#it just doesn't line up with our current lore

[neversetyoufree]

I have a theory regarding Jeanne's family: What if the reason why her family was killed by the Vampire Council was because they were the ones who killed Vanitas' family?

Interesting thought, but I don't think that works with what we already know.

(from mémoires 32 and 39)

Jeanne's parents were killed because they betrayed the vampires' war cause. Ruthven arranged a peace talk between humans and vampires, and Jeanne's parents, Ruthven's students, betrayed him in order to work with humans and kill the vampires assembled at that peace talk.

Plus, even if that reason turns out to be not entirely true, Jeanne's parents were killed before the Beast of Gévaudan incident, which means they were killed well over 100 years before the in-universe present day. As much as his backstory is mysterious, we have no reason to think Vanitas was alive back then. Jeanne's parents couldn't have killed Vanitas's dad because Vanitas's dad probably wasn't even born yet when they died.

[watcherintheweyr]

I can't believe I'm writing this

To open up with: IT IS ABSOLUTELY OKAY AND VALID TO BE DISAPPOINTED BY THE LACK OF WORLDSTATE CUSTOMIZATION IN DRAGON AGE THE VEILGUARD. I have my own disappointments about it!

Ok? We have that covered? We good?

Cool, moving on.

To people who are genuinely, hatefully angry, saying we will now be 'forced into Bioware's worldstate' (when this year alone they've stated there is no 'canon' worldstate more than once), or saying that none of our prior dragon age choices matter, I need you to take a step back and walk with me for a second, okay?

For starters: John Epler stated that one of the reasons they narrowed the choices is because they DO NOT want to invalidate the worldstates of their longtime players. However they also don't want to alienate newer players who don't have the history and lore of the past choices. It's a narrow line to walk.

Secondly, I want you to really look at the choices made by your Hero, Champion, and Inquisitor. Which of those choices genuinely affected NORTHERN Thedas, not Southern Thedas, to the point it would linger for years afterwards? Which of those choices weren't things that specifically affected or altered the sociopolitical Southern Thedas climate and landscape in lasting ways?

The Well? Kieran?

That only leaves that if your Inquisitor drank, they now have knowledge from ages long past... that Rook doesn't need. Rook has a direct line into Solas' history and a possible Veiljumper background, unlocking those very secrets on their own.

It's entirely likely and probable that the Well's fears and threats were a red herring. Think about it. We as a gandom have spent TEN YEARS worrying about the Well, about Solas, about Mythal.

Come June 2024, we're slapped in the face by the big bads of Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan.

Morrigan likely isn't going to be close and friendly with Rook- so there's likely not much reason for her to tell us about her child or husband if she has them.

The rulers of Southern Thedas aren't going to affect us. We aren't tackling the current world ending crisis from the position of a leader of armies like the Warden and Inquisitor, but as leader of a small task force. The Southern Divine doesn't much affect us either- nor do Southern mage politics or templar politics.

Because Rook is an entirely new perspective.

Because Rook is in an ENTIRELY different sociopolitical climate/landscape.

I DO think there should've been ways implemented to specify your Inquisitor's bonds and personality. I'm HOPING maybe there still are that we haven't seen. But otherwise?

My Warden is free. I can say she's cured her Calling and is wandering the world with Zevran.

My Champion can retire into total obscurity with his husband or be quietly helping said husband destroy the slave trade. Either way.

Your history and choices in Thedas still matter. Your heroes still matter.

They just aren't Rook's focus.

Take a breath please. And stop sending death threats to the devs bc what the **fuck.**

EDIT:

further context from the devs on Bluesky

[jevilowo]

MY OPINIONS ON VARIOUS TF2 SHIPS

For funsies

SCIENCE PARTY:

fun ship, but they're GodComplex4GodComplex and I fear that would only end in disaster

TOASTED SANDVICH:

if there is one heavypyro fan on this stupid baka planet it is me. shout out to menacing quiet individuals who like violence but have a soft side fr.

BLOODY SUIT:

literally The Original toxic yaoi rivals to lovers red blue combo ship. speeding bullet and napoleon complex fans WISH they had our shared update and corresponding voice lines

BATTING HELMET: (scout n solly)

i just think it's really funny trust me on this one guys. have you seen them in the fourth comic it's a constant "yes, and" bit between the two of them. soldier's love language is choking people out.

HIT AND A MISS: (scout n pauling)

like most ms pauling ships, i'm only into it if scout's a cool lesbian. which he is not most of the time.

RED OKTOBERFEST:

AAAAAAAAAAAAA literally the ship of all time save me heavymedic save me. if they don't smooch in the next comic i will become jay pinkerton's personal sleep paralysis demon.

SPEEDING BULLET:

my feelings on it are Complicated. twas my first love (otp) in this fandom, but the overabundance of twinky uwu scout and daddy dom snoipah has built up some resentment on my part. call me back when people stop making up imaginary life problems for sniper to comfort scout over.

NAPOLEON COMPLEX: (Spy n Engie)

literally just rarjack if they were boys and not horses to me and i'm not even an mlp fan. it's alright, just doesn't really stick out to me.

SPYMA:

LITERALLY THE POWERCOUPLE EVER TRULY A LOVE STORY FOR THE AGES or at least the version that exists in my head is. i have so much made up spyma lore it's crazyyy. bonus points if they're polying up they cule with sniper it's quickly becoming my favourite genre of fanart (i have seen at maximum three)

SUPPORT SANDWICH: (spy n sniper n medic)

in my opinion, it is healthy for everyone to have at least one ship they just like bc they think it's hot. for me, that is support sandwich. not much else to say on that the fics are all banging go look them up.

SNIDOS: (sniper n GLaDOS)

hell yeah.

ADMINPAULING:

i used to like it a lot, but timelining implies ms pauling's been working for helen since her mid teens at the latest so i no longer like it. 4chan leaks my beloathed pleaseee don't make them kiss i think it would kill me in a bad way

URINE SAMPLE: (medic n sniper)

there's a lot of werewolf and vampire stuff for these two on ao3 which is pretty fun. and i'm way more likely to find sniper angst under the medicsniper tag than sb and bs which is always a plus.

FRENCH TOAST: (spyro)

have you seen that one animation where pyro gives birth to spy's child and gordon freeman is there at one point. yeahhhh. the ship's pretty cute tho spy would be sooo soft for pyro they'd light his cigarettes for him.

BOOTS AND BOMBS:

THE FORBIDDEN RED/BLU ROMANCE GOES CRAZY I ADORE IT. same team bnb is pretty banging too. bonus points if they're polying up they cule with zhanna.

SPYPAULING:

HEAR ME OUT ON THIS ONE. imagine. spy x pauling. yuri. that will be all.

SWORDVAN:

SWORDVAN MY LOVE!!! idk what it is about demo and sniper together but HELL YEAH TOP 5 SHIPS FR FR. shout out to the guy still writing monsterous intent, they're like single handedly carrying the swordvandom.

TEXAS TOAST:

I used to think "this is cute" but then my friend got really really into it and that hyped me up into "THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SHIPS OF ALL TIME" territory. bonus points if they're yuri! shout out to Technicolor California, my current favourite fanfic of all time (it overtook running blind in the interal rankings). oh yeah insert mandatory "no hate to engie and pyro father son dynamic preferers" message here lol.

Ok that's enough I will cover more at some point maybe.

[qiyutism]

my rafayel headcanon

this is all really just my own thoughts and ramblings about his character based on how he acts in game, with some extra creative liberties taken by my brain lol. if you agree, cool! if not, cool! these are just my thoughts :)

also, at the end, theres a plug to a little fic that im currently writing based on my hcs of rafayel, so if you wanna be tagged when i post that, feel free to reply!!

—

i think rafayel is so deeply afraid of being abandoned or forgotten by mc. which i think this is pretty obvious just based on how his character is in-game (myths, lore-wise, certain cards, etc) but i think its more than just the typical bratty persona that the fandom has kinda put on him. i think that he has it bad.

he's really clingy because he's so deeply terrified that if he isn't constantly around and close to mc that she'll leave or just forget about him, and he very frequently needs reassurance that this isnt the case. he's sadly plagued by their past (that mc doesnt even remember, which makes his worries even worse) and just doesnt ever want to lose her again.

he has a bad habit of always assuming the worse when mc is bombarded with work for long periods of time (or just anything that requires her to be away for an extended period of time) and he worries (to the point of genuine concern for his physical and mental health at times) that mc has fallen out of love with him or forgotten him. he'll sometimes fall down this spiral of bad thoughts until something (or someone, hint hint) brings him back down to earth again and he sees the truth

i know some of the fandom always pegs him as the silly, bratty, playful type, but to me, thats clearly all a cover up for how deeply in love he is with mc and just how much he cant and simply refuses to let her go. yeah he's very dramatic and playful at times, but i think between the lines, he's really serious and it comes from his fear. like, if you leave him alone and dont interact with him for even a few seconds in destiny cafe, he gets to saying things like:

"we can lose ourselves in our own world, but not for too long."

"i wonder ... when will you start blurting things out again?"

"you became quiet all of a sudden. im not used to it."

and the more obvious line of course: "miss bodyguard, can you give me some attention?"

like its clear that even though he says it in a playful tone, hes very serious about wanting you near and constantly interacting with him, because he doesn't want you to leave.

but anywayy, i really said all that to say that im currently writing a fic that really shows just what im talking about regarding his fear of abandonment. its my first time really writing a fic (especially one as long as it looks like this one will be 😭) but if you would like to be tagged whenever i post it then please feel free to reply and let me know! it would be greatly appreciated <33

[lastfairdealgonedown]

draw the ways, draw the lines (nothing is forever)

summary – in which you think you knew him. and you did; so, what is this now? just what happened to you? -> phainon x gn!reader

includes – most likely very lore inaccurate, based off leaks, reader is phainon's childhood friend & grew up in aedes elysiae, mentions of death and blood, not beta read

a/n – this is painfully half-assed and might make no sense!! i sincerely apologize in advance. fuck it we ball

To say your homeland was a haven, would be to underestimate the tranquility that lies within its soil. Between the endless fields of wheat and the sun that gently cradles you in its hands, delicately peppering your skin in kisses, you'd dare say Aedes Elysiae is a hidden heaven on Amphoreus, saved for the eyes of a select few.

Which, of course, means you make the most of this peace, as do the rest of the few citizens; After all, no one can find you here. It all begins with running down the hills under the delightfully bright sunlight, running your hands through the wheats till you have to go home, and ends in basking under the evening sunrise with your closest companion, since a very tender age; Phainon, one of the most consistent presences in your life.

Many would insist that excitement comes in instability and spontaneity, that there is a thrill in not knowing what's ahead in your plans, or your future; But you disagree with the sentiment. To you, there is nothing more comforting in the endless repeat of sunrises and sundowns, the awfully predictable growth and wither patterns of plants, the way every day seems to go right about the same. It is secure, and you haven't any need of worrying about something as silly and distant (at the time) as surprises. If something were to happen, it would certainly not reach you, nor Phainon. After all, teenage years are merely as long as a breath, and you'd hate to not live them out how you'd like.

You reveled in that sort of stability. So, now here you sit, for what feels like the hundredth time since you were mere children, under the sun, gazing at the wheats; But he doesn't seem to be looking this time — which is an anomaly in itself, but that's okay — instead fiddling with a card in his hand, one that is the current topic of conversation.

“Deliverer? That's not so bad of a title – what bothers you so much about it?”

“Ah, well. It's just.. I feel that we have no need for that sort of thing. Aedes Elysiae is a peaceful place, y'know? I don't want to just, have to leave, like that.” Phainon looks at the card between his index and middle finger, twirling to look at the patterned back and then the illustration at the front; The words ‘The Deliverer’ seem to glare at him, forcing his shoulders down with their weight and making his heart sink.

Your tear your eyes off the sun, turning to look at him as the two of you have your backs against a tree, your knees hugged to your chest and flashing him a comforting smile, “I don't think you'll have to. Maybe you can be Aedes Elysiae's personal deliverer! That could be cool. Protect us from the faeries, n' all that.”

Your words are met with a huff in the form of a laugh — he seems to be lightening up, you note. “From the faeries? I thought we left those back in our childhood.” When he got the card. You're almost surprised Cyrene let him hold onto it, and you're even more surprised at how well be has preserved it. There are only a few marks on it, as well as a bit of wear and tear here and there.

“Hey, you never know.” You only offer him a shrug of your shoulders, when his head raises to level with you from side-on. “Maybe they'll start stealing our things again one day – Purely for old times sake.”

“You can't actually still be holding a grudge.”

“They stole my flower crown, okay?! Do you know the sheer amount of time and effort it even takes to make one of those things?”

Phainon huffs out a laugh under his breath, twirling the card once more before pocketing it; both physically, and mentally. He can ponder on it again, later. Your sudden head on his shoulder doesn't allow him to think much, after all; A natural repellent of any sort of doubt, that's what you were. “Frankly, you shouldn't have taunted them.”

“Fair point,” you begin, giving him some hope, “but hell no. I was in the right.”

You still remember how the two of you used to laugh in sync, how your existences seemed to be intertwined, as if tied together by the hands of fate herself; You were made to exist alongside him, and he was made to exist alongside you. Two perfect puzzle pieces, if you will, like oxygen and fire.

Alas, heaven is not always eternal, for misfortune exists behind every fortune; Light casts a shadow, and the brighter the light, all the darker the shadow will be, like a void, never-ending and all-consuming. The sun seems to burn in your face as you run, panting and frantically searching around your burnt village- Just where is Phainon, anyway? The Deliverer is a hefty title indeed, but you could swear that that is precisely what he is to you.

So you run down the fields that previously calmed you, dread settling in your heart; Cyrene is dead, the village is bathed in crimson flame that will eternally scar the once prosperous soil, your parents perished and it's almost as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Except Phainon.

At the bottom of the hill is where you find him, Cyrene laying limp on the ground by his feet and painting the once pure wheats a bloody red, and you stop a distance away. Did you think it was going to save you? Mayhaps. But you are confused, above all; What happened to him? Why have his eyes lost all life, why are his shoulders slumped and why is he wielding a blade of the finest craftsmanship? Who is the boy you're laying your eyes on? There is no time to time to dwell on such pointless (and yet, major) questions when he slowly turns to face you, dark coat absorbing the light of the sun and training his sword at you.

You should run for your life. You need to run for your life.

But you realize it is too late for that when he approaches you, raising his blade and bringing it down with force.

With a calculated strike of his weapon, Phainon's peace is abruptly brought to an end, stained in blood and in sin; The card of the deliverer remains untouched by blood as it drifts into the air and lands a small distance away from him: into the future, unstained and pure. But with it, unbeknownst to him, the strings of fate grow tighter, binding him to the future, and the burden of a hundred lifetimes.

Thus, fate can only, if anything, continue to reveal; And every death and sacrifice tempers the speed in which the threads meet their end. In the meantime, as he stands in the middle of the scorching village that he once called home, he may continue to live and breathe, all while a drop of blood begins to drift down the thread that symbolizes his very existence, its destination set to the final knot that binds it to the depths in which where he will, eventually, meet his doom; As we all do.

All while, of course, the future holds a secret plot to kill him. An oath of vengeance, for the deeds of another.

[rookamell]

I don't really care about people's takes on what the current situation in Thedas is or whether or not people like that the Chantry was centred less or whether or not people like that the mage rebellion was mentioned in Veilguard or not everyone has their own interpretations and everyone has their own readings of stuff said in the game but one commonly repeated line I have seen in both Veilguard positive and negative posts is that 'it's ok that the Chantry wasn't mentioned as much because we're in Northern Thedas and it's different there'... no? Correct me if I'm wrong because I'm very far from a lore expert but there's only three places in Thedas that don't follow the Orlesian Chantry and that is Tevinter, Seheron, and Rivain and Rivain doesn't really even count because they do still follow the Orlesian Chantry it's just that they're a lot more relaxed about it because of the qunari and Seer influence there. And the Circle got annulled because of that. (Let me just reiterate an entire group of people got brutally murdered for their unconventional take on religion and that is an actual quest that is a part of the game Dragon Age: The Veilguard that still somehow fails to bring up religion at all during it, but I digress). As for Tevinter, they still follow the Chant, the literal only difference is that 'magic was made to serve man' means something different. Yes mages have a lot more influence and the templars don't have the same power because of that, but the Shadow Dragon organization's (that our PC can literally be a part of) tag line is "Bring The Light". What light do you think they're talking about? The same light they're talking about in the fucking Chant. Because one of the leaders of said organization is a major figure in the church. A fact that's never brought up in a substantial way. It's a huge part of all of this, and it isn't really brought up in any meaningful way even though we literally prove this oppressive overarching religion wrong. It honestly even irks me slightly in relation to the Antaam because the whole reason the Antaam exist is because of the Qun. I know there are codex entries talking about how the Antaam fractured and their way of life influencing this but idk. And honestly I'm more complaining about fandom dismissing this as 'not a real critique' than I am of the game for not including it. But anyway back to my point, Antiva follows the Orlesian Chantry, Nevarra follows the Orlesian Chantry, obviously Ferelden and Orlais do. It's actually not that much of a stretch to be asking questions about why this previously very pervasive religion is somehow not mentioned At All in the game despite the fact that it's a follow up from Religion: The Game. And so many of the revelations have major impacts on it. I understand it's not necessary for the story but I think it takes away from character depth and also worldbuilding. And again, if you don't feel that way about it, fine, whatever, play the game how you want and interact with the world how you want, but claiming people are stupid for bringing it up because 'we're in a different part of the world' is not a valid dismissal and is quite rude actually too.

[bantersnatch]

revisiting the s2e4 bianca loredrop

...because i never fully covered this one on my blog at the time of airing. i believe at the time i saw the intent of this scene as too murky to definitively call it canon bianca lore, but in the months since i've folded it into my personal understanding of the character -- and i now think the intent is clearer than i first thought. there's really no reason for these to just be random senseless nonsense, which is the only reasonable alternative.

for context, these "holidays" are being written out by bianca for the host to read into camera. bianca is fucking with them and reminding them of her power over them (as well as their husband's history of shitty behavior). i think the clear implication is that the "holidays" are in reference to events in bianca's own life.

let's take a look.

okay, so we can gather:

bianca's parents divorced at some point in her childhood -- i'm getting the vibes of somewhere in the 8-16 year old range, but it's impossible to say a precise age.

bianca's father, david, remarried (also at some point in her childhood) to a woman named janet. david is a liar and a cheater (he's also possibly not financially stable at this time). this lines up perfectly with our knowledge of his most recent marriage in the current day.

(in my opinion) the version of child-bianca presented to us here displays a level of emotional stability and level-headedness; a capacity for forgiveness, and a willingness to compromise in order to make the people around her happy. she's a good, dutiful daughter.

bianca doesn't typically wear dresses <3

[david-talks-sw]

"Bring in the flamethrowers!"

The above moment from The Clone Wars gets brought up a lot to illustrate Ki-Adi Mundi or the Jedi's moral decadence, a fall from grace caused by the war.

Figured I'd point out a couple of things in support of Ki-Adi!

1) Simple answer: the situation called for it.

The Geonosians attacking Ki-Adi were:

enemy fighters

with the element of surprise

who could fly and were thus harder to hit with the clones' blasters, hence why more wide-ranging weapons like flamethrowers were called for, as the clones were getting picked off one-by-one.

Time was of the essence, men were dying, Ki-Adi made a choice.

Wanna know what Jedi choose when a Geonosian isn't actively trying to kill them? They save its life (and get praised for it by their peers).

2) In-universe, the Geonosians are assholes.

From Attack of the Clones - The Illustrated Companion, 2002:

"Geonosians are a physically intimidating race conditioned to live and work in caste-segregated hives. The vast majority of Geonosians are subservient to the ruling caste, and throughout Geonosian society, there is evidence of a biologically engineered class system. Some Geonosians have wings, while drones do not. [...] The blind obedience of menial Geonosians makes them an easily exploitable workforce for the upper classes, who have built a highly profitable business manufacturing Battle Droids, Super Battle Droids, and Droideka Droids for the Trade Federation and its allies."

"For unusually intelligent Geonosians unlucky enough to be born into the lower castes, participating in the games provides the only chance they will ever get to escape the misery of their downtrodden lifestyles and the rigid social expectations of the upper classes. Triumph in the arena is often a hollow victory, however; while lower- and middle-class Geonosians may win the right to talk to their superiors, they can never earn their respect."

Okay, so the winged upper class are obviously elitist bastards, but how is that even remotely relevant--

-- oh. But hey, two of them don't have wings! Those are members of the drone caste, and they're all begotten underdogs, so--

"If there is one thing that unites Geonosians of all classes, it is their xenophobia. A traditionally isolationist species, they fear espionage attempts by rivals eager to learn the secrets behind their latest droids."

-- oh. Huh.

Bottom line: yes, they're sentient... but they're xenophobic, have an elitist caste system, and earn their living by forging weapons that melt your insides or blow up planets.

Now sure, this notion has been explored and deconstructed in Star Wars: Rebels...

... and I'm not entirely sure if the quoted info still holds true in current Disney canon (the lore is from 2002, after all), but if you ask me?

On a normal day, ol' Klik-Klak would be actively trying to murder the entirety of the Ghost crew for daring to even step their dirty non-Geonosian feet on his pure red planet.

3) Out-of-universe, the Geonosians are just "bug aliens". Nothing more.

The production team of Attack of the Clones referred to them as the "termite people". The script describes them as "winged creatures" who are heard "chuckling" once Anakin and Padmé are sentenced to a gruesome death. At some point, the storyboard artists considered introducing the Geonosian workers like you would a horror monster.

Hell, the whole Lucas decided to base them on termites is because his house was besieged by them.

They're not people, which is why they're not designed to look like people. They're purposefully dehumanized so that when one of them gets killed by our heroes, it's ethically "okay" and the audience doesn't need to stop and think "oh my God, that's murder!" or "hey! that's racist" whenever a clone calls one of them a "bug."

A similar logic is applied to the stormtroopers, who have face-covering helmets that dehumanizes them.

Functionally, a stormtrooper is a fascist goon, nothing more.

Same goes for the Geonosian. It's a bug alien, that's about it.

4) The flamethrowers were probably just added because they're cool.

Dave Filoni described how the decision to add flamethrowers came up, and it doesn't sound like George had deeper storytelling motives:

"You know, we're going through the tunnel with the Geonosians and George is like: “Yeah, well, here, we'll have the-- the tunnel and the flamethrowers. Yeah. How about that? ‘Bring in the flamethrowers!’ have Ki-Adi Mundi say ‘bring in the flame throwers!’” And it's like “flame—- What? Flamethrowers?!”" - Dave Filoni, “Return to Geonosis” Featurette, 2010

It sounds like he came up with it on the spot.

The flamethrowers aren't indicative of "the moral degradation of Ki-Adi and the Jedi Order." They're likely just in there 'cause they're cool (and if you've played Team Fortress 2, you know that's true)!

At the end of the day, when it comes to the Geonosians, I think that there's a certain irony to how their story ends.

They gleefully created the battle droids that tore the galaxy asunder and the Death Star, a weapon that enables the Empire to commit genocide... but fell victim to genocide themselves, at the hands of an even bigger monster.

They reaped what they sowed. They're not meant to be mourned.

And it's nice to see this aspect of the narrative doesn't get ignored as much as I would've expected.

I came across this video that basically rips into Ki-Adi for using flamethrowers, and I was ready to roll my eyes when I scrolled down to the comments section...

... but then, a happy surprise!

Most of the comments disagree with the video's stance! For once, logic prevails over anti-Jedi bias.

So yeah, that put a smile on my face.

[reel-fear]

Bendy And The Power Of Representation

So those graphic novel pages huh? Seems I posted my cover post at just the right time because literally minutes after I was informed the preview pages came out and uh. This is Buddy and Norman!

Oh dear... I'll put the full graphic novel pages down below but I have so much to say on how awful this is it'll need several posts. However, right now I want to mostly talk about representation and briefly touch on why it's so damn important + inform others about the current shit Mike and Meatly are saying about the books n such.

Now note: All the things I'm saying below are based on my personal experience, maybe some people don't care about seeing the representation of their identities in the media they consume. Maybe some will think I'm merely being dramatic and I might be but I'm not lying when I say I personally believe being represented and seen in the media you consume can be one of the most wonderful feelings in the world.

Look I'm not here to argue with people who think that Norman in particular was never meant to be a person of color, I would argue he is very coded but the points I'm making here are not about how Norman particularly had to be black. The point I want to make is the lack of diversity in our cast in general and how Norman's design has heavily dwindled it considering most people [including myself] rightfully assumed he was at least one of three black characters in our cast. Not according to this though and looking at the the rest of the pages our chances of seeing any kind of decent diverse character designs dwindle more.

So firstly... Buddy a character who has been said to experience discrimination for being Jewish, lacks any kind of ethnic features at all. That's... Cool but yeah I think this shows a rather grim future for the character designs as a whole.

Also, Norman... As I mentioned he was largely assumed to be black due to his southern dialect, his voice, and other factors. But nope, he's a generic white guy. With... Gross looking hair tbh...

Sadly this is not the first time the topic of poor representation has come up concerning Bendy either.

[note how he disregarded the other mentioned minorities and specifically cites LGBTQ+ characters]

This sucks as a response but sadly considering Mike's recent behavior it seems to fall in line with the Bendy team's general lack of care towards representing anyone who isn't straight and white.

So how did Mike respond to all of this? Well...

TDLR - "Who cares if the Graphic Novel we're selling to our fans for full price sucks, we now no longer consider the books canon."

This is horrible, I know Mike and Meatly are only really in this for the money, the fact BATIM is in the state that it is proved that, but they really couldn't have been less obvious about it?

So basically when it benefited them, AKA when it meant people would have to buy the books to understand important lore like Boris' identity... [the character you spend all of chapter 4 trying to rescue] They were considered canon... At least the author sure thought so.

Hell even in the tweet Meatly made here he doesn't say the books aren't canon, he just says they're not needed to understand Bendy's world. Now Mike is using that as a shield instead of doing the right thing and saying "You're right, the poc in our fanbase deserve better we'll have it fixed right away!" Like most reasonable people would considering how his studio has literally been accused of bigotry, poor rep, and general lack of diversity before. Why risk making more people avoid this franchise?

Also just... Imagine how insulting it would be to be an author who helps flesh out so much of this world and gives its characters depth like NONE of the games have managed to do, filling in plot holes, creating a timeline for events, etc... Then because they couldn't bother to change the graphic novel for ur story to be better they instead throw out all ur writing and declare it non-canon.

If I were her to put it bluntly I'd feel insulted and horrible. Why make her do all the work of making sure her works align with the timeline and game's canon if they're not part of it?

I can't speak for her obviously but Meatly and Mike know of her account, so speaking out against this could very much risk her being fired or at least not allowed to work on Bendy anymore... So I would take all her tweets on this situation with a grain of salt. She very much is not in a position where she could be honest if she was against this.

So with all that history now, the question I'm sure many are wondering is... Why does this even matter? Who cares how diverse the characters are when it doesn't affect the story?

Well for one thing, if you think like that consider having more empathy for your fellow human beings but also it does affect the story. One of DCTL's themes is about the bigotry of the period it is set in.

Now the Bendy team has managed to make the discussion of this book centering around their bigotry which is ironic in a way I almost find funny... Though this entire thing is just a bit too hurtful and upsetting to find any humor in, at least for me...

But another thing is representation can bring people such joy when it's done with care. It really shouldn't be understated how far it can go to make people feel more comfortable in their own sense of self to have a franchise choose to represent them and their experiences. I know this from personal experience.

Now if you've been following me for a while, you know I'm a big fan of Transformers. I no longer engage with it much due to baggage from the fandom's awful treatment of me, but before I left I remember being able to witness the release of Transformers: Earthspark first few episodes.

These introduced the Maltos the family who meets the Transformers and serve as our protagonists and guess what?

It's a family of Filipinos!

Now look I'm not Filipino, but I am half Mexican and I have a lot of love for that part of me. So seeing the representation of any Spanish culture in this franchise I loved made me so happy! I remember just watching the first episode I was happily telling my partner how fun it was to see people like me and my family in a world I love!!

But it didn't end with the Maltos in fact... There was another character who spoke to me, their name was Nightshade. Their pronouns are They/Them and they spoke about it on the show! Not just mentioning it and moving on but actually sitting down to speak about their experiences...

This clip in particular really turned them into an absolute favorite among fans and well... I'll let you see it for yourself.

This scene... Fills me with a joy I cannot describe. It is the creators of a franchise I love telling me they see people like me and find the stories of people like me important enough to include in this series. There really is nothing like being able to say there are Non-Binary characters in a franchise I have so much love for. I was far from the only one too.

This is amazing, this is wonderful, this clip and character were moving to so so many people and...

This is a joy the Bendy creators have no interest in giving their audience. They don't care how you feel as a queer and/or black person, which... Hurts...

I... Discovered I was trans while in the Bendy community... It was where I learned the word Non-Binary and started using it for myself. To me Bendy will always have that connection... But the devs themselves seem to hate the idea of being forced to actually represent that in their games... And I still haven't really gotten over that pain or betrayal if I'm being honest.

So...

With Norman now being portrayed as white here, we are down to two black characters. Thomas [who Meatly has claimed is white in the past] based on a vague conversation with Sammy in DCTL they could easily ignore... And Jacob.... A book exclusive character which according to Mike means he is non-canon.

If we don't count Thomas' vague talk with Sammy about disrespect as confirmation he's black [which the devs don't seem to think so] then we have one black character in all of Bendy... And he recently got retconned into non-existence. Great.

Look... The Bendy fanbase has always been full of wonderfully diverse designs for the staff and even more diverse people creating them. Bendy's fandom was built with the work of queer people from all kinds of places.

If the Bendy team continues to show how little they care for anyone who isn't straight or white... I wonder who they are counting on to buy this book or in general financially support their franchise?

I know right now, I am furious, I am hurt and I most certainly don't feel like buying a book that's currently just a massive fuck you to the fans and I hope I've expressed why I feel this way in an easy-to-understand way here...

Either way, I will not be forgetting this anytime soon and I hope the fanbase does the same. Maybe just maybe, if there's enough backlash to this series of horrible decisions they'll learn better.

Right now, it's kinda of our only hope for a better future, and if you know any poc who are into Bendy right now... Maybe consider making sure they're feeling okay.

I know from experience how much this sort of thing hurts, to have the creators of a world you love straight up tell you they don't intend to fix the fact no one in their stories represents your identity or life...

What I'm trying to say is...

This is a really low point for Bendy and its fans... Even more for the poc who have to witness such ignorant and careless attitudes from Mike and Meatly towards their feelings.

Please don't forget them when you discuss these tweets or this situation. That's exactly what Mike and Meatly want right now.

For them to be unrepresented and therefore... Unheard.

[judesmoonbeauty]

merry christmas! 🎄🎁✨ can you brainrot a little (or a lot…?) about jude, nica, or both in the answer to this ask? :3c

Merry belated christmas anon! Thank you for such a sweet ask. There's spoilers involved, sooo....

˗ˏˋ 🍒 ˎˊ˗ As for Nica: Twice now he has said lines such as, "I've been raised right or I've had a good upbringing," and I've kinda like just given him the side-eye each time he's said that. Like "Uh-huh, okay, sure let's roll with that," but we all know that's not true or at least wasn't true for a time.

And with lore hints in the recent event of the twins being potentially abducted and used as test subjects for cursed experiments (most likely the victims of abuse too), I'm wondering if he says things like this to throw others off the trail about his past, is trying to convince himself that he had a good upbringing to cope with trauma; or IF Darius was the one that rescued the twins from that horrible place (assuming this is the case), could he be referring to the "upbringing" he would've received after being rescued?

....Or sadly, he is referring to potential domestic abuse as his "good upbringing"?

I'm very excited to learn more about the twins past, and to peer into that colder, more harsh side of Nica. (My weakness.) Still, I love watching his interactions with Kate overall, and love seeing him genuinely drop his guard with her and laugh as well. I think his route is going to be very good, from what I've seen of him so far.

˗ˏˋ⌛ˎˊ˗ As for Jude: A lot. I think about him 24/7, I'm obsessed. My mind jumps around with him so much that I can't even keep up lmao. Things like getting into bar fights with him, getting scolded by Victor along with him for doing something we shouldn't have, all the way to domestic life like dates, how would he interact with my tiny tiny nieces irl, curling up in bed together, having breakfast together, etc. But, um, I'll keep it brief....

His current election event story, there's this part where Jude mentions that he now that he's with Kate he doesn't feel as refreshed when he tramples down rotten nobles and such, and that it's only when he tortures and teases Kate, that he truly feels satisfied. This is HUGE. This is similar to what he says in his Halloween story.....all the feelings of satisfaction he gets from torturing others is nothing in comparison to satisfaction he gets from doing so with Kate. Of course, Jude absolutely curses (loves) and adores Kate!!

But now, I'm curious to know how his character will continue to develop going forward. Of course, that doesn't mean that Jude will stop getting revenge on others, or that others will stop seeking revenge on him. He is destined to die hating the world under this endless cycle of revenge, but how do I put this......does that mean in future events (depending on the setting), after Jude's taken care of his enemies, he will seek out Kate for some smexy "torture" sessions??? YES PLS.

It's not all about that though, I look forward to seeing more of their banter and his teasing her and spoiling her. Ugh....he's such a good boyfriend to her.

Overall, Jude has finally found happiness, and I can't wait to see how he continues to realize all the ways that Kate's presence is affecting him for the better. I think, regardless of who our faves are, it's so heart-warming to see them gain a measure of relief and happiness. Don't you? ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

[greentrickster]

What if Tramsformers existed in the same universe as Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (airplane got drunk and thought: yeah, cool space robots in a Xianxia setting. This is gonna be great. Thanks airplane).

Bingqiu and Moshang live long enough to (re)reach modern day and the autobots and Decepticons begin fighting on earth.

Luo Binghe sees this and decides love* can solve this conflict and immediately decides to matchmake Megatron and Optimus (along with several other bots and cons).

SQQ and SQH watch in fear and anticipation because with that Protagonist Halo of his he might actually succeed!

*well, live and sex (cmon it’s Binghe we’re taking about). The world runs on porn logic (again, thank you airplane bro) so it’s probably gonna happen. SQQ doesn’t wanna think about it. SQH does.

———

Anyway, silly little idea. Nice seeing you reappear on my dash, haven’t seen you since the SVSSS x Way of the Househusband crossover.

Ayeeeeeeee~ Cullen, been awhile! And dang, has it been that long? Frick, I think you missed an entire AU if that's the case!

Also, fun idea! It'd be doubly cool if the transformers all had a slightly xianxia cant to their designs in this version of events, sort of like those figures of Star Wars characters redesigned as samurai, but still recognizably themselves. That would be cool, and I personally prefer when xianxia and high fantasy settings 'modernize' into very distinct 'present day' settings that are still very noticeably different than our world when it comes to things like tech, fashion, and architecture. Personal preference, but also a chance to do some cool designs with the Cybertronians. Or-

-ooooooh~, no wait, entirely scrap needing to get to modern day at all! Just drop the Cybertronians bam in the center of the historically inaccurate xianxia setting! Because Airplane wouldn't freaking hesitate, so why should I?!? He was drunk, it was a silly-fun AU fanfic of his own work he did in his notes one night to Spark Joy, why bother having it happen in a 'modern' setting when he can just plop it in the current one, it's just a silly-fun idea to Spark Joy, it doesn't need any effort put into it! The Cybertronians, again, still have a more xianxia look to their root forms, and their alt forms look more like mythical beasts and creatures! Like, Optimus as a dragon, Megatron as a tiger (since the two are seen in combat more often than not), Starscream something along the lines of a phoenix (he flies and refuses to stay dead, I'm right), that sort of thing! Because it would be neat and look cool and Airplane agrees with me!

Personal preference would probably shift things to StarOP with Optimus and Megatron working things through and reclaiming their friendship, too (I'm sorry, no hate, it's just not my ship). Definitely gotta have Jazz/Soundwave, though, because I deem it Fun. I'd probably avoid sex between the Cybertronians, though, for two reasons:

Again, just not my cup of tea. I'm cool with robot sex, but I really, really like the bit of Transformers lore about Cybertron having hot spots that give birth to new sparks every now and then and that's where sparklings come from, it makes my anthropology minor go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr at very high speeds!

More importantly, I think it'd be so, so much fun to have Binghe try and deal with a species that just... does not have sex. They respect your choices, but that's just not something they have any inclination or interest in doing, entire species of asexuals. And Binghe is trying to help them hook up while also having to revise his entire worldview in the process. Do you see it? Do you see my vision???

Shen Qingqiu is absolutely chugging vinegar over this entire situation, but he can't even get properly mad at Shang Qinghua, because even he didn't ever plan to include this in PIDW in any manner, it was just goofing around. Not to mention that not even Shen Yuan is immune to Cool Giant Xianxia Transformers.

Thanks for the ask!

[habitsbf]

alright... waddling in here nervously. I luv talking about habit but I have really niche opinions about it I think but I figured you might be inch rested in them. I get a lot of my habit headcanons from a close friend of mine (seasoned-siffrin here on Tumblr, but I don't think he's posted many of his habitisms) but I've built off of them on my own as well

okay. well. I was here to bounce of the last ask about the seven deadly sins theory LMAO. I've not heard that one and I see where they're coming from, what with the present religious themes of everymanhybrid (and a good lot of slenderverse series in general, I've noticed), but I think habit has a bit more nuance than that. not a dig at prev, of course, I'm just excited teehee

habit describes himself in canon as Mankind's Bad Habit, and if I remember correctly Evan Jennings continues to refer to him this way in non-canon instances like streams. it's been a while since I've touched up on Evan's personal takes on habit, so if any of this is lukewarm-cold takes feel free to bite me for it. I don't think "Mankind's Bad Habit" is an accurate way to describe habit at all.

well, okay, in many cases it is. what we see of him in emh, canyouseethewords, and from the extra lore we're given about him, he sure as shit does seem like the worst of the worst- but as he is a personification of the concept of habits, there's an opportunity for more layers to what he is; not just bad habits, but habits as a whole. humanity is flawed. our bad habits speak far louder than our good ones. it only makes sense for this entity to reflect that.

I think looking at habit through the lens of human morality is also going about it the wrong way. this creature is beyond our comprehension, and is more conceptual than he is physical. he doesn't operate on the same moral scale as we do. when he expresses little care about his horrific actions, I don't personally believe it's just out of numbness or sadism, but the way he as an entity is wired. there is no real good or bad for habit, as he is just a reflection of us and our behaviors. associating him with the sins doesn't make much sense if you look at him through that lens.

sorry I just crawled into your asks and spit out a yap fest I sit and think about this beast frequently. kick my feet and twirl the phone line around my fingers while I talk about him and such. I like studying him under a microscope :3

DUDE I GENUINELY ADORE YOUUUhjdhjfihh YOU GET IT YOU LITERALLY GET IT. EXACTLY. dont apologize for yapping, i rarely get serious asks that align with my views on HABIT, so this was like a breath of fresh air for me HAHA.

HABIT does not view things the same way we as humans do. you are spot on about that. he is NOT human, and the EverymanHYBRID crew tries so hard to remind us of that. HABIT is his own thing, his own kind of being, he doesnt have our morals or views. it makes sense why he doesnt operate or even think like we do.

HABIT takes interest in things seen as brutal, horrid, and beyond fucked up. it makes sense for him to be curious about the bad in humanity. feeding off of what he has seen and knows, he uses all of this stuff as scare tactics. HABIT so badly wants to be seen as horrifying, as something that is pure evil, something that no god could ever defeat or save others from...

but, like you said, "mankinds bad habit" isnt exactly fitting for him. if HABIT truly was all things bad, he would be even worse than he currently is. he would be so much more brutal, so horrible that nobody could even like the guy, but that just isnt the case. HABIT has some positive characteristics, even if they are small, they are still very much there. theres parts of him that still make him likable. HABIT is not ALWAYS bad. he is not CONSTANTLY evil.

in series, in the video "Half-acre of ash", he quite literally has a moment of vulnerability, showing that he isnt completely enjoying what hes doing. he mentions how he gets to "hunt them, and eat them, and cut them, and burn them" but "its the same." HABIT seems happier in videos where hes simply around Vinny and the videos where he is getting closer to the ending of the current iteration. i know hes happy committing violence too, but thats a normal for him. violence is a huge part of who he is. its understandable why he gets bored of it sometimes. to him, its something he just does every once in a while. its like a hobby for him. while we view it as bad, he views it as good.

HABIT is wired to crave and commit violent acts. he ISNT wired for normal casual interactions, and i (getting into some semi-headcanon talk here) genuinely believe he enjoyed Vinnys company, so having to trash all of that and restart YET AGAIN probably makes him feel alone. he has stated before his only "friends" are slenderman and the rake, and those two probably arent the most fun to be around. the dude craves a positive relationship, but his nature and want to be viewed as evil gets in the way of that. he wants a break. it makes you feel bad for the guy regardless of all the horrific things he has done.

ANYWAAAYS, i too frequently think about this beast 🫶 i mean, come on, this things my entire personality and surrounds my online presence. I LOVE HIM!!! I THINK HES GREAT!!! i absolutely love being able to discuss him in extreme detail and just ahhshkdjehJHKDDHJHhdhf hes so neat. hes such a cool character. idgaf if hes "overpowered" hes perfect to me. I 💜 HABIT.

[scoobydoodean]

reading your metas and realizing that the reason i find sam so annoying is that hes both obsessed with being a grown up who can make his own choices and isnt a child, and absolutely committed to never taking responsibility for his choices when push comes to shove.

hes a grown up when it comes to making decisions but not when those decisions have consequences

And it's very much on purpose in the writing, is the thing. This exact dynamic is one of the only lines of dialogue between Michael and Lucifer in 5.22 that really reflects Sam and Dean's more current conflicts (Recall that the lore here is that Lucifer twisted the first human soul (Lilith) into demonhood to spite God):

MICHAEL/ADAM: Oh, you know why! I have no choice, after what you did. LUCIFER/SAM: What I did? What if it's not my fault? MICHAEL/ADAM: What is that supposed to mean? LUCIFER/SAM: Think about it. Dad made everything. Which means he made me who I am! God wanted the Devil.

"Because someone wanted me to be bad, I have no choice but to be bad." The things that happen to us give us context and create room for sympathy, but they don't make our choices everyone else's fault. (And yes—free will does exist to Chuck's great frustration, or he wouldn't have had a season long tantrum about Team Free Will not ever doing what he wanted).

What's more, in this same conversation where Lucifer excuses his own actions as outside of his control, he tells Michael to defy their father's desires—something he just finished saying wasn't possible. He just said that he had to be exactly who he was meant to be, but he doesn't apply this same logic to Michael's God-given role. He only twists the narrative of their lives when it's about him, to make himself sound uniquely powerless. He assigns Michael all the culpability and control over how this fight goes down when Lucifer actively worked to bring this moment where they battle to fruition as well (including by stocking a mass grave in 5.10). It's manipulative bullshit.

How does Michael respond to all of this a few moments later? Before anything, by expressing resetment for Lucifer's refusal to take responsibility for his own choices:

MICHAEL/ADAM: You know, you haven't changed a bit, little brother. Always blaming everybody but yourself.

We can also reflect on the last time Lucifer threw himself a pity party about how mean his family is—to justify digging a mass grave into which he had dumped hundreds of bodies for a ritual to raise Death. He said it wasn't his fault then either—that Michael made him do it by betraying him—by refusing to stand by his side supporting his every decision (which, while framed as somehow making him powerless, strongly suggest a desire to control others feelings and for everyone including his older brother to fall in line behind him and do his bidding without question). It's never his fault. It's always someone else's fault for being mean to him.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Pure Story theory on story driver Conflict

I have a longer document going currently, for myself with all of the lines of proof. The history of how it came into stories, who said what, how it transformed with stories and why no one went back to the place whence it came.

Pro Conflict:

Conflict Theory, though I kinda think in modern social sciences and History Theory this is being paired with moments of rest and reflection.

Things heighten very quickly (adversely, they also heighten quickly)

You can draw out fear, anxiety, paranoia, etc. (Great for Horror, thrillers, etc).

Conflict can make things feel bigger, more impossible, harder to face. (But usually there are other things inserted to make this even more possible than plain conflict. Wonder, for example, development of the world as a character, etc. Brecht manages to get past this, which is why his argument for Epic works fairly well.)

Anti Conflict:

In Psychology fear is a poor motivator. People don't like to be slammed with fear and anxiety all the time, it makes them want to resist.

This model is bad for secure masculinity. It reinforces that everything is done with violence.

It has a limited range of emotions one can bring out in the consumer.

One can get used to it and become Pavlov's dog—give up or even become immune to it.

Sociological theory since has updated severely against Conflict Theory only.

Complaints about everything feeling flat. Conflict often looks at EVENTS, not character. You need development for character to change.

Conflict by itself has a problem of not lingering for long enough to really make a lasting impression.

Conflict, by itself, doesn't necessarily mean growth. Otherwise Wonder Woman 1984 wouldn't have sucked.

Neutral:

It reinforces individualism.

Conflict is often easy to digest. (Coming from your amigdala). It takes less thought to understand. Therefore, it doesn't linger. (Psychology of fear explains why).

It reinforces imperialistic narratives. Great for imperialistic nations, though this isn't really what the core of conflict theory originally said. I question if this is why the US leans so hard into it. And also why US's version of masculinity is still about violence is control.

Reinforces capitalism==good. Though more recent research has shown that people buy things also for other reasons.

I also think if you want to transform conflict into something else, something that feels longer lasting, where you have more control of the climax as not 100% anxiety, Brecht is probably your best theorist for that. So the climax feels like FUN or transformation, or whatever you're aiming for. But you really, really need to time it well, and really think about how to transform those feelings of anxiety, which, is really difficult because you need to be able to reframe all of the events before it into something else and a different understanding, which I've seen anime pull off, but they didn't center conflict to get there.

BTW, the terminology of stakes in story jargon, from my research is 100% accidental. I was laughing for a good minute when I found that out. Us writers love a good coinage to the point we'll take a pauper bit of language and raise it to unbelievable heights, ignoring the rest of the world in order to do it. I would beg writers to not do this, because our job is to observe the world and reflect it... but I know I am prone to this too, so it probably will continue for all time.

Just for kicks, the opposite end of conflict is cooperation narratives, development and self-reflection. Notice, though in gender lore, these are assigned in the white US gender roles as "female" things rather than human things that people should do that are gender neutral.

Somewhere between the two, I would say discovery narratives can kick in both, where it has flexibility to become a conflict or become a point of cooperation. But this is purely philosophical.

One can 100% have a character not change one iota, have the whole story center around conflict, have a secondary driver of discovery, and still make the story feel dynamic. If Agatha All Along can pull it off by half, then yes, you can too.

It's not an advanced technique. It just takes some thinking, philosophizing and examining the world around you through different lenses than only conflict. Besides, my favorite story driver is all of them. If I can tease out an emotion I want or a thought I want for a particular scene, I'm going to claw tooth and nail to get it to work for the largest number of people.

[bendersmind]

From '69 to Release (Giggity)

Is "giggity" still funny? Did I mention I'm fucking ancient? Because I am. I saw the premiers of South Park AND Family Guy my dudes. That's how old.

Speaking of cartoons, I've been watching "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" for the past 2 days. You should too. It's on Tubi, my favorite source for both garbage films and weird cult shit that only I (and a small amount of freaks) watch. It's great. This has NOTHING to do with my Ghost post, I just thought you should know.

Well, not nothing. The relationship is that Scooby Doo premiered the night of the Ghost show where Nihil fucked everything up. Behind the cut you'll find some potential spoilers for "Sister Imperator #2" based on the released preview pages. If you don't want to read it come back to this post after it's released. It releases on April 16th and will make the following post ENTIERLY meaningless and wrong. So let me waste a bit of your time . . . under the cut.

Alright, so information from the preview is kinda iffy. The biggest thing, which isn't probably related to the plot of the issue itself (something about some suspicious dude following the circus Imperator is in) but it's important for lore purposes.

There are a few things we learn.

A man we presume is Nihil has been touring away from the main circus on and off for 2 years.

At this point in the story, Imperator has been with said circus for those 2 years.

The man we assume is Nihil has at least 1 brother.

Said brother has a bunch of kids already

Okay. So lets look at number 3 and 4 as being the "point" of this post. 1 and 2 set up Imperator and (probably) Nihil's relationship.

Nihil tells us that his brother has several "pups" when Imperator accuses Nihil of leaving a bunch of French maidens sad after he left. The implication is 2 fold, Nihil's brother is a ho (and I say that with love; nothing wrong with being a ho) and he doesn't wrap it before he taps it.

The last frame of our preview shows us a dinner table with circus folk and 3 women each with young children. 2 with babies and 1 with a toddler. This occurs sometime between '53 (the start of Imperator #1) and '69. It's not super clear how old Imperator is when the comic starts but she is probably 10-13. She leaves home after her stepfather murders her sisters and presumably when she was a teenager. It's hard to say when, but I'd say 15/16ish. This means she's somewhere around 20 when Nihil comes back from France. Per my timeline this would be around '60. Nihil would be around 20 then as well(based on his death being in 2020 at 80). Let's assume that they are close in age(and Imperator aged gracefully, Nihil . . . not so much).

The toddler looked to be around 3ish (I legit know shit all about kids so please correct me if I'm wrong) and is potentially Papa I (or maybe my favorite pre canon theory, Mystery Papa); the babies are likely Papa II and III. I'd like to correct my already partially incorrect post from a while back; Papa I, II, and III are confirmed to be brothers; and based on the current information we have, Nihil is probably their uncle. It'd make more sense as to why he was cool with just murdering them.

Sister Imperator #2 will probably give us more of an idea of the family structure for the Emeritus bloodline and exactly how many brothers Nihil has. Based on what I'm thinking both Nihil's father and Nihil's older brother are dead by '69. This would open the line for the next oldest son (or daughter; we actually don't know anything about female descendants in the church). That would be Nihil.

When Nihil's bid for fame failed miserably after the show at Whiskey A Go-Go he was clearly replaced. By who? Probably the next in his father's line. And so on up until the last son of his father and then on to the oldest son of the oldest brother of the last generation of Papas.

Lord in hell that's a clusterfuck of a sentence. Basically, it'd go to Nihil's older brother's oldest son. This could be either Papa I or Mystery Papa (2008 - 2011). We just don't know yet.

I think the most interesting part of this whole thing is the "old world circus" that the church comes from. The biggest question for me is where does the circus "end" and the church "begin". That is to say, how do you go from circus performer to clergy? Is everyone in the troupe an agent of Satan? Or were the Emeritus line stashed into traveling shows to hide them from potential assassins?

That would actually give us an explanation as to why Copia and Perpetua were split up and raised apart. The current theory is that Mrs. Psalterian is Marika from the comic and thus the person who raised Copia. But where was Perpetua? Someone suggested with all of his Venice carnival schtick he was raised somewhere near Venice. I think that's a fair assessment. While the Ministry is (in canon) located in Linköping, Sweden, Italy is REALTIVELY close. Also Europe has the fucking trains that get you goddamn anywhere so it isn't even like living on different coasts of the US. (Fucking Europe and your . . . excellence)

Anyway, the raising of the twins is neither here nor there; until we get some more about Perpetua we'll be lost in the surf. I really look forward to seeing how he works with the crowd. Whatever we get it will certainly be interesting.

Points of interest: What is the structure of the Clergy exactly? Why has Marika always called Copia "Cardi"? Was his name when he walked into the story we are seeing "Cardinal Cardinal Copia"? Is the circus "Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show" from "Something Wicked This Way Comes"? Does Nihil already know the nature of his family? Has the church always been hidden in a traveling circus or was it in other itinerant entertainer groups(bards, theater, fakirs, etc)? Was there a magician Papa? Please tell me there are puppets! I fucking love puppets.

[maybequinnidk]

OTP // Girl?

2 in 1. the stories aren't necessarily connected

1. One True... Partnership?

silly

Kara insists she and Lena aren't dating, but Alex knows better.

She notices the looks, the touches, the words. And it's not like she's actively looking for those signs, Kara and Lena just are like that.

The way she denies it has changed, though. It started like "no, we're friends", and, okay, fine, maybe she was projecting a little...

When it became "whaaat? No. No we're um- we're friends. B-best friends" she just seemed to be in denial, really.

And around 7 months ago it shifted back to "no, Alex, she is not my girlfriend" only this time she seemed annoyed by the question.

And what is even more interesting is that now she's just like "'kay, y'know what? sure".

So, yeah, Alex knows her sister is dating. What she doesn't know is why she won't just tell her.

"What exactly have you been asking her?" Nia asks.

"If she and Lena are girlfriends. I thought I made that pretty clear."

"I thought I made myself clear too." Kara chimes in. Wait, Kara is here? "Also, can you not talk about us as if we can't listen?"

"Kara, stop with the eavesdropping!"

"We're in the same space!"

"Alex, I think you're asking the wrong question." Nia turns her attention to Kara. "Kara?"

"Nia?"

"What are you and Lena?"

"We, my dear pupil, are partners." she looks at Alex in the rearview mirror, smiles and adds "Thank you for asking."

"Oh, yeah. That makes more sense." Nia seems satisfied with the answer. Alex however...

"All that fuss for this?" unbelievable. "That's the same thing!"

"Ok well, would you say you and Kelly are girlfriends?"

"We're wives." she barely cares to contain her smile. Wives

"But you are dating?"

"No, we're married." Married.

"But you two are together, so why not just call her your girlfriend?"

"Because it's a different thing." oh "Nevermind I see your point."

"Great, we're all on the same page. Kara and I are partners, you and Kelly are married, your Kara impression is terrible, and I'm really hungry. Can you please order our food now? There's a line of of cars forming behind us."

★★★

2. Girl? not culturally accurate

also a bit silly.

They just finished training. Well, Nia finished training. Kara is still punching her "punching bag" if you can call a car that.

"Miss Grant called me the wrong name." she takes a break and says out of nowhere.

"What? Kiera?" Nia teases.

"I regret ever telling you about that..." Kara rolls her eyes "No, I mean Supergirl."

"Why is it wrong?"

"It's innacurate."

"Oh right, because you were a woman in your 20s."

"No, more like because I wasn't a woman nor in my 20s."

Kara lore.

Sometimes during their training sessions Kara would just randomly tell stories about her life. It's how she knows about "Kiera" and that Kara sold some of her artwork during her college years.

Nia waits for her mentor to continue. She doesn't. She punches the car.

"You want to elaborate?"

"'Cause I wasn't really in my 20s. If I had gotten here when I was supposed to, I would have been almost 50 in Earth years by then." a cross punch.

"Yeah, no, I get that part. But what do you mean you weren't a woman?"

"There aren't- weren't women on Krypton. That's a human thing, an Earth thing. We did have feminine genders though, as well as masculine and neutral ones."

it's not just Kara lore, it's Krypton lore. ok, Nia, be cool

"A-and which one are you?" nailed it

"Neutral. It was close to a feminine one but not all the way. When I left I was still a kuhl, and would have grown up to be ehdhyv and then shehd. Unlike my mother who was a shed, or my father who was a shod. Sorry, there's not really a direct translation to English for those words."

"So, you're non-binary?"

"In current human terms, I guess so. But on Krypton there weren't any binary genders to begin with. Feminine, neutral and masculine were equally standard and, like, the big categories that had at least five subcategories within them. There were so many masculine genders that I could never remember them all."

"What pronouns do you use? Who else knows? Are you going to change Supergirl's name?"

Kara chuckles fondly. "She and her but I'm open to trying they and them. Eliza, Alex, Lena and now you. And I don't think so. I know that's how I got into the subject..." Nia swears she was trying to pay attention, but a realization caught her off guard.

"Ms. Danvers, Alex and Lena..." she whispers. She's among the people who know about Krypton through Kara now.

"Uh, Nia?" Kara snaps her out of it waving her hand in front of her.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Our time is up. Alex is gonna train physical combat with the new recruits." Kara is already at the door, just waiting for her.

Nia grabs her stuff and follows her out of the room. She still has questions – how did she adapt to human genders? were there gender roles? are they going to tell Miss Grant? – but knows better than to ask now.

What happens in the training room, stays in the training room. Except for, you know, the training.

translations

kuhl: child under 15, neutral;

ehdhyv: teen, person between 15 and 23, neutral;

shehd: adult person, neutral;

shed: adult person, feminine;

shod: adult person, masculine.

translation source