smth so good abt labru besides the obvious thing (narrative foils) is also the fact that laios is such an open book / wears his heart on his sleeve and honest down to earth guy that he just loops back around to being unpredictable . like the fuckin, “its not even a monster??” laios fav food reveal is such a funny bit because like . okay. its hilarious that kabru who’s whole thing is being able to read people super well and remember all these details abt them is just so utterly blind when it comes to laios. hes like shooting a dart everywhere and it hits the general direction but at the same time the trajectory is just so off because laios does something bizarre that kabru has to reorient his chart of “stuff abt laios touden” and scramble things around. its like a game. a flow chart of . whatever the fuck
basically Kabru, the guy who knows everything there is to know about everyone. V.S this enigma who isn’t even that mysterious just autistic and easily misunderstood
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It doesn’t get mentioned enough that this moment is actually the first confession of Anthony’s feelings for Kate
I’ve seen people saying that he was so panicked at the thought of Kate leaving, going somewhere far away from him, that he was just saying anything and not making sense, but his train of thought actually makes complete sense if you think about it.
Anthony was planning to propose to Edwina and Kate knows that. Then, Kate tells him that the moment Edwina is married, she immediately plans to set sail for India. She’s not going to stick around any longer than that. This means that as soon as Anthony proposes to Edwina, a deadline will be set for when Kate has to leave.
Why would this be a way to keep him away from Edwina? BECAUSE HE DOESN’T WANT KATE TO LEAVE AND HE THINKS KATE KNOWS THAT.
In Anthony’s head, this is a threat. If he goes ahead and proposes to Edwina, Kate will simply go ahead and walk away, from England and from him. The need he feels to keep her close, to be in her company, is so profound that he cannot fathom that Kate wouldn’t be aware of it.
So when she says that she’s going to leave as soon as Edwina marries, knowing that he’s planning on proposing to her, what he perceives is, ‘do that and I’ll walk away’. That’s why he says she’s saying that as an excuse to keep him away.
Of course, if he’d taken a deep breath, thought about it calmly, he’d be able to see that Kate doesn’t have a single clue about his feelings or the power she holds over him. But he’s never been the most rational when it comes to Kate anyway. So, instead he lands on this gem of a convoluted conclusion.
And if you think about it, I don’t think he ever realised that his feelings weren’t obvious until much later on. Because right after this, his conversation with Daphne tells him that his feelings for Kate are also obvious to her. So I really don’t think he grasped how not-obvious they were to Kate.
It just goes onto show the extent of his feelings for Kate, even before YATBOME.
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So I spoke somewhat about my thoughts on Emanator Sampo here, but I never really thought of it from a design point of view or what kind of powers he would have until just recently. But I actually kind of love leaning into it from a "stage hand" perspective?
Because like. Aha's body in THEIR official art is completely black, giving attention to all the fun brightly colored things around THEM. And that's so fitting for Sampo! He usually prefers to be a side character. He likes to act from the shadows. His is a much more subtle hand.
So I wonder if as an Emanator, a lot of his clothes are actually very dark? Not necessarily plain, still extravagant and needlessly detailed in things like cut and quality with lots of different fabrics and textures and ornamentation, but dark. Or maybe even his skin itself becomes blackened further down his body; his hands in particular are dark, as a sort of sleight of hand reference.
The motif of a lot of straps wrapped around him like in his canon design is still present, but they're all loose and flowing off of him like paper streamers now instead of restraining him or holding him together. He is no longer contained! Or maybe they're still a bit more rigid/heavy, but just draped more like red stage curtains!
And this is like. Fully self-indulgent, but I love inhuman designs, and there's nothing in canon to say I can't do this, so screw it! Go for broke!! Maybe it's not visible to normal people, but Sampo having a second set of arms would be really cool, as further sleight of hand reference. One set is almost normal looking, but his hands are a bright, attention-drawing white, and the other is dark, set almost in the shadows of the first arms, to act less noticeably.
He also has something of a broken heart design to him in canon (the front of his black shirt with its jagged shape down the middle; his coat looks like a full heart shape in the back), and I actually like him keeping that element as an Emanator, because I think it suits him. Sampo says his taste in aesthetics and views on Elation involve human dignity,
and the story he helps create in Belobog involves the long and winding road of resistance and survival and eventual triumph in the face of some very adverse, oppressing odds. (I'm pretty sure I heard he once called Wildfire "artless" though, plus the man acts like he thinks Shame is some kind of dessert, so like ndkdjzjskkd) But the point being!!
I think Sampo is someone who can appreciate heartbreak and angst and tragedy in a story, because it makes the victory at the end all the sweeter. And this would be another thing he shares with Aha, because I think THEY did bless the Mourning Actors partly just to be a little shit, but also because Aha does recognize tragedy as part of THEIR Path, too, and you can see it in some of the game. So a broken heart motif can still suit him, and I like him having elements of both comedy and tragedy. Like his clothing having a happy sun/sad moon (like the moon in Aha's art) or him having both of the traditional comedy/tragedy masks in his design.
And as Emanator, Sampo can maybe play with the stage settings environment, too. Like lights sometimes behave strangely around him, appearing blindingly bright to someone or dramatically dark. Sampo wills it and suddenly there seems to be a metaphorical spotlight right where he wants everyone to look. And when he doesn't want to be noticed, his face seems to be cast in shadow, he seemingly just fades into the background, no one notices or recognizes him and he sneaks away easily. He can create smoke or fog literally out of thin air without his bombs now, too, the air will just suddenly thicken until his stage is obscured, and Sampo can set the scene as he pleases or disappear without a trace.
And in line with being a stage hand, Sampo can direct attention like no other. He was already extremely good at this as a normal mortal, and becoming an Emanator only took it up to 11, past human limits. Sampo points, and all present feel compelled to follow his fingertip. He looks away, and they all follow his gaze. He can even affect the mood of an audience; he can influence everyone to be calm and placid or he can whip them into a feverish frenzy. Sometimes a crowd will start to become unsettled, agitation stirring until it boils over, until it incites a full on violent mob.
And in the middle of all that chaos will stand one perfectly calm figure, face cast in shadow, until they quietly slip away out of sight.
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watching Liam O'Brien do a spectacular fantasy!German for dozens of episodes has impressed me so much and yet nothing could have possibly prepared me for the man starting to sing, of all the songs, "Laurentia, liebe Laurentia mein"
the immersion! if you reached to the very back of my memory there'd be like ten folk songs there and this one, which we used to have to sing at 7:00 in the morning on choir retreats while doing squats for all the weekdays, would definitely be there. it's a silly ditty you've heard somehow exclusively in childhood, it's a little game song for children. If all else was tainted by your later life that song would probably survive, it's perfect
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