#iteration 1.0

[semimedieval]

i'm going to recap this but i'm not going to be happy about it

last time on ADVENTURES OF THE EXTRANEI: the gang brought tozi back from the dead, had a party, and time-skipped away from the journey to the beach. The first storyline post after this happens is from Moopy, who makes one good storytelling decision and one bad one.

Shadow watched them all silently. The happier people are, the more devastating things can be. He slipped into one of their minds… the Mask stood back as his small band of Interpol warriors prepared to knock down Monoceros gate.

Good: a new enemy, the beginning of a new conflict, yippee! Bad: you cannot try to arrest the villain of the roleplay without asking anyone first, it is anticlimactic and silly.

The gang gets home, and there is a bunch of boilerplate narration regarding people's Arrivals At Home. I myself seem suspiciously absent - do not remember what's up with that. Was I busy with school? Had I ditched the roleplay for Ildaan? I do remember around here is when I quit the dragon RP.

There's a stupid little mini scene where Lorcan looks through everyone's things for no reason and Rim is like "oh yeah I also looked through everyone's things." The anime creep doesn't stop from happening!! Chuji hits them with "don't even THINK about rummaging like a rat!" which is completely correct but the plot thread is still dumb as hell.

To make it even WORSE, Tozi comes in and goes "You need to know limits. I mean, you have a mind. Right? There could be stuff in there that can scar you" and Chuji is mad about THAT and then Ky's like "Lorcan did you read through my diary" and Obsidian, god bless him goes "Am I the only boy here who respects privacy?" which is THE QUESTION I AM ALSO ASKING ABOUT THESE DIPSHITS.

Tozi backed up next to obsidian "you know. Chuji can be really butal. I wish you luck sidian." "I'll keep it in mind," Obsidian said solemnly.

This is all just straight up misogyny, but FINE, i giggled about this. I'm just glad they're getting along, I think. Then there's a silly little tiff between Lupus and Ky that's about to get retconned, though I do think it's so stupid the way the text of the RP loves to Tell you that lupus and ky are the healthiest couple ever and then hits you with all of the evidence to the contrary.

Lupus walked over to her and took her hand. Ky slapped it away, running into her room. Lupus looked rather hurt. Then shrugging, he walked to his own room. Although the slap hadn't been that hard, his hand still stung.

We start to write them talking it out and then Jack's like "Man forget it can we not worry about it." Then Jack posts "Charlie fell out of the sky." Everyone is clearly a little bit short on meaningful story paths. BUT THEN! Sparktozi real?

Spark walked into the kitchen, finding a bouquet of flowers and all the items she needed for cooking. On a note fancy cursive letters read "To Spark, My Dearest." "CHARLIE!" Obsidian walked out of the kitchen, only to bump into Tozi. "Hi Obsidian!" He smiled. "Have you seen Spark?" He looked behind him. "Hi Spark!" He said jovially. Spark blushed a bit and motioned for him to come in. "Look at this!" She held up the note and pointed to the flowers and food supply. "He can't buy my heart. Stupid Charlie."

Rather than watching this flirting, Obsidian, Rim, and Chuji go into town. Wait oh my god I remember what happens next and it's fucking goofy ridiculous.

A group of people were at Monoceros gate. They were wearing grey-green camouflage clothing, and all wielded different weapons, which all had one similar feature. Glowing colored stones. One was a bluey whitey colour, another was a light purple-blue. There was a red one, an earthy coloured one, and a pale white bluey sort of shade, like air. And there was also another person, dressed in white, and true to his name, a white mask hid his features. Hi spear had a golden white stone set in it, and was all made up of metal. "Monoceros! You are under arrest! Come out quietly or we will take extreme measures!" Mask bellowed through a microphone, his voice scrambled.

God bless, everyone is being so fucking goofy. RP etiquette who?? Nobody has ever heard of it. Ever ever.I remember all of us being kind of weirded out by this, which is fair, though we were not swimming in RP etiquette ourselves. Monoceros gets beat up in public which is honestly just very funny. His Dr. Doofenshmirtz arc. Also, Monoceros never lived in Drellem, but whatever. Very justifiably, this was completely ignored.

This is the kind of situation where a roleplay lacking direction really desperately needs help with getting that direction, perhaps from THE PERSON LEADING IT, but.... to nobody's surprise, that's not happening and we're instead floating along on Moopy's vaguely conceived ideas and not asking them relevant information like "Where do you think this storyline should go?" SO many of this roleplay's problems involve the fact that, well, Monoceros is a shitty villain that the entire gang is barely even trying to understand. Anyway, the gang turns away from his arrest and Obsidian mutters "Why is it that we can never actually buy anything at the market?", which is admittedly pretty funny.

I do think that, while the "erm. um. what now." mealy-mouthedness of the protagonists in response to, well, the public arrest of their biggest enemy is a) pretty silly and b) obviously a response to this being a plotpoint that we had no hand in creating and took us completely by surprise, a key underlying reason for this discomfort is also the fact that, well. It's fucking sucks to witness CONTEMPORARY MILITARY OPERATIONS in your cutesy cartoon violence fantasy roleplay. It's an entry point of something too real and current into the story. In that way, I do understand it.

Anyway, the next post is the actual introduction of China, which means it's time to split up the posts.

[mewguca]

reposting these here so i can tag them orz

I also realized I never posted SLS's refs here!!!

This is Starlight Symphony! she's my little iteratorsona/OC i gave her way too much lore and it was very fun

I'm working on trying to unveil that over time on her ask blog @ask-starlight-symphony !! please be patient though! I end up wanting to color most of the art hehe

she's still a work in progress!!

There are a lot of characters related to her lore I should post here eventually...the OCs continue to grow in number lol

iterator ocs my beloved 💫

ヾ(ˊᗜˋ*)

[gmax]

it kind of sucks that the section between arr and heavensward is incredibly miserable. like first of all i think parts of it could have been really good if it were handled by a better writing team. also so much of it lays the groundworks for other stuff? this iswhy i get so pissed about people saying ohh you can skip arr YOU LITERALLY CANT if you want shit to make sense you cant skip the part of the story that lays the foundation for the rest of the story. funny how a story works.

[eastofoktober]

my manager tells me their data woes use to be worse and the current program run is actually way better despite all the…everything

me:

[paintedscales]

Hm... :yc

[buckevantommy]

canon divergence fic from 3x16 where chim is moved by buck to touch base with his old pal tommy for a drink and a catch up this time instead of a favor. couple weeks later chim mentions he's catching up with tommy again, and buck is like, "wait, who's tommy?" and chim explains he's an old 118 friend, one of his first friends on the job - after eli and before hen - and he left to join the 217. anyway buck rocks up to the bar later having forgotten about chim's friend date; he's had a crappy day and doesn't wanna bring down the vibe but chim insists he join them so he does.

so s3!buck meets tommy. the buck who hasn't had any luck in love since he watched abby leave and who had a rough time with the whole red situation. buck or chim introduces him as evan buckley so tommy calls him evan and buck doesn't think to correct him.

chim explains roughly about buck having a hard time in love and tommy sympathises, saying his last relationship didn't work out and the one before that couldn't handle his job, throwing in a male pronoun and casting an eye chim's way to gague his reaction. chim takes it in stride, only needing a second to orient. "well, that's his loss." and then buck is commiserating with tommy about finding someone you like but who can't handle the job - iterating that the job is his life, but since red? he wants more. he just doesn't know if he'll find it. and maybe tommy hasn't been looking for relationship material for a couple of years after those bad breakups, choosing instead to just enjoy himself as much as possible and avoid heartbreak - and buck knows what that's like he's been there, and chim offers up a few tales of buck 1.0 including theft of a fire engine for a hookup which has tommy laughing in disbelief.

all this to say: s3!buck meets tommy and they strike up a friendship that eventually serves as catalyst for buck's bi awakening. i'll take every alternate meeting of these two in canon i can get, but i just finished s3 so this is where my head is at rn. i just like the idea of chim reconnecting with tommy a lot sooner, and tommy getting to reconnect and know the rest of the 118 sooner. i also like the idea of getting to know this tommy who is somewhere between his 118 years and season 7; i don't think he'd be the same guy we meet in s7, i mean he's comfortable in his sexuality but maybe he's a little less settled than later seasons tommy.

[scenikeight]

What My Father Wanted was to Kill God: Reflecting on the cycle of Rebuild of Evangelion

It's been two years now, since Evangelion 3.0+1.0 hit Japanese cinemas for the first time.

I think many of us chose to say goodbye to Eva on that day, too, leaving satisfied. I can't fault anyone for this. But there's a part of me that stings knowing that 3.0+1.0 has been left relatively un-combed-through in comparison to the other films, and I don't feel right leaving it this way. Today, I want to dissect "loop theory" - what it was before 3.0+1.0 came out, in what ways we missed the mark back then, and finally, what the resolution of 3.0+1.0 meant for the story. I want to understand what it meant to kill God.

This article was heavily inspired by "What was loop theory? Investigating the truth after Evangelion 3.0+1.0", by Japanese fan-channel Eva Fan. If you want to understand the meta angle of Rebuild better (i.e. "why does Rebuild even exist in the first place?"), please watch the NHK Professional documentary on Anno and the production of 3.0+1.0 (not "The Final Challenge of Evangelion" version on Amazon, although you should watch this one too because they're both great.) The meta of Rebuild is outside the scope of this article.

SECTION 1: WHAT WAS LOOP THEORY?

If you're already familiar with the basis of loop theory, you can probably skip this section and head to section 2. This is gonna be a lot of recap. I, for one, have never been a huge fan of the idea of "loop theory". This isn't to say that I've ever disagreed with the conclusion that Rebuild's world is stuck in a loop, more that I felt like painting it as a "theory" is seeding more ground to bad faith actors in the fandom than necessary. However, I'm using the term here to refer generally to different theories about the loops, namely those regarding Kaworu and potential connections with End of Eva. Now that all of the disclaimers are out of the way... ESTABLISHING OUR BASES, PART 1: THE MESSENGER

From the moment he's introduced, Kaworu's entire purpose in the first two films seems to be establishing the loop to the audience. His familiarity with previous versions of Shinji is front and centre in the very first line he speaks.

Some relevant lines from Kaworu in 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. Full sized image here.

While at this stage, we lack information on how much Kaworu knows, we are at least aware of his knowledge of previous iterations of the Eva world in that first line there: "The Third one again". This is compounded at the very end of 2.0, in which he declares that "this time" (as opposed to previous times, presumably failed attempts), he will make Shinji happy. In 3.0, there's a moment in which he seems to confirm to himself his musing in NGE of having been "born to meet" Shinji (notice the lack of のかもしれない "probably"), and following some more ambiguous lines we'll skip over, at the end of a long speech about parts of ourselves remaining in the world even after we're gone, he suggests he and Shinji will see each other again just before he dies.

These lines lead some fans to believe that the loops were in some way or another, under Kaworu's control. This iteration of loop theory suggested that the loops exist so that Kaworu, who remembers the events of NGE, can achieve his goal of "making Shinji happy".

ESTABLISHING OUR BASES, PART 2: THE RED SEA

Non-exhaustive chart of potential connections between Rebuild and NGE/EOE, compiled by users on /a/ board in 2011. Full sized image here.

There are several environmental aspects of Rebuild's world that seemed to suggest a connection to The End of Evangelion, most obvious amongst these being the red sea. As Kaji explains in 2.0, the seas were blue prior to Second Impact. Flashbacks to this event reveal that it bore slightly more in common with EOE's Third Impact than NGE's Second; note the presence of the Black Moon in the comparison above. Early on in 1.0, there's a shot that shows cross-shaped white outlines in the red sea, that appear to be remnants of EOE's crucified mass production units. The moon in Rebuild also has a large, red streak on its surface, that could be the bloodstain that was left there by Lilith in EOE. Additionally, Shinji's SDAT in NGE always looped the same two songs, shown under the track numbers 25 and 26. In Rebuild, Shinji's SDAT's track number begins at 27, and goes up from there (it seems to represent the relationships he forms with other people). Some iterations of loop theory suggested that Rebuild was set directly after End of Eva, and that the events of Second Impact as remembered by the cast were actually EOE's Third Impact. Additionally, though its relevance to any canonical NGE content is tenuous (tenuous, but not irrelevant when it comes to Rebuild; see the bonus chapter), Sadamoto's NGE manga also ends with a kind of timeloop.

From the epilogue chapter of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's Neon Genesis Evangelion manga. Full sized image here. After Instrumentality, the epilogue flashes forward to a long time in the future, where the crucified Evas are seen as some kind of relic from an unknown time. We see Shinji, Asuka and Kensuke reincarnated, and Shinji and Asuka meet for the first time, with some sense that they've seen each other before.

Full sized image here. This ending could be seen as an explanation of sorts of what's going on in Rebuild; the characters have been reincarnated a long time after the fact, while elements of the old world remain as part of the environment.

ESTABLISHING OUR BASES, PART 3: DOUBT

It should go without saying that, even at the time, these particular conclusions had holes in them. (This is to say nothing of the hundreds of other iterations of loop theory; if we went through every whacky headcanon explanation people posted on Reddit under the guise of it being any kind of genuine theorization, we'd be here all day)

Sequel Theory, especially past 3.0, required you to ignore contradictory information being presented in the same scenes the evidence being drawn on was. The comparison image I included earlier (it pre-dates 3.0's release, but was certainly spread around long after the fact) suggests that the Four Adams as they appear in 2.0's flashback could have been the Mass Production Evas (of which there are 8, not 4!). Two of the lines from Kaworu it included also don't support this line of reasoning; both "This time..." and "You don't change" imply multiple previous loops, not a singular. And while we haven't mentioned them so far, the coffin he emerges from in 1.0 being one of several was also something people were aware of back then. Speaking of Kaworu - Shinji's Happiness Theory doesn't seem to line up with the way he goes out in NGE, either. He asks Shinji to kill him with the goal of achieving true freedom; it doesn't seem like he's looking for a next time, but rather an ending, away from his destiny as an angel. It doesn't really follow that Rebuild's loops would be a journey he'd set himself on willingly, rather a circumstance he's put into by some other force.

SECTION 2: PAYOFF

3.0+1.0 responds to the foreshadowing of previous entries in a way that's kind of inconclusive, on its face. I'm going to save the potential answers for the next section; for now, let's just go over the information we did get, including some things you may have missed. PAYOFF, PART 1: OUT IN THE OPEN

Kaworu describes Gendo as being the origin of the cycle. Full sized image here.

Our first piece of confirmation, and first in-universe mention of the loops (or "cycle"/"circle"), is this line. "Gendo was the center of Instrumentality this time", the "this time" implying there have been other Instrumentalities with other person/s at the center. "Origin of the cycle" may indicate that Gendo is in control of the loops as a whole, or it may instead indicate that different people start them, perhaps through Instrumentality.

Asuka wakes up on the beach. Full sized image here.

After coming to terms with her feelings, Asuka "wakes up" in the same spot she was lying at the end of EOE, wondering if she was asleep. This is still in the anti-universe, but as was established by Gendo earlier on in the film, the Evangelion Imaginary and the anti-universe as a whole manifest as parts of one's memory. Asuka is our POV character for this section with her, so she must recall having been here. Maybe you could interpret "was I asleep?" as Soryu, specifically, having woken up.

Selections from Kaworu's Instrumentality. Full sized image here.

Anything that focused on Kaworu here was always going to be the juiciest in relation to the loops, but it's surprisingly upfront even then: There have been multiple previous loops, and Kaworu is not in control of them, he just continues to exist without agency over them like all of the other key players do. (That's both of our aforementioned Theories disproven in one scene!)

Kaworu introduces the "Book of Life", Kaji clarifies the details. Full sized image here.

We're also introduced to a new concept here, the "Book of Life". There's very limited information on what this does, but at least Kaji is here to fill in some details Kaworu conveniently leaves out, as he likes to do (that, if nothing else, Shinji and him meeting over and over again is something Kaworu has power over.)

Rei and Shinji discuss the birth of a new world. Full sized image here. Most of Rei's instrumentality scene exists to wrap up the other aspect of Rebuild's narrative we're not talking about here, so I'll skip past all of that to this: with Unit-01 and the Spear of Gaius, Shinji is capable of creating a new world, through a power known as Neon Genesis. It may be worth noting that Shinji has to clarify that he isn't going to rewind time or revert the world, just create a new one on top of the existing. This may establish a precedent for characters in control of Instrumentality being able to do both of those things.

PAYOFF, PART 2: A CLOSER LOOK NGE has a LOT of references to the years its set in. Even beyond the on-screen text, there's plenty of instances of plaques and other signs with the 2015 date on them. Rebuild, however...

Yui's grave as it appears in 2.0. Full sized image here. The only time we ever see a date in the first three films is here, on Yui's gravestone in 2.0. It's partially obscured by flowers, and may appear at first to read the same as her NGE grave did. On closer inspection, though, you can clearly see there's a 0 in front of 2004.

This could be what the gravestone has written on it. Full sized image here. One time could mean anything, but it becomes a pattern when we see more dates in 3.0+1.0...

The manufacture information on the railway track turntable in Village-3. Full sized image here.

The plaque on the AAA Wunder. Full sized image here.

Looking at that date given on the railway turntable, the earliest date 3.0+1.0 could take place is the year 12001. This, combined with the physical evidence present in the first two films, seems to imply that Rebuild follows the same rules established in the Sadamoto manga, that the loop isn't necessarily a reset of the world, but rather a continuous stream of time in which the characters are reincarnated. It makes sense Sadamoto would use this as the basis for his ending, too - he worked on the first two films, and the Mari bonus chapter clearly demonstrates that certain aspects of Rebuild were solidified during their production. Furthermore, the scene in which Shinji asks Gendo what he wishes for has more visual references to EOE than you might think...

Gendo grasps his right arm, as if he remembers the time he lost it. Full sized image here. The arm thing is obvious, and the line he says there could be about EOE, but you might notice something else in that image on the left there. There's a picture of Shinji in the background. That image comes from one of the flashing sequences in EOE's Third Impact, in fact, the entire sequence is overlaid on top of that shot of Gendo.

This shot in 3.0+1.0 versus the same sequence in EOE. The encode of 3+1 I was using was dropping frames here, so I had to cut some of it out. Video mirror here.

By the way, adult Asuka's official name, as used in every piece of merchandising she's been in so far, is just "Asuka Langley", not "Asuka Langley Shikinami" or "Asuka Langley Soryu".

Good Smile Company's "1/7 Scale Figure: Asuka Langley". She has a fair few figures, all of them with this name. Other merchandise never calls regular Asuka this. Full sized image here.

Rei holds a doll of Tsubame. Full sized image here.

The same thing ends up happening with Rei in-universe. The version of her with long hair is clearly Rei from 2.0, who has been inside the entry plug this whole time, but when we see her on the stage, she's holding a baby doll. It has Tsubame (Hikari and Toji's daughter)'s name written on it. It seems to follow that different versions of the same character end up re-joining into one during instrumentality, be that cross-loop like Soryu and Shikinami, or in-loop, like Rei and Sokkuri (Lookalike). This would appear to go beyond just regaining memories of previous loops, as Rei and Sokkuri existed in the same loop independently of one another.

SECTION 3: A PROPOSAL

And now, to get into the real meat of the issue. ...Whose doing was this, exactly?

Here's the thing: Kaworu, we can already rule out. We know it wasn't him. The next most likely candidate you might think of is Gendo, but... is he, really? Because Gendo died in EOE (perhaps not physically, but regardless), killed by Yui, but ultimately of his own volition. He had come to terms with himself when he died. He doesn't seem like someone who would have still had unfinished business. Then, what of Shinji? Well, I think it's the same deal with him, too. Shinji might not have found his place in life at the end of EOE, but he also doesn't seem like he was clamoring to start over, after all of that. In their video, "What was loop theory? Investigating the truth after Evangelion 3.0+1.0", Japanese Eva fan, Eva Fan (lol), of Minna no Eva Fan fame, gives us a different answer:

It was Yui.

Yui entered the Eva experiment for Shinji's sake. Full sized image here.

Yui's motives in NGE may have been left mostly up to the audiences' interpretation, but I don't think there's any doubt she loved her son more than anything.

As Unit-01, she becomes God at the end of EOE, accepting the burden of being the eternal proof of mankind's existence. She leaves Shinji behind, knowing that he still hasn't found his place in life.

A PROPOSAL, PART 1: YOU WERE WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT

Yui leaves Shinji as he comes into his own. Full sized image here.

The end point of the loops and emergence into the new world: Shinji makes the decision to create a world that doesn't need the Eva. Shinji and Yui, previously one being, separate. Shinji breaks the curse of the Eva, becoming an adult, and now away from his mother, emerges into the real world.

As explained by Gendo, the anti-universe, the end point of Rebuild's story, is also the beginning, and somewhere Yui, at one point, resided.

The beginning and the end are one in the same. Full sized image here. The anti-universe is "the one and only place fate may be bent to one's will". Shinji, in his parting words to Yui in EOE, tells her he thinks he'll keep making the same mistakes over and over. To quote Hideaki Anno: Eva is a story that repeats. In the aforementioned Eva Fan video, they suggest that the anti-universe may in fact be the world of NGE (perhaps, the world inside of Unit-01). Yui creates a new world through Neon Genesis, one which resembles the old, to tell the story of Shinji anew. To give him another chance to grow. For as long as Eva is Shinji's story, it is Yui's; her goal was to bring Shinji a bright future, after all. The act of piloting the Eva sees the child return to the place they resided before birth; back into the comfort of their mother's womb. In Rebuild, the “mother” seems to become all but irrelevant - Yui Ayanami may reside inside Unit-01 but this is never touched on in the same way; Asuka’s mother doesn’t seem to even exist, and her original seems to reside inside Unit-13. The existence or non-existence of a mother’s soul inside of an Eva dictates nothing about who can synchronize with it (see: Unit-02, Unit-08, Unit-13, etc). However, taking a step back, it’s almost as if the reason why the presence of the “mother” is missing from the material world of Rebuild is because the entire series takes place within the world the mother created. If Shinji entering the cockpit of an Eva unit in NGE is returning to the womb, then what is Shinji doing by existing in the world of Rebuild?

In deciding to create a world that doesn't need the Eva, Shinji is accepting life without his mother. The parting of mother and son represents the break in the loop. He emerges into the new world, reborn as an adult.

INTERJECTION: WHAT’S IN A NAME?: YUI IKARI/YUI AYANAMI

Rebuild’s Yui’s name isn’t Yui Ikari (at least, her maiden name isn’t) - It’s Yui Ayanami. In NGE, Gendo took her surname when they married. In Rebuild, Gendo already had the surname Ikari, and Yui Ayanami took his.

I think fans have been generally puzzled by the purpose of this change, but this interpretation - that Yui Ikari from NGE is the heart of the loop, the God that created the world and the God that Gendo would kill at the end of 3.0+1.0 - would seem to explain why this is the case. She’s Yui Ayanami because she’s a copy - like Rei is - of the original Yui. A Yui created by Yui Ikari. This also may explain why the date on Yui's grave says "02004" - after all, it's the grave of Yui Ikari, not the grave of Yui Ayanami.

Rei of NGE is more than just a clone of Yui, she also holds a piece of Yui’s soul (in the form of emotional memory), while Yui herself resides in Unit-01. Therefore, it stands to reason that Yui Ayanami is not really an individual, but rather someone who holds a piece of Yui Ikari’s soul - I think even more so than Rei (who undeniably is an individual). Yui Ayanami may function as a kind of messenger for Yui Ikari, who holds the knowledge she has and steers the story in the direction it needs to go. There are many players in Rebuild who are more like symbols than characters, and I think this is a huge part of why Yui Ayanami is not a character like Yui Ikari was.

For the sake of brevity, I’m going to use “Yui Ikari” to refer to Original Yui, and “Yui Ayanami” to refer to Rebuild Yui, unless stated otherwise, for the remainder of this post.

A PROPOSAL, PART 2: ...WERE YOU THERE THE WHOLE TIME?

Kaworu himself wasn't brought into Instrumentality in EOE directly. Rather, the fetus of Adam was, through Rei intaking Gendo's hand. If souls like Rei and Sokkuri are capable of rejoining into one in Instrumentality, I wonder if the presence of Kaworu in Instrumentality can be explained by his soul rejoining with that of the Adam fetus. He definitely appears as Adam there, the same way Rei is Lilith. Which brings us to this:

Shinji and Gendo upon seeing familiar souls: "Were you there the whole time?". Full sized image here.

Gendo offers Shinji the apology he never got to hear in EOE, and then realizes: Yui's soul was residing in Shinji. Instrumentality likely reconciled the souls of Yui Ayanami (the individual who became Unit-01 in this timeline) and Yui Ikari (the soul who lived on as God, and in her son), the same way it may have reconciled Kaworu and Adam's.

For as long as Yui's soul resided in Unit-01, and in Shinji, her story was not over. For as long as Shinji was stuck in his loop of making the same mistakes over and over, Eva's story was not over. For as long as the Eva exists, Yui will, and End of Eva leaves Yui there, in space, as the eternal proof mankind existed at all.

If 3.0+1.0 says "goodbye to all of Evangelion", it must be the end of Yui Ikari's story, too.

INTERJECTION: WHAT’S IN A NAME?: “SHIN EVANGELION”

The Japanese title of Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time is シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版𝄇, (Romaji: Shin Evangerion Gekijouban𝄇, English: Shin* Evangelion Theatrical Edition��”).

There are three points of interest in this title:

Shin - The use of “Shin” here falls in line with the titles of Hideaki Anno’s other recent films: Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman, and the upcoming Shin Kamen Rider. While I’m not really the best person to explain this as I’m not really familiar with the source material, the other Shin films are based pretty heavily on earlier works in their respective franchises (I believe both Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman have sequences that are recreations of scenes from the original movie/series). Shin Eva also, obviously, does the same thing with NGE and EOE scenes. *According to an interview with producer Akihiro Yamauchi on Shin Godzilla, the title of “Shin” was chosen for the film due to the variety of meanings it conveys. In all four titles, it is written ambiguously, and could be read as “new”, “true”, or “God”, amongst other things.

Evangelion - NGE’s title and Rebuild’s title are actually spelled differently. エヴァンゲリオン is the spelling of Evangelion used in NGE, ヱヴァンゲリヲン is the spelling used in Rebuild’s title (not the in-universe machines, for the record). They’re pronounced the same way, but Rebuild’s spelling uses characters that are a little archaic (if you want to get technical, it could be romanized as “Wevangeriwon”; note the use of “wo” instead of “o” just like in Kaworu’s name, and you probably get it.) Shin Evangelion uses the NGE spelling, not the Rebuild spelling, which makes it sound like “Shin Neon Genesis Evangelion Movies”, not “Fourth Entry in the Rebuild Franchise” (in fact, “Evangelion Gekijouban” comes from Death and Rebirth/End of Eva’s Japanese names). Earlier posters for this film in English gave it the NGE font rather than a Rebuild style logo, which pretty accurately represents how this looks.

The symbol at the end - The symbol at the end of the title, is a symbol that’s used in sheet music. This could be read two ways - “Shin Evangelion Gekijouban: End”, or “Shin Evangelion Gekijouban Repeat”; If you assume 𝄇 is one symbol, then it’s a “repeat” sign (tells the player to repeat a section of the sheet music). If you assume it’s a colon and then a subtitle, then it’s an “end” sign (𝄂, signifies the end of the piece.)

A PROPOSAL, FINAL PART: TO KILL GOD

Full sized image here. Gendo's goal in NGE and Rebuild is the same: To be reunited with Yui. In Rebuild, he will become God through the use of the Key of Nebuchadnezzar and trigger the Additional Impact with himself at the center, so he can see her again in Instrumentality. But there's a second aspect to this plan... Killing God.

Gendo lays out his intentions. Full sized image here.

I think it would be naïve of me to suggest that Gendo had any intention of ending things when he said this. These lines obviously pertain to something else (I think all of this is covered in the process of beginning the Additional Impact anyway), and it's made clear that he goes into Instrumentality as stubbornly as he always is. He fully intended to destroy all of the spears, so nobody would have any way of manipulating or ending Instrumentality, so he could live peacefully with Yui for the rest of time.

Whatever it might have meant there... "Killing God" takes on a completely different meaning by the end of the film. Yui Ikari is an existence that will live on indefinitely; someone who will never die, even long after humanity is gone. In becoming Unit-01, she alone will wait in the universe forever. She once resided in the anti-universe; the Promised Land, the one and only place fate may be bent to one's will; she created the world of Rebuild of Evangelion, the beginning of everything. Yui did all of this to give her son a better life. To let him try over and over again until he broke the curse of the Eva, and emerged into a brighter future.

She, Unit-01, Evangelion as a whole, could not rest until Shinji grew into his own. Gendo comes to the conclusion during Instrumentality, after bleeding his heart out to his son, that he isn't any closer to reuniting with her.

Full sized image here.

But after acknowledging Shinji's adulthood, accepting his own fragility, and resolving their story...

Full sized image here.

Full sized image here.

...He realizes she was right in front of him this whole time.

Full sized image here.

With this, Gendo exits the train - the same train his story began, the train station he abandoned Shinji at all of those years ago - his story is over. He no longer seeks eternal life with Yui. As Shinji breaks his own curse of Eva and is reborn out of the comfort of his mother's world, and into a world of his own creation, he says goodbye to all Evangelion.

Full sized image here. Gendo, in peace at the end of his own long journey, is willing to let Yui sleep. And so, he kills God.

Full sized image here.

[employee052]

What's this? An introduction so good it got a critically acclaimed sequel?? With New Content?!?!

Hi there! Welcome to my Stanley Parable Side Blog!

My name is Oswin, though you can call me Ozzie or Oz. My pronouns are He/Him, I am 19, and I am Filipino! I draw, animate, act, and play video games. I stream on Twitch occasionally, as well as post on Youtube, and Instagram. I also have a Carrd too if you're interested.

This is my TSP sideblog! I have other interests that I post about on my main @oswinunknown if you ever want to check those out, but this blog will contain all TSP related stuff (and Narrator Adjacent)

[taking a break from posting art for a bit]

[The Narrator (Virgil) Design Iterations]

3.0 (Most Recent!) [REF SHEET]

2.0

1.0

[Other Designs]

Timekeeper/432

Curator

Adventure Line (Lynne)

[IMPORTANT] If you're wondering why my inbox, mentions, and replies are disabled at the moment. Please read this post for full information. (Its not long, I promise. It is very important however so I would encourage you to read it.)

[For more information on tags, F/Os, RP sideblogs, and More, Check under the cut!]

[Active Tags] #artswin is all art. including animation #animswin is animations specifically #oz rambles is just for words. #ozzie plays games is for video game stuff. #narry blog is for when i interact with my RP narrator blog. #tsproadtrip is all posts relating to the TSP roadtrip thread. #narry takeover & #narry takeover 2 is for the old narrator-blog-takeovers pre!RP blog.

[F/O's] [I ship these F/Os with my Self-Insert Sona/OC more than myself IRL. They are all platonic F/Os / Close Friends*]

The Narrator (The Stanley Parable) [BFF/QPR]

Mayor Damien (Who Killed Markiplier) [Platonic]

Gordon Freeman (Half Life) [Platonic]

Wheatley (Portal) [Platonic]

[* The Narrator is my primary F/O, specifically my Narrator who acts as my Best Friend/QPR Bestie. I also pretend like he is real sometimes as comfort. If you wish to ship yourself/an oc/your sona with him, please let me know beforehand!]

[RP Sideblogs] (ALL UNDER HIATUS)

@mrthenarrator my TSP Narrator blog. (ON HIATUS)

@theadventurelynne my teen!Adventure Line blog. (WIP/ON HIATUS)

My main blog is @oswinunknown. For more information, as well as my other interests, check there!

[Also, here's the original Intro Post if you want to see what the Sequel is building up from here askjhd]

[nattikay]

now that 3.0 is done and ready to go, here's all the iterations of my head over the past seven years holding their respective con badges!

since the outside is not all that matters for a fursuit head, I also tried them all back on to give wearability scores under the cut, and also threw in a boopability score because why not lol

1.0

Wearability: 2/10 Absolutely atrocious. I can't see squat and my nose is completely crushed up against the foam. I have NO clue how I managed to navigate a convention in this thing. That said, the large open mouth does allow plenty of airflow, so breathing though my mouth is easy (which is good because I sure ain't gonna be breathing through my smushed up nose).

Boopability: 8/10 Legitimately her most redeeming quality tbh. Large nose with a foam core, very boopable indeed.

-

2.0

Wearability: 4/10 Vision is pretty poor, but better than 1.0's. The muzzle is completely hollow, but the mouth opening is pretty small which limits airflow so it could get pretty stuffy in there. It's also the only one built on a 3D print base rather than a foam base, as well as the only one that isn't lined since there's no absorbent foam to protect, and I remember when I would sweat the plastic inside could get very slick and start to move around on my head; if I turned too fast, instead of the fursuit head turning with me, my nose would just slip and end up smack in the middle of the eye mesh.

Boopability: 2/10 Minky topstitched over faux fur and 3D printing plastic, not particularly boopable. But at least the minky is soft.

-

2.5

Wearability: 9/10 This one's actually quite comfortable! Not so tight as to feel constrictive, but not so loose as to wobble around on my head. Fantastic vision. This head may not be perfect, but it's very nice to wear!

Boopability: 4/10 Made of stretchy fabric with a tiny bit of polyfil inside. Not bad, but definitely feels like it could use a bit more polyfil for better booping potential.

-

3.0

Wearability: 8/10 Very similar in overall comfortability, breathability, and excellent vision quality to 2.5, perhaps just a tad more snug but not uncomfortably so. The only reason she's getting an extra point docked is that the backs of the eyes sit much closer to my real face to the point that my eyelashes sometimes brush up against them when I blink, which is a bit annoying and not a problem 2.5 had.

Boopability: 6/10 Bringing back the foam core of 1.0 and the minky covering of 2.0, this suit is decently boopable....but still not quite as boopable as 1.0, mostly because the nose is just so much smaller.

[dragonsandphoenix]

The Scene from the My Stand In Novel That Should Have Stayed

I'll be honest My Stand In is increasingly losing me as a viewer, and so I went back to the novel and the audio drama to find out why. After revisiting some scenes I've come to the tentative conclusion that MSI feels like a surface level interpretation of the novel, speaking as a novel fan.

MSI spoilers in all its iterations (drama, novel & audio drama):

What confuses me about MSI is that in terms of plot and broad character arcs, it's pretty faithful to the novel itself. And while Professional Body Double isn't my favourite Shui Qian Cheng novel I liked it for what it was and even thought the audio drama adaptation elevated its source material. And to be fair, I liked the first 6 episodes of MSI a lot, like scrolling through the tag in tumblr everyday a lot. To me, MSI shines when it feels like watching a 188 novel come to life.

But for the past few weeks, that investment has waned. Something's missing. Maybe it's the way that characters being shallower versions of themselves have caught up to me, maybe it's the way the show gets bogged down in plot mechanics when the characters' inner thoughts and feelings are meant to be what drives the narrative, and I just don't feel as invested in these characters.

This scene from the audio drama is what led me to read the novel in the first place. Its absence from the drama is emblematic of my issues with MSI. It happens right after Joe (Zhou Xiang) meets Ming's (Yan Mingxiu) brother. Instead of leaving the house he goes upstairs and goes to sleep. Then Ming stumbles into the room drunk and we get this melancholic moment.

My absolute favourite thing about this scene is the complexity of it. We get to the heart of MingJoe's relationship, and its fundamental issue: in spite of their passionate and (imo) genuine feelings for one another, they can never be on the same page. They love each other, but they're so deeply broken to the point of being destructive to themselves and each other.

The point is this is a character and emotionally-driven story.

It is especially Joe's story, he's our main POV character and he is so clearheaded about his feelings actually. He does acknowledge that if Ming showed him an ounce of care in his past life he'd accept him. But now they're way past that. He's disillusioned, and that feeling of lost love is captured so well here that isn't often captured in BL.

I honestly feel the story becomes incoherent if we don't have a good handle on his and to a lesser extent Ming and some important side characters' inner worlds.

One my main issues with MSI is that it seems to be constantly missing the Point. Part of that is due to the differing characterizations but it also stems from the scriptwriters losing sight of the heart of the story and the need to present the plot as clearly as possible with little ambiguity. Most recently, Ming spends a significant chunk of episode 8 trying to figure out if Joe 2.0 is Joe 1.0 and then concocting different ways to test if they're the same person. In a way it's pretty faithful to the novel, these are things that happen in there too. The drama adapts these plot elements, adds obvious visual cues (the egg, the sneeze), adds additional scenes of Ming consulting the blind shaman on finding Joe and place dramatic weight to them in a way that we as the audience should be really invested on whether Ming will solve this Great Mystery.

But it doesn't matter. It matters very little to Joe, he's just trying to move on with his life and it doesn't even matter to Ming, this obsession of his is just another form of his grief and denial ("I found someone else but it isn't you", "I feel so ridiculous now"). This emphasis on what ultimately doesn't matter comes at the cost of character depth. Scenes jump from one to the next with no room for characters to reflect or even react to what just happened to them. Relationships and characters get stripped down to their bare bones (the brotherhood between Joe and Wut will always be something I cherish) and I just think this is all a shame.

I'll ultimately be happy if My Stand In succeeds and does well, as it might open up doors for more challenging BL projects. I just hope that comes with more nuanced and complex narratives as well.

[semimedieval]

man i was considering making another recap post but actually reading the china and charley stuff is making me wanna never read that shit again

[shock-micro]

right so welcome to my inner workings on your left you'll see the backup of my entire knowledge base on minecraft (did you know that emeralds and villager trading were added in 1.3 but on their 15th anniversary page mojang said they were added in the adventure update which was split into two parts beta 1.8 and release 1.0 the latter of which being when villagers themselves were added but the page has no mention of them actually being added just them "going from hardworking farmers to capitalist tycoons" which is also false bc they did nothing except live beforehand and their ability to farm came in release 1.8 the bountiful update along with the first iteration of villager professions and THAT isn't even mentioned either not even under 1.14 which made the professions more notable so really what kind of "history" page even is this) and on the right you'll see my train of thought (notice the complete and utter derailment)

this was gonna be a post about how many random things my brain keeps but my first knowledge check brought up that doozy of a minecraft fact

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

"If I give Adam a significant role at all, he'd basically be stewing in repressed guilt and resentment over all the hardship that was was inflicted byLillith and Eve and bringing in sin him being duped by eve to eat the apple . It doesn't excuse his behavior or views, but rather gives readers something more to chew on than 'misogynistic dickhead who is also fat'. Another maladaptive coping mechanism for his feelings could be overeating lol"

Were I to tackle the matter of Adam and Eve's fall and how they fit into things for my story, it would probably go like this

>the first Souls are made, now with inbuilt Free Will™

>Big G announces that these things will be the inheritors of Creation and the Angels will steward them through learning about good and evil in Eden (which is in the Mortal Realm in this iteration)

>Certain Angels aren't too jazzed about this but keep quiet because, hey-ho Big G said so

>Woman 1.0 (Lillith) exercises that Free Will™ to tell Adam to pound sand, she doesn't bend to anyone

>Minor schism in Heaven occurs because, well, this innate Free Will™ feature seems to allow these things to defy God

>Lucifer, charmed by this new thing called 'defiance' woos Lillith and, to prove his point to Dad, gives her the Apple, allowing her to consciously commit evil

>The pair then conspire to knowledge-bomb Adam and Eve with the full measure of the Apple rather than bit at a time as intended, one Sin and its corresponding Virtue at a time

>Turns out there was a good reason to not just feed them the whole thing, as Sins are often complimentary, causing essentially a feedback loop of negative energy to permanently manifest as evil in the Mortal Realm

>Using this cock-up as agit-prop, Lucifer is able to sway much of the Host to rebel and the War in Heaven kicks off, settling with Heaven, Earth, and Hell where they are now, AKA fucked

So Adam and Eve would be feeling pretty salty/depressed/guilty about their role in everything being ruined for everyone.

This. This would be so much better.

[neoswiftology]

so I made a search engine of taylor swift songs

hello! so um. yeah. I made a pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript search engine of Taylor Swift songs because I'm not normal.

Swift Song Search v. 1.0

Catalog:

All studio albums including all bonus tracks and some remixes

Both rerecordings excluding ATW10 Sad Girl Autumn and Short Film versions

The Holiday Collection and Beautiful Eyes

Features:

field search by song title, writers, or producers EDIT: producers search is not working and writers search is glitching. looking into it!

filter by album

filter by type of album/collection (studio album, rerecording, EP)

filter to only show songs Taylor owns

filter to only show self written songs

filter to exclude alternate versions - remixes, demos, acoustic versions, etc.

combine any number of filters, though some will obviously produce zero results (ex. filter by Reputation and Taylor owns)

combine the field search with any number of filters, or just use filters to search the full catalog

click the song title to show/hide more detailed song info

fully responsive

Important notes:

Songs that have been rerecorded are labeled as alternate versions

All Too Well and ATW10 are considered unique versions

Results will display below the filters box, so you will have to scroll to see them on mobile

Credits are from Wikipedia (I know >.< but it was the quickest way) so lmk if something is inaccurate

Also just give me feedback in general if you wanna! this is my first real JS project so i'm still learning for sure

This is just the first iteration of this project, so feel free to follow here or the tag #songsearchupdates for updates! I will be adding the rest of her catalog bit by bit and adding functionalities like searching featured artists and boolean searching. My ultimate goal is to add subject tags for themes like heartbreak or falling in love and for motifs like rain, midnight, or gold, which is well beyond the capabilities of one person. If you are interested in helping with data entry for this project, please send me an ask here on tumblr or email me at neoswiftology@gmail.com and I will get in touch when it's time to start on that phase of the project.

cool thank u for reading happy new year

[msmargaretmurry]

hall/ebs!!

ohhhh the BLUEPRINT. those freaks are what tipped me from being interested in hrpf conceptually to in it up to my eyeballs.

hockey fandom has gone through so many iterations of rookie idiots in love in the 14 years (💀) since they entered the league but they truly were something special......... so much hall'n'ebs content still lives rent-free in my mind. ice cream dates. bananna hangman. kd is a must. i still think about that one fanvid every time i hear ours by tswift. the oilers rebuild 1.0 narrative was so compelling for a few years there.

and also this is nostalgia speaking but there was something to the way the online hockey landscape was SO different back then like. it's hard to explain but i think maybe things were better when players lived in less of a social media content panopticon and there was so much more space to just play with your hockey player paper dolls without people tracking their every movement and stalking their friends' and families' socials and talking about rpf on main (💀💀💀) and getting mad about characterizations not aligning perfectly with all 8,000 pieces of available media as if we are trying to literally recreate the irl guys in fic as opposed to trying to play with narratives and themes and personalities. so they are definitely a rose-tinted nostalgia ship for me in that way. i do absolutely regress into my feelings anytime they do anything together nowadays. like the eberles going to the halls' ontario cottage for vacation this summer took me out at the knees. i'm so glad they're getting to be dad friends together.

[t00nyah]

SO! A THING ABOUT THE ART CHALLENGE I TALKED ABOUT IN MY LAST POST...

we ended up trading characters. LMAO. it was so funny how we just were like WAIT CAN I GET THIS ONE PLEASE PLEASE

SO. ABOUT MY COOL AND AWESOME IDEAS.

if you're an old t00nyan...you know splatoon changed me as a person.

but there's one particular thing i really like making characters based off...

SEA SLUGS. (please stay till the end the final artwork is the best thing i ever drew and is like the equivalent of me learning splatoon style AND there's umm something cool you need to know.)

so. literally everyone knows i love sea bunnies for looking so so so cute and silly. i always say white lizards are like sea bunnies to me. and as you all know i love gathering a lot of facts and applying them to the character.

first, i've decided to make it somewhat atypical to what people are more used to see...as far as i know yellow sea bunnies are more common than white ones. and it works! the character looks way better than when it was white haha. speaking of appearance, of course they're small, sea bunnies are teeny tiny!!!!!!!!!

from what i've read for this challenge, apparently sea bunnies use jellyfish stingers for self-defense, huge if true bc that's why this fella holds a jellyfish. they highly depend on stunning predators to outrun them in my vision. also, um. wiki mentions that the sponges sea bunnies feed on contain toxins that can be used in cancer treatment, so you know what that means. in MY concept it's like... them being a rotting iterator's last hope or smth, which would be funny because being toxic also equals to being a little shit personality-wise. imagine your last hope is a creature that won't stop throwing jellyfish at you.

next one is a cabbage slug! it's a very pretty one!! i actually have a splatoon oc Elysia based on them haha.

this particular photo was my reference for the blueish palette but they can be veeery colorful and veeery pretty...

i don't have anything in my head for this one, i just felt like i HAD to make an elysia crispata slugcat. they're just nice, herbivore, love sunbathing and just enjoy being here!

so. last one is like my MAGNUM OPUS. at first i didn't even consider it. i wanted to make an octopus based one for branding reasons but then i saw this shitter.

im sorry im not actually mean to them but. this guy is a blue dragon. i randomly saw them and went 'oh yeah they exist, wonder what they'd be like. could be a cool design.'

THE RESULT...

IS THIS GUY.

so. blue dragons, apparently, prey on bigger predators and then store their most dangerous venom to use it on their next prey. but it also ends up even more deadly that the predators'.

so i went okay. if that's not a cool concept, i don't know what is. and then...things went kind of too far.

introducing to you: The Weaponeer.

food requirement: 8(10) [quite obviously eats corpses with 1/4 pip from blue fruit and stuff]

they're fast, (NOT as fast as rivulet, but faster than hunter, probably like 1.45x) have bigger lung capacity (~4.25x, a lot, but not as much as rivulet has) and have a 'special ability' of sorts

the Weaponeer is a master in self-defence and knows well how to utilize its' predators' weapons as their own. they can deshell overgrown(!) centipedes, demask vultures and steal king vultures' harpoons (without needing a spear, practically like a maul but it only works for this and only due to the Weaponeer just knowing how to do that more practically)

their base damage is 1.0, BUT using harpoon spears multiplies it to 1.5 (although i think it lowers throwing skill considering it's heavy and giant, they can't exactly throw it, it's more of a melee weapon. it probably slows them down too?)

i have a little campaign idea too! so, wiki mentions them being washed up on the shore sometimes...and that felt like an idea.

the Weaponeer is a capable and very confident slugcat, but they are lost far from home in Deserted Faraway - a result of some poor planning of the Ancients. once a river, now a cavern full of adapted to new circumstances living beings. the region has two subregions, one of them being a cave system and the other being the remains of the iterator that was doomed right from the start. when the Weaponeer arrives to Deserted Faraway, it's already its own blooming ecosystem.

im really proud of how this menu art turned out! i hope i will get to draw more artworks like that someday...when im not that busy, haha. it did take me an entire DAY to finish this one.

i intended to sell them initially just bc they ended up pretty cool so...THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING. i sadly can't really...actually...sell them for money...which is very fucking dissatisfying.

BUT. but. if you know me you know i'm desperate for OC fanart, so if you really want them trading for art is an option!!! my dms are open :]

but yeah, thanks for looking at this, it took me a while and im actually proud of this project!!