#jd 2024 spoilers

[delphinus-dancer]

A deep dive into a swan lake and flipping the (metaphorical, sadly) bird:

A Mihaly-centric view of JD 2024 story mode

(because they’re my favorite and I’ve thought about this way too much over the past few days weeks) Spoilers for JD 24 in the almost-essay under the cut, including some images!

Starting off with Mihaly’s first appearance in the story mode in Canned Heat, it seems like not too much time has passed since the end of jd23- Sara seems to be at the same party, Jack still at the tower, etc. (how Brezziana got to the beach that fast and had a workout class is something I’m going to guess was preplanned before everything went down).

We can assume this would be the first time Mihaly’s come back to their room since then (which makes the idea of Wanderlust FaceTiming everyone like 5 minutes after they left even funnier). Of course there’s the shot of Mihaly ripping the poster off the wall, which probably puts their feelings into words better than anything else within an E10 rating. <Side note: I don’t know much on lore but does the setting mean there’s a chance they’re from Eternyx? Both maps started in dark crowd/nighttime so wasn’t sure if confirmed or not>

While Sara has the spot pretty much clinched for a Night Swan’s foil, Mihaly is a really close second. This shot literally puts it into perspective- Mihaly’s color scheme has as many color elements of Master Panda’s (shirt/jacket/foot wraps) as it does Night Swan’s (hair-that-perfectly-matches-the-poster/ gold of headphones and glasses/pants). Their dance style also overlaps moreso with hers than the other dancers, with the precision and technique of their moves, from the footwork and leaps of Rather Be to the dramatic powerful motions of their Swan Lake part. It’s pretty obvious who the song is directed to, and what makes the song so interesting compared to their last story mode one is how loose it feels. This is unlike their usual technical style because of the connection to Night Swan with the control demanded of certain moves that they’ve presumably mastered- maybe they were fueled by a desire to achieve her success. Regardless, the song and emotion fueled, less ‘perfect’ dance lets Mihaly basically flip the bird at Night Swan’s corrupted idea of perfection. Either way, it culminates in them achieving a new high in their training with channeling their ‘true’ inspiration of the (master) panda. Although they retain most of their same costume after sort of becoming a furry?, a noticeable change is that the black leggings are understandably switched to something looser- but to the navy color of master panda instead of Mihaly’s black.

What’s also interesting is that the specific point Night Swan interrupts Mihaly’s song isn’t at the beginning like Brezziana/Sara/Jack’s or the very end like Wanderlust, but at the climax of their journey for the song. Not only does this imply that she may have been watching the entire time but choose to interfere later, but she is also the only character to see the Panda form before Swan Lake.

As Night Swan basically invades Mihaly’s //mind/headspace/flowspace?/no idea on the lore// they initially try to fight her off, but unlike Brezziana in her map, don’t fight until the end. Although Mihaly themselves wasn’t being corrupted like the background coaches in Brezziana’s map, they still let themselves, in a sense, lose a more internal battle to Night Swan as they leave the metaphorical and literal height of their understanding and power in the Flow and come back to the real world.

This then takes us straight into Swan Lake, which is really interesting for the Night Swan/Mihaly interactions and how they compare to the other dancers. Although from a format standpoint it makes sense for the movements in the bridge to be different, there are more differences too.

A big one that I only realized once I watched Majesty again is how the other swan soldiers/minions were turned back- and that was mainly by doing the same moves to ultimately come together and bring the dancers back. Here it’s the opposite for effectiveness- what causes Wanderlust and Brezziana to fail is that they think that’s how to stop Sara. Sara matches the moves in a way that <well> matches, if not surpasses the power that they put in. As a result of meeting them head on and assuming control, Sarah actively corrupts the two of them. She makes motions to bring in the smoke, and both of them also are stationary/surrendering as their color drains.

When it gets to Mihaly, the dynamic with Sara changes completely. While Sara starts off watching with the same expression as when the others challenged her, it shifts as she realizes she can’t emulate what Mihaly does, with the movements almost like Night Swan’s-dramatic and slower. It comes to a head when Mihaly channels the panda again and visibly knocks Sara back, so she’s unable to push any of the smoke towards them.

Sara’s expression also becomes noticeably softer for the rest of Mihaly’s part, and she doesn’t reassert that dominance/control she had earlier- with dancing or the smoke. See how she looks almost pensive in the photos above/below, especially compared to the earlier parts.

Speaking of the smoke, this is the key part about Night Swan seeing the panda earlier. She knows it exists and how to force it off after the earlier song, and as Sara is incapacitated/distracted, she presumably sends down the smoke that starts attacking Mihaly in Panda form.

This attack is why despite having a chance to get through to Sara, Mihaly still ends up failing as they return to normal. However, they are the only character to be so dynamic in their active corruption. Not only does Mihaly manage to send a signal out to Jack, which was a display of power never seen from them previously, but they also do it as they are actively losing their color and control. Unlike the other dances, Mihaly still moves as they lose control, possibly having the strength to continue to fight had they not realized that Night Swan was attacking alongside Sara.

Although the signal is in the shape of a pawprint, its underlying meaning is more than just a plot device to send Jack on a wild goose chase (pun intended that I couldn’t pass up). With the way it opens to form a window into the location from such a distance, it almost seems to be a step away from a full fledged portal. With the sudden appearance of a new power, it’s also an interesting parallel to Night Swan, who here uses powers to create a unique form of control that wasn’t seen in the previous game and who regularly uses portals with her magic.

Another note is the lights that appear for each of the dancers in the upper left corner during the song as they take on Sara. While Brezziana and Wanderlust’s fade out a few moves before they fall, Mihaly’s still goes strong even as they completely turn grey, as seen the the photos above. This could be a possible indication to them having a more stable power than the other dancers, or a form of magic more comparable/competitive with Night Swan’s. Also to note about the lights: looking on the floor during the song, the diamonds flash 3 colors: hot pink (Night Swan), a deep green (Sara, especially while corrupted- her original outfit but darker), and a teal (the exact same color as Mihaly’s flow energy). Like everything else, this is a stretch, but it could possibly mean that Night Swan’s control and magic background could have stemmed from a pure form of flow like Mihaly practices.

This could also be a factor in why they retain the most of their original outfit in the corrupted design- possibly a form of resistance like they displayed during swan lake or general flow magic? Notice that while they have significant changes to their robe/face/accessories, their feather motifs are much less pronounced than the others, simply appearing as marks on the robe that can be mistaken for stripes, rather than overt feathers like Wanderlust/Sara or Sara/Brezziana’s feather tights. Unlike the others, Mihaly keeps their leggings exactly the same (which were notably lost in the panda form, as mentioned earlier), and interestingly enough, their wraps. I initially thought that Night Swan would have changed that to something like ballet slippers with ribbons, so I think it’s really interesting that they are the only dancer who had any details remain exactly the same, especially one that had unique opportunities to be changed.

Going off of that, since they were the last to turn and have (some?) control over their outfit and (some?) magic that may be similar to Night Swan, I could see them being the first/easiest coach for Jack or someone else to turn back when he (hopefully) takes on the coaches.

One last note is the number of maps per story mode coach at this point. Counting Stronger /Survivor, and Treasure/Lose Yourself (hopefully coming soon after that ending!), that seems to be setting a trend for the other coaches to potentially have an additional map as well. If so, maybe that would be one where Mihaly could individually be freed, or a chance for them to further explore their rapidly developing powers (maybe in a confrontation with Night Swan?? a girl can dream).

And there y’all have it! Thank you for somehow reading to the end!! Happy dancing!!

this took forever oh my god

[affableanthropologist]

I have some guesses for JD Lore Week 2024 I want to commit to writing- because hey, then it will be extra exciting if I get something right!

(writing this after the first two days- A Queda and Vampire. Much as I love Sweet But Psycho, I don't have any guesses for Day 3.)

JD 24 Story (Dance with the Swan): look, I'm excited to have some light shed on the main story no matter what, but the fact that Siha had the Wanderrose* moment in her Lore Video about Queer Stuff really struck me. She's previously talked about its striking resemblance to a canon romantic interaction (between Si'ha Nova and the Traveler.) I feel like if we'll ever get anything remotely official, it would be from this lore video.

Can't Tame Her: we've watched Siha's video diary of her journey to playing Clementine. I was under the assumption there wasn't much in-universe lore for this map, so it's exciting to learn I'm wrong! Furthermore, clearly we need some new protagonists for the 25 story since most of them are currently preoccupied being evil. Maybe Clementine will get a story role? That would be so cool for Siha!

*I'm just never going to start calling it 'Jacklust' okay??

[not-so-brave-toaster]

Close enough

[nightswansarmy]

dance with the swan pt 2 prediction

[frostyblustar]

An initial dissection of Murder on the Dance Floor

SPOILERS FOR THE NIGHT SWAN EVENT UNDER BREAK (Murder on the Dance Floor)

In littlesiha’s video ‘How Just Dance’s Heroes Became Villains’, it was said Sara and Night Swan have something in common. We now know what this is.

Night Swan is HUMAN.

And also Discoball is older than Wanderlust, that’s interesting. Night Swan seems to be in the same boat as Sara pretty much, though her goals are different. She instantly seems fascinated with creating portals, mimicking the Traveler’s move to do so.

As the song progresses, Night Swan seems to learn how to use magic from the Traveler. Her hand starts to glow and we can see some Purple magic, and a PORTAL!

At the end, the Traveler shows her a portal to Earth, expecting her to go back to her world. She refuses and closes the portal herself.

Now another thing we were worrying about, romance. It seems they do have some moves that could could be seen as romantic. At the end of the song the two are holding hands, however this is shown in such a way to make it look more like they’re buisness partners. This can still be seen as romantic is the thing. All in all from what I see, there is no confirmation that they could or could not be together.

Its my belief that maybe this shows they became teammates in a way, but then Night Swan later rebelled (Darkest Hour) So uh.. Us Wanderrose fans remain uncertain for the time being. Yeah one question why did Traveler bring her in? For funsies maybe..? Idk might be for romance reasons, I'm not the best at clocking romance in especially when I'm in denial.

[averokagejd]

ok ykw im bringing this back

BIG JD24+ SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

what does this mean ubi.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN

ok, sweet dreams is coming back with a kinda eh replacement track, fine

murder on the dancefloor is here, amazing! i kinda wanted a scarlet's palace map for it but leda's outfit for it looks stunning so nice

now.

why is the traveler here.

and the question on everybodys mind

what is their relationship to each other

were they friends? were they sworn enemies from the jump? where does this take place?

and of course

with all the talk about who jack's father is

were they together.

look, if there was a reason for the distaste of jacklust out there besides the community manager just not liking it

it would've been said already

so leda and the traveler having a duet together raises some very interesting questions

however, and this may age badly, i think they were never together

to start off, a big thing

Discoball is in the image

we know that Discoball was made well after Wanderlust's birth

meaning that either this is a weird retcon

they just put the graphic in because why not

or that this takes place well after the traveler and si'ha nova got together

that also wouldn't make much sense because he's noticeable younger but like whatever

[also isn't he like a god, do they age at the same level as regular people in the jd world]

also a thing about murder on the dancefloor, going by leda's outfit, i think this is gonna be a similar thing to the music video

i think they'll be in a dance competition, competing for uh something

and then traveler wins and leda swears revenge or smth

i think they're gonna be against each other from the jump

but that's just me

this could be the map to make all jacklust posts go away in a snap, who knows

we'll see in the upcoming weeks

but for now i just wanna try to calm everyone i guess

[stretch-time]

spoilers under the cut

uhhh real footage of night swan closing the portal to earth in murder on the dance floor:

[makotospadeheart]

Night/Tainted Dancers

Hi, yes, just wanted to show art of the evil Just Dancers, because Tainted Love is rotting my brain.

Night Sara:

Night Brezziana:

Night Wanderlust:

Night Mihaly:

(None of this art is mine! The credit is in the links!)

[yantao-enthusiast]

!!!just dance 2024 spoilers!!!

i just want you all to know that immediately after finishing the story playlist i angrily paced around my living room muttering about how i'm gonna push jacky boy into the water to swim after that boat and it was about an hour before i realized that that is a stupid idea and would probably just get him hurt too but my babies are EVIL now and i am RIGHTLY EMOTIONAL!!!! WHERE IS THE REST??????!!!!! WHERE ARE MY SILLY LITTLE DANCING FRIENDSHIP GUYS SAVING THE DAY?!?!?!??! FUCK YOU. I HOPE WHOEVER MADE THIS CLIFFHANGER SOON FINDS OUT THAT THEY HAVE A SEVERE ALLERGY TO SEAFOOD WHEN THEY GO TO TRY OUT AT A SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

[stellarcat52]

Just Dance 2024 Spoilers below

I noticed something in the story mode of 2024 concerning the timeline of the songs. I'm kind of hoping this is my brain focusing on small details that are just unimportant but I'm not sure.

A bit of explanation/Why am I worried about the timeline of this.

2023's story mode was clearly linear, right? Songs went in order, each one happening after the one before it. The transitions showed that very clearly. 2024 doesn't do that. In fact, it seems like You Should See me in a Crown is just finishing as Wanderlust reaches out to Brezziana and Mihaly at the end of their songs.

But that doesn't line up with Treasure. Not only is Night Swan actively interfering with Jack during the start of the song, but the scene behind Wanderlust (which should have been the same as what was shown to the other two just dancers) is the door in the background of You Should See me in a Crown, with parts of it lit up.

Not flashing.

At no point during the rest of the story mode is that door lit up but not flashing. It flashes during You Should See me in a Crown, it fades after the song is done, it's not lit up when the Dancers go to confront Night Swan.

On top of that, Night Swan and Sara are absent from the background, which I admit might have been a framing thing, or that they were behind Wanderlust. If that had been the only thing to catch my attention I would have ignored it. But it's not.

I really want to think I'm just overthinking this, but I can't think of a production-related reason the scene behind Wanderlust would be different during Treasure vs the other songs.

Which makes me think Wander didn't reach out to Jack at the same time as the other two.

So when the heck does Treasure take place?

Obviously before Swan Lake, which does seem to happen right after Wanderlust gets Brezziana and Mihaly, so before all that? But Canned Heat had Jack dancing with Wanderlust probably in real time because of what Night Swan does during the ending.

It doesn't make much sense for Night Swan to wait between getting Discoball and going to get Sara and give Wanderlust time to get the Just Dancers together. But looking at everything else it seems like the only timing that would make sense for Night Swan to have done this to be between Canned Heat and You Should See me in a Crown.

The background could be explained if Wanderlust had a stationary view of what was happening to Sara and Night Swan, and that can be explained by the fact that it wasn't Wanderlust's portal exactly that was showing him it at all. It had been taken over by Night Swan, hence the purple border and tint. Why would she show Wanderlust that scene? So he knew she had Sara, and so he'd come to save her. It was a trap.

But why do both of them go to Jack first?

Night Swan probably knew that Jack would be involved with the Just Dancers, so she wanted him out of the way. It is in a different manner than how she tries to deal with Brezziana and Mihaly. It’s either her trapping him with his reflection (like the narcissus myth, other people have made posts about the connection. Have some links: 1 2 3) or her trying to get him to come back to her by showing him what he could have if he was on her side.

As for Wanderlust, the only ideas coming to mind is trying to check if Jack is working with his mother again, or if he knew anything about her reappearance. Since before seeing Sara and Night Swan, Wanderlust wouldn’t have proof that Night Swan was corrupting his friends.

I have questions, I have some answers, and I am almost definitely overthinking something here. I have a history of doing so, so I would not be surprised. I also have a history of overthinking because I miss some huge obvious thing and only focus on the small things, so if I’ve done that again please tell me.

[calicojack1718]

The VP Debate: "A Damning Non-Answer" Understanding Who Won the Debate and Why

Vance and Trump are extremely unqualified and disqualify themselves every time they lie, which is often. The debate just highlighted their anti-democracy disqualification.

SUMMARY: The post provides an analysis of the recent vice presidential debate between JD Vance & Tim Walz. It covers my immediate impressions taken from notes while watching the debate, including the initial spin that the parties tried to put on the debate. The real important potion, though, is reminding readers of the horrific nature of Trump’s term in office by linking to various posts about…

[delphinus-dancer]

Why Mihaly’s [spoiler] form is different, and what it could mean

Sorry for the clickbait-esque title, but I’m not sure on the state of the Jd 2024 storymode spoilers with the fandom, so spoilers for the storymode ahead (including images)!

It’s also a bit long because I’m back on my bs of overanalyzing Mihaly

I’ve already made a post about Mihaly in the 2024 story mode with elements of their journey and uniqueness of their interactions with Night Swan- which grants them a lot of depth, in terms of their dances and character. With Night Swan’s corruption at the end of 2024 altering the costumes of Wanderlust, Brezziana, and Sara as well, the refs posted via the YouTube short allow for several details to become clear. (Shoutout to the costume department- they’re gorgeous!!) As pointed out in another post by @phoenixriaartemis , Mihaly’s headphones become the belt in their Dark form, and without the earbuds, Mihaly would be unable to connect with their headspace. I initially thought this was the case as well, since Mihaly’s maps both begin by placing them in their ears to enter their space of contemplation, practice, and growth. (More on that in a moment.)

As I noticed when I did the other post, Mihaly is the only one of the corrupted dancers to maintain elements of their original outfit. I initially thought it was only the leggings and wraps, but after comparing the concept art, those parts have changed too- the pants are shorter with rips cutting up, and the wraps come up further. While part of it could be chalked up to a different dancer portraying Mihaly in their dark form and requiring an alternative costume even for similar pieces, I think those elements are more deliberate. Looking at the headphones, pants, and wraps, they can be viewed as something Mihaly retains, but is twisted by a vision of perfection- just to a lesser extent than the others, who don’t retain any aspects like that.

It wasn’t until a Rather Be rewatch that I noticed something that I completely overlooked: the details of Master Panda’s design.

Although Mihaly’s design mimics his closely, there are some notable elements where they are different. There are two small ones of note: the piercings on his left ear, and the headphones. When Mihaly assumes the panda form in Never Be Like You, they gain almost all elements of his costume, barring some colors. Their hair color is retained in his hairstyle, and while their pants lighten to dark blue, they become looser to match his. However, there are two elements unique to the panda that they do not gain: the headphone belt and the two piercings. (Sorry for the image quality below.)

Instead, in its place are two over the ear headphones, which seemingly combine those elements into one- the headphone component and the piercings/ear adornments. As a result, the headphone belt and piercings are absent, even in the form where Mihaly seemingly achieves mastery of a milestone in their training. While this could be chalked up to Mihaly’s individual understanding of the Flow, its commonality seems more significant.

Let’s consider the Panda’s costume to represent mastery of the Flow. Since the headphones are used as a belt rather than their practical purpose, this indicates that instead of needing the headphones and the music they provide to connect with the Flow and be transported to that higher plane, it can be done by mastering the Flow within oneself. After all, the Master Panda appears in both maps independent of Mihaly’s music, and appears/disappears on his own time. Even when Mihaly gains the Panda form, they still keep the over ear headphones, binding them to the music, even in their supposed ascension.

Going off of that, let’s look Mihaly’s Dark Form again. (Sorry for the same photo again!)

It’s easier to see in the art than the photo, but since the headphones have become a belt, Mihaly has also gained the earrings in their left ear. Between this and the dark feather elements being the least prominent out of all the corrupted dancers, including Jack in Treasure, Night Swan’s vision of perfection is not very present.

Instead, Mihaly’s Dark form is ‘tainted’ by Night Swan’s influence with the creeping feathers on their robe and the alternations to their leggings and wraps, but the overall costume is Mihaly’s own idea of perfect: a master of the Flow. With the headphones as the belt, this represents their goal of connection beyond the confines of music, and piercings of the Panda could possibly symbolize mastery of the spiritual and physical realms they inhabit in their maps.

By gaining both of these elements that they have yet to achieve and lacking as much of Night Swan’s influence, it seems to imply that Mihaly has retained a degree of control over their identity that the others lack. In the other post, I speculated this could be because of how they were initially corrupted. Rather than passively falling to the smoke Sara brings in, the smoke comes from offscreen (presumably from Night Swan herself), and they send out the message to Jack while actively losing their color. They also have a degree of control and agency throughout their part of Swan Lake that Wanderlust and Brezziana lack, since Sara does not actively defeat Mihaly or control any smoke during their part. Night Swan also may not have subdued them as much, with the short interval between losing their color and the Dark forms appearing, causing the perfection imposed on Mihaly to have more elements of their own than Night Swan intended.

Going off of that, as I said in the last post, Mihaly could be the easiest coach to return to normal, as they have presumably retained the most of their former self. While they could be reached through the usual method of dance fights/battles, they may also be brought back by the true, pure Flow they aspire to practice. If they are returned to normal before the other coaches, maybe they could achieve the true mastery they’ve sought after by freeing them.

Whatever the story mode holds for Mihaly and the other coaches, I have a feeling the true mastery of the Flow they’ve sought after is somewhere in cards for their future appearances, both literal and physical.

If you’ve read this far, then thank you for listening to my rambling! Hope you have a great day/night and feel free to fire back with any ideas or questions!

[reki-rixt]

Ok I’m just now finding out that apparently people COMPLAINED about Just Dance having lore??? Literally WHY??? Story mode took up what, 7 maps? AND THEYRE STILL FUN PLAYABLE MAPS!!! What exactly did people take issue with, and why was it so much of an issue that now people are speculating Story mode is no longer a thing????

[airenyah]

i see everyone fill up the gmmtv 2024 bingo card and it's like. i don't really have any predictions and i also don't have enough things that i want in order to fill up the entire thing.

i really only have three four wishes for gmmtv 2024:

firstmix 12 ep main couple series

earth/fourth return as an uncle-nephew duo

joongdunk series, but better written and more serious/deeper/grittier/darker/sexier this time. bonus points for vampires

midnight museum s2 but make it canonically gay and also bring back nanon as The One (and KEEP him as The One!!!!)

[not-so-brave-toaster]

Added new jd2025 variants <33

Maybe it's because I am a lesbian but I did get a little emotional after watching vampire for the first time

[averokagejd]

JUST DANCE 2024 SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!!!

ASGFHGFASFSDFSG WE WON!!!

LESBIANS REAL AAAAAAAAAAAAAA