#if you noticed the skull for death foreshadowing you get a point

[strawberryblondie-locks]

I'm hearing voices, animal noises!

The crème de la crème, the feminine abyss

And I'm reaching my threshold,

Staring at the truth till I'm blind!

[gloomverse-theories]

About Rylie’s Red Magic

Rylie getting magic was possibly one of the most awaited moments in the comic, and the way it happened was incredibly impactful. A hat, emerging from her shadow in a time of need, hidden so close yet so far from her reach. And her magic was the cherry on top of this terrible cake tragedy! Color-coded super abilities definitely makes her magic stand out, but when talking about it, there’s always this question:

What will Red do?

And until it’s answered in the comic (or not), we have a lot of room to explore! 

But first, let’s go over

Magic Personalities

What is that, you ask? Why, it is conveniently explained in Purple’s “How Magic Work” bonus strip! But knock-off Purple here explains it decently too.

The magic that you get is dependent on your interests, your biggest one, unless you’re really into rule-breaking things like the human body or cats. The type of magic you got is then fixed forever, and you have to live with the consequences of being really into marbles at age 10. Not everyone of us fixate on something cool like space, WALLIS. 

Going back to Rylie. What WAS Rylie’s biggest interest at the time? What we know about Rylie is that she likes black and edgy/rebellious fashion, but is also cursed with rainbow dreads. That’s a solid contender, since her magic is based on colors. Looking at her room, she likes skull motifs, ponies, anime, and plushies.

A bit less relevant to her magic, although it is very anime magic. And finally, when she was in the hat store, dreaming up of what her magic could be, it was the power to jump as high as building, a nice foreshadowing and a sign that she did want that!

But let’s look deeper.

Assistant’s biggest desire was to belong, and the Gloom filled it and made her feel like family. 

She got her hat when they were all in danger of death. 

She got her magic pleading for a way to save them.

And the magic answered. 

So I think the conditions in which she got her hat possibly influenced her magic!

Blue and Yellow Magic

Before going over the possibilities for red magic, let’s see what common points we can find between the two revealed power ups. 

The most obvious thing is that they are color themed, in case you hadn’t noticed, and correspond to the rainbow (blue - yellow - red) on her wand (which is where we get the red for her next magic). She starts by saying the color out loud, but later manages to switch without speaking. 

Both of her powers manifest as clothes: a pair of boots and a pair of gloves, and give her superhuman abilities, like lifting giant rocks and jumping very high. 

So now we have the blueprint of her future magic: themed after a color (most likely red), wearable as clothes on her body, and providing Rylie with superpowered abilities. 

I want to add that it should also respect the three rules of magic, but it’s a bit late for that, isn’t it.

Telekinesis

Let’s start with something silly. Rylie has been shown a few times to be interested in ponies. She has an Unicron poster in her new room, and a twilight plushie in her old room.

Ponies are a longstanding interest of hers, and magic is based on interests! Most My Little Pony iterations have 3 main types of ponies: earth pony, pegasus, and unicorns. 

Earth ponies are strong, and are shown to give stronger bucks/kicks than others. Rylie uses Yellow magic to punch people into the air. 

Pegasus ponies can fly around and walk on clouds. Rylie uses Blue magic to jump around and almost fly (though the only time she sinks into a cloud is when she’s wearing her boots in her dream, but that’s the trauma). 

Unicorn ponies are overpowered and can make incredibly complex spells, but the most commonly used one is telekinesis. In this theory, Red would allow Rylie to move objects from a distance (like Wallis can already do!), and the article of clothing could be anything, from a differently shaped wand she can point at stuff, to a headset with horns. Who knows! 

Senses

Rylie’s magic has a running theme of splitting her wand into two parts: pair of gloves for her two hands and pair of boots for her- ah, nevermind that.

But do you know what else comes in two? Kidneys! Lungs! Ears! Eyes! I think I’m safe to discard the first two since they are inside, but eyes and ears make for good contenders. If Yellow gloves boost her strength, why not Red goggles that improve her eyesight? Perhaps a full headset to improve both hearing and seeing! That may not be as exciting as jumping around, but it is definitely useful in a situation where discretion matters (like Virga hunting the group down). 

Wings

Something really interesting about the Yellow magic is that the hat STILL has a little wing as a decoration on it! It made sense for Blue since winged shoes have been a thing for thousands of years (Hermes’ winged sandals) and it grants her the power to almost “fly” when she jumps, but why keep the wing on her hat when she has punching gloves? Because it’s not any kind of punch. It’s an AIR-punch! That sends Cakegirl FLYING! Interesting!

Rylie does have a lot of connections to clouds and sky, for someone who takes after a Light-themed mancer, does she not? That’s why I argue that Red could be a pair of wings, either as a cape or fixed to her arms. While that could seem redundant with her jumping boots, it could also go well with it, allowing her to glide instead of falling immediately back down. That would be a useful mid-air shift, or a good way to not die when plummeting towards the ocean from a height that transforms water surface into deadly concrete, as a random example. 

Freeze

Finally, my main theory. There is another theme that I noticed between Yellow and Blue magic: Fight or Flight response. Yellow is Fight, Blue is Flight. It’s the possible reaction to a threat: you either run away and escape the threat, or you attack the threat and dispose of it. Rylie got her magic during a very active threat to her wellbeing and her friends’, and she pleaded for a way to save them. Magic answered by enhancing her ability to flee and to fight!

But there is a third (and fourth) response to a threat: freezing behavior, to become rigid and petrified in place. Red would be the magic’s “freezing” response, and allow Rylie to block a direct attack, through a shield or armor, and overall make her be able to tank and sustain damage. While not as showy as the other two colors, and definitely harder to turn into an asset for her own magic show, the theme of the three stress responses makes me really like this option.

The fourth response is fawning, but it is not as easy to translate into a magic power up as freeze. 

Something else

I’m no wizard, and the future is as clouded to me as it is to you. Red magic could be either or none of these options. Perhaps it enhances something else, like her speed, or gives her more ranged powers, like a whip or a bow, perhaps it’s dual swords because it would be cool! Maybe it will come up in a moment where Rylie experiments with her magic while everything is calm, or maybe it will be something that helps Rylie in a dire moment, summoned from instinct. Who knows! But it is fun to speculate, and I hope you had fun too. 

There is however one last possibility.

We will never know what Red magic does, if Rylie never tries it.

After all this time, all those nightmares, the color Red may not be the most enticing color to try with magic. Something about an evil magician with red eyes and a red wand. 

Why try RED, when there’s so many other colors to try from? Perhaps Green will be a combination of Blue and Yellow, or an entirely new ability! The Green lady seemed so much nicer than the Red figure obliterating her. 

So those were my thoughts on Rylie’s magic! 

TL;DR

Magic is based on personal interest

Rylie got hers in a moment of trauma 

Her magic consist of ability-enhancing color-coded accessories

Possible options for red magic power-up:

Telekinesis as a nod to Rylie’s brony phase

Enhanced vision/hearing to pair with her other enhanced abilities

Wings because of the air-theme and little wing decorations

A shield/armor as a freezing response to go with the current two’s fight or flight theme 

Something else

We will never find out because of Rylie’s trauma with red tinted magic

[knight-princess]

Willow month: foreshadowing: Jade being a Bone Reaver

So at the beginning we see Kit and Jade sparring and they wear these masks (which we don’t really see again - Kit’s never, and Jade’s very briefly). And while they’re both wearing them, they’re quite different in their design, with Jade’s being distinctly more skull-like. Rather like the bone reavers skull helmets

Image credit: the first four stills are @alyx-stills and the fifth and six are taken from google

Oh also somebody made a post a little while ago pointing out that in the scene at Nockmaar where Jade is shown a vision of her family’s deaths, the fletching on the arrows looks suspiciously like Tir Asleen fletching such as we see in Kit’s quiver. Which suggests that either Jade remembers that detail and wasn’t seeing/ wasn’t wanting to see the significance, or Nockmaar was showing it to her deliberately. If anyone can find that post that would be amazing because I looked for ages and I cannot find it and it’s killing me so credit to whoever made it for pointing that out that is an awesome detail I never even noticed

Edit: it was @acre-of-wheat! Thank you @libertyeveningsun for finding it! And also for the link to the original post in the notes!

“Jade’s a Bonereaver. I don’t know what that makes her now . . . Conflicted, I imagine.”

So I’m not sure if Elora’s comment counts as foreshadowing, but it’s what I feel like talking about sooooo I’m just gonna go head and do it

Conflicted is exactly the right word because this revelation puts Jade in a really awkward spot when it comes to her allegiances. Her newly rediscovered family, vs the love of her life. She’s a character who’s driven by duty, and for the first half of the season it is unwavering duty to the country and throne. She is the knight to Kit’s princess in every sense of the word (and a bit more). But the episode five rocks that to its very core. She was not benevolently adopted by Tir Asleen when her family tragically died, but was stolen. What does that mean, for her self identity? Who she perceives herself as? It changes everything. They start exploring this during the second half of the season, and I particularly love how at the edge of the world, when Jade is justifying wanting to go over after Kit she starts talking about “for Tir Asleen and Sorsha and-” and Willow interrupts with “Because you love her.” The themes of duty vs desire and service vs love are explored so well with Jade and I really hope if when we get a second season they’re explored further because we have really only scratched the surface of where this conflict could lead

[clonerightsagenda]

me finishing Station 11: losing fluids at an alarming rate bc I was sobbing my eyes out me finishing Lockwood & Co: losing fluids at an alarming rate bc I caught my annual start of school year cold and am now sucking down Liquid IV with a deadpan expression while watching Lucy and Lockwood work-break up. again

Anyway episode 10

Tbh I feel like I am watching an AU angst fanfic where the writer fudged the characterization to do more pre-relationship arguments.

Is Joplin wearing one of the silver capes? Or just a silver net seal over her shoulders gesturing at the same idea?

George does all the fucking inventory and restocking??? Give this man a raise he's also cooking for all of them

Yknow considering ghosts can manifest right after a murder (see: that guy from the furnaces in the fourth book) bold of these adults to try to kill a bunch of kids after dark. Even if they win, for round 2 they wouldn't be able to see them coming.

"He always mentions adults. He didn't know it's young people who could see beyond the veil." Ok so if the skull isn't the child servant who helped him deal with ghosts, who on earth is he? I suppose if they aged everyone up 3 or so years he'd be like 20

me googling 'scrubber British slang': ah I learned a new slur. Tbh the way things were going with their Female Character TM shit I figured we would not get out of this without someone calling her a slut

Lockwood siccing a bunch of freshly released ghosts on people: I call this the Lucy Carlyle fastball special

I was wondering if they were going to imply Gale was the one who arranged his parents' accident, since he's Marissa's hired killer. Also after all the dramatic sword fights I admit I did snicker when he just pulled out a fucking gun. Why did no one do that sooner

After the whole thing about George being the overlooked third wheel they took away the bit where he cons everyone by faking his death because no one bothered to notice he'd lost his glasses lenses? Bro I'm so sorry you got upstaged by a fucking… laser beam for some reason

"Something's wrong, they're trapped" foreshadowing again although in the books he already knew that. Dude did you not phone home once in the last 50 years

Joplin exploded. I guess. Why not at this point

The second half of this show has gone wildly off the rails and I'm honestly not sure why they made any of these choices. Like they're not objectively bad or anything but what was wrong with the original sequence of events.

They left out the skull calling for his master and getting snubbed which I feel like was pretty significant but they left almost all his other stuff out too so. Rip again skull in a jar, they cut all your best lines, none of which sounded like anything a kid from the 1860s would say. He would've loved the Mercymorn speech

Oh thank god they at least kept Kipps' gifted kid burnout speech.

Dropping villain!Penelope way earlier I see

Listen if they're making everything darker and edgier I hope he really DOES have his sister's ghost locked in there

[tickldpnk8]

Season of Mists Reread Ch. 6

So I'm currently rereading Season of Mists and blogging about the clues I'm seeing. You can see the previous posts here:

Prologue/Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5 Bonus: At Death's Door

But on with this latest analysis! At this point, the story is starting to wrap up, and we get the showdown between Morpheus and Azazel. I saw an excellent post on the showdown itself, so I won't go into all that here. But as I read through things looking for clues to the nature of Dream and also foreshadowing, I did spot a few.

On Dream

For one, it's confirmed that Morpheus/Dream doesn't sleep:

He's a bit of a hoarder who likes to store things in his personal pirate chest. The contents of this were also discussed on that Azazel-battle thread, so I won't go into it just yet.

And we see a bit more of how different folks' perceptions of his aspect works as he rescues Nada. In the panels right before this mouth opens, we see the Morpheus we're all familiar with. As soon as Nada can see him, he changes into Kai'kul. And then he's back to his "usual" appearance once she's safe and he's out of her line of sight. I think this is mostly for our benefit as we can only see one drawing of him at a time. But I would now hazard a guess that to all the dignitaries gathered in his throne room, they would each see him as they might have seen him when they are alone. (But who would Bast see?) I think we default to the Reader's perspective of his aspect unless only one other character is viewing him who might have a different perspective. (since we are a character in the story)

On Dream's relationship to his realm

We learn that aside from controlling the weather of the Dreaming, he has complete control over whether it's day or night. If you were wondering how he possibly met with everyone in such a short time, it's because he didn't let the sun rise.

This fancy ceiling room that has been discussed at length is apparently also his throne room?? Or did he move it here from where it was the night before for convenience? In any case, things shifted. The throne now seems simpler than the last we saw it with the Egyptian motifs, but the green drapes remain. His dais is still close to the ground as it was the night before, but much lower than in previous story arcs/issues.

And his castle sits at the Heart of the Dreaming. It is not only his home, but his place of power. He has complete control over reality: "It is what I wish it to be – no more, no less."

On the Plot

Now let's look at the clues to the over-arching plot of the whole Sandman run. I found a few of interest that I didn't notice before.

Aside from Loki seemingly distraught to be leaving at the end and trying to get away from Thor, we get this one small detail within the title page spread that I totally missed the first time:

Meanwhile, Nuala overhears Merlin commenting on the Greek gods not coming. I think this works as a story point on 2 levels: I suspect it ties into larger DC continuity knowing that Wonder Woman's comics regularly show them. But it also works in isolation since it seems they don't tend to get on well with Morpheus from what we've seen of the Calliope story. Or it might just be setting the stage for that relationship if I'm misremembering when we learn things from my first read-through.

And then finally we have that pirate trunk panel mentioned above. I'll add it here again for reference:

In it, we've got the Corinthian's skull, Ornament-Azazel, a ring, another ornament-like bulb (or is it a grenade?? hard to tell), a leather book that is buckled shut, a city in a glass bottle, a penny, and 2 canisters in the background. It'll be interesting to see which of these comes up again. Corinthian we know about. I already know now what the bottle represents, but am wondering if/when I've seen the others.

And that's that! I'd like to do another wrap-up post on the ceiling and once I get to the end of Season of Mists, I'm tempted to do a master post on all the changes Morpheus' castle goes through in just these issues alone. Lots to dissect here. :D

[maguro13-2]

The Dark Picture ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Pt. : Operation Drawcia Pt.20 ~

Winry : (looking at a book called Advanced Automail Crafting) This looks easy, then going into the book of records! I sure hope that Inky Albarn would notice about the facts that befriends with Soul Eater in a crossover, yeah. I'm not amused when Maka Albarn isn't around here. So what else besides Maguro13-2 writing about my feet? Can't believe that is not a good sign to call a foot doctor in America. Oh well, it's their loss. (bumps into Shinigami) Oh, uh, Shinigami. Sorry that I didn't see you there. I didn't mean to bump into you and it would've been a major accident! But hey, at least you didn't drop your...face?

*DBZ SFX : Shock*

Shotaro the Dokeshi : What? What you're looking at?

Winry : Hey, you're not even who you are. Shotaro.

Shotaro the Dokeshi : Yeah...That's me. Shotaro the Dokeshi.

Winry : I thought you disappeared during the investigation two years ago.

Shotaro the Dokeshi : Yeah, guess what? I lied. Darkside Death has been enslaving my entire life since me, Yohei, and Mana were investigating some kind of secrets about Soul Eater.

Winry : Since how did you knew about that stuff? But what about the discovery of your creation, did you created the Death the Kid when Darkside Death told you that he wanted a son that would be modeled after Soul World's founder, Shinra Kusakabe?

Shotaro the Dokeshi : Don't you get it, Mechanic-- I mean Automail mechanic? Darkside Death was only using my heart and soul to kill these innocent witches and I was just a puppet in a corrupt game. I'm innocent, I tell you. I'm a charlatan! Charlatan! A CHARLATAAAAAAN!

*DBZ SFX : SMASH!*

Winry : Will you please keep your voice down? Some of them could hear us, you know?

Shotaro the Dokeshi : Okay, I overspoke. I don't know what will I ever gonna do if I ever see Mana and Yoehi again. Doesn't matter If I will ever make myself that I tricked Maka into attending a school for her. Do you think that Edward forgive me for the lying? I'm not sure if this investigation would handle the truth. This power, driven by the darkness made me not who I was, I needed the light to seek into truth, Mrs. Rockbell! The Truth!

Winry : Huh? I think I sense a presence in the hearts....!? (sees his heart beating slowly) Hey, Shotaro. You don't even look so good. Do you need something to cure for...

Shotaro the Dokeshi : No need for that. Now that you'll excuse me...(converts into Shinigami) I got some plans to do back at the other country. (walks off)

Winry : So...I'm not sure if I'm getting something right now.

"later..."

(we cut to show Winry and Lan Fan training with Mr. Sandbag barefooted)

Lan Fan : So...I heard that Shinigami was only a kid who went missing during the investigation is still alive. But how did you know that he was a charlatan?

Winry : When I was barefooted all day. I noticed something that Shinigami or Lord Death's face, is just a skull's face. Like he was transcending himself as a God. But the real question, Ichigo Kurosaki was the only Shinigami to wear a robe and Ryuk from Death Note wasn't. Do you think Japan's obsession with a Death God is kinda overrated?

Lan Fan : Beats me. I also don't believe in Death Gods or an actual Death God once in my life, but you are right. Japan is associated with Death as a personification in the bible, that's why Catholicism and Christianity were depicted in every manga they had to write. That's what the Japanese do, Winry. That's what the Japanese do.

Winry : Intriguing, I gotta hand it to ya. But if I can make it a good point, we should all worry about the truth. That's how these baddies in our world make a great effort, the cause of this was an outcome on equivalent Exchange, that's the prediction I foreshadowed in the later years. Edward will have to give that speech to me by the year 2010.

Lan Fan : Sounds like a good though, an equivalent Exchange that will help us make a brighter future and Hiromu Arakawa sure knows that having no connections with Soul World could be really a thing. Did I ever mentioned about something before?

Winry : Hmm?

Lan Fan : You, Edward, Ling Yao are like Yin and Yang. He is the darkness of his shadows and you are the light of his sunshine. That's what makes us important for the equivalent exchange. I'm sure everything will might just keep on moving forward. That's why we needed to live life the fullest.

Winry : True. I must admit it. I am giving you something for you, a gift that is from a friend. How about that I am giving you a new arm?

Lan Fan : Giving me a new arm would be cool to fight, but with doctors giving me a replacement, of course, I will have a new arm from you.

Winry : It'll be just like the good old days of when I gave Ed a spare of new parts crafted by my own hands. But promise me, I'll be very gentle with you.

Mr.Sandbag : (shaking and shivering)

Winry : What is it, Mr.Sandbag? Something on your mind? (Mr.Sandbag shakes himself to respond "No.") Is it something that is here before.

Mr.Sandbag : (shakes himself to respond "Yes")

Lan Fan : I smell a rat lurking behind us. HUAH! *DBZ SFX : Strong Kick*

Neoshadow : (gags) *DBZ SFX : Collapse*

Lan Fan : Lucky Guess, should've known a scoundrel would sneak around!

(Neoshadow groaning)

Neoshadow : (voiced by Tony Sampson) That...That was pathetic! (falls back down)

[Lance Lullaby - Sota Fujimori]

Neoshadow #2 : Well...Well...I never expected a couple of steampunk girlies doing girl things, all too well for the greater goods. Medusa Gorgon Promised that is power, chaos, death, and power! Not just death, destruction.

Neoshadow #3 : And wouldn't mind that we would pick up a fight of two bodacious girls standing against each other. What will it be?

Neoshadow : Nice try, Mechanical girl and Chinese masked assailant! You'll never beat us fair and square, and that's what I got! You'll have your luck ran out when you catch yourselves a cold!

Lan Fan : Oh yeah, then why do you sound like Tony Sampson that voices Lt.Karl Higgins?

Neoshadow : Me, having the voice of Good old Eddy! You two have no shoes and yet an automail mechanic like you said that you are the sunshine to his light and yet the Fullmetal boy with a metal arm and leg you made shall overcome his fear of darkness from the traumas he have suffered! The pain and suffering are the best teachers that he, his brother, every human being that has ever witnessed before! This is how Dark Fantasy stories were meant to be edgy as hell! And now top off with that in the palm of our hands, you shall have witnessed the true meanings of fear and will feel the wrath of annihilation to end all! The time has come to bring out the feast of the many hearts we devour and speaking of it, you'll just cry home to your mamas and be a little whining b*tch to feel about it! (laughs evilly)

Winry : Oh yeah? Guess what? My parents were long gone when I was little, Roy didn't kill them, it was Scar. Despite my revenge as a dish served cold, killing a human is wrong and the ones that are dumb enough to drive us with revenge is to put the blame on one thing as we all know it, a heartless psycho and you are just a bunch of little arrogant monsters.

Neoshadow : Excuse me? But do you insult a Neoshadow that has intelligence? Okay then...I shall make it up to you. Okay little girls, come and get me and I will give you all free candy! To this night of ours! Let us show our true power what it means to be a heartless born from the darkness within it's reaches! (laughs evilly) AAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Winry : If my revenge is against humans, then I am re-arranging my revenge, to avenge the people that I known and love about and my revenge is about killing the heartless beings that are truly responsible as a villain! OKAY, YOU ASSHOLES! LET'S GIVE IT ALL YOUR ALL! TIME TO STEP THE F**K UP! I WON'T HOLD ANYTHING BACK FROM YOU!

Neoshadow : Wh-What!?!

[Brave Fight by Kenichi Tokoi plays]

(Winry and Lan Fan glows in an aura)

*DBZ SFX : Big Aura+powering up*

Winry : Heh! Looks you're not that smart who thinks of loosing their sunshine! You guys are so screwed!

Lan Fan : You guys are going to get your asses kicked real hard!

Neoshadow : I-Impossible! This power! How can you two have this power!? Why it be the power of Amaterasu's light itself! Curse the wretched sun goddess and her powers of the holy light, I will not hesitate to a bunch of peasants who dare stand in my way! I'll lose that sunshine of yours and turn into the unholy darkness!

Mei Chang : Hey, guys! Don't forget! We gotta get Mr.Sandbag to a safer place! We'll return him to Nintendo right away!

Lan Fan : Wish me luck!

Mei Chang : Thanks! See ya! (carries Mr.Sandbag and runs off safely)

Winry : Now then, how does it feels like to get your sunshine taken away, sun eater?

"Atlas the powers of Amaterasu's light have awakened..."

"And Darkness shall be forever end it's reaches."

~ Mission 19 : Girl of Sunshine ~

[warmuse]

Let's play some "Lyta's Child" speculation game (spoilers for the Sandman : original graphic novel, and its Netflix adaptation)

I hate to be that person who goes "AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO CONNECTED THE DOTS" but me and my two brain cells did connect some dots and it refuses to leave my skull, so here comes a highly unnecessary, highly illogical ramble from old me

warning : spoilers for later plots and narrative arcs of the original graphic novel of The Sandman. Proceed with extreme caution.

So, during the course of Season 1 of Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman, Lyta Hall’s child was conceived in the Dreaming, and at the season finale, she has given birth to a boy in the Waking World.

(by the way, I fully approve of the showrunners’ and by that I mean Gaiman’s decision to change the conception to take place in the Dreaming with her already dead dream-ghost of a husband, unlike in the comics where she was already pregnant in the waking world/her corporeal form, and only delayed its parturition by both her and Hector absorbed in Jed’s dreamscape. It gave a more streamlined and logical emphasis to the audience, especially the newbie audience, that this child is impossibly made in the Dreaming by a process only possible in dreams, and its existence was only transferred to the Waking World by Rose’s Vortex power. The change made them understand (despite, maybe, not approving how he delivered the news to a clearly troubled woman seconds after disintegrating her husband in front of her eyes) Morpheus’ point of view when he callously stated that the child belongs to him, who is the very embodiment of all Dreams)

People who have completed the 10 paperbacks that comprises the “main story arc” of The Sandman will be aware that this child is IMMENSELY important to the latter part of the Main Plot, in scopes even beyond the reach of The Sandman proper. Because this child is Daniel Hall, the imcumbent Dream of the Endless of the DC universe, after death of the Previous Dream, the facet of Dream that comprises the persona of “Lord Morpheus“.

In the Doll’s House issue of the comics, and in the netflix series, we do not see Lyta naming her child. This is because Morpheus visits Lyta later, at the start of the Season of Mist (book 4 of 10 of the Sandman), and names the child himself. We have from the mouth of the Gaiman-shaped horse himself that if there is going to be a Season 2 (many many crosses made so that it does happen, I’d combust if they don’t renew this) he will cover the storyline of the Season of Mist, with the second battle between Morpheus and Lucifer. Which means it is VERY likely that Morpheus will visit Lyta in season 2 to see the baby himself and name him (Lyta, in the comics, curses and hates him for claiming the child as his, but accepts the name Dream gave to the child)

There is one conversation in the Vortex Arc (a.k.a. adaptation of The Doll’s House) that...I do not think was present in the original graphic novel (I had read all of them, but I have lost them, so the books are not available to me now, so if I’m wrong then I’m a clown lol), but comes out more than once in the Netflix series.

It’s this sentence, first told by the Corinthian to Jed Walker, while he takes Jed to the cereal convention to be a bait for Rose. The Nightmare tells the boy,

“You ever notice how people only ever use your own name when you’re in trouble?”

OK, this is something a poor traumatized boy who was abused by several adults in his short life can agree and attach himself to his current captor, and something the Corinthian, whose “The Prodigal Creation” nature has been further explored and elaborated in the Netflix adaptation more so than in the comics, can reiterate and relate to himself.

But at the season finale of The Sandman, Jed says that sentence again. To Lyta’s Child.

And then he takes his own spin on it.

“As long as you don’t have a name, you can’t get in any trouble.”

Jesus freaking christ. That foreshadowing made me GASP.

It can’t be assumed that this is just some silly words by a boy. See, in the Netflix adaptation, Jed Walker was, despite in his make-believe pocket dreamworld fostered by Gault, The Sandman. This sentence was, uttered by, a representation of The Sandman. The Name that signifies Dream of the Endless. When Morpheus saw Jed Walker as the Sandman, he did not show the cold cruel mockery that he showed to Hector posing as the Sandman in the comics. He smiled, and despite not saying it out loud, Tom Sturridge’s acting made it crystal clear that Dream thought it cute more than insulting (but ultimately, he saw it was a dream held by Gault, then the story quickly progressed from there, which Dream chastising Gault that humans cannot be stuck in dreams. Hm, Lyta, did you hear that?). Also, this representation was held up by a child who is “a child of the Endless”. A clear statement made by Dream (who is Jed’s great-grand-uncle, lol), that Jed Walker is, of the lineage.

One could argue that Jed is just parroting the words the Corinthian told him. See, you see from season 1 that our ‘be gay do crime’ tooth fairy-man is pretty good with handling little humans, right? Who babysits toddler Daniel Hall during the course of the Kindly Ones? THE FREAKING CORINTHIAN (mk.2)

Now, I confess, I don’t know where this will lead to. It may be that Neil is just giving us little sprinkling of additional narrative breadcrumb trails that would ultimately lead the audience to the exact conclusion that the graphic novel lead us to, the preparation of Daniel Hall as the Heir to the Dreaming, and then his ascension/sublimation as Dream of the Endless after Morpheus has his tragic, heart-wrenching final meeting with his beloved elder sister.

But there are changes that was brought to the Netflix show that plays the story differently. Is it too delusional to hope that maybe the Netflix show may have a different ending? After all, Morpheus in the Netflix series is less resistent to change, more malleable, he seems softer, more emotive than his acerbic comics self, while staying true to his grumpy moods, emo-ness and obsession with rules (but he explains it better by saying to Rose that he has to have rules to govern the dreaming lest the chaos of unchecked dream rips him=dreams apart) Also, Lyta in the Netflix series isn’t a lonely woman left to fend for herself, driven to instant spree of vengeance by believing her son kidnapped, she has her friends, Rose, and Hal who said he will be moving to NYC and probably will be in touch with them. Now, when she was in labour she did push Rose to kill Morpheus because she thought he’d kill the baby, so it would still totally make sense if the Netflix version decides to stay faithful to the comics, at least not deviating that much from the main plot, but look, if there is a possibility that there might be a less heartbreaking conclusion to Morpheus’ tale, one can only hope (as the Fates told Calliope)

Of course all my speculation will only even be relevent if Netflix renews the series - so, yeah Netflix please renew the series or else I'll cry

[paladinsbrainrot]

Hi Ally 💙

I need to hear your thoughts about Eddie! Do you have theories? Ideas? 🔥

I hope you're well 💫

Hi Irene! I'm going just fine, thank you. Hope you are also well. Sorry this took so long to get to you!

Eddie! Yes, we love him. I think his character is very limited when it comes to analysis, as a lot about him can be determined from the casual viewer. Buttt there is a bit that I picked up on that might peak your interest. 

1. Forced conformity 

I immediately noticed that this parallels to the book Rebel Robin. Robin explains that 'high school is the monster, eating everyone alive'. Whether this was intentional or not, I think that it's still pretty relevant.

This is probably also foreshadowing, applying to Mike, Lucas, and I think El because they all try and become socially acceptable by their peers. Mike in terms of his sexuality, trying to be 'normal', Lucas not wanting to be bullied anymore, and El trying to fit in with the other girls at school, pretending to be someone she isn't when she's with Mike. Dustin, Max, and Will, just seem to be living their own lives at this point- I don't think they care about the bullying.

2. Eddie's Death

Moving on.... I think that Eddie is going to die. There is lots of symbolism I picked up on very early on!

Pretending to get shot in the heart/bullet references

His band was named Corroded Coffin, corrode meaning to destroy or weaken gradually, and coffin is pretty self explanatory. Perhaps he's going to be dying somewhat slowly?

Running... hmm... Virginia also says this to Alice, who both end up dead. 

The gang meets Eddie at skull rock, then Dustin says "We thought you were a goner", aka, thought he was dead. Theres also more skull imagery associated with Eddie, like right here:

- Not to mention the fact that everyone is actively trying to murder him.

3. Vecna foreshadowing

So apparently... Eddie describes that Vecna has cultists. Much like the Mind Flayer in S3 I think, literally gathering it's victims. It makes me think if Vecna is going to do this too, with it's already dead victims: Chrissy, Fred, and Patrick. The Hellfire Club ends up wanting to 'fight to the death', so we're probably going to have a battle scene of some sort with Vecna and the kids in Hawkins. Must be what Eddie is using his guitar for.

Sorry I didn’t have too much to say haha!  But I hope that we’ll learn more about his character in Vol.2... and we might find out if he actually dies. 

[thephantomessoftheopera]

Notes on Gaston Leroux’ “The Phantom of the Opera” - Chapter 6: “The Enchanted Violin”

<< Previous Chapter

Artwork by @coatntails on deviantart

“The Enchanted Violin” introduces us to the childhood friendship of Raoul and Christine - but first, we learn that Christine did not continue to triumph at the Opera, but only sang once more in society at the invitation of the Duchess of Zurich and, after that, cancelled everything including a charity concert. She was apparently terrified by her triumph during the gala night, and didn’t “recognize herself” anymore when she sings. Before, she was emotionally distant and indifferent because she had shut everything out so she could cope with the grief of her father’s death. The amount of passion and feeling that Erik’s lessons had to rekindle in her must have felt terrifying and perhaps even painful to her. Plus, baring your heart and soul on stage like she did is, by itself, something that can indeed feel terrifying! In this chapter, we learn that Raoul has indeed been watching her performances at the Opera for some time, but also felt that she seemed indifferent to everything and everyone - until her soul finally came alive again with her gala night performance.

Philippe de Chagny has even tried to further her career with the managers to please his little brother, but Christine does not wish for him to do so. Raoul tries to seek her out, but without success. One morning though, Raoul receives a letter from Christine, assuring him that she has not forgotten the “little boy who fetched her scarf from the sea”, and informing him that she will be going to Perros-Guirec to visit her father’s grave on the anniversary of his death. Perros-Guirec is a seaside village in Brittany, quite far from Paris.

Raoul doesn’t lose time and rushes to the Montparnasse station to follow her, but fails to catch the morning train and has to wait all day for the night train (Raoul tends to have a bit of bad luck following him around).

This chapter also gives us a short biography of Christine Daaé. In the novel - contrary to the musical - she is described as blonde and blue-eyed, slender and somewhat short-sighted, which would presumably give her a bit of a dreamy, unfocused expression if nobody hands her a pair of glasses (I guess Erik wouldn’t mind her short-sightedness either!). She was born in the village of Skotelof near Uppsala in Sweden. Her father (who does not have a name in the novel) sang in the church choir and taught Christine to read music before she could read books. He also had a well-known reputation as the best violinist in Scandinavia, and was often requested to play at social gatherings. Christine’s mother died when she was 6 years old, and her father became a travelling musician and took Christine around the country. They were discovered by Professor Valerius and taken to Götheburg, where Christine received her training. His wife, Mama Valerius, treated Christine like a daughter. When the Valerius family moved to France, Christine and her father accompanied them. Papa Daaé did not adjust well to life in Paris though, and often found solace in his music only, locking himself in his room for hours at a time. The only time of the year he enjoyed was their yearly trip to the seaside town of Perros-Guirec, because the ocean reminded him of his native Sweden. Missing his nomadic lifestyle, he decided to once again to spend some time every year as a travelling musician with Christine - which is how Christine came to meet Raoul, who was then staying with his aunt - the one that kindled his love for the sea. Raoul heard Christine sing and was so utterly captivated by her angel’s voice that he started following her around with his governess. One day, at the bay of Trestraou, the wind was so strong that it blew Christine’s scarf into the sea, and Raoul ran after it fully clothed and rescued it. They became friends that summer and played together often, and Christine’s father also gave him some violin lessons.

Bay of Trestraou, where Raoul rescued Christine’s scarf from the sea (image from france-voyage.com)

Both Raoul and Christine loved listening to ancient tales and legends, especially the ones that Papa Daaé told them. Among those stories is the famous “Little Lotte”, who loved listening to the Angel of Music while she fell asleep. It’s a little funny that while they listen to the story, all Raoul does is look at Christine’s golden hair and blue eyes, imagining her as “Little Lotte”, and Christine’s thoughts are focused on how lucky Little Lotte was to hear the Angel of Music. So Raoul dreams about Christine while Christine dreams about the Angel of Music, which kind of foreshadows the setup of the love triangle in the novel.

To be honest, I can’t really blame Christine for thinking she was indeed hearing the Angel of Music in her dressing-room, since the description given fits Erik perfectly:

“No one ever saw him, but he made himself heard to those predestined to hear him. It often happened when they least expected it, when they were sad and disheartened. Then they suddenly heard heavenly harmonies and a divine voice, and they would remember it all their lives. People visited by the angel were left with a kind of flame burning inside them.”

I guess her father couldn’t really find the Angel of Music in heaven, so he sent her the next best thing that was available… Erik might not have been a heavenly angel, but the effect he had on her amounted to the same that is attributed to the Angel of Music in her father’s stories.

After their parting following the first summer that they spent together, Christine and Raoul saw each other again three years later, when they were “no longer children” - perhaps 13 to 14 years old, which would put their first meeting at about age 10 to 11. Professor Valerius has died in the meantime, and Christine’s father has started suffering from a cough. Raoul and Christine’s meeting is a little awkward this time - both seem to be developing tender feelings for each other, but are also very reserved. Their current relationship has now outgrown the sweet and carefree friendship of childhood. Raoul is quite infatuated with her, but he is also badly affected by his jealousy plus the unresolved issue of a peasant girl like Christine not being a suitable choice as a wife for a Viscount - and Christine being acutely aware of that. So yes - it’s complicated between those two. Afterwards, she tries to forget him and dedicate herself to her career instead. But when her father finally dies, her soul and her voice die with him, and even though her talent is still enough to gain entry into the Paris Conservatory, she cannot not bring any more enthusiasm to her studies, and just goes through the motions to please Mama Valerius.

Christine apparently travelled to Perros by herself, staying at the “Auberge du Soleil Couchant”. Raoul is looking forward to speaking to her alone without interference. Despite having sailed around the world, Leroux describes Raoul as “pure as a virgin” and overwhelmed by his love for Christine, who occupies his every thought - in fact, Raoul seems to obsess over things a lot in the novel, not just about Christine. When he finally meets her as she returns from mass, he jumps straight to the point and tells her that he loves her and cannot live without her - which is unfortunately not “what she wanted to hear”. Their conversation goes totally wrong and as his jealous temper gets the better of him, he behaves terribly and they get into a fight (over Erik, of course) to the point where she runs off and locks herself in her room.

Raoul, saddened by the way his meeting with Christine turned out, wanders off towards the graveyard to pray for Christine’s father, and finally sits down, looking out over the moor where he and Christine used to look for goblins when they were children. He never saw any, while Christine always saw lots despite her lack of proper eyesight - which shows that despite both of them being described as “dreamy”, Christine’s imagination is a lot more lively than Raoul’s. She finally comes out to make another try of confiding the secret of the Angel of Music who speaks to her to Raoul, but when she feels he doesn’t take her seriously and questions her virtue, she storms off again, truly angry this time and refusing to come down for dinner.

At night, about 11:30 pm, she finally sneaks out to visit her father’s grave at the Perros graveyard and meet the “Angel of Music” (aka Erik) there. This is obviously the scene which inspired “Wishing you were somehow here again”, though the original context is a little bit different. Raoul climbs out the window and follows her to the graveyard. Raoul’s account of the graveyard scene is given via a transcript of Raoul’s testimony to Commissary Mifroid a few weeks later, after Christine’s abduction. The use of this “source” is one of the things that have given rise to the theory that this is a “detective novel”, however Leroux uses it more like a historian would use a source - it’s just one of different documents that he uses (or claims to use) to prove that his story is indeed true.

Christine doesn’t notice Raoul following her. Her rendez-vous with the Angel of Music is supposedly taking place at exactly midnight at her father’s grave, so Christine is in a bit of a hurry to get there in time. It is still winter, so the graves are covered in snow and lit by the clear moonlight. Christine, who apparently has nerves of steel since she has no qualms about going to graveyards at midnight and then sitting down calmly next to a pile of actual skulls and bones, kneels down to pray when divinely beautiful violin music is suddenly heard, but no player is seen anywhere. The sounds of the piece,  the “Resurrection of Lazarus” are so enthralling that Raoul himself is reminded of the legend of the Angel of Music.

When the music finally ceases, Raoul hears a sound from the pile of bones, and assumes that the invisible musician might be hiding there. Christine leaves, and suddenly the skulls start rolling towards Raoul, and he sees a shadow enter the church. He chases after him and manages to grab his cloak, and when the shadow turns around, he sees a terrifying death’s-head with burning eyes which shocks him so much that he faints. I assume that Erik was not wearing a mask here, and that his unmasked face was weapon enough to take Raoul out without any further need for fireballs or swordfights.

The next morning, Raoul is found half-frozen in the little church, and Christine and the landlady of the Inn both take care to revive him.

Historic images of Perros-Guirec from phantomstheater.weebly.com

Artwork by CoatNTails on deviantart

Next Chapter >>

[verobatto]

Destiel Chronicles

Vol. CII

It was a love story from the very beginning.

The Bad Joke and The Scoobynatural

(13x14/13x15)

Hello there!!! This time I'm gonna talk about one of the most OOC episodes ever and one of our favs episodes Scoobynatural. I put them together bc one was so bad I needed some fresh air. Hehehehe.

Let's start!

So OOC that hurts...

Episode 13x15 "A Most Holly Man" was written by Dabb but also by Robert Singer.

This episode was odd, with easy bad jokes, and OOC. It also had Wincest subtext, and it was very messy.

If you rewatch the entire season, this episode seems to be out of context. If they've wouldn't put the search for the element they needed for the spell, it could have been passed as an episode from another show.

I could write more criticism, but let's just talk about little pieces of dialogue that worked as clues, I'm very sure it were put by Dabb (even if I dislike his writing) more than Singer.

The three elements the gangsters wanted to get were:

Incense: Is used by christian rituals to elevate prayers and gifts from the parishioners to God. This could be speaking of Chuck coming in the next season.

Chalice: The chalice represents sacrifice for christianity. The Holt Blood of Jesus Christ that have his life for humanity. So, is talking about a future huge sacrifice. It could be taken for Dean and his Mal'ak box or Castiel in 15x18.

Skull: it's related to death, and it could be speaking of Mary Winchester death in season 14.

Another little take from this episode was this little piece of dialogue:

MARGARET: Oh, don’t thank me yet. Greenstreet has all the trappings of a gentleman, but… I would advise caution.

Okay subtle, but not that much. The last name is a combination of two words GREEN and STREET, it's obviously related to Dean, and the quote after this 'has all the trappings is a gentleman, but... I would advise caution." It's obviously talking about AUMichael!Dean.

A brief comment about the Wincest subtext... We had Sam flirting with Margaret and Dean showing signs of jealousy, it could be taken as annoyance, but, because is Singer involved, I would say it was intentionally written to be Wincest subtext. And after this we had Dean flirting... Super out of character, with a brunette... With a lame excuse... Unnecessary. But it worked to make this time Sam the jealous one. Connecting the drops, my dears...

Dean has faith again and the distracting rubbing lips...

In this episode we can also rescue another good points as Dean declaring he has faith. Remember at the beginning of the season he was lost and faithless, I ask myself what could happen to make Dean to recover his faith???

Oh yes, Cas is back.

Then the rubbing lips... We had the same gesture from Cas in the previous episode, so, I wrote two entire metas about how Dabb team used the hands to show foreshadow. So I truly thought Dean and Cas would kiss... Hehehehe. It could fit perfectly, but nah.

This episode also talked about how a priest, a righteous, a saint man, was trying to get the most precious thing for his community.

Trying to get back the most important thing he had, willing to make any sacrifice for it, it's the same would lead Dean to say 'yes' to Michael. When Lucifer kidnaps Sam and Jack.

(This could be just nice because family, and because Dean raised Sam, so Sam represents a son and such, but, because is Singer... Wincest again.)

Another piece of dialogue I found is the following...

FATHER LUCCA: (...)And what your brother’s doing, it’s a good thing.

DEAN: Yeah, or a stupid thing.

FATHER LUCCA: Or both. Many times, they can be the same.

This is telling Castiel's name, Because Dean is always asking him not to do stupid things.

Another foreshadow was Father Lucca talking about Lying is wrong, is a sin. This was the preamble to one of the most revealing episode that will bring Chuck back. The episode in which Jack erase the ability of telling lies in the whole world population.

Dean's cave meaning and visual narrative.

Episode 13x16 was full of symbolism, and is one of my fav episodes.

At first, we had Dean fighting against a huge green dinosaur, practically a monster in green. Just like the Squirrel/Godzilla in one t-shirt we'll see in episode 14x04, is representing DEAN, his inner photography of himself. He sees himself as a monster.

Everytime we see SCOOBY-DOO in Supernatural, it's related to Dean's innocence and purity. Those qualities on him will be the key to release him from his emotional prison in season 14.

Visual Narrative in Dean's cave

Let's talk about the Dean's cave. When Dean says to Sam "Be like Elsa, let it be," he's referring here to the most deepest feelings and fears. Elsa released what she had tried to repress her entire life, her powers. And once she accepted what she really was, she was really free.

This will happen to Dean too, the process had just started. Now that he got Cas back, and now that deep inside he had accepted he can't live without the angel, he will slowly be able to embrace his bisexuality, to accept who he really is. The climax of this metamorphosis it's gonna be describer through the whole season 14. It's the birth of Healing!Dean.

Dean's cave represents that. First of all I want you to know that the Dean's cave had been made to watch movies with Castiel. It's subtextually displayed by the location of the two couches and the color of the lights in front of them: RED AND BLUE. Those are Dean and Castiel's places. That place had been built to share time with his angel.

Gif credit @out-in-the-open

Fred and Daphne were Dean's bisexuality representation.

Mostly than Dean having a crush over the two characters (openly with Daphne and repressed over Fred) both characters were representing Dean's bisexuality (just like Pamela and himself in Rocky's bar and his friend and the waitress in 15x07).

When they had to team up (just like in 14x04) we had Sam and Vilma represented the insight, the intelligence. (Just like Sam and Sam). Castiel pairing up with Yaggy and Scooby, the innocence and the talking dog, the most precious thing for Dean. (Remember Dean would take a bullet for that dog, that's why Cas was compared several times in season 12 with a dog, and that's why Dean follows him anywhere to keep him safe after suffering his lost).

Gif set credit @gentleman-demon

Finally, the bisexual team Dean with Fred and Daphne. In one opportunity Dean asks Daphne what does she sees in a man. Without mentioning she loves ascots, what this symbolically represents is Dean asking to his female side what she really likes to see in man. And we have Fred related to blue color, as a switch mirror with Castiel. Also because Daphne describes the perfect man as STRONG AND HONEST. Which are characteristics related to Castiel.

Castiel's entrance a la 4x01 and the dinosaur in love

Castiel enters in the mansion the same way he did in 4x01, stormy, mysteriously, and bright.

Immediately after his entrance, we had this weird dialogue...

DEAN: It's a book we're writing. Yeah, about...killer stuffed dinosaurs. It's called...

CASTIEL: "The Killer Stuffed Dinosaur in Love."

FRED: Huh. Great title.

SCOOBY: Yeah. Great title.

"It's a book we are writing " this is very meaningful Because, the book they're writing despite the one Chuck is writing, is Team Free Will, but... We are talking about DESTIEL. Dean and Cas are writing their own story... Why? Because when they mention the title of that book is... The KILLER (Do you remember REGARDING DEAN? another brief appearence of Scooby Doo and Dean's innocence? In which Rowena told him he was a killer? So yes, Dean sees himself as a killer, that's why the image of a monster, a green DINOSAUR, and huge Godzilla Squirrel... But this KILLER GREEN DINOSAUR has a very important characteristic HE IS IN LOVE. DEAN IS IN LOVE, as he confessed in 14x12.

Do I have to explain how writers connect d Castiel's first entrance in 4x01 with this book they're writing as they go? The book is named DESTIEL.

Jealous!Castiel and the little scared ghost boy

I loved the scene in which Daphne freshly confesses Dean grabbed the ghost by the thigh and immediately Cas shows his jealousy over that.

Gif set credit @tearsofgrace

But There's another almost at the end of the episode in which Dean mentions his affair with the Cartwright Twins and Cas asks about that, and Dean's face is priceless. Because if CAS would just represent a friend to him, he were absolutely explaining to him what happened with those twins, but he didn't. Why? Because Castiel is not just a friend. Castiel is Dean's love interest. So... Better not to talk about it.

Gif set credit @sssssssim

But let's jump over the symbolism of the trapped child ghost.

BOY: I'm not. I never wanted to hurt anyone. But the bad man, he makes me.

CASTIEL: The bad man?

BOY: His name is Jay.

I want to point here we are inside of Dean's head as you've noticed so far, so... Velma is Dean's intelligence and reason, and is linked with Sam (just like in episode 14x04 in which we had the scooby-doo box opening the locked door). Yaggy and Scooby are the innocence and love, part of Dean and linked to Castiel. And Daphne and Fred are Dean's bisexuality. But There's another huge character inside of him THE MONSTER. The monster, the one he has to defeat, is represented by JOHN WINCHESTER'S TOXIC HERITAGE AND AUMICHAEL, they're part of his toxicity, his rage, his violence. The little ghost here is all the good inside of Dean, his childhood, his innocence, but the bad man who obligates him to kill, it's his inner monster. So this is a war between TOXIC!DEAN and HEALING!DEAN as we will see in season 14.

BOY: When I died, my soul was tied to a pocketknife. My dad gave it to me. It meant everything. When Jay found me, he used me to...Sometimes, I get so angry I break things, hurt people.

John Winchester's toxic heritage implies the GUILT. So, Dean's soul is tied to that GUILT. Jay represents AUMichael here, when AUMichael finds this tool, the guilt, he uses it against Dean to control him. The boy says he gets angry, he breaks things and hurts people. He's describing perfectly Dean's toxicity. His violence. We will see it in this season but also, at the end of season 14.

To Conclude:

In episode 13x15 we had a very OOC bad episode, but with a few clues for foreshadows.

Episode 13x16 was a travel through Dean's innocence, inner thoughts and repressed feelings. It's a preamble to Healing!Dean season and how Dean will be able to break free from his emotional prison, defeating his inner monster.

Hope you liked this meta, see you in the next one!

Tagging @magnificent-winged-beast @emblue-sparks @weird-dorky-little-d @michyribeiro @whyjm @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @dea-stiel @poorreputation @bre95611 @thewolfathedoor @charlottemanchmal @neii3n @deathswaywardson @followyourenergy @dean-is-bi-till-i-die @hekatelilith-blog @avidbkwrm @anarchiana @dickpuncher365 @vampyrosa @authorsararayne @mybonsai1976 @love-neve-dies @dustythewind @wayward-winchester67 @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @deeutdutdutdoh @destiel-shipper-11 @larrem88 @charmedbycastiel @ran-savant @little-crazy-misha-minion @samoosetheshipper

@shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @nerditoutwithbooks @mikennacac73 @justmeand-myinsight @idontwantpeopletoknowmyname @teddybeardoctor @pepevons @helevetica @isthisdestiel @dizzypinwheel @jawnlockwinchester @horsez2 @qanelyytha

@destielle @spnsmile @shippsblog @robot-feels @superlock-in-the-tardis @superduckbatrebel @2musiclover2 @madronasky @anon-non2 @cea1996 @lisafu02 @asphodelesauvage @destiels-canonahhhhhhhhhh

If you want to be added or removed from this list just let me know.

If you wanna read the previous metas from season 13 here you have the links...

Vol. XCIII, XCIV, XCV, XCVI, XCVII, XCVIII, XCIX, C, CI.

Buenos Aires, February 28 2020, 2:23 PM

[felassan]

Thoughts on Dark Fortress #2

(This post is under a cut due to spoilers.)

So late with this one! some stuff irl was keeping me really busy and hyper-distracting me lately, but it’s finally over now so I’m back on my bioware bullshit. :D

Overall there were a lot of beautiful or awe-inspiring scenes in this issue, and a lot of great, meaningful / poignant character interactions and moments between characters. It’s pretty impressive actually how much was able to be packed in. I posted some of my favorite panels here. also omg! the action sequences! the big reveal! the ending!! woww

cool scene-setting, panned out shot of Neromenian and behind it, the Dark Fortress, to immediately pull you back into the world and ‘where we left off’. the combination of ruined dead trees, red lights, lightning and fire/smoke is very atmospheric and hints at what’s ahead

“From this... city, if we can call it that” is a sick burn and reminds you that the Qunari are technologically more advanced than most of the rest of Thedas, from their cannons to their aqueducts

more individually distinct Qunari soldiers, sth I again appreciate

! last issue there were big ‘You haven’t seen the last of Tractus!’ vibes, naturally, but I didn’t expect him to escape by stabbing and killing the Qunari using a chair-leg..!!

the last panel on the first page of Karasten is really good. the way it’s colored, the way it’s lit, the light and shadow, the fiery backdrop, cinders floating, the details of his expression.. 👌 it also makes me think to the possible future, to DA4 when mainland Thedas may be continuing to face the entirety of the Antaam

in Vaea’s acrobatics scene on the bridge, I know rationally that she’ll be fine but couldn’t help but worry for her. again I like how they don’t shy away from showcasing Vaea’s specific abilities. also the attention to detail - you’d think some rocks are just some rocks, but it highlights the risk she’s undertaking that if she falls it’s into rough seas which could dash her against the jagged rocks :’S. Vaea, gooooo!

Fenris’ “Enterprising girl” line has big “Clever girl” meme energy :D

my heart can’t take Fran and Autumn leaning over the edge after Vaea in worry ;; or Aaron looking back in concern over his shoulder ;; or Fran’s tender reassurance ;; or Autumn’s Worried expression ;; the care and bonds which have grown between this group of characters ;;

notice Aaron starts drinking when Vaea’s away from them and they’re beginning to grow worried about her safety. the poor man’s nerves and stress levels

Fran touching the vegetation while she’s considering if she could use her magic to open the entrance from the outside is a nice touch

did Marius leap in front of Fenris and Fran there when the entrance opened?? damn, he’s quick. and the three of them look all scary and formidable here ready for combat. notice how the curve of the door and the spikes that go into the ground, and the composition of this panel, make it look like they’re standing in front of an opened dragon’s maw? ‘teeth’, a rumbling ‘roar’.. some nice foreshadowing here.

the reunion panels are so cute. Autumn’s lil tum as she jumps and Fran and Fenris’ lil smiles of relief and at Autumn’s reaction to seeing Vaea, then a rare happy beam from Aaron.. feel.. the love ;__;

red lighting in the tunnel sets a dangerous, dramatic build-up mood

👀 more info on Fenris’ past, on the specifics of the process which gave him his markings. in the panel where he says that it took a long time, his shadow on the wall behind him reminds me of the shadow of his past that has dogged him for so long :(

Fenris and Marius height difference

discussion of the process shows the power difference between blue and red lyrium. blue lyrium took a long time, red lyrium is almost instant

Autumn is such an intrepid little explorer and alert scout, tail and ears up, head forward. good girl!

“I just... worry about you, my girl”  ‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚  I’ll be so sad if these are death flags for Aaron and he doesn’t make it out of here. also note Fran in this panel, who recently had to kill her own father and is still dealing with that, watching the strongly paternal moment between Aaron and Vaea :(

love Vaea’s faith in Aaron and her sense of humor. also I don’t know why, maybe it’s because Vaea met Sebastian, but her “Maker, no!”, although in a completely different and light-hearted context, reminds me of Sebastian’s “Maker nooo!” at the end of DA2 hh

the reference again to Hawke, who Fenris saw haunted by what they tried to do - save their mother - and couldn’t :’(. also with the shadow in this panel, here’s another person struggling with the shadow of his past qq. this is later emphasized again in Aaron when he continues to talk about his past and in the panel is a chain and manacle. smart visual metaphors, a must in the comic medium with limited space

mushroom skull 💀🍄

“It isn’t about what I’ve done. It isn’t about my failures. Or my choices. It’s about their impact” - he’s misty-eyed here as he thinks back to Ostagar.. does this line btw seem almost meta to anyone else btw? :D it feels like a meta reference to the experience of DA players and PCs, who are always having to deal with the impacts of their choices

I wanna point out that I was right on reading issue #1, when I said “I’m positive that in panel 2 here, it’s the exact moment when he sees Cailan die” ;;

So Aaron is also a veteran of the Battle of Denerim

reference to the Hero of Ferelden - “Those were someone else’s battles”. I’m being captain obvious here but I can’t help but [heart pitter-patter] at any and all references to the HoF

I like the.. parallel? is that the word? Aaron’s stories were him trying to inspire people to make a change, or him trying to convince himself of that. and now here’s Vaea, inspiring Aaron with her words in these panels. the little guys can make a difference! in the world of Thedas, you don’t need to be a big bombastic hero or a Player Character to have an impact 

lmao Fenris right on cue. the moments of humor/light-heartedness are nice because they break up the tension and are sprinkled throughout without derailing build-up or taking away from dramatic story impact. yknow?

yeah Aaron!! leave it behind. leave it to rot with mr mushroom skull (and hey the mushroom skull was there for a reason). again tho if this is a death flag i 

Fenris straight down to business with the tactics

its cute how close Autumn has been sticking to Fran

Tessa checking in on Fran again, as she did in issue 1

Could Vaea’s “Well, shit” be an homage to Varric? :D they have met

I also wanna point out that I was right on reading issue #1, when I said “My guess is that the thing Tractus shows Marquette and Nenealeus is probably a chained up dragon or similar”

the poor dragon :’( big dragon the Qunari had in Trespasser vibes

the sword has a really cool design, kind of reminds me of something a samurai might be depicted wielding

👀 lore-drop! so ancient elven arcane warriors used lyrium-infused swords. this seems to confirm the sarcophagus is an ancient elven artifact, no? makes sense, wasn’t it said that the sarcophagus’ design was based on the architecture/outfit-design type elements of a specific faction, and that this was done intentionally? it looks kinda ancient elfy in make, right? also about the lyrium-infused swords of the arcane warriors, well well well.. remember that the Evanuris and the ancient elves mined the bodies of Titans for lyrium, for power and to use as a resource. here’s an example of that use

as I read through this portion I became increasingly concerned for my boy Shirallas.. we really are in it now aren’t we 😭

the Qunari are launching STRAIGHT-UP ROCKETS ohhhh

pretty ‘lightshow’ over the wall in the “Let’s hope the fortress is as secure as Danarius boasted” panel hh

protective older brother Fenris, impish younger sister Vaea. love that dynamic, we love to see it. sheepish and exasperated Fenris is so cute

the Bone Pit dragon fight with Hawke and co reference!

I wonder how long the dragon has been captive here, and how Danarius/Tractus was able to capture it

lore-wise what are the implications here? when Fenris’ ritual was being undertaken, the sword and the sarcophagus were bombarded with magic, fire spells. in this one they aim to have the dragon bombard it with fire-breathing. is it just fire that makes it work/powers it, or is there magic in dragonfire, in dragons? it reminds me of “Your heart beats with the old blood, as well. Where do you think it comes from? It sings of a time when dragons ruled the skies. A time before the Veil, before the mysteries were forgotten. Can you hear it?”

purple color for the dragon’s growling sounds/typeset is a great idea

lets.. goooo!!!!

Marquette is such a nerd. later on when he activates the sarcophagus he has mad scientist vibes

the dramatic reunion face-offs begin!! as the prophecy foretold!!!!1

true to form, Marius DOES have nothing to say ahahaha, even at this, his personal climax. maybe Marius dies in the next issue, but Tessa lives and gets to go back to Charter

these Venatori look almost Star Wars

Shirallas my boyy.. nooo... don’t do it 😭

ah ah ah! try casting magic with no ARMS

Francesca a beacon of blue light and goodness

the splash combat page is masterful. everyone playing a part, so much going on, everything happening at once. a thing that sticks out to me about it is Aaron’s outstretched hand and alarm as he watches Fran fall 

Autumn with her lil hackles raised

“The Venatori have returned” dun dun dunn

goodbye Shirallas 😭😭😭

the composition of the second to last page with triangle/diamond-shaped panels and the framing of dragon wings is awesome

the Dread Wolf rises, “the Tevinter Imperium will rise again”.. on-point on-point cohesion

there he is, the red wraith

Super Saiyan Shirallas

what a note to end an issue on

wow wow wow!!

and separate to the above, some speculation based on the cover of Issue 3: the piece of metal looks like a broken collar coming off Shirallas, like the one there was on the cover of Issue 2 coming off the dragon. also he’s all bulky now with draconic talons/claws (reminds me of in-world legends of Reavers who dug too deep of their own power after drinking dragon blood and whose bodies consequently began to manifest subtle reptilian traits actually). I’ll be interested to see what results of this allusion between Shirallas and the dragon!!

[gauntsghostsfieldguide]

The Blood Pact- Part 10 (and last)

@the-fluffy-underbelly

TWENTY-EIGHT

The Death Venue of Ibram Gaunt (visitors welcome)

"He noticed that both Mabbon and Maggs were scanning the area too. They’d felt it as well, and whatever they were, both of them were soldiers first. They had keen skills that could never erode." What Maggs was? He's still a Guard soldier.

“Tell them all about Commissar Gaunt and what an amazing soldier he was.” I kind of wish we had heard what the docent said. It'd be bullshit, of course, but it would have been interesting.

"Gaunt did not cry. It was one design feature his new eyes did not possess." I've wondered about this bit. I suppose the tech for his new eyes can just have a thing where they don't produce excess lubrication, but they must have some, or else his eyes would get fucked up.

"Vaynom Blenner had wrapped his fists together and smacked them across the back of one of the Sirkle’s skulls." Woo!

“I think you should stay here,” Mabbon said gently to the bewildered docent. “This is probably the point at which you’ll want to disassociate yourself from this group.” I remembered this as Maggs, but apparently it was Mabbon. He's very polite! And right, this poor guy doesn't need to get caught up in their shit.

“Back off. Back off, now!” he yelled, raising his hands. “Stand down. You’re only going to make this worse!” And none of the Ghosts do, because this is Gaunt and they're standing by him.

"In less than a minute, the western cloisters of the great quad had turned into a furious, howling nightmare of a firefight." Just like old times.

"“Then there is Rime,” said Rime." Oh... that's not good. He's a traitor!

"“You’re a good man, Gaunt,” wheezed the etogaur.

“If they take us, please don’t say that to anyone. Tell them I’m your sworn enemy.”" I think Mabbon actually means it, too!

“One last thing you might want to consider, damogaur,” Mabbon said in the Archenemy tongue. “When you’ve got the bastard, kill the bastard. Don’t talk about it.” Very good point!

“I only ever see what’s real and true through my scope,” Larkin replied." I got the bad guy, of course. Didn’t I?” Larkin saved the others by killing the enemy leader, as he does.

“You’ve changed your face a thousand times, but I still know you, Syko Magir.” oh, hey! and he changed his name to an injoke, apparently.

"All Wes Maggs saw was the old dam who had haunted his mind since Hinzerhaus. All Wes Maggs wanted was to be free of her phantom torment." It's just a coincidental echo, since the old woman from Only in Death was a combo of the painting in the house and the old woman near Soric, but it is interesting that this is what saves them.

"The last few shots lifted her veil for a second as she fell back. Maggs saw her face, a face he would never forget." I do like that we never get a description of her face; we just know that it's bad.

“See?” said Rawne, “Sometimes even he can.” The Cant jokes never stop.

“Yeah,” said Rawne, “but you’ve never read mine.” This is my second favorite Rawne bit in this book. Gaunt may not trust his own judgment, but Rawne does. Also, Rawne kills people more readily.

TWENTY-NINE

Exit Wounds

“My regiment is mobilised, sir. We’ll be heading towards Salvation’s Reach within the week.” Not many of the Ghost books set up the next book like this.

“This is the memorial chapel dedicated to Tanith." ;_;

“My eyes won’t let me cry,” Gaunt said, looking at his old friend." Too bad mine will ;_;

EPILOGUE

The Ninth Day

"The Oligarchy Gate, on the afternoon of the ninth day, at Slaydo’s left hand. Ahead, the famous Gate, defended by the woe machines of Heritor Asphodel. Mud lakes. Freak weather. The chemical deluge triggered by the orbital bombardment and the Heritor’s toxins. Molten pitch in the air like torrential rain." That's pretty nasty.

"He looked up. The Tower of the Plutocrat was the most massive structure he’d ever seen. Nothing in the universe could topple it." Blatant foreshadowing.

And Gaunt did meet Jaume's father! He just forgot, understandably.

[kaediisarchive]

Final thoughts on the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie.

LOTS of spoilers under the cut! Do not look at this post if you don’t want to see spoilers!

And remember, this is all just my opinion. It’s not like an actual in-depth review because I’m not a film student; this is just my perspective on what I saw as a fan of this franchise.

POSITIVE

Sub-Zero and Scorpion were great. Opening fight was great.

“Eddy Tobias” namedrop lmao

I love the snow preceding Sub-Zero’s attack. Very foreboding.

Score is AWESOME. My favorite soundtrack is probably the one that plays when Sub-Zero is attacking them in the city towards the beginning.

Sonya rigging her house with a secret bunker and trap doors is smart and fits her character.

I like that the dragon logo has an integral meaning to the story.

Loved Jax vs Sub-Zero. Not mad about the origin change of Jax’s arms. I like that he had to work through his feelings of inadequacy and failure; people don’t just immediately bounce back after something that traumatic. I also like that his arcana manifests to protect Sonya rather than in the heat of battle. It shows his emotional priorities and what separates him from people like Kano who manifest their arcana in a fit of rage.

Sonya “Throw Hands on Sight” Blade lmfao. They nailed her fighting style too and I am happy.

Kano is the best thing about this movie. No competition.

Kotal reference!

Nightwolf reference!

Shang Tsung’s soul magic being black and wispy and foreshadowing Noob Saibot.

KANO DID THE HEART RIP

CHEKOV’S GNOME I’M SCREAAAAAAMMMMIIIIIINNNNGGGGGG

I love Liu Kang in this. He is 1000000% a Wholesome Boi. I like that he’s younger and unhardened and not the fully realized champion version of his character yet. Let him grow into it so it feels earned later on. I like that he’s the underdog, and I like what they’ve set up for him in the future. Also, the casting for him was perfect and they nailed his fighting style, too.

That little “the FUCK” that the Kano actor improvised(?) in the middle of Liu Kang’s lines made me laugh more than it should have. I don’t know why that moment got to me so much but it did.

I love Kung Lao. And they nailed his fighting style, too! Great to see variation that represents the characters (though there were less shining examples, which I’ll touch on later).

LOW SWEEP! LOW SWEEP! LOW SWEEP!

Egg roll scene is best scene.

Kabal! I love his dry humor. And his voice reminds me of Duke Nukem, which I’m not mad about. It complemented his dialogue well.

Not mad about Kung Lao’s death because it was meaningful. His fatality on Nitara was sick, too.

Liu Kang taking the ribbon from Kung Lao’s hat and wearing it in his honor, giving an origin for his signature headband is FANTASTIC.

THE PIT!

FLYING BICYCLE KICKS!

LIU KANG’S DRAGON FATALITY!

SONYA’S ENERGY RINGS!

Sub-Zero was a GREAT final boss. They really built him up appropriately to make him feel like it.

Scorpion’s fatality! And his skull face!

NEUTRAL

Not sure how I feel about Sub-Zero being wholly evil and there being no involvement from Quan Chi. It’s more straight forward for sure. It makes him an interesting (and badass) character, and I’m really behind this portrayal in that he is one of the most believable characters in the movie, but I’m not sure if I like the implications for later films in how this has simplified the dynamic in the entire Shirai Ryu vs Lin Kuei plotline. Having Quan Chi be the Machiavelli was always one of my favorite MK twists. And how do we eventually end the feud now? If Bi-Han / the Lin Kuei were wholly responsible, why should Hanzo EVER make peace with Kuai Liang down the line? The complexity feels like it’s been stripped down a bit, but I do love this iteration of Sub-Zero. I truly do. That’s why this is in the neutral category and not the negative XD.

Why didn’t Jax tell Cole when he saw the mark? Why wait until his family gets attacked? Maybe he didn’t want to do it in front of his family to keep them out of it, but that ends up endangering them more. Not a gripe, just a curiosity.

Sound editing was a bit too intense at times for my taste. I have tinnitus, so...big boomy bass with very mild voices is a chore for my ears to switch between. My ears were ringing within the first twelve minutes.

Torn between “fuck you Reiko” and “Reiko deserved better”. He deserved just a little bit better, but Skarlet says “get fucked” anyway.

I don’t like the “shaky cam” used in the fight scenes. Not my cup of tea. Very hard to visually process at times.

Whatever cosmic force is picking the champions for Earthrealm is doing a shitty job at it.

Why did they change the location of the Sky Temple to a desert? Again, not a gripe, a curiosity.

“We will not see another full moon before the tournament begins” THEN WHERE IS THE TOURNAMENT BUDDY???

Not sure how I feel about the “arcana” concept. It’s an okay plot device but kinda hammy.

Kitana’s fan! But why? Why is it there? I could understand the Kotal and Nightwolf references because Sonya has been researching, but why is Kitana’s fan randomly in an Earthrealm temple? Purely cheap fanservice.

Nitara was really cool. Shame she had to die, but her death was cool and there have to be some characters that get killed off. Wish she had more screentime though; feels like another instance of fanservice just having her show up basically as a namedrop and a quick kill.

The phrase “Are you okay?” was said WAY too much in this film. So much that I actually notices how often it was said, and I usually don’t pick up on these things.

Pretty sure a camera operator fell at one point in a Sonya scene because the camera jerked around violently all of the sudden then stabilized. Whoops.

How did Sub-Zero know to take Cole’s family to the gym? WHY did he take them there?

NEGATIVE

Opening scene was awesome, but it’s emotional impact felt stunted. I feel like the order of events should have been twisted a bit. Hanzo find his wife and son should have been the big emotional climax of the scene, but it felt like a passing moment and gave him no time to mourn and no time for the impact to truly set in with me. It was an “oh no they died” moment instead of an “ OH MY GOD THEY DIED THIS IS SO FUCKED FUCK YOU SUB-ZERO” moment. I dare say that the Legacy web series did it better in spite of their lower budget and overall quality; the series of events had better pacing and gave more emotional impact because of it. I said what I fucking said don’t @ me.

Wish we got more Scorpion. I love Sanada, I love him as Scorpion, but they didn’t give us the time we needed with his character to truly get a grasp of him.

Cole Young is like white bread in a parade of decorative cakes.

Raiden, a normally passionate and protective character whose fatal flaw is that he involves himself too much in events because he cares about the people in his realm and ends up fucking things up because of it, now seems to not care in the slightest. He feels completely uninvolved save for an occasional pop in to give a nod of disapproval. I don’t like this unemotional take on one of the most emotional characters in Mortal Kombat.

Small complaint from my perspective as a martial artist but uh...”Throw your uppercut!” was a bullshit line in a bullshit scene. If you’re locked up with someone like that and the guy has his arms around your neck, you physically cannot uppercut. You cannot fit your arms between his arms because they are cinched tightly around your shoulders/neck. YOUR HEAD is between your fist + bicep and HIS HEAD. In that situation, the guy has also left his body completely unguarded, so the most logical thing to do since you CANNOT reach his head is to go for BODY BLOWS. Beat him until he lets go to protect himself, catch his floating rib with double strikes, or punch the dude in his fucking liver as hard as you can to DROP HIM. Cole is supposed to be an experienced fighter, yet he makes one of the most rookie mistakes a fighter could ever make. Normally I wouldn’t care to point out mistakes in fight choreography or whatever because it’s MK and I expect ridiculousness, but this is the WRONG kind of ridiculous. It’s just NONSENSE.

I have SO MANY issues with Mileena. I’ll make this as short as I can. I don’t like the design of her mouth. I don’t like her weird stacked voice. She shows NO personality, not in her acting or even her fighting style, just an evil minion that got angry because she almost got her ass kicked. The turned one of the principle characters of the entire franchise and a fan favorite into a GRUNT. There is NO mention of Kitana outside of literal “fan”-service. Not even a reference to one of the most important plotlines in all of Mortal Kombat. And then they KILL HER OFF!!! When they do inevitably bring in Kitana WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY GOING TO DO SINCE THEY KILLED OFF MILEENA???? I’m heated and biased and they did my girl dirty.

Speaking of doing characters dirty, poor Reptile. They turned him into an actual animal. What a waste.

Why are they so mean to Sonya if she doesn’t have a mark? She wouldn’t be as much of a “liability” if they would take the time to prepare her and teach her how to defend against fighters that have unlocked their arcana. Mind-numbingly stupid logic.

This movie relies A LOT on prerequisite knowledge to work. It’s like they want fans to fill in the blanks for them. But not everyone watching is already a fan; this isn’t an obscure release, this is a blockbuster movie released worldwide. These gaps in lore and prior knowledge don’t make sense for such a broad audience.

Cole Young literally could have just been Johnny Cage.

Where was Raiden when his temple was being assaulted?

Cole’s arcana is LITERAL PLOT ARMOR IM FUCKING DONE

No but for real that’s the most boring decision they just ripped off Jax’s MK11 heater effect and Baraka’s blades (I know they’re tonfa and they aren’t attached and I DON’T CARE). Also, now he’s suddenly good at fighting again? After being dog shit this entire movie??? And tanks Goro?????

If Raiden is an Elder God in this continuity, why is he allowed to help Earthrealm AT ALL? It seems like favoritism and bends the rules that the Elder Gods are supposedly bound by way too much. They really just shouldn’t have made him an Elder God; I honestly think they just said it to introduce the concept without a fuck given towards the actual lore of the Elder Gods.

WHY DID RAIDEN TELEPORT KANO TO SONYA’S HOUSE AFTER HE BETRAYED THEM I HAD TO REWATCH THAT SEVERAL TIMES TO MAKE SURE I JUST SAW WHAT I SAW  WHAT THE ACTUAL NONSENSICAL FUCK

Cole REALLY should not have been involved in that last fight. Especially not after Scorpion shows up. It should have been Scorpion vs Sub-Zero ONLY for the final fight. Cole tag-teaming Sub-Zero with Scorpion cheapens Scorpion’s revenge.

Camera work in the final fight was not good, especially in the first portion. At one point Cole gets thrown into a fence, but it cuts to an awkward inverse angle that makes him look like he’s bouncing off of a trampoline. This continues to happen and ruins several shots for me.

Honestly Scorpion should have just possessed Cole. Permanently. No switching back and forth. No more Cole, only Scorpion.

PREDICTIONS

Lots of dead characters come back as revenants and / or with upgrades.

Kano comes back with cyber eye.

Mileena comes back with full teeth.

Liu Kang becomes MK champion, wins tournament, and kills Shang Tsung. As it should be.

Cole Young helps Liu Kang become champion somehow idk maybe he sacrifices himself or something just please don’t make Cole the champion I will start a riot.

Next movie will start IMMEDIATELY at the tournament since there was supposedly less than a month until the tournament starts in this movie.

New characters coming in will be Kitana, Shao Kahn, Jade, Quan Chi, Kuai Liang, Noob Saibot, Ermac, and Johnny Cage.

OVERALL

This movie was good, bloody fun! It’s not an A++ Oscar-winner, but if you expected that going into it, you played yourself. It was Mortal Kombat; it was stupid, it was gory, and I had a blast watching it. Kano and Liu Kang were the best parts of the movie for me, with Scorpion and Sub-Zero tied for third. Also I popped a lot for the cheap nostalgia hits. I’m overall satisfied with what we got in spite of my complaints, and I only complain so in-depth about the things I love lmao so trust me when I say I’m not actually mad, just nitpicky. I’ve watched it twice now, and I would watch it again. It’s like a 6.8/10 for me.

[only-by-the-stars]

the annotated Tome of the Wild

I don’t know how many people are interested in this sort of thing, but let’s go for it anyway! There are a lot, and I mean a LOT, of series references and cameos in this story, as well as tons of foreshadowing of various plot points, that may or not have gotten noticed, so I’ve been thinking about making a series of posts talking about it all for anyone curious. So here is part one, covering Chapter One: The Old Grist Mill.

(spoilers for the whole thing, obviously!)

- First up is the attire Link and Aryll are wearing. In the show, the protagonist, Wirt, is wearing a Halloween costume, though this isn’t immediately apparent that that’s the case. For Link’s costume, the choice was obvious: his Wind Waker clothing that you can get via amiibo in Breath of the Wild. Aryll, of course, is wearing the alternate pirate dress that you see her in when doing a second playthrough of WW.

- Then there’s the lengthy list of possible names Aryll tosses out for her frog. This is something that Greg, Wirt’s little brother, does at the beginning of the show, so I thought it’d be a fun way to sneak in a bunch of names that I wasn’t going to use otherwise.

Rauru: The Sage of Light in Ocarina of Time

Zauz: The blacksmith who forges the Phantom Sword in Phantom Hourglass

Snowpeak: For the Snowpeak Ruins, one of the best dungeons in Twilight Princess (and the series IMO)

Lorule: The “Dark World” of A Link Between Worlds

Vaati: The villain of Minish Cap (UNDERRATED GEM)

Swamp: Self-explanatory, there are multiple swamps in the series, like Misery Mire in Link to the Past and Goponga Swamp in Link’s Awakening

Lynel: The infamous, terrifying enemies we all know so well I hunt them for fun sometimes

Poe: Ghostly enemies that recur through the series (perhaps most memorably in TP)

Zonai: The mysterious long-lost race that built some very cool structures in BOTW

Ancient Columns: An area in BOTW where you find a memory and the Tena Ko’Sah shrine

Stealthfin: For the Stealthfin Trout in BOTW

Orca: The old swordsman on Outset Island

Ankle, Knuckle, David Jr.: Tingle’s brothers from WW

Guru-Guru: The Terminan version of the guy in the Windmill who teaches you the Song of Storms

Astor: The villain of Age of Calamity

Molduga: The sand-dwelling bosses in BOTW

Ook: A very hilarious and memorable mini-boss from TP

Tingle: The infamous Tingle, who of course Aryll thinks would be the worst name for her frog. Greg is cut off from saying what he thinks is the worst name, but I had to let Aryll speak for this little gag.

Phew, that was long. Moving on!

- “Rule one of the researcher's code is to never give up! That's what my teacher says, anyway.” Yes. Robbie is Aryll’s teacher, that is a line he says during the cutscene just before the “Relentless as a Waterfall” battle in Age of Calamity. As you might expect, Aryll finds him very amusing.

- Aryll stuck a piece of candy on a tiny black turtle that dripped an oily substance onto the forest floor as it crawled along. Dekuwood oil sighting! This is the very same turtle that gets swallowed by the dog that accosts them later, and the oil is what caused its transformation, just as it did in the show.

- “Why are we in the woods? How did we even get here? I don't... the last thing I remember is...” He screwed up his face in concentration. “Gah, why can't I remember? We were—” So Link goes into water and wakes up in a place he doesn’t know, with no memory of how he got there? Sound familiar?

- A shudder went through him and he resolved to ignore it, even as the sounds of ghostly laughter seemed to reach his ears from far off. And did the mists seem to be growing thicker? A reference to the Lost Woods from BOTW. Quite appropriate, given they’re lost in the forest.

- The mysterious woodsman is, of course, Rhoam. Who was also the first person that Link met in BOTW on the Great Plateau. He has a lantern there too, and carries around an ax, and is separated from his daughter. Just. Too easy.

- I’ll talk about this more in later posts, but, Midna in Beatrice’s role was one of the first and easiest choices I made when casting this thing. Also, notice how she takes off as soon as Rhoam shows up? This is a thing that happens in the series with the Woodsman and Beatrice, who have no prior connection, but Midna definitely knows this guy, and that reveal was held back for later via keeping that bit from the show.

- Also, in the show, the wood is called edelwood; here I chose dekuwood not just because of deku trees and whatnot in the series, but. well. Also to invoke the memory of the Deku Butler’s son in Majora’s Mask who became a victim of the Skull Kid and thus Link’s first mask.

- Link saying “Hey, listen” to Aryll is a callback to Navi’s infamous phrase from OOT.

- “Not in any way that would be beneficial to you.” Link will remember this later when the Beast is trying to get him and Midna to choose whose soul will be in the lantern.

- She leaned up on her toes and retrieved what looked like a compass. Compasses are, of course, a dungeon item in most of the games.

- The owl statue Aryll plays with, and subsequently breaks the beak of, is a reference to the owl statues in Link’s Awakening. Their eyes do indeed glow when you talk to them in the Switch remake, and in the dungeons you have to retrieve their broken-off beaks to converse with them.

- In the show, you don’t find about Wirt’s crush until much later, but I wanted to establish the plotline of Link’s love for Mipha and what he’s been doing about it right here at the beginning. His avoidance of her and what Aryll tells him about how its caused her so much pain is the beginning of his descent into despair near the end of the story. Not to mention that I hinted at the tape’s existence with Aryll’s reference to him making “that thing” for her.

- Aryll decides to call her frog “Blupee” after the glowing, rabbit-like spirit creatures in BOTW.

- “Sheikah smoke! Poof!”  A reference, of course, to how the Sheikah can appear or disappear in a puff of smoke.

- “He is the death of hope, a cunning calamity... he steals life, steals children... he, he...” A calamity, eh? Now where have we heard that phrase before? And Rhoam is, of course, alluding to his belief that the Beast is responsible for the disappearance of his daughter, Zelda.

- “Leave me now, young man... take your sister and go east.” In the show, the Woodsman tells Wirt to go north. But here, it’s east, because their next destination is Ikana, which is located in the eastern portion of Termina in MM.

- A half-moon the color of yellowed pages had risen in the sky by now, and by its light Link guided Aryll onto a path that he was reasonably sure led east. This bit of description is not just there to be pretty. I established a specific phase of the moon here so that I could go back and use the exact same description in later chapters, when more time had passed and it wouldn’t make any sense for there to actually be the same moon phase going on. This is a hint to the fact that everything in the Wild, takes place during the same night in Link’s world. This is something that you see visually in the show, but must be described in a fic.

and that’s it for chapter one! stay tuned for chapter two!

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Moriarty 5 - 7 | HypMic 10 - 11

Moriarty 5

Saito’s Moriarty and Gentaro voices are quite similar, now that I compare them.

“…he’s a good egg at heart.” – LOL, never thought I’d be reading subtitles that said that.

Oh, so that was Frida on the bridge?

I wonder, is Moriarty like Bon and nursing a weak leg with that cane? Or is the cane just a symbol of nobility?

Moriarty 6

The Titanic? Wasn’t there a Black Butler arc based on it?

LOL, these people in the foreground are CGI.

…is that the grapefruit guy? (Beats me, I haven’t watched this in weeks and am only returning to it because Scott keeps mentioning spoilers. The only thing I’m keeping up with properly is HypMic and my Kanon watch with #AniTwitWatches…and soon I’ll add the final episodes of Sailor Moon to it.)

Found him! Sherlock Holmes! I sort of triangulated from buzz around me that he appears in this episode.

What’s with the skull ring Holmes wears?

…ah, the golden ratio!

…Oh, this is gonna get interesting! You can tell this Holmes is adept in fighting due to his build, but…how did Moriarty figure out Holmes played the violin? Calluses on his hands?

Is this Holmes a womaniser…? I thought the guy was often characterised as an asexual, or at the very least aromantic. That’s part of what makes the guy so intriguing to me - because he still has Irene.

A colliery is a coal mine. It’s been a while since I heard that word.

Moriarty 7

The anime’s sense of colour is probably one of the most striking parts of this. Not just red, but blue and green where it counts too.

Not a fan of the 1st person cam…

That knife came out pretty clean for something so blood-stained.

I wanted to say “’Right,’ said Fred”…but Fred didn’t talk, so I can’t do that. (Dangit!)

I somehow found it slightly funny that France was ahead of Britain (America?) in forensic pathology, although I dunno what made it funny exactly.

I squealed (…just a little bit) when the iconic quote came up: “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” I have it memorised from my Detective Conan days still, see?

Next time: A Study in S (according to stuff I read, the S stands for Sherlock this time).

HypMic 10

…I can’t believe it’s almost over already. I’ve basically been in a dream this entire season…but then what happens once the anime is over…? Waiting for the 2nd DRB to happen, I guess.

I didn’t even realise, but Jiro’s varsity jacket has an owl on the bottom of the logo.

…”[H]it the head”? Wassat mean? *checks up* Oh, so it means to go to the bathroom…Right. It’s US slang, which might explain a thing.

Notice Ramuda uses “Jakurai” and not “jijii” or something like that during his time with Ichijiku. Also, there’s a lot of his deep voice going around…

You can see MTR on the poster behind Ramuda at one point.

*anguished noises* Ramuda!!! Please don’t do this!!!

LOL, Sadamezuka and Kazuha.

Is “bum-rush” even an appropriate word for this situation…? US slang is weird…

…Doppo’s performance almost seems like a Rosho foreshadowing. Also, I love how Doppo’s screens disappear with his motivation.

…I saw a spoiler today on Twitter regarding Dice and meat…now I get it.

“detarame” – I know this word means “nonsense”, but for some reason I memorised it as meaning “s***” at one point due to the context of Scenario Liar. I find it interesting Hifumi used a word from Scenario Liar in the first place, even though it’s not necessarily meant to be taken in that context.

“the King of Normies” – For some reason, that made me laugh pretty hard. That is an accurate translation of “riajyuu no ousama” though.

Gentaro’s smile puts a smile on my face as well.

“colours you’ve dyed” – Note Shibuya is constantly referred to by colours, including how PCCS (in the Shibuya 1st DRB team song) apparently means “practical colour coordinate system”.

I find it interesting that Saburo was the one who mentioned holding hands as a sign of camaraderie first in the anime and then the Funi translation makes Ramuda use the same symbolism here. It may have been unintentional, though.

…the subbers keep using “OMG” and I’m like ????. Is OMG outdated slang in 2020?

…wow, that holy imagery…they really went all-in on Jakurai’s godliness there.

…even when knocked down, Jakurai’s hair is still 100% gorgeous.

I noticed one of the lyrics the translators cut out of Doppo’s rap was “borderline”.

Ahhhhhhhhhh! This anime just kicked me where it hurts! (<- As in, it used the trope I love so much – where the underdog causes a sudden turn-around in the battle and they’re not even aware of it!) This is why I love you, Doppo!

LOL, FP spent their countdown gossiping. That’s such a FP thing to do.

Hifumi seems to carry the beat in MTR’s Kizuna. Jakurai gets drowned out quite a bit, although Riou (who has a similar voice) was less drowned out.

“No pain, no gain.” – That’s a good saying.

HypMic 11

2 episodes until the end! (Yikes!)

I still take some issue with subbing the laughing. Well, then again I’ve been half-deaf lately with my ears being clogged (accidentally clogged my ear up again…), so I guess I shouldn’t complain.

If I’m hearing it right, Ramuda goes “nee-san” and not particularly anything to do with “Beauties” or “Beasts”, which seems to be exclusive to the subs.

Stone guardian? I guess this has to do with jizo in Japanese. Hifumi does go “namu” (short for “namu amida butsu”) towards Doppo at the end there.

That bed is…why is it so empty if it’s meant to be the room someone’s staying in?

Is Jyuto’s hair black or brown? I’ve been colouring it a deep brown because I think that looks nice, but it might actually be black…

I have a newfound respect for Komada ever since I found out his birthday is [secret censored – maybe if you follow the hints I leave behind, you might find out what I mean].

LOL, I spotted the fire extinguisher in one corner and was immediately reminded of how someone once translated “fire extinguisher” to “hand grenade”.

…how does Jakurai’s hair work from the back? There’s this coil of hair that seems to go places it shouldn’t be…

For some reason, the subbers keep translating “sensei” as “the good doctor”…or is that the first and only time it happened?

I think it’s appropriate they discuss bonds on the day Kizuna (the ED) goes out on streaming.

…*thinks about 2nd DRB, where BB vs. DH is going to happen next month* …Yeah, you better pay attention or your daddy’s gonna come spank you boys.

Jakurai summoning his mic is always freakin’ cool. Aspire to be like this elegant man.

The wolf hand sign again.

There’s a pun between kizukizu (wounds) and kizuna (bonds). Update: The phrase is actually gisugisusa (stiffness, unsociability, coldness [of atmosphere] etc.), but...there’s the same rhyming scheme, so it’s not wrong.

Doppo’s bit about Jakurai(-sensei) being a kasugai (hemostat) is, surprisingly, quite faithful, as you can tell from how those words rhyme. Hifumi’s verse mentions a monkey wrench, though.

…kasumitai ore ga yoi… - that translates to “…[Jakurai is] better than us, who are like scum…” It’s a very Doppo sort of line, noting that kasu literally means “residue”.

I didn’t realise this until now, but Riou has a piercing in one ear (his right). It’s just in an unconventional place in the upper curve, so I never spotted it.

Samatoki’s death aesthetic really contrasts against Jakurai’s healing one. I can see why people really liked the MTC vs. MTR fight now.

It seems the strategy to win in this series is to keep spamming your attacks. It seems hugely suitable for my pseudo-Pokemon AU, which emphasises attack over defence.

Oh! I never noticed the blue gem on Jakurai’s mic!

Note how Samatoki said “lightning rod” – Jakurai’s name means “lonely thunder”. It’s one reason why I fell head over heels for the guy – his stupidly awesome name.

“horse/rabbit/bush warbler” – These refer to MTC. Samatoki, Jyuto, Riou. On that note, ARB currently has an event where Ramuda hangs out with MTC and he calls Jyuto “usa-chan” as a pun. I find that so darn cute!

“And the winner is…Matenro!” - *cue the song, The Champion*

Notice how they put BB and FP before MTC and MTR in the ED…it’s foreshadowing!

[border-spam]

Took a bit of time and some morning coffee and wrote up my feelings on why I’m feeling so let down by the twins.

Copied from my Reddit: Just finished the game and am still reeling at how poorly the last few hours went story wise. There is a clear disconnect between how the twins were built up as the game progressed though echo logs, direct communications with them etc, and how things actually went down as the story began to wrap up, which is why things feel so rushed and not satisfying. Troy was the key to this game having a fantastic ending, and he was thrown away out of the blue despite all the twin's character development being on him solely.

While Tyreen suffered a lot of the same issues, my god.. they really.. really.. screwed up how they handled Troy, and they needed these villains to go down perfectly to be able to be on the same level as Jack. They came so close, it was incredibly frustrating to see them throw it all away.

As the story ramps up, cutscenes and echo communications very purposefully begin to show you the relationship between the twins isn't that stable. Tyreen has a clear disgust for keeping her brother alive, and Troy is far quieter, and willing to defer to her opinions. Once he absorbs Maya's powers, things take a noticeable shift. He's more confident, more ready to disagree with her, his cutscene in Jacob's alluded to him having his own goals not related to hers. His echo messages started dropping tidbits like how he always thought he was just a freak, and how good it feels to have power now.

Everything was building to "This dude is going to turn on Tyreen and end up taking her powers if she doesn't start treating him with more respect", and by the time you reach the cathedral we are right at the peak of this foreshadowing, with the twins aggressively mouthing off to each other and Troy ready to snap while channeling energy to Elpis.

When Tyreen started screaming "STOP, YOU'RE GONNA KILL ME!!" lines during his fight, I don't know anyone who didn't immediately think this was it, it was the plot turn point and shit was about to get amazing, and then he dies.

He just dies, the end. All that foreshadowing and threat, all that character development that Tyreen got none of, and hes's gone, and we are meant to see Tyreen as the threat again despite her having absolutely 0 development or growth across the whole game? She didn't even react to his death, there was no depth to the entire scene, it was rushed and painful to watch.

So what the fuck actually happened? Did the writers just change at that point? Did GB run out of time and threw together a fight with him despite it not matching ANY of the huge amount of foreshadowing they had spent so long working into the game already?

I could have written a better ending in 5 minutes, most of us could have. What I would have expected was:

Him to continue to leech from her during the fight, accidentally kill her because he got too cocky with his new powers, then had a breakdown when he recovered and tried to wake her up to let her know they had done it. The final fight being a deranged "God King Troy" who had continued on with his sister's plan solely out of guilt and spent the fight screaming her name and looking for her would have been fantastic and in line with the "Seeking power only leads to pain, family is the true strength" over laying plot of the game.

Points off the top of my head written into this character and then completely trashed with this fight ending:

What were his goals, he said he wasn't a follower and seemed to be humoring Tyreen most of the game.

The fuck was up with his face? Jaw hinges? We'll never know. Why are they there?

What happened to his arm, it was such an important visual feature and was never confirmed as being part of them being conjoined.

Was his main aim to break free of his parasitical relationship with her and be healthy?

What's the extremely high tech spinal and skull implant he has that's unrelated to his arm's tech

Why does he have actual tatoos under his siren tatooos if Tyreen had her powers since being a child

What were his base siren powers, did he have any bar the one he found out about midgame

What were the glowing crystals he carried that matched his tatoos and sword

Where the fuck did the sword come from, it just appears out of the blue in his fight with no pre context.

He was the only male siren in known history, this was a massive deal and wasn't even touched on once

TLDR, Troy was laid out as key to the entire plot arc and received all the character development for the twins. He was thrown away with no followup after the whole game foreshadowed his rise to power. Shitty writing that affected most of the characters in one way or another, but completely crippled the twins from being as great as they could have been.