#like exile to the other side of the planet not hecking off of it

[darthofe]

His eyes turn to the makeshift kitchen, though given luxuries such as their own tent. There really wasn't much of a luxury when most of Mandolore is exiled to their own moon.

Did those below, really hate these mandolorians? that they would exile them to a different planet entirely? What was the point. The planet is half dead, they live in domes. What was the point... of all this?

He cannot understand, how some group who live with pacifism could win.

"I need to make something, easy on the stomach. that is the requirement I need, but I am ...unfamiliar with your food."

Darius considered the other's question and gave a nod. "I've learned a bit," he answered positively and then paused to look at the ingredients in use. "But it depends on what meal your cooking. What are you cooking?"

Although he'd been born on the core world, Esverr, Darius had his mother's skill of quick learning. First thing he learned was when it came to making your living on another planet that food, music, and commerce were the first things to learn when planet side. Turns out those lessons were right.

[attonposting]

I think it's really important to distinguish that even a light side romanced-the-Exile Atton isn't motivated by goodness for its own sake. He has a stronger sense of responsibility than before, yes, and he'll get involved when the whim strikes him - and a light Atton will have more of those occasional chivalrous, or maybe just cocky, impulses than the keep-your-head-down man he was at the start of the game.

But he's still a scoundrel by nature, horribly jaded, very comfortable with problem-solving via murder, and he believes in neither the Jedi Code nor the pursuit of atonement. His morality is more Exile-centric than anything else, as in “I'm going to do this to protect them” or “I guess I'll do this stupid dangerous thing because they'll think I'm cool.” Love doesn't make Atton a better person, but it puts him through the motions (and if reciprocated, it'd make him a happier one, which would at least improve his behavior a bit.)

All in all, it's something where I think the game's alignment system can be misleading. People look at Atton mirroring the PC's alignment with that big beam of light behind him and go “he's a good guy now!” But nothing in-game really supports that. Does he approve of a LS Exile's actions? Yes, even if it confuses him and he's tsundere about it. Would he do the same thing in their shoes? Nope – that's why he's so inspired by them. Because they went through the same shit he did and still held onto the things he couldn't. Because he fought alongside Jedi in two wars, watched the pacifists cower as the galaxy burned and watched the war heroes turn into psychopaths, and he doesn't trust it at first, but this carved-up shell of a Jedi, the one who pulled the plug at kriffing Malachor V, is the closest thing he's ever seen to what the Jedi were supposed to be. Atton's portrait is gonna be pretty dang light sided while he's ranting at your Exile that all the Jedi who died on Malachor deserved what they got, and he means what he's saying. The game can stick him wherever on that bar it wants, but it's not serenity and goodwill that fills him, it's a messy morass of poison he's been choking down for years.

His arc is more about ceasing to run from himself, sorting out his feelings and his fears, and finally being able to move forward than it is about redemption. You figure he already had his big worldview shift years ago and made zero attempt to make up for any of what he did or mirror the grace he was shown, and, like... Atton's motivations start and stop with the Exile. Everyone else in the party has some other allegiance or some further goal that shapes their path. Bao-Dur wants to rebuild the planets destroyed in the war. Mira wants to reunite the families it broke. Atton wants to help the Exile, and if they're a lady, he wants to get together with her. That's all he wants out of life... unless he goes dark side, which gets ugly real fast.

While a dark Atton crashes straight back down to the bottom of the bar, I think the lightest Atton realistically gets is the grey background with a dusting of blue at his feet. It's like Kreia says – his potential lies downward. Dark Atton is terrifying, a proto-Sion, a hollowed-out obsessive shell of a man who can only feel anything through tearing Jedi down to his level. Light Atton is just a guy.

It's for this reason that I have trouble seeing him helping to rebuild the Jedi Order as canon implies. He never stopped hating the Order, and he has no stake in it anyway, only you – heck, if you look at becoming a Jedi as the pivotal moment in all of the Lost Jedi character arcs, Atton's decision to become a Jedi is so he can better protect the Exile. It's only a personal choice inasmuch as he's decided this is how he can live with himself, offering his life to someone who's truly proven to him that they're worth it. He's got nothing else anchoring him, to the point where I think he really is better off with the Exile than left to his own devices, even accounting for the influence warp and the probable imminent death. And I think it's telling that Kreia will only predict his future when he has motivations that don't include the Exile.

[amintyworld]

Okay, Okay, I have a Dream SMP Theory I really wanna shout about because it’s been on my mind so much lately, and I think there’s so much evidence to it-

(Of course, Spoiler warning!)

TL;DR: I think that if Tommy and Tubbo become villains, it’s more likely that Tommy will become like Schlatt and Tubbo will become like Wilbur instead of the other way around based on their recent behavior in cannon.

So, I keep going back to the line, and the well known theory about Tubbo becoming the next Schlatt and Tommy becoming the next Wilbur. But... I was thinking deeply about that the other day... and the evidence doesn’t seem to really stack up that much for either of them.

Consider, for a moment, canonically, how both Wilbur and Schlatt went down the paths they did. 

(More under the cut! TW: Drugs, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, manipulation.)

Wilbur, faced with paranoia and distrust, realizes that the place he called home, L’manburg, was not the same as it had been. Of course, at first, the button became a desperate plea to get the land back from Schlatt, but as we all know, even winning the land back doesn’t stop him from pushing it, because I feel that was never his motivation for it. He saw the destruction and betrayal of what made L’manburg, L’manburg - the friendship, and bonds. Think back to Wilbur during the Independence War saying that Dream may take away the land, their stuff, but he can’t take away the real L’manburg - the friendship and the unity. People betrayed each other, people just sided only for violence. He pushed the button because the place he created was gone, and he wanted to destroy it. 

Schlatt in the beginning seemed to want what was best for the country in his eyes - by banishing Tommy and Wilbur. True, he staged a sort of coup with Quackity and banished them, but in reality do you really think Wilbur and Tommy would have just left peacefully, or even let him run if they knew this was what he planned to do? Probably not. Then, he tried his best at being President - the Festival to bring everyone together - but it seemed like however he tried people were always against him and soon enough just left him alone. Remember: “And just when I needed you, everyone left. You left.” (Schlatt to Quackity in the Hotdog Van during the Manburg War) So, he turned to become more aggressive and use his power against others, masking his pain behind drugs and alcohol and wasting away in despair. 

Now, putting aside the fact that Tommy was exiled, like Wilbur, and that Tubbo used his power to further his own goals as President, like Schlatt, the evidence goes deeper into their characters. 

Tubbo, I believe, could end up going down Wilbur’s path - He begins to realize that L’manburg is not the same as it was. I mean, people won’t listen to each other, or even him for that matter! Majority seems to rule and unpopular opinions seem to be quickly disposed of, weather or not in reality they were right or wrong, good or bad. His best friend tried to guilt trip him multiple times, told him (in his perspective) that he didn’t care about him, only his discs, and when he goes against him and the majority, he’s immediately cut down and called the bad guy, evil, and just like a dictator they tried to get rid of. To him, L’manburg isn’t as free and full of love and hope as it used to be - no one really even has a opinion anymore, as evidence from both Fundy and Quackity being yes-men to him and Tommy, and then abandoning ship when they’re proven wrong. It just makes sense - he’s seen Schlatt, been a forced part of his cabinet and even died by his command, so why would he adapt those ideals of forced power? Why would be threaten anyone with death? It’s just not like him at all, and doesn’t make a lot of sense, in my opinion. 

Also, as further evidence, when he confronts Fundy and Quackity after Tommy’s exile, he makes clear his point and promises to not pull anything like that again as long as they listened to him more. If he were going down Schlatt’s path, he would have never apologized to them, why would he? They pushed him around and ignored him, then they acted surprised when he picked a different choice - if anything, they should be the ones apologizing for disrespecting him and his authority. 

Tommy, in my mind, is going down Schlatt’s path - think about it. People left him alone, as he constantly says in exlie how alone he really is. True, people are trying to help him out but he’s still alone - and, with the threat of Dream against them, why would anyone try to cover up for him, or even stand up to him? He’s going into a downward spiral, just like Schlatt with his addiction - for evidence, look at him almost jumping in lava because he’s cut so deep and feels so alone. Looking at the lava jump attempt, it’s clear that he’s becoming unafraid of death, almost welcoming to it. Some people see this as evidence of him becoming the next Wilbur, but to me it’s more for Schlatt. Wilbur welcomed death to somewhat escape his problems and not deal with consequences, but Schlatt was constantly at death’s door - his irresponsible use of drugs and alcohol, two things that if taken too much will kill you - shows that he wasn’t afraid anymore, so much that it became addiction to him, to numb the pain and dance with death. Also, Tommy’s line ‘It’s never my time to die.’ just seems to me so much like something Schlatt would say after waking up alive from getting utterly wasted. Both Schlatt and Tommy seem very well at masking their pain - Schlatt by enforcing his power and showing his strength, Tommy by throwing himself into trying to survive out in exlie and just get home. I dunno about you, but it was quite a shock to me, and a lot of people that Tommy was even considering taking his own life after the way he interacted beforehand with the others - talking with Wilbur and BBH, arguing and determined to go through the portal despite Dream’s threats - but it seems to be he’s clearly hurting a lot more than he says, but is becoming a master at masking it. Tommy even tries to show his strength against Dream and others constantly by trying to kill them, that’s one thing that both Schlatt and Tommy have in common. 

Also, like with Tubbo, why would Tommy ever go down Wilbur’s path, he’s seen it in action, he knows and tries to constantly avoid it, heck, he even says that despite Wilbur’s ‘Let’s be the bad guys.’ ringing in his ear, he doesn’t want to be the bad guy, like Wilbur before him. So why would he go down Wilbur’s path if he constantly avoids temptations of doing so? It just seems unlikely for his character. 

So yeah, I think that based on Tubbo’s line: ‘If I can’t be the next Schlatt, you can’t be the next WIlbur.’, Tommyinnit will potentially fall down Schlatt’s path and becomes too focused on getting home no matter the cost taht he loses himself in his own despair and sadness, and Tubbo could potentially try to finish L’manburg off for good, seeing how far it’s diverted from when it was founded and knowing, like Wilbur, there’s such a low chance if it ever being like that again. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. 

If you read this whole thing, you’re my favorite person on the planet! <3

I may write a fic based off this idea, so if you’re interested please let me know. Also, I’d love to know your thoughts on this! I’ll be eagerly awaiting to see how everything plays out...

[scatter-kinnin-patter]

YOU WANT MORE COMABUR MEMORIES??? IVE GOT MORE COMABUR MEMS FOR YA!!!

A continuation of this post because I've been digging around and the memories are coming back more and more! Mostly pre-dsmp and S2, S3 is still mostly a blur to me b u t! Under the cut~

So I'll start with some pre-dsmp memories of mine. So as a refresher, my canon had Phil as my dad, Techno as my twin but older by a few minutes, and Tommy as our little brother. I don't remember our mom, though I know we always joked about Philza and the fridge XD I think Tommy was our half-brother, and had a different mom than Tech and I? Still a bit fuzzy on that.

I mentioned how my Tech was a piglin-human hybrid, while I was more "human with very few piglin traits". One thing I remember though was I actually had naturally pink hair that matched Techno's, but I dyed it brown and often wore my beanie to hide when my roots were coming in. I'll explain more why I did this later.

I remember pre-dsmp, I grew up in another smp. SMP's kinda... worked like varying realms one could teleport between? The teleportation was difficult though so there was rarely anyone who'd frequently swap between smps. But I grew up in Earth SMP's Antarctic Empire! Phil raised Techno and I, and later we had Tommy with us too! I remember it was always cold, but in our castle and fortress it was much warmer. Techno, being Techno, was extremely skilled in combat and strategy and Phil took him under his wing(hah!) as the technical heir to the throne and taught him everything he'd need to know about conquest. Me, I preferred teaching myself diplomacy, fighting wars with words rather than with blood. For a time this worked actually, Techno and I really balancing each other out, but soon things got... Eh.

Tommy brought it up to me first, I think he trusted me to open up to more than the others(sorry Tech and Phil but I'm the favorite xoxo /J) and basically opened up about how unhappy he was there. He wanted to explore the world, not be holed up in some frozen corner of the planet going and conquering a bunch of strangers just so we could follow Phil's and Tech's legacy. He felt suffocated in their shadows and... tbh I felt somewhat similar. So we made a plan, and one night we ran away without saying a word... Well, I left Techno a letter, but.

We ran to the portal, and somehow convinced Dream to give us access to the dsmp. I think he agreed because he knew that would knock Techno down a peg(my Dream and Tech were rivals for p obvious reasons). And we started over there. I dyed my hair, we got ourselves a new wardrobe, and we thought starting over in a small place without many people would be good! We lied about our past, though. We didn't want to be connected to the Antarctic Empire... both because we were trying to leave that part of us behind but also so no one would tell Tech and Phil where we were. This was our new start!

AND WHAT DOES TOMMY DO. START A FUCKING WAR WITH DREAM HIMSELF.

Tommy. Ily. But you're so stupid. /lh

So I've talked about how my mems from S1 and half of S2- up to Techno's execution- went, but I've remembered a bit more!

After Techno brought me back to his cabin, we talked for a long time about what happened. I told him I didn't remember anything leading up to my "death", and Techno filled in the gaps for me. I also didn't realize Phil was in the server because... Well I don't remember my confrontation with him. I also didn't remember my hypnosis, and since Dream is the only other one who knew, Tech didn't know and didn't relay that to me.

We agreed that for now, it'd be best if I stayed with him instead of back in L'manburg. And for a while I did!

One day though, Techno finds Tommy. ... Specifically the Tommy that was living under his house like a raccoon. Techno was furious and started chasing Tommy around, who was still hoaring his Gapples and whatnot, and when I finally walked outside to see what the hell was going on, I locked eyes with Tommy, and we both stopped.

He was white as a sheet, and looked about to cry, and luckily Techno stopped chasing him after seeing this. Again, Tubbo Quackity and Ranboo never told Tommy about me, he thought I was dead. I spoke up first with a "Tommy?" And he goes "Wil... You're alive?" To which I started tearing up- "Yeah... Yeah, I'm alive!" And we both just- broke at that, we ran to each other, I nearly crushed him in a hug and we were just sobbing. He thought I was gone, and I had gone so long without seeing my favorite lil bro that just... Aaaaaaa

After that Tommy explained his exile to Techno and I, and why he ran away and lived under Techno's house. I think Techno was softened up by seeing how happy Tommy and I were to be reunited, but also Tommy's his brother too, so he agreed to let Tommy stay too.

Now, Tommy was salty at L'manburg for exiling him, and Techno is anti-government. But- I think Techno was even more against L'manburg because of how hurt Tommy and I came out of it. So Techno and Tommy swore vengeance and decided to start doing crimes against L'manburg. I stayed out of it though- I was in good enough shape to take care of myself by this point, but I still way too injured to be in any sort of fighting shape.

And then one day... Techno came home without Tommy. Turns out Tommy sided with Tubbo in the end... and Techno was still determined to destroy L'manburg. Eventually they broke Philza out and- hoooooo that was an awkward reunion. Dream also came over from time to time to plan for their attack. I was. V uncomfortable around my Dream for reasons I couldn't explain(spoilers: it's the hypnotism that I forgot happened). I wanted nothing to do with their plan. I didn't want Tommy hurt, and I wasn't going to help them hurt him. I should've done more to stop them, but... Can't change the past.

After making a crater where L'manburg was, I confronted Phil. I called him out on doing something so awful... And he called me out for doing the same. He said to me, "Power corrupts, Wil. I've seen it with Schlatt, I've seen it with Tubbo, and most importantly I've seen it with you!" To which I retort, "You see it in everyone but yourself, Phil!" Because... ANTARCTIC EMPIRE ANYONE??? Turns out the Empire disbanded shortly before Tech and Phil came to the server, I don't remember how exactly that falling out occurred, but there was a reason why Tech and Phil were so strongly against any governments at this point.

After our fight, I left Tech and Phil. Tommy needed me. I built my own place not far from the crater, and frequently visited Tommy, Tubbo, and the others. Not Ranboo though, since Ranboo stayed with Phil and Techno. And Niki kinda wouldn't talk to me because she was... def also upset at thinking I was dead.

I was with everyone who confronted Dream when he had his finale with Tubbo and Tommy. He was NOT going to hurt my boys fuck no. Tommy took 2 of Dream's lives and you BET YOUR ASS I WAS CHEERING HIM ON(sorry Dream kinnies ily)

And then. Oh boy. Before Tommy could go for a third... Dream turned to me, and said something- I forget what, maybe it wasn't English, but it snapped something in me. I may have forgotten being hypnotized, but the effects were still there. Something came over me and I everything in my system was screaming at me to attack Tommy... so I did. I screamed, and lunged at him, but I was only able to tackle him and couldn't even get a hit in before Quackity and a few others were able to grab me and pull me off of him. I was thrashing to get free, but thank fuck they held me down.(Big Q ilysm /platonic)

It was then Dream revealed what he did to me way back in Pogtopia. He spoke something again, and I just felt that urge in me drop like a rock through my body, and I fainted then and there. When I came to, Big Q filled me in on what happened. Dream said he was the only one who knew how to undo what was done to me, and if he was killed, they'd run the risk of me doing that again. So they put Dream in the prison.

Now most of S3 is still blurry to me, but I remember breaking into the prison with Tommy. And that confrontation(which would've been Ghostbur if I was canon compliant but nope my canon is OFF THE RAILS). Tommy was with Sam, and I was stuck on the other side with Dream. Dream threatened that if he wasn't let go, he would "reset" me, whatever that meant. There was a lot of arguing and tbh I was terrified, but I knew I couldn't let Dream go. So I looked at Tommy and I told him "It's gonna be okay, Tommy."

And then everything went black. My memories after this are VERY blurry but- I think Dream somehow reverted my mind back to how it was during my Pogtopia corruption arc. And I had that itch in the back of my mind again. I'm the villain. Time to act like one.

... HECK THIS POST GOT REALLY LONG HUH... UHHHH ANYWAYS HOPE YOU LIKED IT IF YOU GOT THIS FAR IM JUST A V CANON DIVERGENT COMABUR >>

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 13

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 4,108

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"Why are you stuffing the freezers full of Sven plushies?"

My arm stopped mid-motion and I blinked owlishly up at Frozone from where I was kneeled down on the Ice Palace floor in front of said freezers.

...I wasn't, was I?

Looking down at my hand and, more specifically, what was in it, I winced.

Yes. Yes, I was.

Fudge.

Hastily scooping them all off the stacks of ice cream bars and back out onto the tiled ground beneath me, I shot up to my feet, hiding one behind my back with a tiny, awkward laugh . "Oh! That! Yes, uh… I was just… trying to give them a… nice… frosty sheen! To, erm, make them more… authentic? Yeah, you know, since reindeer are from the frozen north, or, ah… somewhere… like that, heh!"

His eyelids drooped. "I… see."

"Oh yeah, chilled plushies are the new 'It' thing." Really? This was the hill I was choosing to die on? Apparently it was. I shoved the little caribou I was still holding into his face now, showing off the icy glaze to its fur coat as I pressed on, "They're all the rage in, er… Norway."

"Norway. Right," Frozone deadpanned as he gingerly took the proffered doll by one of its antlers. Don't think he was quite convinced. Just a wild guess here. "Call me old fashioned but for now, let's just keep all the plushes at room temperature, shall we? And please, run any other... innovations you might have by me first," he flashed me a thousand watt smile, "sound good?"

I returned it with a shaky one of my own, "A-absolutely!" He nodded and as soon as he turned his back on me, my grin faded into a grimace and I buried my face in my hands.

This hadn't been the first of my little "innovations" since starting my shift today.

Other winners included almost dumping used popsicle sticks instead of ice cream into the soft serve/milkshake machine, trying to pile scoops onto straws instead of cones, and giving taste spoons out as change for payment.

Yeah, that particular customer hadn't been exactly thrilled by the last one. Apparently the world just wasn't ready for my groundbreaking and avant-gard new form of currency.

But really, I just wasn't paying attention. I couldn't help it! I was too distracted and completely unable to focus. Hadn't been able to since the study session had ended yesterday. I'd hadn't even gotten a wink of sleep last night, merely tossed and turned while my thoughts had kept running round and round in endless circles.

I just… still couldn't get over it.

Me.

Having a crush.

My brain wouldn't wrap around it. I quite simply did not grok.

For starters, was I forgetting the six year relationship I had just been in? The fiancé I'd left at the altar a few short weeks ago? What was he, chopped liver? How could I just start having… feelings or whatever for someone else so quickly? I mean, okay sure, I hadn't been in love with the guy, but still… wasn't this breaking the rules or something? Committing some sort of romantic faux pas? Spurning basic etiquette in matters of the heart?

Perhaps I should take a step back and look at this all more objectively. Maybe I was just confused and didn't really know what it was I was actually feeling. Just what were these emotions exactly, anyway? I'd definitely never felt them before, and certainly not for my ex. But just because these sentiments were new and I was experiencing them only in the presence of a certain boy, didn't necessarily mean they were, um… affectionate in nature, right?

Yeah, this didn't have to be a crush. I was only jumping to conclusions! Lea was a great guy, absolutely, and I liked him, you know, as a person, but that didn't mean that I, like… like-liked him! I barely even knew him, for crying out loud! Granted, I did know he was kind, sweet, caring, funny, clever, made me feel comfortable around him (that in itself was kind of a miracle), and was a cutie-patootie to boot, but that didn't-

Wait.

Back up.

What was that word I'd just used?

...cutie...patootie?

Bleh, where had that even come from?

That's the thing about crushes, boo. You don't have to really know the person, just think they're a total cutie-patootie!

I shuddered as my roomie's earlier words came back to haunt me.

Thanks, Ghost of Rayne Past, this was exactly what I didn't need right now.

Okay, fine, so maybe it was a crush. I don't know! This was new territory for me! And even it was, so what? It's not like it mattered. Lea wasn't dating at the moment. Girls were a distraction, he was focusing on his school work, yada yada, that whole thing. And say, for the sake of argument, that weren't the case. It's not like I'd ever have the guts to…

...what?

Ask him out?

Pffft, me? Elsa, Queen of the Chickens?

Please!

And even if I went all the way to the magical land of Oz to ask the great wizard himself for some courage so I could so much as even begin to consider acting on these alleged feelings I may or may not have, Lea didn't see me like that. He'd made that abundantly clear. When he'd finally ended his self-imposed exile to the bathroom yesterday, the sheer amount of awkward that had filled the room after that had been enough to suffocate. And even when we did eventually manage to fall into a comfortable study rhythm once more, it didn't slip my notice that he'd always seemed to try and keep the table between the two of us for the rest of the evening.

So really, it was all moot. Lea wasn't interested. Which was okay, because I wasn't interested in him either! ...or maybe I was, but that was beside the point! The point was that this crush, if that's even really what it was, was a non-entity. Nothing that was ever going to be acted on. Nothing worth losing my head over like this, getting all-

"Elsa?" A throat cleared nearby and I glanced over my shoulder to see Frozone, back once more, now complete with a deadpan look. He held up a metal scoop. "...try this maybe?"

I stared blankly from it to him.

...crud, had I done it again?

I looked down at my hands and immediately got my answer.

Indeed I had. I'd zoned out for the umpteenth time and gone on auto-pilot. And my auto-pilot? Sucked. Big time.

Last I'd checked before I'd gone all space cadet, I'd been cleaning up the pile of Svens off the floor and hanging them back up on their hooks. Now that I was tuning back in, it seemed I'd wrapped up that task and had since moved on to assisting a customer. That customer had requested scooped ice cream on a cone - or so the hope would be, given I had a cone in hand (good start) and had opened the glass display to the refrigerated tubs. However, I'd apparently been about to start scooping… with nothing but my bare friggin' fingers.

I looked back at Frozone, plastering on a smile. "Oh, this? This is just, ah… well you know, studies have linked the use of traditional ice cream scoops back to, er… male… pattern baldness!" Ugh, just stop already, mouth, you're not helping! Do you not remember how bad at lying we are?! "Something about the way the, um, the metal... alloy interacts with the sugar is just… just yeah, bad juju or something." What I wouldn't give for a muzzle right now. What even were the words coming out of my mouth anymore? "Nine out of ten experts agree that, ah, scooping with just your hands is the safest, healthiest option, so… there you go! A great lil tip there for you, so yeah… you're welcome!"

"...I think I'll take my chances," he said, tone flat. Then he was pulling me to one side, out of earshot of the patron, "Okay, girl, you clearly got a lot going on up in there at the moment," he tapped me on the forehead a couple times, "so tell you what. I'll finish helping this customer while you gather the rest of the scoops, take them to the back for a rinse and use that minute to clear your head. Alright?"

Straightening up slightly, I gave a quick nod. "Yes sir."

"Atta girl." A quick pat on my shoulder from him, then he was moving off to greet the customer.

Giving myself a small shake, I then quickly set to work collecting the steel utensils. Focus. Focus! This wasn't the time to be twisting myself up in knots over something so inane. There'd be plenty of time for such self-indulgent stupidity once I got back home later tonight. For now, think ice cream. That's it, pure and simple. Ice cream. Live it, breathe it, bleed it. Ice cream. Nothing else existed. Nope, not a thing. Most definitely not-

My gaze chose that second to flick up, glancing towards the other side of the food court. Yup, you guessed it. A certain redhead was currently on shift at a certain pizzeria across the way. Lea was back at it with the pizza dough sorcery, spinning and tossing one on each hand. By chance, our eyes met and to my surprise, gone was any trace of lingering weirdness from yesterday. In fact, his face brightened as he flung one disc up into the air, freeing up that hand to give me an energetic wave.

There was a tiny spasm in my chest and I spun on my heel, turning my back to him.

We've been hit by friendly fire, captain! Status report.

Eyes? Wide and unblinking.

Hands? Strangling metal scoops while simultaneously pressing them against my hammering chest.

Face? Roasting like a honey-glazed ham on Christmas Eve.

...hold up… gah, what the heck was I doing?! Why was I freaking out? Weren't we past all this already, Elsa? Hadn't we left that awkward stage of your friendship with Lea in the dust behind us long ago? So what if you maybe, kind of, sort of had a teensy-weensy crush on him now? This wasn't grade school, you were a damn grown-up! So start acting like one, turn your butt around and wave back at him already!

So I did. I squared my shoulders, put on my best smile, did another about-face and waved back.

...and in my enthusiasm in said wave, I managed to smack myself in the face with the handful of metal scoops I was still holding.

Nailed it.

"I saw that," I heard Frozone's dry voice behind me and I whipped around to discover him all done with the customer and now standing there, arms crossed. "Don't tell me, let me guess. Whatever hang-up is going on with you has to do with that pizza boy." Pause to quirk an eyebrow. "Again."

I gulped, eyes darting to the left. "Heh… pizza what? Boy who?" Crickets. "I'm-going-to-go-wash-these-now-okay-bye!" I blurted out like it was all one word and bolted through the door to the back.

Whew! Dodged that bullet like Neo!

A few minutes later I was walking back out to the storefront, freshly cleaned utensils in hand and hoping Frozone wasn't going to feel like picking up exactly where we'd left off in that conversation. Seemed I was in luck, for all he said was, "I'm gonna go on my lunch break now. Should be slow since the rush just died down." He gave me a pointed look, "I trust you're all good now and can handle things on your own for a bit?"

Relieved, I gave a nod as I started putting the scoops back in their spots. "You can count on me."

"That's what I like to hear," he grinned, holding his fist out for a bump and I only hesitated for a second before lightly tapping my knuckles to his. "Alright, be back soon!"

I watched him go, then finished returning all the utensils before taking up position behind the cash register. Okay, you can do this. Don't let your mind wander. Stay in the here and now. Look around and pick something to concentrate on, keep you grounded. Like that plastic spork underneath that one table out there, dropped and forgotten, yet to be swept up by a roaming janitor. Or… that grey tabby at the Lucky Cat Café, what was his name again... Chirithy? Yeah, that sounded right. Or at Anna over there, bursting through the double doors, running straight for me as if her life depended on it and-

...wait, what?

Anna?

What was she doing here?

And why did she look so frantic and horrified?

When she got close enough, I began, "Anna, why are you-"

"Sis!" she shouted, stumbling to a stop in front of me and slamming both her hands down next to the register. "Shush! Listen!" She looked like she'd just ran a marathon and was out of breath, her every word punctuated with a pant or a wheeze. "Back… Back at- Overheard... Talking... Yelling… Mall ice cream! Mad, so… so friggin' mad! Drove… drove here! Quick as I- Right behind me! Just barely got here before… before-" She suddenly hissed in pain and pulled one knee up to her chest, grabbing her foot in both hands and bouncing up and down on the other. "Frick! Owie, charley horse! Charley horse!"

Figures her super human power to babble would fail her in the hour of her greatest need.

At a loss, I reached out across the counter to rest a hand on her arm, "Anna, slow down. Breathe. I can't understand you, you're missing some nouns there. What are you trying to tell me? Why-"

Using the countertop for support now, she grabbed me by the shirt and yanked me closer, bringing us nose to nose. "He's here! He knows!"

My blood ran cold.

I swallowed hard. "H-he? He w-who?"

Please, please, please don't say-

"The Duke!"

...oh.

Then it wasn't-

Well that's a relief!

Wait… Oh… Oh dear god, no… no, it most definitely was not!

Those food court's doors banged open a second time now and in he marched, proud and regal in all his big-nosed, bad combover, bushy mustachioed glory.

Weselton "The Duke" Fryse.

Aka my great uncle.

He and I weren't exactly on the best of terms, and that was even before I went all AWOL on my wedding day. Me being the eldest and heir to his nephew's fortune, he'd never quite forgiven me for not being born male. But I mean, come on pal, that was over twenty-two years ago - let it go already! The man was the very definition of dotty old coot and insufferable windbag. And for someone who talks so much, he surprisingly says very little. Mostly antiquated opinions and unsolicited advice, every last bit of it wrong and holier-than-thou. For all his ramblings over the decades, we had yet to even hear the story of where his nickname had even come from. Did it have to do with the esteemed university? Had the Queen of England herself actually honored him with the title? Did he have a reputation back in his day of settling matters by "duking" it out? Who knew? And honestly, who really cared?

But none of that mattered at the moment. What mattered was that he was here. That he knew. And if he knew, that meant mother and father knew. And if they knew… he probably knew as well. You know. Him. My ex.

It was official.

This was it.

The Worst Day Ever.

My chest seized. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. All I could do was watch in abject terror as the Duke drew ever nearer, head held high and stern, bespectacled glare burning holes into me. In fact, I think those glasses were even magnifying the sheer, seething rage contained within that scowl of his and turning it into a straight up death ray.

So this was how I was going to die, huh? Funny. I'd always thought clowns would be the ones to do me in. Well… this was the Duke after all, so… close enough.

How had he even found out? Anna never would have told him. How on earth…?

He at last came to a halt before me, hands folding behind his back. He spared a brief, unamused glance out of the corner of his eyes towards Anna, gracing her with a sniff of disdain. She merely glowered back at him. Then his full attention was on me. "Well, well, young lady," he intoned coldly, staring down his nose at me, "just what do you have to say for yourself?"

Okay, Elsa, easy there. You're going to get through this. Put away the shaky knees and sweaty palms. You're calm. You're collected. Just rationally and eloquently explain yourself to him so he sees your side of it and he'll understand and be on his way.

Clenching and unclenching my hands, took a deep breath and opened my mouth.

Calm. Rational. Eloquent.

Here we go.

"I, um… hm… guh… nhg?"

Well done.

"...quite." His mustache twitched dangerously from side to side. "Please then, allow me. You ran out on your wedding. Wasted your father's valuable time and munny. Broke your poor mother's heart. Embarrassed your whole family. Disrespected your betrothed's family. Disappeared with nary a trace, not so much as one word from you for a month, worrying us all sick... All for what? This?" His narrowed gaze gave the Ice Palace in its entirety a once over and, clearly, found it wanting. "...a ramshackle ice cream booth in a mall. A mall of all places!" he roared and I flinched, but said nothing.

I couldn't. Words had abandoned me. Panic had paralyzed me. All I could do was shrink more and more in on myself, wishing for the ground to swallow me up as his lecture turned into a full on tirade now.

"Working like some lowly, middle-class plebeian! Living heaven only knows where! Fraternizing with commoners! Have you no shame, child?! You little ingrate, you… you little monster! I always knew you'd be the downfall of this family! Of all the selfish, witless, deplorable, irresponsible, contemptible, impudent-"

"Cram it, Weaseltown!" Anna spat out, putting herself between me and him.

Oh great. Now here my baby sister came to fight my battles for me while I cowered behind her. My humiliation was complete.

He took a step back, nostrils flaring and mustache flapping violently as he huffed and puffed. "It's Weselton! The Duke to you, you spoiled brat! I always said your father should've used a firmer hand with you! You've grown wild! You're a disgrace! The both of you are! Why, if your father were here right this second, he'd-"

"Yeah, well he's not!" Anna got in his face now, staring him down as she stabbed a finger into his chest, "You are! Why is that, I wonder? Where is Daddy Dearest anyway?"

Talk! Say something, damn it! Please, just stop standing here doing nothing like a total idiot!

"Such impudence!" he slapped her hand away. "He's back at home, tending to your grief-stricken mother who is inconsolable, simply inconsolable upon learning the truth! Neither of them could bring themselves to come down here and bear the wretched sight of their eldest! So I took it upon myself after breaking the dreadful news to-"

She stamped her foot and snarled, "So it was you! Oh I bet you just couldn't wait to go and tattle to our parents as soon as you knew! Bet you were just positively giddy. How'd you do it? How'd you find out, you big weasel?!"

Their shouting match was causing a scene. People were beginning to stare. Including… I reluctantly dragged my gaze over towards the Pizza Planet… yup. There Lea was with a frown and one eyebrow cocked as he set the dough aside to watch this bit of drama unfold.

For the love of all that is good and mortifying, just end me. End me now. Please.

The Duke stiffened, face blotchy with barely restrained fury. "Hold your vile tongue, you snot-nosed whelp! I'll have you know the information was as good as mine the minute you told us she'd texted you. I knew if I hired a man to follow you, you'd lead us straight to her."

Anna gaped, "You had someone friggin' spying on me?!"

"And rightly so!" he harrumphed, puffing out his chest. "The scandals he reported back to me, why, I nearly died from disgrace! Carousing in a seedy, two-bit pub! Mingling with the filthy yokels! Prancing about on some stage, making an utter mockery out of yourself! Not to mention naught but days later, rendezvousing in secret at some mongrel's hovel and holing up in there with him for hours, you, you, you trollop!"

My stomach fell further and further, my face paler and paler with every word. Dear lord, he knew about all of that?! And what was he even talking about, holing up with- wait, was he talking when I'd helped Lea study? There'd been someone there, some sort of, what… private investigator or something, watching me the whole time? Might still be watching me, even now?

Oh crud, now Lea was over his counter and heading this way. Turn back, you kind, brave, naive fool! You know not the powers you seek to tangle with! Back! Back, I say! Back to the craft of pizza and outer space from whence thou came!

"So the frick what?!" my sister gave a scoff. "Elsa can do whatever with whoever she wants! As far as I'm concerned, what she does with her life is none of your business, you old fart!"

"I make it my business when her actions ruin this family's good name! Now enough of this charade, this, this absolute farce!" The Duke looked past Anna to point at me, "You have a duty to perform, young lady! A responsibility to uphold! You will come home this instant and marry-"

Shoving his arm away, Anna snapped, "She will not! Don't you understand? She doesn't love him, she wasn't happy!"

This was getting out of hand. Somehow, someway, whatever spell that kept me frozen abruptly broke. My feet were suddenly on the move and I was running out from behind the counter. I had to do something. Get between them, break this up, I don't know… just something.

The Duke sneered, "As if love and happiness matter in a marriage, bah!"

"They do when it's… it's…" she frowned in thought for a split second, then her face broke out into a triumphant grin. "When it's true love!"

A huff of a derisive laugh. "True love? Now you're just spouting off nonsense, pure hogwash!"

"Nu uh! In fact," there was now a sly gleam to her eye, "Elsa's already met her true love."

"She's what?!"

I've what?

At her words, I staggered and tripped, nearly colliding into my sister. Anna grabbed my shoulders, keeping me upright. Then she gave me a wink, grin twitching wider before looking back at our great uncle, "What'd you think? That that 'secret rendezvous' as you put it was... what? Just a fling? A one night stand? A booty call? Ha! Well jokes on you, Weaseltown, cuz that was her boyfriend!"

"Her what?!"

My what?

"That's right!" she cackled now as the Duke spluttered and wheeze, his hand going to his chest. "They're in love! Have been for a while now! She… oh! She ran away from her wedding to just be with him! Yeah!"

Anna, what are you doing? Anna, please stop!

"Hey, what seems to be the problem here?" Lea stepped up to join us just then.

Turn back! Back, I say!

"Well if it isn't the man of the hour!" Anna beamed at him, to which he just merely blinked and tipped his head to one side. "Weaseltown, allow me to introduce you to," she shoved me at Lea who caught me as I crashed into his chest, both eyebrows shooting up his forehead in confusion, "Elsa's one and only… her beau, her lover, her boyfriend and one true love! They make just the cutest couple, don'tcha think?"

"Wha- huh?!" Lea's grip on me tightened, his eyes widened and his face flushed bright red.

As for the Duke? Well, I suppose he handled it about as well as could be expected.

He fainted.

Author's Note: Anna, hon, no… Anna why? The way that girl's mind works sometimes, I swear… Lol! You might be able to guess where this is going, dear readers xD But if not, don't worry, it's gonna be spelled out for you reeeeeal soon xP Also, yay, a cameo from The Duke in all his huffy, stuffy, blustering glory! Just what we needed to mix things up, and boy, did things EVER get mixed up!

Next chapter, how will Elsa react to her sister's lil "announcement"? Not to mention, how will LEA react? Will Elsa ever be able to sort through her tangled feelings about this thing that may or may not be a crush? Is Elsa ACTUALLY onto something there with the frozen plushies idea? Is the Duke just straight up DEAD?! …probably not, but it was a fun question to ask xD Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[darkspellmaster]

Voltron Theory Part 2 Season 3: Lotor’s Parentage

So, we’ve now been introduced to Prince Lotor, and he’s a heck of a lot to un-package.

Smart and charismatic, but also manipulative and doesn’t suffer failure. It’s clear that there’s more to this man, he also seems to hold grudges and allows others to be harmed for his actions, such as in the case of Throk.

And yet, there is a nicer side to him. He’s protective of his generals, it’s clear that he respects them and their opinions. He’s also a man of action, showing that he can get into the thick of it, and yet knows how to pull back when there’s not much to gain.

It’s clear that he was trained hard in becoming very well versed in military strategy, but why? We also know for sure that he was exiled by the Galra for some reason, and has since been off doing something else. What’s interesting is that he picked up the Generals, all female too mind you, and have been using him as his elite squad of sorts.

Unlike Zarkon, there’s a clear equality that he sees in his team, something that…on the one hand is awesome, on the other hand, given his reaction to Acxa’s failure with the Teledav, one has to wonder how far his equal view of his men goes?

Physically he’s an interesting Specimen to the eye.

He’s tall, but smaller than a lot of Galra, meaning he’s roughly about the size of a Human or an Altean.

He has white hair, which again is unusual because there are only a few people that have that hair: Alfor, his wife, Allura, Keith apparently (as per Lauren’s comment about him dying it black was part of an idea they had for the series) and surprisingly Kolivan (the long end of his hair is white).

He also has a very narrow chin and features distinctive Altean ears, something that hints at his being half, and also, importantly, is something carried over from the main series in both the original Go lion and the American Voltron Defender of the Universe.

Lotor also has yellow eyes, but blueish irises, and a very sharp chin, unlike his father who has more of a square jaw. 

Again Altean features as far as we’ve seen in the show, save for some of the Galra, like Throck and Haxus who both have pointed chins but seem to lack some of the qualities that these two had.

There’s also the fact that he doesn’t wear the same sort of armor as the other members of the military, and that his helmet is distinctly Altean in design, much like Allura’s Paladin look.

What’s also interesting with Lotor is the fact that he bears no markings of the Altean people like his mother. Although there’s some question if that is his mother but more on that later. He also seems to have the smoother skin for the Galra rather than a more fuzzy aspect. Which is again rather different than other members of his species.

So this got me thinking, exactly who is Lotor. Or rather who is his parents? There are a few options, so let’s dive into them and hopefully we can come up with a good theory about where his blood line is coming from.

Let’s start by looking to the past to get an idea of who we can rule in and out of this versions heritage.

Lotor from the original series was born from King Zarkon and a young woman from Arus, who was taken as his slave. Haggar (Honerva in Go Lion), the former Queen of Planet Doom and Zarkon’s Mother, was Lotor’s grandmother, both of which Lotor didn’t know about. In the updated comic Lotor’s mother Lora, given an actual name, is the royal consort (although I don’t know if the marriage was an alliance deal or something that was a willing deal) of king Zarkon and actually does things in his name, and seems to have been there for Lotor as he grew up to a point. In both cases his mother seems to be Altean, and his father Zarkon.

We know for sure that we can rule out the idea of Haggar (points for using both aspects of the original series with that one guys) being his grandmother as we’ve seen that she came from Honerva, Zarkon’s wife. And we can probably rule out the idea of Zarkon enslaving someone to give him a child, since even Zombified Zarkon is somewhat honorable. So where does that leave us to figuring this out.

Well we know that Lotor claims that Zarkon’s his father so we can go with that as a Start and list all the ways that Zarkon can be Lotor’s father.

If Zarkon is Lotor’s dad Theories:

1.       Zarkon and Honerva had Lotor biologically

Now in Episode 7: The legend begings, we see the back story of how Zarkon met Honerva met and got married.

 During this time we also saw the birth of Princess Allura and, during none of the time while they were alive, did we see either of them mention having a child. 

This would be a big thing, as given how friendly the two men were before things went down, it wouldn’t have been that hard to believe that they could have arranged to have Lotor and Allura marry.

This doesn’t even touch on if Galra and Alteans can have kids together, however the show has been hinting at the fact that it’s a possibility with the hybrids and Keith’s existence.

As @radioactivesupersonic post pointed out, it seems really weird for the two to conceive a child after being Zombified. I’m going to go one further on this, I don’t just think they are Zombified, I think they are actively being controlled and possessed. So if that’s the case, why would they want to have a child? Given that Haggar couldn’t remember being married until she went into Zarkon’s mind, and he clearly wasn’t showing that he recalled her (even if they were still emotionally bonded) it would be hard to believe that they would want to have a child together.

Lotor clearly was born after Allura went into her sleep as she would have recalled him, and Coran indicated that they didn’t know he had a son. This means that Lotor wasn’t born before the Zombification of Zarkon and Honerva. So they had to have him after, but how? If they are dead, that would mean that they don’t have the living options in their body, as Haggar is shown to have gone from her normal brown color to a dark purple, which could be either from the thing that attached to them, or (like Transformer that turn gray) Altean’s bodies turn a darker color when they die. Thus making it clear that both are living on borrowed time.

Regardless, Haggred’s one track mind on experimentation and Zarkon’s desire for Voltron, indicate to me that neither of them would have the mind to, nor the inclination, to create a child though a union of their own. This also doesn’t explain why Lotor only sees Zarkon as his father and doesn’t mention Honerva, nor does it imply why he calls her his father’s witch. Unless Lotor has no clue of his mother at all, and this is going to be a situation where he wigs out and kills her like in the original Go Lion. But given the way they’re building up Lotor, I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen, as he’s more like the Devil’s Due version in that he’s a more honorable person…to a point.

So if that’s the case then…

2.       Lotor is an experiment by Haggar

This one is another thing brought up by @radioactivesupersonic, and I think it’s a good one. The idea is that Haggar created Lotor by building a child based on the DNA from herself and Zarkon, and possibly Alfor or his wife.

Now I can believe that. We know that Haggar can create things, and alter people (Shiro and the other cyborgs) and infuse people into the Robeasts (as we’ve seen with the first and second season) and we know that they’re creating clone technology (as per Kuro –fake Shiro). So the idea of her creating a child possibly from various bits of DNA and mixing them to give birth to him.

In that case, he would know that Zarkon is his father, but when was this done, and how long ago did this take? We have no info on that, and I would think that, if Lotor was going to be a test subject for Haggar, there would be more clues given.

On the other hand he could be from only one parent with add ons put in him. As in Lotor is a clone of Zarkon, the problem with that is that Lotor bears no significant traits with Zarkon, and only has the purple skin tone. And he certainly has more qualities with an Altean and has the white hair, which we now know is connected only two a hand full of people (Alfor, Allura, Allura’s mom, Kolivan and Keith). So did Haggar clone Alfor and alter him? There is that option since Lotor does have a similar eye color to the late King.

Then again, if Zarkon couldn’t remember her, could he have forced a child from another Altean?

3.       Zarkon’s the dad, but another woman is the mom

There is a chance that given Zarkon not recalling his past, he could have taken on an Altean woman to have Lotor and then left her behind.

However, this is less likely because people point out that Lauren Montgomery has noted that Lotor has a connection to Princess Allura. Something that being born from an unknown woman wouldn’t allow to happen.

The other option is that Zarkon and Allura’s mom had Lotor. We are told over and over that Alfor was killed by him and Altea was blown up. However I don’t fully believe that the Alteans are dead, due to the fact that Lotor had his ship built and the only ones that can do that are the Olkari, who probably wouldn’t do so, and the Altean’s since they built the first set of lions.

If Lotor is Allura’s brother through her mom and Zarkon, the issue is how has he stayed alive? Unlike Zarkon and Haggar, it’s clear that Lotor hasn’t imbibed in the Quintessense since his eyes still have irises, and we’ve seen other Galra not have glowing yellow eyes. These are Galra that look closer to the original form of the Galra (see the captain of the ship that the Blue Lion attacked in the first season) or seem to be halfs. So unless he’s being corrupted by the Quintessense I don’t think Lotor is that old, and can’t be Allura’s brother that way, unless he was frozen as part of his exile.

4.       Lotor is Zarkon’s son from another reality.

This one is weird but there is this option. We know that there are other realities and we’ve seen how things can pass through. So there is that option, but…and I say this hard, if Lotor did come through he would have had to have passed through via ship like Voltron and been picked up by the Galra. Now we know that he’s interested in building a teledev and that he seemed to have an idea of other realities, or at least that the meteorite can go between ala Voltron.

However the main problem also is that he was able to control the Altean ship, which means that he has to have some connection to the royal family to do anything to that ship. However he could very well be a descendent from both the Empress Allura and the Zarkon of another universe. We’ve only seen one so far, and the idea that there are more out there indicates that there’s a chance for that reality to have had some form of peace between the two forces.

The problem with this is, how do you prove he’s from another reality?

On the plus side, if he is from another reality and thus connected to Allura as a brother, then that could explain the whole issue of him moving the ship.

There is also a chance that Lotor is not the Son of Zarkon but may be another person’s child all together.

1.       Lotor could be the son of Empress Allura

While this is the least likely choice, there is a small hint that it could be. We know that Lotor has a very close look physically to Allura, and this isn’t just by design. If Lotor came from that world, how did he get to our known universe? The only way I can think of is due to a number of situations that allowed for him not to be affected by the rift.

However he clearly wants to travel between worlds as he purposely built that ship from that meteorite. He knows about the way it works, and the only way he could know that is if he was able to test that factor. He also wants a teleduv which means that he knows how to use that too.

If he is the son of Allura that could explain the whole idea of him being connected to her.  If he is from another universe, this might be a case of him wanting to go home, rather than continue Haggar’s tests. The issue is still how did he get across the rift without being vaporized.

2.       Lotor is Allura’s brother

Okay this one is one that keeps going around my head. There are still issues with it, but there’s some very interesting ways this could be.

While looking at Episode 7 I noticed that Lotor does bear a striking resemblance to Alfor. They share similar eyes, not only in color but in shape.

 Also chin and nose as well.

Alfor also has the same sort of side burns as Lotor, and there’s some similarity in their hair styles as well. Then there is the ears on Alfor and Lotor. They are practically the same.

They both seem to share even their smiles, and some of their personality traits in the smug department.

We also know again that he could turn on the Altean ship which is rather important since it’s been stated that only a royal family member can move Altean ships. Coran and others have said over and over that ships that are like the one that was between the rifts can only be moved or controlled by the royal family. Which means that previously the Commander of the ship would have had to have been a member of the royal family as well, or that there was something on the ship that allowed it to move.

Furthermore when you actually examine the options for who could be Lotor’s parents, with Honerva and Zarkon you run into a few problems.

For one thing their eye colors do not match their son’s. Like at all, in any way, shape or form. Not only that but there’s the fact that Lotor’s ears are closer in shape to Alfor’s then Honerva’s. Both Honerva and Zarkon have brown eyes, and yes I checked with a hexadecimal code to see the exact color that they used in the coloring of the eyes of the characters.

Lotor’s eyes match up with the range of Alfors as both Honerva and Zarkon’s eyes are brown. The only people that have blue eyes are Acxa, Allura, Alfor, her mom, Ezor, and oddly Coran.  Unless it turns out that Coran is his dad, which would match up with the idea of Coran having a missing son.

So how would Lotor end up being under Zarkon’s control? And why would Allura not know she has a brother?

Well if Allura’s mom was with child during the events of the fall of Altea, then there’s a strong chance that she could have, and would have given birth after the castle was taken. Assuming that the Alteans didn’t all die, it wouldn’t be that hard to believe that Zarkon would kill them all as they’re actually useful to them, and there are hints about the druids being Altean, then it could very well be that he’s placed them under his control.

If Allura’s mom did have a child, it wouldn’t be that far to believe that Zarkon and Haggar wouldn’t want a child to rise up and find his sister. They could have easily put him under experimentation, and frozen him for a time to carefully grow him in a controlled environment and make him believe he is the son of Zarkon.

The other option was that he was born from Alfor and Allura’s mom through a less conventional way and at a later time, then infused with aspects of the Galra to maybe create someone that could be used to control the Alteanas or Polluxians or other races in their stand. Unfortunately he’s too independent and was sent away due to his own nature to want to do his own thing.

It’s hard to tell for sure exactly where Lotor’s from, but a lot of signs point to the idea that he is at least connected to the royal family. So those are my theories, anyone have others?

One other funny note: 

Alfor’s sword....

Lotor’s sword. 

They’re very similar in design. 

[mittensmorgul]

Hey! So I have been wondering this ever since I started watching the show, and I'm sure it's been discussed but who do you think is the better hunter? Sam or Dean? I cannot decide for the life of me

Hi there! Well, this isn’t a potentially loaded question or anything, so I figured I’d give a shot at answering.

I really don’t think either of them is a better hunter. I think they do have slightly different approaches, slightly different strengths and weaknesses, but that they really do complement each other so well.

Hunting in general seems to be a safer occupation when you’ve got backup you trust working with you, but even more it seems like two (or even three *wink wink*) hunters working together when they all know each other’s strengths and weaknesses is the equivalent of a special ops military team going in on a mission together. They can work quickly and silently and get the job done better than any single hunter working alone.

Maybe on a run-of-the-mill salt and burn a single hunter can do just fine on their own, but heck just for grave digging purposes, it’s better as a team…

From the beginning of the series, we knew that Dean had been hunting on his own for a while. He survived, so we have to assume that he was pretty damn good at the job. To this day, I don’t think we really saw Dean’s concerted best effort at hunting in 1.01, partly because he knew he had Sam as backup on the case, but also because at every turn he kept waiting to discover evidence that John had been hurt or killed while hunting the same thing… He was legitimately off his game from worry over his dad.

We’ve also seen instances throughout the series where Sam and Dean have separated for a time for one reason or another, and Dean tended to continue hunting while Sam ran away from hunting (for the most part). 

1.11 was the first short example of this, and it was only Sam returning to help Dean that saved Dean’s life… (again, I contend Dean was emotionally compromised because of his fight with Sam, and Sam leaving him that led to him being sloppy enough to be caught in the first place, but whatever…)

But then in 3.11 we got a first terrifying glimpse of the ruthless sort of hunter that Sam could potentially be on his own, driven by Dean’s death into a sort of Vengeance Mode. Then in 4.01 we began to see how Sam coped with Dean’s actual death, “hunting” with Ruby, and falling more and more under her sway, even after Dean comes back. A lot of Ruby’s plot to manipulate Sam hinged on her convincing Sam that Dean was the “weak” one, and that only Sam was “strong enough” to do what had to be done regarding Lilith. She needed to convince Sam that Dean was lesser, as a hunter or even just intellectually or morally. She literally used that concept to drive a wedge between Sam and Dean.

In s6, when Sam was soulless and Dean had fallen under the spell of Veritas when he’d asked for the truth, we got a bit of insight from Bobby:

BOBBY: I never told anyone that. Why am I telling you? Maybe ‘cause you’re my favorite. Although, Sam’s a better hunter. Lately, anyway.

Sam’s a better hunter– while he’s soulless. And then after he gets his soul back, we learn a lot more about how much “better” a hunter he actually was… in frankly disturbing and horrifying fashion. He wasn’t better at all, just colder and more ruthless, not caring about innocents who were hurt along the way, so long as he got the monster in the end. And even then, he wasn’t all that great about getting the monster… (Arachne specifically, but we’re led to believe there were others like that, such as the girl he got killed and who’d haunted him in 6.22).

But we’ve also seen Dean similarly off the rails, notably after he’d sold his soul and had been playing fast and loose with his own life in order to get the job done on hunts. S3 showed us a Dean who was nearly as reckless as Soulless Sam (but more in a self-destructive way than Sam’s disregard for others in general). Then we had Dean with the Mark of Cain, who may have been efficient and brutal when it came to hunting, but whoa nelly he was out of control to the point where he terrified HIMSELF.

But again both Sam and Dean have their own strengths as well. We’ve been witness to Dean’s incredible gut instincts when it comes to both the supernatural and to just reading regular old people. He’s able to sniff out a case at a hundred paces, and his bullshit detector is set to extra-sensitive.

Sam’s got a way of being absolutely charming and playing the compassionate puppy to the degree that people in the most disturbing circumstances feel they can trust him and open up to him. I mean, go all the way back to 1.11 again:

DEAN: I know it sounds strange, but, uh—you might be in danger.MAN: (annoyed) Look, we’re trying to eat. Okay?DEAN: Yeah. (He looks disappointed. The couple seems worried by DEAN.) You know, my brother could give you this puppy dog look, and you’d just buy right into it.

Sam’s got a gift when it comes to getting people to open up to him. Dean may be the more empathetic and be able to just cold-read people, but Sam’s got this equally important gift. In 6.12, one episode after Sam gets his soul back, Sam sweet-talks them into an interview with one of the victims, and Dean looks so freaking pleased that “his Sam” is back, the Sam who knows how to sweet-talk victims into opening up that way.

There’s also the fact that as kids, Sam was kept out of the hunting for a lot longer than Dean was. Even after he LEARNED about the monsters, he still seemed to be largely exiled to research duty (as we saw during the flashbacks in 7.03, when John and Dean were doing the physical hunting, and Sam was relegated to the library looking up stuff for them).

But Sam’s mostly had two (three if you count Bobby, which we probably should at this point, but for the purposes of this ask, I’m gonna focus on the other two…) main role models as far as what it means to be a good hunter– John and Dean. We saw how horribly Sam clashed with John throughout his life, but he’s largely worked very well together with Dean. Not because Sam and Dean shared a similar style, but because they complemented each other so well.

But then there’s Sam’s own words in 8.14:

Sam: I’m closing the gates. It’s a suicide mission for you.I want to slam Hell shut, too, okay? But I want to survive it. I want to live, and so should you. You have friends up here, family. I mean, hell, you even got your own room now. You were right, okay? I see light at the end of this tunnel. And I’m sorry you don’t – I am. But it’s there. And if you come with me, I can take you to it.Dean: Sam, Be smart.Sam: I am smart, and so are you. You’re not a grunt, Dean. You’re a genius – when it comes to lore, to – you’re the best damn hunter I have ever seen – better than me, better than dad. I believe in you, Dean. So, please – please believe in me, too.

Sam may be the more inclined to pursue the scholarly side of hunting, but that doesn’t mean that Dean’s deficient in research or understanding the lore. We KNOW he’s probably read every book in the bunker, just as Sam probably has. They just use and process the information differently.

Dean may be the more interested in the actual physical hunting, but that doesn’t mean that Sam is any less physically capable on a hunt than Dean is. They each just have their own approach to implementing what they know and the tools at their disposal to dispatch the bad guys.

Either one of them could put themselves in the running for Best Hunter Ever, but honestly I believe the entire point is that the analysis of the matter leads to a draw every time.

But really, the most formidable hunting team on the planet has to be Team Free Will. The three of them, when they work together, have always been enough to save the world.

[one-of-us-blog]

Hell Bent (Doctor Who S09E12)

Today Drew is forced to watch and recap “Hell Bent”, the twelfth and final episode of Doctor Who’s ninth series. The Doctor’s back home, but he’s not exactly overcome with happy childhood memories. He’s been through a lot lately, and he’s decided to take things into his own hands yet again. How far will he go? Can he outrun the consequences of his actions?

Keep reading to find out…

Eli, let me tell you that you did a great job with your latest recap! This episode has one of my favorites moments, with Rose attempting to juggle three St. Olaf stories at once. I think the episode is a lot of fun, but at the same time showed us a vulnerable side of Blanche that we rarely get to see. I agree the whole “mammy” thing feels problematic, and I think it’s just tied to the racial connotations of a southern character. I think the next episode is pretty good, so I hope you like it, too! For now, though, it’s time to close a chapter in this many-chaptered book.

Buttocks tight!

Episode directed by Rachel Talalay and written by Steven Moffat

We start out back in good ol’ Nevada, where we see the Doctor, guitar in tow, getting a lift to a retro diner. To no one’s surprise, Clara is working as a waitress here because of course she’s not really dead. To someone’s surprise, though, she and the Doctor don’t seem to know each other. The Doctor doesn’t have any money to buy a meal, so he plays a song instead. He says the song is called “Clara”, and Clara asks him to tell her about herself.

After the credits, we hop back in time to see the Doctor making his way toward a barn on Gallifrey. Meanwhile, in one of the planet’s massive, domed city, alarms are going off as things called cloister wraiths are roaming around. The Lord President seems to think the Doctor’s going to show up at any moment, but then Ohila and her homegirls from the Sisterhood of Karn arrive. She knows the Doctor’s home, and she just lives for the drama. The Doctor’s not getting up to much drama, though; he’s just sort of chilling out and reminiscing in his old barn. Just then a woman barges in and says he’s not supposed to be there, only to realize she’s talking to the Doctor. The two seem to know each other, and she warns him that his life is in danger here. She serves him some soup while a crowd of what appears to be Gallifreyan peasants gather around him.

A military ship arrives to take him into custody. The Doctor draws a literal line in the sand, much to the delight of the peasants, and the soldier in the ship seems pretty impotent despite their big guns. The Lord President, Ohila and some other Gallifreyan fancy folk are watching all of this, and they seem pretty stumped. The Commander of the armed forces of Gallifrey comes personally to greet the Doctor, but the Doctor doesn’t seem interested. The whole High Council of the planet comes next, but they, too, get the cold shoulder. The Lord President is pretty frustrated at this point, and Ohila says the Doctor blames the President personally for the horrors of the Time War. The Lord President himself finally arrives to speak with the Doctor, and he actually has something to say this time. Specifically, he tells him to get off of Gallifrey and throws the confession dial at his feet. The Lord President tries to justify everything they put the Doctor though while he was trapped in the confession dial, but the Doctor’s not having it.

The Lord President has had enough, and orders the soldiers with him to execute the Doctor. The Commander is decidedly not okay with any of this, but the soldiers fire anyway. Luckily, the Doctor is regarded as a war hero, so they all deliberately miss their mark. They have too much respect for the Doctor to kill him, even if that means disregarding an order from the Lord President. The soldiers all toss down their guns and go to stand by the Doctor, prompting the Lord President to take matters into his own hands. Before he can kill the Doctor with his Single Ladies glove, reinforcements the Doctor had surreptitiously called for arrive. Turns out, by the by, that the Lord President is actually Rassilon, though he looks a bit different from the last time we saw him.

Thanks to the might of the military at his back, the Doctor is able to force Rassilon off Gallifrey and into exile and declare himself the new Lord President. That’s not enough for the Doctor, though, as he plans to exile everyone on the High Council, as well. Ohila meets up with him and questions his motives for all this; is he being just, or is being cruel and in search of revenge for the torture he endured in the confession dial? The Doctor, the Commander and Ohila meet up to discuss the Hybrid, and the Doctor says that if he’s going to keep Gallifrey safe he’ll need to use an extraction chamber to talk to an old friend. He uses this Gallifreyan tech to jump back into his old timestream and snatch up Clara right before the raven killed her. Clara’s a little bewildered about being dead, but the Doctor tries to play off the whole thing. The Commander seems to think this is a temporary deal to get information from Clara about the Hybrid (which she definitely doesn’t have), but something tells me the Doctor is planning on making this a more temporary arrangement.

Here are some important facts: even though Clara is here, she’s dead. Her death is a fixed point in time, and can’t be changed. The Time Lords’ extraction chamber allowed them to pull her out of the last moment of her timestream, but her physical processes are all frozen. Her heart isn’t beating, and she’s only breathing out of habit. How are the synapses in her brain firing? Don’t worry about it. The Commander breaks this all down for her, but then the Doctor jumps in, grabs the Commander’s gun and threatens to kill anyone who tries to stop him from taking Clara out of here. The Commander says that if he prevents Clara from dying he could fracture all of space and time, and Clara says she doesn’t want that. The Doctor’s not particularly interested in what anyone else wants right now, though. He shoots the Commander and kills him, causing him to regenerate into a markedly different form. He steals a human-compatible neural lock, takes Clara and runs. Ohila arrives, hungry for the drama, and says that the Doctor will be in the cloisters. It’s crawling with those cloister wraith things and is therefore the most dangerous place on Gallifrey, so naturally that’s where the Doctor will be.

Clara wants to know what a neural lock is and what the Doctor plans to do with it, and in the present in Nevada the Doctor explains that he needed to wipe Clara’s memory of him. It’s Donna all over again! Back on Gallifrey, Clara and the Doctor make their way through the cloisters. The cloister wraiths are beings which guard the Matrix, where the minds of dead Time Lords are preserved. It’s crawling with all sorts of bad shit, from Daleks to Weeping Angels to sexy, sexy Cybermen. People have tried to break in here before to get at the Matrix, and they wind up trapped and neutralized by the wraiths. The wraiths will only attack if Clara and the Doctor try to leave the cloister, but the Doctor says there’s a secret way out. The Doctor’s been down here before, you see, and he managed to escape, though he claims the experience drove him mad.

Clara can tell the Doctor’s been through some stuff and that he’s not quite himself right now, so he tells her about his experience in the confession dial. He claims he doesn’t actually know about the Hybrid, but he had to convince the Time Lords he did so he had something to bargain for Clara with. The Commander and Ohila arrive, and they clue Clara in to the fact that the Doctor was in the confession dial for about four and half billion years. She doesn’t understand why the Doctor would go through all of that when she was already dead, but he insists he had a duty of care. He’s ready to head out through the secret exit, but Clara says they need to have some words. We don’t get to hear what she says to him, but Clara distracts Ohila and the Commander long enough for him to steal a new TARDIS so the two of them can escape. Ohila demands the Doctor face her, and she tells him that he’s breaking every code he ever stood by just before the Doctor nopes the heck out of there.

Now that he’s gotten Clara away from Gallifrey, she should be fine and fancy free, with a heartbeat and everything, but tattoo on the back of her neck is still at zero and she still doesn’t have a pulse. Clara wants to know whether or not time and space is actually going to fracture because he jacked up the timestream, and he gets frustrated by her lack of trust of him. He’s going to take her to the very end of time, beyond where Gallifrey is hidden in time. Because the universe has basically stopped to exist here, he says he’s no longer beholden to the laws of reality. He’s making the rules now, baby! But even here, at the end of time and with most of the universe dead, Clara’s still stuck in the grips of time and she still doesn’t have a pulse. Despite this being the very end of time, someone knocks on the TARDIS door. They knock four times, and that gives the Doctor a clue as to who’s waiting out there. He tells Clara to stay inside, and he goes out to face Me. Me informs him that all the other immortals are gone now, and she’s the last surviving entity in what’s left of the universe. She’s somehow managing to sustain a reality bubble around herself, and she’s been passing her time by watching stars die. Me tells him that Clara died, and the Doctor needs to accept that. He doesn’t, though, so instead Me asks about the Hybrid. 

She says that he first heard about the prophecy from the wraiths when he broke into the cloister as a boy, and she wants to know why the story spooked him so badly. He says he doesn’t know, so she just asks who the prophecy is about. He says it’s about her, since she’s part Mire and part human, but she’s not buying. She says since the Hybrid has to come from two warrior races, it could be half Time Lord and half human. She asks why he’s always spending so much time on Earth, implying that he’s the Hybrid. That’s not a big surprise since he told us he was the Hybrid in the last episode, but he says it doesn’t matter if he’s actually half human or not. Uh, sorry, but it kind of does, but okay. Me’s just funning around, though, and says she thinks the Hybrid is actually two people instead of one. Specifically, it’s the Doctor and Clara together. They each drive the other to bigger and bigger extremes, and they were brought together in the first place by the Master. The Doctor says he knows he’s gone too far with all of this, so he’s going to drop Clara off on Earth and wipe her memory of him. Clara’s eavesdropping on all of this, and she’s not keen on the idea.

Me and the Doctor head into the TARDIS, and the Doctor prepares to wipe Clara’s memory. She lets him know she overheard his plan, and she refuses to accept it. She says she used his sonic shades to reverse the polarity of the neural lock, meaning that if the Doctor tries to use it his memories of her will be erased instead. Clara demands that she be allowed to keep her memories, and she won’t give them up to keep herself safe. The Doctor knows she’s right, but he’s not sure if she actually managed to reverse the neural lock. When he uses it, either he’ll forget her or she’ll forget him, and he says either way one of them has to go. They tell each other good luck and press the button together. For a moment nothing happens, then the Doctor collapses as his memories are whisked away. He gives Clara some life advice, comforts her as she regrets making him forget, and asks her to smile for him one last time. She can’t, though, and he passes out.

Fast forward to Nevada, where some random dude finds the Doctor in the desert. The guy says someone named Clara asked him to look after the Doctor, but the Doctor doesn’t know any Claras. Fast forward a bit, and the Doctor is venting to Clara in the diner. He says he knows he traveled with this mysterious Clara and that they had two-and-a-half series’ worth of adventures together (not to mention some specials), but he can’t remember anything about Clara herself. Clara asks if he’s looking for her, and the Doctor’s saying he’s trying, but that’s difficult considering he hasn’t recognized her while he’s been telling her this whole story. He thinks maybe he was in this diner with her, but then realizes that was when he was with Amy and Rory. Clara asks about the Doctor’s TARDIS, and he says he doesn’t know where it is. Clara leaves him as he strums his guitar, and it turns out this whole diner is actually the stolen TARDIS. She and Me take off, leaving the Doctor in the desert with his own TARDIS in front of him. Me and Clara run off together, with this TARDIS stuck looking like a tacky diner instead of a police box. Me says Clara has to go back to Gallifrey so she can face her death and Clara agrees. But, of course, they’re going to take the long way around, and have all sorts of adventures along the way, I’m sure. Neither of them are getting any older, so what the heck, right?

The Doctor takes in his TARDIS, which has been painted with flowers and a portrait of Clara, and heads inside. The TARDIS comes to life as he enters it, and he sees Clara’s classic catchphrase, “Run, you clever boy,” waiting for him on one of his chalkboards. The TARDIS spits out a new sonic screwdriver for him (took it long enough), and he sets off for destinations unknown.

The End

~~~~~

Well, we’ve come to the end of an era! I couldn’t help but view the Doctor as a bit of a Steven Moffat stand-in during this episode… Moffat absolutely refused to let Clara go, just like the Doctor, and in the end still couldn’t bring himself to kill her off, or trap her in an alternate dimension, or wipe her memories or force her to live out the rest of her life in the 1930’s. I’m sure if he had his way there would be a whole Clara & Me spinoff following that dynamic duo’s adventures, but, lemme tell ya, I was more than ready to move on. This show is all about change, and things have too much of the same for too long. It was neat to actually see the Doctor on Gallifrey, but I still have no clue what the deal is with the Doctor and Ohila’s relationship. That might be because I haven’t seen any classic Who episodes, but I’m pretty sure Ohila is unique to new Who so I have no idea. I honestly don’t have a lot to say about this one… Other than the novelty of seeing Gallifrey and there being a ton of callbacks, I don’t think a lot actually happened here. The Doctor saved Clara from dying, realized that was wrong, got his memory wiped and set off for a new series of adventures. I think if I weren’t as burnt out on Clara as I am I might have had more emotional investment and found the episode more engrossing, but I’m just not there. I don’t think this was a weak episode by any means, as Capaldi put in yet another great performance and Coleman pulled her weight in her final performance as Clara, but after the last episode being so phenomenal this one just didn’t really light a match under me. I’m excited to see what’s next, though!

I give “Hell Bent” QQQ on the Five Q Scale.

Check back in soon when Eli will have to hold tight to his principles with his recap of the next episode of The Golden Girls, “Feelings”, and after that I’ll post my recap of the next Doctor Who Christmas Special, “The Husbands of River Song”.

Until then, as always, thank you for reading, thank you for forgetting (again) and thank you for being One of Us!

[blaperile]

Homestuck^2 - Catnapped (Part 2) Reaction

Page 9:

Holy CRAP!

Wow, there's a lot to address here again...

First of all, nobody ever saw Jasprose here on Earth C. Yeah, now that you mention it, the only time we ever saw her on this planet was in that Halloween snap together with Gcatavros, and that seemed to be a pretty isolated place somewhere.

Why did she never show herself though? What has she been doing these 7 years??

"Returned to her rightful role as Queen", ha! Probably referring to how all the Creators were crowned upon their arrival on Earth C. She didn't get crowned herself, but does consider herself that because she was with the Creators.

"Fefeta's Reach", d'aww. She lives on in the name of this place. I wonder, did Roxy name this place upon their arrival here, or has it existed for much longer?

It's really interesting to see the Carapians' side of the story here! The Candy Epilogue mostly focuses on the Trolls' issues with Jane, but here we see the Carapacians don't like it either. At least in this version of events.

And of COURSE they accepted Jasprose as their queen. These people did originate from a monarchy after all, haha.

Alright, so Ataxia isn't really on the side of the Trolls in this matter. That's unfortunate. :(

Swifer!!! :D

I definitely didn't expect to see her pop up here! But yeah, I'd been wondering how she'd be doing in this timeline, without Kanaya or Karkat by her side.

But looks like she's gotten a VERY significant role and will fill Kanaya's place in trying to negotiate with Jane? Holy shit! :O

The "Old Post Office" building. Something that PM once built, perhaps?

I wonder, those "popular historical journals", when Rose wrote those and provided them to society. Was that 5000 years ago before they moved to the future, so that society would grow up with their history from the beginning? Or is it more recent?

I'd like to think she already provided those journals right then 5000 years ago.

Page 10:

Oooooh, look at this scene!

I like how there's a painting there of Rose, Kanaya, Calliope and Roxy, the ones crowned in this kingdom.

Oh boy, looks like Jasprose isn't just trying to get ride of Jane as president, but trying to get rid of the ENTIRE GOVERNMENT.

Oh man, this is going to get surprisingly political. But I love that Jasprose is taking up the fight.

She's probably got knowledge of what her B2 self got up to, and the corrupted society that came from The Condesce.

And that Rose definitely put up a great fight against the batterwitch, and looks like Jasprose is looking to continue that!

Cliper!!! The guy with Swifer here is Cliper! :O

The same guy who was mentioned during the Candy Epilogue, who was part of Karkat's rebellion but was sent to the camps!

Oh man, I didn't think we'd be seeing anymore of that guy!

"I know a red flag when I see it"

...

*scrolls back up to panel*

*sees Carapacian holding red flag*

Goddammit. xD

Page 11:

Yes, Jane is the red flag. It helps that she's also conveniently dressed in red, haha.

I wonder if Jasprose has knowledge of what happened / would happen in the Candy timeline, where Jane basically led the planet into war?

That could definitely inspire her even more to take this sort of stance.

I like how she doesn't immediately want to simply remove Jane from the picture all together, but would rather advise her into becoming a better leader.

Three pillars, eh? Well, at least they're not truth, essential and relevance, ahahaha.

Gotta love the Midnight Crew reference. Women, wine, and song.

Cliper has a clipboard, oh my fricking GOD. I love that.

Page 12:

Oh shit, she's summoning a fenestrated wall!

Right, that was one of her abilities! Almost forgot about that!

But... what is it showing?

Is it... a view on the Candy world? To show Jane what her actions could lead to? :O

Page 13:

....OH GOD. They went THROUGH the fenestrated wall.

That's one hell of a giant wal, haha.

Where the HECK will they end up?

I swear to god, if I didn't know Catnapped had 3 parts (at least), I'd almost have thought it would end here and they'd next show up in Homestuck^2 somewhere in the Candy world, haha.

*sees next command*

PROBLEM SLEUTH^2 ?????????

HOLY HELL

I...

WOW

Probably just a jokey reference referring to how Jasprose is going to sleuth this problem, but still, hahahaha.

Page 14:

WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

HOLY SHIT

WE'RE ACTUALLY DOING THIS. WE'RE ACTUALLY MAKING THIS HAPPEN.

What does this even MEAN?? Problem Sleuth, the character, EXISTS somewhere in the Homestuck multiverse then... but where???

Are we gonna see the Midnight Crew? Is this somehow on Alternia during the Exile time?

SO MANY QUESTIONS

And... what the fuck is going to happen now??? Is Jasprose going to telephone him??? xD

Is... it taking place in the future of the Problem Sleuth webcomic? There's some small but noticeable differences in the decorating of the office, and the narration of the first page of Problem Sleuth (just checked).

I suddenly understand jack shit.

Page 15:

A NEW touch-tone telephone, a NEW computer (...which we don't actually see here). Things we definitely never saw in the original Problem Sleuth comic.

Holy shit, this is DEFINITELY making some implications.

Page 16:

IT'S MIDNIGHT CITY.

Perpetually midnight though... that can't be Alternia, right? It could also be daytime over there.

And there's Jasprose appearing, and what the shiiiiiiiit

Page 17:

HOPY SHIIIIIIIIIIT

It's a replica of page 10 of Problem Sleuth!!! Except, "long night AGAIN".

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

MY MIND. IT IS PRESENTLY. BEING BLOWN.

Page 18:

RETIRED PROTAGONIST. ACE DICK WITH A YACHT. I CANNOT DEAL. THIS IS PERFECTION.

I'M SORRY BUT I'M JUST PERPETUALLY FANBOYING OVER THIS ENTIRE SCENE RIGHT NOW

Page 19:

Awwwwwwwww.... looks like that's the end of the PS interlude. xD

Oh god, look at how they're drawn, it's in a PS-esque style, I love it.

Wait a second... is that Ace Dick next to Jake?? :O

I love how Jasprose is drinking milk.

Ah... and this brings me right back to those "OH PSYCHE" moments in earlier parts of Homestuck.

Page 20:

Another theme change! :D

I love how the martini glasses are now at the top of the page.

Confirmation that Jasprose knows what's going on in the Candy timeline!

There's no way she didn't mention the "redemption arc" on purpose there either, hahaha.

Oh man, go Jasprose. Let's hope it works and gets Jane on a straight path again, before it's too late.

Page 21:

Pfffff, Jasprose seductively licking the milk.

Ooooh, I love Swifer here. It gives us some more deep insight into her character! More than we've seen from her in the Candy path, at least.

So Kanaya's considered a Matriarch... what exactly is that supposed to mean? The main caretaker of the Mother Grub?

I'm wondering if perhaps SWIFER herself will be the one to talk to Jane, and try to get her to see the other side of the story?

And oooooh, so Jasprose also knew about Dirk's powers then.

Is she gonna try to make Jane see how much Dirk influenced her into doing this?

Page 22:

OH SHIT IT'S DAD

I didn't expect we'd see Dad here!!!!

Oh man, he must have read about Jane's disappearance and that she was taken here, and wanted to try and save his little girl!!!

N'aww... :)

Oh boy... is he going through the wall and also end up over there??? Is he going to meat Problem Sleuth??? Is abundantChewtoys right that he ends up with the Midnight Crew and that the "Diamonds, Dames and Dads" story is a spin-off from this one??? What the shiiiiiiiiit

I'm loving the hell out of this, this is SO worth the money.

Page 23:

MOTHER OF GOD I'M DYING

THIS IS ONE HELL OF AN EPIC PAGE.

Dad drawn in Problem Sleuth style... REFERENCE TO MOM AND HER "A mother will dow what is best for her children".

I'M TEARING UP.

THIS IS PERFECTION

I didn't know what to expect from this story. But dang. This is AMAZING.

I love, love LOVE this, and am highly anticipating to see where it goes next.

As it happens, part 3 is already available, and YOU CAN BET YOUR ASS THAT WE'LL CONTINUE READING THIS TOMORROW.

[petelanemoviereviews-blog1]

Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017) Review

“Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That's the only way to become what you are meant to be.” While it certainly has its flaws it’s still a fine addition to the saga. The emotion really packs a punch this time around.

Premise: Set minutes after The Force Awakens concluded, Rey has come to Luke to train as a Jedi, but our old hero initially refuses due to his failure with Ben Solo/Kylo Ren years before and has abandoned the Jedi ways to live out his days in exile. Rey won’t give up that easily though. Elsewhere, with The First Order hot on their tail, The Resistance, whose numbers have been devastated after a counter-attack on D’qar, struggles to keep as many alive as possible. It is up to Finn, Poe, BB-8, and a mechanic named Rose to save them from total destruction and continue the fight.

Written and Directed by Rian Johnson (The Brothers Bloom, Looper, and a recently announced SW trilogy), The Last Jedi already is and probably will continue to leave fans divided for years to come. Johnson does make the film feel a bit different from other Star Wars movies, but I don’t understand why that’s a bad thing as many people have complained about it. It sure felt like an SW film to me. Even if you don’t like the movie, you can’t deny getting that special feeling when you see “In a galaxy far, far away” and hear that iconic music. It always makes me grin like an idiot. The film opens with an amazing opening space battle. Along with Rogue One, I’m happy to see the return of these in this magnitude. Yeah, you had them in the prequel, but they didn’t have weight like the did in the original trilogy and in this. A little side note, I’ve heard that people are having problems with the bombers dropping their payloads in space. Keep in mind that they could still be within the gravitational pull of D’quar. We’ve seen ships go down in other movies. Another possibility is that the ships have some sort of gravitational pull of their own due to their size. The most likely though is that some laws of physics don’t apply in this universe i.e. plot convenience. I don’t care about scientific accuracy in these kinds of movies but you know it won’t be long before Neil deGrasse Tyson rips it apart if he already hasn’t. Like Empire Strikes Back, this is much darker. Unlike Empire, there’s a lot of humor. Maybe I missed something but do the Porgs serve any other purpose than comic relief? Yeah, I laughed at most of the gags involving them, one in particular with Chewbacca trying to eat a cooked one. I’ve heard that a lot of the humor is forced. I have to agree and disagree. I agree that there’s humor placed in parts where you wouldn’t expect it, while other times it’s perfectly placed. There are some ridiculous parts even for a Star Wars movie, one of which you’ve probably heard about involving Leia. I’ll admit I did chuckle a bit. I think the characters are better written this time around. The relationship between Rey and Ben/Kylo escalates from TFA as it should. Again, due to the fear of spoiling anything, I can’t really go into detail other than that I thought it was a great dynamic. Ridley and Driver play well off each other. Another relationship I really enjoyed was between Finn and a new character, a mechanic named Rose. Finally, and most importantly is the relationship between Luke and Rey. Yes, it does mirror Luke and Yoda at times but I expected that and let it slide. Personally, I wasn’t as interested in their plotline as I was with the other involving Finn, Poe, Rose, Leia, BB-8, and the Resistance. Then again, that’s how I’ve always been with Empire. I wasn’t really interested in the Yoda-training- Luke aspect as I was with the Cloud City plot-line. It’s not that the training sequences in both are boring or anything. Please don’t me wrong! I’m not trying to bash these parts of the movies in any way, well OK, maybe with this one a bit but whatever. That leads me into what everybody is talking about and what everybody wants to know. Personally, I was fine with Luke’s story arc despite hearing many negative things about it. Hamill himself said he didn’t agree with the direction of the character. To me, it wasn’t amazing, but it was passable with some great moments and not so great moments. Could it have been better? Of course. Do I like the now called Legends canon better where he has a wife, kid, briefly turns to the Dark Side, and does successfully restart the Jedi order? Yes, but I’ll take what I can get. His entrance is funny and a bit unexpected. A couple times I did wonder why they went with a certain thing (sorry, trying to keep this spoiler free) when a better thing could have been done. Hamill does great with what he’s given. You’ve seen in the trailers that the character is now a brooding middle-aged man with nothing to live for so that isn’t a spoiler but there are hints of the person he used to be, and it’ll put a smile on your face when they happen. This might be a spoiler but there is a character from the past six films that returns as a Force ghost. I won’t give away who (a glance at the IMDb page will though), but the scene is very powerful and one of the best of the sequel trilogy so far. It’s a fantastic callback to the original trilogy. There are some amazing emotional scenes. We learn a bit more about Rey and I loved the reason behind why Luke abandoned the Jedi and failed Ben Solo. Was that in TFA? If not, sorry! It’s been a few months since I last watched it. Benicio Del Toro’s performance as DJ is a bit over the top, but I didn’t think he was as bad as people made him out to be. Del Toro is known for doing that kind of stuff. He’s somewhat of a replacement for Lando, who by the way is absent from this even though he would have right in on the casino planet, Canto Bight. I did like DJ as I felt his character was developed and I’m hoping we’ll see him in the next movie. I would have liked to have seen more of Dern’s character; Vice Admiral Holdo. Another character I wanted to see more of was Phasma. There’s much more to this character but her only reason for being in these movies seems just to kick Finn around. We do see 3PO in this a lot more and he delivers some hilarious gags. He’s one of the few original characters who hasn’t changed since the original trilogy and I’m perfectly fine with that. R2 is in this much more than TFA but I still wanted more of him. BB-8 is a great droid and I love him, but nothing can beat the R2/3PO duo. Another issue I have is that some characters who you think are going to be an integral part of the continuing story are snuffed out. It’s not that these characters don’t serve their purpose though. Now with my issues. As you’ve seen in the trailers, we somewhat get the Battle of Hoth again. Little side note: The Walkers in this one are neat but I got a sort of Cylon-vibe from them. I understand the red vision screens. As with The Force Awakens, there are sequences that are ripped from past movies and slightly altered. The good thing is that they’re not as prevalent and overbearing but it does follow the overall plot of Empire i.e. good guys weakened, bad guys back on top. But in short, there is still more originality here than in TFA. You know the whole dark side and light side of the Force and that characters struggle with it. It’s vastly overdone with Ben Solo/Kylo Ren in this to point where I was somewhat confused. It kinda works, kinda doesn’t. I like Domhnall Gleeson but he isn’t as good as Hux this time around. His acting just seemed weaker to me. His character is whinier but it is amusing to see Ren and Snoke Force-beat the crap out of him every now and then when he is complaining. Most of the other acting on the other hand to me (something I really don’t that much attention to) was fine. There is a sequence that could have been cut down due to how slow it goes with literally nothing happening. It’s not a breather from the action. I’m definitely going to fast forward through that when I get the Blu-ray. Johnson has said that he cut some full sequences. Hopefully, we’ll see these in the deleted scenes. Concluding, I’m gonna say the dialogue could have been better, but I do say that a lot. In final, I understand why people aren’t happy with it. You’ll find out why. Personally, I enjoyed the heck out of it. Decent performances, enjoyable humor, some unexpected but welcome turn of events, cool lightsaber fights, awesome space battles, halfway decent ground battle, and a fantastic ending. Also, yes, I am biased when it comes to Star Wars movies. I’m probably gonna like whatever this franchise puts out at least to some extent no matter what. I’ll always enjoy the original trilogy over anything and I don’t like some of the changes by Disney but that’s OK. Score: 7.9/10

[cruorlupus]

Very unpopular opinion piece

[I know just saying this could open myself up to a lot of hate but I'm curious if anyone else thinks about the future of Star Wars in the same light as myself. So here goes] Lucas never considered the Teräs Käsi order when writing his movies, but what if the writers of this new arc are? So far they are adding new characters and/or mutating old characters into new ones. Why couldn't they bring the TK into this new fold? The current main characters don't have traditional force training but are sensitive enough that we can see their abilities developing, and we are getting into situations fairly similar to the reasons the order was created initially. Now the wording of the next title The Last Jedi is causing all sorts of theories, and I'm just proposing my own due to the lack of information and the hope that maybe someone shaping this arc is thinking the same thing. The Jedi order have found themselves in some bad spots, have been used, and were purged to near extinction (kinda remind me of the Grey Wardens from Dragon Age actually). However, going back thousands of years, their stance on the events of Palawa is what caused the formation of the Teräs Käsi. Moderation of any force that essentially becomes all powerful to prevent mass genocide was their focus. Which brings me to why I feel like the order could be added to the new arc. Removing Abeloth from the continuum I believe then makes Luke the most powerful force user. So what if in his self imposed exile he found evidence of the order while looking at the way the force is shifting and being manipulated? Maybe he himself couldn't revive the order but feels like the failings of the Jedi and the audacity of the Sith need to be regulated again. As that was the Teräs Käsi's objective in hunting down dark Jedi initially, which also led to them acting out against Sith. Their abilities allowed them to infiltrate both sides to act as watchers. Through training and discipline they learned not only combat skills to counter force users, but how to combat and negate poisons, diseases, prolong their lives for hundreds of years, etc. In TFA they destroy several planets in one fell swoop. Snoke, for all the information we have, has come back from the outer edge of known space and they are using very advanced tech that's more suited for a secret war. Similar to the warning Revan gave about the unknown regions of space the empire hadn't charted there is all sorts of stuff out there that the galactic might not be ready for. Heck for all we know the Force could just be an entity influencing known space and what gives the Teräs Käsi their abilities could be from a rival entity out there, when you look at the nature of the Force and how it's a living thing. But before I spiral off into a bunch of other thoughts I have about the overall story. Tl;Dr Luke more then likely has seen something most can't, other then people like Snoke. Disney Star Wars axed the Solo twins in favor of Kylo. So unless they start adding some stuff from before Disney changed things their story could flounder after the Skywalker saga comes to an end. There is just too much stuff out there they could use to shape the story. Not considering any of the old stuff could hurt their narrative in ways they haven't seen yet.