t subscribe to their beliefs

— thinks aha is a load of horseshit but needs to keep up with what they’re doing to circumvent it

— may have been formerly in a high-ranking position, or just another guy with a mask

— aha probably wronged him or did some fucked up shit in the past and now he has a vendetta

🎭 sampo "stole my fucking thunder" koski

— someone stole aha’s power. that’s it

— sampo is salty

— 10/10 betrayal plot

potential inverse: he’s the one stealing aha’s power

sampo "my boss sucks and i want to quit" koski

— tired, overworked employee of the masked fools

— views aha as a sort of fucked up insane ceo that he wants nothing to do with but is unfortunately contractually obligated to work for

— wants to start a union

🎭 sampo "next in line" koski

— can also branch into sampo "formerly in line" koski or sampo "abdication" koski

— wherein aha’s power or masks are akin to titles or positions that are passed down between different people, somewhat akin to how “crowns” and “kings” work

— in this case, sampo would either be currently in line for this power, formerly in line for this power, or has actually been in power but abdicated or otherwise lost/gave up/moved on from his position

— this could be natural or otherwise

note: this does not have to be solely for aha, this kind of power transfer could work for other high-ranking positions like emanator or organization leader

🎭 sampo "this price was too steep..." koski

— got a bit cocky and wagered his aeonhood

— is now in a Not Great position

sampo "i hate owing people things" koski

— owes aha one

— does not like owing people things

— doing whatever he needs to cancel out the debt

🎭 sampo "i was crazy back then lol" koski

— the universe’s idea of aha writ large is based on an outdated version of their personality

— this always annoys sampo because he has to be constantly reminded of his insane college days before he mellowed out

— the type to reminisce over wine and say “yeah that worm thing was wild. i was crazy back then huh”

🎭 sampo "committed to the bit" koski

— one of my personal favorites

— became mortal as a joke

— ended up liking it a little too much

— doesn’t really want to go back

sampo "worm on a string" koski

— what is a man if not just another omniscient worm destined for tragedy?

— he’s a puppet, basically

— & he just gets wormed around like he’s on a string

— hence the name

— another one of aha’s classic cosmic jokes

🎭 sampo "one of many" koski

— ties into my split consciousness theory

— aha split their personality into multiple people (either as a joke or for a bigger reason) and sampo is one of those pieces

🎭 sampo "yeah i heard aha was super cool and hot and sexy and smart and did i mention sexy" koski

— big fan of the rumor mill

— can’t help but try to win people over to the elation even when he’s supposed to be laying low

— he’s not fooling anyone. just yesterday serval watched him laugh until he cried because a kid dropped their ice cream. he is not slick

🎭 sampo "reverted to babey" koski

— someway, somehow, aha got reverted back to who they were before they ascended to aeonhood

— now sampo is just really fucking confused (and annoyed because mortal life is pretty annoying)

sampo "character creation screen" koski

— aha just had a silly goofy lil day & wanted to create a guy

— so they did

— sampo acts as a kind of controlled character who’s self-aware about his position as a playable character

— or alternatively he was turned loose with no purpose scaramouche-style and is now just fucking around doing whatever

sampo "failed clone" koski

— obligatory clone theory

— aha tried to clone themself. it wasn’t as funny as they wanted

— sampo is the result

— aha realizing sampo was a bit of a buzzkill: “i don’t want to play with you anymore”

🎭 sampo "vicarious existence" koski

— part of the split consciousness theory

— aha sectioned off or created a part of themself that can live in a way they can’t (i.e. have free will beyond the elation)

— similar to the focalors/furina situation in genshin

sampo "trojan horse" koski

— is his own person, under the impression he has free will, but is being used as an unknowing vehicle for eventual Big Aha Moment

🎭 sampo "can't remember shit" koski

— he forgor :((

— used to be aha but doesn’t know that

— most likely erased his own memory in order to accomplish a planned endgame

🎭 sampo "you don't wanna see me when i transform" koski

— dual consciousness theory

— sampo koski as a human is much more rational and reasonable than eldritch-form aha

— sampo likes to stay as sampo as much as possible because he doesn’t like what he becomes when he changes forms

— may lead to a tragic arc where, in order to defend belobog, he reverts to his aeonic form knowing he won’t be able to transform back

sampo "lmao got you" koski

— all signs pointing towards aeon or emanator status are red herrings

— he’s just really good at gaslighting to get what he wants

sampo "whoops i got attached" koski

— fucked off to belobog for whatever reason

— got surprisingly attached

— belobog now has an extremely powerful entity/protector without even knowing it

— “it’s just a weird insane little place. very charming” — sampo, probably

🎭 sampo "elias bouchard" koski

— just a shell for aha, jonah magnus style

— used to be his own person, but got yoinked along the way

🎭 sampo "5d mind chess" koski

— knows exactly what he’s been doing from the beginning

— strategic placement on belobog to meet the trailblazer

— has done a damn good job of coming off as “normal pathetic scammer mcgee” to distract from larger plans

🎭 sampo "just like everyone else" koski

— for whatever reason, aha is insistent that they be treated just like any other member of the masked fools; same rules, same hierarchy, everything

— this results in everyone looking at him weirdly but not saying anything and trying to strike up casual conversation with their literal aeon

sampo "gimme your eldritch money" koski

— the final form of scammers everywhere

— he’s scammed everyone he possibly can, and now there’s only one thing left: to scam an aeon

— chooses aha + the masked fools because there’s a good chance he’ll get stuff just because aha is amused with him

— tries to link aha up with a pyramid scheme

sampo "you should see me in a crown" koski

— either on a delusional self-confident power trip or gunning for aha’s power

— can be aha, emanator, or other high-ranking position, but aha works the best if sampo wants to go all the way up the ladder

— thinks he’s the best ever and can never fail, pairs well with “5d mind chess” sampo like fine wine

— drunk on power/worship

🎭 sampo "wine aunt" koski

— also known as sampo "washed up aeon" koski

— he’s out of the limelight, whether that means he passed on his power, had it taken from him in a free for all, or just wants to retire, and now he’s kicking back with a margarita and enthralling the belobog locals with “hypothetical” scenarios that are actually crazy mind-bending stories from his glory days

— he’s not as great as he used to be, nor does he have the power of a full-fledged aeon anymore, but belobog appreciates him all the same (goes hand in hand with sampo "just like everyone else" koski)

— “geez yeah, ix is so annoying. such a buzzkill, really, that guy even hates knock-knock jokes. i mean, who hates knock-knock jokes? … hypothetically, of course.” — sampo, probably

🎭 sampo "zhongli the funeral consultant" koski

— aha is secretly “dead” but no one knows

— perhaps the masked fools know, but either way sampo has either already faked his death, is currently doing it, or is planning to in the future

— he just wants to retire man, and if that means he has to “fall” then so be it

sampo "just a silly guy" koski

— there is actually nothing special to this man at all

— he’s just a guy. just a silly little guy

— aha is laughing at all of us for even making theories about him

sampo "aha jr." koski

— sampo is a doll created by aha like in the simulated universe occurrence, having the same appearance as aha’s human form and sharing personality & path attributes

— most likely wants to break away from the elation’s influence but doesn’t know how

— views aha as a really fucked up dad

sampo "oh my god i'm in a cult" koski

— raised in the masked fools, didn’t realize how batshit insane they were until a Formative Traumatic Event occurred and he went “oh.. oh no…..”

— estranged from most of the members but still deals with them in the way you do when you hate your family but have to put up with them at holiday dinners

— maybe got to a high position of power before, but left when he realized it wasn’t good for him

sampo "partners in crime" koski

— him & aha are friends, besties even

— knows the risks of working with an aeon but can’t say no when that much money is involved

🎭 sampo "for funsies" koski

— if aha can give the entire universe’s knowledge to a worm for fun, then by god they can give all of their power and aeonhood to a silly little guy randomly for no reason whatsoever (especially if he doesn’t want it)

— constantly fighting against increasingly powerful eldritch control

— “young god”

— canon in my heart

sampo "reality tv" koski

— part of the vicarious emanator theory

— aha gave him all their power and basically watches him like a reality show

— *pokes sampo with a stick* “hey why aren’t you doing anything” — aha, probably

— constant voyeurism

sampo "communism" koski

— part of the dual consciousness and vicarious emanator theories

— one of aha’s emanators that they share their entire path with

— “our” power

— perhaps some sort of memory or consciousness sharing

sampo "horse girl" koski

— “but your dream is to be an emanator”

— “no that’s your dream dad, not mine”

🎭 sampo "aeons anonymous" koski

— aeon in rehabilitation

— wants to start a former aeon support group

🎭 sampo "power receptacle" koski

— in which the masks function as the true “aha” and sampo has given them up or put them away for safekeeping

— “sparkle please please i’m so serious just let me put it back on once. no seriously only once i promise i won’t go insane like last time i’ll be so normal it’ll only be for five minutes please” — sampo, probably

sampo "one-sided hate boner" koski

— man absolutely hates aha (probably for backstory reasons)

— aha doesn’t care at best and at worst thinks it’s really really funny

— “you burned my house to the ground!”

— “🤷”

— “my family is dead!”

— “🤷”

— bonus points if aha makes him an emanator or something

sampo "significant annoyance" koski

— dedicated to being as annoying as possible to aha, whether out of spite, a vendetta, or sheer interest

— aha finds this funny so they let him stick around

— “he graffitied my mask with a bunch of dicks and it took me years to get it off. isn’t he just the greatest little guy?” — aha, probably

sampo "god's silliest soldier" koski

— aha gives their hardest battles to their silliest soldiers

— and that is sampo

sampo "true wild card" koski

— he’s not aha, an emanator, or any higher status

— he is quite literally just That Good as a regular human being

🎭 sampo "cosmic irony" koski

— “man, it sure would suck to be aha the aeon of elation. glad i don’t have to deal with that. i love being mortal”

— “🎭🎉👀”

— “HOW DID YOU GET IN MY HOUSE”

sampo "cult leader" koski

— humility is a facade

— “lines” he won’t cross are a facade

— everything is for the purpose of appearing like the perfect leader (or candidate for leader)

— secretly the most insane out of anyone

sampo "secret agent man" koski

— doing aha’s bidding willingly

— a goon. a henchman even

sampo "tainted love" koski

— aha isn’t the most healthy person to be around, on account of the ten billion cosmic torments jokes they throw around on a daily basis

— guinea pig sampo is TIRED

sampo "sacrificial lamb" koski

— may or may not be aware of his sacrificial status

— created or being manipulated into a position where he becomes collateral for aha doing whatever the fuck they wanna do

sampo "impromptu therapist" koski

— the receiver of many rants and complaints unrelated to him within the masked fools

— becomes the “advice friend” even though this man should never be trusted for reliable advice

— but surprisingly he is the most reliable within the masked fools

sampo "sanest masked fool" koski

— just a long-suffering member of an organization whose followers are some of the most insane people you’ll ever meet

— permanent eye bags for having to put up with them

🎭 sampo "michael distortion" koski

— he was a regular guy once, but ended up absorbing aha’s eldritch power one way or another

— potential assimilation into one form

— aha didn’t expect the joke to joke back

sampo "court jester" koski

— similar to "ceaseless watcher's special little boy"

— the king’s (aha’s) favorite little jester

— and also they make out sometimes

— has a semblance of protection afforded to him by being the favorite (he uses this to his advantage)

— “jester’s privilege”

sampo "try me" koski

— aha is physically keeping tabs on the trailblazer

— sampo is too, but only to swat aha’s hand away like a kid reaching into a cookie jar

— usually a mad dash to see who gets there first

— leads to many situations where they make tense eye contact across the street or smth

— subsists off of pure spite & annoyance

🎭 sampo "favored of humanity" koski

— aha is one of the aeons closest with humanity, and has such developed a more “mortal” frame of mind over time

— eventually if you spend enough time around mortals you might just turn back into one

🎭 sampo "hedonist" koski

— why is he doing any of this? who knows

— who can possibly understand the machinations of what an aeon finds funny

— eldritch humor beyond our comprehension

🎭 sampo "cosplayer extraordinaire" koski

— “so this is my humansona his name is sampo koski he likes scamming people and has slutty slutty hip windows”

— likes to stay in character as much as possible

— kinda like playing a dnd character 24/7

sampo "long-suffering host" koski

— somewhat dual consciousness theory

— aha is just up there, and sampo has to listen to their annoying ass constantly

— can be a joke, chill possession scenario, or necessity for aha due to external circumstances

— may be a side effect of emanator status, or may just be another Classic Cosmic Joke™

sampo "unwilling hierophant" koski

— informercial: how would YOU like to receive PERSONAL and INCESSANT psychic messages from eldritch forces beyond your comprehension?

— “geez ew no”

— infomercial: is that a YES?

— “no”

— infomercial: thank you for signing up for our FREE TRIAL service!

— “wait no”

— infomercial: text "NO PLEASE STOP NO" to 69420 to UNSUBSCRIBE from the Laughter’s FREE psychic telepathy service

— “NO PLEASE STOP NO”

— phone: thank you for subscribing to our LIFETIME PLAN of FREE, UNCEASING, TORMENTING visions from AHA THE ELATION. please enjoy your COMPLIMENTARY descent into insanity!

— “god fucking damnit”

sampo "vacant apartment" koski

— possession receptacle that’s no longer in use and is left up to his own devices

sampo "moved to iceland and became a sheep herder" koski

— living off the grid

— only came back because something bad is gonna happen to belobog

— can be aha, emanator, or other high-ranking position

🎭 sampo "undercover boss" koski

— keeping tabs on the masked fools because they’re fanatical

— “what the hell guys this is not what i want” — sampo, probably

— they say or do something and he’s just like “not funny. didn’t laugh”

— y’know when people say “if jesus came down to earth, he’d be disappointed at what people are doing in his name” — yea that’s sampo but like for real

— damage control

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© written by sunderingstars. do not copy, repost, translate, modify, or claim my work as your own.

[cuteniarose]

Personally I find it absolutely hilarious that when it comes to LoK villains, my opinion of them can be summed up more or less like this:

Vaatu? The skrunkliest skrunkly!! I adore him, he deserved so much better. Wasted potential to the max, even the creators contradict themselves when it comes to him. Spirits can’t be evil, and yet a spirit is the ultimate evil?? Raava and Vaatu represent Ying and Yang, a.k.a the natural balance of all things, and yet it’s okay for Vaatu to be destroyed and/or locked away for an immeasurable amount of time??? Okay, sure Bryke, sure. I can name at least two people (@katkastrofa and @shadelorde) who would handle that story arc much, much better with a grand total budget of 0

The Red Lotus? THE ULTIMATE BLORBOS!!! Took up residence in my head almost 6 years ago and have refused to leave ever since. Every fandom related thing I indulge in is at least somewhat related to them. Actually had a point but the creators realised they couldn't show the bad guys having a point so suddenly we go from wanting to make the world a better place for the lower classes to genocide and torturing a teenager. Because that's what anarchism is, duh. And also they will all die horrific on-screen deaths at the end which may or may not have traumatised 12yo Nia so much they cannot even think of the Book 3 finale without having a panic attack. Can I sue Bryke for emotional damages??

Kuvira? My poor little meow meow who I will defend from the world. Yet another victim of Bryke realising stabilizing the Earth Kingdom and taking back colonized land was in fact a noble and righteous goal, and we can't have that, so let's make her a totalitarian dictator trying to create an ethnostate, commiting ecoterrorism and sending people to fucking concentration camps. Because that makes all the bloody sense. I would straight up fight every last Beifong for her and not because she's hot, I'm aroace I don't care what she looks like, but because if I was told that I'm part of a family only for then to be excluded from the family portrait and called a stray dog that nobody wanted I too would rip a hole in space and time

Amon and Tarrlok? Well..... they sure do exist ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[avionvadion]

Okay so I made a post before how Lilith might be one of three things- two of which involved her being a Red Herring, one of which involved her working with Eve, and a third with her being a villain duo with Eve. Now I have a different theory, and one I’m leaning towards.

In the Jewish Text and Bible, Lilith becomes a Succubus. A creature of temptation and lust.

We see in the family portraits that Lilith has horns. If Hazbin Hotel is following the lore, then she was probably still transformed into a Succubus. But, we also know that, in Hazbin Hotel lore, those who become demons take on traits based on their souls. (Ie, Angel Dust and his family all being spiders due to their mafia family’s “web of crime”.) So if this applies to Lilith as well, since she fell from humanity, there has to be a reason for WHY she became a Succubus specifically.

My theory: Lilith approached Lucifer first. She seduced him to escape Adam, and fell into lust. Maybe she loved him, maybe she didn’t.

(And yes I know the creator said they were madly in love, but that was also back when we only had the pilot and when we thought Lucifer was an asshole instead of an adorable duck obsessed dad who’s trying his best.) (It could also just be the creator trying to trick everyone so as to make the twist a bigger surprise; some creators do that.)

Unlike Lucifer, who fell into despair, Lilith thrived in Hell, her songs being the reason why everyone sings. She wanted an escape, Lucifer was her way out, and I’m absolutely convinced it was her plan to feed Eve the apple.

I also think she gaslit Charlie- a lot- because in the first episode Charlie says that “saving her people” was her mother’s dream, believing her father to have just “allowed” the extermination. But we later find out Lucifer fought to have the Hellborn protected, and that he once tried to do exactly what Charlie is doing now and redeem Sinners. But he failed.

Whether or not Lilith eventually fell in love with Lucifer, I’m convinced their relationship started as Lilith trying to use Lucifer, and when his ideals began to deviate from her own, she took that as a sign and “split” from him. (As Charlie has said in episode five). Lilith lied to try and create enmity between the father and daughter, probably so Charlie wouldn’t continue what Lucifer started, as that would go against Lilith’s ultimate goal (most likely a Rebellion against Heaven, if we go with the posters seen in the pilot) but evidently failed.

Lucifer still wears his ring because he’s still in love with her, but to Lilith he was most likely a means to an end and being with him no longer served a purpose. Now Charlie is standing in the way of Lilith’s goal, having successfully redeemed a Sinner.

And what are some of Lilith’s many titles in the old texts and bible?

“”A breeder of evil spirits” and “a child murdering monster of the night”.”

As a special mention, one of Eve and Lucifer’s punishments were this; “Enmity will be born between you and her, between her offspring and yours, and they shall bruise your head and your offspring shall bruise their heels”.

So Lilith is definitely going to be a complicated character, whereas Eve will be more the result of God’s will/punishment.

Anyways, this is all to say that I support both women’s rights and women’s wrongs, and as much as I’m obsessed with Lucifer I would absolutely adore a (potentially villainous) Lilith who is doing fucked up things for a misguided/believes she’s in the right kind of reason.

[inconspicious-random-thoughts]

I just had a wild thought. What if Alastor's goal to become the one "pulling all the strings" in Hell isn't about overthrowing the other Overlords or even Lucifer? What if the one he wants to overthrow is Roo? Whatever or whoever Roo truly is, her status as the Root of all Evil makes her Hell's version of God. She's the ultimate power of the demonic realm of Sin, beyond the Deadly Sins, beyond the Morningtars. Her malignant web spreads to every corner of Hell. There's no station higher than that for a demon. Maybe the reason Alastor is trying to groom Charlie to come into her power more is because he thinks she may somehow have the power to destroy or at least overwhelm Roo, which will put Alastor in a position to steal her godlike abilities for himself.

In short, I believe Alastor's ultimate goal is to become the new Root of Evil, which will effectively make him the unofficial ruler of all of Hell.

Hello old pal!

Sorry for the delay, I'm having bit of a bad luck streak. I had no power for nearly a week. Which was terrible as this week the temperature spiked 20 additional degrees and given little time and preparation for to accumulate to the heat. So I had no fans to help cool me down. Nor food as everything spoiled in my refrigerator and freezer.

On top of that my pay got severely messed up. I was also assaulted while I was out working. It was completely random, wrong place wrong time type of situation. But I live in pretty much the safety state as well the safest areas. In a neighborhood that one would least expect to get assaulted and attempted carjack. So, I was completely off guard when the woman attacked me. She came to me in a panic for help which I was attempting to do, but it rapidly change to her becoming angry and attacking me within a minute. The change was so quick, I nearly suffer whiplash from it. Luckily, I didn't get hurt much beside bruising. But I was shaken up tremendously.

But back to your question

I honestly, don't think Alastor motives are power hungry and rule Hell. I'm sure, he purposely design by the creator to guess his motives and imply he wants to rule Hell.

I think the only reason why he wanted power to begin with so no one can control him or boss him around. There's freedom when one is powerful. Which is what Alastor wants. Free to indulge whatever whim that catches his fancy. When those same whims he was was force to hide while alive. Who going to stop him if no one can enforce their objections?

But its semi implied that his power was given by his owner of his soul, considering they can restrict his power. So, while Alasor made a deal with them to gain power and "freedom", but in the long scheme of things, the freedom became a lot more restrictive with a collar around his throat and the freedom is given how generous his owner willing to slack the leash.

So, I don't think ruling Hell is Alastor personal objective.

However, I will admit...I really love your idea and honestly, I can vision it for it to be possible.

It be the reason why Alastor was willing to make a deal with Roo. While, Roo having his soul isn't ideal when one planning on overthrow their owner. But maybe there's a clause that Alastor will retain all of Roo power if for whatever the nearly impossible possible, Roo cease to exist. Or something along those lines. Or perhaps Alastor is "under cover". Just trying to keep his enemy closer by serving them to gain knowledge and find weaknesses. Roo would be less guarded around Alastor when all she had to do is yank his chain or threaten to rip his soul if he got out of line. Alastor is one that play the long game.

I know there's people who think Alastor wants to rule Hell. Which is fine, he might be. I just don't think so. But everyone concluded that Alastor wants to overthrow Lucier and take his place. But your idea...I love...it reaches further then that. To the embodiment of Evil itself. Reaching out into every dark nook and cranny in Hell. Its beautiful, really. Alastor wouldn't be one t o reach and dream small. If he acted out it would be go big or go home, and he would go BIG. Not be the top of the food chain of hierarchy of Hell. But Hell and the very idea of evil.

In short, I believe Alastor's ultimate goal is to become the new Root of Evil, which will effectively make him the unofficial ruler of all of Hell.

I love the idea Alastor wanting to embody the concept of evil. It also probably grant him more power, freedom and entertainment That can reach beyond Hell.

I don't think this would make canon but I am giddy with the idea.

Tho, I am a very big sucker of terrifying monster/demon/creature being a soft marshmallow for that found family.

Maybe the reason Alastor is trying to groom Charlie to come into her power more is because he thinks she may somehow have the power to destroy or at least overwhelm Roo, which will put Alastor in a position to steal her godlike abilities for himself.

He definitely grooming her to reach her power. At the moment, he only nudging her to point her down a direction he wants her to go on, but I think he have to start poking the bear or proddle harder to get Charlie to open to use her powers. Become the strongest being by accepting that power she refuse to use.

I think Charlie is key to the final arc between Heaven and Hell. Her heritage is of an angel and a sinner, yet she a product of Hell. She a demon of Hell but she never fallen or sinned to be placed in Hell. She seem to be a product that can connect to all three realms, Heave, Hell, Earth (living).

On Top of that, Charlie never really shown any evil intentions. Or seem lured by anything that is evil is disguised in. So, Roo going to have little to no influence of her. (Roo, taking advantage of the rest of the residence is another story) Charlies overwhelming optimistic pure good and kind influences (singing! Fight for love!) is going to overpower Roo.

Now, I think of it. I don't think Alastor ever tempted anyone to indulge in their darker whims. Or convinces them to follow a darker path. I know, he has little screen time with the other residence but I think he does nudge the residence to follow the better behavior. If they fail, it would be entertaining, but maybe, even he doesn't believe in redemption he wants the influence of evil to lessen? It's why he station himself at the hotel. The hotel contains the best ammunition we can use against Roo. Where her reach and influence would have a weaker hold against Charlies hold over the fellow sinners. It's an interesting thought, and I think it be a interesting fanfic if someone choose to write it.

[hogwarts-legacy-confessions]

Anybody who thinks it's easy to be seen in any fandom should receive a reality check. I'm going to give those people a bit of tough love. Yes, it is discouraging to try so hard without getting much interaction in return. Yes, it is mostly based on luck and timing whether you get your foot in. No, a gigantic yield of likes and comments isn't going to pour at you with one or even a handful of works just because you think you deserve it. And no, you're not going to be making friends overnight if ever. Most fandom experiences are actually quite lonely. People who do make fandom friends often sacrifice a ton of their free time and in-real-life relationships to hang out with them. It's hard work, it's rotten work and it can eat at you mentally since getting friends and also sticking with them, no matter what your or they do, is hard. Making people read or look at your things is even harder because you feel like you are imposing on them (most of the time you are by the way). This is why you are not creating for others. You are creating for yourself! Out of self-indulgence! Because you are obsessed over these little fictional characters playing out scenarios in your head! I am so sick of hearing people complain about lack of kudos, likes, reposts and comments, and I can't believe a fandom this small suffers from it as well. Why do you care so much for a made up internet currency that will just make you miserable? Create something out of love for the creation. Why give a flying fvck about what others think about your work because chances are, they aren't real critics with real knowledge and feedback that you need. I've noticed that the "icons" of fandoms often don't even interact much in other's creations' comment sections. So why don't you concentrate on perfecting your craft instead, like they do? You can mope about it all day or you could go outside, work on your poetry, do a study of an impressionist painting or read a classic. Consume art, watch movies, go to the theater, experience. Make a roadmap for your goals, take notes, watch tutorials. That's what's gonna give you skills, inspiration and ultimately, visibility for your work, both fan- and/or original. Just do something useful, you! Right. Now.

👀

Sorry, I'm gonna have to tackle this little pep talk head on.

It's horseshit to say "write for yourself" and act like it's shameful for people to express their frustration with the perception of having their work ignored. Yes, one should ultimately create fanworks that are true to themselves as much as possible, and do so because they enjoy it first and foremost, but I have a feeling that anon here doesn't know what it's like to pour your heart and soul into something and get crickets. When you know people are seeing it, that feels like a judgment of your work - a negative one. I say that as a quasi-popular creator in the fandom.

I'm not saying people are obligated to like or engage with works they don't find appealing, I'm simply arguing why it's valid to feel sad about that situation.

If fandom creations are all "for ourselves" then why bother posting on Tumblr or ao3 in the first place? It's because there's a community here that we want to engage with. Every single one of us.

This posturing about "I write for myself so I don't need or want any validation for my work" might put you in a special category of emotionally different people but it's not true for the majority.

In fact, most of the idea of asking for prompts on Tumblr is to entertain an audience of people supportive of your work, so I hope you've never answered a creative ask, anon. That would make you a hypocrite.

Everyone should absolutely be writing what pleases them first and foremost, but that doesn't detract from the sense of community and pride you get when someone else openly enjoys your work.

I also feel like there's a definite subtext in this confession that reads "you're not popular because you're not good enough. You need to work harder and you'll succeed." Studies have shown that popularity is not necessarily based on merit, and it's almost random what gets popular based on who latches onto something and shares it.

In short, anon, please get off your high horse. There are plenty of amazing writers and artists in this fandom who get little to no traction. Maybe if you stopped getting comments, kudos, and likes on your work for a day we'd see how you feel about this issue then.

This is certainly not a dynamic unique to HL, although in a fandom with only a few hundred active members at most (at least on Tumblr), it feels more personal when your work is ignored. Since our tags are small, it's harder to just accept that you're being overlooked and not take it personally.

You can find countless posts decrying the overall decrease in engagement in the past few years on Tumblr and begging people to leave kudos and comments! Maybe people should try to keep in perspective that they're not alone, maybe we all should complain less, but the idea that we should be better than wanting others to enjoy our work (and show that) does not sit well with me, especially while we're constantly watching others in the fandom sniff each other's farts.

[only-lonely-stars]

Dragons Rising Season 2, Part 2 - Many Thoughts

So... because I don't have Netflix and can't actually support the creators, I watched the leaked Season 2 Part 2 episodes. I have a ton of thoughts. SO MANY SPOILERS under the cut!

Okay, first of all. Loved the concept, some of the execution was a little iffy... feels like a lot of Dragons Rising, so I'm not surprised. The ending was satisfying enough to make me want more.

Comments on Season 2 Part 2:

As I've come to expect, the animation was spectacular. It makes up for a LOT of faults, and the big fight at the end genuinely had me invested. I am LOVING the way they're handling it.

The Motion Source Dragon asking Lloyd to be her champion was... an interesting choice. Felt forced, but it ended up okay. I wouldn't have made that writing choice.

LOVE the murder mystery, it felt more original than most of the season. No notes.

Another tournament? Given that S4 is one of my favorites of the original show, I had to love it. And it turned out great!

Bleckt always felt sus. Glad to be proven right there.

It's about time we had some conflict between Arin and Sora. Was she really never going to tell him the truth? Of course it would backfire...

PALEMAN!!!! WE LOVE PALEMAN!!!

Frak is a good side character, I want to see more of him in S3.

Okay writers, go ahead and stab me and twist the knife. I knew the Jaya reunion would hurt, but I DIDN'T WANT IT TO HURT LIKE THIS! I am this close to writing a fix-it fic - it was done so well.

Was anyone else ready to break something after seeing how obvious the "rigged games" twist was? The characters not acting on it feels like weak writing...

The rotary phone joke was done well. I appreciated it.

Lloyd's not-so-prophetic dreams are beginning to get on my nerve circuits. (By the way, BRING BACK PIXAL, PLEASE I AM BEGGING YOU.)

Wyldfyre and Roby are an interesting pairing... just weird enough to work. Not sure I love either character, but the ship is good!

Cole finding his mother's mech actually made me cry. Add it to the list of fic ideas! ;v;

Last but not least, Arin's corruption arc... wow! I honestly didn't think the writers had the guts to do it. Whether it actually pays off, I'm on the fence, but the fact they were willing to try it earns a lot of respect from me. I love that choice.

Hopes and dreams for Season 3:

Seeing more of Jay. Can we please get him back where he belongs? My Jaya-loving heart aches. Also, handling the whole wolf mask thing.

While I'm on the subject, I also hope we see: Pixal, Master Wu (in the flesh), the various Ninja's parents, Princess Vania, Harumi, Lord Garmadon, Dareth, Benthomaar, and/or the Metalonians!

Diving into Arin's arc a little more. I'd love to see him genuinely grapple with his morals and goals. My ultimate dream would be for him to be unaffiliated with anyone. Let him be a lone wolf if he wants!

More character growth for Sora and Wyldfyre. This half of S2 really made me care about them. At least for Wyldfyre, that's new! For Sora especially, I'd love to see more confidence... and maybe that friendship with Jordana playing out.

KAI! Kai doing ANYTHING. Watching him run around an M.C. Escher drawing every once in a while was not that satisfying.

More about the dragon ivory. It was such an interesting bit of lore, I want to know more.

How will Lloyd use the Motion icon/sword thing? In a moment of dire need? Probably, but what moment?

PLEASE let's go back to SHINTARO please I am on my knees--

Final rating for the season: 8.5/10. Has room to improve, but I still really liked it!

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

Speaking of parallels, and yes I should really make an alt blog where I pretend to be a different person so the tag looks like more than one person has Akudama Drive brainrot, despite AD having a bunch of great parallels, the Courier/Cutthroat alleged mirror has always fallen flat for me.

It's the first one you'd notice, being that their promotional profiles show the exact same body measurements. Whenever someone points that out, someone else will answer "because they're meant to be foils of each other, duh," but... how so?

To me, other characters like Pupil and Hoodlum have stronger parallels going on.

Even if we admit it's all about Cutthroat seeming like Swindler's main ally at first, only for this role to actually belong to Courier - first off, I never actually believed that, because it all starts with Courier not being careful with his fucking money.

I guess they both have purple eyes and sort of a bowl cut...? It all seems like something's missing to make it work. It seems to me that they don't have important interactions or actions that parallel each other.

Before the anime concluded, I remember myself and other viewers trying to come up with theories that would link the two. I somewhat recall someone thinking they were made in a laboratory. But in the end, nothing happened. Their role didn't particularly mirror each other.

All of this to say, I did find something yesterday when I was proofreading my Wiki edits. Wait for it... ....

They both have a ~dead mom~

...It's just that Cutthroat's dead mom is a manga-exclusive flashback, so clearly, something's off. We don't even know if this was intended by the directors or invented by Rokurou Ogaki, that I'm aware. Do you think we can ask him which stories weren't his?

The thing is, the only way I can really look at it is that Courier is really... a victim all throughout, whereas Cutthroat was in control and responsible for what happened. As a matter of fact, is it a publicly known fact that Cutthroat killed his mom? If it were the case, it could explain Courier's clearly pre-existing disdain for him displayed in Episode 9. That's just never said.

It really feels like it's missing. The story I'm suggesting here is rather compelling, in my opinion, and does create a parallel between them. It makes sense that Courier wouldn't acknowledge his feelings, but isn't it compelling to think about the possibility that the entire way, up until Episode 9, Courier was secretly yet actively disgusted by Cutthroat? It would do wonders for his characterisation.

(My babyboy..............)

Especially when Doctor repeats time and time again that he's a "feminist". Clearly, even though he doesn't want to admit it, this dialogue is a hint for the viewer that Courier doesn't like killing women.

... Something our misogynistic king Cutthroat loves to do.

Then again, what role does their fucking BMI play into this? We know Akudama Drive turned out a little rushed in the end (with the Director's Cut being the ultimate proof - literally all that constituted the ending was cut from the TV run for time). Is it possible that there was originally an intention from the creators to have a parallel between Courier and Cutthroat be more on the nose... that was eventually cut for time?

I can find ways in which they're completely opposed, but I could probably do that between Cutthroat and Hoodlum too if I wanted to. They're just different characters with different stories, personalities, and goals. To say Cutthroat and Courier's differences are more important is a bias based on the supposition that they have the same body measurements for a reason. If it's just their physique - and 99% of Akudama Drive fans don't know about Cutthroat's dead mom - then there's no parallel to speak of.

But is this all a misunderstanding, or could there have been a version of Akudama Drive that put an accent on these two characters' similarities and differences? (One that Komatsuzaki, who was seemingly more involved with the initial designing process while Cindy Yamauchi was more involved with the way the actual anime turned out, might have still thought major, for example. Not that this is proof of anything, because he is known to draw whoever the hell he wants and to sometimes make surprising choices.)

So far, I can find more hints that some girls I've met and I are meant to be foils of each other.

...Ultimately, I'm only upset about it because I crave it.

Imagine if there were actually something major about these two major characters. A discrete but meaningful link. Something that really did join and oppose them in particular. A Cool Theme.

What we do have, in the end, besides the same BWH, is this: Courier's mom was killed, which was heartbreaking for him, whereas Cutthroat killed his own mom, which was The Shit for him. Courier avoids killing if he can (allegedly - there's a clear hint that he's a hypocrite) while Cutthroat seeks that. Courier doesn't kill women, whereas Cutthroat loves that shit. Again, unfortunately, that's just if you believe there's something g-

...Why is this screencap so bisexual coloured...? I swear I didn't edit this.

Anyway... Again, unfortunately, that's just if you believe there's something going on between them in the first place.

Watch this: "Hoodlum didn't kill his mom (most likely), while Cutthroat killed his. Hoodlum avoids killing, while Cutthroat seeks that. Hoodlum doesn't kill women*, which Cutthroat clearly does. Hoodlum has purple CLOTHES while Cutthroat has purple EYES..."

...My assumption is that Courier and Cutthroat were meant to be foils, but it fell flat. End post

*...Up until he does. But it was just the one time, give him a break. Beside, my point here is this: if you're just comparing characters to Cutthroat, you can find any point of difference, that actually doesn't really mean anything. Cutthroat isn't known to only kill women, so it doesn't really matter.

[grumpy-potat]

The Creator and His Creation or Frankenstein and His Monster

A Tarot Pick a Pile

This Wednesday we will look at Mary Shelly's classic gothic horror. A man and his monstrous attempt to create life. Brought about by a fear of where science was heading. It can be seen as a desire to shun women from the life equation all together.

We can look at many different versions of this story and see what led them down the path to their creation, but what is leading you to create the things you desire this coming week ahead?

Let's do a three-card spread focusing on the Idea, the Process, and the Aspiration.

Remember this is all for entertainment and fun.

Frankenstein 1931 Three of Swords, Five of Wands rx, Knight of Wands The idea that sparked your current creative endeavors is one rooted in heartbreak. A profound sense of loss has sent you searching to create or focus on something new. This new idea might be helping you avoid a conflict, but it is also acting as a release for your inner tensions and turmoils. The ultimate goal is to go head first into this new idea and not worry about the dangers. To focus on your passions even if others aren't going to follow.

Curse of Frankenstein Eight of Wands rx, Seven of Cups, Ten of Wands Frustrations and delays have sparked the idea for your new pursuits. The desire to get out of this rut has pushed you to the brink and you feel the need to create this change for yourself.. The process you have been following has been one that can lead to dangers though. Opportunities that arise can be beneficial but you need to be wary because some may be illusions, and wishful thinking can lead to dangerous outcomes. Seeing your idea through to the end is an admirable goal, but don't get burned out by the added responsibility your idea could bring.

Young Frankenstein Eight of Wands, Three of Pentacles, The Lovers You may have felt like something was standing in your way, but now nothing can hold you back from creating whatever project you had in the works. Even if it was just in the initial planning stages. You have everything ready right now, and maybe even some friends waiting to help you along the way. The goal is to have choices available to you and to unite with the people around you. This idea that you are working on could be a great way to build those relationships and connections.

Rocky Horror Picture Show Four of Cups, 6 of Cups rx, Knight of Swords An apathy has been gripping you and things that you once enjoyed haven't been giving you that same spark, that is your inspiration to try and change your world and create something new. The process you have been using to try and get back some of your spark is reconnecting with your inner child and rebuilding some of that playfulness you feel that you have lost. The desire is to get back that ambition, to stop second-guessing your actions, and find your spark again.

Thanks for joining me again on this tarot reading journey. These group reads are something I am new at, but it is fun. I don't go out often so I often just read for the same few people over and over. This gives me practice to stretch my mental muscles with this.

[dlamp-dictator]

I've been thinking about Tsubaki Yayoi a bit lately. She was my main throughout most of the Blazblue series for her simple and straightforward gameplan and Julie Ann Taylor honestly knocking it out of the park voicing her.

But namely, I've been thinking about the fact that she was originally meant to be a lesbian in love with Noel.

You'd have to do a bit of digging for the information -and take my words with a grain of salt- but I believe Toshimichi Mori, the creator of Blazblue, had said at some point Tsubaki was originally meant to be in love with Noel Vermillion, the main heroine of the game, to the point of confessing her love at some point. This was later scrapped for a romance with Jin since the storyline apparently couldn't line up well enough for that, but also apparently the idea of having a lesbian/non-straight female was so strong that they created the canonically bisexual Makoto Nanaya to fill in that LGBT gap.

And this has always fascinated me. The romantic undertones of Jin and Tsubaki's relationship honestly felt pretty half-baked since the game's story was pushing the two having a more platonic sibling relationship than a romantic one, and while Tsubaki's relationship with Noel is definitely more intense than a typical friendship it's also hard to claim her to be a closeted lesbian since it doesn't go all the way. And... I wanted to talk about that for a little bit.

But first, a synopsis... well, of sorts anyway. Blazblue's a bitch to go in depth about lore-wise.

To spare everyone a long as fuck summary, Blazblue's story can be summarized as the main cast locked in various timeloops and alternate dimensions trying to figure out how to break out of them. Some characters know more than others, and Tsubaki is more of a layman, someone that's clueless about the timeline stuff, but also in the center of it due to her family's rank in the political landscape of the setting, and her abilities as a top-tier fighter. She's at the center of a lot of major events but is never too deeply involved despite her position claiming otherwise. Some of this is due to Blazblue's wonky writing from Chronophantasma onward, some of this is due to her just honestly having nothing to do outside of being that layman and representative of the elite class of Blazblue's world.

And now, a disclaimer.

I want to stress this analysis/discussion is not some weird fix-fic, me trying to explain a ship, or me thinking I can write better than those at ASW, I'm just a nerd having some fun and this little side comment hasn't left me head in years. If you must, think of it as a similar vent/discussion to my Tomodachi Game post. I'm just... getting this off my chest in as organized a fashion as I can.

Now then, let's break this down a little on how to make this work.

Tsubaki's General Story

To keep things brief (and also because I talked in depth about it here), Tsubaki's story is one of tragedy and deconstruction, a warning to those who blindly follow the ideals and rules of others, along with a breakdown of the 'Yamato Nadeshiko' archetype within many pieces of Japanese media. Tsubaki, believing that unquestioningly following the orders and beliefs of her family to the letter, was left to be used and manipulated as tool for others, to the point of being all but enslaved by her originally lofty ideals. With the right words to twist her perfect black-and-white world gray and the right target to vent her frustration on, she was willing to go so far as to kill her surrogate brother and her best friend because she was unable to think for herself and ultimately decided if push came to shove she's kill anyone that distorted her pure and straightforward worldview. And as she learns how wrong this view of things is she starts looking inward to try finding her own justice, her own goals and way of life.

This (to me) culminates in Tsubaki's Izayoi arcade mode in Chronophantasma, where in her last stage she meets Noel, the friend she tried to kill in a jealous rage one game ago, and finally admits her insecurities and doubts about herself, along with her secret hatred and jealousy of Noel, laying out everything before demanding Noel fight her in a serious duel without holding anything back so she can finally, truly laying out all of her emotions bare and see just what's inside her heart. Light, darkness, and everything in between that she was blinded to.

To me, that ends Tsubaki's narrative in the main story, but there's technically a fourth game that finishes out the story as a whole.

To briefly go over the events in Central Fiction, the short version is that in the main story there's an in-universe semi-reboot of the series and Tsubaki is back to square one in terms of her development. The plot breaks off depending on the canon story or the arcade story. The canon story has her semi-cured of the reboot memory wipe and she agrees to help the main cast with her abilities. Though none to pleased about helping Ragna, she pushes past that for the sake of helping Jin and Noel instead.

The arcade mode switches things up though, following the trail of her Izayoi arcade ending in terms of tone. Both her Tsubaki and Izayoi arcade modes follows similar beats to each other, but branches slightly depending on the character chosen, both ultimately ending with her deciding that she'd rather protect her friends than her ideals, even if it means denying and fighting against the simple and straightforward world she wanted and the heroes she respected. More or less the final evolution of her character arc after Chronophantasma's arcade ending.

Now here's a few facts about Tsubaki that blurb didn't explain since that's all the story stuff:

Tsubaki comes from an extremely wealthy & traditional family that put a lot of societal pressures on her.

Tsubaki is the product of inbreeding (yes, this is important to note) and is simply the first child of her generation to survive her birth.

Tsubaki has a childish view of justice at her core, despite her maturity due to her family's background.

Putting all that together Tsubaki comes from a very conservative family, but once she went to the military academy outside of her family's powerful influence she met up with people from different walks of life and was able to expand her views and experiences. Yes, I'm reaching a little too deeply into this, but I'm also a nerd, it's kinda' what I do. I also think it's important to break down a character to a relatable point so we have a good frame of the writing. You can only make a character so fantastical before they become an un-relatable, cartoonish caricature of a concept like 90% of long-running shounen and modern isekai, the characters just don't feel real or engaging outside the power fantasy.

But back on point. Throughout Tsubaki's story in Continuum Shift we learn that despite her experiences in the military academy that they still don't trump her family's strict views of justice and tradition. We also know that in the blurb explaining how the Yayoi family works that Tsubaki is not only likely the last pureblood Yayoi, but is also likely going to be the last of her family line, at least to the level of purity it has now. This likely puts massive pressure on her to maintain a certain level of traditionalism and decorum expected of her. Along with this, she has her military duties as well, being an assassin/secret police for her government.

Okay, but What About the Lesbian Thing?

Right, I got a little sidetracked going over video game lore.

This is actually pretty easy to explain. A lot of Tsubaki story is about accepting yourself at the end of the day. The good, the bad, the light, and the dark. Tsubaki has been to both extremes, blinded by light and ideals, her feelings for Jin and jealousy toward Noel were her main undoing. On the surface this feels like Tsubaki is very much straight due to her obsession with Jin, and the game really wants you to believe that.

But... it doesn't really work.

Sorry folks, but I'll have to talk about lore again and my own theorizing here.

Tsubaki's love of Jin is more that of a platonic sibling/cousin than a true romance. The games and even comic series make it very clear that Tsubaki's idea of love is very... Disney, to put it one way. She does love Jin, she truly does, but it's more as an object of a affection than loving Jin for who he is. She loves the idea of being with Jin, the idea of being married to the war hero and all around praised Jin Kisaragi. She loves being with Jin, working with Jin, being Jin's number two and the ideal warrior princess to go with his prince.

But.

But... that's really where it starts and ends. Jin's honestly just another ideal in Tsubaki's black and white world. The object of her affection. I mean hell, despite it being years later and her being implied to have romantic feelings for him, Tsubaki still calls Jin her brother, and Jin himself pushes that fact. And I mean that quite literally as in the Japanese dub of the game Tsubaki consistently refers to Jin with the somewhat childish honorific 'Jin-nii-sama' even as a woman in her early twenties. The love that's there is one of an eager sister wanting to be with her older brother, not a longing lover wanting to be with the one she cares about. And... like, more over, Jin's kind of an asshole outside of Tsubaki. With Tsubaki he is kind, gentle, and even somewhat princely because Tsubaki is one of the few people that can push past his abrasive attitude and see the hardworking, intense, noble man he truly is under all that arrogance and hostility. But everyone else gets caustic, acidic, abrasive attitude, and even Tsubaki is only so immune to it, past relations or not.

Now, to put the spin back to Noel. Tsubaki's relationship with her is a bit... odd. Tsubaki said it herself in her Izayoi arcade mode. Noel is very much like a rabbit. She's cute, jumpy, and quick to flee from danger. She's a cute girl that needs to be protected, and Tsubaki very much does protect her in her Central Fiction arcade modes. With Noel we see a gentleness and kindness that Tsubaki doesn't spare many people. She's kind and professional to most folk, but with Noel it truly feels like she's going out of her way to be extra welcoming, partly because Noel herself is so sensitive and partly just... well, out of love for her.

I mean folks, I'm gonna' drop the professionalism and analysis here and just say things straight out. Daisuke Ishiwatari made the Tsubaki vs. Noel theme before he made the Tsubaki vs. Jin theme, and the emotions in Memory of Tears, especially the remix, are just a lot more intense than in Childish killer. Izayoi's Chronophantasma arcade ending had Tsubaki go full shounen and straight up had her punching out her feelings and emotions toward Noel in a no-holds-barred duel against her, a duel she had to coax Noel into like convincing your crush to just go on that one date at the rowdy bar that serves great chicken. The Alter Memory anime dub straight up had Noel admit that she (platonically) always loved Tsubaki despite her faults. In fact, a lot of Noel's lines and feelings toward Tsubaki could be read as sapphic in the right light. We can debate if Tsubaki has feelings for Noel, but Noel definitely has some feelings about Tsubaki, platonic or not.

Jin and Tsubaki's relationship was pushed to be more brother-sister than lovers ever since Chronophantasma. Even the writers didn't really wanna' ship that, despite the hints and implications.

But... yeah, getting back on topic.

The key idea here is that for all the implications of Tsubaki and Jin being a couple there's a lot more implying that Tsubaki and Noel have a more complicated relationship than implied.

So... Why Wasn't It Canon?

I was originally going to put together than outline of how I'd have this hypothetical story go, but... well, like I said, I'm not really in the wheelhouse of doing fix-fics for a myriad of reasons. It's going to be a lot better to explain why, despite implications and some easy tweaks here and there, why Tsubaki and Noel our ultimately just girl-friends instead of girlfriends.

Again, it was already explained that they just couldn't make the plot work, but... I also think there are some other reasons why as well. Mind you, this is all just theory crafting on my part. But with all that said...

Not the Focus: This one's pretty simple to explain. Tsubaki and Noel, while important characters to the story, aren't the main character. By Chronophantasma and especially Central Fiction this series becomes the Ragna Show and their relationship would had detracted and distracted from that main story of Ragna the Bloodedge's finale.

Lack of Confidence: Blazblue, much like Guilty Gear, is rather progressive all things considered when you look beyond the horny as hell female designs. That said, I believe the writers made it clear in interviews that they aren't confident in writing romance stories in general (look at the botched nightmare of Litchi and Arakune/Roy's storyline for an example of that) and a lesbian romance story would had been... rough, to put it politely. We all saw how rowdy the Guilty Gear fandom got when they got a Trans and Nonbinary character after all. It took weeks, took months before things settled down. I don't blame Team Blue for being hesitant to pulling the Lesbian Lever there.

LGBT Reps Already Existed: Like I said, Makoto was made to fill the LGBT gap that was Tsubaki's original storyline, but we also got Amane who's canonically gay, Mai who's canonically trans, and possibly Azrael being either bi or asexual depending on how you want to view him. In terms of actual, proper LGBT representation there was already enough, at least in terms of visibly showing it, and wheeling back on the already implied straight romance of Tsubaki and Jin would had made things... messy.

Enough Plotlines: Central Fiction really screwed the pooch on a lot of ideas, but there were enough faltering subplots already. Adding more would had been a pain if I'm being frank. I... don't have a high opinion of Central Fiction's storyline outside the Ragna stuff if I'm being frank about.

So... What Now?

With all that said... what now? I just wanted to talk about it really. But who knows, maybe I'll write up that little fanfic after all. This is just too interesting to not try taking a stab at, but that'll be for a later date.

In any case, I'll se you folks later.

[cupidselixirsubs]

HOW TO MANIFEST EASILY !!!

1.

Believe 🎀

Yes I know, it’s the word you see in every post about manifestation & subliminals, but this is something that you need to have to achieve your goal… manifesting your wants.

When you first start manifesting you may think ‘Oh, that’s simple! I just need to believe and boom I’ll have my results’, yes and no… Simply getting results by believing is something that isn’t as easy as you might think unfortunately. Limiting beliefs, blockages, negativity, wrong mindset, obsessing, disappointment when results don’t come, etc, are all things stoping you from having full belief in manifesting and getting results.

This can be solved by listening to subliminals to clear blockages, rid you of limiting beliefs and stop attachment.

ALSO!

Just remember you in another reality have that thing you so desire, that small nose, dream wardrobe, high IQ, etc… so technically you already have it. When manifesting you are affirming something you already have (just in another reality), so what you are saying is true. So, you can’t not believe something that true, can you?

If you aren’t seeing your results in 3D it doesn’t mean they won’t come, they just aren’t here yet… try to detach from looking for results and start affirming you already have your results because if you already have them then why would you look for something you already clearly have? Don’t obsess. Your results are already here.

If you are still getting negative thoughts about subs and manifesting take a break, go for a walk, clear your mind. You’ll feel better. Come back to it after a week and try to find the root cause of that negativity. I promise, you’ll get your results when you change your mindset, reset your beliefs and get rid of negativity and blockages.

If you believe and are positive, congrats, you have overcome the hardest stage!!

2.

Use subs that change your mindset and beliefs!! 📼

I recommend these type of subs so, so much!! They are so much help and really need to be used, don’t neglect them, especially if you aren’t receiving results ! ! ! They are even more helpful than boosters in my opinion.

Also, flushers are a must for when feeling blocked, negative, etc, or are switching between playlists!

Here are some good ones that have helped me and so many others:

Vetala:

- GOD TIER, ultimate limiting beliefs remover & subconscious reprogramming subliminal

- metaverse DETACHER: art of detachment | detach from your desires

- metaverse FLUSHER: restart but 100x BETTER! crazy powerful subliminal flush

##MICH1KO:

- INFINITE CLEARING ! remove limiting beliefs + blockages subliminal bundle

Kalpelsu:

- blockage remover

Solar subs:

- operant creator:: strong, intense belief in your power

- FEARLESS FORMULA:: ultimate mindset changer

Beauty krystalised:

- LIMITLESS | QUANTUM MANIFESTATION: Reprogram your mind to manifest BEYOND LIMITS!

V1PER:

- mindset

Lovlee Subs:

- Subliminal Flush & Refresher

3.

Boosters 💒

!! USE A BOOSTER !! Boosters are also so much help, they help get your results fast and some will even double them. Use them at least two times at the start of your playlist and once at the end. I promise boosters will make a difference.

I recommend boosters by Vetala, Kalpesu, Beauty Krytalised, mii !, anmin cafe!?!, Solar Subs, and V1PER ! Ofc feel free to other subliminal makers but these are my favs and Ik they are 100% safe 💓

4.

Breaks 🎬

Take breaks ! Everyone needs a break once in a while and it’s the same rule for subliminals, listening to them for too long (whether it be on a smaller scale like how many hours you listen to a playlist or a bigger scale like how many days/weeks you are going to listen to the playlist everyday for…)is overwhelming for your subconscious. Sometimes the best results come when you listen for a while and then have a few days break !!

Have a set time you are going to listen to your playlist for, whether it be 30 mins or 3 hours, just set a time limit and stick to it, you’ll eventually get into a routine and routine also helps a whole bunch.

Have a break every 30 mins to an hour and go stretch your legs and grab a glass of water or something so you don’t overload yourself.

5.

Actually drink water 🎱

Cool guys, gals and nb folks keep hydrated.

Make sure to drink water to maintain your health because you need to be as healthy as possible to take in the affirmations easily, subliminals can be draining and dehydrating + it boosts your mood too.

If you don’t like water you can try smoothies, tea, juice, etc… anything that will keep you hydrated ! !

6.

AFFIRMATIONS AFFIRMATIONS 🍧

REPEAT AFFIRMATIONS WHILE LISTENING TO SUBS ! Affirming you already have the results of the sub is just as good as any booster as long as you believe them. Whether you are writing them or saying them in your head or aloud they will help.

Try using as powerful affirmations as you can… such as starting with ‘I am’, ‘I have’ or ‘I am grateful for’, I find science, rumour, god, and universe affs incredibly powerful too.

Writing or repeating affs when not listening to subliminals as well is also recommended. Take time out of your day to repeat your affirmations, even if it’s only for 5 mins, every little thing you can do helps.

7.

Visualise 🎥

Visualisation is another key thing in the process of manifesting your results.

So, if you want to be rich, imagine yourself having a hugely filled bank account, expensive clothing, a mansion, or anything else you want. If you want an acceptance letter then imagine receiving that letter! If you want a friend group then imagine your desired friends, scenarios with them, etc. It’s pretty simple and a well known thing in the subliminal community but still it’s very important.

Making a Pinterest board that fits your goal is also a really great thing to do while visualising or listening to your subliminal ! If you find visualising hard this can be the alternative. Also, it’s really relaxing.

———————————————————————————————————

WELL, guys that’s it for now ! ! This was my first blog on this subject so I’m sorry if it wasn’t in that much detail 💗

I hope this advice was helpful and good luck on your subliminal & manifestation journeys, may you receive all your wants <3 !

From,

Cupids elixir (Yuu) x

[slimehatart]

Hello everyone!

Today's post contains pictures about the time I tried to write down the first steps in the making of my story!

(original Tweet: "Reference sheet post for my story because I love posting about it and sharing with u :D

I plan the introductory chapter & 1st portion of the story to start out with Liora and the backgrounds that lead to the critical part severing her ties with her initial guild, Pure Prosperity.", July 17th, 2021)

So, the blonde girl from my last post (who would go to be called Liora) joins a guild in that world. Just like it is in most animes and video games that habe guilds in them, guilds are groups of people who carry out dangerous and fantastic missions for their clients. It's an extra fun concept in my opinion, because it mixes that yearning for adventures and unusual jobs with the flexibility of a fantasy setting, so those guild jobs are only bound to the boundaries of the creator's imagination!

So the girl, Liora (which is a name of, I think, Hebrew origins, meaning something such as "light"), she somehow joins this prestigious guild called Pure Prosperity, filled with some pretty cool and strong people. She is not very popular with most of her guild mates, though - her habit of selfishly trying to steal the spotlight all the time and provocative behaviour is not well met. Soon, her close relationship with the guild leader Sarec (anagram of Caesar - although I now notice that for that, Sarec is missing an additional A! Oops!) sparks further controversy among her peers, ultimately leading to them plotting against her with their goal being her kicked out.

(Previously unreleased sketch of Liora trying to be filled in on current affairs in the guild by her chaotic assistant Victorine to purposefully crash a guild interview or press conference in order to get her name in the limelight and be known as the face of the group despite not participating in any missions. July 15th, 2021)

Behind the plot stands the strong guild member Patra (inspired by and shortened form of Cleopatra), who was pretty close to Sarec before Liora came along. Patra is a cold and distant lady on the outside. She's got her own goals and knows she needs to stay on Sarec's good side in order to follow her plans. She puts on a good face and tries to bear through it as she thinks he will lose interest in that new girl and even introduces her to her own friends. In the meantime, Liora even manages to get some of her old friends in the guild, such as Victorine and Hertz (who would later be named Sarim), who I will be formerly introducing her at a later post.

(Previously unreleased sketch showing Liora, Patra and a few of her yet unnamed lady friends from other guilds - no one really likes the new and exciting girl, so they too would like it best if she could be avoided. July 11th, 2021)

(original Tweet: "Just a couple of lazy doodles I did between studies and uni stuff", April 2nd, 2022)

But soon, Patra is overrun by her emotions eventually as Liora gains more power that is taken from Patra and begins climbing higher positions inside the guild despite having no real competence to fill them really.

Patra fears a hindrance for her plans as Sarec begins paying her and her objectives less attention. Sarec has had various affairs in the past that came and went, so she swallowed her pride for the greater good, but it seems that Liora poses an even greater threat than she thought, so it's time to get rid of her...

(original Tweet: "Just a couple of late night OC concept art. Uni feels so overwhelming atm, I feel like I'm at my limit. 😭

Struggling a bit mentally but I always found comfort in drawing, so I guess that's why I find myself scribbling more (on suboptimal media/with suboptimal tools) these days.", April 7th, 2022)

While the guild members succeed in shattering Sarec's trust in Liora with their lies and plots, their relationship is hurt further and further as times moves on. Sarec is getting more violent and ruthless by the day, not only in the guild affairs and politics, but he starts treating Liora worse, too. A breaking point is met when Liora catches on to Sarec's and Patra's relationship as the both of them start meeting up romantically again.

In the next press conference, Liora puts them on blast and publically announces her departure from the guild, while she's all dressed up in an iteration of a "revenge dress".

(original Tweet: "This weekend, I started drawing again after a long time (didn't have time, exams amirite). Freedom's taste SO GOOD.

Also traced my traditionally drawn art for the 1st time today! Was fun cause I could incorporate my "real" style into my digital style a bit more. Will try again!", June 26th, 2022)

She is then stripped of all her guild money and ends up losing the place where she's staying. She loses all of her prestigious friends who only pretended to like her because of her newfound and now lost power. Unexpectedly, Victorine and Hertz stay by her side and give up their respective positions in Pure Prosperity and prove to be real friends. Luckily, Liora can stay at the run-down motel in the lesser parts of the town owned by Victorine's family that would later become her legitimate base.

Later on, Liora, who is burdened by a breathtakingly high debt she made to keep up a charade, will be setting up her own guild (which goes under the name Slime Team as of now) and meet various new friends. They help her to trust for the first time and together, they go on all kinds of adventures to earn their money and fame back!

As you can see, I am very much influenced by soap operas, but the way I imagine my story, it is a blend of soap opera, slice of life and shonen! It is so much fun to imagine all the scenarios and arcs my characters go through and as strange as it may sound, I feel so attached to them! As always, I send you my heartfelt thanks for your time and for reading! See you soon with my next art and story pieces!

Opening this Tumblr and just writing my heart and soul off feels so fulfilling! I hope to be reading some of your stories soon, too. It's a bit hard for me to coordinate websites as I'm not very talented with doing so, but I will surely be diving into OC- and artist-Tumblr to get a glimpse of your beautiful worlds too and I can't wait!

[super-kristuff]

So, I got really excited for Cities Skylines 2, and I thought I would write a short essay here to complain about it.

Basically, everything I'm going to say here boils down to the fact that it is not a finished game. It's just not. I read a lot of reviews because I saw the initial backlash to its release, and after the initial flood of bad reviews, it looked like some people had managed to have a positive experience. Following some of the posts made by the community, I think I lot of people are trying to defend the game because the developers are hard working creators that have listened to the community. I myself was very excited for the game because it sounded like it would improve on many of the systems of Cities Skylines, and given time, I think it will be a really impressive game. But despite their work or intentions, it doesn't change the fact that Cities Skylines 2 just isn't finished.

I think the reason I really wanted to make this vent post is because I didn't see my immediate concerns anywhere in the reviews that I read. Obviously there are frame-rate issues even on low settings, incredibly finicky user controls, AND bugs that make the game-play impossible to plan around.

But what I find inexcusable is the changes that they made to the UI? All of the "tweets" are incredible small and hard to read. It's light grey text on a white background, and they disappear far to quickly to read. Which might not have been an issue if any of the info-graphic panels were readable. Each utility is now on its own tab, so it's a five minute affair to figure out what resources the city needs. Also, when zoning, the ground is replaced with the white background used in the info-graphics, so it's impossible to see the light gray zoning tiles. AND there are now a bunch of difference zones that are all light green and light blue? I'm not colorblind, but my goodness, I'm spending so much time squinting at best, and at worst, completely rebuilding a district just to make sure its zoned correctly.

Like, the only reason I took a risk and bought the game is because I have a lot of respect for the developers, and I saw a handful of reviews trying to praise the game where it went right. But ultimately, the flaws of Cites Skylines 2 are so numerous and obvious that I can only assume the developers knowingly released an unfinished product. Honestly, I feel like they were hoping to release the game as a form of play-testing, and I have no intention of paying money to complete their work for them.

And like, it's hard to avoid going into a negative spiral. As a brief counter point, the game is still, at its core, Cities Skylines. It still captures that feeling of city planning, traffic management, and budget planning; but to be fully honest, it fails to fulfill any of those goals as well as Cities Skylines 1. Additionally, any enjoyment you might find in any of these three will be quickly ruined by the numerous bugs or poor design choices.

Circling back to the beginning, the game isn't finished. I think there are a lot of neat mechanics that will probably be up and running in a few months, but the fact that the development team behind Cities Skylines would push the release of this game has quickly eroded any faith that I have in their studio.

Idk how to end this, but those are my thoughts.

[atlasoffline]

it's difficult to enjoy creating content or events for vr when I no longer feel comfortable around most people within the community. There are some diamonds of sincere creators and players that I will always appreciate, but it is difficult to watch some of those same people actively interact with more malicious folks. It has soured my experience so much and I find it very difficult to build friendships with anyone because on top of my personal social anxieties I have to worry about the rest of someone else's connections and honestly I don't have that kind of energy nor the desire to comb through the intricacies of someone's social life.

I think this year I want to really focus what little energy and time I do have outside of work on my booth shop, the archive and maybe crafting public worlds for cvr and vrchat. Ultimately I just want to make things, especially things people can utilize and experience for free. That is what brings me the most joy.

goals for this new year are just taking care of myself, taking care of my loved ones, and trying to be useful to the rest of the universe in my own small ways. Trying to stay kind but not naive. And having more patience and understanding for other people.

this past year has been a big and difficult adventure and I may not have come through it stronger but I made it through it. my social circle is very small but very quality and I am so grateful for that. I love them all so much

anyway I am maybe not going to make the MOST out of this year, but I will make something out of it. I look forward to the process, which is not something I ever thought I would feel for this long. so wish me luck!

[anastoundingmango]

Good god anon let me study you.

When I first saw this ask I thought, “Oh, niche interest ask with fetish undertones. Weird champ but okay.” I even made fun of it on discord.

However, my curiosity had been stirred. I looked it up. And this is where things get interesting.

The first result on the search page was for fanart. On a tumblr blog. Fanart responding to this exact same ask. (Note: I use the DuckDuckGo search engine, so the first result may be different to other searches.)

There are six results that lead to tumblr drawings based off requests within the first two rows alone.

I thought, thats weird. So I clicked on the first fanart and the post is from fucking June 20th, 2018, almost three years ago. The question had the exact same phrasing.

(Link To Post)

I needed to know, how far back did this go? How expansive was this?

The likelihood of two questions that intricate being the exact same are extremely slim, especially for this niche of a character and complex of a question.

“Oh Yeah Cartoons!” Was run on Nickelodeon from 1998 to 2001, with reruns going from 2002 to 2007 on Nickelodeon, and reruns on Nick Toons going from 2002 to 2019. It only had 34 episodes. Herb, the man himself, was only in the second segment of episode 23, an episode that aired on November 20, 1999.

So, I pull tumblr back up.

I went into the tumblr search bar and typed “herb oh yeah cartoons”.

There were 104 posts in the search, 96 responding to this exact same anon, the earliest being from August 26th, 2016. Five years ago.

(Link To Post)

What the fuck. This anon has been sending the exact same ask for 5 years, about a one off character from a show from the late 90s and early 2000s.

Also special shout out to one of my favorite posts responding to it:

Anon is nothing if not committed, the “I’ve told you three times” is so comedic kafhakfjhekaj

So, of course, I did some graphing! Remember, these are only the ones that people have posted publicly. We have no idea how many have been deleted, trashed or ignored.

This is the timeline of the posts:

And here is the year frequency:

(My personal theory as to the spike in 2020 is that older years’ asks/art of this may have been deleted.)

So, anon, who are you? Why have you been, for almost 5 years, been sending the exact same question to so many blogs? Are you a bot? If so, what’s your purpose?

I have three theories: 

You are an extremely dedicated person with a niche interest who just really wants fanart of this character.

You are a bot meant to spam and troll people with requests open.

You are a bot meant to send an ask to people with posts about open requests as a way to give starting artists requests where they might not be getting them.

Any way this goes, I must praise your dedication. If you, or the creator behind this potential bot, wants to give me insight please DM me. I just want to know why you do this, you magnificently twisted creature.

If anyone reading this post has any information regarding Herb Anon, or has been a victim of Herb Anon, please fill out this form:

Herb Anon Form Link

[comicaurora]

How do you deal with going from story eater to creator of story? What do you do if your audience sees flaws or perceives lack of depth, finds potential you never saw and feel it's wasted, or can't find what you thought you were writing? Problems you didn't realize? Mistakes? Of course people are positive but i think people who see negative are also valid to say so bc they say it for a reason and often care. But when to balance that? Do your thoughts matter at the end of the day abt the story?

Of course they matter.

The short answer is you cannot be worrying about this when you write. Your goal when writing should be telling the story you want to tell, not telling a perfect story that is completely above criticism and could never be improved, because that is impossible.

You could bake the most beautiful red velvet cake with exquisite frosting and a moist crumb and someone will tell you "you should've added another tier" and someone else will tell you "this cake would taste better if it were square" and someone will add "I think this'd be a little better if you'd used more baking powder" and someone else will say "I don't like cream cheese frosting, you should've used chocolate buttercream instead" and if you try to change your cake to please every one of those people you'll end up with a big pile of frosting-y crumbs. Plus, the people who actually like your cake fine will be disappointed that you took it away from them to "fix" it and they ended up with much less cake than they wanted.

Your audience will have opinions on your work, and you cannot and should not pre-empt those opinions. It's not your job to control how the audience sees your story - your job is just to tell the story. Criticism is good and being open to it is good, but ultimately you need to keep sight of what you want from this story. Do you want to tell a perfect story, or do you want to tell this story? In the pursuit of art, if you compromise your own enjoyment of the creative process too much, you will burn out, and then nobody gets any cake.

To address the other part of your question, the shift from fan-side media analysis to writing helped confirm something I kind of already knew: transformative work of any kind is orders of magnitude easier than building an original work from nothing. This is a huge part of its appeal, of course - if someone wants to flex their writing muscles without doing a ton of heavy lifting to establish setting and characters, they can just grab some established characters and write about them, or take an established plotline and say "I'm gonna tweak like 10% of this and see what happens." It's a way for the audience to engage with media that lets them consume it on a deeper, more personally satisfying level than just watching or reading it - it lets them digest it, turn it into part of their own creative process. I've sketched fanart of characters and scenes that were parked in my head rent-free because it gave me creative energy to do so.

And that's all well and good. It's nice clean fun. But telling your own story is very, very hard. You don't just have to build the world and characters and establish them from the ground up - you also need to guide their movements into satisfying and thematically consistent character arcs, keep the pacing tight, establish stakes that are actually concerning, build up mysteries with actual solutions that intrigue without being frustrating, dodge the yawning trope pitfalls so you don't fall in and drag the story down with you. And then you need to keep doing it as the story gets heavier and heavier and longer and longer behind you, keeping track of all the stuff you've previously established and all the trailing plot threads you haven't resolved yet and planning for where you're gonna lug the whole thing in the future.

And, to put it bluntly, it's real easy for someone chilling with a brisk glass of lemonade watching you drag this enormous tangled mass along inch by inch to sidle over, tap you on the shoulder and say "I can't believe you didn't spend more time on Guard Number 3."

Everyone who ever reads your story will have a version in their head that they think would be absolutely perfect, and some of them will complain at you that their theoretical perfect version is very different from yours, and every one of these people's perfect versions will be completely different from each other's. You cannot take it as a catastrophic personal failing that someone wishes 2% of your story was a little bit differently shaped.

Don't categorically reject all criticism, but you have to engage with that criticism critically. Some of it'll be pointing out legit mistakes (since, as mentioned, you're dragging a huge unweildy pile of tangled plot threads and big heavy chunks of worldbuilding, so you will fuck up occasionally) but some of it will just be personal preference or criticisms of the form "hey I haven't actually read your story but based on what I think it's doing I am very mad at you" and "I think this story would be better if it was a completely different story." You cannot treat all critiques as equally useful, and I'll be honest - in my experience, almost none of it will ever actually help you. Criticism like that is generally for the benefit of other fans and future storytellers learning from other people's mistakes. Your job in those circumstances is to serve as a good example and to just deal with the fact that it stings to be a good bad example.

And in general, anyone who tells you "your story would be so much better if you did my fanfic idea" can be politely and categorically disregarded.

[skyguy8108]

I would say that people are just reaping what the movies tell them. If what’s in the book is supposed to be the definitive take it should be in the movie but it’s not and no one should have to read the novel to understand that and personally I’d say the movies outweigh the novel. Im not trying to be negative towards you.

That quote from the book could be Anakin thinking about his choice in Palpatine’s office to join the Sith because that reads from Anakin’s perspective while this reads as Vader’s perspective:

Outside, the sleek skiff settled to the deck. He spent a moment reassembling his Anakin Skywalker face: he let Anakin Skywalker’s love flow through him, let Anakin Skywalker’s glad smile come to his lips, let Anakin Skywalker’s youthful energy bring a joyous bounce to his step as he trotted to the entrance over the mess of corpses and severed body parts.

Looking at the movies Anakin is consumed by the dark side and that twists his goal of saving Padmé from his visions. Then he sees Luke being killed and kills Palpatine. Anakin always protects his family so is he any different? He cast himself in darkness, made himself a slave, to save Padmé and to save Luke was finally able to overthrow the dark side and Vader.

Lucas also says love is not attachment but his movies don’t bare that out. The Jedi Council is concerned because Anakin is afraid for his mother in TPM. In AOTC Padmé and Anakin have a conversation about what he’s not allowed to do.

Anakin adds hes not allowed to be with the people that he loves, his mom has been free for a number of years yet he has no idea because he learns what’s happened to her over the course of the movie, and Padmé asks if he’s allowed to love. Instead of giving a 1 word answer Yes he gives a 30 word answer that mixes how he views compassion with the weakest affirmation So you might say that we are encouraged to love. someone could use. It also doesn’t help that we saw Anakin as a kind loving kid before he met the Jedi so his idea of compassion comes from his mother and not the Jedi.

Then we have Padmé say she won’t let him give up his future for her when they talk after dinner on Naboo.

Then their is the prophecy. Was Anakin meant to wipe out both the Jedi and Sith? Sure looks like it. The Force created him and choose a slave woman in the Outer Rim so the Jedi wouldn’t find him. Then he has visions of his mother that lead to his first dark side act then the Force shows him visions of Padmé dying. Honestly, if the Force didn’t want him to fall why give him the visions? Plus Palpatine knowing just what to offer without a hint in either the movie or novel that Palpatine read his mind not to mention the timing is perfect for Palpatine.

Then Luke has his vision in Empire that leads to Vader and he learns the truth which sets him in the path of waning to save Vader which leads him to fulfilling the prophecy and at the end, by the movies, all the old Jedi and Sith are gone.

I personally go with Palpatine gave Anakin the visions of Padmé, he got the idea after Anakin told him about his mother and the sand people. That’s just how I make sense of the plot.

Ultimately people are going to go with what’s on screen or in a book if that’s their preference. To me personally what Lucas says doesn’t factor in to what I see as going on because no one should have to look up the creator’s comments to understand the plot. I like learn about the BTS stuff my self out of curiosity.

The argument is also not helped by things like this:

Skywalker - A Family At War Chapter 15 Death and Rebirth

Anakin Skywalker’s psyche was cleaved in two as the dark side consumed him. Within the shell of the man he once had been, his new persona—Darth Vader—firmly took hold.

As Vader, he gave himself completely to the darkness, a creature beholden only to primitive needs and desires, obeying and carrying out the directives of his Sith master without concern for their far-reaching ramifications. Uninhibited rage took control of his entire being, blotting out everything the Jedi had once sought to teach him.

The quake in the Force that marked Anakin’s decision to join the Sith had been so great that not even former close friends, such as Ahsoka and Obi-Wan could feel his presence. Both of them believed that Anakin was no more. And, in a very real sense, he was gone.

This goes with what the movies says and what Ahsoka senses in the final arc of TCW Season 7.

Palpatine is always Palpatine.

Dooku is always Dooku.

Why, then, is it so hard for some to fathom that Anakin is always Anakin?

If Palpatine is not Sidious, and Dooku is not Tyranus; then Anakin is not Vader.

Anakin is Anakin.

Always.

The Dark Side does not simply possess one person like some demon, yet allow everyone else to remain themselves throughout.