#its not mysterious or weird it just feels predictable

[leclercsaintmleux]

ᥫ᭡. gorgeous — KIMI ANTONELLI [smau]

in which… two rookie f1 drivers soft launch their relationship, and the media goes crazy about it

liked by olliebearman , iamrebeccad and 609.000 others

yourusername sneak peek 🌸

comments

charles_leclerc is there something you’d like to share with us y/n?

yourusername my gelato maybe 😇

user43 charles in overprotective big brother mode hahah we love to see it 🫶🏻

user87 HELLO DID Y/N JUST SOFT LAUNCH WTF?!

user65 I just woke up and y/n suddenly has a boyfriend what 💔💔

user13 streets are saying our favorite rookie is in a relationship!

user76 liked by olliebearman, is this a sign you guys !?

user45 ofc he’s going to like her posts they’re friends it doesn’t mean they’re dating lol people need to chill tf out

alicia_torriani you’re glowing girl next time we’re getting that ice cream together 🥹

yourusername ilysm and WE MUST!! 💘

kimi.antonelli I wonder who’s the guy holding the flowers 🤔

liked by yourusername

user60 ARE WE ALL SEEING THE SAME THING, KIMI AND Y/N

user39 she liked his comment omg

user48 tbh this seems like a very profitable pr move

user13 pr move or not you’ve got to admit they’d be an iconic couple

liked by georgerussell63, mercedesamgf1 and 1.328.000 others

kimi.antonelli good to be home + recharge the batteries 🍕💯

comments

mercedesamgf1 summer break 🔛🔝😎

user90 f1 media having a field day both Kimi AND y/n soft launching in the same week

user33 the second picture he’s so cute omg<3

user42 wait doesn’t y/n have the same necklace and bag as the girl in the picture?

user10 I don’t think so I’m pretty sure it’s just very similar

f1gossipnews coincidence? we think not 👀

user30 oh my shayla (my kimi and y/n ship) neither of them are single anymore 🥀🥀

user28 fr they had so much chemistry 😭

user14 lol you guys need to stop being so invested in their lives it’s weird, can’t they just be good friends?

user28 I’m sorry but have you seen the way Kimi looks at her, there is NO way they are just ‘good friends’

yourusername i’m just as shocked as you are, an actually decent outfit ?!

kimi.antonelli hey that was rude (I got advice from a professional 👌)

liked by user73, user62 and 54.000 others

f1wagnews y/n y/l/n spotted today in Italy riding a bike with mystery man!🫣 some sources say our first female driver may be on a path to becoming a wag herself! follow f1wagnews for more updates

comments

user63 on a path to becoming a wag herself what the helly

user64 not a mystery man… that’s just her cousin guys 😭 let her live

f1wagnews 👀👀👀 sources are saying it’s not a cousin… stay tuned 💅

user17 no because if this man distracts her and she doesn’t finish P1 again i’m throwing hands

user90 girl don’t let a man fumble your podiums pls we beg

user72 how is SHE the driver and STILL giving wag energy?? a queen tbh

user02 what if it’s her physiotherapist??? y’all jump to wag every time she breathes near a man

user12 the way she’s riding that bike… she’s in love. trust me i studied body language in 2014 on tumblr

user80 can’t believe i have to say this but SHE IS THE PRIZE actually

user20 lowkey hope it’s a local italian who doesn’t even know what a grid penalty is, she deserves peace

f1wagnews sources say its a familiar italian 😉

user35 y’all acting shocked like she hasn’t had rizz since F2 days

liked by kimi.antonelli, alexandrasaintmleux and 3.300.000 others

yourusername plot twist ❤️

comments

f1wagnews WE’VE BEEN INVESTED SINCE DAY ONE. CONGRATS TO OUR FAVE SOFT LAUNCHERS 😭👏

gridhoney the driver x driver power couple we were manifesting

sillyseasoncentral BREAKING: paddock collectively loses their minds over this hard launch

olliebearman i knew it and still feel betrayed

yourusername shh you’re literally the first person we told😐

olliebearman correction: I predicted this entire relationship

kimi.antonelli mate you need to stop

arthur_leclerc do i get to be best man or do i have to fight ollie for it

yourusername we’ll see<3

arthur_leclerc RUDE

user16 if they don’t do the kiss through the helmets thing i’m boycotting

user83 never trusting a “mystery man” again. it’s always a fast Italian with dreamy eyes

rookieszneditz someone make a “friends to grid rivals to lovers” edit IMMEDIATELY

alex_albon how did i not know and i see you two like every race weekend??

yourusername lily knew🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

alex_albon WHAT? SHE DID?!

lilymunihe of course 🥰

liked by yourusername, lewishamilton and 5.439.000 others

kimi.antonelli mi fortuna più grande

comments

georgerussell63 watch them get a 1-2 podium and thank each other instead of their engineers

yourusername LOL , I’m about to go tell Carmen you said this

georgerussell63 I TAKE IT BACK

teamradiochaos radio if they crash into each other: “tell her i still love her 😭”

slowpitstopz kimi posted his gf… and i’ve never felt more single

dtscripttok this better be in the next Drive to Survive with dramatic music and everything

olliebearman i told you not to soft launch in italy, didn’t i. DIDN’T I.

kimi.antonelli you told me a lot of things i ignored 😇

user63 him calling her his greatest luck 🫠🫠

arthur_leclerc you’re so lucky y/n puts up with you

kimi.antonelli I know 🙏I wonder every day how I got so lucky

yourusername ❤️

liked by kimi.antonelli

user98 them sharing earphones is my roman empire 🥹

user32 who would’ve thought your childhood karting rival will become your girlfriend when you both race in f1, Kimi really is living the dream…

user73 there’s no way he didn’t manifest this

kimi.antonelli 🤫🤫

©LECLERCSAINTMLEUX 2025 I DO NOT APPROVE OF THIS OR ANY OF MY WORKS TO BE COPIED OR TRANSLATED ON ANY PLATFORM ANYWHERE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION

tags:

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Hello, I hope your having a nice day, can I request Yandere 1st Years + Grim (Platonic) with a Komi Reader? (From Komi can’t Communicate)

Reader’s known for being incredibly beautiful, intelligent, athletic and elegant in everything she does, however she has crippling Social Anxiety and ends up scaring everyone away with her ‘mean/scary’ look so everyone tends to avoid her (When it’s actually herself that’s nervous since she doesn’t know what to say)

Except for Ace, Deuce and Grim after they spent time with Reader in the mine, they discovered her anxiety she wrote it out so now they’re mostly the ones who do the talking for her and try to help her reach her goal of making 100 Friends in NRC, even though they both think that’s a ‘weird/bad goal’ because this IS NRC

Reader loves cats, so she spoils Grim and Lucius (The latter likes laying in her lap and even follows her around) with pets, treats and affection and helping her friends with studying since she gets perfect marks

How would they react to hearing Reader’s voice for the first time? Not to mention have Reader tell write out that she made a friend all by herself who visits her dorm at night and does nightly walks (You know who it is)

Komi-San Reader | Yandere Twisted Wonderland

You’re quiet and intimidating but not because others find you scary. The exact opposite, they’re obsessed. You’re athletic, you’re smart, you’re beautiful, you’re kind, and the list goes on. Without so much as opening your mouth, the school is at its hands and knees all for you. Little do they know about your silent struggle, not like your dearest first-year friends. More than anyone they know how hard you work and if their hearts could overfill with love for you it already has.  So imagine your stalkers' friends; reaction to you’re never heard before voice:

Ace Trappola

“Aw man, (Y/n) I can’t begin to explain how much of a pain he is! With his moodiness, we’re not going to win the game.”

“...”

“Don’t say that, I am great but not that great.”

“...Y-you c-can d-do it!” 

He plays 10x better 

All while running on his excitement and embarrassment

“Whoa, Ace! W-were you holding out on us!”

Everyone is floored that he’s suddenly just doing so well

He’s keeping your quiet cheers to himself 

Replaying it in his head

He will teasingly ask you for a recording even when you cutely shake your head

“Oi oi don’t get all shy now, you were doing so well!”

He does circle back having already written down the names of those who turned their heads

If they’re so inclined to hear your voice in a roaring crowd 

Then they should be alright with their ears no longer working 

He’s being merciful when he does just this

And if you mention any mysterious friends, he’d no doubt try to follow up on that same treatment

Deuce Spade

“M-maybe being an honor student was too high of a goal.”

You shake your head

“Ahh I appreciate it, (Y/n) but if I’m going to flunk again I’ll be in trouble. Both with Riddle and my mom, I just can’t measure up. ”

“You…are a good student.”

He blushes 

“G-g-g-g-good j-job (Y/n)!”

He knows how much this is taking for you to try 

But he just can’t keep it together 

He’s among the first to hear your precious voice

He has to be the only one

He doesn’t know what this feeling is but he doesn’t want to share

It especially rubs him the wrong way when you mention a mysterious friend 

He decides to wait it out

See who this new friend he’s going to gut he has to meet

Epel Felmier

“Grrrr I can’t stand it! Why can’t I be taken seriously? I just hate my face!”

“...”

“Don’t hafta lie ta me, (Y/n)! I know I’m not handsome.”

“...I….th-th-”

“Huh?” 

“I think you’re handsome.”

“Aw shucks, (Y/n)!”

He definitely wasn’t was expecting that

You’re just the sweetest as he predicted

He already keeps the notebook you’ve lost+ gone through with your written words

And the apple cores he lovingly retrieves from Ramshackle’s trash no doubt cultivating whatever ends up growing from them

He avoids the impulse to tear his book open at the mention of a new friend 

Well I hope they like a poison-apple

Jack Howl 

“I have a magift practice later on…are you still going to come?”

You nod your head

“T-thank you, I’d appreciate your support from the stands.”

When he says that he doesn’t expect you to actually whisper anything out

“G-go Jack!”

His keen ears pick it up and suddenly he’s breezing through obstacles like never before

And of course, he did his mate practically cheered him on

It makes it much earlier to replay that encouragement when he’s fighting for your honor his ownership of you

No doubt Savvannclaw is filled with your admirers

But some are a little too bold

So leave it to your mate to take action first

And while he’s at it he might as well guard your home more intensely

Sebek Zigvolt

“WHAT A MARVEL HUMAN! YOU’VE TAMED ALL THE FERAL FELINES ON CAMPUS!” 

“...”

“WELL FOR A HUMAN IT IS DECENT WORK! PERHAPS YOU DO HAVE–”

“C-can you please be quiet?”

“...?....!..Y-you think y-you, a mere human, can tell me what to do?!” 

Yes you can, having the loud half-fae go down two whole octaves was a feat

And he keeps replaying the moment in his head specifically the way your lips moved

Burning hot all over he’s not really listening to anyone for the next week month

But once he’s broken out of it he’s determined to repeat the miracle

And it seems it works best if your alone?

Then he’ll be sure to chase off the gaggle of scum+ admirers who you claim to be friends with

And he thinks nothing of a midnight friend…that is if you’re alone with them than that’s completely unacceptable

Grim

“Henchhuman! Everyone is soooo mean! Why doesn’t anyone like me? I know I’m so cool and maybe that’s why–”

“I like you.”

“Well of course you w–W-wait did you speak? T-t to me! Whoopee, I’m going to tell everyone the great Grim is who you spoke to first!” 

He runs off to do just that 

Bragging to anyone who would listen

He has to dodge a lot of assassination hits that day

But it gives him the content whenever that icky feeling comes up sometimes

And as for your ‘Hornton’ friend he’s seen him and next time he comes around he’ll boast all about his greatness and how you spoke to him

[jesswritesthat]

Bakugou Katsuki: Killer Skills

Fandom: BNHA // MHA — [ Masterlist ]

Summary: 1.2k, angst, fluff

• Being an ex-assassin provides skill, but when your secret is shared it makes things complicated with an explosive pro.

Warnings: Mature language, pro-hero age, mentions of killing.

>>>>——————————>

Never had you expected to be the catalyst of one night drastically changing form, yet neither had you expected your life to be thrust into the light by explosives either.

Calmly you stood, arms folded and expectant brow raised at said explosive.

"Look I'm not asking for help shadow shit, just a sous chef. I'm getting the extras together and need a hand since they're all still fucking useless in the kitchen."

"Alright, what are we making Katsuki?" Still addressing him so informally left him diverting his gaze but he gave a detailed list of his menu with vicious confidence.

—

It wasn't until hours later when surrounded by former classmates of UA did you feel minor pressure, even though you were trained to fit into any situation, this was still unnerving despite Bakugou giving a shoddy introduction. So many heroes, so many former enemies...

Did they didn't even know who you were?

What you were?

"Wow Bakugou, you finally found someone who's as good with a knife as you are!" The commentary of a bright brunette ripped you from your depths, the woman bubbly and impressed by the sight of the two of you dicing vegetables.

"Still think it's weird round face?"

"Yeah, how'd you get so skilled (L/n)?" Your blade paused mid strike upon hearing her question, low and regretful reply breathed into the world.

"Having skill with knife is pivotal to an assassin, luckily such a talent can be applied to various situations."

Aside from to Katsuki, you think it's the first truth you've told.

The room fell silent, Uraraka stepping back ever so slightly nearer the comfort of Izuku and beside you there was a prevalently harsh whisper from Bakugou.

"Shit."

That's when you realised you'd screwed up, of course they didn't know, Dynamight probably hadn't a chance to tell them nor the priority to either.

"Assassin? (L/n)-san you...?" The gravity quirk user stuttered out, the heroes in the room suddenly more defensive and dawned upon you one by one.

"Not anymore but my hands aren't clean and they never will be. However I'm trying to be better, now that I'm free. I swear upon my life."

"You are The Shadow, right? I suspected as such after their mysterious prolonged absence." Izuku decided, just as Katsuki predicted he would, but never had you been disappointed by sheer terror and anger tainting once gleaming faces before. Until now.

"I was. Then like you said, I disappeared. I made my first choice in a long time and chose to kill myself so I wouldn't be forced to do anything else I didn't want to." With your harrowing explanation and final assassination poetically being that of your previous alias, the room fell tensely silent once more upon the digestion of such a tale.

"You're responsible for so many d—" They were cut off before they could finish (but you knew where it was going) by the deafening sound of a knife stabbing into your chopping board with knuckles white on its handle. You felt the dangerous presence towering behind you, enough to make anyone think twice about a comment so brash.

"Bakubro why aren't you saying anything?! You should be blowing up right now unless—" A flash of realisation as Kirishima settled upon his friends' protective frame. "—you knew."

"'Course I knew, you think I'm an idiot?!" The blonde aggressively barked back, you felt his riding temperature against your back as he leaned forward slightly.

"No but this is insane! Since when were you one for villain redemption?"

"Like you fuckers can talk about redemption, we've seen plenty of assholes do bad things and sometimes it ain't their choice. You still saved them didn't you?" A knowing look was directed at Deku, who already seemed to emphasise.

"Kacchans' right, we can't assume a situation based on actions. Only that if a lighter path is what (L/n)-san has chosen, then we should support it until given reason otherwise." Miraculously the words of this admired man seemed to resonate with them, yet Katsuki remained somewhat defensive and hadn't revoked himself entirely from your space quite yet.

"Besides, if (Y/n) wanted to kill any of you, you'd be dead already. Take that as a trusting start." He made a point of eating your food, almost as if making an example of his guests' unanimous wariness once stepping back to his station.

"Katsuki! Don't say that, it doesn't help my case."

"What?! It's not a fucking lie, you even gave me a hard time." He bit back defensively, glaring daggers that all most matched the sharpness of yours.

"Someone who made Bakugou sweat? I'd like to take a crack at sparring you sometime if you wouldn't mind." Kirishima seemed revitalised with newfound admiration that was mildly unnerving, maybe this new hero generation hadn't forgiven your crimes but they were willing to get to know you at the very least.

"Uh— I mean I'm trying to be better, if helping you improve accomplishes that then I'll participate." You bowed, Katsuki only snorting and providing a venue proposal.

"Could use my training room? It's been a while since I've seen shitty hair and Pikachu get their asses kicked."

———

So after turning the night upside down, Red Riot and Chargebolt became your opponents in an orchestrated game.

"Alright I have two powders, if you get marked you are dead as per my previous occupation. If you can hit me, you both win." Came your brief explanation, holding up a pair of red fingertips on your left hand which everyone agree and understood.

With that, the onlookers could only watch as you manoeuvred varying attacks, sidestepping, jumping, and swishing past jolts of electric whilst simultaneously avoiding the hardened combat from Eijirou.

Suddenly, after about 3 minutes, you came to a solid stop which allowed Kaminari to barrel into you rather unceremoniously a second later who dizzily voiced his victory.

"I got them!" A panting breath. "I win!"

A chorus of applause and laughter echoed in the room with comments spewing from observations.

"Kiri check your back man!"

"Denki... you've got a little something..." Jirou vaguely gestured to her forehead and lo and behold when mirroring her actions, his fingers came back dusted with scarlet powder.

"Also I should say that the second powder was UV sensitive, so if Katsuki kindly adjusts the lighting?"

Immediately there was gasps of astonishment, both bodies were decorated with reflective vibrant marks that almost made you feel sick of your own competence.

"Woah?! You coulda killed use twenty times over and we didn't even manage to zap you!"

"Told ya morons." Katsuki joined your side, a nudge to your arm to knock you from your worrying thoughts and a diverting suggestion to get you away from the situation. "Let's eat, we didn't go through all that shit to waste the food you damn extras!"

"Sweet, then you can tell us the story of how you both met over dinner!" Despite being beaten, Kaminari had newfound interest in your past life as did the rest of the heroes - you couldn't blame them, you were infamous for a reason.

The domino sound of agreement left you snapping to the host in mild panic upon the possibility of having to relinquish such a turbulent memory. You hadn’t even told him he’s the reason you quit killing and he hadn’t dared bring up that kiss you shared in case it meant nothing to you. A seemingly mutual whisper escaped both of your lips.

"Shit."

<——————————<<<<

[ Masterlist ]

[greyvear]

The entirety of Season 1 and the first 35 episodes of season 2 were purely leadup to the Reqiuem Project.

First of all, yes, this is how stories work. I understand that.

The thing is, I think we've all forgotten just how horrifying Red Eye was.

Let me set the scene for you:

You're...let's say thirteen watching this new show that's just come out. It's a pretty basic sports story, albeit based around some kind of fantasy top thing. But there's not too much to suggest that it's anything but the norm. Sure, there's some discussion of beys having spirits, but it's vague enough that it's probably just Valt being a kid. Maybe there's this one guy who can talk to ghosts, but it's played in a way that its very unclear if he can actually see spirits or if its just the show joshing with you.

The plot is pretty basic, with a few twists and turns in there, but by no means bad. The show goes out of its way to show you how these characters care for each other. They really are built up to feel like people, and that's what makes it so darn good. No one is static, the main character is allowed to be wrong, but there's this feeling of security and happiness to the whole show, assuring you that it's all going to end with a message of friendship.

Especially Shu and Valt's friendship. Those two would go to the ends of the earth for each other, for good or ill.

(There's one line about something being wrong with the giant guy's eyes, when menacing music plays. But it's so quick and so much other stuff is going on, that it goes over your head)

And, wow, maybe you weren't expecting Shu to lose that battle against Lui - after all you've been counting on seeing Shu and Valt battle this whole time! And when Valt loses to Lui you're really surprised, especially because there's just enough plausible deniability for you to be like: dude it's a spinning top it doesn't have emotions, don't forfeit because of it.

But there's another season coming and you're really excited to see what happens, because Valt and Shu are finally going to get that battle!

Season two starts and something is definitely different. Maybe it's the fact that you've gotten so used to a cast of characters that really like Valt - the Bey club are his best friends, Xander and his crew are really sweet, Zac was fascinated with him, and it was really only the antagonists who didn't like him - so you're not expecting BC Sol to be this antagonistic.

That's definitely it. And you're wondering about where Shu is, but he's been brought up a few times so you're sure they're just saving him for later.

The plot is still about what you would expect. Maybe a little harder to predict once Free leaves, and maybe it feels a bit more mature, but the team is going to the World Cup! Wahoo!

(There's a few more scenes about the bond between Blader and bey. Yet again, nothing definitive, nothing that can't be taken as metaphor.)

And then Wakiya bursts in.

Well this is definitely different than you've expected. this Red Eye guy is weird (maybe you suspect he's Shu. Maybe you don't.) but the Snake Pit is fundamentally a very silly arc. After all, you've got the annoying heat guy, the fortuneteller guy, the acrobat guy, and the amazing dog guy who Valt always forgets the name of. Sure, Violet eye is a bit mean, but Red Eye comes and cleans up before anything bad happens.

It's a weird arc for a pretty basic sports show to take, but ultimately really cool. You're actually excited about the "mystery" of where Shu is, and the next episode is back to your regularly scheduled antics. And you're not fundamentally worried or really expecting too much angst here. It's a kids show! And you're getting to the age where you can predict how these things go, the power of friendship will save the day.

Plus, things are looking up for our protagonists! They're doing really well in the world cup, and it's clear they'll be facing the Raging Bulls in the finals! Look, there's a funny vampire guy who is probably not a vampire because he's drinking tomato juice.

(Red Eye keeps showing up, on his tour around the world. That bit where he screams in tandem with Spryzen is weird but the show doesn't give you time to think through the implications of the Big Ben exploding before its on to the next episode.)

And, that's weird, what's Yellow Eye doing on the Bulls. But, you know what, no time to think about that because Silas won that battle and it's time to Celebrate!!! That scene where Kris eats the cake is so cute!

And then Wakiya bursts in, again.

Before you've got time to think, the music is serious again and all our favorites are in the middle of nowhere, watching Red Eye and Lui battle.

By now, you're pretty sure Red Eye is actually Shu, and you're hyped for how this goes down. It's pretty hard to say what you're predicting. You probably guess that Red Eye will lose. You're probably going to get an explanation of what's going on. Maybe, if you're really hopeful, you're betting Valt and Shu will team up to take Lui down again. Maybe, you've come up with some wild theory as to why Red Eye is even Red Eye including dragons or those metaphorical bey spirits.

And then Shu shoves Valt away.

For the first time this episode, really in the entire show, the tone armor has broken. This is not what's supposed to happen in this sports anime about brightly colored kids.

This is the first time you've really seen Valt upset. Sure he cried about Shu's hurt shoulder. Sure he was really frustrated about Wakiya taunting him and sad about Ken moving away. But he looks genuinely furious, and genuinely hopeless standing there as Shu walks away. And you're just struck by how intense this all is. This is not what you were expecting from todays episode, as you watch Valt angrily battle Lui for Shu's honor, not surprised at all by the fact he loses, even as you're in shock.

At least there's no way it can get worse.

You finally get your explanation of what's going on, though. If you take a moment to think through the implications, you realize that Theodore drugged Shu to get him to Mexico.

At least it can't get worse, you think because this episode is already really dark for the standards of this show. When Theodore tells Shu to throw away Legend Spryzen, you're probably annoyed and telling him not to do it, but ultimately think this is a weird scene to put focus on. If you know enough, you might see this as the manipulation attempt that it is, for Theodore to get Shu back under his control at his worst. But there's no way that's intended to be the implication to this scene, right? This is a kids show!

And then Shu's in that tube and you realize everything is going sharply downhill. Because I don't need to tell you how genuinely horrifying the entire Requiem Project is to watch. But right now you're sitting there, watching a human get thrown around onscreen for the first time in this show's history, and the music is all intense, and Shu is wielding an axe?

And then Spryzen shows up.

Maybe you're still holding onto some hope that this is all metaphor. Maybe you're thinking that this is a trick of the experiment or Ashtem. Most likely, you're listening to Shu and Spryzen scream and you're realizing something:

That guy who could see spirits? He could actually see spirits. The vampire really was a vampire. And all that stuff about bey spirits and partners and bonds? All of that was to be taken literally.

Oh crap, you realize, Shu just got possessed.

From then on, you realize things have changed. That this show you've been watching thinking: "wow this is fun but not really full of stakes" has stakes.

It's darker now, and plays with dramatic irony a lot.

Because you know what's wrong with Shu, as you watch Valt go through his ten minutes depression arc and the whole team deal with Free coming back. You know why Spryzen showed up at Kurt's battleground, you know what was about to happen to Kurt if Cuza didn't interfere. You know what the real purpose of the International Blader's Cup is, you know who Theodore is.

And all throughout it, you're screaming at Valt to realize that his friend is in trouble. But there's no real release of the tension, no one but you and Shu know what's really going on until Spryzen snaps at Theodore.

And then, finally, Shu is free. You're relieved as the characters finally talk about what's going on, you're happy for them and all of it.

And then another season is coming.

Well, you think, at least this one won't be so dark.

tldr: Beyblade uses tone armor to the best of its ability to make the Red Eye arc hit you like a truck

[thewhitefluffyhat]

Have you played the new deltarune chapters? I have lots of thoughts on them.

Hahaha what an excellent and timely question! No, I have not had a chance to play the new deltarune chapters yet. …But my curiosity got the better of me and I've been reading a bunch of theorizing this week anyway. 😂

So yes I would LOVE (wait, uhhh maybe I should use a different word there) REALLY LIKE to hear your thoughts!

My own rambling impressions (spoilers for all of Chapters 3&4, including the Weird Route):

.

Deltarune has always been an intriguingly odd blend of genres.

As presented in Chapters 1 and 2, the Dark World plot is a very classic portal fantasy story. We have our group of misfit teens who get whisked away to a magical land where they are the Chosen One(s) and must to Save the World from some nebulous Evil Thing according to a Prophesy.

Indeed, we've known for a while that the Darkeners are everyday objects such as toys that are brought to life - thematically tied to escapism and play. It's the kind of story set up where you expect the protagonists to go on an adventure, learn some big lessons about themselves, and then they say goodbye to their fantasy friends and return to the "real world" as better and more mature people for the experience.

Naturally, adults can't and shouldn't know about the other world, because this is fundamentally a Coming of Age story centered on kids.

…So what initially shocked me most about the events of Chapters 3&4 is how much that portal fantasy is already breaking down and bleeding into the normal setting. Adults are being abducted. The Prophesy is not just known but tied to religion in the town. Asgore has a Black Shard and looks about to create the next Fountain. What the HECK is going on with Carol and why does she know about the Red SOUL??

(But of course, there will still be a festival arc! Can't miss that, hehe.)

Which brings me to the other genre Deltarune draws from: the small town mystery with a disappeared child and a surreal secret. The way that Dess haunts the narrative (especially the Snowgrave/Weird Route) has always had strong Life is Strange/Night in the Woods/Omori/Beacon Pines vibes but I get even more of that impression now.

So what happens when these genres collide?

Omori in particular has a lot in common with Deltarune, including having an otherworld themed around escapism and taking part in a fun heroic quest. [Implied spoilers for Omori for rest of paragraph] Also, the more we see of Kris's true personality (and I'm fascinated and endeared by the new flashes we see in 3&4), the more it seems like they're a quirky but well-meaning goofball. I could very easily see the mystery at the heart of Deltarune's backstory ultimately being similar to the mystery of Mari. Perhaps one of Kris's pranks accidentally went very wrong and got Dess killed/corrupted, and they drifted apart from Noelle for the same reason Omori can't bear to be around Basil.

(But would such a story - two kids getting in over their heads, and the trauma of that reverberating to the present - be too predictably similar to Undertale?)

I'm unsure how the Bunker fits into this puzzle, because that seems the nexus of where the genres break down the most. My current theories are all wacky stuff like: "Inside the bunker is something akin to the True Lab, where Carol (and/or Gaster??) were experimenting with SOULs but the Red SOUL got accidentally put into Kris instead of its intended vessel when they wandered in. Also somehow Dess was involved (and maybe some part of her became the Roaring Knight after being infused with Kris's original SOUL?). The fallout from this shattered the Dreamurr family and Asgore is still trying to figure out what happened."

But that doesn't explain the Dark World and what's going on with the Prophesy. It also feels a little too abruptly and incongruously sci-fi… though perhaps I shouldn't discount that given how fundamental EarthBound is to this genre soup.

What else…

So far, I don't think anything in the new chapters has contradicted my big theory post from Chapter 2! Heck yeah! If anything, a lot of 3&4 confirm pieces of it, removing any doubt that Kris's actual personality isn't malicious, and that they do care for their friends.

I think the one major aspect I'm more certain of now is what the Red SOUL wants from Noelle on the Weird Route. Given the way the SOUL can read her thoughts, some of the strangeness with missing dialog/rain after That Scene in Chapter 4, and maybe even some things people have found digging into the code… I'm on board with the theory that she's being turned into a second vessel. (Hence Kris's horror at everything, given how much they hate being a vessel themselves!)

The Red SOUL wants out of its cage, and into a stronger and more cooperative body.

And yet I still come back to the same question I was circling at the end of those Chapter 2 thoughts. Why does the Red SOUL want this? Is it trying to break free from the Prophesy? To adhere to the letter of it, but subvert the spirit? ("Love will find its way to the girl", huh…) Or is it trying to enforce the Prophesy, when in the normal route we will find a way to go against destiny?

(Or are its motives something else entirely? Like Undertale, Deltarune is in many ways a ghost story…and what does Dess want? Or Gaster, for that matter?)

Gah, I haven't even played 3&4 yet, and I'm already desperate for Chapter 5! :D

[wdg-rb]

((yap session/theory

((i think. personally. the main antagonist is gonna be A. asriel/ralsei twist villain B. sans + papyrus twist villain OR its gonna be like. a truth vs ideals/ two points kinda thing, where both sides have a point but you have to pick. i have reasons under cut but nobody is allowed to call me crazy

((i just feel like it being JUST gaster in the end would be sooo predictable and obvious, like. omgg guys scary shadow mystery man is bad . like what.

((currently going with the two points one as my main theory for several reasons. such as but not limited to 1. “who will miss him” (“him” is used to refer to asriel and gaster(?) in undertale, but ppl would obviously miss asriel, he’s a really popular and well liked guy in hometown. gaster however (a lot of assumptions here) seems to be a kinda shut in bunker in the woods type guy.) since we know “papyrus is busy” (and he is labeled as “forgettable” in the ut genocide description, plus a very accepting and forgiving guy) i would assume he is going to be the one looking for him - because he cares about everyone and sees good in everyone. sans isnt looking, however, making me think that gasters more of a morally gray character? and asriel/flowey seemed to have very a black and white moral compass (to me, which is debatable). leading me into my next idea/point

((asriel is using gasters soul as a save point to play videogames with kris. first of all everybody realizes ralsei is the only darkner who can travel between dark worlds with the gang. second is eye colors. we see several reoccurring patterns with colors and souls and eye colors, the main ones im reffering to are sans (cyan/patience + yellow/justice), IMAGE_FRIEND/spamton (magenta/perserverence + yellow/justice) (and jevil just has yellow eyes (justice)). i think (big leaps here) image_friend is papyrus, who has magenta/yellow eyes (in opposition to sans’ cyan/yellow). this would mean they have yellow in common, which i think is . gasters color. (along with indigo or purple maybe (magenta+cyan))

((also think its his color bc of the egg thing.*

((yellow is the save point color in undertale, but not deltarune. which wouldnt make sense, except cyan yellow and magenta can make either black or white depending on whether its print media (light world?) or digital media (dark worlds?). this could also be me connecting pieces that dont fit, so take with a grain of salt of course.

((*the egg thing is big for me but i could also be insane for it. first of all. hard boiled?? wont hatch but leaves due to happiness. i think that will be gasters good ending, however that plays out. on the other hand,

((have u guys ever heard of shocking a hard boiled egg in ice water before u peel it?? iceshock Is one of noelles attacks. i think the weird route/snowgrave will be the one where u fight gaster in the end. this is another reason i think gaster will either be good or morally gray - you have to be a total dick thru snowgrave to fight him. these last two points may be seperate from the main one, not sure.

((anyways this has been wdg mod throwing sketti at the wall. i may add onto this or scrap it entirely

[iridescentttears]

idk about u guys but this feels like a riddle… sommonday, 8 days, guarded secret, december 1964, whistleblower, hyperbole.

okay so if summonday is the 8th day of the week, and the countdown began on release day july 23rd, and then 7 days later on july 30th the countdown ended and another countdown in negative time began. if “time is dead and meaning has no meaning” then everything could be malarkey and there’s not gonna be any way to predict what’s gonna happen. but also, maybe time got reset when it “died” and july 30th became day 1/ the first day of the week. we’re currently at day -5 and 19 hrs.

perhaps (based on nothing but the number 8 maybe-clue) on the -8th day of the countdown which falls on august 7th, they’re will be some form of a release/ another clue that hints closer to the answer.

that would make the time from release day to lost files release day 16 days (two weeks if we are counting summonday as the 8th day of the week)

all i’m saying is this feels very much like the brewings of a modern day cipher hunt like maybe it’ll be less about traveling to physical places like the original but instead some sort of wild goose chase treasure hunt online through hopping websites and soundtracks and books from 1925 and just like mixing the media formats. i think the mixed medias in tbob are so incredible and are really what set this book apart as its completely original entity and not just a sequel to journal 3. and with that shift feels very reflective of the era of time we live in now and in no way tries to recreate any previous era. ALSO all the metaphorical foils and parallels that alex hirsch has been begging us to see through the great gatsby are important. the literary connections between bill and gatsby’s characters AND the real life lesson of: we can’t repeat the past, we can’t get back things we lost, if we choose to live in the past it will lead to our demise but if we look to the future and accept what’s happened, we have a chance of building something amazing. (sooo no season 3 ppl like that’s not what any of this is about)

and and side note if the majority of the public believed the government release of the truth about “summonday” to be hyperbole, what about the minority that took it seriously? who are they? did they decide it together? are they in some sort of group/cult together?

the themes of cults, cult leaders, sociopaths, narcissists, and control come to my mind immediately regarding tbob, great gatsby, and now these weird cryptic messages from jason ritter…

sooooo long winded answer later,

i would love it if the countdown would end in 3 days @ -8 days and for it to lead to another link or to a code or to some sort of next step for us all to work together on tumblr and twitter and reddit and discord and all the platforms. thus ushering in the beginning of a new cipher hunt— but not like a cipher hunt 2. this is alex hirsch we’re talking about. i think the stakes will be different and i think it will be much less about physically finding things in the real world and more focused to online clues. and if it does end up being some sort of wild goose chase treasure hunt online i will be sooooo overjoyed.

cause i think that working together to solve mysteries as a collective is where this fandom shines. we make allies, we learn from each other, y’all are all so fucking funny and smart and passionate and genuine and i love hanging out in this community in the space between space and time.

i would love to go on that adventure with y’all cool internet sleuths!!

[major-toast]

Rosekiller hit harder if there's an age gap. And by age gap I don't mean ten or fifteen years. No, two years are just fine.

Just imagine eleven year old Barty, already an outcast, even at eleven years old, because he's reckless, selfish, and prone to lashing out. People don't like to associate with him, because he's weird. He's testing the limits of others constantly, looking how far he can go before something blows up in his face and then some. Everyone who associates with him is bound to get in trouble, sooner or later, so it's best not to associate with him at all. It is not the first time Crouch Snr has received a letter from his son's head of house, expressing their concerns about Crouch Jnr's irrational behaviour and his lack of care for others.

So, Barty's an outcast, only kept around because his fellow pupils have to. But he is not stupid. He knows why people go out of their way to not cross paths with him. He knows he's different. Socially excaptable interactions don't interest him, because there is nothing to gain from it. It's boring and predictable.

Still, he yearns to be accepted by others, because everyone craves that kind of connection. And, after all, Barty is still just a boy; a boy who is different, a boy who doesn't fit in, but a boy nonetheless.

And then there is Evan Rosier. Evan Rosier who is everything that Barty's not. He's calm, collected. Most of all he's indifferent. He doesn't care about what other's think of him. He's above it all. And Barty's starstruck by him. Thirteen year old Evan Rosier is everything Barty's not and everything Barty aspires to be.

He catches sight of him once in the corridors, leaning back against a window and quietly observing his friends tormenting another group of first years. He's not participating, just standing there. But the calm, indifferent air surrounding him, the dead yet highly attentive look in its eyes, like a barn owl not missing any move of its prey, mesmerises Barty to no extent. From that moment on, young Barty is glued to Evan's heel like a young pup following its pack leader with no amount of taunt and viciousness being able to drive him away. On the contrary, it just makes Barty try and impress Evan even harder.

Something Evan is not all too happy about.

He doesn't need a constant, Crouch-shaped shadow to follow him wherever he goes and watch everything he does. Evan is fine on his own, thank you very much. He's always been. Barty's a hinderance. A clingy, annoying twat that cannot get the hint even if he's being told to fuck off again and again. Why does he, Evan Rosier, of all people, have to deal with the weird kid? Isn't it already enough that he feels out of place on his own? Why make it even harder for him?

Because, you see, Evan's indifference is only the tip of the iceberg. Deep down, there slumbers an angry, short-tempered, and perhaps even scared, little kid. A kid that still manages to break through occasionally. And Evan hates it. Anger makes him vulnerable, noticeable. It reminds him of everything that he doesn't want to be. He fears, once angry, everyone will see the imposter he truly is, and he worked too hard for that to happen. No, he cannot allow himself to lose his temper. Not anymore. But he is angry, and with good reason, too.

And Barty gets it out of him. Again and again.

Seeing Evan angry for the first time awakens something in Barty. The mystery he created in his head in regards to Evan lifts, the illusion shatters. But, whereas others would be terrified by this discovery, Barty's downright ecstatic about it. Evan and him? Oh, they aren't so different after all. Finally, he found someone who could understand him; who wouldn't judge his anger; who would stay despite the trouble. Evan is everything Barty aspires to be, and, now, he's everything Barty ever craved for. And Barty will be hellbent on making him feel the same way, too.

[meatball-headache]

Occult Crescent is great, but the story feels like an afterthought. I mean... there's no "story," there's backstory. Lore. And I always think the same thing: so, are they finally revealing the secret history of Mhach, Amdapor, and Skalla? Or are they just making it up just for this content? See also: FFX-2.

It took me a long time to realize, but one time I had a friend who pointed out... I don't know exactly how it came about, but we were watching a movie, and she was psychoanalyzing all the characters. The movie was Kung Fu Hustle. It's not exactly about the characters, it's just wacky hijinks... or, maybe it is about the characters; the people make the story. Otherwise all you have is an encyclopedia, a map, a list of names and dates.

Bozja was fantastic. Right from the gecko it had a slew of characters and a great story with the requisite drama and plot twists and such. Also, someone in shout pointed out, the Bozja field records had a lot more text in them. Crescent's are very very short. And, there's a lot less characters to talk about. We don't even have an antagonist beyond the mysterious architect—what do you think? It's either the Archive (boring and predictable and the same as Arcadion, I bet), or an Ascian (boring and predictable and a deus ex machina), or someone we've never heard of (boring and predictable because who are you even?)

Crescent definitely wins in the aesthetics department, even though it is a rehash of environments we've seen before, Bozja was a bleak battlefield—sure, it's a battlefield, it's going to be bleak, but the Ghimlyt Dark, the Nadaam, these are battlefields too and they have some color and style to them. But Crescent is pretty and varied, you got your swamps, your ancient temple, your evil city, your caves, your weird bubbles in the sky. And I'm motivated by the grind; I want all the jobs, maxed out, I want all the armor, I want all the relic weapons... It just kinda sucks running this content thinking, "Well, just pretend the story isn't there." In Bozja we were toe-to-toe with the Empire, and we had named antagonists that we met in the battlefield and in cutscenes, and in Eureka we had the mystery of the Isle of Val—which, though we never went there, Minfilia mentioned it often enough that we knew it, and when Eureka turned out to be it, it was a "Whoa, no way!" rather than a "...where?" moment.

FFXIV tried to play it safe with the story. We're constantly fighting the Empire, so they could say a lot about imperialism and whatnot, but they pull their punches and stop at "bad guys are bad." And outside of the main story... they kinda just phone it in. I mean, the holiday "events" are insipid garbage, one quest that takes ten minutes and then you're done. Bring back the FATE grinds! Have you seen LOTRO's holiday events? It lasts for like four weeks and you have daily quests, a daily quest to do a certain amount of daily quests, and another quest to do that quest a bunch of times. It tells you up front something like, "You'll need to do all the quests for 12 days to complete everything, so plan ahead!" Meanwhile FFXIV wants me to hand out fliers to personalitiless children and then get a hat that doesn't display on my character, if we're lucky, but probably just a poster and a table decoration that I won't use because spacing in my house is limited.

And yet... I'll keep playing this game, of course. I've been here for a long time, and there's a lot to love. But it's starting to show its cracks and frustrate me. The bigger it is, the more responsibility it has—the game's getting bigger, raking in more money, so hire a programmer to do Viera hats! Hire another writer to really flesh out the field notes! Hire another another writer to give this marquee long-term content an actual story with characters and a plot!

...that said, the battle content is nothing short of stellar. The stuff we get in CEs and FATEs in Crescent would make Bahamut's Coil blush. There's so much onscreen, fast-paced, flashy mechanics, all these multi-part attacks, big bosses with animated tells, mystifying telegraphs, mechanics layered upon mechanics upon mechanics. Jeuno, Arcadion, Crescent, all absolutely amazing combatwise. The dungeons... mostly very good, Origenics sucks and I don't buy the "Cauchia taught me how to upload your souls just now" in Alexandria, and it's clearly just trying to be another Amaurot or Dead Ends. The optional dungeons and patch dungeons we've gotten have been excellent, though, and Remembrance is probably a top-5 trial, honestly. All the patch combat content has been amazing. Story... remains to be seen. Which kind of means you've already failed, if you haven't managed to snag my interest early on. (To be fair, ARR's opening certainly didn't snag my interest; it was more of a Dark Souls thing: "okay, here's a video game, let's go around and see what it does," kinda thing.)

I signed up for a few Forked Tower runs this week. I didn't realize it was going to be sign-up hard, I was expecting more Dalriada and CLL-like stuff. Anyway, I'm proud of myself for signing up, what with the anxiety and all. We'll die, obviously, but I'll count it as a win if no one yells at me and I don't have a panic attack :p

Okay, that's all for now. I'm not sorry for being negative, I'm only sorry for not being more original.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Dangancember 2024 - Danganronpa Top 24 Class Trials: Number 16 Danganronpa Another Case 5

//Again, I feel like it might be a little controversial for me to be putting this one so low in the ranking, but for me personally, this really does just feel like the middle ground when it comes to this type of case in the series.

//Another's 5th case is, in short, Danganronpa 1's 5th case, but better.

//MUCH better.

//The weird thing is that honestly, despite how much I think this trial is one of the better one's in the Another series, I honestly don't have an awful lot to say about it.

//It is one of the shorter trials, so there are far less story beats to cover.

//To start with my negatives, I think the most glaring one is the addition and presence of Yamato.

//Okay, so if Trial 5 of Another is an expy of Trial 5 of DR1, that makes Yamato the Mukuro of this situation. He is handled a little better I would argue, because of events that happen later, but I wonder why it was that Monokuma didn't bring him into the fray earlier if he was just planning on using him as a scapegoat.

//I will say it again. I really do not like it when Monokuma uses a character as a scapegoat, or when the Mastermind actively goes against the rules of the killing game. Because not only does it make them look incompetant, but they always try and justify it later, and make the claim that they were smart enough to cover these bases, when that's just blatantly untrue.

//Really really reduces the impact of the villainy, even if it doesn't mean to.

//But the other big issue I have with this case, and what ultimately stops it from getting any higher despite its sutble brilliance, is that this is above and beyond the most PREDICTABLE trial in the Another series.

//I mentioned in the previous post that one of the best parts of Case 2 of Another 1 was that unlike the rest of the trials, it felt very disjointed from the original two games and felt like its own mystery.

//But in general, despite the similarities, most of the cases felt different enough in the way they actually happened that they can be seperate. For example, I already discussed how the case with Mitch and Leon, despite having very similar story beats, gave me different impressions by the time it was over, either because the characters were different, or the mystery itself was more engaging to me.

//The issue with Case 5 here is that it is so strikingly similar to the rushed Case 5 of Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc, that you already know what's going to happen.

//Here are the key points of this chapter in general:

The murder victim is not one of the core cast members of the game that you've been previously introduced to, but a 16th student who (seemingly) first appears in this same chapter before winding up dead through mysterious circumstances.

The immediate suspect is the quiet, reserved girl who has been a mysterious presence for the vast majority of the game.

The trial is also exceedingly quick compared to the other trials, and the vast majority of it is a back and forth between the Lucky Student protagonist, and the quiet, reserved girl.

The trial concludes without fully identifying the killer. Monokuma pins the crime on one of them, accusing them of being a traitor and sentencing them to execution.

Through some means, the execution that attempts to kill the student is interrupted by an outside interferance.

The case is revealed to be a trap set by the Mastermind behind the killing game that was specifically designed to get one particular student killed, as a means of keeping the killing game going.

//It's almost word for word the exact same as what happened with Makoto and Kyoko in Chapter 5 of the original game.

//So much so that I knew immediately what kind of bullshit was going on the very MINUTE the body was found, and Mikako was seen standing in front of it.

//Which REALLY took away from my excitement from the game, especially since it's a near one-to-one recreation of a trial that, as I have already gone on record to say, I DO NOT LIKE very much.

//Mikako's behaviour in this trial is also strangely similar to Kyoko's gambit in Chapter 5. What she says and does to Yuki in this trial is nothing short of gaslighting him into believing that HE'S the one who killed Yamato. Kyoko, while not going into it as hard, did the same for Makoto, trying to take advantage of his mysteriously well-timed illness to make him believe that he might have done it in a stupor.

//So, I think with all of that said, one big question might be on everyone's minds right now. And that question is "if this case and Case 5 of DR1 are so similar, how come this one is so high up on the list while that one didn't even succeed in making it?"

//The simple answer is because what this case DOES do different, it does so PERFECTLY.

//For starters, Yamato's body discovery, while similar to Mukuro's, is far more impactful. And had it not been for the fact that I immediately sensed bullshit, the imagery of Mikako standing over Yamato covered in blood is honestly kind of haunting.

//In fact, in general, this case does a really good job at making you feel uneasy. Even putting Case 1-5 aside, Mikako is way too easy of an answer, so it gets your brain wracking at how this crime could have actually happened and what happened to frame her like this.

//I eluded to this already, but Yamato is also used FAR better than Mukuro was. To be honest, 1-5 was so much about Kyoko and Makoto, why the trial was happening, the truth of what was going on in the outside world, and the back and forth of who the culprit and the Mastermind are, that to be frank, Mukuro as a character isn't talked about AT ALL.

//She's an absolute non-factor in that case. She's just a corpse to clean up. But Yamato is far more active a character in this case. Some of the beats of this trial are covering things like how and why he was introduced only to be killed off immediately, and why he had the number to the rec room in his notebook, which is otherwise filled with empty pages.

//A-5 just generally does a good job at keeping the mystery unclear to a certain extent. As I said, the fact that this is classic Monokuma bullshittery is obvious right from the get go, but this case doesn't succeed as a Whodunnit so much as it does a Howdunnit. And it somehow ends up being very fun to put together, unlike 1-5, which was intending to do the same.

//I think it really does help that there's no absolutely stupid, braindead bastard in the trial who forces you to spend the first 20 minutes trying to convince him that Mikako isn't a fucking ghost.

//It's also interesting how you REALLY have to pay attention to people in this trial. Not their words, but their actions and facial expressions. Even when limited to sprites, the way that you guage clues in this is by paying attention to Mikako's face, since she shows emotions that are critical when points, like how her bedroom door was open.

//I like how this trial doesn't just require you to sus people out through dialogue and contradictions alone.

//Yuki is also a similarly good character in this, because this is one of the key moments in the game where he stands out to be different than Makoto, who he is generally a very similar character to. We'll talk more about him later, but I like the fact that Yuki has his own breakdown in this trial when he starts to get accused.

//But of course, the absolute highlight of this whole case is Mikako, and what's actually revealed to have been going on with her this whole time.

//It's elaborated on a little more later, but before the killing game began, Mikako found a way to retain her memories using a machine created by Yamato. Unfortunately, one of the side effects involve massive migraines that made it difficult for her to speak or interact with others.

//But despite this, she loses her cool during the events of the 5th trial where she desperately claims to not be Yamato's killer. Despite the fact that it literally kills her to speak, she HAS to speak in order to stop herself from dying.

//Which in retrospect is an absolutely horrible situation, and kind of feels like it could have been a missed opportunity on the Mastermind's part if they knew about it. Because they put Mikako in a situation where whether she chooses to defend herself or not, she's dead either way.

//And I like that this is reflected in the trial's gameplay as well. There's the stuff with the broken truth bullet for one, when things start to come into question and Yuki gets the finger pointed at him, but there's also a Rebuttal Showdown that feels specifically designed to be easy, as Mikako begins to lose the will to keep speaking.

//Nevertheless, she still decides to communicate with her classmates, and at the end of the fifth trial, she shows her emotions and communicates normally with them for the first time in the game. Unfortunately, the final trial reveals powering through the side effects of the memory retention device to accomplish this is what ended up causing the further brain damage that ended up killing her.

//Very similar to how Kaito did in V3 honestly, but since V3 came after Another 1, I don't count this as a copy because LINUJ technically did it first.

//I'm gonna be honest, I didn't really care about Mikako TOO much during the game in general, but I have to admit that these final moments are pretty stellar. The fact that Mikako went out giving Rei the truths that she wanted in the form of some hints about what was going on. She also does a whole Hope speech of her own as characters tend to do at this point in the game, and it's pretty interesting.

//After this however, we then get quite a strew of plot twists.

//Despite the fact that Mikako dies of the brain damage she recieved from Yamato's machine, Monokuma decides that he's going to execute her anyway. I talked a bit about this execution in my execution ranking list I did a while back, and it's one of my favorites from Another 1, but it ends with a power outage before it can actually finish.

//I think I forgot to mention this beforehand, especially because it's explained better in the trial that succeeds this one, but Tsurugi actually isn't present for this trial because he tried to shoot himself in the brain earlier. But he comes back into this trial with a lot of new information to dump on people.

//And then we conclude...with the Mastermind reveal.

//I know I keep blueballing people by continuing to bring up Akane Taira in these rankings, and never actually covering her character in full, but I really really want to save that for when I cover Trial 6 because that's when she truly shines as a character, especially as a Mastermind.

//But this sudden twist was brilliant.

//The cute, kind maid and Yuki's potential love interest with not a mean bone in her body, and who had an amazing redemption arc throughout most of this game...turns out to be the game's amnesiac mastermind.

//Well, ONE of them. She's actually more of an assistant. But at this point, as far as we're aware, she's THE ringleader, and JESUS this was such a sideline! Especially given the phenomenal relationship Yuki and she had throughout the game.

//Junko is hardly present in Danganronpa 1 and only appears at the end after the twist with her and Mukuro are discovered. Tsumugi and Mikado are present through all of their games, but Mikado is revealed to be the Mastermind immediately, and spends most of the game just being some corny dweeb on the side without doing much of anything, and Tsumugi, while hidden, is ALSO some corny dweeb on the side without doing much of anything. In fact, there's almost no hints throughout the game beyond her random references to anime and past games that she COULD be the mastermind, and when the switch is flipped, it's just so NOT impactful, because up until this point, she's been such a nothing character.

//But Akane is the fucking DEUTRAGONIST of this game! If you want to put it into perspective, this is basically what might have happened had KAITO had turned out to be the Mastermind instead of Tsumugi.

//Althoooouuuughh I will admit that this DID kind of happen VERY suddenly. While that definitely works in the case's favor to some regard, it really does feel like...

//But again, Akane as a Mastermind is not shown in full until Chapter 6, and like I said, we'll have to talk about her more when we get there. But this is hands down one of the greatest plot twists in ANY of these games and to this day, I still love it.

//But overall, the big reason why A-5 manages to make it this high on the list and why 1-5 didn't even make it...is the fact that the cases themselves aren't actually that much different in terms of length.

//THAT'S why 1-5 ended up an honorable mention; because this trial single-handedly proves that the fact that 1-5 feels like a poorly cobbled together mystery has NOTHING to do with it being rushed.

//A-5 manages to be a generally solid trial and mystery despite its short length. It manages to cover all of the great points that I've made above, and stand up FAR higher on the pillar than the one it copied.

//Unlike 1-5 where some of the points, especially at the beginning, are just SO POINTLESS, this one keeps you interested the whole way through because you actively NEED to keep track of what's going on.

//But in general, as sad as it is to say, because this trial is generally super good, the fact that it is such a blatant copy throughout most of it from 1-5 REALLY sets it back.

[littleprincefan]

finally managed to watch the 1966 soviet adaptation of the little prince and i have some Thoughts!

starting off with the good:

the dialogue was Very faithful to the book, which was nice to see

the sets and the ambience were all Stunning, the costuming was great. making the planet grownups all dress in the same pierrot costume was So clever i love love loved it

the whole movie had this dreamlike thing to it that was a very interesting look at the story

the boy who played the LP was great, he played him as this very strange mysterious but wise kid while still making him a kid Loved it

the snake was SO menacing. i could feel how the LP was scared and intimidated by it and its presence closer to the end was CRAZY

included the lamplighter and the geographer

showed how fucked up the aviator would actually be being stranded in the desert with no food or water

that part of the well scene where the bucket was filled with sand instead of water was SO impactful.

very melancholic and hopeless. sometimes it worked sometimes it really didnt but the times it did it hit hard

the LP-aviator dynamic was a bit different but i liked it

INCLUDED A LOT OF THE MONOLOGUE FROM THE LAST PAGESSS !!!!! i wouldve liked ir more if it included the "this is the most beautiful and saddest landscape in the world" part but thats because im way too attached to that part (i have a tattoo of that drawing. its That meaningful to me)

now for what i Didnt like:

a lot of the dialogue felt really dead. that can be a good thing sometimes but idk i need More this is the little prince after all. its a lively story with a melancholic cloud looming over it make it more lively please

NO TIPPLER. WHY ADD 5 OUT OF THE 6 SPACE ADULTS WHY NOT THE TIPPLER BITCH HES THE BEST CHARACTER . COWARDS

the fox scene was changed to where the LP and the aviator were playing pretend, and thats how that part was shown. so there was no fox. didnt like that all that much. i get Why do it but still

the rotating sphere for the planets got a bit distracting at times. it was very very clever and beautiful but it got a bit dizzying at a certain point

we spent Too much time in the beginning with the aviator in the desert alone like i get that its there to show how much of a miserable situation it is but i felt like it dragged a bit

mightve been the drive i got but it was a bit colorless?

pacing was weird. too fast at times but Very slow at others

i didnt like the balloon thing all that much? personal opinion ofc but i dont rlly like it

things that im impartial about:

the rose. her scene was alright. didnt Feel it very much though

they didnt show him dying. the scene was still impactful as hell because of the change of the order of scenes (talk with snake -> well -> death instead of well -> talk with snake -> death) but with the way the movie went i was rlly hoping they would show the bite. no he just leaves .

the way he appeared and the drawing scene were interesting . thats it

in my eyes it was very much implicit that here the LP was a hallucination of the aviators. thats fun and all but i do consider it to be one of the more boring and predictable ways of going with the story

the rose garden being in the desert was cool but i didnt care that much for it

overall a very interesting adaptation with some things very well done and some kind of botched. i do recommend it though! its not bad At all

[touchastar]

🌌 🎵 🌈 ☄️ for anyone your heart desires !!! ♡

you (predictably! i fear) get my horrible submarine...

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

oh boy are you about to get some deep never before seen lore...

[this clip of joov playing skyrim and collecting orphans to adopt by killing their parents spawned polaris]. i thought it'd be very funny for an unrelated character to... do that! aw he wants a kid :) what a freak! and then i launched into an extended bit about the "kid" he brings home being... abnormal. this was all for an au too.

i couldn't drop the idea of this species, which are now long past their final generation and are currently grappling with their own imminent extinction, finding some.... "kid" out there. but its wrong and weird. and for a while, polaris was unnamed. some vague, mysterious entity apparently manufacturing living weapons. they found a way to generate artificial sparks, but its wrong. they're just.... not like a person should be.

then i got really into watching videos about financial crimes and then i found [the extinguisher - jerma985 remix by japanesecoffee] and i thought it'd be really funny to smash up the two together. looked at the unused void and then my life was ruined forever in february of 2025.

the first absolute thing i decided about polaris? a centrist who profits off of war.

🎵 MUSIC NOTE - what is their playlist like? their favourite artists? do you associate a particular song with them?

[playlist link]

his playlist is intentionally ordered in a way that reflects his story arc! starts out as generally cheerful songs about money and business:

then pivots into greed and unethical behavior, furthering war for money - going as far as to create a mockery of life;

panic as he tries to restart the ended war, and then an idea of a second chance.

(context: polaris, when he tried to restart the war, fucked up so monumentally on all fronts, that [ENTITY] stepped in and decided that he needed to be contained far away in order to ensure his survival for their ends. dropped him off in a farflung outpost where he lived for about 10 years before the plot... called him back in.) and things were pretty good!

and then fuck you forever polaris. [ENTITY] yanked him back into his old role as lockheed martin guy, he's with his ex husband who has gone off the deep end, and he chooses to kill himself (even though he has an exit) instead of trying to be a better person again!

i started the playlist with video killed the radio star because i think that would be the type of music he listens to! i think he'd also listen to the beatles and adjacent artists. mr bungle, maybe, if he's feeling edgy. 2000s/2010s pop music.

and then ended the playlist with internet killed the radio star. i thought it'd be fitting.

i think the total, absolute polaris song would be suicide is painless. [this cover, specifically, because it features the alt lyrics that fit him most.]

🌈 RAINBOW - what advice would they give to their younger self?

polaris would make a big show to everyone else, and absolutely to his younger self, oh don't ever get involved with pharma! he's a sicko! he'll ruin your life! you just can't trust someone from vos. (imperialism lore reasons, vos subjugated kaon into a mining colony among other things + personal reasons. see: his twin brother was murdered in vos.) he's crazy! doctors are crazy. stay away.

or he'd tell his younger self hey. you're inevitably going to make affronts to god. you're going to make a mimic of bumblebee, a mimic of soundwave, a mimic of arcee, and a mimic/combination of megatron and shockwave that you're not entirely sure is alive or not. this is how you should handle them and reign them in because good GOD those kids are horrible and annoying. hit wasp as hard as possible on the head and MAYBE it'll put a good dent in his everything.

it's not really what he'd want to tell his younger self. polaris is a liar and unable to contend with himself on a serious emotional level (which is why his relationship with pharma and affection towards what are quite literally his kids freaked him out so badly).

maybe, if polaris were able to be genuine, he'd tell his younger self to not get into weapons development. he'd tell himself to maybe... don't physically pick up pharma and throw him down the stairs and break up with him like that - don't break up at all, actually. and treat your kids better because you're all they got and even though you didn't mean to make them that way, you still really do love them. nothing is going to change that, unfortunately. call your friends more and make sure they know you love them, and for the love of god don't get involved with anyone trying to establish a government modeled after the one we literally revolted against. no matter how funny it could be to be on the ground floor of their failure.

unfortunately, polaris is never able to get to that level. in this version, anyways.

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

everyone absolutely assumes he's an insufferable blowhard going into the room with the sole intention of annoying everyone because he knows everyone needs him, so they CAN'T just kick him out.

these are drafts but come on man. context: he's supposed to be talking to orion about providing weapons for the revolution. somehow, it turned into polaris theorizing about shockwave's horrific mutilation and an inhibitor the senate installed in him.

and yes, there's several layers of this assessment that are correct. polaris knows he can say whatever comes to his mind because he's the most important person between every faction by virtue of being neutral and really good at helping people kill each other.

but underneath that, polaris is a very shy person. acting the way he does protects him. gets him a lot farther. doesn't have to touch all of that gross stuff underneath.

i think there's only ten entire people who know polaris know that his brother was hatecrimed and that was a landmark case. four of them know he's blind.

[candiid-caniine]

im sorry this is a silly question, but what does it mean to be clicker trained? i haven’t been able to find a good answer but it seems hot (although i think everything’s hot tbh)

okie so pls prepare for autistic infodumping on psych and hypnokink below/

so. clicker training is often used for dogs and sometimes cats; basically, you're clicking the clicker every time you give them a treat. eventually, the animal becomes conditioned to associate the clicker with the dopamine rush of being rewarded! that's how it's used on animals. but the overarching concept is (afaik) a form of Pavlovian conditioning.

Pavlov (at least partly) got famous for an experiment where he conditioned dogs to associate the sound of a bell with getting food. eventually, anytime they heard the bell, they started to salivate.

why am i talking about animals? that's weird right? well the truth is that humans work basically the same (tho ofc our minds are more complex): over time, we are trained to associate certain stimuli with certain things. if you listen to the same song every time you go to sleep, eventually that song will always make you sleepy; our brains love repetition. it makes things predictable and orderly, giving us clear signals that help us navigate the world.

now...obviously...conditioning also has its applications to kink ;)

im a simple creature: im *stupidly* easy to condition, esp if i'm being intentional about it. most of the time it happens accidentally tho. here are some examples in my life:

i'm so conditioned to associate a collar with subspace that even touching my neck gets me wet. having the side of my neck sucked on immediately makes me go limp. when i noticed it happening passively, i vocalized it, strengthening the connection by intentionally "noticing" it every time it happened. it has only gotten stronger with time >.>

i also ended up accidentally being able to cum on command. once (i repeat: once) i was super worked up in between changing positions and i blurted out, "if you told me to cum right now i think i could" and owner said "cum for me" and...just like that, i fkn cum on command now. it's been that way for 4-ish years.

now...conditioning, esp when it's accidental, is an inexact science lol. i started getting more into denial. that fact, combined with the fact that i cum on command, eventually turned into *only* cumming on command. this was mostly coincidental: when owner and i moved in together, the only times i'd ever cum were when they were home, usually having sex/playing with me, and would command me. my brain turned that into an inability to cum *without* command. again, once i noticed it, i vocalized it, got intentional about recognizing it mentally, and it has only strengthened over time.

now: clicker training. theoretically, any effect you want (within reason) can be conditioned with enough consistent training. you could clicker train a person to feel sleepy at the sound of the clicker by using it when they're going to sleep. you could tie it to basically anything that isn't too complex, probably.

in my case, the goal is for me to hit the edge every time the clicker's pressed, so i've been clicking the clicker every time i hit the edge.

theory: eventually, my body will be so conditioned to think "click = edge" that i won't need to be touching when it happens.

theory: to really make this stronger, i need to get close to the edge, then use the clicker to get "there." stepping back further and further from the edge until, even if i'm idle, not turned on, or doing something else, clicker = edge, instantly.

here are the effects so far:

i'm not at the point where click = edge when i'm idle, yet, but the clicker does = a powerful clench of my cunt lmao...body's still getting on board.

*imagining* the clicker sound also prompts this effect, but a little less strong. HOWEVER...

suddenly, mysteriously, if i imagine and concentrate really hard on the way my body feels at the edge, i edge mentally.

this takes some concentration. curiously, it also makes me feel like i'm about to squirt; don't know what that's about.

why is this happening? because conditioning a human being is an inexact science. it's messy; the brain is very involved. so, in theory:

because i concentrate intentionally on the idea that click = edge, every time i edge and use the clicker, i'm also concentrating on my body.

concentrating on the feeling as i get closer to the edge. thinking, intentionally, "this is how i'll feel whenever i click this button."

so consequently, in the background, my body/brain is learning that "concentrate on how edging feels = you're edging now, fucko."

in conclusion: ymmv. my theory is that this kind of conscious conditioning method would be less messy and more precise if used with well-practiced, methodical, and specific hypnotism to strengthen and simplify the connections...but for the moment, i'm enjoying the chaos. i do like feeling powerless lol.

[alexanderwales]

Roguelite LitRPG Theorycrafting

I had a great idea for a litRPG that takes its inspiration from roguelites rather than JRPGs or Skyrim.

I do not have the time to write such a novel, and will not have time to write it into the foreseeable future. But I do have time for some theorycrafting:

A classic roguelite of the current generation has variable powers and powerups drawn from a small pool that change the character of the run over time. Maps and enemies are boundedly random. When you die, you might have some meta progression, which is usually in the form of unlocks. Sometimes this makes the game easier, but often it just adds in variety. You go until you win or die, and then you go again, starting from nothing.

To start with, I think this has to be a time loop, because it fits that pattern too well. I wrote a blog post about time loops, and would include some ideas and variations from there.

The protagonist starts every loop as a total scrub, but gets to select from a few options at the loop start (or just after) and then at either intervals or with things accomplished. The pool of powers needs to be fairly small, but large enough that we don't see repeats all that often. We want a protagonist who is forced to make the best of a bad situation.

There are a few cool things about this, but the biggest is that we get to see the protagonist solve the same problems in different ways. One one loop, getting into the compound is easy, because he has flight and invisibility, but on another loop, it requires a firefight because he's got a laser belly and can absorb flesh to regenerate. The protagonist presumably has goals, so we also have some stakes built in: all runs are not built the same. When you're on a "hot" run where it seems like everything is going your way, you can't immediately grind your way back to that if you fail. Stakes are one of the things that are sometimes lacking in time loops, so we're solving that problem as a byproduct.

Similarly, a weird power build can take the story in different places. You're able to walk through stone, and all of the sudden you realize that you can penetrate the defenses of the mage academy. You strike while the iron is hot, and uncover things that would, in a normal run, be locked away from you.

There are problems here. The biggest is that I think a lot of audiences would cry about the author's thumb being on the scale, because audiences will always cry about that no matter what. Which powers get offered to the protagonist on any given run will be under scrutiny though, and even things that aren't forced will feel like they might have been. Readers don't like that, particularly litRPG readers, who sometimes come to the genre for a sense of "fair play". I'm not sure there's a way around that, though this is one of the rare cases I feel like an author rolling dice might actually make sense, so long as it was done in a way that would be difficult to fake. This might make for a worse story though, since the author would have less control of the plot.

One of the other things that interests me is ... what if the world changed in the same way it does in a roguelite? In a normal time loop story, the world is static and predictable, but wouldn't it be interesting to write a story in a time loop that acted more like Rogue Legacy, where there are certain "anchors" and patterns to the world, but much that is random and different? The protagonist wakes in the same apartment building every time, but sometimes he's next to a park and other times it's a train station. There's a corner store three blocks away that's always exactly identical down to the misalignment of the Mars bars, always with the same woman with a streak of blue hair behind the counter. Is this meaningful, that everything changes except the things that inexplicably don't? Almost definitely. It's another mystery to unravel with every new run and a new, diverse set of powers under your belt.

There's a chance I write this at some point. There's always a chance. But I think sometimes it's good for me to sit down and think about the possibilities, then resign myself to moving on without devoting the next month's word count to something that's captured my fancy.

[geekwiththegoggles]

Just went on a horror movie spree and found some good ones on Sudder!

Mind Body Spirit

Interesting take on found footage. The influencer spin gave it a new twist and kept the concept afloat that probably wouldn't have made sense otherwise (including but not limited to DRINKING MYSTERY HERBS FROM A SECRET CABINET FOUND BEHIND A WALL BEHIND A WEIRD OCCULT TAPESTRY IN THE ATTIC OF A SECRET OCCULT PANTRY IN YOUR ESTRANGED GRANDMA'S HOUSE. ehem). Several good spooks and lingering shots that made your toes curl. I fault it only on its (thankfully minimal) cgi usage. There were better ways to do some stuff but hey. I'm not behind the camera. Not the scariest but interesting all the same.

Oddity

I'm not gonna lie. This one surprised me. The director's first movie, Caveat, was a loosely-tied bunch of horror clichés that sadly seemed to have promise but (like the protagonist) seems chained and limited to them and doesn't really get to go too far (I don't really recommend it). But THIS movie gets a green light! Compelling plot, decent spooks, and some well done storytelling. Yeah it's a little hammy and predictable at times and the ending (no joke the last like 6 seconds) comes out of left field to smack a whip cream pie in your face a-la-circus clown. But. Solid solid movie.

The Taking of Deborah Logan

I have mixed feelings here. It kinda plays with the concept of 'the infirmed/disabled are easy targets for possession and evil' and it's not cool to demonize them (I'm looking at you, When Evil Lurks). HOWEVER. This found footage-slash-documentary-style movie kinda approaches the topic with a bit of grace. And also has some of the realest responses to supernatural bullshittery. The ending is a tad weak (they hit the easy button imho). I am bummed with the body count, which means it did a good job selling it's universe and the stakes involved. Gripping. There's some body horror in it if you're into that but it's the bummer sort (the reaction of the doctor in one scene was so visceral I had to literally turn my screen away ehck).

The Cleansing Hour

Yo. For real. Thought this would be gimmicky from the description. And it sorta was. But it WORKED. I think what sold it the most was Drew and Lane. Max was meh acting -wise but thankfully it didn't weigh it down toooooo much. Very VERY pointed statement made about chronic online-ness and similar to Mind Body Spirit like, asking how far will you go for the notoriety? A good balance of supernatural and plot. Wish we knew more about the female protagonist besides being the puppet for the big bad to talk through. Also there's this big plot device of 'saying the demons name' and like it feels like it's building to being an interesting twist. But it doesn't go there. The ending feels like a phone-in (I'm sorry you just watch SATAN burst out of the charred remains of your well-liked crew member's body ((spoilers woops))) and y'all just. Happy ever after it? Oddly though, I'm not mad about it. Solid and entertaining, it's a good modern twist on the exorcism twist.

Okay I'm going to bed now.

[batsplat]

you’ve mentioned that vale and casey got nastier to each other during vale’s stint in ducati…..

feel like this is one of those situations where this ask has been kindaaaa answered on this blog in the few decades it took me to get around to it... BUT it is a fun topic so let's do a lil round-up. the relationship deteriorated 2010-ish around the time when valentino broke his leg (and their on-track rivalry was reaching its conclusion). you kinda have to read between the lines and do a lot of tenuous speculation about rider psychology about why this happened, because... it's not actually that obvious. with jorge/valentino in 2010, you have an actual paper trail and can construct the timeline for how things soured between them. specific incidents you can point to. with casey/valentino... there's none of that

or rather, there is an incident you can point to - the only problem is it happened two years earlier. obviously casey had neither forgiven nor forgotten laguna 2008, but he had apologised to valentino for his response in the immediate aftermath and they had publicly put their differences behind them. obviously there's still the occasional comment in 2009 that makes it pretty clear they're not 100% fine with each other... casey says he thinks valentino should have apologised and valentino says he thinks casey changed up towards him once he started winning in 2007... but this is minor stuff, said in larger interviews that aren't part of the weekend to weekend discourse. so, how come the vibes deteriorate in 2010 of all years? casey and valentino fight precisely once all year, a battle they both enjoyed, and neither of them are in the title fight. they have no major on-track or off-track clashes. and yet the tone did get markedly worse by the end of 2010 - if you look at what valentino was saying during this time period, he concurs with this assessment. 2010 is definitely the turning point. In My Opinion, there's several different factors you can point to. here's the sparknotes version:

valentino's injury (the literal injury): casey has tradition in being weird about his rivals' injuries - and had just gone through his 2009 mystery illness experience of a lot of the paddock not taking his sickness seriously (put a pin in that). casey was primed to draw a comparison between the reaction to valentino's leg break and his own condition. when valentino returned prematurely to racing (earlier than casey had incidentally predicted post mugello), casey was irritable about how valentino was being treated like a 'crippled hero'. we also know from the following year that he didn't take valentino's lingering shoulder injury particularly seriously either, so presumably he was just not particularly impressed by the valentino injury situation in 2010. that then becomes a symbol of casey's unfair treatment at the hands of the paddock and makes him ill-disposed towards valentino

valentino's injury (absence from paddock + changing power balance): casey had been sitting on his laguna 2008 grudge for two years and... well, perhaps he was a little more liberal about talking about that when valentino was no longer top of the world. not directly referencing laguna, MOSTLY - it's valentino who goes back to that as the root cause for casey's bitterness. which is partly obviously deliberate provocation but also... well, looking at how casey still isn't really over what happened in 2008, valentino did just read casey correctly. jorge talked in 2009 about having to learn from valentino's tendency to launch attacks from position of strength rather than weakness, and it seems like casey learned a similar lesson (better than jorge ever did, mind you). so, for instance, when casey talks about how much nicer the fans are when valentino is off with his broken leg... well, valentino isn't around to directly respond. valentino himself later that year said that both casey and jorge had gotten braver in their criticisms with his absence - though he didn't mind because he felt it was more honest. so casey did kinda confirm valentino's prior suspicions and those suspicions were more or less correct. and casey took advantage of being able to get away with a bit more, so he probably felt like he could be ruder about valentino with less provocation

competitive situation: the thing is, right, both casey and valentino did not have much fun in 2010. casey is more susceptible to this than valentino is, but sometimes you just read an interview excerpt and know casey was in a horrific mood when this interview was conducted. so for instance with that 'oh the fans are nicer' comment from casey, it's worth pointing out that this is not the only casey quote from silverstone 2010 that makes me go. steady on. so at a certain point it's just like... they're both irritable, casey kinda just wants the season to be over and valentino is cranky from being in pain... sometimes maybe it is just that simple. they're both kinda defensive, valentino somewhat uncharacteristically so - and when the ill will towards jorge also spirals, it's quite simple for valentino to just throw casey in the same category. it's a frustrating stretch of time for valentino and he's not in an actual title fight and it makes him prone to lashing out perhaps a little more than he would have in previous years. and casey is feeling particularly disillusioned with the paddock anyway so...

team switch: an obvious one. unpin that pin about the mystery illness - the worst culprits in the paddock's treatment of casey were ducati themselves, spreading false rumours about the causes of the illness to the press, as well as courting jorge for considerably more money than they were willing to pay casey. it pretty definitively broke that relationship and casey presented ducati an ultimatum in early 2010 they didn't really respond to, so he signed a deal with honda that was only openly confirmed a few months later. meanwhile, the internal power balance had pretty definitively changed within yamaha due to valentino's injuries, giving valentino the last push he needed to try and make the italian fairy tale happen. from casey's pov the enthusiasm and hype that met that announcement was obviously pretty galling - and just another sign of how much more valued valentino was than casey. this also set off some bitchiness - valentino made an ill-advised comment about casey not pushing enough to which casey responded valentino should focus on his internal yamaha battle. the real damage was done by valentino's crew chief jb, who pissed off casey so badly with his suggestion that the ducati had quite easily fixable set-up issues that casey regularly lashed out at jb over the following year (at times more so than at valentino) and spent quite a long paragraph recounting the comments in his autobiography. I imagine he's still not forgiven the man

which ends up setting the scene for 2011. it was pretty clear valentino was struggling with the ducati from day one, but the shoulder injury and the off-season surgery was a confounding factor in that... which AGAIN pissed casey off because. well. I don't think you need to read between the lines too much to imagine casey saw it as valentino making cheap excuses. valentino certainly seemed to be of the impression casey had a lot of opinions about his shoulder. that particular story thread culminated in the jerez 2011 encounter. obviously no need to go over that again here - the thing about that incident is that it was a nice opportunity to fall into casey's lap for him to twist in the knife publicly, but like... casey and valentino had such a unique dynamic that this specific incident didn't worsen their relationship. it's not a turning point, it didn't even really change how they interacted in the short term. a flashpoint, but not one that actually changed anything

so then. who's responsible? well, obviously, both of them. but it does all go back to laguna 2008 - and I do think the party responsible for the timing of the relationship deterioration was casey more than valentino. like,, valentino's behaviour is more of a constant where he is obviously going to do his cute little mind games but... valentino had been minded to keep the relationship reasonably civil until that point, including by accepting casey's post laguna apology without too much fuss. escalating hostilities without any competitive justification doesn't really seem like his MO where casey is concerned. also, when you do enough valentino feud autopsies, you get pretty handy at it. valentino feuds have paper trails that include clear precipitating events! something should have HAPPENED in 2010 that can justify why valentino would change his rhetoric towards casey - but there isn't. instead... well, valentino seems to think casey changed. he thinks casey started being more 'honest' about him in the 2010 injury break, and then in early 2011 he again makes it sound like casey's switched up towards him. casey does not say the same about valentino

so, that's the theory of the case. out of the two of them, we know casey had the more deeply held grudge. 2010 was both frustrating enough and liberating enough from casey's pov that it makes sense for him to express that more. valentino keeps up his general stream of bullshit in casey's direction that is just part of the game to him, and when casey escalates he does (initially) follow suit. but he may have genuinely been somewhat blindsided by how casey adjusted his stance towards valentino during that time period. so yeah, valentino basically got the valentino experience from casey. fun

the pair had a completely unrelated spat about towing the following weekend after jerez and just fell into a bit of a rhythm of bickering with each other. some proper, proper stupid exchanges in there - but at a certain point none of them really mattered. they could just kinda say whatever about each other and it was really just another normal week. an intimacy to that kind of hatred... it really is almost liberating. valentino did kinda tail off more with the insults than casey did for obvious reasons related to competitive circumstance - but for casey I still reckon it provided quite a useful emotional release valve. casey tends to be quite rude about his fellow riders whenever he can get away with it but was also making a point of keeping the jorge/dani relationships as warm as possible... so at that point it kinda makes sense to occasionally have a go at valentino. get it out of your system! healthy

anyway, speaking of dumb exchanges, I did want to include one of my personal fave stupid ones that I think quite nicely illustrates the dynamic sketched out here. this was in summer of 2012 when casey's retirement had already been announced, just around when valentino's switch back to yamaha was confirmed

obviously a lot going on here - casey's era typical lap of schadenfreude, the extremely extremely disingenuous 'feeling sorry for ducati' bit... just this lovely nastiness that imo is still a trait valentino and casey share particularly strongly, even when compared to their fellow aliens. my personal favourite bit, however, is how like... hayden is a world champion,, who valentino was beating reasonably decisively in the championship standings AND who casey actively said he LIKED. wdym 'nothing to be proud of' lmao. just this implicit arrogance of going 'well if even nicky and hector can do well with the bike then clearly it's GOT to be good!!' and it's like. bless. he's not doing it on purpose but it is just very him

here's valentino's response

always very nice my friend Casey ah ah ah

listen. it's obviously not my favourite era of their rivalry because I prefer my rivals 'competing' in 'sports' and I do still think it's a shame casey didn't have to go through valentino for his 2011 title... BUT it is an era I am still kinda fond of because it was SO dumb. like they wouldn't have been doing this if they'd still been competing with each other - for various reasons, one of which being that they're both not massive fans of directly confronting each other (outside of exceptional circumstances)... so they would have both relapsed to civility if they'd spent enough time around each other to make this kind of thing a bit too awkward. losers. but because they're NOT directly competing, they can just kinda go at it! literally no stakes, just pure love of the game on display here. it'd maybe be going a bit far to characterise valentino's responses as 'playful' because post 2009 casey did also crack the code for how to actually get under valentino's skin, BUT from his end it was still kinda in the realm of 'not that serious'. which is pretty funny if you look at the sum totality of the stuff casey said about him - apparently if you just insult valentino well enough for long enough he stops taking it personally. why did nobody else ever try THAT approach, huh. and on casey's end to some extent it WAS that serious, but also none of their disputes in that era were really the stuff that had *truly* hurt casey. so then being fantastically rude about valentino is just a way of working through that, in a way. basically I'm glad they both got a weird kick out of whatever THAT was and I think they can be very proud of the oeuvre they provided the people (mainly me) over the course of that rivalry. good job