#it introduces a kind of sort of related concept and I think it does so really well

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Okay my copy of agit came in the mail today and I just read the whole thing, so now I can finally share my thoughts.

First of all, love it, literally the only thing I was iffy about the whole time was the fact that they used smartphones and contemporary slang instead of keeping everything from the shows original time period. I personally would have preferred it maintain the 2005-ness of the original show, but I can understand why the author chose to modernize it.

Secondly, the whole two doors thing at the end where his choices were “no powers” or “no phantom planet” very obviously only existed so phantom planet could be retconned out of existence—not that I’m complaining, I’m just saying it was not subtle. (But also phantom planet no longer canon can I get a fuck yeah)

And lastly thank you AGIT for canonizing that Dan calls himself Phantom as his only name because goddamn it is so hard to write anything serious or emotional when the main character’s name is fucking Dan. I’m sorry ppl named Dan but I cannot take your inner turmoil seriously (not when I’m writing in third person, anyway. It really takes me out of the moment. The vibes are awful.)

[elodieunderglass]

So! Seeing as the occasion where Killie and Derek met was riddled with geeks, I imagine him introducing himself as Killie would have made lots of ears perk up: people asking if he's got a brother named Fili or whatnot, asking if he's a second-generation geek perhaps, maybe even commenting that IT CHECKS OUT because Kili was considered fair among the dwarves?! Which must have had him in some amount of emotional turmoil, for sure! Tell me when I'm getting close

(Killie the Jockey OC and his terrible, no good, very bad life)

Oh NO. Killie has zero frame of reference for fantasy fiction 🥲

Once he worked out half of what they were talking about - and said something absolutely awful, I’m sure, in response -

- then, in kindness and horror, the geeks would help him assemble the following series of facts:

Killie does not have dwarfism. It would be fine if he did, but he doesn’t.

Killie is on the cusp of being considered a little person; but not having a condition that causes his height, and not particularly experiencing related medical issues or social discrimination, doesn’t self-identify as one.

He’s just at the bottom of the percentile, exactly where the natural distribution meets the definition for little people. Someone has to be there!

That’s maths.

He expresses this with honesty, but not much delicacy.

And somehow without referencing the fact that in his day job, his size is prized.

Killie somehow has not mentioned his day job.

Killie does not understand the concept of the Hobbit, and digs his heels in mulishly at the initial attempts to explain it.

and it has to be rotated several times before being pushed into his head.

Where the nerds suspect that he instantly pushes it out again, with a sort of automatic immune system rejection response. His antibodies simply eject all reference to hobbits and fantasy fiction

Killie has very little imagination anyway

He’s touched too much grass. Grass overdose.

Well. He’s been thrown onto grass at 40 mph too many times and walked away carrying his own bones. That’s like touching grass

And furthermore!!

There is a world of difference between the name shown to him (Kíli) and Killie.

Kíli is KEE—Lee. Anyone can see that. It’s got - it’s got - it’s got í. With the hat on. Look at it. Look at the - thingy. it’s wearing a fucking hat -

Killie is KILL-Y. Rhymes with Billy. Completely different.

At that point Derek breaks in going “I think we’ve all learned something!” And drags him away.

“You’re so interesting, Killie”

[fraeuleintaka]

Official Investigations Artbook

This is the 78th post in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Countdown: 3 days left until release!

Today's topic: the official Investigations Artbook!

[Spoilers for Investigations 2 in some of the images]

Back when both Investigations games were first released there was not only a Complete Guide for the first game (sadly not for the second one) but also an official Artbook for both! By now it's also out of print and was, again, only released in Japan so it's difficult to get but not quite as difficult as some of the other books I showed in previous countdown posts. Since I also call the Artbook my own now (my newest treasure) and it's full of amazing art from the Investigations games I want to talk about it as well!

Firstly, I love it's unique cover art! Justified to show off both of the games' main casts and it's so pretty! Being an Artbook of course the book is on the larger side (compared to, say, the Guide) and the paper is thick and glossy to really make the art shine. It's not a hardcover, unlike other artbooks I own, but the spine is robust enough that it doesn't hurt that much. Still very nice quality.

The first few pages contain a collection of all kinds of promotional artwork for the Investigations games in large and wonderful detail. I especially love these illustrations with Miles, Gumshoe and Kay in various situations. Gumshoe holding Miles' umbrella. Them thinking hard together on the solution of a case. Kay and Gumshoe taking pictures together. Gumshoe draping his coat over Miles when he falls asleep in his chair. So cute!

Then we get two double pages of extensive relationship diagrams of all characters appearing in both games and how they relate to each other. Unlike the Complete Guide the Artbook doesn't hold back on spoilers so all of these connections are what you know them to be at the end of the games and not only what they might appear like at first. Really appreciate that, it's much more detailed and useful this way. (Though it does make total sense that the Guide doesn't spoil everything immediately like this.)

The main section of the Artbook is filled with character artworks (obviously), that includes their full body art, a collection of some of their chibi sprites and a large collection of their confrontation animations. These are drawn especially detailed and with various frames depending on the animation! The high resolution confrontation sprites of the collection (and the mobile version) are directly based on these. And they look absolutely gorgeous! So worth it for these alone!

The main characters are all put together at the beginning while the rest of the characters are sorted with the cases they first appear in. They also don't get as many pages to them as the main characters do which is to be expected.

Every case is introduced with a little summary at the beginning with all the major characters appearing in the case and all of the relevant pieces of evidence. We get a show of all the significant images appearing during each case and even the zoomed in deduction screens. Lovely! Before that though we get a complete timeline on the events that are important to the games' story, when they take place and what important things happened there. So nice and really useful for mapping everything out (like when writing fanfics)!

The next rather large section focuses on concept art for the characters. Especially for the main characters there's a huge variety of sketches, some of them from very early development! It's by far not all of them, as the Complete Guide had several that aren't shown in the Artbook, but it's definitely a lot and pretty much for every little character, even the victims. I especially love seeing what changed in different development stages and what stayed the same. There are even some additional treats in the sketches like an illustration of Shi-Long fist fighting de Killer that looks insanely badass!

Towards the end we have a bunch of shorter sections with one being a detailed show of all the background artwork of the two games including some fun commentaries from Gumshoe! On Miles' office, for example, he rants little about Portsman being a bad prosecutor and states that it was a lot of work to clean up the entire mess (because of course he's the one who cleaned it). There are also a bunch of interviews with the staff and a nice little Q&A section about some character detail (like what kind of ice cream de Killer holds). Definitely my favourite part of the interview was them delving a little into Shi-Long's design and how hard the character designer Iwamoto fought to make him shirtless! He even came up with a reason after being denied (that Shi-Long has 7 scars on his chest that are formed like the constellation Orion and he wants to show them off) but Yamazaki didn't buy it 😄 I wouldn't have minded a shirtless Shi-Long at all but I'm also very happy with his final design 😉 The spirit of the idea is definitely conveyed in it!

And speaking of favourites, the last and probably my favourite bonus in the Artbook that I want to mention is a couple of pages full of these short character interactions! They essentially play out a scene of the characters talking about something with these wonderfully drawn animations. I can't go through them all but I want to highlight my favourite one: Shi-Long and Miles meet in a restaurant. Unusually for him, Shi-Long is on his own without his subordinates and Miles asks him about it. Shi-Long quotes Lang Zi at him and says that he does do stuff on his own occasionally. Miles then notes the amount of food on his table (enough for more than 20 people!) and after trying to deflect a little by mocking Miles' "deduction" to which Miles doubles down Shi-Long admits that he tends to order way too much when alone and asks Miles to join him. Miles doesn't refuse but makes a little comment about Shi-Long apparently having some difficulty with being alone. Awww, so cute! The other interactions are of a similar kind, ranging from funny to heartwarming and wholesome. I can totally see Shi-Long having such issues when he's used to being accompanied by so many people (especially considering what happens inbetween I1 and I2) and I adore the idea of Miles (and the others) keeping him company. Reasons why this is my favourite cast in AA and I love their every interaction! Getting more of those is not something I necessarily would've expected from an Artbook but that's just makes it even more amazing!

[hypexion]

woah time for my thoughts on The Robot Revolution. Still in list form, even as that becomes more and more unwieldy.

The new companion is introduced: Belinda Chandra

Belinda would prefer to not go on a sci-fi adventure, which given what happens is a reasonable position

Advancements in character writing techniques means Belinda can dislike the series arc instead of thinking it's a good idea

Not accepting the Doctor's weird Time Stalking is also a strong position

Overall she is a high point of the episode. Except for being attached to the mystery, but hey Belinda doesn't like that either.

However, this episode also has a plot, and an attempt at themes

It starts with a decent concept of "well what if those star owning scams had consequences" but doesn't really do much with it

The villain is the "AI Generator", which does exactly zero things related to AI, generation, or Generative AI. It's literally just the buzzword.

This is perhaps because of the big twist: It's actually the AL Generator. Alan is inside.

Thus we pivot hard into Alan the off-brand Cyberman, and his lack of strong character motivation. The episode "needs" to set up the mystery arc so there's no time for even a weak motivation.

Like he accelerates from "controlling boyfriend" to "mass murderer" with little to no explanation.

The "Planet of the incels" line doesn't really make sense? First up it's just Alan, and Alan is not really an incel since he had a relationship. Not all types of misogynist are interchangeable.

"Incel utopia" is perhaps not what you want for Saturday evening TV but a cat did also get vapourised and the Doctor did also cut power to an entire hospital for a gag soooo

Again it's just hitting the buzzwords without really engaging with them. This kind of spelling out the moral sort of dulls the impact. We can tell Alan is not a good guy. With a little restructuring I think the obsessive stalker angle could be a lot sharper.

Also there's the bit where it's implied Alan is actually a victim of the machine but that only lasts for a scene. You've really got to pick a lane with this thing if it's just one guy.

As an aside I feel like the eight words thing only mattered when it mattered and not otherwise. Hmm.

Sasha 55 new record holder for "I'm Doctor friend" to dead?

Overall this episode had good bits and bad bits and I think if it were a little more focused it would be much better.

Still far better than Space Babies.

[handledwithgloves]

This question is more Curse Child related than Harry Potter related. You’ve stated before that you generally don’t ship Draco with anyone other than Harry, but what about Astoria?

I remember when the Curse Child stage play was first being introduced a small portion of the fandom thought that Draco should’ve married Pansy. Personally, I’m glad he didn’t. No hate, I just never saw them ever having a romantic relationship so I didn’t mind that he “canonically” (I put quotations since the majority of the HP fandom doesn’t consider CC canon) ended up with Astoria even if she wasn’t often mentioned in the original HP series.

So what are your overall thoughts on Drastoria?

hello anon!! thanks for asking!!

i enjoy other draco ships as concepts, but not really as a ship ship (if that makes sense). I personally don't think that draco flourishes in other ships as well as he does in drarry.

concerning astoria, i feel like her character was just there for the conception of scorpius. while i do really like drastoria, i know near nothing about astoria. perhaps thats my fault, but we learn so much more about draco in their relationship than we ever do about astoria. she's sort of blank, kind and open-minded but other than that nothing else is said about her. of course that's just jkr writing women. i would like to know more about her before i start shipping drastoria seriously.

i do like drastoria, as a way to build draco's character and scorpius's background. i think they could be a good ship to ship, if astoria was a more fleshed out character.

i DO NOT ship pansy with anyone but her canon husband blaise. i think the scene in the train where pansy asks blaise about ginny is a cute way to allude to them. i am beyond happy that draco didn't end up with her and instead with a character unknown to harry until the epilogue.

[edwad]

i see stalinists/trotskyists who relying on the LTV often bringing up "surplus value." is this actually a hugely important concept in capital, or is it another of those things from ricardo that people miscredit to marx?

or follow-up to the last q: does marx actually think of surplus value as "capitalist profits - wage", as stalinists etc generally put it?

i'd start by saying that i dont think any of these things are tendency-specific as much as they're just common, popular understandings of marx.

surplus value is huge for marx and he is being pretty original with how he formulates it, but that isn't to say he is completely without predecessors. the notion of "surplus value" in english comes from william thompson who almost certainly got it from sismondi in french. both are trying to think through a kind of unequal distribution between workers and capitalists in a way which was being peddled contemporaneously by the french socialist literature around the notion of "exploitation", which marx borrows (using the word in french as a deliberate nod to the sources he's working with). ricardo had already offered his own account of profits as being inversely related to the wage share, which had him (wrongly) accused of inciting class struggle by rival economists for decades. and finally, rodbertus had offered his own account, in german, several decades before marx, which got the latter accused of plagiarism so that engels had to spend the rest of his life defending marx from the charge in the prefaces to v2 and the german edition of the poverty of philosophy. that being said, none of these thinkers offered the specific answer that marx did with regard to the sale of labor-power, even if many of them saw labor as leaving behind a surplus of some sort.

as for your second question, if i understand it correctly, no, marx's theory is not one of subtracting wages from profits (im not sure what that would even mean and ive never seen anyone else suggest this, so i dont think this is a product of stalinism or whatever). for marx, surplus value is specifically how he accounts for profits in the first place (although they are not identical). the capitalist invests in wages (variable capital) and raw materials/equipment/etc (constant capital). the extra return which comes to the capitalist after accounting for both of these things is the surplus value. it is, as the name suggests, surplus to investment. from here he is able to say that this is how capitalists make a profit, but the whole of the surplus value does not go to them in that form. it is further subdivided into other various distributions (rents, taxes, etc), so the capitalist's profit is whatever is left after all of that.

the final twist to introduce here is that "the labor theory of value" is basically a product of sloppy intellectual historians around the time of marx's death (and more than half a century after ricardo's death), so it's not really meaningful to say that any of this follows from "the LTV". it's a term which nobody used for these theories until it was being described that way by the marginalists refuting it. it's meant to describe something vaguely ricardian, but there is no singular ricardianism and most of ricardo's disciples spent decades after his death trying to invent seemingly clever ways of making his theory work in directions he didn't intend. it definitely doesn't map onto what marx was doing, which is a genealogical critique of all of those theories. ironically, he frequently got them wrong by assuming too much continuity between them and him, so in some ways his critique positions him as further away from them than he himself actually thought. regardless, pretending there is some unified (or even just semi-coherent) tradition of an "LTV" is wrong.

[sortingking]

Let's Talk About Reality

Hello, my loyal subjects. It is I, the King of Sorting, and today I feel like diving a little deeper into aspects! A lot of this will just be me mulling over the aspects and voicing opinions, so I would hold your applause until I do a little trick or something. If any of this seems obvious to you, take this as the ramblings of a senile old king.

Okay, so let's look at SBURB in a bigger-picture sense. The point of this game is to create a universe....to create a UNIVERSE. That's an intense goal to have, but when we look at the aspects we begin to understand that the game intentionally prepares you for this goal.

I touched on this a little in my Classpect College post, but every aspect has an important job in creating reality, which is important when creating an entire universe. For most of the comic the meaning and purpose behind the aspects is somewhat vague, until Calliope and Jade discuss it (this is Calliope and Jade discussing it), and over the course of the conversation, Calliope shares some very important information about aspects, using time and space as the easiest examples to showcase how the aspects interact with each other. Space and Time are opposing aspects, meant to be opposites. But one cannot exist without each other. Time and space are intricately woven together, made so that it is only with a balance of both that we are able to play the game on steady ground.

Do you get it? They aren't just random aspects. They have direct ties to their polar opposite, so much that the removal of one would not only destroy the other aspect; it would destroy reality itself. They interlock, they interact, they oppose each other, they ebb and flow, they dance in an intricate dance between two gods that shakes reality itself as it tries to maintain balance. Calliope tells us that all aspects work like this. They cannot be measured conventionally and they don't function linearly like us humans are used to. When she says this, not only does she mean that all aspects have an opposing aspect that functions similarly to how time and space work with each other. I believe she also means this generally; that all 12 aspects are woven together with the 12 different threads of aspects to then create something whole: a universe.

Okay, so let's think about space and time how we know of it (ie we are thinking quite literally). We know that space and time affect each other. We know that they are important to reality. Without it, we wouldn't have a here and a now. We wouldn't have physicality and we wouldn't have a linear timeline. Calliope talks about how if we were to stand still, time would seem to last forever. When we effect one aspect, we are inadvertently asking its opposing aspect to be affected as well. What a life without either of those looks like is beyond me, but I think by letting us know how important these are to the game, we get insight on the importance of all the other aspects. Reality is based in both space and time in a way that is familiar to use; but what about the others?

Light and Void are the only other confirmed aspect coupling, and I think this is a familiar pairing as well. Regardless of your spiritual background, I think we all seem familiar with the concept that first there was nothing but darkness and shadow, and quickly after, light is introduced. Light and Void have an existing relationship that's gone on for far longer than our own existence, rivaling only time and space. Because this is a canon coupling, we are able to infer certain things about the aspects. Light, figuratively, is also related to things like luck, relevancy, and wisdom/knowledge that we have received usually in a more direct manner. That's why, although void is kind of swept over as only about nothingness, it has been implied that Void also rules over the lack of luck, the lack of relevancy, and sometimes lack of information, although usually people instead note how Void players are connected to secrecy or information that is hiding in the dark. Information that attempted to stay hidden. If we know that an aspect is ruling over one area, we know that the opposing aspect will lord over areas that would balance its partner out. We know that if one person gain's relevancy, it's only natural that another person must lose it. For every lucky person there's someone who must be unlucky. This is important as we are intelligent beings. The physical and figurative components of each aspect helps us create a physical reality, but it also helps us understand the reality of being a human. What's life without the ups and downs of luck, relevancy, and the flow of information?

This, to me, is revolutionary. If you were to create a universe with just these four aspects alone, you would still picture a relatively stable place to exist, right? Light, Void, Time, Space....but it's missing something, right? Don't worry, we have plenty of aspects to discuss.

[toushindai]

Hello, it is me again with a question for you regarding your Ganrauru series 😁

I was just thinking about how you have framed Rauru's relationship to power, that there is a part of him that does seek the sort of friendship and genuine connection it brings while also bristling at the idea of someone opposing him and discarding his attempts at making said peace and friendship. That being said I was wondering, given Rauru's very complex feelings and mental gymnastics around Ganondorf and his refusal to submit, in your opinion what would have Rauru felt compelled to do had Ganondorf refused his advances? What if he had continued to refuse his invitations to Hyrule? How about in the case where Ganondorf does give his false vow of fealty, but refuses Rauru's more sexual advances, seeing them for what they are? How do you think Rauru would handle this situation, and how would he justify himself in the sort of framework he has set for himself as a just king? (For the record I don't think for a second that Ganondorf would have refused, just because I see him as an opportunist and he would absolutely take the opportunity to exercise some form of power over this so-called king in his mind, even if he is deluding himself in the process and choosing to forget that Rauru is essentially keeping him like a prisoner and objectifying him. But, it is something I do think about, even in the context of canon itself. What would Rauru do if Ganondorf and the Gerudo dug their heels in and refused allegiance with Hyrule?)

Ooooh this is such a great question. Consent issues ahoy, let's get into it

I was thinking about something similar the other day from a slightly different angle; if I argue that the Gerudo's previous chieftain was leading Rauru on, maintaining diplomatic relations and humoring his overtures, what would have happened if she had eventually said "No, actually"? And I think with either negotiating partner, Rauru's first emotional response is a petty, confused indignation. Excuse me I am benevolent and my rule is beneficial, why are you not responding to me accordingly?. We see this kind of pettiness canonically, I think--Zelda introduces herself and his response can be interpreted as "No, I'm king here, you want to try that again?"; Mineru tells him he can't defeat the Demon King alone and he gives her such a look. My guy, what is going on with you.

How this plays out with Ganondorf and a protracted refusal from the Gerudo to join up is of course a slightly different question of course, and I can't really see any answer to it other than that Rauru just... will not hear a no. Hyrule just keeps pushing the boundaries of what they can get away with. The shrines are already in place on Gerudo land but what if there were, you know, a military outpost or two as well. How much control over trade does Hyrule have, and how do they exercise it? Is there eventually an attitude of, well, if the Gerudo want nothing to do with Hyrule, then Hylians shouldn't be marrying Gerudo? I'm spitballing here, but a lot of this has an air of punishment to it, yknow? Retaliating against the Gerudo for not responding positively to Hyrule's invitations/incursions, for not playing into Rauru's self-conception and thus revealing the ways in which it's not fully true. Wow, so benevolent.

I don't see any world in which Rauru escalates to armed conflict first but I see many, many worlds in which he escalates to a point that armed conflict is an understandable response from the Gerudo. I mean. Is not "I have decided I'm gonna be king of this new kingdom I just made up :) You're invited!" already pretty close to that point? If we're being honest? I do feel like it is. (And I wonder if there's any world in which he loses the support of the allied tribes, if this pressure ever could have been perceived as the imperialism it was.)

How does Rauru justify this to himself, this refusal to acknowledge the Gerudo's no, this inch-by-inch encroachment? By conflating, I think, his personal sense of injury with the threat of harm. Ganondorf does not want the Gerudo to become part of Hyrule is shrunk down to the petty, personal terms of Ganondorf thinks of me as an enemy and then expanded again into Ganondorf is an enemy of Hyrule. He's right about that last one because Nintendo is so very boring about this, but he's making a series of logical fallacies without realizing it. I don't see a lot of propensity towards self-reflection in Rauru. Not without Very Bad Things Happening to Him first. So he trusts his own feelings without questioning them.

As for what would have happened if Ganondorf had turned down his sexual advances... oh that would just be awkward for everyone, wouldn't it? In the sense that: I think that part of what keeps Ganondorf from pushing back when Rauru is being petty and imperious is Ganondorf's own recognition--conscious or not--that Rauru will not necessarily listen to a no. This is his experience of Rauru thus far, of someone who receives an implicit no and rather than respect it simply keeps asking and thinks himself right to do so (canonicallyyyyyyy). And so there is a risk for Ganondorf in saying "no": that of winding up in a situation where he has drawn a line in the sand that he cannot defend. One that Rauru will coldly step over. Rauru doesn't want to be in this situation, either: he doesn't want to see that he is a person who will only accept a "no" if he thinks it's justified. His mind squirms around admitting how coercive he's being, even to himself. But on some level he does know what sort of position he's putting Ganondorf in. He knows that Ganondorf is not in a position to say no, and that's a balm on the ego-wound that Ganondorf's political refusals have inflicted. One that reveals that the true nature of the ego-wound is not he does not think I am good but he does not acknowledge my power. (Again I gesture towards "I'm the only king Hyrule's got, who r u" and "excuse u, wat do u mean I can't defeat the Demon King")

So if Ganondorf did actually say no? In ACNOC, after that first kiss, a cold, "I don't want this, Your Majesty"? There is a part of Rauru that flares with the desire to take anyway, to say have you not come to offer me your submission?, but so early in the situationship maybe he is able to recognize that desire for the cruelty it is. ...Maybe. But god, can he afford to? Can he afford to apologize to Ganondorf for overreaching? Mm, absolutely not. Even if he ceases to try to goad Ganondorf into a sexual relationship, I think the answering dialogue is along the lines of "Then what makes you think you have the right to invade my personal space like this? Your actions belie your claim that you have come to offer submission to Hyrule." There's still very much a need to put Ganondorf in his place--an increased need, even, having just lost a bit of face by allowing Ganondorf to refuse him something.

(consent issues get louder)

At the end of UAWTATR, though, hhhhhhhh. Many times I have turned this thought over in my head. At that point. I think there might be some phrasing of the sentiment I don't want this that would stop Rauru in his tracks with the realization that hey this is WAY rape-ier than I wanna be, but I'll be honest. I haven't figured out yet what phrasing would do it. I think most protests that Ganondorf could have offered would have been met with something that boiled down to I know you don't want this, but your position relative to mine means you're going to do it anyway.

How he justifies that to himself later, I don't know. Ganondorf did try to assault him just the night before so that comes into it, probably. That Ganondorf immediately tries really hard to kill him keeps him from having to look to closely at it, either. He's still left with a feeling of nauseated shame and horror but he's got other things on his mind.

God. Nintendo cannot possibly have meant to make Rauru like this but then why did they make Rauru sO CONSISTENTLY LIKE THIS. I know I am expanding things. But I am expanding things that DO exist. Why is he like this.

[goblinwithaproblem]

Gobbi's Lessons, Episode 3: On the Subject of Karya, Its Origins, and Its Celestial Neighbors

Hey, everyone! Here's the third of my slideshows relating to my sci-fintasy setting, currently referred to as "Project KARYA". Along with the slides/images that will be provided as a quick notes of sorts, I also try to include narratives featuring my OC (Gobb'ola Mawwick, or "Gobbi the Loremaster") talking to you as a self-insert character.

In the last post relating to Karya, the mysterious Gobb’ola Mawwik (aka “Gobbi the Loremaster”) introduced you to the concept of its universe’s composition. Specifically, it was mentioned that along with the “mundane” matter that we are familiar with in our own universe, there is also present such particles and elements whose nature is considered “anomalous”. This “anomalous matter” is capable of having profound effects and affects on their immediate and local environments depending on how they chemically and physically interact with everything around them.

In this post, Gobbi is presenting the third chapter of the book Karyic Prehistory; or Tracing Our Planet from Nothing to the End of the Age of Reclamation. This chapter, “Roiden and Their Ties to Our Planet’s Origins”, along with detailing the major members of Karya’s solar system, explains how the aforementioned anomalous elements are capable of producing entities with sapience potential. These entities, called roiden (sng. Rodah, “Being(s) of Existence”), possess great power and represent both literal and abstract things in the universe. Six such beings exist on Karya, and have had a direct impact on the planet’s development.

I hope you enjoy the post, and thank you for taking the time to read it!

Sincerely,

A Goblin with a Problem

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It has been several days since the weird creature known as Gobb’ola - or “Gobbi”, as they insist you call them - last told you anything about the universe. In that time you’ve mostly spent your moments simply…processing. The amaranthine glow of the Sea of Chaos dances across the ceiling as the fireplace warms you in your bed and at your meals, and your short, gangly host does their best to provide for you.

You grapple with the fact that you still have no surefire way to return home to Earth, and even begin contemplating perhaps entering the realm beyond the window in a last ditch effort to “escape”. Yet you know there’s nowhere to actually go, and Gobbi surely does mean best. So you take the time to find your resolve, and one afternoon by the Sea’s shine, you find yourself asking them to tell you more about this world they’ve talked about, this Karya. You figure that, given how familiar they are with this place, they might be able to send you there so you at least have a chance of living a “normal” life. When you approach them asking for knowledge of Karya, Gobbi’s face lights up with a kind smile, their punctuated canines none off putting in the flickering fire and chaoslight.

“Of course I’d love to tell you more about it! I do remember that, last we left off, I detailed the characteristics of the ‘anomalous elements’ of my universe that are similar yet different from the mundane elements you are far more familiar with in your own universe. Now that you know that they possess a multitude ‘interesting’ characteristics related to the cosmic forces of Change and Permanence, I think you’re now ready to process the origins of my world. Of my…home…” Gobbi trails off, their face appearing crestfallen for a brief moment; then they collect themself, and bring their attention back to you. With a flourish they whip out the familiar book, Karyic Prehistory; or, Tracing Our Planet from Nothing to the End of the Age of Reclamation, and open up to a diagram that you recognize: a solar system, one with two stars and a multitude of celestial features surrounding them.

“Here we have the Kezjo-Damothic star system. I imagine that your own world orbits at least one star, yes? Good! Then you already can imagine how my own home system works, then. Around the two stars there resides ten worlds - five of them ‘proper’ planets, and the remainders mere ‘dwarf’ planets. Of the former, three - those of Eldiro, Karya, and Djebemn - are rocky planets, while the other two - Amoras and Guldiros - are gas giants. Three vast fields of debris encircle the stars; the innermost being the Inner Belt, and the outer two, the Outer Belt and the Great Wastes, are host to the dwarf planets Lameshi, Kalal, Tascall, Haibawei, and Hemu-Yaia.

“Of all these celestial bodies, only two are known to be populated by sophonts in the Third Age: the planet Karya, which has been inhabited by such species since the Hendian era; and the planet Elsiro, which seems to have been colonized by peoples with advanced technologies sometime after the Restructuring concluded. And of all the celestial bodies, none have been so much influenced by anomalous matter, as described in Chapter Two, as Karya, for it is this planet that has caught the eye of many illustrious beings for many eons; those of the roiden (sng. rodah, High Trandelian 'Being(s) of Existence'). 

“These entities of immense size and power have had a presence in the universe since time immemorial. However, they gained greater prevalence to Karya’s existence come the creation of its solar system. For the anomalous matter that could be found in this region of space was quite richer than elsewhere; enough so, that it began to gather in great concentrations within the center of the star Damothi. Initially, both it and the star Kazjar developed similarly to each other, with similar appearances and composition. However, eventually the anomalous matter within Damothi became great enough and oriented in such a way as to become that core essence of each rodah, a godshard. These crystalline structures of anomalous nature have such a specific atomic arrangement with a limited array of elemental variation as to generate distinct, autonomic-to-sophont secondary forms around them.

“These entities of immense size and power have had a presence in the universe since time immemorial. However, they gained greater prevalence to Karya’s existence come the creation of its solar system. For the anomalous matter that could be found in this region of space was quite richer than elsewhere; enough so, that it began to gather in great concentrations within the center of the star Damothi. Initially, both it and the star Kazjar developed similarly to each other, with similar appearances and composition. However, eventually the anomalous matter within Damothi became great enough and oriented in such a way as to become that core essence of each rodah, a godshard. These crystalline structures of anomalous nature have such a specific atomic arrangement with a limited array of elemental variation as to generate distinct, autonomic-to-sophont secondary forms around them.

“Thus did the star Damothi create the rodah Damanta; as her godshard was ejected from the mass of plasma, it took with it a great amount of mass and energy from the star. So did Damothi become the red dwarf that it is today, and Damanta begun to orbit the fledgling system for the next hundred million years or so. Eventually, her and her godshard collided with the nascent Karya, and she would claim the world as her own. Sensing something unique within, she attempted to wrest control of the forming planet by fusing her essence with it, ejecting great quantities of thermal energy away for thousands of years while slowly tying her own essence to the planet’s interior. In the end, she would become known by her current state of being, the Embodiment of Combustion and Thermal Energy. Her work and presence would not go unnoticed, though. Two more beings would find her star system; the first being the rodah Fovos, and the second the rodah Dorcra.”

Gobbi takes a moment to take a deep breath, and you notice that they seem to be visibly shaking a tad. However, before you can press the subject, the small figure takes a swig from their flask of mysterious “hūsam”, then they turn their attention back to the book; the fireplace’s glow has begun to dim, while the Sea’s limning begun to intensify from the sole window. “The rodah Fovos and his godshard approached from within the core of a massive world from beyond this realm of space. As the two spheres collided, Fovos would offer to reshape the remnants with Damanta. In the aftermath of the impact, the resulting realms of Karya and its moon Calossa would be birthed; Fovos would then come to bind his own essence to the main planet, becoming the Embodiment of Its Atmospheric and Gaseous Events. Some hundreds of millions of years later, Karya and its two roiden would then be visited by Dorcra, who in return for the help of defeating a pursuant rodah would become the planet’s Embodiment of Aqueous Substances.

“The ‘completion’ of the planet’s formation would mark the end of the Roididiean eon - and would see the emergence of the Embodiment of Karya Itself, the rodah Kåti. Along with the younger roiden Mati and Ümür - the Embodiments of Karyic Life and Karyic Souls, respectively - these powerful beings would serve as the protectors of the planet for the next several billions of years. The following Primadiean and Secundiean eons would see very little activity, outside of the development of single-cell life. However, come the start of the Tertidiean eon and its starting Omorian era would see a sudden upsurge in complex life, which will be discussed further in the next chapter."

[kimberlyannharts]

Ranger Academy: The First Arc

So! Ranger Academy has given us four issues, and as we're getting a break next month, these four issues are clearly meant to be seen as the first arc or chapter of the story. While I didn't really expect to give this series most of my attention, apparently I do have a lot to say about it, so let's discuss these four issues and my thoughts on the series so far.

Ranger Academy's kind of in a weird place, at least from my experience. As far as I'm aware, there's really not much discussion or hype for it in the fandom? Which, in some way, makes sense - the series is completely disconnected from the main series and from the beginning was stated to be skewed more towards younger readers; almost as an introduction to Power Rangers as a whole. And it does that job well......for the most part.

Before I get to the writing though, I just want to take a minute to highlight the art, since I don't talk about it enough in my recaps/other discussions. It's great! Drawn by Jo Mi-Gyeong and colored by Fabiana Mascolo, the art for the PR comics in general continues to be a high point. Every character, even the background teachers, have a distinct memorable design with a lot of personality in their poses and gestures, and the numerous settings we've already gotten - Sage's moon home, Ranger Academy's different campuses, the planet Chromia - all look fantastic. My only nitpicks would be I wish we got more non-humanoid cadets, and sometimes the way faces are drawn in profile look a little odd - especially when they have their mouths open - but those are nitpicks.

When it comes to the writing, things get a little trickier. For the most part, I think the story is good. The basic premise to all this in case you're new: a young girl named Sage lives on a remote moon with only her adopted father Rhianth and a herd of weird goat-like creatures. One day two cadets from the titular Ranger Academy, Mathis and Tula, crash-land on the moon and tell her about the Academy. Sick of living alone under her father's rules and wanting adventure, Sage stows along with them on their return journey and becomes an official student. So now instead of herding goats, she's making new friends, discovering secrets of the Academy, how her father connects to all this, and becoming a Power Ranger.

As I said, I think this is a solid premise for Boom's first ever completely original Power Rangers book (I count Power Rangers Universe as a sort of test-run for original stories, but that was still pretty connected to the main series and using established canon concepts.) The mysteries they've introduced, such as the lost Green campus, the implication that certain Ranger colors were purposefully erased from history, Rhianth's past, and Tula's interest in these secrets, all help build on the somewhat basic premise and are slowly giving the book its own identity. Sage herself is a very likable and relatable protagonist; a kid wanting more out of her lonely, isolated life so she takes the first opportunity she can to escape, but is now realizing that it's not going to be some fun adventure. The supporting cast is a little underdeveloped, but everyone's perfectly likable and I'm interested in seeing how they grow. I think for me there are two main problems that drag the book down: the setting itself being underdeveloped and the Ranger alumni cameos.

Ranger Academy itself? Meh

A criticism that immediately came out following the book's release, that I agree with for the most part, is the book pretty much follows the structure of a "magic school" story to a T. A "normal" kid who wants more out of life gets thrust into this new world by some kind of outside force. The school has a category system where kids get put into select campuses based on personality or skills. The main character doesn't fit in with everyone else until they find some friends to take care of them. There are secrets about the school that are being kept from the students, and secrets of the main character's family being hidden from them. Also, there's a bully.

During my first read of the issues, I agreed that this was a detriment to the book, but now rereading it again, I think the problem is less that the book follows these tropes and more that it speeds through these tropes REALLY QUICKLY. You can tell they want to move things along to the good stuff where Sage morphs, and I understand why - this is a Power Rangers book, and people want to see Power Rangers. But at the same time, you really don't get much of a chance to get to know the school outside of its basic layout of its campuses and that the headmaster is literally a giant floating head. You don't learn any of the non-cameo teachers' names, outside of the librarian, and that's mostly because he was part of Rhianth's old friend group. You see some of the classes Sage has to take, but there's no discussion on if each color campus focuses on a particular subject. We establish that first years are on a rotation schedule of attending classes in a different color campus each day, but what's the difference between classes in the Blue Campus and classes in the Pink?

Now this might seem trivial, and it kind of is. It does help the reader feel Sage's overwhelming new situation by not giving her, and therefore the reader, the full picture. And there's nothing saying that these concepts won't get developed down the road. Sage has three and a half years left of school, after all, assuming the book continues long enough to cover that length of time. But when it comes to these kinds of stories, the school's operation is a huge part of the charm - what makes THIS magic school stand out against all the others on the YA shelf? You basically have to turn the school itself into a character. Hogwarts is so iconic because that series does this perfectly. Ranger Academy simply doesn't have that yet - it still just feels like a generic school, really an army training camp more than anything due to the hostage negotiation and survival classes she takes, with nothing to make it stand out except for the promise that we'll get to actual Power Rangers stuff soon.

Oh, and.....the cameos.

The Cameos

So.....yeah. This is a big one for me. I think there's time for the series to fix my issue of the school itself feeling underdeveloped, but it's already too late for the cameos

Back when Ranger Academy was first being advertised, they were quick to show off that the book could cameo any ranger at any point in the franchise - the book itself accomplishes this through the Rangers using tubes as a sort of interplanetary, interdimensional Zoom........or just kind of.....showing up, as is the case with Cruger, Yale, and Katie. (I don't really know what constitutes a cameo physically being there as opposed to a tube hologram. It's another thing the book hasn't explained the rules for yet.) And for the most part, this is a fine idea. It makes sense, and fun for the simple novelty of "look!! it's my blorbo!!!" that no one is immune to.

But they get more and more out of place as the story of Ranger Academy starts to pick up.

Like I said before, the book is starting to hint that the school only having five colors isn't COMPLETELY MMPR pandering - the school is, indeed, intentionally erasing certain Ranger colors from their students' awareness. As someone who would love for the big twist to be this school and its system is inherently corrupt, this is a good start.

HOWEVER. In order to make this work, you have to assume that a) the Ranger histories that the students learn about just don't mention ANY rangers that aren't red, blue, black, pink, or yellow and b) the Ranger alumni who teach there don't mention them either. And that's just too much for me to believe, I'm sorry. For some colors like orange and white, maybe, but gold? Silver? GREEN???????? There are too many of those guys to believe they can get covered up. And I really don't see the ranger alumni being okay with erasing their teammates from history. Green is the third-highest ranking at SPD. Hello? SPD? I think these guys would have heard of SPD? Since Cruger teaches there? (And if not at school then certainly once they're out and traveling the galaxy.)

I've mentioned before that the cameos are starting to feel more like a higher-up mandate than something the author chose to do, and that'll only be supported by a lack of explanation as to how this works with the narrative they're weaving AND if none of the cameo rangers actually.......play a real part in all this. Not that I want the canon characters to overshadow the new characters, but it would feel like kind of a letdown to have access to ALL of these characters and not give them anything to do besides generic exposition (there's really nothing specific to their characters in.....ANY of the cameos' dialogue, besides the five hundredth "uh, is that a CAT???????" joke with Yale.) or not take the chance to develop some of them by, say, assigning them a mentorship role to a specific student. I LOVE seeing Katie, after BOOM kind of ignores her in favor of Jen, but is all she going to amount to is being their bus driver? I didn't even realize it was her until people pointed out that they called her Professor Walker. Nothing about her suggested that she was Katie. So I worry about the aforementioned "it's my blorbo" novelty to wear out pretty fast if the cameos start to feel more and more like just fanservice for people to post about online.

But overall.....it's fine. I'm going to keep reading, and we'll see where this goes. I don't think everyone will like this - as seen by how I barely see anyone talking about it lol. But I'm cautiously optimistic now that we're getting into the meat of things with Sage's new, FORBIDDEN!!!!!!!!! color.

(Just don't bring in Dark Specter oh god please)

Misc Thoughts:

= For all the build-up that the First Trial would be this HORRIBLE LIFE-THREATENING OH GOD HELP ME event, it was actually pretty...lowkey. They literally had no trouble until someone broke their ankle, which....could happen anywhere, at any time. Fern did that, you ain't special. We didn't even see any of those cool monsters they kept bringing up

= So after all my confusion about when and where this series is set, going back in my reread helped me notice that there IS a clue towards setting in a scene where Sage is going through yearbooks: a shelf labeled "Class of [X]498" (the first number is obscured by one of Sage's narration boxes.) So it's.....tentatively set in the far future of the PR universe?

= I've said it before that I don't blame the author for apparently not knowing that previously the books established Xybrians like Kartyr follow a name pattern of a one-syllable word (Trip, Star, Ace, Trek, etc) but it is a little funny to imagine the possibilities. Jerk, Dick, Twerp

= I think a joke could have been done with Cruger, a dog, and Yale, a cat, being in the same room together

= I hate that the Academy was founded by Zordon. It's too low-hanging fruit for me. I'll say it again that I wish it could have just been founded by some OC team

= #Lindy4Orange2024 and FUCK the Bandorian Monks!

[stardustizuku]

I have never vibe with an MLB critic essay so hard as yours do. People put salt on a lot of different things of MLB, but you hit every point of that really hits home of why the show is a dissapointment for me; from the Love Square wasted potential, the expectation of a Magical Girl show that wasn't delivered, the messy incoherent themes that is not represented well in their powers or villains, the umbalance power dynamics complete with comparison.

Too bad you drop it though (reasonably), I really wish to read what you think of Sentimonster!Adrien or even the Finale.

Something interesting happens when I completely give up on a show. And that's that...I really stop expecting anything from it.

When the Sentimonster thing came out, I genuinely just sighed. I couldn't even form an opinion because all I could feel is "this is such wasted potential".

The idea of a child being created via an object - and having said object tied to them, is such a good one. And it raises so many interesting and profound ideas. It could speak about how parents see their kids as nothing but dolls. It could be a very cool concept of Adrien someone who has the power to DESTROY, not only having a gentle soul but having to protect this object.

All things get presented to us for a reason - even if that reason is purely aesthetics.

Why are the girls in Tokyo Mew Mew animals? Because the creator thought catgirls were cool.

Why do we have witches in madoka? Because witches are the evolved form a "girl with magic" aka a "magical girl". And that's a cool thought.

Why is the Princess Tutu inspired by the swan lake ballet and why does it chose "defying destiny" as it premise? Because in real life, the swan lake ballet has multiple endings, some tragic, some happy. The tragedy aspect of it, enhances the princess tutu aesthetic.

Why was Adrien introduced to us as a Sentimonster?

And that's the thing. I can't even wrap my head around why would you make that creative choice.

It's an interesting idea, but one that feels more rooted on someone seeing a headcanon of it online and trying to pander to the audience with it. A sort of torture porn (which in a vacuum isn't something I'm opposed to), just to hammer home how shitty Adrien's life is. How abusive his dad is. Which, btw, doesn't even make sense when you think abt how he got redeemed in the recent episodes.

My point is, I can't have an opinion on "Adrien being a sentimonster" because I can't see why. Why they did it. And my lack of interest in the series, makes it so that I don't wanna spend pondering the "why".

What's the point? What themes did it introduce? Does it tie to the miraculous stuff somehow? Does it coherently expand upon the known lore?

Like, Katherine from Genshin Impact - it recently got revealed she's a doll controlled by the Fatui. This serves the purpose of allowing Nahida, an extremely kind archon, to have a vessel she can control. It shows insight of Marionette's powers, and how likely the adventurer's guild is to be related to the Fatui or Snezhnayan politics, as well as have an in-game reason as to why there's a Katherine in each region.

While it's also an out of left field bonkers thing getting revealed, it MAKES SENSE. There's a reason why she was made this way.

But with Adrien, there isn't. It's just /there/. Not really related to anything, no foreshadow, or anything. This is all, obviously, tied to the terrible writing of the show. But this is just insane. I do not understand it. I seriously can't.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

https://www.tumblr.com/rawliverandgoronspice/718014251940315136?source=share

Ill be honest and say i think the removal of sheikah related lore was not for internal weird racist reasons and instead simply for game design reasons, why the zonai tech is so similar in concept and execution. totk is a sequel and also a redux, they needed technology for mechanics and a reason for the world to change and introducing an entirely new race of characters would be the perfect scapegoat. it feels like it ignores botw almost entirely because 1) new players 2) to be a finished version of botw more mechanics and more content. the narrative was barely a thing in this game because what mattered the most was design and gameplay above all else. i don't think caring about gameplay first particularly bad, it's a fun game they will probably revolutionize the industry once again, and that nintendo doesn't care about lore at all but it really wasn't the priory here at least that's how I felt when i play the game. i adore the overworld and the npcs but the main quest (tears) story itself is very stale. best praise i can give to it is character design and zeldas sacrifice/how they handled her and link that's literally it (vague because i don't know if you've gotten there yet, it's after the completion of the tears quest and getting the master sword). zelda lore at this point is a sandbox and us fans will do what we want with it. sorry for the ramble!

Hey, thanks for the ask!

So I sort of agree, especially on the first part. I absolutely believe that yes, sheikah were not sidelined for malicious reasons, and the ease of just having one super-powerful ultratech culture you rely on was cleaner than having the old relics hanging around. I actually think it's the cleanest choice to make (one that would have been *even cleaner* would have been to write a story and think of a world that reinvent its landmarks based on that new ideas of archeology and the past bursting back into the present, which is theme that coats the game but doesn't ever permeates it). I still think any acknowledgement that it used to exist would have enriched a world that has, ultimately, very little new things to teach us about itself (I have scoured the Depths a bunch, and it's a combat/exploration hotspot, and that's cool but also what a missed opportunity to try some proper FromSoftware-style worldbuilding down there!). I don't think this would have confused new players; if anything it could have hinted at more and gave the new players any reason to pick up Breath of the Wild? But: the world is a playground! That's cool. I think it could be a much more meaningful playground, that's all. There's a category of players who kind of need some light modicum of internal consistency to be invested in exploration, and will just get bored otherwise (I have seen a bunch of people making this exact remark, and honestly... yeah, there are areas in the game I'm not interested in exploring just because I know it's a consequenceless challenge in the end --I'm just not the kind of player that is hooked by a game loop on its own merit, I need to understand what I'm building towards or I lose interest. It's the kind of thing that wouldn't have changed anything to a regular TotK's enjoyer experience, but would have greatly enriched the experience of players like me)

Still think that making Sheikahs a subset of hylians was a very weird choice. Not an outright malicious one, but one that does build up with all of the other weird choices and make this Hyrule feel like a revisionist Hyrule; and one they simply... didn't have to make.

(I'll maybe do another post about this, but there are so many things in this game that would be very confusing to a new player either way also --but that's kind of going into another territory)

I disagree about one general point, however, and I may get offtrack here a little but I guess you gave me an excuse to rant a little about how narrative design is perceived by the general public and what has been frustrating to witness in regards to the conversation surrounding this game from my perspective.

Mainly, this notion that "they had no other choice" because they chose to prioritize gameplay. I'm going to overshare a little (again sorry) but I work in gamedev in real life; I am actually a narrative designer that did quest design and game writing on a couple of games, some of them that also qualify as AAA open worlds. I think it's completely fair to see this game from a player perspective as a series of compromises struck to privilege the aspect of the game they were the most confident with --however, it is literally my real life job to walk through situations that can be extremely similar to this one and find solutions that weave narration with fun experiences game and level designers managed to put together. It doesn't mean that story has to swallow gameplay: if anything, narrative designers always try to privilege mechanics first and treat them as narrative devices in their own right before whipping out the actual cutscenes and the constant writing (and this game was somehow under AND overwritten in my opinion, especially in English --so I don't think it even solved this aspect?). This is not at all aimed at you in particular but at the internet at large; it ends up being quite grating to see assumptions being made about what can and can't be done in non-linear narrative as like, a fact of the universe instead of it being a specific field that deserve research and investment just like any other graphical advancement or intricate interactive feature, and explain away poor design decisions by the strange notion that they had no other choice, as if Nintendo studios aren't comprised of a bunch of humans who made active and passive choices. Like, I worked on very similar issues. There are solutions to how you feed information to the player in a non-linear way. There are ways to maximize impact and depth, even when you let the player guide the story. Again: it's fine if it doesn't bug you or a lot of people --but there are flaws. It happens. It's gamedev. It's a miracle any game is made at all --and this one is its own sort of miracle. What strikes me as strange is that I never see that level of excuses made for companies that do not cultivate that same image of being an unapproachable, united workforce, that get instead torn to shreds at the slightest sideway brush --but that's another subject maybe (maybe).

Narrative design is this thing that, when it's not there, people don't realize it could be; and when it is there, people take it for granted unless it's very visibly front and center like in Edith Finch or Disco Elysium or any other number of indie games (generally it's the indies who do all the research and development and take all of the risks on that front --like seriously I worked in narrative-driven studios, known for their narrative games, where 2/3 of the game designers couldn't care less about emotional impact beyond satisfaction/frustration/boredom, and it's infinitely frustrating (heh) to have your specialization considered optional fluff when you know how far thematic cohesion can push a game when handled well ANYWAY anyway). So: I was always going to care about the way they handled narrative, because it's how I'm wired, what I research, and I also played this game in part because I was very curious on how they'd push their explorations of BotW's possibilities, which were very interesting if a little limited. Needless to say, this was a let down. And I think it's not unreasonable to have higher narrative standards than this.

I do want to autocorrect myself on a statement I put out before, however, that being the notion that not enough research was put into narrative. I think I want to push forward a new theory that sounds much more plausible to me (again based on nothing but speculation and weird déjà-vu vibes, which is perhaps why I care that much :) :) ), and that being: a lot of research was done, and then cut. It seems very plausible the narrative used to be much more ambitious than this --and then, for one reason or another, somebody panicked, or the thing got out of hand, or they couldn't get it to work exactly right, and everything was downscoped pretty late into production. Six years of development is a long time, and I don't think anyone with the standards of a Nintendo employee would have been happy with handling the storyline the way it was. It kinda feels like a rushed cobble-up of loose threads after a massive downsizing, leaving plot holes and suboptimal emotional experience. Again: just a theory, no proof at all. But I absolutely wouldn't be surprised, and it would explain a lot of things.

[laceratedlamiaceae]

#

Hey, I really love your posts about Izzy (and for introducing me to the idea of CJizzy, honestly hadn't occured to me before), but I'm curious how you feel about the show as a whole... You've mentioned that you don't like Ed or Gentlebeard, so what kept you watching S1 until you, how do they put it these days, fell into the Izzy Canyon? Or did you fell in love with Izzy's character from the very first watch? If so, props to you, that's honestly impressive, I think most of us only started liking Izzy from our second rewatch or even later!

Yeah! So, to start with, I feel the most draw to participate in fandoms for media that I feel just okay about--if it's something I love, then I'm not interested in transformative works or headcanons or anything like that, because the source material stands on its own to me; and of course if I just don't like something I don't really want to engage with it at all. OFMD falls perfectly in that space between good and bad for me, where there's so much to like--just the concept of gay pirates is already amazing, and then you have so many interesting, compelling characters, and the vibes of it being a romcom--and then there's stuff I don't like, which as you noted is mostly Ed.

I can appreciate that Stede and Ed are a compelling, well-written love story, and absent my personal feelings about them I think they're a great couple; it's just that there are so, so many different things about Ed that I, personally, feel very strongly about (in a bad way) that brings the show from being amazing to being just okay in my eyes. My first watch I actually did like him and the main relationship; what I think happened--and I know this sounds like a joke, but I haven't been able to come up with a better explanation--is that I was so distracted by how attractive I found him that I didn't really notice Ed's personality. Later, when I was rewatching the show, I realized that he of reminds me of a lot of different people who I've disliked for various reasons, on top of just generally having the type of personality that I don't really vibe with, and then I got caught in a sort of feedback loop where seeing him at all kind of annoyed me, which made me dislike him more, which made me even more annoyed to see him at all, and so on (aka the bitch eating crackers phenomenon; Ed is a supreme BEC to me).

Izzy is actually the other big issue I have with the show--he's too interesting and compelling for what his role in the story demands, and that's why I was so drawn to participating in the fandom; I wanted to give him the attention I felt like he deserved. I liked Izzy from the beginning, I thought he was funny and relatable, but it wasn't until a rewatch and noticing the way he and Ed interacted (which is one of the many things about Ed that hit way too close to home for me) that I started to become an ardent #izzydidnothingwrong truther. I didn't get to that point completely independently, though; the other Izzy Enjoyers back in the early days of the fandom definitely helped.

And again, I do want to stress that me feelings about Ed are just my personal feelings, based on my own bullshit, and I don't intend to make anyone who does like him feel bad about that.

[ladystarksneedle]

Your thoughts on the trailer??? Who's your favourite ???

First off I actually liked the concept of both trailers tbh. I get the "don't pick a side thing because it's the infighting which destroys them from within and they're all messed up" and tbh I'm all for it but I also do have a preference for one side more than the other (Green) despite enjoying characters belonging to both.

That being said I liked the teaser firstly. Having Tom and Emma introduce the trailers was amazing! It builds up the whole Aegon vs Rhaenyra thing.

For the green trailer: I think Aegon's involvement blew me away the most. I didn't expect them to focus so much on him and was pleasantly surprised. TGC was the highlight of the trailer for me and I cannot wait to see what he does with Aegon this season. Alicent was serving as usual. She's in her sad girl hours which is honestly relatable but I want a bit of bite from her too this season so I'm looking forward to seeing if that happens. Aemond slayed his three seconds of screen time. There's nothing more to be said other than the fact that he's serving and way in over his head. I like how we're getting more of book Aemond with the season's progressing and I would love to see him descend into paranoia fueled by ambition, hatred and revenge. I think Ewans going to do wonders with him. Lastly Gwayne was unexpected. I'm excited to see if he's quite similar to Aegon. Criston going wild defending his found family was "chefs kiss" and I can't wait to see Otto get fired.

Sunfyre and Dreamfyre were such a bonus! I'm glad they're finally getting their due.

For the black trailer: I think the highlight of the trailer for me was Rhaenyra. She seems in charge, with the planning and making decisions and honestly I'm quite hyped to see what changes they make wrt her character. Love the new outfits and the braids, its giving book Rhaenyra trying to emulate Visenya with her attire. I am also excited to see Jace's winterfell arc. Love the Starks and even though I'm kind of dreading the prophecy repitition, a change of scene would be great. Daemon in Harrenhal would be the next thing I'm excited to see mainly because he looked almost disturbed at the eeriness of the place and I want to see Alys. Lastly I'm looking forward to more Velaryon politics. Ideally speaking I'd like to see sort of a rift between Vaemond's side and Corlys with bringing up what happened but anything works at this point. I'm just interested in that house.

Sorry if this is too long and thank you so much for asking 💕

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 11/07/2023

Knowledge of the Depths

Season 5 Featured on: The SiIvaGunner Spooktacular Halloween Horror Special: Curse of the Fallen Angel

Ripped by Heboyi

Requested by an anonymous reader!

About a week or so ago, I got a request to discuss some of the channel's storylines more in depth on this blog. The ongoing storytelling on the channel has always been one of its biggest draws to me, and at this point I've been following the lore for so long that I could write pages upon pages on speculation, interpretations, theories, et cetera. However, this blog is specifically about individual rips, so I'm only going to be discussing story events in relation to individual pieces of music. That may change in the future, but for now this is how I'll compromise.

In the midst of Season 4 Episode 2's All-Star Summer Festival, we were introduced to Woodyana Stones: Raider Made of Lost Bark, an Indiana Jones parody in the form of an audio drama starring channel protagonist Wood Man. This kind of storytelling was somewhat new to the channel, and is sort of the spiritual successor to the King For A Day tournaments of the prior two seasons: More self-contained stories featuring an ensemble of characterized memes, whilst still serving up small nuggets of lore here and there. Season 6 would later clarify that these events were Wood Man using his powers of interdimensional travel to visit alternate universes as a way to keep himself occupied before returning to SiIva's main universe. A cynic could call them filler, but that would be disregarding the insane amount of effort that's gone into each of these stories, and all of the weight they still hold, both as beíng genuinely quality and funny and in serving some very interesting pieces of lore for the channel as a whole.

The storyline that today's rip is from - Curse of the Fallen Angel - currently sits as my favorite, though I admit the others are also due for a relisten. For me, a big part of that is due to the intriguing lore concepts it introduces that were directly tied to the channel's ongoing status at the time. Masked Wolf's Astronaut in the Ocean and Lady's Yankin were two themes that had become feared by commenters after infecting the channel's regular uploads during Season 5. The reasons for this dislike are many and long-winded, so for the sake of summary: Think of it like The Bean from Season 1, a type of rip that had commenters work together to warn one another to move to different rips. What this audio drama does is establish these themes, "Figments" in SiIva lore, as "Cursed", holding some sort of abnormal dark power beyond that of normal figments. The audio drama sees Wood Man and a band of companions journeying to hunt down these Cursed before their powers can be used by "The Fallen Angel", referring to the most powerful Cursed of them all in Yankin'. One day I will go further in talking about Yankin' in particular, but trust me: Of all antagonists in SiIva lore, I don't think it would be exaggerating to say that she's the one the fanbase fears most due to her overwhelming presence on the channel in Season 5.

With the mood now set, what I love about todays rip in particular, Knowledge of the Depths, is the atmosphere its able to instill with this background knowledge in mind. It sets the stage to the third act of the audio drama, with Wood Man and c.o trying to find this accursed entity submerged deep underwater, with powers completely foreign to both the characters and us in the audience. Like most of the storyline's soundtrack, its a fully original composition, but uses elements of Astronaut in the Ocean's progression and vocals to keep its presence known. A theme otherwise only known on the channel for its low quality rips is now able to set a genuine mood of suspense and fear, with a sound akin to Kenji Yamamoto's Metroid music or Super Mario Galaxy's Drip Drop Galaxy theme. Its immaculate stuff!

Its even more interesting hearing this theme come from Heboyi in particular, based on the impression I've gotten of them beforehand. They're behind a lot of the funniest rips on the channel in recent memory, often using ironically-bad sources much like Astronaut in the Ocean itself, yet here do a complete 180 in emotional reaction. Its very funny to learn that the person most apt in wielding the Astronaut's power for comedy is also just as capable in wielding it for atmosphere and mood-setting.

[webbywatcheshorror]

Webby Reviews Horror: Glorious (2022)

Glorious is a movie about the humanity in the divine, and the divinity in the human. It’s about the pain of heartbreak and the deep well of regret that flows from selfish choices. It’s about the selfless sacrifices given in the name of love.

It’s also about a rest stop bathroom with a glory hole in the stall.

Review under the cut, and of course, SPOILERS!

Glorious is a pretty short movie at a little over an hour and fifteen minutes, but it feels longer to me, due in part to the slow pacing in the first part and then the anticipation of the second. The payoff is worth it in the end, though, and I think the pacing gives the audience a better chance to really start to sympathize with and relate to our protagonist.

The first half introduces us to Wes, your sort of ‘standard’ movie protag. You know, the nearing middle age, average build white guy, brown hair, somewhat unkempt facial hair situation. Not exactly thinking outside the box, casting-wise. HOWEVER, I think in this particular instance, having him be the ‘Societal Default’ actually works in the story’s favor. That is, if they did it on purpose, of course. They want us, the audience, to really feel a connection to Wes, maybe even project onto him a little.

After all, who hasn’t felt the grief of a broken heart? The urge to call our ex’s phone even if only to hear their recorded voice telling us to leave a message? That’s what’s going on to begin with: Wes, an exhausted and miserable man, decides to pull into a rest stop so he stops falling asleep on the road. He’s Going Through It something fierce- he about loses it on a vending machine that denies him a candy bar (once again, who among us, etc) and he looks like hell. An enigmatic trucker gives him a hand and some advice, and on her way back to her truck, she stops and smiles at a strangely colored flower with goop on it, which gives me the impression that she has some kind of idea as to what’s about to go down; then she drives away. (Maybe not, but it’s never made clear, and I like the idea that she does.)

The next morning, Wes wakes up to a stomach full of regret and consequences- he chugged a lot of whisky last night and burned a lot of his stuff, including his pants. Listen, I get it, heartbreak and alcohol can really screw with what you think is a logical set of actions. He stumbles into the main stage of the story, the filthy men’s bathroom of an unattended, way out of the way rest stop. 

On the wall of this particular stall is a very creatively decorated glory hole which you can sort of see on the poster- it’s some kind of Lovecraftian beast that’s part monster, part humanoid, which is pretty representative of our story and our two main characters, the second of which we are introduced to once Wes has finished emptying the contents of his gut. 

 Is bathroom horror a genre yet? Between this and the first Saw, I’d say it should be. There’s something about the contrast of a familiar place being so grimy it’s revolting that works so well for horror. People who can articulate better than me could probably explain why, but I’m getting off track.

An unseen person in the adjacent stall, voiced by the very talented JK Simmons, strikes up a conversation with Wes, who is understandably a little skeeved out by this. His name is Ghatanothoa, and is pronounced in a fun way: stick out your tongue, hold the tip of it with your finger and thumb, and slowly say “Got another one”. 

Ghat is DELIGHTFUL to me. He doesn’t understand turns of phrase, he takes things very literally, and seems to have no concept of societal rules (such as getting chatty with strangers in a public bathroom). It’s what could be described as autistic-coded, though I can’t say for certain if that was the intent in his characterization, since it turns out he’s an ancient, lonely god, and hasn’t exactly spent much time in the company of mortals. 

Wes responds in a pretty expected way: he’s not in the mood for whatever this weirdo has going on, even if he is a little curious. He tries to look at Ghat even when warned not to gaze upon the god, for his mortal mind could not safely perceive his true form, and the resulting consequence is enough to chip away some of his skepticism. He remains stubborn, though, and tries to leave in whatever way he can think of despite being told it’s impossible. As I’ve said, Wes is a pretty relatable guy, almost too relatable in some ways. I believe this is intentional.

 Ghat gives us his origin story- his father, god of creation, accidentally gave life and form to some of his thoughts and went ‘oh no kill it’ as he much preferred the vast nothingness that he had before. The newly formed children fought back and spilled more life from within their father’s wounds, then came to a compromise. They’d stitch him back up as long as he allowed the new life to remain. But they were all of them deceived, for another life form was made, a god of destruction that would one day wipe out the universe so the great emptiness would return- Ghatanothoa. He is compared to the Christian God and Jesus a few times, though not blatantly so. Example: “I am he.”

Ghat is an ethereal caterpillar morphing into a corporeal butterfly, and when he finishes this process, he will, unwillingly, carry out the purpose he was given and destroy everything. He doesn’t want to do it; he feels connected to the world and its mortal inhabitants, and wants to return to the ether to protect them. And Wes has been chosen to help him do it. 

Wes gives the usual ‘everyone’s a shitty selfish person maybe we should all die’ cynicism, then gives us HIS origin story. His dad was a piece of shit who shrouded his cruelty in perceived selflessness, resulting in his wife’s suicide and a warped worldview in his son. This is probably our first hint to Wes’s secret.

No matter what Wes tries, he can’t escape, and getting someone else involved only results in the bathroom getting a fresh coat of red paint. There’s no way out of this except give Ghat what he needs or let the entire universe die. 

And what Ghat needs is for Wes to satisfy his physical form. He believes Wes can rise to the occasion and perform this great service for the good of all life.

The bait and switch of Ghat NOT wanting Wes to stick his dick in the glory hole is so god damn funny I almost choked the first time I watched this, pun intended. JK Simmons saying “You thought your human penis was going to save the universe?” lives in my head rent-free. Wes hyped himself up to do it for like three minutes of runtime which was probably over twenty in-universe or longer only to be told his genitals are of no significance. Absolutely incredible.

No, what Ghat wants is for Wes to willingly give him his liver, or at least part of it. Wes for some reason was more willing to give Ghat the D than he is about the liver. This is /hilarious/ to me. Wes is so offended by Ghat’s dick dismissal that it takes even more convincing to get him to agree, which he only does after Ghat takes the memory of Wes’s ex, Brenda, away. If everything is destroyed, then so is her memory, and that thought is enough to change Wes’s mind.

Wes takes the shard of glass from the mirror he’s provided, and makes the cut which is interrupted by one last joke (he almost cut into the wrong side. I probably would have, too.). He makes the sacrifice as Ghat’s father rends the world in pursuit of his child-weapon.

The bloody, noble sacrifice scene is spliced with the big reveal of Wes’s secret- he’s a serial killer. He’s been killing his girlfriends once he determines they don’t fill the emptiness inside of him, a void that’s implied to have been created by his abusive father. Brenda was his latest victim, and the only one he seems to regret, because she actually did make him feel something. The love he was feeling scared him so bad that he killed her anyway, her last expression one of betrayal and heartbreak as she’d discovered his trophy pictures of his past victims.

Ghat accepts the offering, and the total annihilation of the universe is prevented. Ghat’s father retreats and Ghat himself is returned to the ether, never to be a part of the world he loves. Wes, lying on the floor in agony, proudly declares himself a hero, but he’s wrong. Ghatanothoa tells him he was chosen for this not because he’s a hero who will be remembered, but because he, too, is a being of destruction, and it’s better for the universe that they will both be forgotten. “It is finished.”

Wes and Ghat are parallels of one another yet so opposite- Ghat was created to destroy, but he felt so much for others that he chose to return to the ether, never to interact with the world he loves in order to protect it. Wes, on the other hand, chose to become a murderer because of how little he felt for others, only making the sacrifice out of a selfish desire to have one more chance to see the face of the woman he killed for making him feel something at long last. Ghat, who was more human than Wes, and Wes, who was more of a god of destruction than Ghat, two beings who gave their lives and saved all of existence.

I mentioned a couple of times about it being intentional with Wes being this super-relatable, sort of ‘everyman’, the assumed societal default, and here’s why: Usually, the audience is supposed to identify with, sympathize with, and root for the protagonist, this isn’t a new concept. But when we spend over an hour doing this, especially to such a degree, it can really feel like the floor drops out from under us when we realize that this guy that’s just like us fr is a cold blooded murderer and has been the entire time.

Most horror ends one of two ways, right? The hero pulls through despite it all and we get some kind of relief or even hope that the evil is defeated. Or, despite it all, the evil prevails and will strike again, even if the hero survives. But in Glorious, there’s no real hero, and the evil is thwarted with no relief to be found, no satisfaction in the end. There’s just Wes, Ghat, and the quiet finality of their demise. The world will continue to spin as if nothing had ever happened, and as far as everyone else knows, nothing ever did.

Glorious leaves me feeling introspective and a little sad, as I really ended up liking Ghatanothoa, and seeing some of myself in Wes makes me a little uncomfortable (as it should). It’s a great twist on the chosen one trope, and the humor is well placed and doesn’t break the flow of the story. The beginning is a little slow, as I said before, but slow burn can really bring out the flavor of a good story, and this was a tasty meal for me. 

JK Simmons really steals the show as Ghatanothoa, selling me on both the more human aspects of his character as he talks about believing in the goodness inherent in humanity, and the underlying current of power he struggles to rein in as Wes tests his patience and time runs out. 

I wouldn’t call this one ‘scary’ necessarily, though the cosmic horror is absolutely present, and there’s some gore involved. I don’t subscribe to the idea that horror has to scare you to be considered horror, so while some don’t consider this a true horror movie, I do. 

Ten outta ten (holy?) ghosts for a story I greatly enjoyed, JK Simmons, and the bait and switch with the glory hole which I am STILL laughing about.