#it indirectly says so much and I have so many theories about it

[sockatoothewafflebird]

u prolly have already but pls i want in depth yap abt caitvi in arc3 and how they heal :)

oh anon i have NOT yapped about how they heal. not in detail at least. so here we go. there's not a lot that hasn't been said about them, but i'd like to put my perspective into the ring just because. as an eldest sister and as a lesbian i can relate to vi in a lot of ways.

i think my main takeaway for caitvi in act 3 is how they're both human, in the ways they love and in the ways they fight. arcane is a show that respects its audience and trusts us to be able to read between the lines and i appreciate how you can see every little detail of the words they're not saying if you look close enough.

in The Scene especially you can see just how real theyre being... im not gonna dwell on it, but by the skin of my teeth and the bones in my knees they LOVE each other. you can see it so clearly.

caitlyn walks in on vi questioning everything she is. violet legit just let her sister slip from her fingers, again. i cannot tell you how many times i've felt guilty when my sister or brother are hurt or do something wrong, even if i had no part in it. i cannot imagine how much it would hurt to lose them and keep going only because of the possibility of finding them again, and then when i finally do find then they're ripped from my arms. and it happens more than once. i would be in the same place vi is. blaming herself for all of it. making the burden of protecting her sister all hers and no one else's. wondering whether or not she's doing the right thing at all. (cough coughh petra minecraft is that you)

as stressful as they can be sometimes they're my siblings and i'd do anytning for them. and with the kind of person vi is, for her that means punching whoever's in the way. doing whatever she can. she has a big heart and she's never lost it.

after caitlyn basically dumped her in the most entitled way possible vi had nothing left. no one to protect and nothing to fight for. so she fought just for the sake of fighting. after getting her family back and losing them again (holy ballsockets she was put through the wringer) all she had was cait even if cait hurt her. i think even if cait never did anytbing to make it up to her, she would have stayed, because vi needs an anchor.

caitlyn's hurt a lot of people directly or indirectly. she grew up priveleged and stayed that way, never truly seeing exactly how much pain people are going through until it's too late to turn back. caitlyn's arc is a very interesting one because she never says the words "i'm sorry". she never tells vi that what she did was wrong and that she wants to fix it. but she does things that prove her remorse.

caitlyn works with vi in the end of act 2. i think this is partially because she was already skeptical of ambessa from the start, and partially because she wanted to find a way to make it up to her. caitlyn doesn't fold as soon as vi calls her cupcake, that's not what the look is. The Look is her thinking, "wait, does she not hate me? why did she call me her term of endearment even after everything i've done?"

in act 3, caitlyn takes all the guards out of the prison, because she knew vi would try to rescue her sister. in the words of another post i forgot to save (deepest apologies to the op of that one), vi could have taken jinx and ran. caitlyn might have never seen her again and she let that happen anyway. and cait even went to the cell to check to see if her theory was true, and lo and behold it was. and vi failed at trying to save her sister. again.

what does caitlyn do? she tells vi that she relieved the prison of the guards because of her. all confident and sultry and commanding like she knows what she's doing.

and then when they're getting into it caitlyn frantically pulls away. she realizes that, yeah, she still needs to make things right. she tries to be honest, tell vi that she saw someone else, and vi just reassures her and keeps going. i think thisnis because 1) vi wants the cupcake, who wouldn't, and 2) she's... not exactly forgiving, that needs more work- but she's showing her appreciation for caitlyn here. caitlyn did something huge for her, she let her break a prisoner out which could have dire consequences for both of them.

i think vi just absolutely smothering cait is also a way to show that even though cait hurt her physically as well as emotionally, she's gone past that. if vi hadn't at least given some thought about cait's actions she would not let this happen, i don't think, unless she's super desperate. this proves that vi is starting to move on and cait is starting to revert back to that sputtering stuttering pinned-to-a-wall-flustered woman she was in season one- that's the woman vi fell in love with, after all... and that woman is battered and bruised and has plenty of sins to stone for. but that woman is not dead.

The Scene in the cell is both them being desperate and them showing their love for each other without words. caitlyn's hand lingers on vi's injury, maybe about to utter an apology, but vi cuts her off anyway. there's SO many little things here gaughehgjf.

and in the end of the show, when caitlyn looks into the hexgates in her family's archives, she looks because vi probably asked her to. vi wanted to be sure. she looked because she cares about vi. whether or not she'll tell vi about this is an interesting thought- i don't think she would. it would undermine jinx's sacrifice.

jinx walked away so she could move on. so piltover could move on. so zaun could move on. so vi could move on. and caitlyn telling vi that she's alive would ruin the steps they've taken towards healing.

i think vi's main problem was dedicating her life to her sister and nothing else. and caitlyn's was just her exploiting a broken system and mever recognizing her faults. vi starts to heal because now that her sister is truly gone to her, she can move away from the past and build her own future. and now that caitlyn's fully realized her mistakes she can take steps towards changing piltover for the better. GAHH i love complicated sapphics especially when there's sapphic joy after all the suffering....

this was all written in one sitting so apologies if it's messy, and i've sort of compiled some other ideas and theories i've seen in here too; but yeah, these are my thoughts on caitvi in season 2. i think they could've been fleshed out a bit more, but overall their relationship is legendary. i'll never stop loving them. caitvi supremacy people 💪

[mary-mythos]

And since we're on the subject of MC theories, wtf was up with the whole "You followed the shepherd" thing????

Like, we know thanks to the new volume that the Shepherd is Jude Murray, so like... in what way is Adam following his dad??????

[alfheimr]

My Favorite Cheap Art Trick: Gradient Maps and Blending Modes

i get questions on occasion regarding my coloring process, so i thought i would do a bit of a write up on my "secret technique." i don't think it really is that much of a secret, but i hope it can be helpful to someone. to that end:

this is one of my favorite tags ive ever gotten on my art. i think of it often. the pieces in question are all monochrome - sort of.

the left version is the final version, the right version is technically the original. in the final version, to me, the blues are pretty stark, while the greens and magentas are less so. there is some color theory thing going on here that i dont have a good cerebral understanding of and i wont pretend otherwise. i think i watched a youtube video on it once but it went in one ear and out the other. i just pick whatever colors look nicest based on whatever vibe im going for.

this one is more subtle, i think. can you tell the difference? there's nothing wrong with 100% greyscale art, but i like the depth that adding just a hint of color can bring.

i'll note that the examples i'll be using in this post all began as purely greyscale, but this is a process i use for just about every piece of art i make, including the full color ones. i'll use the recent mithrun art i made to demonstrate. additionally, i use clip studio paint, but the general concept should be transferable to other art programs.

for fun let's just start with Making The Picture. i've been thinking of making this writeup for a while and had it in mind while drawing this piece. beyond that, i didn't really have much of a plan for this outside of "mithrun looks down and hair goes woosh." i also really like all of the vertical lines in the canary uniform so i wanted to include those too but like. gone a little hog wild. that is the extent of my "concept." i do not remember why i had the thought of integrating a shattered mirror type of theme. i think i wanted to distract a bit from the awkward pose and cover it up some LOL but anyway. this lack of planning or thought will come into play later.

note 1: the textured marker brush i specifically use is the "bordered light marker" from daub. it is one of my favorite brushes in the history of forever and the daub mega brush pack is one of the best purchases ive ever made. highly recommend!!!

note 2: "what do you mean by exclusion and difference?" they are layer blending modes and not important to the overall lesson of this post but for transparency i wanted to say how i got these "effects." anyway!

with the background figured out, this is the point at which i generally merge all of my layers, duplicate said merged layer, and Then i begin experimenting with gradient maps. what are gradient maps?

the basic gist is that gradient maps replace the colors of an image based on their value.

so, with this particular gradient map, black will be replaced with that orangey red tone, white will be replaced with the seafoamy green tone, etc. this particular gradient map i'm using as an example is very bright and saturated, but the colors can be literally anything.

these two sets are the ones i use most. they can be downloaded for free here and here if you have csp. there are many gradient map sets out there. and you can make your own!

you can apply a gradient map directly onto a specific layer in csp by going to edit>tonal correction>gradient map. to apply one indirectly, you can use a correction layer through layer>new correction layer>gradient map. honestly, correction layers are probably the better way to go, because you can adjust your gradient map whenever you want after creating the layer, whereas if you directly apply a gradient map to a layer thats like. it. it's done. if you want to make changes to the applied gradient map, you have to undo it and then reapply it. i don't use correction layers because i am old and stuck in my ways, but it's good to know what your options are.

this is what a correction layer looks like. it sits on top and applies the gradient map to the layers underneath it, so you can also change the layers beneath however and whenever you want. you can adjust the gradient map by double clicking the layer. there are also correction layers for tone curves, brightness/contrast, etc. many such useful things in this program.

let's see how mithrun looks when we apply that first gradient map we looked at.

gadzooks. apologies for eyestrain. we have turned mithrun into a neon hellscape, which might work for some pieces, but not this one. we can fix that by changing the layer blending mode, aka this laundry list of words:

some of them are self explanatory, like darken and lighten, while some of them i genuinely don't understand how they are meant to work and couldn't explain them to you, even if i do use them. i'm sure someone out there has written out an explanation for each and every one of them, but i've learned primarily by clicking on them to see what they do.

for the topic of this post, the blending mode of interest is soft light. so let's take hotline miamithrun and change the layer blending mode to soft light.

here it is at 100% opacity. this is the point at which i'd like to explain why i like using textured brushes so much - it makes it very easy to get subtle color variation when i use this Secret Technique. look at the striation in the upper right background! so tasty. however, to me, these colors are still a bit "much." so let's lower the opacity.

i think thats a lot nicer to look at, personally, but i dont really like these colors together. how about we try some other ones?

i like both of these a lot more. the palettes give the piece different vibes, at which point i have to ask myself: What Are The Vibes, Actually? well, to be honest i didn't really have a great answer because again, i didn't plan this out very much at all. however. i knew in my heart that there was too much color contrast going on and it was detracting from the two other contrasts in here: the light and dark values and the sharp and soft shapes. i wanted mithrun's head to be the main focal point. for a different illustration, colors like this might work great, but this is not that hypothetical illustration, so let's bring the opacity down again.

yippee!! that's getting closer to what my heart wants. for fun, let's see what this looks like if we change the blending mode to color.

i do like how these look but in the end they do not align with my heart. oh well. fun to experiment with though! good to keep in mind for a different piece, maybe! i often change blending modes just to see what happens, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. i very much cannot stress enough that much of my artistic process is clicking buttons i only sort of understand. for fun.

i ended up choosing the gradient map on the right because i liked that it was close to the actual canary uniform colors (sorta). it's at an even lower opacity though because there was Still too much color for my dear heart.

the actual process for this looks like me setting my merged layer to soft light at around 20% opacity and then clicking every single gradient map in my collection and seeing which one Works. sometimes i will do this multiple times and have multiple soft light and/or color layers combined.

typically at this point i merge everything again and do minor contrast adjustments using tone curves, which is another tool i find very fun to play around with. then for this piece in particular i did some finishing touches and decided that the white border was distracting so i cropped it. and then it's done!!! yay!!!!!

this process is a very simple and "fast" way to add more depth and visual interest to a piece without being overbearing. well, it's fast if you aren't indecisive like me, or if you are better at planning.

let's do another comparison. personally i feel that the hint of color on the left version makes mithrun look just a bit more unwell (this is a positive thing) and it makes the contrast on his arm a lot more pleasing to look at. someone who understands color theory better than i do might have more to say on the specifics, but that's honestly all i got.

just dont look at my layers too hard. ok?

[plinko-mori]

Why do I think this scene:

Is a horrible adaptation from this manga panel:

Dialogue

That's an important thing to consider, because we have a case of almost opposite messages

In the anime it is «That's right, what of it?»

It's a confirmation of what Yosano is asking to Ougai, almost immediately when she spoke to him. First point to consider

He's answering "yes" in other way, he's basically doing an affirmation of what Yosano said. While also telling her indirectly that he doesn't care and doesn't feel bad about it using a question, we have an affirmation and a question in the same sentence

We can interpret that easily because everything points to that option

«What you say is correct, why should I care?»

But in the manga it is complete different

We have «... Even if that's true, so what?»

It's a question in all the dialogue I'm analyzing, being that the first difference

He takes a pause, takes his moment to think of an answer and then he speaks, those details are important differences because it shows you how different they are

His questions is related to a possibility. In other way to say what Mori said would be «Even if what you say is true, what does it matter?»

We can't do an affirmation/confirmation if he cares or not, because what Ougai says makes us do multiple interpretations based in Yosano's reaction, his facial expression and character in general since the intention isn't 100% clear... Basically doing theories and more theories because everybody has their perspectives and own ways to interpret what happened there

Expression and feelings related

In the anime we can say Mori speaks self-confidently as if he were too superior to the others

Acting like that, he doesn't care, he doesn't even look at here

While he's just acting calm, a little grumpy maybe, fixing his clothes... The anime indicates that he cares so little about what she says that he does something else at the same time

I could add that he even looks disgusted and annoyed but I'm horrible at socializing and reading emotions-

And the scene is too different from the manga that he has his eyes closed in all the dialogue while in the manga they are open

In the manga we can't guess emotions at all since Ougai looks extremely cold! Those dark eyes, that expression, his words of not caring about the consequences, here we can do a confirmation about it

Something to add is that we can see Yosano's reaction, because in the anime we lost all of those expressions that it's so sad :(

Ougai in the manga is more cold, less expressive, gives more things to leave many to imagination

How does Mori's character work?

It's not like saying «Mori in the plot works in a specific way»... But a «Mori has this behavior that repeats a lot»

He acts when necessary, speaks and gives orders when he considers necessary, he's a rational character that is thinking most of the time (to not say all the time)

The fact is that, when he doesn't gives orders... He says things that are left to interpretation since he doesn't explain them deeply

Things that actually share the real life author, and we have seen it in many times in the manga that, since Ougai doesn't explain anything, sometimes it feels like he says something that doesn't make sense or contradicts himself

We can't deny that he's smart enough to understand, know and comprehend the impact of his words

Mori is a genius, is a fact that we can't deny... It's just that we don't compare him too much with Dazai, Ranpo and Fyodor, specially when they have more time that “we can see them being intelligent”

But if it counts as a proof... Mori was steps forward compared to Dazai, just one specific time, that Dazai ended up

Mori knows, and we have to agree that Mori is capable to do many things

Why do I say it reflects Mori's character?

The scene has specific things... That I will explain

✓Pause → The detail of Mori taking his time to think reflects his rational side that doesn't get carried away by his emotions when acting, something that we see in him a lot, that he knows what he does, is aware of this and tries to make it all work out in his "somewhat dirty way of playing"

✓Dark eyes → A fact that we forget is we don't know how he ended up being like that. He's cold He can be cold when necessary, and we can't read Mori at 100%, no matter how hard we try is like trying to understand a void that you can't see their begining and end

✓Even if that's true, so what? → Both character and author: Interpretation. The author was characterized by playing with perspectives, showing different ones, leaving things to interpretation and letting the reader draw his own conclusions from what he read... Something that is also seen in the character. You have to draw conclusions from how he acts and talks, it's hard to understand him 100%, he makes people have so many different perspectives towards him that matches his author. Ougai plays with the perspectives and emotions of the rest, the author to tell stories to the people around him, the character to act and keep on living in his world with all the danger around him, and around his organization

[fredbydawn]

actually, I'm thinking soooo many thoughts about David transitioning into Amanda.

Cuz you may be wondering "hey, wouldn't Amanda notice that the guy she's tasked with kidnapping is identical to her before she transitioned?" WELL, I think she does. And I think she maybe knows a bit about his life and circumstances. I'm thinking about the commentary from Saw III about Leigh and Shawnee coming up with Amanda's backstory and talking about how she was abused and neglected growing up and turned to self harm and later drugs to deal with her anger. Flash forward to Amanda seeing this angry young man who feels completely indifferent to whether he lives or dies (and also thinking about Adam's explicit death wish from the script and the problems he has with his family, seemingly especially with his father). I think that does stir some feelings in her. And in a weird, idk 'thread of fate' thing, I kind of feel like he kind of senses something in her that is similar to him as well. Like, this is kinda dipping into my 'Adam is an egg' theory, but I feel like in their little interaction on the stairs, Amanda represents to Adam what he could be, and Adam represents to Amanda what she was. Like I sort of imagine that maybe he would look at the picture he took of her, not even really knowing why it's so compelling to him, but a little nagging voice in his subconscious maybe says "that could be you." Meanwhile Amanda sees herself too clearly in Adam. Like, once again thinking about the Saw III commentary and Leigh said something along the lines of "Amanda rigs the traps because she can't bear to see the people in them survive what they've been through," and thinking about how her suffocating Adam was both a twisted act of mercy, but also maybe form of self harm? Like he reminds her too much of the way she was way back when, like the night she was at the clinic and indirectly started the dominos falling that would lead to the games starting in the first place, so in killing him she's maybe also trying to finally kill that old self?

OOUUUGGGHHH ACTUALLY just had a thought, what if the nightmare visions she's having of Adam are actually her being haunted by her previous self circa the night at the clinic/when she got out of prison hhhhhhhhh much to think on...

[ridox]

Questions about Xavier & Theories Following Chapter 8 —

I need anyone’s input/theory/thoughts regarding this matter because I haven’t gone through much of Xavier’s Secret Times and Tender Moments yet, and I’ve only unlocked 3/9 of Shooting Stars

Discussion under the cut for potential spoilers

Anyway, I just finished going through Chapter 8 of the Main Story and based from this conversation with Jeremiah. Does this mean Xavier has direct/or indirect influence over what happened to Josephine and Caleb on Chapter 4?

I’m assuming the Nonintervention Principle is for the Lightseekers who venture through space, calling for them to basically NOT ALTER anything in the timeline they’re hopping onto as a preventative measure to creating a butterfly effect (?)

I remember some people saying that Xavier caused the explosion but now that I think about it I don’t think he inherently has anything to do with it. Rather, I think his presence, Jeremiah’s, alongside all the other backtrackers or whatever you call them, is what caused Josephine and Caleb’s death (?)

I have to gather my thoughts for a more concrete theory about this but in essence, the fact that some of the residents of Philos never returned to their own home and their correct timeline… caused a major butterfly effect that essentially kickstarted the catastrophic events that’s happening in MC’s life as of the moment

I feel like Xavier knew what was going to happen to MC’s grandmother and PERHAPS he even knows if Caleb really died or not but he’s bound by this rule to not intervene and to just let it pan out the way it’s supposed to be

Which kinda creates a loophole because his existence itself in this timeline is what caused it to happen in the first place (?) if that specific theory is right

ANYWAY MOVING ON TO MY ACTUAL QUESTIONS —

I remember reading a theory or perhaps an actual explanation that - in an attempt to try and save Queen MC - Xavier created a Möbius Strip that essentially catapults him back in time creating this unending loophole in the Philos timeline

MY QUESTION IS… IS THERE A POSSIBILITY THAT THE MÖBIUS STRIP IN QUESTION IS WHAT RESULTED IN THE DEEPSPACE TUNNEL? OR THE DEEPSPACE TUNNEL ITSELF IS THE MÖBIUS STRIP?

I haven’t done enough research to support this theory because it’s 12 AM and I just finished the chapter and want to document these thoughts but I’m theorizing that Xavier’s effort to save his MC in his own timeline resulted in a time rift in the form of the Deepspace Tunnel.

The same tunnel that was the main reason why MC’s heart got implanted with the Aether Core in the first place. What if the Wanderers that ravaged Linkon City those many years ago were actually Philos citizens (backtrackers, lightseekers) that died during the creation of the tunnel and emerged on the other side as just that… Wanderers?

What if the Wanderer that stabbed current MC through the heart is an alternate timeline/Philos timeline MC who recognized herself and essentially transplanted her heart to hers?

LIKE MY MIND IS GOING MILES AN HOUR THINKING ABOUT THIS BUT I KNOW EVERYTHING’S MESSY AND UNORGANIZED SO LIKE MAYBE I’LL WRITE THIS UP MORE IN THE FUTURE WITH SUPPORTING FACTS AND STUFF

But yeah! To summarize it all —

- Xavier and the rest of the backtrackers/lightseekers in Linkon City are Space and Time anomalies

- Their existence in itself is wrong and is what resulted in the catastrophic event many years ago

- Possibly the Wanderer that pierced current MC’s heart is her from a Philos timeline

- Also Xavier may have been indirectly involve to the death of MC’s grandmother and Caleb

- BUT ALSO I think Xavier knows whether Caleb is truly dead or alive

- Bonus: I feel like Caleb found out that an alternate timeline exists and he had to fake his own death for the sake of MC’s safety

- Just by the end of Chapter 8, everyone was talking about the recent discovery of Philos and imo I feel like this happened prior to Caleb coming home in the first place

- I feel like since Ever pretty much runs everything in Linkon, they tried to sway Caleb into turning MC in for the sake of “research” or something after they found out she’s probably the only living person who fused well with an Aether Core

ANYWAY SORRY FOR THE RAMBLE I WOULD LIKE TO HERE ANYBODY’S THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS PLS I’M SO NECK DEEP INSIDE L&DS LORE

[ca-8]

How the Bigger Bodies Smiling Critters Died (head canons)

Alright so I R E A L L Y wanna talk about how I think the Smiling Critters perished in Poppy Playtime

Cw: mentions of (sorta) cannibalism, torture, accidental suicide, self-harm, addiction in terms of The Red Smoke

this is gonna be r e a l l y long, so strap in y'all

. ☀️⭐️🍎💡⚡️🌸❤️☀️⭐️🍎💡⚡️🌸❤️☀️⭐️🍎💡⚡️🌸❤️ .

Bubba Bubbaphant

"I'm Bubba Bubbaphant! ...Hey! I remember you!" "An elephant always remembers!" "Want to know what I remember about you...?" This character is pretty much the nerd emoji of the Smiling Critters. He's really smart, and, as he stated in his cardboard cut-out dialogue, has a really good memory. Although I can't really see that being put into play of his actual death, I can see that this last bit of information he stated (before just spiraling out of control) can be connected to our character. (Our character is an ex-worker and is always greeted with distain by the major antagonists, which leads me to believe that we have actively, or at least indirectly, participated in the child/worker experimentation/conversion based on what Bubba says. Although in his last bit of "dialogue", he's screaming quite loudly as if he was in major agony, but also laughing, as if he was ingesting something that caused great harm to his mentality and body, but since he's had it so many times before to the point where he actively begs to have more, it's agonizing, but also "heavenly." Therefore I think his cause of death would be due to him trying to escape during The Hour of Joy, but was eventually caught by CatNap and his use of The Red Smoke. In the Smiling Critters cartoon, all the critters are struggling to go to sleep because of how scared they were of the storm outside. However, once CatNap enters, they all practically light up with such disturbing happiness. Bubba is the first one to beg him to "help them go to sleep". Fast forward to The Hour of Joy, CatNap must've used his addiction against him to keep him sorta in place so he could kill him.

KickenChicken

"Hey! I'm KickenChicken! Wanna go outside and hang out?" "It's lookin' pretty rad outside!" "I've...never been outside before..." "Will you come with me? I'm scared..." "Here, follow me. I-I'll step out first..." Here, I used to think that he had barricaded himself along with some of the other critters somewhere safe inside the Playcare during The Hour of Joy, and he decided to step outside once all the humans were finally killed. Once he did, CatNap found him and killed him for his disobedience towards his god. But a recent theory sorta convinced me otherwise. I still believe in my own theory, but I also support the fact that KickenChicken could've also been one of the first toys to reach an exit to the outside world. But, once he and the other critter tried to step outside, he got killed by the Prototype.

Picky Piggy

"Hi there! I'm Picky Piggy! Let's eat!" "Roast beef? Delicious!" "Grilled chicken? Down the hatch!" "Seared elephant? Yum!" "Flayed unicorn? Mmm!" "Still hungry... Hey, what do you say you and I be friends?" (This one actually scares the hell out of me, i love it) And it's pretty obvious too, for the most part. I believe that Picky was separated by the other critters during The Hour of Joy, and ended up with nothing to eat for a long time. She ended up wandering aimlessly throughout the factory and eventually came across the corpses of her dead friends. Saddened, but desperate for food, she ate her friends' corpses as soon as she came along them, but all that effort soon went to waste as she eventually died of starvation, a constant theme throughout Poppy Playtime.

Hoppy Hopscotch

"I'm Hoppy Hopscotch! Wanna try hopping to the moon with me?" "On three with me! One... two... three! ...Heh, didn't get very far, did we?" "Again! One, two, three! Nope... still didn't make it." "Listen! This won't stop until we make it to the moon!" "One, two- No, no! Don't look at your feet! None of that matters! Again! Again!" "JUMP! JUUUU-" Yeah this one just makes me really sad, seeing how I think her death most likely would be accidental suicide. In an attempt to escape CatNap or The Prototype or another toy that was hunting them down for food, or maybe just trying to reach somewhere that lead to an exit, she encouraged her friend(s) to jump towards freedom, but due to her impulsive/impatient tendencies, she didn't think it through and ended up falling to her death.

Bobby Bearhug

"Hi! I'm Bobby Bearhug! Wanna know how much I love you?" "I love you to the moooon and back!" "I'm crazy about you." "I'm lost without you." "I've been lost a long time..." "Please, take me with you this time...!" "You won't leave me, will you??" Bobby loves everyone and everything, unconditionally. So, when The Hour of Joy occurred, she naturally felt terrified and wanted to stick close by with her friends as they tried to find a way out of the factory after that day. This might also be in relation to DogDay and Picky as well. DogDay probably shooed them away in attempt to save them from CatNap, and while the massacre occurred, Picky got lost during all the chaos. Them being her friends, she was greatly distraught by this, but soon forced herself to go along with who was left. That was when she probably witness some of their deaths: Bobby being lured by the Red Smoke and eventually killed, Kicken getting killed by either CatNap or The Protoype, Hoppy falling to her death, being scared away by CraftyCorn (I'll get to her later).

"Take me with you this time!" I believe this line was spawned from DogDay's actions. Since he was the leader of their group, she, along with the other critters, looked up to him. Perhaps Bobby believed if he has taken all of them with him, she wouldn't have ended up all alone. She eventually ended up all alone, turned to madness by loneliness as she always thought about the events that made her friends leave her. After a long time of wandering and losing hope, bit by bit as each day passed, she died of starvation.

CraftyCorn

"H-Hi, I'm CraftyCorn. Will you help me with my painting? Pass me the blue, please!" "Thanks! Now, will you give me some red?" "More red, please!" "Out...? But, w-we can't be out." "You're hiding more red from me... I know you are..." "GIVE IT HERE!" "There, now that's much better!" Despite CraftyCorn's established gentle and caring personality, both would be thrown away for the sake of keeping her creative juices flowing. She always loves everything artistic, so she also most likely uses it as a coping mechanism (and that's also seen in the Smiling Critter's cartoon, where CraftyCorn is drawing on multiple pages while still being scared of the storm outside). I believe she also witnessed some of her friends' deaths along with Bobby Bearhug, and, as her way of coping, she just tries drawing and drawing and painting and painting her worries away. But while her urges to cope may last, drawing materials do not for long, and she eventually runs out. This causes her to turn to panic, as she thinks she'll have to finally face reality that her friends are gone, but she's not ready, so she desperately tires to find more art materials, mostly the color red (because that's the most of what she's been seeing since The Hour of Joy). So, in a blind, maddened dismay, she attacks her friends and uses their blood for painting, piling on unimaginable guilt for hurting her friends, the very thing she was trying not to make herself realize.

Now as for her death. Her remaining friend(s) probably ended up leaving her for the sake of their own safety. She doesn't realize this, because again, she's so deep in her own distractions that she's lost touch with reality, until she finally runs out of red again. She desperately tries to find more, but can't extract any from an outside source. So she uses her own blood as paint. She extracts her blood, runs out, extracts again, runs out again, extracts again, runs out again, over and over until she finally harms herself to the point of dying from blood loss.

DogDay

"DogDay says... fetch!" "Go, go! As far as you can!" "Why are you...just standing there?" "You can't be here. You can't stay..." As I said earlier, DogDay must have helped his friends escape from CatNap's hunting ground and the main killing areas during The Hour of Joy. He realizes that CatNap holds a burning rage for him and his friends for not going along with The Prototypes control, and drives them out somewhere where he thinks they'll be safe. But he then told them that he couldn't go with them, because as the leader of the Smiling Critters, and holding a deep love for his friends, he felt the need to sacrifice himself so they can be safe.

Once they were away, he goes and finds CatNap. Since I believe that DogDay was once a worker for Playtime Co., I don't think he remembers his past. Therefore, he truly believes that he is DogDay, and that the Smiling Critters, including CatNap, have been friends for a lifetime. He believes that his friend is still in there, not seeing the fact that CatNap remembers exactly who he is and how he became this way, including why he worships The Prototype. DogDay tries to convince CatNap to remember all the good times they had (even though, with the Big Bodies version of the cast, CatNap was particularly distant from the rest of the Smiling Critters, since I assume they're also workers). Of course, this doesn't work, and CatNap attempts to kill him.

However, I believe that DogDay had escaped and went to look for his friends once he was at a safe distance. But this is FAR after the events of his friends' deaths, so one by one he comes across his friends' corpses, personally seeing the horrors of after The Hour of Joy "I'm...the last of the Smiling Critters...." (what he says before his own death)

After years of losing so much hope, seeing that none of his friends survived the horrors of the factory, DogDay doesn't see the point in trying to escape. If his friends didn't make it, what was the point? And, during his most vulnerable, this is how CatNap eventually ends up finding him. He gained some sick pleasure into see this heretic suffer, but he felt that he needed more misery, by kidnapping him and torturing him by cutting off his legs and feeding them to the mini critters, and stringing him up in the prison where he's slowly eaten by The Prototype's worshippers.

Still, he holds onto what sanity he has left from his interactions with Poppy (who I believe he ran into while he was wandering the Factory), and believed that an angel will bring them salvation.

. ☀️⭐️🍎💡⚡️🌸❤️☀️⭐️🍎💡⚡️🌸❤️☀️⭐️🍎💡⚡️🌸❤️ .

That's about it! Hope you guys enjoyed!!

~ 💜🌙 ~

[shiroen]

🔪 - Any characters you don't like?

💬 - Any fan theories you've had or currently have?

🎤 - Any hot takes?

Hello anon! Thank you for sending in an ask. I'm going to answer 🔪🎤 first as they will be shorter answers and then dive into the fan theory part that will have a read-more break because it'll be pretty long (with screenshots).

There are a few character in ITGR that I don't like, but one of my least favorites, if not my least favorite, is Chase. Who, I do notice, is quite the fan favorite, possibly second to Brook. SORRY for the slander if you like Chase by the way uhmm I definitely understand the appeal of his character, in season one, he's a self-righteous idealistic man who takes it in his own hands to do anything he can to improve the state of the world regardless of whether people see it as morally correct. Hell, I like Light Yagami (not Shiro mentioning something from another fandom on his ITGR blog? Breaking his own rules, eh?) even, so of course I can see the appeal of a character like this, but after season three starts, that whole image collapses. He loses his plot involvement and direction as a character, in the end no longer caring enough about the world to take the steps he did before to improve it. While this is a fair development of a character like him, in ITGR, it just renders him near useless. After the arc where they attempt to uncover Scarlet's backstory, he turns into an accessory purely as a motive (taking care of him) for Scarlet, and to an extent holding her back. Going from whip-smart detective with unrealistic ideals to A Guy. A nerd who kinda bums around as the ITGR discord would describe it. It's all a realistic turn of events but nonetheless that doesn't make him a likeable character to me. Not saying that a good character has to necessarily be plot relevant and etc. at all it's just my personal preference that they are.

Sorry. Going to yap a bit more about Chase regarding the hot take I'll be talking about. I personally do NOT think Chase should return and that Zero is Chase, and I don't think he should be from a storytelling perspective. Many have talked about how much they'd like Chase's return and have been hoping for Zero to be Chase, not taking into account how Chase, if he returns, because there is just no way for him to be plot relevant at all as of season four's current plot. All he'd do is be an accessory to Scarlet and hold the plot back. It also feels disrespectful for him to be brought back after that very heartfelt send-off in season three, just taking away all its merit and significance. If Zero turns out to be Chase—I think that takes away the whole merit of his character. His largest appeal to, at least me, is the unsteadiness of his sense of identity, careening between the feelings of a dead man and his own role as an archreaper. I don't know about you, but I think it'd feel very invasive to feel the emotions of someone else that you wouldn't have otherwise, and then being forced to put those emotions (and memories) into conflict with the current identity you have (for Zero, as the most powerful archreaper, directly in opposition to Scarlet). Grave has set up such potential with Zero already, and a reveal that he was actually Chase all this time would be so disappointing IMO.

Fan theory time. Discussing archreaper Three and Five's identities... this is a theory shared by the ITGR discord as I'm actually not great at making theories aha.

FIVE'S IDENTITY

I haven't seen a lot of theories about Five's identity actually. Out of what I know, I can infer that it'd probably be pretty likely in some readers minds that Five could be Ana, considering that she was sentenced to the fifth circle (Episode 11).

However, I propose a different idea: that Five is not Ana, but Natasha (Brook's sister).

Natasha has a very similar sin as Ana, who was sentenced to the fifth circle for killing her own son. If qualifications for the fifth circle is killing a family member, whether indirectly or directly, then Natasha fits the bill (with killing Brook by ordering a subordinate to do so).

In the first archreaper appearance, Episode 155, Five's first words are "...Cease your squabbling, fools," and, "It's unsightly. We should behave with the same status as our stations imply." While we never heard Natasha directly talk to Brook within his backstory, this sounds quite, pretentious? Comes off high and lofty, as if coming from a "woman of high nobility," as Jordan notes. This falls in line with Natasha, the head of her clan and company, who can be assumed to be, if not nobility, then at least rich enough to seem so.

Five's sihlouette, at higher brightness, has hair very similar to Natasha in Brook's backstory.

Comparing that, to:

It's not a perfect match, though it isn't out of the realm for Natasha's hairstyle to have been altered a bit, as Everette definitely underwent a more pretty drastic hairstyle change as well. Now, if we look closer at that image of Five at a higher brightness, if you can, look closely at her pupils: the shape of a crosshair.

Natasha, in Brook's backstory, has been seen with guns:

It would make sense for the archreaper with crosshair pupils to have used firearms in their life, and use them in the afterlife as their main weapon.

Now, examining the silhouettes revealed on Episode 194, here is Five's:

[Image ID: Everette as a snail explaining Five's temperament with her silhouette; a woman with large horns and hair in a braid that falls down to her knees. She appears to be wearing a dress. Everette says: "Five is really scary! She's got a sharp temper! She also thinks she's better than everyone else, which... I dunno, she is pretty smart, but if I talked to her for too long, I think I'd cry...!" The background is bright pink.]

Five's hair has changed, from Episode 155, it being down, to 194, it being braided. That's fine, Vincent's eye color changed from brown to light orange to match his little sister better, Grave has done this before. Also, the background, bright pink, is probably her demon, which is a very similar color to Brook's accent color, yeah?

As for the personality description, we don't know that much about Natasha's temperament, but it fits well for a businesswoman who ran a company. Whip smart and with a sharp temper. Probably makes subordinates cry, or at least fearful.

I think... I've solidified my case of Five's identity pretty well with what we have released at the time of writing this. It also makes sense plot-wise as a way to reinvolve Brook into season four's plot, by exploring parts of his past once again. Their (likely) confrontation will be very interesting to see in the future.

THREE'S IDENTITY

I think Three's identity has been most popularly theorized to be Natasha, but with all that I've said to convince you of Natasha being Five, then who do I think Three is?

I've already disproved Natasha as Three pretty clearly, as her sentence would likely be greater than the third circle for murder (Liam was sentenced to fourth for murdering someone random, while Ana was sentenced to fifth for murdering her own family).

This will be mostly based off my own conclusions and inferences rather than concrete text evidence, so take it with a grain of salt if you will, I believe Three's identity to be Ashe's daughter.

It would make sense plot-wise, if Natasha is a way to bring back Brook and make him plot relevant, than if Three is Ashe's daughter, it could be a big arc of character development for him. At the moment, Ashe's role in season's four plot is kind of... boring? He's kind of just there to fight, not super useful, but if he encounters someone in his past he'd be made plot relevant. Both a backstory reveal and a way to explore Ashe's character.

The only concrete evidence we have of Three being Ashe's daughter is from Everette's description of her in Episode 194.

[Image ID: Everette as a snail explaining Three's temperament. Three's silhouette is displayed as a woman with hair let down reaching her lower back and wearing some sort of dress, probably a kimono. Everette says: "Three is a very put-together lady, and she doesn't speak much. Despite that, I can tell she isn't from the modern day!" The background is a red with a slight pink tint.]

The personality doesn't give much, Ashe's daughter could be anyone with any kind of temperament. However, Everette notes that she notably isn't from the modern day, and she is the only archreaper to which Everette says this. In addition, her silhouette seems to be fitting for someone wearing a kimono, which would make sense considering the time period the Ashe was from in Japan.

I don't have much more to say about Three, but, Jesus christ, this was a huge fucking post. Sorry for spilling this huge yap onto you, anon, and if you did read it all the way, thank you for sending in the ask! The amount of times I've said plot in this post is ridiculous

[creativeinfinite13]

Why Chara Undertale is a Muse of Time

From the dawn of 2009, it has been the Homestuck's duty to assign characters from different media a title from their RPG-inspired typology system. Although it is full of holes, has little cannon info, and can be interpreted in so many ways it is honestly pointless to argue about which character is which Classpect, it is my duty as not only a Homestuck, but as a Tumblr blogger to assert that my interpretation is right and that everyone else is wrong.

So here is why Chara is so obviously a Muse of Time, it is actually atextual to suggest any other classpect.

First of all, Toby Fox is a Homestuck fan. He read the comic, he wrote a comic, and he made music for the comic. Therefore, it is not unthinkable that we can look to Chara's design, and dialogue, for clues for their classpect.

Chara was inspired by the Cherubs. The red cheeks, their Al-like speech patterns, their green shirt, their focus on absolutes, the way they were briefly a part of an entity that fought with itself, they have a sibling relationship with someone who is very much their opposite (at least at the time,) it is all very much Cherub inspired. This will be important later.

Secondly, let's look at their ideology. Aspect is the themes that follow you, which informs how you see the world. Chara is very much focused on power. They want all of it they can have. They define themselves by it, and the chase for it. They are noted to be very efficient and particular in how they pour their water, and it is not a stretch to say they keep these traits are probably a key part of their personality. Additionally, they are surrounded by death. They die, cause the death of another, and are only encountered in the route where you kill everyone. You only see them in sepia-toned flashbacks of the past otherwise, or if you believe in the NarraChara theory, narrating the present, using their words to define how we experience Undertale in the moment. Yeah, this is a Time-bound character no doubt.

Thirdly, let's talk about their role in the story. This is what defines their class, and is the tricker part of classpecting. Chara is defined by absence. The fact that their name is actually their name, not Frisk's, is the twist at one of the ends of the game. They are only vaguely alluded to by those that know them, and they don't have a voice bite. We only encounter them in a route where they are pushed so far we don't know if their personality is what we see, and it's at the end of the hardest route too. It would be easier to say Chara is a complete non-character, except...they are the reason the game happens. Their choices indirectly lead to Asgore causing the war, which directly impacts every character in the game. They impact Asriel so much that he is only saved when reminded of them. In fact, much of Asriels/Flowey's actions are defined by Chara's impact on them, and Undertale as a story would have to be completely rewritten without them. Hell, if you believe in NarraChara, they are the narrator. Imagine playing Undertale without the iconic narration! This is all a dead ringer for the Muse class. They are the indirect, most passive, almost absent character that ends up impacting absolutely everything.

Chara is a Muse of Time, baby.

(Oh, and about that cherub stuff? The only two Classpects of the Cherubs we know are the Lord of Time and the Muse of Space. The Lord has iconic red cheeks, and the Muse becomes the Narrator in half of the epilogues. Checkmate, atheists!)

If you read all of this, I just want to thank you for your time. I love this place, and I am glad to finally be here and maybe make some friends on this cursed webbed site. Just remember: I am always right, even in subjective matters. Bye!!!!!!!! <3

[fracturediron]

Dead Friend Forever ep 6

Finally got around to watching this, and I have a lot of thoughts.

With the reveal that Phee is Non's FWB (ex-FWB? Friend either way), that obviously rules him out as being New, Non's brother.

So who does that leave as New? The obvious candidates are Tan and White, but out of the two, I think Tan is the most likely. There are too many moments shown where White's alone and he seems genuinely out of the loop, like when he sneaks into Por's room and says, "Sorry for the intrusion. But for your life's sake, I have to look." No one's around to watch him put on a face of politeness and respect for Por. If White was in on it, why would he bother apologising for going into Por's room? As he would A) Know exactly what's going on, so he wouldn't need to secretly look at the hard drive contents B) If he knew Non and what happened to him, he'd have every reason to hate Por and the others.

Whereas right now, we still don't know a whole lot about Tan or seen much of him either alone or introspecting. Apart from not being part of the original group and smoking when he's an asthmatic lol, we don't really know anything about him as a person, so there's a lot of potential there.

Otherwise, the next best candidate has got to be whoever Perth is playing, since he's yet to make an appearance and also his character is the only one who hasn't been named on the cast list.

Jumping to a different topic: Kru Keng. This fucker (CW for discussion of potential sexual abuse/predatory behaviour under the cut):

I knew he had creepy fucking vibes. Unless this is a fakeout to make you think he's a creepy predator teacher. But I doubt it; this feels too deliberate.

Going off of this, though, does raise questions about how and why Kru Keng then ends up dying, considering Jin either saw or hallucinated his bloody ghost. Which is doubly interesting, since Jin is the only one out of the original group to see Kru Keng, whereas everyone else has only seen the masked killers.

My question is: why would Jin of all people see Kru Keng's ghost?

From the very start of the flashback, Jin clearly has an interest in Non that ends up developing into romantic interest, likely one he may have been unaware of until this moment:

My theory: if Kru Keng does indeed try to prey on Non in exchange for giving him the money he needs to pay off Uncle Joe, is that Jin then finds out about this and ends up trying to defend Non from Kru Keng, only to then accidentally kill the teacher. Either that, or he's at least indirectly involved in the killing somehow, maybe by helping Non cover it up if Non is the one who ends up killing him.

Either way, my feeling is still accidental rather than premeditated, as I feel like from what we've seen of Jin (especially with this being him in his teenage years and still in the prime of his innocence), is that he doesn't really have the character (or the straight up guts) to actually plan out a murder and go through with it. If he ends up killing Kru Keng, it's gonna be an accident or a heat of the moment thing.

This does involve Jin going to bat for Non in a much more concrete way than he has so far in their time together, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility. He has some feelings for Non, and although his attempts to defend him to his friends or to help him are never quite enough, defending your friend from a predatory teacher is a much more tangible and immediate threat than, say, the peer pressure of being part of a high school group.

[yennas-stuff]

An E/riel said that “Emerie and Rhys have a better chance at being friends than Gwyn and Rhys - he already flies her to and from Illyria” and while it is possible that Rhys and Emerie will become friends, I still believe that Rhys and Gwyn are going to become very good friends for many reasons, but that’s a whole different post.

And while we’re on the topic of Emerie, E/riel’s only bring her up when they want to put down/make Gwynriel’s, Gwyn stans, and Nesta stans look bad (I stated this in another ask). That we don’t care about her and we forget about her. Emerie week was announced not too long ago and the majority of them were dead quiet. “Emerie deserves better” they say and then it’s radio silent from them. It honestly feels performative. I have a lot to say about this actually.

The majority of Gwynriel’s/Valkyries fans have made so much fanart of Emerie (and Emorie), short fics, headcanons, little blurbs of how she inspired young girls in Illyria, theories of her getting green siphons or even getting Truth-Teller, and praise her for being brave and hardworking. I’ve even seen some say how it would be cool if Emerie got a little camp of her own for the woman who want to be a Valkyrie and it would be like a safe haven. And if E/riel’s have the Gwynriel, or Gwyn, or Nesta, or Valkyries tag blocked then that’s probably why they don’t see some of it. Even without those tags there is still lots of love for Emerie, so when I see them talk about how we don’t appreciate her or only care about Gwyn because we ship her with Azriel it makes no sense to me.

And also, a lot of E/riel’s bring down the Valkyries by calling the sleepover and them making friendship bracelets childish, how the three of them aren’t really friends because all they’ve done is hang out a few times and read books and had a sleepover (?), saying the Blood Rite was lackluster/stupid, “the power of friendship”, etc. So how exactly is bringing down those girls and their friendship being supportive of Emerie? (I think they only do this because they don’t like Nesta or Gwyn).

This topic really makes me heated and annoyed. Like I said it just feels performative from E/riel’s. @yazthebookish actually made a very good post talking about this a little bit ago, but I think it’s deleted now. (Apologies to Yaz if I made you uncomfortable with tagging you❣️)

🍒 anon

Helloo 🍒 anon,

sorry for responding late. There's a heatwave, and I'm just barely surviving it.

Every *feminist*, girls girl take from E/riels feels performative and fake. They always end up saying something indirectly misogynistic.

It is funny when they ridicule Valkyries but pretend to love Emerie. Do they know she's also a Valkyrie? And she loves Gwyn and Nesta. And she's a cool character with lots of potential. Especially considering the Illyrians plot.

Unfortunately, as it's a romance series, we are interested in speculating about romance. Hence, the ship wars. I don't particularly enjoy Mor, and that's why it's hard for me to think about the possibility of Emorie. I think Emerie deserves better, but at the same time, I need at least one wlw ship. (Pls sjm, give us something sapphic.) So when there is not much to fight or speculate about... there are just fewer discussion points. We still show appreciation for the character, tho.

I think we would all as a fandom have more energy to discuss Emerie more if we didn't have to debunk more and more unhinged E/riel theories and block trolls every day.

[ghostflowerhotpotch]

You know, what's another good reason why Miguel’s canon theory is faulty?

It’s because in his quest to save the multiverse and preserve the ‘canon’, Miguel and his Spider Society keep breaking the ‘canon’.

I rewatched the movie, and something occurred to me… Miguel and Jess broke the Canon in like the first 30 minutes!

Because of Miguel, Jess and Vulture actions indirectly caused the loss of a canonical event: The death of Gwen's father, George Stacy. And because of that, Gwen’s father is not only alive, but he quit the police force, so he’s not a police captain anymore.

Not to mention, there is a very real implication that the Spider-Society is inadvertently preventing Spider-People from realising their own heroic destinies in their own universes.

Because the more I thought about it, I realized that the five months that Gwen spends with the Spider Society are five long months that her own home is unprotected by Spider-Woman…

Think about how many other worlds are in danger because their Spider-Man/Spider-Woman wasn't/isn’t around to protect it because they were with the Spider Society or they might have died on some mission with the Society.

Okay, I don't remember if I answered this, so let me start with this:

Miguel and Jessica didn't technically interrupt any canon when they appeared in Gwen's universe. Gwen is suppose to lose her father due to a battle against her own arch-nemesis.

Fun fact, in the comics the Vulture is the first villain we see her take; but Gwen say it: this isn't her vulture. She doesn't know this man.

There is no canon to interrupt, because that event is suppose to happen with her own arch-nemesis. Is this exact reason why I say that Pavitr couldn't have a canon event, Spot wasn't his nemesis; so I need to keep that consistently.

That being said: yeah, Gwen being a few months away from home is bad, but-

As far as I know, nowhere in the movie it says that Gwen has been away for 5 months, but I could be wrong, so if you or someone else knows when that was mentioned, please say so.

Regardless- I did find strange the idea of Gwen staying in the Society; after all, she is suppose to deal with her own canon events.

I never went too hard on this, because is one of those plot holes that are there because the story works better for it.

What I mean by this is that Gwen having be at stake her safe place after running for home is much, much interesting; that let's say, Gwen needing to deal with the consequences of the fallout and now she doesn't have a reason to keep her loyalty.

If you want a similar plot hole; in ITSV Gwen comes a week early in the movie...and the entire logic falls apart because of this.

As far as we know, there is no reason why Gwen came early unlike the others; despite being a week in this universe, she doesn't seem to be glitching more or to look closer to disappearing than the rest. Speaking of which- how did she got there? Spider-sense is about sensing danger, not detecting a new spidey that has yet to be bitten. To not say, how she could just get a room, be part of classes, and not only no one noticing there is no paperwork of her existence, she doesn't glitch in public AT ALL, after being there for a week?

Now, chances are you weren't familiar with this last issue; because is not the point. Establishing Gwen's and Miles' connection earlier is more important than all of this; the movie never brings attention to fact, which means is not relevant.

The reason I go hard about Pavitr not living a canon event, is that it is shown in camera to us, which means we are suppose to pay close attention.

Now, I know a lot of people would insist that a perfect story has no plot holes, and I am not going to argue if you don't like when the story has these loose ends.

But in my personal opinion? If it makes the story more interesting, and you don't need to bring attention to it, sometimes bending the rules a bit good.

Though, if I am honest, if I am correct about my predictions...then there is an aspect of the movie that could be a plot hole that I have an issue with.

[sleepy-aletheas]

Well, it's 3am. I have a lot of thoughts as I'm just running around in Divergent Universe, so I might as well just free-style my gripes with the game's plot-related messiness that hopefully one day they can fix.

(It's a bit of a long tangent with no real point??? Just something to toss into the ether to stop fixating on it so I can go to bed later with a lighter head)

The thing about Star Rail's story writing is that they got good ideas, some golden thought-nuggets one can ruminated over even long after the story beat, and enough materials (direct and indirect) that one can just construct theories from different angles for many moments. Star Rail being set as a space odyssey, really, leaves so much room for creativity and plot potential, it easily becomes detrimental if they don't convey it carefully enough.

My major gripe with the writing is not really in the plot holes, or unresolved stuff (not necessarily at least, unless I think too deeply about it and crave answers), especially since these can be filled out and explained later down the line by returning to places or new areas that expand on it; but it's in the setup and no pay off. It's not even necessarily about the later either, if they made the pay off in a patch way down the line, it would be okay, but they set everything up too much like "this is urgent now" and then left it hanging, or resolve stuff behind the scenes without many threads that we can follow to double check the logic.

Their biggest weakness is the rush of story telling. The plot moves too fast to really indulge in the ideas and the emotions, the characters do behave more naturally, but the plot is moving on before they even get a whole sentence out (hyperbolic as what I'm saying is, they speed through too many things at a breakneck speed to really digest and feel something about it). The only time we get a breather is when the plot of the patch is over.

Right now it's very noticeable in Penacony, because we just played it through, but looking back, Belobog and the Luofu had their pacing issues in certain areas too. Hell, them releasing Herta's Space Station, Belobog, and the Luofu at the same time probably was one of the messier decisions in the story telling department they made.

Belobog came out of this actually pretty well. We jumped a bit too fast into the whole "oh no, we're wanted now????" plot, but the story became more reasonable in the Underworld and then the various character quests and events made it also more lived-in and gave enough threads to emotionally attach to the place. It was like they wanted to get to the good stuff, so they sped through the first 20 minutes to give a conflict and plop us down to Boulder Town with Bronya, so she can have her character development as soon as possible. The various events and casual interactions with easter eggs made it more fun and filled in the spaces with life and meaning, but still, the main plot was a bit too fast at the start to really ease us into the story.

The Luofu was...a mess. The main plot jumped from one point to another, never really lingering on anything or anyone, and Tingyun's betrayal (can we even call it that?) came a bit too strong too fast with minimal foreshadowing (I mean, her probing through the text messages about TB's opinions about immortality and stuff was kinda giving it away, since she would dance around the talks of taboos too freely, but it was pretty uneventful and then it felt weird when the reveal snapped around). Yukong's character quest was one of the better ones, cause we actually got to know something about her directly (even if indirectly from her), and we got a chance to know more about her life as a pilot, a friend, and a mother. But the others like Yanqing or Bailu were pretty much side tracked and just thrown together as some fighting events with minimal plot or emotions. I learned more about Bailu in Aarum Alley's event than her outing with Dan Heng and TB. Truly, the most interesting story lines on the Luofu are about the NPCs, which is fascinating to see (I'm like one of 5 people that loves NPCs in games and gets probably too unreasonably attached to them, often more than the PCs). They can probably fill out the gaps and dissatisfaction with events and more characters and their stories, but the first playthrough of the main quest leaves a lot to desire, and that's a shame.

And then we got Penacony, which has a lot of ups and so much buildup, and then they didn't go anywhere. Not really. They set up stuff about the physical real planet where Penacony sits, and they hinted and put allegories about the past. They introduced a lot of characters, and conflicts, and motives, and relationships, and possible future events and alliances and plans. But a lot of these don't have a resolution. Which again, wouldn't be bad, if they didn't make it out to be as an urgent matter that needs to solve during this present plot, only for it to never be addressed again. Can that change any patch they want? Yes, of course. But in the current time it's unsatisfactory and could have been presented better to not leave everything up to guess work and anticipation of anything coming out of it right now.

I didn't really go into the story of Herta's Space Station, because it was more of a tutorial space that doesn't have any pressing matters (well, except the Antimatter Legion, but shhh) that need to be watched out for. It's really a good space to just introduce characters, events, possible plot for other places. It's a neutral space that can do a good amount of heavy lifting for the story, even if it would be used as a setup.

Even through all of this, I still enjoy the game, the story, the characters, the gameplay. I have my hangups, my huffs and puffs over stuff that could have been fixed or worked on more before release, but that can be said about any media depending on what a person seeks out of it. The game gives enough to go ham on theories, leaves enough breadcrumbs to go on wild goose chases between patches, and it walks the line between comedic adventure and serious talk enough to not discourage enjoyment.

The game is just over a year old, there is a lot of room for improvement, for change, and for fun. I just would rather they take their stories and work them through slowly, and give it to us later with all parts making sense and explained enough to not confuse than rush through good ideas and suffer the consequences of poor presentation where story beats and lore get muddled in vague foreshadowing that can be too easily misread.

[meljwrites]

Kieron Jonny and even the Hollyoaks boss are really selling Ste and Rex as this new big couple even going as far as saying Rex will shape Ste’s future post time jump and Kieron has even said about ship names for Ste/Rex would they really do that if Rex is going to kill Ste’s husband and have viewers root for them as a pairing? People are already rooting for them just from the court toilets scene and the moments they keep having. Rex couldn’t even kill Freddie so there’s no way he kill James he hasn’t got it in him to kill anyone.

I'm not saying that he will turn and murder him, I am saying that it would be interesting IF Rex was partially/indirectly the cause of James's death, which is all hypothetical. We don't even know if Greg is leaving or not, or what James's health scare will be. It was just one of many theories floating around about the coming months, nothing serious to consider.

I keep thinking about it as "what if Rex hands off drugs to someone and they are dodgy pills that kill James" - OBVIOUSLY this is too similar to the hunter storyline that they just did, but something in the same vein of "oh no, something went wrong and now people will die" fits with the idea of the stunt week.

Also I disagree with the point that he doesn't have it in him to kill anyone as he was very nearly successful in drowning Freddie and is working with a serial killer professionally. - also in the show being a killer doesn't make it impossible to route for them, we all know how much i love brendan.

[spacemanxephos]

also also also (my thoughts seem to revolve exclusively around xephnable, sculk, and lalna lmao) there’s a Beautiful Parallel between the sculk and lalna outright

the sculk is indirectly characterized to be highly defensive. the shrieker block, which summons the warden, was directly compared to a burglar alarm essentially. the sculk only calls in its biggest weapon after 3 times once its truly scared.

something that is scared of being hurt, that has somewhat closed itself off, has plenty of traps to catch what could be considered dangers, and has devastating power if that is really, really, really needed. sculk or lalna lmao (at least from tekkit behaviors)

Do not get me STARTED on Tekkit Lalna, especially in regards to how it plays into Xephna /pos

Tekkit Lalna, specifically what we see from his interactions with Blackrock characters, while shyer and more closed off than later on is still very reckless. He’s often anxious about what other people want to do to him and he becomes defensive and overreacts (nuke under base, rythian in a bubble, etc). He lacks a lot of tact and understanding of others, and I attribute a lot of that to him having been alone for a very long time prior to canon events.

I think about Rythna in Old World, where Lalna was reckless with that relationship. He flirted with Rythian without thinking about the consequences (ie Rythian falling for him) and inadvertently hurt him a lot from that.

…Also blowing up his home town and his best friend didn’t help.

So, when Lalna even gets an inkling of feelings for Xephos, he doesn’t act on it. He’s hurt so many people by acting on his emotions rather than thinking about it first and he definitely doesn’t want to hurt Xephos. He’s not gonna rush into anything.

(Unfortunately, he over corrects on this and it takes them years to get together)- but my point is, the events of Blackrock/Tekkit taught Lalna what not to do in a relationship. It helped him understand people better and how not to hurt them.

Another thing is, Xephos also teaches him how to better navigate relationships. Xephos is hardly good at it himself, literally the most awkward character out of the whole series in my opinion (especially considering he’s an alien from a completely different culture).

But by teaching Xephos about Minecraftia, Lalna himself is able to look at socializing again through a new lense. Walking Xephos through why Minecraftians act the way they do helps him realize and understand it, too. He learns how to express himself better and talk about his feelings, becomes much more extroverted. He opens up- finally there’s someone who’s interested in what he has to say about science, someone who doesn’t run away even when he starts leaning too much into that mad scientist role. Xephos provides another voice, a conscience when Lalna starts to go off the rails.

(This is what i call the “Load Bearing Xephna Theory” because they both keep each other in check and whenever they’re apart shit hits the fan (ie Flux Buddies and YogLabs))

I’ve completely lost the point of this conversation but tekkit lalna is a passion of mine and that era’s impact on Lalna and how he navigates relationships afterwards makes me just aksjdkdkkf

[true-blue-megamind]

I have a question/theory. No one besides Roxanne and Megamind knows that Metro Men is actually still alive. For all everybody else knows Megamind still murdered their hero.

Of course, Megamind saved them from Titan, and made amends by returning everything he stole and fixing the destroyed city but it still was all directly or indirectly his fault.

This brings me to my next point. No one except Megamind, Roxanne, Minion, and Hal himself knows that Titan was ''created'' by our favorite blue alien.

Do you think people might be angry when they somehow find out the truth? Maybe some Metro Man fanboy or fangirl will want to avenge the fallen hero?

Or are we to assume that people are just stupid and shallow and are just happy to have a new hero? Because if that's the case it's kind of sad from Metro Man's perspective. People only liked him because of his powers and looks. What do you think?

MEGAMIND FAN THEORY THURSDAY: Do People Think Megamind is a Murderer?

It’s time again for another Megamind Fan Theory! Special thanks, once again, to our unnamed contributor! Apparently, Anonymous is my biggest fan! LOL!

And now, even though Metroman threatens to frame me next every time I say it: SPOILER WARNING!

If you’ve seen the movie Megamind—and I sincerely hope you have—you already know that one of the biggest ways the film subverts common superhero tropes is by having the Bad Guy apparently win. Of course, we all know that Metroman didn’t really die in the Death Ray blast, but the question is: do people in Metro City know it, too? After all, most or all of the citizenry thought they saw their former hero perish on a live stream. Do they, therefore, still believe their new Defender is guilty of murder? And if so, shouldn’t that affect the way they perceive him? There are entire reams of fan theories examining such questions. Let’s jump into a few of the most popular!

It’s Almost Certain Some People Know Metroman is Alive

The first fan theory centers on the simple fact that Megamind is not locked away in a high-security prison. His ability to take up the mantle of Defender and move about the city freely indicates that he very probably received a full pardon. That brings up the question of whether defeating one supervillain would truly be enough to counteract a first-degree murder charge and eighty-three live sentences. Most fans say no, leading to the supposition that there must have been some sort of trial and subsequent pardon. As a result, many believe that some high-ranking government officials and judges, at least, must be aware that Metroman remains very much alive.

They may not be the only ones. Another popular concept among fans is that Megamind’s reality, like the comics it lampoons, could boast a wide variety of heroes and villains. (It’s not a far fetched assumption; as mentioned in Where Did the Doom Syndicate Come From, we know that there are supposed to be other supervillains in Megamind’s world. It therefore seems probable that there would be other superheroes as well.) In fact, more than a few fans subscribe to the headcanon that a heroic organization exists, offering mutual support and help to caped protectors as needed. Over time, the Megamind fandom has invented several potential titles for this group. One of my personal favorites is the Defenders’ League—a name which plays on DC Comics’ Justice League and thus maintains the original film’s spirit of toying with existing superhero tropes. For the sake of simplicity, that is how I will refer to this association.

Why am I bringing it up? As you may have guessed, many fans theorize that at least some members of the Defenders’ League know their former compatriot didn’t really meet his end. However, there are differing opinions upon exactly how many of them are aware of this fact. Some suggest that Defenders, like their Justice League counterparts, are likely cognizant of a great number of each others’ secrets, up to and including their identities and hideouts. They argue that it therefore seems reasonable to assume most or all of the League would have been apprised of the Metroman situation. As possible evidence, supporters of this theory point to the fact that other heroes aren’t coming out of the proverbial woodwork to avenge their supposedly fallen comrade.

Nonetheless, others disagree. The second—and possibly more popular—supposition is that, while a few leaders within the Defenders’ League know the truth, others may be in the dark. Those who prefer this concept argue that Metroman’s abandonment of his duties would almost certainly have been frowned upon, adding that the former hero would likely have found himself either faced with some sort of disciplinary action or pressured into taking up the role of protector for a new city. After all, such powerful Defenders can hardly be common, and it seems extremely doubtful that Superhero is a job one could easily quit. Indeed, during discussions with other fans such as CrazyDreamer6, the possibility has arisen that other Defenders may initially neither like nor trust Megamind. It’s even been suggested that an especially antagonistic hero or two might attempt to sabotage the blue man’s efforts, believing their action to be either punishment for Metroman’s alleged fate or a means to uncovering Megamind as a presumed fraud.

Whatever the case may be, all of this still does not necessarily mean that the general public would be privy to Metroman’s continued existence. It’s highly unlikely that the Defenders’ League would make that fact widely known even if they were all privy to it. (Imagine the backlash and potential public relations nightmare that might ensue if people realized a Defender had simply walked off the job!) Furthermore, another Megamind fan theory suggests that, as a former supervillain, the blue man’s hearing may have been far more similar to a military tribunal than a civilian court case. This is important because it means the Megamind’s trial may have been far less public and far more secretive. Some argue that this indicates it’s unlikely most ordinary citizens would be aware that Metroman’s supposed murder was proved to be a farce. People would certainly be aware that he had been pardoned, but they might not know all of the reasons why.

Would Metroman Even Want His “Death” to Be Questioned?

This is where another Megamind fan theory comes into play. Some contend that, even if various officials did not choose to disclose it, citizens may have become aware that Metroman was alive because he himself may have told them. In several fictions, the former Defender is portrayed as coming forward, announcing his official retirement, and sometimes even helping his new blue replacement to learn the ropes. Such would definitely be the noble, honest thing to do—and aren’t those two traits superheroes are supposed to personify? Besides, many fans also point out that there appears to be an odd friendship between Megamind and his rival. There seems to have been a “time out” agreement, indicating that their battles may have been more like games and public shows. Additionally, Metroman calls the blue super-genius “Little Buddy.” That hardly seems like a sincerely antagonistic relationship. So it’s conceivable that the former Defender might have come forward to clear his replacement’s name.

Many fans, however, argue that such a thing may not have been possible for the same reasons that the majority of the Defenders’ League may not have been informed. It doesn’t seem particularly likely that people would react well to learning that their trusted and beloved local hero had left them in the hands of a know supervillain so that he go start a music career. Furthermore, it’s possible that the former Defender could have been harassed by rising villains eager to prove their worth as well city governments desperate for a hero of their own. Nonetheless, many suggest that Wayne Scott may have had excellent reasons for hanging up his cape. In the post Why Did Metroman Retire, we examined evidence that Metro City had become too dependent upon having a superpowered Defender around, leading to laxness in law enforcement and constant demands on the white-clad alien. (For example, one unused storyboard shows police refusing to assist in even a small way because they are “on break” as well as an old woman calling for Metroman’s help because she can’t open a jar.) As a result, the former hero may have become not only disenchanted with his role, but also stressed, exhausted, and mentally strained. Some have even proposed that he may have been nearing a breakdown, making his decision to quit a necessary one for his psychological health.

This leads to a supposition which answers one of our anonymous contributor’s questions. Many believe that, if most people still believe Metroman to be dead, it is because the former hero himself wants it that way. Far from being sorrowful about others’ reactions to his supposed demise, he may feel relieved. Imagine the guilt he might experience if people continued to mourn him or harmed Megamind because they believed he was guilty. Keep in mind that, as discussed in previous blog articles, we see the young Wayne Scott being essentially groomed to become a superhero during the school scene. (You can read more about that in the aforementioned post as well as The Warden.) Thus it seems likely that Metroman may not want his faked death to be disbelieved because he feels being supposedly dead is the only way to free himself from the role he was pushed into from childhood.

However, the choice may not have been up to him. There are some competing Megamind fan theories concerning whether or not the general public would believe Metroman was truly gone. Interestingly, both are based upon the character’s inspirations.

The first supposition points to the fact that Metroman is a clear parody of Superman. Clark Kent, as many of you likely know, hides his alternate identity by donning ordinary clothes and a pair of glasses. Some fans contend that, if Megamind’s reality functions similarly to the DC universe, then it’s unlikely Music Man would ever be recognized as being a former Defender. After all, if eyewear is enough to make Superman unrecognizable, then growing a beard would certainly do the trick. Others, however, dispute this, saying that while Clark Kent puts a great deal of effort into maintaining his persona as a quiet newspaper journalist, purposefully fading into the background as much as possible, Wayne Scott’s choice of career—rock star—puts him squarely in the public eye. Making himself the center of attention significantly increases his chances of being recognized.

The second fan theory draws on the other major influence of Metroman: Elvis Presley. As covered in Why Does Megamind Wear Black, the King of Rock and Roll inspired everything from Metroman’s look to the song he plays at his museum opening. Some have expanded upon this to suggest that people may have reacted similarly to the former hero’s supposed demise as they did to that of Elvis. For decades following Presley’s funeral, many of his fans insisted that he was not really dead and Elvis sightings popped up all over the place. Could Metroman’s dedicated aficionados have done the same, claiming to catch glimpses of their icon? If so, some of them were probably right. In short, it’s quite plausible that many citizens may not have believed Metroman was really deceased no matter what they had been told.

Psychology and Superheroes

What about those who actually do believe the former Defender to be gone? Given what we’ve discussed so far, it seems reasonable to suppose that there may be more than a few who fall into this category. If so, wouldn’t they be furious that Megamind could, apparently, commit murder on live TV and still not only get away with it but also be hailed as a hero? To answer that, let’s delve into a little psychology.

According to an article by Dr. Charlie Ebersole on Psychology Today, hero worship can be complicated and potentially problematic. When we look up to someone, we have a tendency to view them differently. “Heroes can be great,” Ebersole explains. “They can inspire us to be better versions of ourselves. However, they can also blind us to their faults.” Just as people were happy to overlook Metroman’s frankly braggartly behavior—just look at the museum opening scene near the beginning of the movie and you’ll see what I mean—they may be willing to forget about Megamind’s shaded past. Some might even make peace with the supposed blood on his hands if they looked up to him enough, and given that he literally saved the entire city from death and destruction, that’s not beyond the realm of possibility. To quote novelist Terry Pratchett, “You can be excused for just about anything if you are a hero because no one asks inconvenient questions.”

It doesn’t stop there, however, because Megamind isn’t only a hero, he’s also a celebrity. Another article, this one from Long Island Psychology, addresses how fame affects the way we perceive people. Society sometimes makes greater allowances for those who are well-known icons. For example, celebrities sometimes receive less severe punishments for infractions than an average citizen might. Of course, people can also judge those they admire very harshly, feeling a sense of betrayal any time that individual doesn’t live up to the nearly perfect standards they have created for them. However, if that same public feels they are getting enough out of their perceived parasocial relationship with a celebrity, they may entirely overlook any bad behavior. The article states that “even if their actions have run counter to their public persona or were illegal in some way, some celebrities are still able to overcome the backlash they may face.”

This really comes down to three things: the aforementioned parasocial relationship, charisma, and marketing. (Yes, I said marketing. We’ll get to that in just a moment.) Firstly, as I’ve said, Megamind saved Metro City, and it’s frankly doubtful whether most of its citizens know that Titan was the result of a misjudgment on the blue man’s part to begin with. (I think it’s also important to mention here that Megamind certainly didn’t want to create a dangerously superpowered man-child and seemed sincerely distraught when Titan turned evil. He truly thought the human was destined for heroism. You can read more about that in Why Did Megamind Choose Hal.) Regardless, the fact is that many citizens of Metro City owe the blue man their lives and presumably enjoy his continued protection. Thus it’s obvious that they are definitely getting a lot out of the parasocial relationship.

Secondly, it can’t be denied that Megamind is charismatic. He knows how to put on a good show and play to a crowd. (Just look at the scene where he finally becomes the new Defender if you want proof.) Furthermore, as seen throughout the movie, Megamind can be charming, funny, and kind. It’s hard not to like the alien genius, and that has likely helped him to win over the masses. The fact that he sincerely cares about the city and all its people, as evinced by the fact that he chose to overcome Titan rather than fleeing, probably helps as well. People often instinctively know when someone legitimately has their best interests at heart.

Finally, there is the marketing aspect to consider. That may sound a little odd, but hear me out. The aforementioned article states: “some celebrities are forgiven by the media, and the media’s reaction to the event shapes the future. If the celebrity is still placed in front of you on a daily basis and placed in a positive light, it becomes easier to forget about their past.” Essentially, it is possible to market a person, rebranding them in a more favorable light. This is important for two reasons. Firstly, as I said before, Megamind clearly cares about the people around him. That doubtlessly makes him a dedicated and earnest Defender, and people are likely to recognize that. Additionally, if they also see him performing acts of heroism in the media over and over again, that will have a natural effect on the way they perceive him.

Speaking of media, the second aspect of this is the simple fact that Megamind is clearly romantically involved with Roxanne Ritchi, and she happens to be a well-known television news journalist. She’s also one of the very few people whom we know for certain is aware that Megamind didn’t really murder Metroman. (In fact, according to the DVD commentary, he always went out of his way not to physically harm anyone even while he was a supervillain. The creators describe him engaging in no worse than theft and vandalism during his brief tenure as “Evil Overlord,” as well as staging his plots in unpopulated areas. Even his preferred setting on his De-Gun, Dehydrate, is nonlethal.) One popular fan theory suggests that, because Roxanne knows all of this and because she loves Megamind, she may have helped to sway public opinion in his favor. Furthermore, it’s plausible that, as a reporter, she may not have been able to pass up a juicy scoop like Metroman faking his own death. However, many fans believe that, if her lover and his former nemesis asked her to keep it quiet, she would. Either way, she would certainly have the skills and opportunities necessary to help Megamind “market” his new image. Of course, this doesn’t mean that it’s not possible some people would still dislike and distrust the Blue Defender, but it would certainly help him to be better accepted.

So, are there people in Metro City who still believe Megamind is guilty of murder? It’s possible, though that may depend on whether Metroman or government officials were willing to let the truth come out. Could such an assumption color the way he is viewed? It most certainly could. However, it’s also likely that even some of those who did believe in the blue man’s guilt may have gradually come to forgive him, especially since he was likely pardoned. Still, most agree that the answer is probably a combination of all of the above ideas, and suppose that the former villain may have to work through some complicated public relations issues in his early days as Defender. Perhaps the upcoming series, Megamind’s Guide to Defending Your City, will shed new light on that. Until then, we have plenty of fan theories to choose from! That ends this post! Thank you for reading this week’s Megamind Fan Theory Thursday!