#lanterns analysis

[dim-paper-lanterns]

on annabeth and rachel in pjo

maybe it's the aromantic in me, but I never realized that annabeth's and rachel's whole feud was over percy. to me, I always figured it was centered around annabeth's own isolation away from the mortal world.

ok, here me out. i always read annabeth's and rachel's relationship as annabeth's jealousy not over percy, but rather her demigod world. i mean, she was practically born knowing of the gods, and even if she didn't, we know that from a very young age (earlier than 7), she was introduced to the worst aspects of it. (I don't remember if she knew that athena was her mother pre-camp, but it doesn't really matter) so here you have this child, and she's scared and angry and no one in the mortal world believes her when she talks about spiders and dreams. its not hard to imagine that she would form some sort of bitterness towards the mortal world, especially since she left it (became a year-round camper w no contact w the mortal/outside world) at a very young and impressionable age.

"My dad’s resented me from the day I was born, Percy. He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work."

and then she meets luke and thalia. for the first time in her life, she's respected, and protected and loved. and they believe her, about everything. they are older than her but they take her seriously and they promise her family. they left their mortal 'families' as well, they know exactly the terrors she has been facing. they are the exact kind of different she is, the same kind her father sighs at and her step-mother scoffs at. so now we have annabeth, and she is young and impressionable and the line between the demigod world and the mortal world has become firmly drawn.

camp half blood comes like a savior land. safety, respect, understanding, friendship. thalia's gone, annabeth becomes a year-rounder, she is surrounded by magic and powers and monsters. but this is her world, this is her camp, this is her domain. she tries, she really does try to reconnect with her mortal family by it doesn't work out and she is sent right back to camp. that's fine, all she needs is camp. she's going to make something of herself, she's going to become counselor, she's going to win every capture-the-flag, she's going to be chiron's best student, she's going to get a quest. she is going to be great.

“I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn’t want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn’t even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood.”

annabeth is 12 and full of fragile pride. percy enters camp and annabeth gets a friend, a chance and a crush all in one. everything is working out, but tensions are rising between the gods and tensions are rising in camp- its fine. annabeth is going to be great.

things are not going great. luke has betrayed them, has betrayed her. she seems to be in constant danger, by monsters and gods alike- even her summers are now filled with dangerous quests and battles. they go through the sea of monsters, they bear the titans curse. clarisse has her battle will, percy has his sea powers, grover has his saytr magic. drew has charmspeak, beckendorf has a dragon, nico is the son of the death god. thalia is back with her storm powers, lee has his magic, katie has hers, and annabeth is a strategist. but it's fine. she is not going to feel inferior, or weak, or lesser than. this has been her world since birth, this belongs to her. she doesn't need any mortal in it. not her father, not her step-mother, not her step-brothers, not her school 'friends'.

and then rachel arrives. she's pretty, she's sharp, she's funny. she's quick on her feet and she can see through the mist.

she is mortal.

and she keeps reappearing. she becomes friends with percy, which, hello? that's annabeth's partner. she goes with them into the labyrinth, annabeth's quest. she is a mortal.

this is what i made out of annabeth's feud with rachel. it wasn't jealously over a boy, it was because this mortal could come into annabeth's world, and take over everything annabeth has ever known. she cut herself off from the mortal world when she was 7, and here comes this mortal girl constantly tagging along with them, messing up her plans, taking over her missions.

annabeth is prideful. she is proud of her life, of everything she has created, free of mortals.

kronos's army arrives in new york. annabeth's friends are either dead, on luke's side, or fighting a losing battle protecting camp. they go on more and more missions, the gods aren't being helpful. its a hit or miss on if the new demigods can even make it past thalia's tree due to all the new monsters attacking them- annabeth buries children.

and throughout all of this, percy is off with some mortal?

the battle of manhattan arrives and call annabeth selfish or apathetic, but she revels in it. all of her efforts, her skill and strategy and struggle has been made worth it. she leads her campers into battle with victory in her eyes.

and then the mortal comes crashing out of the sky in a helicopter.

annabeth saves her, of course. but now she's got a mortal involved in what is quickly turning out to be a bloodbath, and rachel is talking on about paintings while annabeth's siblings die outside. its easy to hate her when she is constantly in annabeth's way.

LOL ANYWAYS

all this to say was that i misread annabeth's whole grudge against rachel so badly whoops. love her though

[dim-paper-lanterns]

The thing is that everyone knew Luke. Any new camper who came passed through the Hermes cabin at one point -which was written to be the most worn down and crowded of all the cabins- met Luke. He was their friend. He was kind and responsible and he was the oldest any demigod has ever managed to become. At the start of tlt he’s 19 and you can tell how much the camp admires him.

The fact that there was demigods who joined Luke’s side only adds to this, children who believed in Luke’s mission more than they believed in gods. (Idk if I’m misremembering) but in tbotl, when Percy and beckendorf crashes the Andromeda and Percy runs into enemy demigods, his narrative was something like ‘I’m not going to kill them bc theyre demigods and bc they used to be campers’. If this is true, it implies that there are demigods who would willingly side with the monsters that they’ve grown up being warned about, as long as it meant they could follow Luke.

A big part of Percy and annabeth’s disconnect is Percy not understanding how annabeth can still believe there is goodness in Luke. But like the camp, Luke castellan was a constant in her life, whereas for Percy, he knew the man for like, 3 days before he was sent on his first quest.

And maybe Luke reciprocated, maybe Luke really did care for the kids under his protection. His last words are (and I’m paraphrasing here) “-Ethan, all the other unclaimed-” luke knows these children. He can do what their own parents can’t. I’ve seen people assume that luke recruited other demigods, seeing them as nothing more that extra swords and canon fodder, but I really don’t think that’s true. He knows their pains, he gives them a direct solution to bite back.

Anyways lol what do I know 🤷‍♀️

“why don’t they ever suspect Luke why don’t they realize it’s Luke why are they so quick to suspect Clarisse and not a Hermes kid”

guys, Luke is the perfect child. Thats the whole point! He gave his offerings he said his prayers he went on his quest he proved his loyalty to Chiron, to the gods, to his dad. And he did it all with a smile. They have no reason to suspect luke! Luke is the best of them!

Ares could’ve come to that meeting waving a big sign that said “LUKES THE LIGHTNING THIEF” and they still wouldn’t have believed him.

Because they also don’t want it to be Luke.

They love Luke. Luke takes care of them Luke protects them Luke is everything they want in an older brother. It doesn’t matter how blaringly obvious the writers get about who the real thief is. They will ignore every sign, every red flag, every warning, until Percy is dying of poison deep in the forest and Luke is gone.

[provecfy]

No but I seriously can't even fathom how painful Cassandra's existence has to be.

Like, we explore exactly how horrible witnessing death is for Cassandra, she reads the pain and the understanding and the regret on a dying body, she experiences death along with its victim on real time, she is the one human being who will never get desensitized to seeing a person dying, it is even worse for her than for anyone else, and she is surrounded by death

Her entire dedicated rogue's gallery (David Cain, Shiva, the Mad Dog, the Unburied, etc) makes a point of killing any and all by-standers and she always has to see it

Imagine the most traumatic death you have ever seen or heard about, imagine the grief or the disgust you felt when you first came across it, imagine experiencing that at the same time you experience the pain of the dying person and then imagine reliving that memory two, three, ten, twenty times every night and it's always like the first time and you never get used to it, and you'd be imagining a normal Tuesday for Cassandra as Batgirl

It's agonizing, my legs shake just thinking about it, I can't even picture getting up from my bed every morning with that curse over my head. And you're telling me Cassandra, this normal human without powers and with a support network that is lackluster on a good day, not only gets up every morning but lives with it? That she can manage a semblance of normality? How much willpower does it take? I am truly floored by how amazing Cassandra is.

[shaylogic]

Let's all go feral over light symbolism! <3

I noticed that in the Case of the Creeping Forest, we have Crystal & Charles with their own lantern in the forest.

Edwin and Monty with their own lantern.

Neither of those lanterns is the same as the one that Edwin gave to Charles when they met.

The Cat King extinguishes Monty's flame just before lighting his own Chandelier and outing Monty to Edwin, hoping it will garner favor for himself in Edwin's eyes.

When Charles descends into Hell, he doesn't have the lantern in hand yet. He pulls it out of his Bag-of-Tricks in the darkness of the Doll House.

As the fandom has already pointed out, the lantern that Edwin gave Charles when he was dying is the same lantern Charles brings into Hell to save Edwin.

Anyway, hope y'all were having a good day. Let's share all our theories with the class <3

[bitchyblkqueer]

great hal jordan video btw

[dim-paper-lanterns]

WAIT I REMEMBERED WRONG IT GETS WORSE

Johnny actually says "you know, you look an awful lot like Sodapop, the way you've got your hair and everything. I mean, except your eyes are green”, and THEN pony goes “they’re grey whatever whatever-

But this means that pony only shares the same eye color with Darry, not w soda. It’s not even that pony doesn’t like green eyes, he dislikes them to the point of hating them on himself, only for us to find out it’s his only physical connection w Darry. He knows that they are both green eyed but specifically states how Darry’s are blue-green while his are grey-green, pushing for a difference between them. he’s proud of the features he shares w soda (his hair) but ashamed of the features he shares w Darry :(

For me one of the most continually painful parts of pony and darry's relationship at the start of the book is Pony dropping "I hate most guys with green eyes" and then making sure you know darry's eyes are green

[danothan]

Just reading some comics and saw a panel I thought you might like. :)

ah fuck, characters reminiscing always get to me ;__;

but i will never ever get over that fond way these two talk to and abt each other. especially when they’re poking fun, you can just hear the love in their voice it’s SICK.

the halbarry love language is annoying each other, but even more than that, it’s being each other’s exceptions

[shinpikurage]

Warning: Genshin Leak

Lanya (also known as Madame Ping and Streetward Rambler) will be released as a playable character in version 5.4. She is a 5* Polearm Girl.

5.4 will be the Lantern Rite patch and will also see the release of a new 4* Catalyst Girl.

Okay, I have many complaints about this but let's go slow

First of all! Why is her name Lanya? Her human name is already (something) PING, why not keep it? Why not go to something similar?

Second, why her? We KNOW they are going to transform her into a young girl, and I think that takes away from her character. Madame Ping whole identity is being an old lady that guides young girls. She has taken YaoYao, Yanfei and Xiangli under her wing, they call her grandma! Wouldn't ot be weird to just make her a young woman now? One that looks around their age? And yeah, maybe they will keep the way she speaks, but isn't that too similar to Faruzan and Chasca? They are also elders that look way too young

Third, she's and old woman and lives with this body because of GRIEF, her life tells a beautiful story about love and how losing someone can take a toll on you. She loved Guizhong so much that upon her death, she took a form of an elderly woman. And wasn't that a great metaphor about grief, how much it affects you and your body, and how it can make you feel like time is slower without them?

Fourth, WHY PING? It's the year of the snake, then why oh why, focus on Ping? And not Baizhu, Changsheng, Chenyu Vale or the goddess of dreams?

I don't understand why they keep doing this, it took them years to release Baizhu, when they do, they make him connected to Chenyu Vale and the chasm, and then they just.. don't use him? Not even when Chenyu Vale, his HOME, where his drip marketing focus on, released. He hasn't been in a single event, and when we finally reach the year of the snake, they focus on Ping, a character that no one asked for to be playable (unless she was old)

This feels like a disservice to fans, to the characters and to their own game. There's is a lot to unravel about Baizhu, he has connections to a lot of things, a lot of people, he's very mysterious, and tricky. We haven't seen him or Changsheng in Chenyu Vale or talking to the adeptus there, we haven't seen him talking to ANYONE beside Qiqi and the traveler (and I guess Yelan that one time?), he hasn't visited any nation, didn't make appearances in events after becoming playable, there are parts of his story that just feel empty or untold, and he's a great character! Her legitimately a great person, a good person, plus Changsheng is super funny, he has devoted followers, especially in Asia, so why not let him have the spotlight for a few seconds? Why ignore him that much?

Honestly, my only hope rn is that he will appear alongside Pantalone

[iremiari]

something something.... in a similar vein of thought as to how crystal's mind eyes are supposed to represent her "being watched" (it was stated in an interview somewhere), what would the baby doll demon spider represent for edwin?

it took me a good while to figure out but i think it's Societal Pressure and Bullying. which is A Lot Lamer than it sounds but also,, think about it!! (a bit of a long read)

it makes laughing noises. Specifically children's laughter. It is made up of MULTIPLE doll heads and hands. It's like if an angry mob of children was a spider. And let's not forget about its nature -- If Edwin makes the slightest noise or the slightest utterance or makes a move, it chases him. It chases him relentlessly and is always there to eat him alive.

obviously the spider is terrifying in ways that also don't relate to bullying, but still kind of relate to the society around edwin. one of them being that it's made of dolls. they're fake. they're plastic. they're superficial. people tend to be so superficial to keep up appearances and ostracize anyone that doesn't.

it's also a spider. a doll spider. in a dollhouse. edwin is trapped in its web (the dollhouse). but also, he would be trapped in society's social obstacles and mazes for him if he were alive simply because he is Different from them. his true self is not one that society welcomes, accepts, nor tolerates. and they would hunt them down and hurt him any chance they get.

this also makes for some really poetic metaphors about him and his interactions in hell

i think one that's really sweet is when edwin says "I can't escape it... I can't." and charles replies "Yeah well, I'm here now." LIKE OH MY GODDDDDDD LIKE!! like think abt it. think of the implications and how it relates to the metaphor.

charles is there to FREE him from being quiet. he is free to run and to scream and to escape the web that he's in. that's so. they're everything to me.

as for simon,, i cant really say what it WOULD mean like metaphorically... except for the part where simon asks "Do you think it has to be torture? Being the way we are?" and edwin's like "No. It does not. I'm going to get out of here, you should come with me." like edwin KNOWS its not a sin and he's trying to escape the society that rejects them

other than that though, i cant really think what that interaction would mean...

maybe im just wrong about the metaphor, maybe it's Not societal pressure. maybe it's not anything at all! maybe the curtains were just blue, and a giant spider made of doll heads is just a giant spider made of doll heads. who knows?

either way it is 1am where i am right now so if anyone sees this post and has any ideas, feel free to rb/comment, id love to see your take :D

(though: in a similar vein,,, charles died due to hypothermia and internal bleeding. hypothermia or the cold is usually associated with loneliness in most fiction - the way warmth is associated with company - and internal bleeding represents,.. well you can probably guess. leads you to wonder the kind of life charles lived.)

[hongluboobs]

hey don, nice void dream ego gift you got there

update!! she has fragment of the universe’s too! (little hearts next to the meat lantern lure on her chest)

i also found out the new outis id has bloodbath’s ego gift which is. concerning for several reasons

[dim-paper-lanterns]

been thinking about anya's character design. how she wears a turtleneck under her uniform, how it keeps her warm and protected, how it shields her neck when that's whats viewed as to be 'marked', how its skintight, idk. how her entire design has her covered, even from her hair and bangs to her hooded eyes, idk idk idk. she was a character designed to be shielded, and then she wasn't.

[lu-is-not-ok]

Have You noticed that Gregors E.G.O.s (With possible exceptions of AEDD) are more his semi-sentient arms E.G.O.s. They all either require sloth, or are sloth EGO, representing him letting the arm do whatever it wants. It also ties in with how both Lantern and Legerdemain corrosions are arm overtaking the body. And here we also have exception of AEDD which doesnt involve sloth, and in which corrosion its clearly gregor who's in control while corroded instead of his arm.

Alright, so, I'm going to take this opportunity to ramble about Gregor's bug arm in general. Not just how it related to his E.G.Os, but also in his other Identities and the main plot as well.

Strap in, cause this is likely going to be a more of a ramble than a proper guided analysis. Though, I will try to split these into sections somewhat.

Gregor's arm in the main story

Let's start by exploring what we know about Gregor's arm from the main story content. I'll be mostly focusing on Canto I, since that's where we get most of our info about Gregor, but I'll also dip into other Cantos and base Gregor ID's voicelines as I see fit.

So, Canto I. The Outcast. We learn a lot about Gregor's past here, about his trauma from the war, the way he and the other soldiers were treated after the war ended, and the way other veterans see him as a deserter and traitor due to him (arguably) being able to reintegrate into society better than the other soldiers.

We also learn where exactly his arm came from - a procedure performed on all G Corp employees and soldiers, some of which were actual children at the time. From the flashback we see of Gregor after the procedure, we see that he let himself cut the apple on the day of his fifteenth birthday, meaning he had the procedure when he was fourteen. A procedure that his mother performed on him, no less.

The Canto 1 dungeon itself takes on a rather interesting form. The first few encounters directly tie back to Gregor's past, with him being faced with other veterans who recognise him, and a Head Manager that Gregor himself recognises.

A Head Manager who is still stuck in that military mindset, still believing he's in the middle of a war because he's still struggling to survive just as much as he did during it. It's only when Gregor reveals that he was struggling just as much when he tried to become part of society does the Head Manager realize that Gregor wasn't the utter traitor he thought he was.

Things get interesting when we go further into Floor 2 of the Dungeon, where instead of a direct callback to Gregor's past, we get to learn about Yuri's story, having it directly parallel Gregor, as the two are both people who had to run and abandon their peers to survive a horrible event. It's an experience Gregor greatly sympathizes with, and I believe is one of the reasons why Yuri's death hits him as hard as it does.

However, the part I really want to focus on is the final floor of the Dungeon, the fathoms of Gregor's ego. We see one scene play out over and over again, each time details becoming skewed and more exagerrated. The aging bomb changes from aiming for a soldier's outpost to aiming for a Nest, going from only targetting the enemy to also hitting innocent civilians. Tomah goes from acting professional if a little energetic, to outright manic and obsessive over Gregor's status as G Corp's hero.

This, I believe, is extremely important to Gregor's character. The whole bottom floor of his dungeon is a symbolic representation of his PTSD. How he's constantly reliving his trauma over and over again, with his memories of the actual events being unreliable and more so driven by his recollection of how he felt during them, rather than objectively remembering what happened.

And this is where I go back to his arm, as I believe it too is a representation of Gregor's PTSD. The way Gregor describes his arm as a seperate entity, as something that acts on its own without his control or input, reminds me of how some people describe their experience with PTSD and trauma as the feeling of always being afraid of a monster that could creep up on you at any moment.

We see that Gregor is somewhat capable of hiding his arm, as shown in the flashback CG of him on the subway, where he hides that arm under a sleeve and behind his back. Most of the time, he can hide his trauma and live as normal of a life as he can, joking about the propaganda posters his face is still on.

But all it takes is one small thing. One small trigger. And just like that trauma comes crashing back to him, his arm goes out of control, attacking whatever or whoever triggered it as if it were still on a battlefield, fighting for Gregor's life. Just like Dante's words throw Gregor into a traumatic flashback, the seemingly kind act of a stranger at the wrong time threw his arm into a frenzy.

An important part of that is revealed in a Canto II cutscene, where Gregor admits he doesn't know what exactly could trigger his arm to "rage out of control", as he puts it. For all he knows, the stimulation caused by dancing could be enough to do it. It also might not. The fact that something as seemingly innocent and neutral as dancing could be a trigger, and the fact that Gregor himself doesn't know all of his triggers, both further point to this metaphor being intentional.

Plus, there is the motif of Gregor's arm regrowing no matter how many times it's cut off. Just like one can't just get rid of one's trauma and PTSD, Gregor can't get rid of his arm. It's something he has to learn to live with. Like he says in one of his Chatter lines, he had to accept he's stuck with it, like it or hate it.

Gregor's arm in other Identities

So... an interesting thing happens to Gregor's bug arm in his alternate Identities. Other than G Corp Gregor, who'd still have gone through the procedure as he did in the main world, all other Gregors all lack that arm, having a prosthetic in its place. And likewise, the arm means something different to each different Gregor.

We already discussed how LCB Gregor's arm is a metaphor for his PTSD, a symbolic, physical manifestation of his trauma.

G Corp Gregor's arm is actually quite interesting in this regard. It comes from the same source as LCB Gregor's, and has a similar role of serving as a physical reminder of sorts, but it's the details of what it reminds Gregor of that is different here. For G Corp Gregor, his arm is a reminder of why he's fighting in the war in the first place - because he didn't want to helplessly watch from afar. While he's aware it and the other side-effects of the augmentation won't let him return to civilian life, he claims he doesn't regret it.

It's a twist that makes sense considering his situation. Whereas LCB Gregor is a Gregor who left the war with the arm being a grim reminder of what he had to do during it, G Corp Gregor is a Gregor still in the middle of it who uses his arm as a way to remind himself why he's in this situation in the first place.

Now, we got to our first prosthetic arm Gregor - Liu Gregor. Here, Gregor has an almost utilitarian view of his arm, seeing it as a source of fire for his cigarettes and as something that helps him in combat. He specifically points out how his prosthetic arm can't feel pain, calling it outright invincible because of that fact.

It's a fascinating subversion to how LCB Gregor and even G Corp Gregor view their arms. Whereas for them their bug arms have an almost sentimental value in a way, being reminders of their trauma and the reason they're fighting respectively, Liu Gregor's prosthetic arm is almost like an afterthought to him. Just something to light a fire and fight with.

Though, I do think the way Liu Gregor seems to focus on the fact his prosthetic arm feels no pain specifically is important. Considering his Core Sin of Sloth and how much Liu Gregor seems to try to shirk his work, claiming that straining himself is a good enough excuse for a whole week of rest... There's something to it, I think, though I can't quite put my finger on it just now.

Chef Gregor is an interesting Identity when talking about Gregor's arm, because it has the least importance out of all the Gregor IDs. All we learn about Chef Gregor's arm is that his mechanical one can get sore (implying it's of high-enough quality to feel pain, interesting when you contrast it with Liu Gregor's prosthetic), and that his old arm is implied to have ended up as an ingredient (though how much of that is the truth and how much is Gregor fucking around with Dante is unclear).

If Liu Gregor's arm is an afterthought in his eyes, then Chef Gregor's arm is a joke to him. There's a level of casualness and levity to the way Chef Gregor talks about his arm, to the point it just feels like just another ordinary part of his life... as ordinary of a life as being a cannibal chef can be.

Honestly, it's kind of refreshing to see his arm be treated as just another part of him and nothing more than that. As much as I love digging into every single dialogue line and design choice for deeper meaning (and I appreciate just how much this kind of reading is facilitated by the way Limbus Company is written), sometimes a prosthetic arm is just a prosthetic arm, no strings attached, and I think that's great.

Rosespanner Gregor is up next, and here we get to see another interesting take on Gregor's arm. For this Gregor, his prosthetic arm is actually of his own creation. His invention, his to-be workshop product, a machine he created to facilitate his dream of leaving Rosespanner and starting his own workshop.

It's probably the most unique interpretation of his arm that we see thus far. It's not a reminder of the past like it is for LCB and G corp Gregor, and it's not just part of his everyday life like Liu and Chef Gregor. No, for Rosespanner Gregor his arm is an accomplishment, a path towards a more successful life. I don't know about you, but I personally find that very interesting.

Finally, we got the most recent Gregor - Zwei Gregor. Similarly to Liu Gregor, Zwei Gregor sees his arm as an asset, a trump card he hides under a glove to reveal when his client is in danger. In fact, his prosthetic arm is shown to be strong enough to not only wield a zweihander without the help of his other hand, but also to stop a strike that could have bisected a person.

Zwei Gregor never actually talks about his prosthetic arm directly, only alluding to it due to him hiding it as a sort of surprise tool that will help him later. However, I believe it does show that this Gregor views his arm in a purely utilitarian manner, similarly to Liu Gregor. An interesting connection, and I suppose it fits with them both being Association members.

Gregor's arm in E.G.Os

That's right, we're finally talking about the thing the ask was Actually about. I'm so good at answering questions in a clear and concise manner. /s

Starting off with Suddenly, One Day, something about it immediately caught my eye. For all the other base E.G.Os, the striped "prisoner" garb is worn by the Sinner in question (Faust included, while she doesn't wear it in the illustration, she does have it on in the attack animation), however in Gregor's case, the striped cloth is wrapped exclusively around his arm.

Notably, it doesn't look like it's some actual piece of clothing that Gregor could have worn but just didn't, no those are actual wrappings specifically for the arm. It's a fascinating visual when you think about Gregor's arm as a representation of his trauma and PTSD. It's not the Gregor everyone sees that's a prisoner, it's not the person he acts as while living in a society, it's his traumatized self he keeps hidden that's the actual prisoner to the trauma he's endured.

As for the Library floor symbols on those wrappings... Yeah, I have no clue. The only connection I can make is that Gregor is Jewish and the symbols also represent the different Sephirot from the Tree of Life, so it could be a reference to that.

The attack itself involves the arm bursting out of the prisoner wrappings and attacking against Gregor's will. While this could represent how his arm can go into a frenzy out of Gregor's control, there's another interesting interpretation I just thought of.

Each finger of Gregor's frenzied arm in this E.G.O takes on a different form. I don't know what the common theory is on those, but I believe these are meant to represent the factions that Gregor fought on the side of during the war. The bug-like finger represents the old G Corp, and the smoking red finger could represent the old L Corp, the source of the smoke during the Smoke War. In Outis's Uptie story we're told E Corp and F Corp also fought on that side of the war and could potentially be represented by two of the fingers, but since we don't know how canon that is to the main world, I'm not going to try and guess which of the fingers represent them.

With all that said, I believe in this way Suddenly, One Day's arm could also represent the war itself, specifically the side of it Gregor has found himself on, how he was effectively made the leader figure of that side against his will, and how despite being the face of the war he himself never had any real control over how it went.

...Okay that was a lot, I'm going to hopefully speed through the other E.G.Os because I'm not gonna fully analyze those (and I already analyzed AEDD anyway), so.

Legerdemain has Gregor's arm take on the form of an apple on a stem, the roots of which are spreading all over Gregor. Gregor seems to have some control over his arm here, but he does seem to somewhat struggle with it, having to hold onto it with his other arm and hesitating before attacking.

Like you mentioned in the ask, the corrosion here involves the branches (and now also maggots) completely taking over Gregor, with the maggots within the apple being the ones controlling his actions here.

I think Gregor's arm here is interesting to interpret, as it seems to generally represent himself, or rather how he's viewed by others. During his Awakening, it's shown as a golden apple, representing the golden poster boy that Gregor was seen as during the war. However, in the corrosion it becomes rotten and overtaken with maggots, showing that despite his seeming priviledge and higher status he was seen as just as much of a rotten pest as the rest of the soldiers.

Next up, Lantern. Here, Gregor's arm takes on the form of a branch and a fairy, the only visible part of the Abnormality Faelantern. In the Corrosion, Gregor becomes overtaken by the plant, specifically becoming caught by the underground portion of it, the true core of Faelantern that uses the branch and fairy as a lure.

In this case, I believe Gregor's arm is meant to represent the propaganda he was involved in creating. The "tales" his fairy is reading are the tales of old G Corp's victories and the honorable soldiers fighting in the war, trying to bring more people willing to fight on old G Corp's side. However, his Corrosion shows that he was just as caught up by the source of that branch as anyone else captivated by the propaganda, he was suffering during the war just as much as everyone else.

Now, onto AEDD. I already made an analysis on that E.G.O right here, but to summarize: AEDD represents the abuse Gregor went through at the hands of Hermann, and it shows him acting out because of that abuse in a way that mimics her, with him fully putting himself in her role when he Corrodes.

In this way, I think Gregor's arm while using AEDD represents something similar to the one in Legerdemain - it represents Gregor himself, though in this case it represents how Hermann sees him.

Just like you also pointed out, Gregor is fully in control if his arm in this E.G.O, and yet it's the one E.G.O where his arm is most clearly a seperate entity - taking on the form of a full shock centipede. I think to understand exactly what it means, one should interpret that arm centipede as Gregor, while the Gregor using AEDD should be interpreted as a representation of Hermann.

This, I think, makes the AEDD arm make a lot more sense. The reason why the arm appears to be a fully seperate entity, yet is completely under Gregor's control? Because it represents how Hermann had full control over Gregor, seeing him as another bug in her army of pests, yet special enough to dedicate more of her attention to.

Perhaps that's why the AEDD Corrosion involves both of Gregor's arms turning into centipedes, with one of them glowing with electricity. Hermann's bug soldiers are her weapons, her arms in the war, but Gregor is a special one. A pest that got to glow a little bit brighter than the rest.

To summarize...

Man, Gregor's arm tells us a lot about his character and themes, huh? From being a symbolic physical manifestation of trauma, to a reflection of how other people view him, to just being your everyday prosthetic arm. And I think it's Really Fucking Cool, so I hope you all do too.

[analligatorr]

opinion on the porcelain Graves skin???? I don’t hate it but I’m mad it’ll take another year or more until we get another one and porcelain is such a boring theme. Stick him in an interesting skin line for once riot.

Sincerely? I tried to like this skin, I really tried, but.. :/

Well, on twitter I compared Porcelain Graves with the WR exclusive skin Dragon Lantern Graves (not the special edition) I'll transcribe it here.

Let's start with splasharts. Wild Rift's Splash arts are generally criticized, many times I don't agree, some of them are of even higher quality than those of League, which is the case of Dragon Lantern Graves. Even though it's not Graves' best splash, or the best skinline splash, it's pretty and pleasant, my only criticism is that it's a little too static, there's not much movement

the Graves porcelain splash has some problems, at first glance it is.. pretty, but whenever you look at it, there seems to be something wrong, it really is a strange splash, and it's not the fault of the artist who made it.

Porcelain Graves Splash Concepts by Santiago Parra

in the end, they(riot) decided to increase the proportions and add a lot of texture, to achieve this result, so... yeah, it's not the best splash. but it's pretty

Dragon Lantern: 1

Porcelain: 0

About the VFX, let's be honest, they tend to do something very mediocre with Graves when it comes to visual effects, apart from his legendary skin (which it would be stupid of them to do something too simple) Graves' recent epic skins haven't received as much love.

Even though the Dragon Lantern skin has basically the same sounds as the base skin (i guess) the quality of the VFX is absurdly good (better than his legendary if you allow me to say). The Porcelain one.. is... mediocre.. ofc they couldn't put something cool like Lux and Lissandra's skins, right?

I can't post more than one video in a post, so here are the links so you can see the difference between the VFX of Dragon Lantern Graves and Porcelain Graves.

Dragon Lantern: 2

Porcelain: 0

Ok, let's get to the part that irritated me the most. The narrative..

Yes, we agree that Graves is not a big "important" character in Runeterra, he is not there to be a protagonist. That doesn't mean he can't cause real chaos, and set Bilgewater on fire just in an attempt to get revenge on his current partner. Why did I bring this up? because it is absurd to portray Graves as a pathetic and irrelevant character.

With that in mind, read Porcelain Graves' bio:

Not long after gunpowder was invented, the Zodiac searched for a new protector of the Dragon Relic. Though ancient and wise, the gods struggled to find someone worthy, so they settled for Malcolm Graves. Eventually his expertise in firepower was pointed in the right direction (away from all the breakable vases)

It's ridiculous, don't you think?

They are so fond of abusing the fact that Graves is, in some ways, a comic relief, that they make him the real joke, to the exclusion of everything else about him, and making him "unworthy". It's like they're saying "ugh, should this guy really be here? Who called him?". Whoever wrote the narrative of porcelain skinline seems to hate him, for real..

Now let's go to Dragon Lantern Graves' bio:

Graves, a free-spirited mercenary from a foreign land, can hardly wait to join in the fun at the gala. For this burly maverick, harmless ol' lanterns are no more than impractical ornaments—he much prefers filling up massive dragonflame cannons and setting the night sky ablaze with 'em booming explosions and dazzling lights!

1000% better, right? It's almost a delight. It's fun, brings out a little of who he is, and doesn't degrade his image :D

Dragon Lantern: 3

Porcelain: 0

AND WE HAVE A WINNER

[shadowuserannie]

Character Design Analysis: Tai Pham

...

because I need to do something emotionally detaching.

Anyway hi! Tai Pham is an actual character in an alternate Earth, because gosh who could've guessed that DC made a kid character with plenty of personality, strengths, flaws, and an excellent origin sidelined to the point that he's not well known! Because they definitely don't do that.

Further explanation: Tai currently has three appearances total, four if you count a single lone blurry panel years ago that didn't even state his name in Far Sector. He appeared in his origin story, Green Lantern: Legacy, the Asian Superhero Celebration, and the sequel to Legacy, Green Lantern: Alliance. Basically, Tai is an artistic 13-year-old who is Vietnamese, whose family are immigrants, and he gained his Green Lantern ring in Legacy and showed high proficiency with it. (Keli, dear, I'd love you if your origin was done like Tai's. I'm so sorry you ended up with the short end of the stick.)

Tai's origin isn't perfect, but it's done well. That's more than Keli's can say.

I've linked Legacy and Alliance respectively above in the underlined. Go read those now before this, or read this for fun and move on if you want.

On to the analysis!

-Hair

In Legacy, Tai has a shaggier haircut. It’s got longer bangs, and falls to the nape of his neck. In Alliance, his haircut is slimmer and trimmed at the sides, his bangs are shorter and his hair isn’t to his nape anymore. This haircut is interesting because it’s actually closer to Xander’s. This could be seen as Tai cutting his hair closer to something easier to fight in, and also becoming more visually similar to his created nemesis, Xander.

-Uniform

One of the main reasons Tai changed his original first skintight disaster uniform was due to how tight it was. The Legacy first áo dài uniform then overcompensated in that regard, as it was a very baggy look that, while unique and made sense for where Tai was, definitely seemed fitting for a kid. But in Alliance, the uniform is streamlined and perfected-while Tai kept the baggier look for his lower half, he tightened his top, giving it a look closer to armor and appearing more mature. The tighter top flowing into the baggier, sweeping skirts of his áo dài makes it a very visually appealing and fun look. It could also be taken as the Tai of Legacy not being ready to take his new responsibilities so seriously, and being more light-hearted about them, while the Tai of Alliance is finding his balance between being too uptight and too relaxed. The looks, when placed side-by-side, also have a contrast that feels like a growth from trainee to active hero.

-Symbols

The big thing on every hero’s uniform is their symbol. While Tai of course has his Lantern symbol right in the center, another visual difference separating him from other Lanterns is the second symbol found on his uniform as well-a Vietnamese design that belongs to the Jade Market. It ties him to his home when he’s flying in far and deep space, which is a very interesting and fun addition as Tai is someone grounded by his family.

-Additional fun and slightly sad notes?

His grandmother’s áo dài is often depicted drawn down, hanging over her legs. Tai’s áo dài is depicted and drawn flirting with the air, showing more of his pants. This could be interpreted as the writer/artist/DC realizing their mistake of accidentally creating a crossdresser in Legacy and rectifying it in Alliance, as this visual difference is only really in Alliance and Tai's skirts are actually drawn being properly down in Legacy. The áo dài is a Vietnamese garment that was once worn by both men and women, but are supposedly only worn by modern women-which would technically make Tai a crossdresser. Hence, the way his dress is drawn flying up to make it look more like excess fabric as opposed to an actual dress, while Kim Tran’s dress is kept down, could be seen as trying to pretend Tai isn’t actually a crossdresser by making his dress look like less of one.

And yes, I’m aware that it’s mentioned in the Asian Superhero Celebration-but that is different, as it was made to sound like a cultural difference rather than something to do with crossdressing. This tidbit can also be interpreted as Tai possibly unconsciously or consciously doing it himself. Another interpretation is that, since it was Tai's grandmother who dismissed the mockery of their cultural clothing, she might not have known that in the modern times "only women" wore áo dài. Hence, Tai could've been kept in the dark and not known about this by accident.

Gauntlets vs gloves. Most GLs have gloves, even Tai’s original first skintight disaster had them, but Tai wears gauntlets instead. Not really anything to interpret, just an anecdote about the continued visual differences.

Tai consistently highlights how his original first skintight disaster was ‘too tight’. This could be interpreted as the Corps rules being taught to him, the legacy and weight of responsibilities thrust upon him as being stifling by providing a visual weight choking Tai’s style. Honestly not sure if the writer intended for this, just think it’s fun.

Tai’s uniform looks more like a Blue Lantern’s than a Green’s. The flowy style of it's got that vibe. Again, just a fun anecdote about the visual differences. This was actually pointed out to me by @cer-rata .

(ps: for caution, I’m a minor and I don’t mean in the half decade older than Tai way. I also did not sexualize him in this post, just mentioned his own complaints about his uniform being skin-tight.)

That's all! Hope this post is comprehensible, and if it isn't to you, I suggest a reread and contemplation of your literacy skills, and whether or not they may be lacking. Have a nice day/night/secret third option!

[lore-of-the-silvereyes-rwby]

Lantern Corps for Ruby Characters

I’ve had this idea for a while and since RWBY is doing plenty of cross over material with DC as of late so I figured it was about time to do something like this and discuss the possible lantern corps that I think would best suit the characters of RWBY 

For those who may or may not know Lantern Corps are organizations that have rings that give their wearers superpowers and they are powered by different emotions and in order to wield one of these rings you have to have a strong connection to the emotion that wears it

And these Lantern Corps are; 

The Red Lanterns of Rage

The Orange Lantern of Avarice

The Sinestro Corps of Fear

The Green Lanterns of Willpower

The Blue Lanterns of Hope

The Indigo Tribe of Compassion

The Star Sapphires of Love

As well as the; 

Black Lantern Corps of Death and the White Lantern Corps of Life

As well as the newest corps being; 

The Ultraviolet Corps

Note; it is unclear what exact emotion powers this corps other than it is negative in origin and as such many people believe it to be Shame

With that established I will be doing 4 characters at a time starting with Team RWBY

[neuro-nest]

Alfred would be a great Blue Lantern.

Sure, he became a Green Lantern pretty recently in DC Vs Vampires, which is still great for our boy Alfred, but the sheer potential he has a Blue Lantern is something I really hope will get explored (unless it has, in which case, please point me to it) one day.

The ability to care and strength of this man would make him a prime candidate to be Earth's Blue Lantern. Alfred's been there for Bruce since day one, raising him as a semi-functional human being while still guiding Bruce to become the very thing Bruce wants to be, an avenger of his parents and a protector of anybody who may find themselves in another situation.

He's stayed by Bruce's side through everything, from his 'birth' as Batman to back-breaking injuries, acting as the glue and heart of the Wayne family.

I know people don't like the Batman Who Laughs (and I do agree that the concept of Batman Who Laughs could have been handed way better than that), but for the most part I like what little we know of his Alfred.

A Green-Lantern!Alfred likely could have put down the Batman Who Laughs. In many of his origins, Alfred was a British special forces veteran before he became a butler to the Waynes, so his mental fortitude would likely be next to none out of all of the Bat-Family's non-vigilante allies, such as Dr Lesley and Commissioner Gordon.

But Batman Who Laugh's Alfred, despite almost succeeding... lost when he was convinced, and therefore must have had hope, that Bruce was still there under the insanity.

Alfred is a stalwart companion to the Bat-Family, a grandfather-like figure to many of the vigilantes. He runs command from the Bat-Cave, patches everyone up, gives advice, companionship and resolves arguments.

From being willing to shoot intruders in the Batcave (because he, unlike his master, 'doesn't prescribe to such niceties') to dreaming about shooting the Joker if the madman ever succeeds in hurting his family, Alfred is a man of will and hope. By acknowledging his concerns and inspiring him to take on the mantle in a different light, Alfred convinced Dick to become Batman during the Battle For The Cowl. He played to Dick's background and strengths as a circus performer and convinced him to see the role as just that, a role.

And in City of Bane, when Thomas Wayne and Bane have control over Gotham and are able to keep the Bat-Family out, by holding Alfred hostage with his life at stake, the still-captive Alfred sends a signal saying that he's escaped, giving (admittedly false) hope to the family and tricking them into returning. Though it results in his death at the hands of Bane, Alfred changed the game by taking himself out of it, allowing for the Bat-Family's fight against Thomas Wayne and Bane to continue.

And so we come to the end.

Alfred, for all his own willpower, is capable of inspiring great hope within others. To Bruce, to Dick, to Damian, and to the rest of the family. He hopes every night that when they go out to fight someone like the Joker that they'll come back safe, and if they don't... well, he has enough willpower to get the job done himself.

Plus, Alfred would just get along great with Saint Walker. Sage like, caring and subtly snarky (and Saint Walker is subtly snarky under that otherwise passive demeanour, just look at the way he interacts with Razer). They'd drink tea and meditate and diss discuss their adopted sons, Bruce and Razer.