#is the fact that hes not human but hes supposedly just as alive as everyone else

[o-sunny-day]

CAINE DOODLE DUMP!!!

Plus some depression from “Willard!” by Will Wood. That song is so Caine oh my god-

Im obsessed with the idea that The Digital Circus was supposed to be this grand game that just ended up falling through because of creative differences, and Caine was basically left to rot- like yeah that’d explain…*vaguely gestures* everything about him

They didn’t know what they had made

Also Bubble isn’t in the posters because I fully am committed to the theory that Caine made him himself after going crazy over being alone for forever

[hollowed-theory-hall]

What are your thoughts on vampires in the Harry Potter universe? The little we know suggests that vampires are mortal and can either be born or turned. Full-blooded vampires appear capable of passing down their traits genetically, creating half-vampires, or turning wizards into vampires. How do you think the concept of vampires fits into wizarding society?

Hello 👋

Vampires are a weird one. We're told so very little about them, and they seem more like an afterthought rather than fully-fledged beings. That in itself actually tells us something important — that vampires are kinda rare and not beings you will just stumble upon.

Vampires as Beings

As you mentioned, vampires in HP are capable of reproduction (Lorcan d'Eath who is a half-vampire), this to me suggests they are not only mortal, but that they can't actually turn other humans into vampires. I mean, if they could, they wouldn't need to reproduce. Also, the fact they are mortal (albeit with even longer lifespans than wizards) suggests they are alive and not undead as vampires are usually portrayed.

So basically, long-living but not immortal bloodsuckers that can't actually turn via a bite. The fact they can't turn humans actually makes how they are treated by wizards make much more sense, so that's what I chose to believe. Further quotes and explanations in the next section. It's under a cut because it got long:

Vampires in Wizarding Society

So how are vampires seen in the wizarding world?

I copied all the quotes from the books relevant to this to try and create a cohesive understanding of wizards' treatment of vampires and the interactions between wizards and vampires.

“Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin’ outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience. ... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o’ trouble with a hag — never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject — now, where’s me umbrella?”

[...]

The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell’s lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he’d met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days.

(PS)

Vampires seem to live in secluded societies of their own, completely separate from wizards. Such vampire communities exist in Romania and in the Black Forest in Germany. In general, it seems vampires rarely leave their own communities and that they don't often foray into wizard spaces. Vampires are spoken of as cool mysterious beings because most wizards have never met a vampire in their life.

So vampires, unlike werewolves, are treated more as a dangerous curiosity rather than a physical threat (especially in the UK where there don't seem to be any major vampire communities).

That being said, wizards do treat vampires as dangerous. It seems reasonable to them to be traumatized by vampires.

Remember I mentioned I don't think HP vampires can turn with a bite? The whole thing with Quirrell is a bit of a proof of that. He was supposedly terrorized by vampires, that was everyone's assumption, so, they would then assume he was bitten and had his blood drunk, I mean, what else would vampires do to terrify him so much? But no one is concerned Quirrell is then a vampire even if it's logical to think he was bitten.

My conclusion from this is that vampires bite for food and the victim isn't turned. I assume most bite victims just die of blood loss, hence the danger factor. The fact vampires can't turn others is a major factor in why they seem to be treated with slightly more respect than werewolves.

I mean, an international singer (Lorcan d'Eath) can be a known part vampire and no one has a problem with it. There seem to be no rules against vampire employment or ownership of homes the way there are against werewolves. And I think this is because they are considered beings and not a disease the way Lycanthorpy is.

Harry looked into the shadowed eyes of Sirius Black, the only part of the sunken face that seemed alive. Harry had never met a vampire, but he had seen pictures of them in his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, and Black, with his waxy white skin, looked just like one.

(PoA)

Harry just explains here the vampire look and I wanted to mention it. The fact Sirius is said to look like a vampire (and some descriptions from HBP) suggests vampires in the DADA books and in wizards' minds are, in general, hot.

This quote by Dean and some stuff I'll mention later:

“Wonder what they’ll give us next year?” said Seamus Finnigan gloomily. “Maybe a vampire,” suggested Dean Thomas hopefully.

(PoA)

Suggests vampires are seen as hot, mysterious, and dangerous by wizards and there are most definitely erotic magical novels with vampire love interests. Basically, vampires are seen as sexy, dangerous, exotic, and mysterious by wizards who never met them (which is most of them).

Ron and Hermione were standing underneath it, examining a tray of blood-flavored lollipops. Harry sneaked up behind them. “Ugh, no, Harry won’t want one of those, they’re for vampires, I expect,” Hermione was saying.

(PoA)

This shows some of the vampires' better treatment from werewolves. Even though there aren't many vampires in the UK, Honeydukes has blood-flavoured candy for vampires. They are seen as respected enough beings to have their own candy lines that are sold in wizarding shops. I don't think any other magical creature can say the same.

I pull down about a hundred sacks of Galleons a year!” one of them shouted. “I’m a dragon killer for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures.” “No, you’re not!” yelled his friend. “You’re a dishwasher at the Leaky Cauldron. ... but I’m a vampire hunter, I’ve killed about ninety so far — ”

[...]

“That woman’s got it in for the Ministry of Magic!” said Percy furiously. “Last week she was saying we’re wasting our time quibbling about cauldron thickness, when we should be stamping out vampires! As if it wasn’t specifically stated in paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans — ”

(GoF)

But they still are seen as "dark dangerous magical creatures" by some of wizard society. A wizard claims (he's 100% lying) to be a vampire hunter, so I assume some think that's something that should be done.

Even though Percy mentions vampire hunting is illegal according to the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans. So while some wizards think vampires should be hunted down (like some people think werewolves should be hunted down) they are treated as human and therefore are protected by wizarding law, unlike werewolves who are discriminated against legally to a much worse degree.

“Harry, I’d like you to meet Eldred Worple, an old student of mine, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires — and, of course, his friend Sanguini.” Worple, who was a small, stout, bespectacled man, grabbed Harry’s hand and shook it enthusiastically; the vampire Sanguini, who was tall and emaciated with dark shadows under his eyes, merely nodded. He looked rather bored. A gaggle of girls was standing close to him, looking curious and excited.

[...]

“I would be delighted to write it myself — people are craving to know more about you, dear boy, craving! If you were prepared to grant me a few interviews, say in four- or five-hour sessions, why, we could have the book finished within months. And all with very little effort on your part, I assure you — ask Sanguini here if it isn’t quite — Sanguini, stay here,” added Worple, suddenly stern, for the vampire had been edging toward the nearby group of girls, a rather hungry look in his eye. “Here, have a pasty,” said Worple, seizing one from a passing elf and stuffing it into Sanguini’s hand before turning his attention back to Harry.

(HBP)

The final quote I want to bring up is the only vampire we ever see in the HP books. Sanguini is described exactly like Sirius is in PoA and how vampires are shown in DADA books, so there is some truth to these descriptions (or Worple found himself the perfect poster vampire to walk around with). The gaggle of giggling girls is also noteworthy as it adds to the idea that wizards see vampires as sexy, mysterious, and dangerous in a good way.

The fact both Worple and Lockhart find popularity and success with their books about vampire life, again shows wizards are curious and interested in reading about these mysterious beings called vampires. I'm sure there is a lot of trashy fiction dedicated to them because of that.

Sanguini, though, seems more interested in the girls' blood than anything. Like, it seems he doesn't mind drinking the blood from a bunch of random school girls, but it's hard to say if it's a vampire issue or that Sanguini personally just doesn't give a shit (Harry does mention he looks bored).

I find it odd how Worple talks to him like a dog, though. It shows again, wizards' sense of superiority. Even though they treat vampires like curiosities (which is better than most creatures get) they still don't see them as equal even if they are in the camp that doesn't want to hunt them down.

What's more surprising is that Sanguini listens. It's possible Sanguini and Worple are fucking and they are into that sort of thing, and that's my personal headcanon for it. Sanguini was there as Worple's secret date and nothing could convince me otherwise.

[lethby]

What's wrong with lesson 16 (everything)

A list by yours truly, who is about to collapse if she doesn't vent about it (TW: opinion lmao)

⍣ ೋ The time-travel shit

LITERALLY WHY

It creates so many problems and plot holes that could easily be avoided for no reason.

We leave everyone behind and it's never even addressed?? THEY'RE WAITING FOR US???

Barbatos, supposedly the one that cares about balance and timelines, just goes "well you're stuck here and I literally erased the other MC, good ending :D"

He told her "don't run into anyone" and she decides FIRST THING to head where all the noise is coming from, not trying to hide at all

⍣ ೋ No consequences whatsoever

It's awesome to know no one cared about MC dying

Sure, she's "alive" now, but everyone moved on so quickly??? Even Mammon, who was in the verge of a meltdown.

And it's all because we're Lilith's descendant how convenient

Even Belphie, our murderer who has hated humans for MILLENNIA, had a major switch up at this

Also, the brothers begin to completely disregard MC by treating her like Lilith

Look I understand, it's your dead sister and you miss her, BUT MC IS NOT HER. SHE IS HER OWN GODDAMN PERSON

But the worst part is... MC IS SO DAMN CHILL ABOUT IT

Even if she technically isn't the one who died, you'd expect some kind of uneasiness coming from her, SPECIALLY AROUND BELPHIE

Words can't express how much I hate it

⍣ ೋ Solution

I'm gonna make the devs a favor and fix their game

REVIVAL

MC JUST REVIVES FOR WHATEVER REASON (Lilith's will, the last remnants of her powers, Barbatos' precautions...)

Now you don't have to worry about too many plot holes, focusing on just one timeline

Also this allows her to remember her death, making her trauma more intense and veridical

I know it sounds crazy but if they could pull off lesson 16, they can pull this off

Make the brothers indecisive

They got their little brother back, but at what cost?

Everything is fine now, right? But it's not. MC is not "fine"

Make them conflicted between taking MC's side and comforting her but also welcoming Belphie and make up

MAKE MC UNCOMFORTABLE

I can't stress enough how important this part is

Give her TIME to evolve, develop as a character, and understand her feelings

She wouldn't want to be around Belphie, at all

She might not even wanna be around the others, seeing as they treat her like nothing happened

Make her upset, confused, feel like she doesn't belong, ANYTHING

MAKE HER GO THROUGH THE STAGES OF GRIEF

In fact, if you want to make her relationship with Belphie nourish, you can do that too by not just hey lol I killed you but I'm good now

Make her have nightmares

That's it

Make Belphie notice the dark circles under her eyes and the way she avoids him, then discover she has nightmares

The "now" Belphie could feel guilty

He might try to comfort her, only for her to shy away in response

Seeing as his apologies don't work this early into the trauma, he could enter her dreams and chase those nightmares away, every night, sacrificing his own sleep

THAT is a dynamic I want to see, personally

This could have been done with or without the time-travel, btw

In the time-travel, though, I was also missing some grieving from MC

Remember when I said to make the brothers conflicted? Make MC suffer more too

She wants to go back to her time, her universe, her family. They're waiting for her

But she also doesn't want to leave behind these demons, which have just found peace and happiness after a long time

Here's the catch, No matter what she chooses, she's forced to live her life regretting whatever decision she makes, since she can't make everyone happy and one side must suffer inevitably

An MC going through a heavy trauma and eventually (and slowly) overcoming it would just click with so many players

⍣ ೋ Conclusion

To me, the game didn't fully explore the feelings that going through that experience would bring for everyone, even if the idea itself was interesting. No, more like it didn't WANT to. Making MC go through all that would mean a lot of character development for a big amount of characters and little romance, which is what the game is about.

However, if you can't make that sacrifice, don't settle your game in a world rich in lore. And honestly, with all the explanations and back stories, I don't think obey me! is lacking on that. More so that, even if they were fully capable, they didn't want to go through all the trouble. Remember we're coming from an already fucked up scenario that took a lot of chapters.

Finally, this is just my opinion based on my experience. Of course, you don't have to agree with me in any way.

I have to say, that was relaxing lmaoo

Anyways, since I really like this idea and I've seen several people do it, I'm gonna make my own fanfic exploring how I think lesson 16 would have turned out realistically, hope you stay tuned!

Lethby ༊*·˚

[codenamesazanka]

being a hopeless spinaraki, but also not just spinaraki, because this applies to all of the League and Villains in general—

Is it possible to dig deeper into Shigaraki's "If Spinner is still alive" and its meaning/implications and like. cry over it?

If Spinner is still alive = We went into fight knowing we might not make it out alive. (Heroes get total victory. The Villains don't count as part of that.)

If Spinner is still alive = AFO gave him those extra quirks and I, while possessed, wasn't able to stop it. Maybe I wouldn't have stopped it, because Spinner chose it. It might have been the quirks which killed him.

If Spinner is still alive = But it's also entirely possible Heroes could've killed him. Spinner is just a weakling with a useless quirk and some swords, but still, maybe he's dead because Heroes killed him. Heroes killed Twice. Heroes have repeatedly tried to kill me; cannot save me from this death. Toga went into battle thinking it was life or death. Heroes kill, and we Villains all know this.

If Spinner is still alive = I wanted him to see my horizon, because he was looking forward to it. I wanted to be a Hero for the League. Now, I can't do that anymore. Because of that, tell him this, for me.

If Spinner is still alive = Maybe he lived. Out of everyone in the league, Spinner lives because he's weak, he's ignorable. He was only following me. He didn't have a death wish, his power is something Heroes could manage. He wouldn't be considered too dangerous to live.

If Spinner is still alive = Because I know that he might not be. Because I don't trust Heroes have to saved any of us, whether from AFO machinations, or from ourselves, or from the ravages of battle.

'If' implies uncertainty. There's significant meaning in that - that Shigaraki knows Heroes there's a good chance cannot/would not/did not want to save them. And the fact that it's Spinner who gets an 'if' - Spinner, weakest one in the League. How hard is it to stop Spinner? Even with the extra quirks. Maybe especially with the extra quirks - he'd be disoriented, unintelligible, clearly not doing well. He was assigned the task of invading a hospital and retrieving Kurogiri with 15,000 rioters, the relatively least dangerous task out of all other Villains. That's basically zero trust in Heroes to have stopped Spinner in a way that didn't kill him, to have helped him from his melting brain.

Like, Shigaraki has seen the aftermath of his own 'saving'. Deku might have had some intention to save him, but not enough to actually succeed preventing his death. If that was ever the goal. Maybe all that mattered was just ghost of The Crying Child.

If any of the League lives, it's luck. It's mercy.

One might argue, it's because rhe League was so dangerous, and they made the choices that got themselves killed.

But meta-wise, we had that whole Ending arc about Heroes Don't Kill or whatever; we kept getting hit over the head with 'Heroes Save People'; the narrative dangled in front of us 'Heroes Will Save The League'. During the war, background Heroes made gestures of pulling captured Villains away from fire, of capturing them alive.

Then again, Twice was killed and that's probably the escape clause - if the League became dangerous enough, saving them can stop being the goal, despite the narrative supposedly having made it its goal.

Heroes fought the Villains and Shigaraki knew was there was no guarantee Heroes would save them or keep them alive. Despite being Heroes. Because they're Villains, they're unforgivable, they got too broken, they don't get that promise of being saved. Never had - not from abusive homes, not from societal apathy, not from the cruelty of conformity, not from their 'one bad day'; never will.

It reminds me of when Toga sought out Ochako. Twice was killed, and Toga desperately wanted to know, if she ever needed it, if it came down to it, Heroes would save her. Heroes would treat her like a person who deserves being saved, because she's a human being and should be afforded at least that. The League already knew Heroes would not save them. But Toga kept hope. She wanted to believe that Heroes wouldn't put her down like a mad dog. She was disappointed. She gave up hope. Ochako rekindled that hope, but just Ochako. And then the narrative seemed to have refused Toga getting saved anyways.

(Unless, of course, being saved is only about the heart being saved. Then yeah, I guess they can just die.)

[puppetmaster13u]

Thinkin' of WOF Au for DC, but like, it's a Gothamite and Fawcett thing. (And Amity Park if crossover)

Like those are the most magical areas in the world, even if Gotham is cursed as fuck. An unspoken secret of sorts that while they present themselves as human to outsiders, they are all Very Much Not.

Which means hilariously in the league, when everyone expects Batman to be suspicious and short with the new guy- even made bets on it- they are then shooketh when both visibly relax and start talking. And half the shared complaints don't make sense!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now Gotham technically has no Queen, nor does Fawcett, but Batman and Captain Marvel are the closest things. Not in the traditional sense of back when they were in separate tribes (& maybe from a different dimension but shh that was millennia ago) but in the sense of, they're the ones patrolling and protecting the cities along with calling the shots in disasters.

Which does sort of change the dynamic they both have in their city. If one of them calls to arms, the city would follow them. They could declare war, and their cities (begrudgingly in Gotham's underbelly's case of strongest is in charge) would follow. And while Billy is oblivious, both Marvel-the-not-hivemind and Batman are. They know they have to be very careful.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure we all want Nightwing Bruce but no. Bruce, like both his mother and father and father's father and so on before him, is actually an Icewing. The Waynes however, have a case of melanism running in their bloodline. Thomas Wayne? Only his quills and part of his back were darker, but Bruce? Practically pitch black scales that shadow his eyes.

Now Alfred on the other hand, is a Nightwing. No special powers there, though you would hear many a child protest with how he seems to know everything.

Commissioner Gordon is a Mudwing, big stocky and very tired, which translates to his human disguise as a large trenchcoat. He finds this very amusing. Barbara similarly, is half Mudwing. Her mother was a Hivewing, making her a hybrid between both. Which does ironically mean that Batgirl does in fact have insectoid wings. Though that does ponder the question on if they'd all go by their original vigilante names.

Dick is a Silkwing. Wingless as he watches his parents fall and unable to do anything despite this place supposedly being safe for beings like them. He grows into his own, and his wings, when they come in, are dark Gotham colors through and through, with the deep blue of the sky he's come to crave.

Jason is a hybrid between a Mudwing and a Skywing. He's also an animus- not that he knew that. He doesn't find out until he's dying, telling himself to not die, to get back to Gotham, to his dad, his family- And then he wakes up in his Coffin, alive.

Now Cass, raised to be the perfect killer, is also a hybrid, just one between a Nightwing and a Rainwing, egg set out under the moon. Which succeeds, partially. She can't straight up read minds, but combined with her talent in reading body language on both human and inhuman bodies, it's a near thing.

Tim is a Seawing, borderline abandoned by his parents who seek treasures and more wealth as he's trapped back in a city where the water is dark and poisoned. But he's Gothamite, through and through, and he adapts. Scales darker than the original blues he was born with, and glow shifting to that sickly white of the Gotham's Bats.

Now Steph, is a full-blooded Rainwing, and can in fact change her scales, but can mostly be found in purples and golds. Though for a short time she was in another set of colors, thought dead before she slithered out of the shadows older and wiser than before.

Damian is his father's son, but he's also an Al-Ghul. The not-quite dragonet is half Icewing, and half Sandwing. And struggled to adjust at first, to a place so different from his first home where the only other dragons were blood related. But like any Wayne before him, he adjusts, and he adapts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Billy wasn't a Beetlewing originally, and perhaps he would have hesitated if he'd known it would change him, would change his body and the last thing he had of his parents. But his friends, his Team and new family help. And he can pass as a Silkwing like their sort-of foster mother. All six of them can do so now, even if the others look more like hybrids themselves thanks to not being the Champion. They might not be, but they're his family. And that's enough.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Thinking of Ganondorf being from an all female race of Amazonian warriors. Thinking of the sheer environment he grew up in affecting him. How, as a Gerudo, he would naturally be a huge feminist because he looks at his sisters and daughters and KNOWS their strength and endurance. He knows how powerful a woman is. Then he looks at the Hyrule and sees how comparably weaker the women of that country are, how they're expected to stay at home and tend to children while the men fight, how even though it's a matriarchy by nature of the goddess blood that flows through the daughters of the Royal Family, the Kings are looked to with more esteem than the literal goddesses in human flesh that make of the more feminine side of the family. Can you imagine how infuriated that would make Ganondorf???

Get comfortable, lovely, I have a lot of thoughts on this.

First, I think you’re right in that Ganondorf would respect and understand women’s abilities. 100%. I also think growing up in an all female society would have several effects on his behavior, such as making him more physically affectionate and nurturing than most men, because that’s the only example he’s had (assuming, of course, he ever was close enough to anyone to do that - I feel like being the Gerudo king kind of separated him from the others so he might be aloof). But I also think that, given their tradition of crowning the sole male as king, and given their seeming Othering of men (at least in botw/totk time, where they have to take a class to figure out how to deal with men, where girls can’t even look at men, where families are ripped apart because they disapprove of men so much - none of which I find remotely feminist or healthy), he’d have a bit of a superiority complex as well. Not over women specifically so much as everyone, but it would definitely include his own people.

As for how women are treated in Hyrule and his opinion on it… based on his behavior and words in TotK—based on the fact that, at least in most eras that Ganondorf lives in—he comes from a warrior culture, I don’t think he’d be insulted for the Hyrule women so much as insulted by them. Like, his thought would be that if they’re supposedly oppressed why don’t they fight back?? Why are they acting so weak and pathetic and docile?? He might dislike the culture altogether if it prevents women from fighting, but he’d also just… be insulted that they all just think, including the women, that they are incapable of fighting (which I don’t think is ever specifically actually the case. Like yeah, there aren’t tons of female fighters out there but nobody disapproves of it either - there are plenty of women adventuring in botw, Ashei is certainly an exception but isn’t seemingly ostracized, there are female knights aplenty in Skyloft culture, which was the foundation of Hyrule, Zelda herself wields a sword in several games). I don’t think he’d care about the idea that women are nurturers or better suited to care for the home and family, because frankly he has nothing to go on in terms of are men better at this or whatnot. He recognizes his own physical strength is greater than Gerudo women, but, due to the Othering of men anyway in Gerudo culture, it’s hard for him to know if that’s a general thing or if he’s just special. Because dude does have an ego, so he’d definitely think he’s special. But he’d also see that these Hylian women are naturally weaker than Gerudo women and would likely just view all of the Hylians as lesser anyway.

As for the royal family, it’s definitely matriarchal as you said, but I don’t think there’s an emphasis on kings being more important. It’s just that we’ve never seen the queens alive, and that’s a story choice rather than a reflection of the culture. Zelda is almost always underage, and her mother is nowhere to be found. You could assume she just isn’t ruling, I guess, but the only time a queen is specifically mentioned is to say she had died, devastating the whole family. When Zelda is of age, even though the game still calls her princess, she is very much in charge (such as in Twilight Princess and Hyrule Warriors). I think part of the reason Rhoam had such a stick up his butt in botw was because he was serving as king regent, essentially, out of his element, stressed as hell in an upcoming apocalypse, trying to keep his daughter alive, and preparing her to rule once she reached adulthood. His whole rant about her being heir to a throne of nothing would be more poignant (still awful, btw, but more poignant) if he was emphasizing that she was rapidly approaching age of adulthood, about to ascend to the throne, and the kingdom had no faith in her and could likely outright rebel against her as a result.

[moved-to-mettatonsbestie]

You know what. I DO wanna know about the religious imagery with Mettaton. Tell me all about it *laying on my chest kicking my feet up in the air*

@therowansweeps @mtt-brand-idiot

Let us start with his name. Remember that majority of the names in Undertale/Deltarune are very particular, whether it be for a funny joke or something with a dual meaning (ex: Toriel is just Tutorial, Undyne being Undying, etc). The etymology is rather important with characters, and Mettaton is certainly no exception. His name is most likely derived from the angel Metatron, found in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He was one of the only two humans to attain Heaven in the form of an angel, he was originally a righteous man named Enoch who was gifted with the form of an angel by God once he died. Now, the names being similar could very well be a coincidence, but one must also take note of the fact that Metatron is transliterated as MTT in Greek; which is too much of a coincidence to not be intentional.

So... his name is taken from an angel, which is already an allusion to the notion of deities and religion. Furthermore, this angel in particular is a rather interesting candidate to be compared with Mettaton... Both of these figures were something else entirely before they obtained their true forms, and changed their name along the way. They have even further parallels when you look at the name's meaning and Mettaton's actions. Metatron is most likely derived from the verb memater, which means to guard or protect; very striking when one considers the fact that Mettaton is very much a protector in Genocide/No Mercy Route; he quite literally gives his life to protect the Underground, as a guardian angel would do.

Furthermore, he is quite literally a celebrity, an idol. He even says it himself, he is the idol everyone craves. This is a double entendre, referring to him being a celebrity or figure to look up to, or a literal deity. Deities are all considered idols, they are to be worshipped; the very notion is entirely what his character is about. He loses his humanity, he is no longer a person. Hell, he is not even seen as alive, in his quest to be the true idol for humanity and monsterkind. He is worshipped and adored, yet is it genuine? Do the people know and love the real him? No. He is the heater, the Underground's sexiest rectangle, he is seen as just a robot. He is complacent in this, yet to hide his past and help Alphys he gave his humanity away.

It is a rather cruel twist on the story of Metatron actually... Metatron was given a wonderful gift by his creator, God gave him immortality and the blessing of being truly holy. This transformation into something else was divine, yet the same cannot be said about Mettaton. He was given the body of his dreams, yet it will never come without a terrible cost. His humanity and agency was given away, he even got used for functions he would be completely against; such as his creator giving him human eradication functions to "make him more useful", something the human loving ghost would never agree to until the last possible moments in a Pacifist run. Regardless, Mettaton falls into both the categories of being the idol and being God's pawn, which is rather interesting.

And of course... he is not without true fans either, take Spamton for example. Spamton supposedly spent all of his time praying to an artifact, the very machine that created NEO; which evidently has direct ties towards Mettaton NEO. I honestly never played the Spamton NEO fight yet, so I cannot comment too much on it, however Mettaton is quite literally an overworld being being unknowingly worshipped and prayed to by someone who resides below; this blind faith being found in every religion.

So yeah... Whether it was directly intentional or not, Mettaton as a whole has a decent amount of religious imagery and themes with his character that it becomes rather important to properly dissect him fully. I barely remember writing any of this, he probably possessed me and made me write this.

[zanypainterglitter]

I think Croft was right about the Cybertronians in the end.

"All Cybertronians do is destroy each other, destruction is all they know"

That part may be true when you see what the Cybertronians are like in the Earthspark series. We don't know or there is nothing about the culture, history and origin of the Cybertronians, the only thing that is told and repeated is that they went through a war and we don't even know why it started, supposedly because of oppression but it is not explained. Was it Sentinel, someone similar, or the Quintessons? It is not known, also, even in supposedly times of peace, there is still conflict between the two sides, I know that a war conflict is not resolved even in a couple of years and it is the truth, but the only Cybertronian character that we see that really cares, worries and tries to make a good relationship and to fix things is Optimus while Megatron is simply polite to Dot and her children but it is not known if he would give the same for another even if Dot dies or something similar, the Autobots are not seen doing something that supports Optimus or helping him and the Decepticons only make chaos and problems, the latter clearly do not care about humanity or do anything to at least make Earth their home without hurting others or having regrets for what they did, only Optimus does something, but he has to, as always, clean up everyone's shit, even Megatron who complains about using inhibitors but also does nothing to relieve his own and supposed comrades, he is a hypocrite because he complains and throws dirty laundry to Optimus and GHOST but he does nothing, he simply stands aside complaining that the situation is unfair but neither in 15 years nor now is it shown or explained that at least he did or tried something but failed.

Not only in Earthspark should be the fact that Cybertronians only destroy, since also in 99•\• of all media, the Cybertronians in their history there will always be a war that will destroy their planet forcing them to wander through space just because they pretend to be superior to others and are not capable of establishing an order on which moral to take, being practically like a plague because they destroy the affected planets, especially organic ones, it is ironic that they go around believing themselves to be so superior but they because of their own fault destroyed their home but at least the humans who are more ephemeral are still alive while the Cybertronians are on the brink of extinction, it would be a good parallelism humanity with the robotics.

[eldritch-spouse]

holy shit pinnie you really know how to write angst. i was reading your posts about Krulu killing the self of admin and i was flat out crying in my bed.

couple curiosities abt it though, is there any possibility that Admin could ever come back to their full self and is Krulu ever haunted by nightmares of Admin? (if he does sleep and dream that is. but i’m imagining like, Krulu finally getting a fitful night of rest and the moment he closes his eyes he’s greeted by admin back to their full self before being forced to lose them again by his own hands) Thank you for the wonderful content pinnie<3 your blog gives me great joy

[You're welcome! Really? Because most angst doesn't really inspire me. Stuff like "well, what if you killed yourself" or sporadic events that cause death just sort of tire me out. "What if reader cuts themselves?"/"what if reader is depressed?". I've grown very tired of those. The thing with you and Krulu was new.]

There were times after that specific scenario where I humored you coming back, but wrong. Not as an undead, but just fucked up. Something happened to your soul during the process, as is likely- Krulu has no idea how difficult it is to pry an intact soul from Dorem's hands these days. And you're clearly not the same person, everyone notices.

You lose track of things, you say stuff that you never would before, you seem genuinely apathetic over most of what goes on, in spite of the way Krulu trained you to feign care and respect. There are moments where that carefully drilled facade falters and you just look... Empty. Confused. As if asking why you're still alive. You're not truly there, some part of you was forever obliterated in this process, memories are missing, your capacity to love is non-existent, as is the ability to hate.

Sometimes, when you have nothing specific to do, you'll grab things that can potentially kill a human and just look at them for a long time. It goes against your indoctrinated mind to hurt yourself, because Krulu would take it as an insult- But you also know that you shouldn't be here. The keeper is calling for your soul. You're lost. Return to him.

Your bizarre behavior doesn't end there, as you've also taken to being amongst corpses when nothing calls to you. It seems right, why aren't you rotting?

You can survive without food for so much longer than you should have. In fact, you hardly have an appetite. You hardly feel pain. Or pleasure. Or most things. Something both the staff and Krulu do their best to collectively ignore.

The bucket tips when Krulu calls you to his floor and silently shows you the raven figurine.

And you, blank as a canvas, with wind in your mind, simply put on the smile you know he likes to see. There's no hint of recognition, no crumb of genuine thought, not even muscle memory seems to have stuck with you.

He's livid beyond words and meaning.

The next day, no one questions what's happening when you start your shift with the very same figurine protruding from your chest in a bloodied mess, where your heart supposedly is. You don't look to be in pain, or care much about it, but it's shattering their illusion.

Because now, they have no choice but to admit that even more irreversible damage was done to you.

Not just your body, but your soul.

In his effort to bring you back, Krulu made sure that there will never be a vestige of you ever again.

And that's enough to make him want to bury himself under The Clergy to die and rot.

[sebadztian]

I've said it time and time again, the Book of Murder is my favourite arc in Kuroshitsuji to date. It was a classic murder mystery, with Kuro's unique twist, and it was great.

But it wasn't perfect. Not by a long shot.

Today, I want to talk about the locked room murder. You know, the first murder, the one when they found Georg von Siemens in his room, supposedly stabbed to death.

Let's start from the beginning, when the bell in the kitchen rang...

Sebastian and Mey-Rin went upstairs to answer Siemens' call. I'm basing this on the manga because the anime makes even less sense.

You see, when Siemens screamed, both Sebastian and Mey-Rin were already standing in front of the door. This means that when they arrived there, Siemens was still 'alive'.

Fun fact, if you looked at the SFX, there was a smash in addition of the thud. Yana has put the reference there, but we'd only understand it later.

Mey then started banging on the door, attracting everyone's attention. Seb then proceeded to kick the door down.

And thus, Siemens' 'body' was discovered.

Now, we know later on that there was no blood since Sebastian couldn't smell any blood, but Arthur should've been able to notice that too. Sure, Sebastian has heightened senses and all, but Arthur touched the body. That close, and given how much red wine 'blood' on the body and clothes, he should've noticed that there was no smell of blood. Have you ever tried to get close enough with blood? It smells and even a human should be able to smell it from such close distance.

But no, Arthur didn't realize that. To be fair though, they were all panicking.

Finny and Bard then joined them, followed by Ciel and Tanaka.

After checking everyone's alibi, they concluded that everyone has one, everyone except for Ciel, that is.

But you see, this murder is impossible. Not even Ciel, who lacked alibi, could've done this. He might not have an alibi, but he has witnesses: Sebastian and Mey-Rin.

Then Ciel mentioned that trick about the needle and thread, which is a classic (and overused). That trick wouldn't work either for anyone. Why?

Because Sebastian and Mey-Rin were already outside the door when Siemens was allegedly murdered.

I mentioned earlier that this theory makes even less sense inthe anime. That's because the anime changes one little detail. Sebastian & Mey were not the only ones who answered Siemens' call. Bard & Finny went with them too and thus, there were even more witnesses.

But of course, Grey was quick to point his fihger at Ciel because one of the reasons why he was there was to punish Ciel and frame him for murder.

I'm sorry, Grey, but you're wrong. Under these circumstances, if you thought about it logically, the only explanation is that Siemens had killed himself.

This is just my quick observation about this particular scene. I might be wrong though... Thanks for coming to my Murder Talk!

[hobiebrownbrowser]

🖤Chapter -3🖤 ⚠️ Angst. Lots of it⚠️

Cheating Hobie Brown x Robotic Spider FEMreader

Summary: A spider has bit you, The spider slowly absorbing your life. In a last feeble attempt to survive you harbor your life in a heartless android body.

Time Tumble: You vanished without a trace.

What happened to the Y/N everyone knew? You'd simply just vanished, No one knew why. But he did, Spiderpunk did. It was the talk of the town, Your dimension being taken over by an alternate version of kingpin.

You just disintegrated into nothing but dust is what others thought, more of them had come to the conclusion that the villain had killed you.

The news had come from jess and now everyone suddenly knew your name. You were smart, feeble, Wise. But you were gone, you left acquaintances behind, your friends behind, everything you worked for up to the day you supposedly "died."

It wasn't impossible for a spider-person to die, but you weren't a person, You were a creation. A machine to do what others wanted you to do, A thing that was supposed to "obey".

It's what most people thought when they first saw you, thinking that Miguel made an artificial being to serve by his side. They were wrong, you had your own body, your own mind. You proved them wrong in so many directions some people felt guilt clicking at them.

The only thing that was alive was your still functioning brain. You had no organs, no bones, "No heart." Not even a self-made heartbeat. You were slowly suffocating in a pool of grief and he'd only made it worse.

It felt empty without you, He'd lied to his friends. Your "old" friends on why you'd just vanished. He knew what he did was wrong on a self-behalf, But he grew tired of the feeling of your cold skin brushing against his warmth body.

You didn't deserve to find out that way. He wanted to tell you, he wanted to apologize. But he couldn't find you, not with the way you weren't even human. Your face kept repeating in his sorrowful brain, The stream of warm oil still coating his floorboards.

The smile that was plastered on the corner of your lips leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. He was breaking from the inside, not feeling such guilt eat away at his body for quite some time.

He couldn't break the fact that you were gone, Out of all people the one who trusted him the most was gone. It felt unreal, he'd started to believe the rumors after the fifth visit to your darkened home.

It felt like he was chasing an endless void of stars. He was nothing without you, You were a missing piece of his heart he'd been trying to find. You were his sun, his precious sun that he burned. He'd shattered.

It felt so good to be with a human, But the way his beating heart stopped for you said otherwise. He needed to find you, he needed to hold you even if you were piercing cold to the touch.

"He needed to be with you."

It hurts. The feeling of guilt, dread and mourning fit into one tiny little box, aching to get out of its confinement. He stared at the last message you'd sent to him, Watching his messages not go through before putting his watch away.

"I Hate You."

Part 1 & part 2

[themannfamily]

it's been mentioned that Zepheniah has a certain contempt for Silas's interest in the occult - in which case, what was all the talk of becoming a poltergeist about? was it simply that he wasn't as sane as he claimed to be? hyperbole? sarcasm? did he have a change of heart towards the end of his life?

(and did Silas ever encounter his brother's ghost for the brief period he was still alive after? did he even know at that stage?)

Let this be a reflection on Manns, Faith, and the Cursed.

Perhaps it's worth starting with the fact that the Manns definitely consider themselves christians (Blutarch and Redmond mention God, turn to God with prayers, there is a small church on the manor).

How righteous christians they are is another question. . .

Accordingly, they believe in an afterlife.

Zepheniah wrote in his will that God and his angels would have to drag him screaming to heaven, which means that he believed he would go to Heaven.

It is obvious to us that Zepheniah is not a good person. But if he killed someone directly, it was only when he was at war, so we can't call him a murderer, as, for example, we could call Gray. Accordingly, he could really think that he deserved a good end, because almost all people in his position were the same morally dubious in achieving their goals. His suffering and pain from illness (which of course could also affect his mind) reinforce his conviction that he deserves better, just as they cannot but make him think about the inevitable death and what will happen after.

Further, the Victorians were a bit obsessed with the topic of life and death, and this could not be ignored by such a gloomy person as Silas. Anyway, almost everyone believed in at least some of this, even if they weren't into it. So Zepheniah could believe that even though he would go to heaven, he would be able to return as a ghost, because this is what supposedly happened to those who died without finding peace.

It is important to note here to what unhealthy extremes interest in the supernatural sometimes reached at that time. In the case of Zepheniah, the situation is exacerbated by the fact that he considered those who do this to be charlatans (deservedly, in general), and money is a very serious topic for him.

As a person whose head is occupied only with practical things, he was not interested in what his brother liked, and therefore did not try to figure it out and just thought that Silas believed in everything: magic, mesmerism, spiritualism, mediums, telepathy, alchemy, necromancy. . . Of course, this was not quite true, and from a certain point in his life Silas could just start getting carried away with questions of death and mystery (not that Silas was a goth. . .), and this was his leisure, which his younger brother did not approve of. But he disapproved not even because it was unholy (unable to refuse, Silas himself could feel some guilt for it, even if he considered his interest harmless), but simply because it was useless nonsense.

Perhaps it is in Silas, as the most mysterious member of the family, that I am trying to find the reason why their whole family is cursed and literally cannot rest after death.

I do not exclude that it may be a matter of war, in the land, in the fact that they all died without finding peace, or even in a wizard. . .

Speaking of which.

It is quite obvious that there is magic in the world of TF, but everyone amazingly ignores its manifestations and does not want to get involved with it.

Nobody sees anything strange in the fact that Merasmus is a wizard because it's normal for them or because they don't believe him? Or is he just hiding so well? Surprisingly, it may well depend on each individual case, especially in the "city of fools". And that's why I think Merasmus chose to live somewhere in the Badlands for a reason. But this does not explain how he lived and hid before. . .

Considering that Merasmus gave a lecture on the experience of cohabitation with a human on the Wizardcon, he is probably a unique case of a magical creature living among people. So most people may really never encounter manifestations of real magic.

And somewhere here my assumption about the acquaintance of Merasmus and Silas during his lifetime appears. It's not for nothing that Merasmus calls Horsemann an old friend and speaks of him with such admiration (especially about his bloodthirsty side).

As I said before, he could have lived alone in a castle in the woods of gloomy England before moving to Scotland. And in this case, a person who accidentally discovered him, who shows a polite but tremulous interest in his magic, could well amuse his ego. Why not show off and scare him with your power? Even apart from the fact that it's nice to have such a good listener, sometimes it's interesting to hear about the life of a mortal. . .

On the part of Silas, in addition to his own interest in such a topic, involvement in something so mysterious can serve as a reason to give up devotion to God, which only causes him suffering. Especially when his life seems so boring and miserable to him.

Silas became insane after death, but he seems much happier than he was in life. . . And, probably, this is exactly how Merasmus thinks.

With regard to the latter, I doubt that Silas saw his brother's ghost, because it might have kept him from. . . making a hasty decision a little. In addition, I assume that having lost everything, he died less than a year after his brother, being at home almost all the time. This obsession with his territory could lead to such a form of curse as the defender of his land.

Also about this act. I doubt he could have done it at home, thinking it would be too dirty. Much more I believe that he went to one of the buildings near the house.

[king-of-wrath]

I am once again asserting that the "eating this magic apple gave Eve free will and thus, evil happened" narrative at the center of Helluva-Hazbin's creation myth is complete bullshit

It's bullshit because:

1.) Adam chose to demand Lilith's subordination. Never is it mentioned that Heaven decreed "Adam, you're the boss" or said "Lilith, do whatever Adam says". Even if Lilith is an unreliable narrator with strong anti-Heaven bias, why would she not mention Heaven WANTING male dominance/leadership rather than equality?

2.) Lilith chose to refuse Adam's demands and left Eden. If humanity at its base level could not think independently or act without explicit instruction, then how could this happen?

3.) Eve chose to eat the forbidden fruit. Lucifer is never said to have forced her and neither was Lilith. Even if they were lying through their teeth and evilly misled her that the apple would give her god-like powers, Eve still chose to listen to them. If she truly didn't want whatever Lucifer/Lilith was selling and wasn't forced, then why did she accept it?

4.) Repeatedly, Adam has made decisions by himself and without explicit instructions from Sera. When Lute reported that an exorcist was killed, Adam chose NOT to find the killer (Carmilla) or attempt to cover up the story. When Charlie presented her idea for sinner redemption, Adam chose to reschedule the exterminations to happen six months earlier---before New Year's. He did not report Charlie's suggestion to Sera and ask "What do we do?", he just did it

Though Sera told Adam to help argue against Charlie's idea in court, never did she say "Threaten to exterminate THE PRINCESS OF HELL, DURING A DIPLOMATIC MISSION AND IN FRONT OF EVERYONE". Sera did not order Adam to pursue Charlie or "get back" at her by destroying the Hotel, but Adam did so because he WANTED TO. Granted, Sera trusting him to help and believing that this frat boy could compose himself respectably in court was her own poor decision to make, but NEVER did she tell Adam to use profanity or slut-shame Angel Dust in a duet with Lute

When Adam had his ass utterly handed to him by Lucifer and was given the option to return to Heaven alive, Adam instead threw a massive hissy-fit about how everyone should be kowtowing before him simply because he's Adam---focusing so much on screaming about his entitlements that he failed to notice a giggling maid chanting "Kill kill" approach him from behind and stab straight through his chest cavity. As much as Sera may have nurtured this level of egotism, Adam still CHOSE to believe that he is physically and morally superior to everyone and CHOSE to demand that Hell show "the proper respect" after losing the fight rather than take the obvious L and leave

TL;DR: There is ALWAYS a choice and as evidence of that, the characters who supposedly never ate this "magic apple that allows choices to be made" still CHOSE to do whatever they did

So every time I see that opening scene in Hazbin episode one and every time I see someone reference it, I'm strongly doubting that it's actually a thing in-universe. To me, it sounds like the weirdest cope for everything wrong with mankind

"Pro-Genocide Adam who loves perma-killing sentient beings he deems lesser than himself isn't actually a bad guy because he didn't nom on That One Naughty PlantTM" seems like a reach that spans the distance between the center of the sun and the dark side of Pluto and I'm tired of it being treated as fact

[i-restuff]

a personal Mario movie review from yours truly.

ok, so, I'm very natural over Mario franchise. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either. so this review is mainly from someone who is there only for the animation (also for Jack Black ofc). cool? cool. alright.

spoilers below

I'm going to be super upfront with the "good stuff", and sorta detailed with the "meh stuff". mostly because the good stuff is very self-explanatory while for the negative ones I feel like at least I should give a little bit of reason why I feel that way.

good stuff

I love the world-building, everything is very well-detailed and the environment is insanely rich

character designs? love it. they look absolutely alive and expressive

the casting. I think they're all really good???? I personally think Chris Pratt is alright too ig? I mean I kinda don't care, I was distracted with everything else in the movie. but he's fine.

Jack Black. nuff said.

I love Toad. I love Peach. DK. BROWSER??? everyone's very likable damn.

I'm obsessed with the 3d models ngl. there are times when I was focused more on the models than I was on the story. It's really distracting in a good way.

Storywise, I think it's decent but also fun!

love love love the dynamic between Mario and Luigi. Peak dynamic, really.

Such a nostalgia trip. I for one who doesn't know much about Mario had such a blast listening to all the soundtracks and looking at the itsy bitsy references and such.

obsessed with Lumalee. let em die :(

/////////////

the credit animation is super colorful I wish I could eat it.

^ I was watching this with a friend who is obsessed with Mario. there are times when he went absolutely insane and explained some stuff that I didn't know. which I think it's cool! it's crazy how there are literally easter eggs and fan service everywhere, it doesn't feel forced too. I really could see why people love it so much.

meh stuff

ok, imma be honest. I'm just gonna complained about the plot holes here,, It didn't really effect the story, but it did confuse me a bunch of times. again, this is coming from someone who doesn't know much about Mario. I might miss some stuff.

the transition when Mario/Luigi got teleported from Brooklyn to the Mushroom Kingdom. like, why? what's so special about that specific pipe?

also before that. why's Brooklyn drowning all of a sudden lmaoo. that part kinda felt forced just so Mario and Luigi had a reason to go below the sewer. it sorta makes sense I guess? but the pacing is pretty dang weird.

how does Peach know her own kind? "you're a human!". she was a literal baby when she first got to the Mushroom Kingdom

I love love love Toad character. I just don't understand his presence? I mean sure, he's bringing the comedy, but you could find the "comedy" elsewhere too. so his character is a bit useless despite him being the protector. long story short, the movie would be fine with or without him < this is how much his character matters imo.

the pacing after Mario agreed to fight with DK and then suddenly he's on the stage. tbf this isn't really a big deal? but the transition kinda bugged me.

I don't know what exactly they wanted to do with Mario and Peach relationship. do they like each other romantically? it doesn't feel like it despite being teased a few times.

my dude Luigi has to sit in the cage for how long now? kinda suck. I wanna know more about him, I wanna see him more in action.

that being said. I wish they did more with Luigi, give him something to develop on. because seeing him fighting Browser doesn't feel as rewarding as how we see Mario. all he did most of the time was get caught and sit in a cage while Mario had to go through all those bullshit. but I get it though. storytelling wise, Luigi is supposedly Mario's goal. to get him back and all that. I get that.

I can't feel sad for Mario for some reason??? (this has nothing to do with Cris Pratt btw). his supposedly "emotional" scenes didn't impact me at all. in fact, I felt awkward. I honestly don't know why though.

the final fight scene is also awkward? I mean it's cool, don't get me wrong. I think it has to do with where they're fighting? I guess imma blame Brooklyn for this.

the 80's pop songs felt out of place, but maybe that's just me.

personal rating? 7.

but I genuinely get why people love this movie.

[helenarasmussen87]

More JJK thoughts

I've been involved in discussions and whole lot of venting regarding this chapter and now the possible conclusion of the series as a whole, so I ended up with more thoughts on why this one was the "And what fresh hell is this and do I really want to continue?" Chapter for me.

So here we go:

I still stand by the fact that Gojo should have stayed alive to help in the last push instead of being used like a nuclear warhead in both life and death. His death created an unnecessary problem regarding Sukuna being defeated IF his powers are what would kill him. I also do not agree that he wouldn't have achieved enlightenment otherwise.

I know that letting go is also a Buddhist concept and that Gojo never really let go of Geto. Him dying and seeing Geto, and coming back could have given him that closure so he could move on and focus on his students and fulfil his goals as just *Satoru Gojo* and not the Six Eyes or the Strongest.

Series seem to be allergic to having a broken, but still wise mentor survive to guide the younger heroes so if you really wanted to be subversive, Gojo and Nanami could have been utilized in such a way. That would have been a bigger shock than death.

I still stand what I said about his death being reactionary and spiteful writing in Gege's hands. And that killing him was taking the easy way out of a problem. When people pointed out the theories, he decided to bring Gojo back in the worst possible way to solve the dilemma. And to solve the problem of how Yuuta can be the big weapon he couldn't be since Yuuji is poised to land the killing blow on Sukuna after all.

I do believe that Yuuta was always meant to play a bigger part, and why not this way? Yuuta has always been, more than Yuuji, a dead man walking. With how he lost and cursed Rika, his fate mirrored Gojo's more than Yuuji's. He also got to see more of the human side of Gojo (than the second years and Nobara. Yuuji and Megumi also got to see this due to their proximity and connections) and would be the one to take up the mantle. It would also solve the question of a send-off for Yuuta, who also got easily folded by Sukuna despite supposedly having more power than Gojo himself.

And why would that be the case? To have both Gojo and Yuuta cleared out in a plausible way to how the story is moving now and (hopefully) have Yuuji end it all.

Yuuta in Gojo's body is a parallel to Kenjaku in Geto's body, and I don't believe this was in the works until later. This doesn't seem like a plan until Gojo's death happened. Gege has admitted to being a scene writer and has killed off characters on a whim. Sure, he may have the big story outlined, but not the fine details of it.

Yuuta, I do believe, was always ready to step up and die doing it. So it doesn't surprise me he would make the choice. And if we go old guard vs. new guard, he represents that more than the other second year students who, other than Maki, have not been much involved in this end fight. He's the chosen successor. Of course he would.

And if the old guard has to die, then they are prime to go, the first being Yuuta. Due to him being Gojo's heir in all but name.

I doubt Yuuta will survive in Gojo's body. If he does, then the blatant piss poor planning and preferential treatment of Yuuta will be on display, and it would also signal Yuuji’s own demise. I'm fully aware that Yuuji’s fate has always been death while everyone else survives, or him being the only survivor. Nobara is gone. Megumi looks like it, so unless Yuuta gets subsumed into Gojo (Soul equals Body theory) or he dies in that body, Yuuji should be the last one standing. If Yuuta fights on and lives in Gojo's body, I suspect that Yuuji will die in the effort to end Sukuna and he will be in the airport and see all of his loved ones with Megumi at his side and he and Megumi will see their parents and get closure in death.

The other comments I have seen floating around are about Yuuji and how this could save him from losing his entire humanity. Like how Yuuta has stepped in to save him from their fates in a way. So he can get out of the cog mentality and regain the humanity he lost by becoming a vessel, then by ingesting his brothers. If Yuuta succeeds, it would prime him up to land the end blow, pull Megumi back, and live.

IF and it's a big IF Megumi survives alongside Yuuji, it could symbolise the break of the old patterns in a positive way. Since Yuuji is the Gojo and Yuuta parallel and Megumi is the Geto and Rika one.

I can see it being a way to end the story without being called an ass pull and a way to fix poor plotting and pacing decisions that made it an issue in the first place.

I am also prepared to see everyone die, and it just be a wasteland due to how the story is shaping up. It's not a tragedy but rather nihilistic and spiteful story that uses shock value for the worst possible outcome and calls it a day. It is too reminiscent of GoT and look how well that went.

Especially since Yuuta and Gojo have become sacrifices, but not for the right reasons.

[autisticsupervillain]

Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to Stats Equalized!

The show where we equalize strength, speed, and durability to decide who would win a battle of hax, skill, and versatility.

This Month's Fighters...

Tom Hansen vs Jacob Lee!

Conditions:

No other restrictions.

Scenario:

After successfully containing the Exocel outbreak, Hansen is assigned with stopping all future zombie virus outbreaks. To this end, he's sent to contain the outbreak on Callisto and kill the man supposedly responsible: Jacob Lee.

Analysis: Hansen

The ocean depths are a mysterious and dangerous place. At the lowest survivable levels of Earth's surface, strange creatures straight out of Lovecraft's nightmares evolved to survive the dark, cold, crushing depths of the ocean floor. And humanity was about to unearth some of its most dangerous creatures.

In the coldest parts of the Atlantic Ocean, Russian oil diggers discovered a new form of life within the ice they were mining. Exocels. Parasitic creatures that were completely uncategorized by existing scientific theories. Capable of overtaking the higher brain functions of their host and mutating them in response to dangerous external stimuli. Naturally, the crew of the Star of Sakhalin begain trying to weaponize these new creatures to sell for a profit. Predictably, it didn't work out. The ship was quickly overrun by mutant zombies and a distress call was sent out.

The call was answered by Tom Hansen, an officer of the United States Coast Guard who really wants to be Leon Kennedy. He and his crew were sent to rescue everyone on board, only to find everyone already dead or zombified. Narrowly surviving the massacre of his crew, Tom was left alone on the ship as the only thing stopping the Exocels from falling into the shadowy hands of the CIA.

Luckily, Hansen comes equipped with every weapon a survival horror protagonist could ever need. He comes decked out with the usual affair of pistols, shotguns, and automatic weapons, each laser scoped to ensure perfect accuracy. Even his standard M1911A1 can completely pop a human’s skull like it was made from confetti, to say nothing of his MP5, AK47, and Benelli M4. But all of that pales in comparison to his sawed off M79 Grenade Launcher to blow apart any Exomutant that gets hit by it, even shredding through Exo zombies that evolved specifically to withstand bullets and fire arms.

Tom would quickly adapt against the rapidly evolving Exocels, using a modified harpoon gun whose harpoons emitted a protein gas, allowing his shots to distract Exocels with delicious smelling harpoons. Perfect for luring them into a trap or grouping them together for a grenade. Hansen has fought through squadrons of Russian mercenaries, defeated invisible Exocel zombies, dodged a steel door that was blasted at him by an explosion, and survived getting infected by an Exocel that tried to eat him alive from the inside out twice.

With nothing but raw wit, determination, and witty one liners, Tom rigged the entire ship to blow with C4 and faced down the man behind the entire disaster. Kamsky, the mad scientist turned sentient Exomutant out to replace humanity with his zombified master race. Kamsky is strong enough to completely demolish a metal bridge just by jumping right through it.

Ultimately, Hansen defeated Kamsky, blowing the Star of Sakhalin to pieces and exterminating the Exocel threat once and for all.

Analysis: Lee

Space. The Final Frontier. A place only fit to be explored when all other options are exhausted. When the Earth has no more life left in it and humanity has no other place to go. It is a hellish, lifeless void incapable of even carrying your screams. It is the graveyard of the universe and in no other world is this fact more apparent than the hellish world.... of PUBG.

....What's that? That got retconned? The Callisto Protocol isn't canon to PUBG anymore? Fuck. Alright, fine. In no other universe is this fact more apparent than the hellish world of The Callisto Protocol.

Humanity is struggling to survive in space after all other options have been extinguished and Earth's resources have been used up. Without the means to leave the solar system, crime and poverty are rampant across human society, forcing down on his luck space trader Jacob Lee to turn to some ethically questionable lines of work. He strikes up a deal with the United Jupiter Company to smuggle some illegal cargo to Jupiter's moon Callisto. This results in him getting hijacked by The Outer Way, a terrorist group fighting against the UJC, which then results in him crash landing on Callisto. This gets him thrown into the supermax prison Black Iron for illegal smuggling.

Thankfully, he isn't there long, as a riot begins not long after he's thrown into his cell. Unfortunately, the riot was caused by a zombie outbreak. The warden had discovered a super virus called the Biophage deep within Callisto and, believing it's adaptive properties would allow humans to better survive in space, unleashed the virus on all the inmates and ordered the security drones to kill everyone as a way of testing it. Now, Jacob must desperately fight for his survival in a prison where everyone and everything wants him dead.

Luckily, he stumbles across quite a few useful gadgets while on his way out. His armored space suit allows him survive the hellish conditions of Callisto's surface, where the temperatures can get as low as -139.2 C°. His prison shiv, crowbar, and electric stun baton allow him to pummel the infected up close, even against monsters strong enough to rip off heads, crush skulls, and rip human beings in half. Final Transmission gives him the Kinetic Hanmer, a massive hammer that can store and charge up kinetic energy to make his swings hit even harder. His Hand Cannon is a nifty side arm with an alt fire that fires explosive rounds, while his tactical pistol comes with a burst fire mode. His skunk gun shotgun fires homing rounds, his riot gun shotgun fires explosive rounds, and his assault rife fires smart bullets, advanced homing rounds that can maneuvers themselves around obstacles while tracking down their targets. And each of these guns is powerful enough to pierce the metal alloy of Black Iron's security drones, who are strong enough to effortlessly rip the titanium doors off spaceships. But Jacob's most advanced weapon is his Gravity Restraint Projector, a drvice on his arm that manipulates gravity to allow Jacob to effortlessly lift heavy objects and even people. He can throw you off a cliff or into a wall of spikes with just a wave of his hand.

His arsenal isn't entire good, though. Jacob suffers from what I like to call Gordon Freeman Syndrome, where his perfectly serviceable space suit and armor doesn't have a helmet. Only Jacob's is worse because he DID have a perfectly good helmet, he just took it off for no reason. And secondly, there's the CORE device strapped into the back of his neck. While it does monitor the health status of all prisoners at Black Iron and make him compatible with their Health Injectors, which Jacob can use to rececitate himself even while his heart is stopping, it also exists to monitor his memories. Meaning Jacob is frequently getting flashbacks and suffering from severe hallucinations as a result of his CORE device fucking with his head.

Despite all of that, Jacob is still a survivor. Even as the Biophage zombies evolved to match his tactics, Jacob powered through. Sneaking past blind zombies who had developed echo location and shooting out the weak spots of Zombies who grew hardened skin to resist his bludgeoning. For better and for worse, he's willing to do whatever he has to ensure his own safety. To the point that the breakout at Black Iron was actually his fault, as the illegal cargo he was carrying for the UJC turned out to be the Biophage pathogen. Realizing that he's indirectly killed thousands in his selfishness, Jacob works to undo the harm he's done, working with The Outer Way to reveal the Warden's corruption and ultimately giving his life to ensure the solar system knows about all that happened at Black Iron.

Throwdown Breakdown:

I think this one is pretty open and shut.

While Hansen's actual military training does make him the more skilled fighter of the two, his arsenal is more grounded. Most of his weapons are standard fire arms, with the exception of the protein harpoon gun made to distract Exocel zombies, which would logically not work on an ordinary human being. This is compared to Jacob Lee's much more varied arsenal of sci-fi guns, literally decades more advanced than Hansen's.

In a contest of hand to hand combat, Hansen would dominate. In a straight fire fight, Hansen would outmaneuver Jacob and pop his exposed head off. But the issue here is Jacob's superior technology. The kinetic hammer is bulky emough that Hansen can easily dodge around it, while the stun baton would struggle to get through Hansen's incredible pain tolerance. However, the Gravity Restraint Projector could easily throw Hansen back before he can get the upper hand or potentially even allow Jacob to ragdoll him to death right there, mitigating Tom's skill and training advantage. As for a fire fight, Jacob's homing bullets would simply go around any cover that Tom tries to exploit and hit him in the brain before he outsmart Jacob, while the Gravity Restraint Projector would let Lee through his grenades right back at him.

In scenarios where Tom wins this, he does so by ambushing Jacob before he can react and quickly subduing him with his superior training. In most situations, however, he wouldn't be able to due to his lack of familiarity with Jacob's technology, as no such tech exists in his universe. And once Tom did realize the threat Jacob posed, it would be too late, as his more grounded arsenal doesn't give him the tools he needs to counter them.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

Jacob Lee!

Next Time...