#like¸ come on¸ his power doesn't even make sense; I can have my silly theories about it!!!

[carlostck]

Howdy folks, just curious...

Have we considered that the reason Lloyd's elemental power is so strange and undefined is because it isn't an elemental power? Just spit-balling a fun theory here, nothing too serious

a little long, so take a cut!

But Lloyd's abilities have always been strange. Not to mention, his power isn't technically tied to him being the green ninja... Seeing as Wu thought Morro (master of wind) and Nya, who had no abilities at the time, were plausible green ninjas. However, Wu did know she was likely to be the elemental master of Water in season five, which implies even when he was seeing if she was the green ninja, he knew she might be? (weird how they both ended up having powers that belonged to Wojira and were once thought to be the green ninja, but I digress) Still, it's tied to the idea of "green power/whatever the fuck Lloyd has going on" ≠ Green ninja

Speaking of "whatever the fuck Lloyd has going on," his power is also just strange? He can use it as a type of shield (Shown in True Potential and I think somewhere in season three while they were in space?), he can mimic the other's abilities (Cole states it, and he is shown doing just that, even after no longer bearing the golden power), and an element being "energy" is just kinda weird?? Why can he launch balls of it?? Radiation is a form of energy, can he control that, and if so is he just launching balls of radiation at people???? Can he use fire because involves unstable atoms, just as radiation? Et cetera and et cetera on those thoughts... Overall, it's finicky and it being "energy" isn't even definite, seeing as it was called just straight-up "power" and "life" before

None knows what his power is exactly, it has not been shown that there was any other wielder of said power, and it's not tied to being the green ninja... so, what if it isn't an elemental power? What if it's just as Garmadon's power; it is a power, but simply not elemental. Just as Wu, who could summon a dragon without an elemental power, and could likely do the same as Garmadon (or maybe he can't? Maybe one needs to be part Oni in order to have those abilities. While Wu could summon the dragon because that is his blood, he may not be able to wield the power his brother can) What if his ability is simply something he received due to his blood relations to the First Master? It would explain why he could tap into it before reaching his true potential, just as those who bear powers from Wojira Also, just kinda helps explain how Wu and Garmadon have powers, yet bear no element! And why we've never heard of someone with Lloyd's abilities before

Would also get into Dragon's Rising and how that ties into this but too lazy for that lol just a little something I got curious about Seen a lot of theories, some just for fun, and a few serious ones, but just thought this would be neat to share!!!

[opiopal]

Are we sure demons are even mammals? Their human forms are for hiding among humans, so they might not have the less obvious functions. We know Lucifer had 12 wings, but his angel form only shows six, implying that that is at least one more "truer" form, which could also be the case with demons. The truest form of a native demon might use an alternate method to feed their young.

this actually got me thinking more about it, so I started to think about their demon forms since that would probably give more answers,

so lucifer and mammon are birds, peacock and crow, so they would tend to eggs, so no need for breast feeding birds

levi is a serpent, yes there is sea life that are mammals, but sea snakes are def not one of them, so fertilizing eggs in bunches doesn't require breasts even after hatching.

asmo is a scorpion, I have NO CLUE how scorpions work when it comes to their young but i know for a fact that anything with an exoskeleton.. most of the time isn't a mammal. so again, eggs.

and beel is a bug, I forget if its fact that hes a cicada? thats just what I remember, and cicadas arent mammals so again, eggs

now i tried to search for what satan is since its really unclear(at least to me), if he was a bird like his dadmom then he would probably have wings, but he IS wing. and when I searched I was told unicorn and wolf(ofc his rebel teen emo ass would be a wolf) and obviously belphie is a goat/cow thing, so technically the anti lucifer league should be mammals just going off of their demon forms,

but again no nipples, belphie makes sense cause again, former angel, popped into existance, no mommy for him, but satan was born from lucifer.. technically organically...? (still cant believe mpreg basically happened) but lucifer probably was never intended to have kids from his own body so no nipples, and again satan came from wings, which yeah would all make sense, but then again I circle back to Dia

he's a dragon, yet was born not from an egg, but as a result of a live birth. which resulted in his mother passing away. so I'm still going strong on my dia's not a full demon theory(maybe royal blood makes him appear to be a pure demon?)

and I can also imagine that demons dont have a big powerful form like a "be not afraid" angel does, so lucifer and the brothers prolly had a down grade in the scary physical form factor. prolly another layer to their punishments. (ofc demons still prolly have a big scary demon form, just not as big as a flaming swords with wings and eyes and a booming voice)

and going onto other demons, I can imagine reproduction is very diverse in the devildom. demons who are more reptilian, demons that are birds, cold blooded creatures, anything that wouldn't give live birth would lay eggs, do silly little dances to attract mates, look pretty to attract mates, ect. and obviously demons that are goats, cows, deer, cat, dog, would give live birth. so maybe nipples with demons are like freckles? some people have them and other people just dont.

BUT, then again, demons could have only 1-2 animals that relate to their sin, demons of Greed could be crows and foxes, envy is snakes and sea creatures, ect. but then again mephisto is a thing, and he's a demon of pride, so that would make him a peacock like lucifer, but with a lack of a canon demon form its hard to say, but mephisto already shares a hairstyle and boyfriend with lucifer so it would just be mean to have him share even more with him. but than again he could also be a lion? but I dont think that would fit that little gay rich boy at all. But I think it would just be more interesting if a demons form isn't always directly related to their sin so they can be any animal.

all in all, the only thing I think I could come to a conclusion with is that angels aren't mammals. and ofc they wouldnt gain nipples after becoming demons cause how odd would that be? "NOO MY SISTERS DEAD AND IVE BEEN CAST DOWN TO HELL- what are those things on my chest." and with demons it could probably vary from being mammals and not being mammals. but I could imagine its like, 80% of the devildom lays eggs and the other 20% doesnt. but all in all I think demons can do either or, it just depends on what they want to do, get freaky and then give birth or lay an egg and sit on it till it hatches, but I'm sure no demon would willingly give birth if they had the option to just pop out an egg.

or maybe its just my crack theory, two demons kiss and get freaky then 9 months later a baby pops out of thin air, magic baby!

[timkontheunsure]

I’d like your opinion on a few theories about something Viv teased about the next episodes. She said that they culminate in the ending of an arc they’ve been building up for awhile. I have 3 theories what that could be

1. Blitz-overcoming his low self esteem and demons, able to move on

2. Stolas- he stands up for himself against the goetia, possibly stripped of his title.

3.stolitz- they finally talk, possibly confess and reconcile

Or it could be a combo of all 3. But it sounds like she’s talking about a specific arc, and while I’d like for it to be Stolitz development, I have a feeling it’s a specific character arc.

What do you think?

Humm ok (again obligatory warning about head injury, so sorry about typos, or not connecting things properly ect).

But kinda think all 3 are getting advanced, but only 1 of them finished by the end of this season.

1)Blitz-overcoming his low self esteem and demons, able to move on.

Well we've definitely had some of that Oops and Blitz getting the unattainable of Fizz forgiving him, and being his best friend again.

And I think we're going to see some of that trauma get explored in Ghostfuckers.

It's also likely that it's going to be the episode with Blitz's hearing he makes everything worse from evil Millie.

But I don't think that's going to be neatly packed away, because Barbie's met to be back in s3.

It also doesn't quite make sense if that's not the main focus of the last two episodes. Mastermind and Sinsmas don't seem to be able that. Though we do appear to have the least clips about those.

But honestly mostly because this show understands trauma is with us for the long haul. We can unpack it, make it lighter to carry, but it's always with us.

2) Stolas- he stands up for himself against the goetia, possibly stripped of his title.

Could be. A big theme is Stolas learning he's allowed to choose, but also setting up one hell of a backlash for stepping out of line.

We've had a theme of people standing up to the powerful.

With Blitz standing up to Ozzie for M&M,

Loona standing up to Bee,

Fizz standing up to Mammon.

Stolas either telling Paimon, or the Goetias council, that he's getting the divorce no matter what they do; could play into that theme.

The tile striping seems fairly likely, but possible down the road. Maybe suspension first?

But again I don't think that's going to be nice wrapped up either. With the trail plot starting in series 3.

Assuming that'll be about the book deal, because chekhov's gun says it's gotta blow up in their faces at somepoint.

Also Stolas coming out in his 30s was always going to be a bit messy.

Can't really see that being fully over in a couple of episodes because this show gets trauma, and missed developmental stages and secondary adolescence take a while to work through.

(Take it for someone who was parentified from an early age, you don't really get to move on till you've dealt with it. Even if it's as small as being silly every now and again. Or just keeping a teddy.)

Pretty sure this is why Stolas has to hug himself to sleep. (Link for people that have no clue what I'm on about here)

3)stolitz- they finally talk, possibly confess and reconcile.

Yer this would be my bet for the one that's getting nicely tied up.

Best guess it'll be them both admitting they love eachother.

Because Blitz has spent the first 2 series pretending as hard as possible that he doesn't like Stolas, and definitely doesn't love him.

(Despite everyone around him, but Stolas, able to tell he's head over heels for his fluffy owl).

I'm not expecting miracles with our sweet dummies though.

That's kinda all I'm expecting to sort.

With them probably not full getting together because of issues they need to work though, the divorce, Stella's abuse and plot to kill Stolas, and Via being against them dating ect.

(She's gotta be called CockblOctavia for a reason after all. Ok had to add the other link to Brandon calling her that, cus too funny).

[seriousbrat]

gamp's law of elemental transfiguration

I was talking about this briefly in @fiendishfyre's replies but I love thinking about magical theory and expanding on it beyond what we're given in canon (honestly class scenes in fics are some of my favourite to write). So I'm going to take a stab at filling in the blanks of this tantalising (for me. lol) bit of lore we get from Hermione. Also I know the magic system in HP is silly and doesnt make sense, I just like thinking about it for fun.

So we don't actually know what the law is. We just know that there are five Principal Exceptions to it, one of these being food:

"Your mother can’t produce food out of thin air, no one can. Food is the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration... It’s impossible to make good food out of nothing! You can Summon it if you know where it is, you can transform it, you can increase the quantity if you’ve already got some..."

So what could the others be? These are my suggestions:

Food. the known exception, but there's more to it, as I'll explain next:

Life. True life. We see that animals can be conjured; however my belief is that this is more an 'illusion of life'- those aren't really animals that could run away and become one with nature, rather they're imitations that would quickly die. In keeping with the first exception, these animals also wouldn't provide nourishment if you ate them. This would also extend to plants- you could conjure a tomato plant but the tomatoes wouldn't actually nourish you if you ate them.* I think this is almost synonymous with the first law, or serves as the explanation for it. The reason they're separate exceptions is because technically food is dead, even though it comes from and provides life- perhaps instead of 'food' it's actually 'nourishment', and Hermione was just kind of oversimplifying. Maybe you can create something that looks like food but doesn't provide nutrition or satiety.

Sapience: you can't create a 'being', a human or a house-elf etc, not even the illusory kind as you can for lesser animals. Barty jr transfigures his dad into a bone which leads me to the kind of creepy idea that you could potentially make a bunch of body parts and put them together into some kind of frankenstein thing, then charm it to move around. But that's obviously not the same thing as creating a human, and it wouldn't be sapient. It's also possible that this 'sapience' might also be understood as 'a soul' which is something that exists in HP lore, as we know. Though perhaps animals have souls too, we don't know.

Inherent magic: while you can create animals, you can't create creatures with inherent magical properties of their own. So you can't transfigure something into a bowtruckle, or summon a phoenix. if this happens in canon at some point then idk lol, but as far as I can recall it never does. It's possible this could also extend to magical objects; right now I can't remember if there's a clear example of this happening in canon either. Probably easier to conjure an item and then charm it, anyway.

Gold: and I mean the metal. Gold is the most magically powerful metal, the 'purest' metal; what alchemists are trying to produce. We know there are alchemists in canon and presumably if it was as easy as transfiguring things into gold it wouldn't be a job lol. My belief is that gold has some inherent magical quality that makes it impossible to produce through magic, which is why it's highly prized by wizards and goblins and used as currency, and why poor families like the Weasleys can't 'conjure more money'.** I'd say that sickles and knuts have trace amounts of gold in them, basically being alloys, and that goblins can tell just by looking at them whether they're real or not. The philosopher's stone breaks this rule, but that's fine imo because that's what alchemists are trying to do, circumvent the rule- and these rules were written by humans trying to understand the nature of magic, so they're not infallible.

All that being said, what could the law itself be?

Another tantalising bit of lore is the question the Ravenclaw door asks McGonagall, and her answer: "Where do Vanished objects go?" / "Into nothingness; that is to say, everything." That line has fascinated me so much that I have it memorised lol, I always imagined there was some big swirly void thing that contained the essence of everything vanished and anything conjured was taken from that pool. It's possible it's just a metaphysical question with no real meaning.

However, I kind of like the idea that all things, all matter, is part of the same mega-thing. So the essence of everything is present in everything else, therefore transfiguration is kind of just shifting the nature of one object through that into another object. I always saw transfiguration as wizard physics and I imagine there are complex algorithms involved lol. Obviously it's magic so there's no way I can fully make sense of it but within this theory, conjuring something would be 'taking' from 'the essence of everything' and Vanishing something would be 'returning' it to 'the essence of everything'. Here's my attempt:

Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration: the essence of everything is present in all things; all things are present in the essence of everything.

Basically, that's saying that all things share the same essential nature and transfiguration is just altering them physically/superficially. even when you seemingly conjure something out of nothing, it's still coming from that 'everything' that McGonagall references, literally out of thin air.

Hence, the exceptions- things like life (which relates to food), sapience/souls, magic (which relates to gold) exist outside of this 'essence of everything' and therefore can't be created.

ANYWAY, this got very metaphysical lol. Perhaps that helps someone with fic-writing or, if you're like me, provides a potential answer to something you've been desperately curious about in the HP lore.

*re: plants, I think there are ways around this to create more permanent plant situations- basically if there is any live plant matter in the vicinity, which is generally likely, one could transfigure those into different plants. in this case you wouldn't be creating life, just changing the nature of the life that's already there. similarly it could be that animals transfigured into other animals would actually exist as those animals.

however, being as how you can't create nourishment, a blade of grass transfigured into a tomato plant would still have the nutritional value of the grass.

** hermione does say that food can be increased in quantity if you already have some. obv if this applies to gold that makes no sense but it doesn't necessarily apply; it could be that multiplying gold, as we see in the Lestrange vault with Geminio, creates 'fool's gold' similar to what Leprechauns produce and that, again, goblins can tell the difference. The explanation being that gold is too magical and pure and special to be multiplied or even magically altered, being the 'purest' metal and the 'final stage' of metal in alchemy. I'm obsessed with alchemy and could write a whole post about this and how it relates to goblins. so i'll stop.

[beanyboobee]

THEORY- SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 62

Noe is Krusnik, Hi and welcome to my crack theory on Noe is Krusnik, But in a different timeline. Take it a step further and claim that Vanitas and Dominique were originally meant to be villains in the tale.

Why did i come to this very odd and strange theory? im glad you asked! behold! chapter 62 of vanitas no carte.

Krusnik is referred to as 4 things. Kind, Brave, cool, and Slightly foolish. Do you know what Noe is? Kind, Brave, and foolish. Krusnik went about solving crimes between humans and vampires, Noe and Vanitas are now moving into doing just that with their newest mission.

Noe's backstory has the makings of every protagonist ever, dead family, dead guardians, sold on the market. But there's one thing that stood out to me, The mention that Krusnik had golden eyes that had the ability to neutralise vamperic abilities and powers.

Now i know, silly me, Noe doesn't have golden eyes, he has red! oh yes, I know, but can we be sure? after all, when we are introduced to little Noe he didn't have a bandage over his eye when he met his 'grandparents' the bandage only came during his time with the trafficers, but there is something important to note here.

Conflicting information, Dominique says that her Grandfather bought Noe because Noe was up for auction as an 'Archiviste survivior' However the people who took him were human traffickers, who were not aware that Noe was a vampire. When they found out, we were never told, However, If he was Krusnik, it would make sense as to why the teacher would be in the audience, (He KNEW Noe would be there) and if Noe was sold to a vampire, and the vampire tried to take a bite, he could of accidentally triggered the neutralisation, which in turn made the teacher buy him, little Noe wouldn't know how to turn it off, and so the teacher bandaged his eye that stayed gold till it eventually faded away.

This would also explain why in recent chapters Noe has started to REMEMBER what happened between him and Ruthvan without Ruthvans consent because Ruthvan used a vampiric ability on him but for someone who can neutralise said ability it would have little to no effect over time. And with Noe being Noe when the teacher told him Archivisites had different abilities to that of regular vampires he most likely never brought it up again thinking that was one of the abilities or didnt even realize he had done that.

In turn the teachers allowing Noe to read the Adventures of Krusnik, Is essencially what he did with letting Louis 'find' his reports to read. Letting Noe read how his life should of ended up and seeing if he would catch on.

Vanitas in the early chapters reads alott like a villian, to the point it is hard to ignore and oyu could see how easily if Noe wasnt friends with him during some of these scenes that he would easily turn agaisnt or persecute him.

Domi too is part of the De Sade family and judging by their torture booth at the masqueade ball, they are very clearly not good people (apart form her) but even see has no problem threatening to tear Vanitas apart if he tries to hurt Noe. Because without Noe, Domique would of eaisly of fallen into the villian role like the rest of her family. The teacher was the one who took in Louis, Had he not her fmaily would of executed him themselves, she would of known he was her twin and left alone in that family with no outside influence, its easy to see she could of easily became a villian, that whole interaction between her and vanitas in chapter 8 is so Villian vs Villian coded that now i cannot read it any other way. But slowly over time these 'villian' like moments become less and less, because Noe is more prominant in both of their lives,

Not to mention Vanitas was from a traveling circus originally, one that suspiciously enough makes me think of charlten, Had to. stuck around and not been rescued he could of easily became one of the pawns of charleten.

Vanitas dies at the end of the tale, because it is his fate to. Noe was always meant to kill him. One way or another. friend or foe.

[mayisgoingnuts]

Oooo you wanna talk about JJD Skid SO BAD oooo 🌀🌀🌀

JABSKSJD IT'S THE HYPNOSIS GUYS...../SILLY

OKY BIG RAMBLE ABOUT THE AU UNDER THE CUT

ALR SO. There's this one theory that I have where the cult is currently trying to get Skiddad back, either from the mannequin or just in general from the death, and although the cult knows that Skid and Pump are like little demons they don't really know that Skid means a lot to Atticus nor that he's ACTUALLY powerful. It's basically "Thank God he's gone we can do our things now"

If Atti is the mannequin, he knows as much as Lila, which was "Oh Skid got kidnapped", if not, he just,,, had no idea. Skiddad as soon as he comes back he asks where tf Skid is and it goes like this

And spoiler: his ass did NOT expected that in the slighest because JJD does NOT actually care for anyone as in bonding sense, so his mind immediately goes to bad stuff. Still, the two are in like, another whole ass city if not country

WHEN THEY COME BACK THO (which isn't really sooo long after Skiddad's comeback, here they took way longer to do so) the cult immediately goes after JJD. Skiddad wanna kill her but the others put some sense into his head fast enough-

Results: killing JJD would just fuck up everything even more, because:

1- Skid now thinks that she's his mom and loves her very deeply, he'd feel a personal hatred towards the cult

2- Skid have NO idea who tf most people in Spooky Town are anymore thanks to JJD aswell including his mom and dad. She basically got him a free lobotomy /hj

So they were basically forced to let JJD keep him FOR NOW, but they made it very clear that if they tried to leave the city they'd have to take Skid by force (she's not really scared, more like "HEY YOU'LL RUIN MY WORK")

And uhh no JJD doesn't love him back or has any emotional connections to him </3 she literally CAN'T /srs

JJD took him for herself because it not only would make her life more exciting but also because the idea of having her unhinged ideas being spread like a tradition sounds "cool as fuck"

And don't even ask about the other scientists, they cut ALL contacts with her, they finally prohibited her to enter the lab (that used to be hers lmao) and if Amanda sees her again she'll genuinely try to kill her; Also, before JJD suddenly disappeared, Jenna managed to finally stand up for herself and basically snapped at JJD yelling how much she despises her and how much she's been ruining her life, which also added on why JJD went for someone else to befriend

First try was Jenna and second one was Skid, she actually gave up on a sibling to go after the other 💔

[lovecanbesostrange]

A quick list about what I loved about the Agatha All Along finale.

Agatha still isn't a good person. She's not completely evil either though. She looks out for number 1, herself. To protect herself she killed witches before and she's still willing to do it again. Which doesn't mean she is completely uncaring either. She has buttons that can be pushed, mostly the big one that says "Nicky" on it. And I love the way she is torn between "Billy reminds me of my son, but he also very much isn't my own".

Billy also has done shitty things. Much like his mother out of not having proper guidance. When he realizes that he created the road and thus caused suffering for others, his devastation is genuine. And he does lash out by trying to banish ghost!Agatha (honestly understandable reaction). But then he doesn't.

And these two form a most interesting pair for a mentorship!! I need more of that. I am not devastated about Agatha's death, since she is a ghost. Hilarious. Being dead doesn't stop her from being a character that can be easily used. And oh, what a death scene that was. Fantastic! Plus how she insists that it was not a sacrifice. Because she is not nice. Nobody ever dare say anything nice about Agatha Harkness!!

The true devastation are those scenes with Nicolas. Her son. The one who started singing a silly little tune and oops, they created the whole ballad together. FANTASTIC! I love everything about that and how Agatha uses it as a con, when the ballad spreads. A lie she can use. Wow. Epic. Agatha All Along!! She said the road was fake and she meant it. But also can we talk how the ballad did become a protection spell for a child by her mother? Best use ever and it hits harder now.

I do wish there had been a scene prior to Agatha being pregnant. To show her with Rio before. Agatha killer her own mother and her first coven and I'm sure that's when Death took note of her. A witch who kills her own coven, who sucks them dry and leaves bodies for her to collect. I think just a short scene from their first encounters would have helped. Also to explain why Rio feels such sympathy for Agatha that she doesn't take Nicolas right away at birth. ONLY FOR AGATHA TO SUFFER MORE BECAUSE KNOWING HIM WAS EVEN HARDER... more wow. It hurt so much. Rio was so gentle, and how she sends him back to kiss Agatha goodbye. Only for Agatha to find her dead son in her arms, unable to do or say anything. And all of that is WORSE. She said she would never forgive Rio and she kept that promise.

I do think it's a bit weird how easy it is that it comes down to "I will take one of you", even though Billy upset the natural order by taking over William's body. And then he did it for Tommy. Holy shit. The deal and natural balance felt a bit... well, not focused on enough. But just the way Billy comes to help Agatha and does give her some of his power, and she actually does stop herself -- these two! (Honestly I wish Agatha could learn about what went down in MoM. If there is one person who could appreciate massacring a bunch of wizard monks just to follow an insane plot to get some children back - it should be Agatha.)

JEN IS ALIVE! And she has her powers back. From Agatha. Fuck it, Agatha All Along, who knew.

Agatha still isn't good. She was an opportunistic witch and now she can be a cunty ghost mentor. The way she says that she is not ready to face her son, breaks my heart. Maybe it's also because she used their song to kill more witches and he didn't like that part all too much.

What a great trip. The big reveal hidden in plain sight. A very character focused emotional journey, yet some dangling threads to connect it to ge greater known Marvelverse, pushing the door open for Tommy (I'm glad they told us right away and nobody has to now make up theories how his soul was around and why didn't Wanda sense him at least). I think it would be fun if this has the greater effect of making the road real and that others can now walk this path (with all the dangers attached), but that doesn't matter and it's probably this isolated event. Jen survived the road and she found sisterhood along the way.

Oh, in that fight between Rio and Agatha, I like how Agatha tried to use the things she learned about protection and healing, also of course listening to Lilia's last warning. Oh Agatha, you would be better off with a coven, you know.

[queennai714]

Random hcs I have because I may be cringe but I'm free part 26 (Ninjago, again)

My Ninja singing hcs cuz I love music and singing and I think the sillies would too.

When it comes to Cole, there are only two ways the hc can go, either you think he's terrible, like in the oni trilogy, or he's a wonderful singer with a beautiful natural voice and the technique to match, who just doesn't know what to do with that stupid Gloworm song (I mean COME ON, he went to the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts ffs). I choose to believe in the latter. Whatever you choose he is still vastly better at dancing than singing.

Kai actually has a pretty great (and fittingly, very powerful) voice and he could be amazing if he ever decided to take actual lessons, but he couldn't care less. What he's interested in, and therefore weirdly good at, is distortion. Growls, vocal fry, screams, even just regular old belting, anything that would push anybody else's voice to its limits, he can do it all and does so willingly and extremely well. (Cole is lowkey jealous)

Jay can SING omg (when he's actually trying anyway). Jay's the kind of guy who has a wonderful (and surprisingly powerful) natural voice without any kind of lessons or training but if he isn't focusing on/into the song or doesn't really care abt how he sounds then it just sounds like talking/shouting. But when he's alone, or listening to smth he really likes, or deliberately trying to impress, bro sounds ANGELIC (Cole and Kai are BOTH jealous of this one(and this one kinda feeds into my Japanese Jay hc but my brain decided that when he's doing more hardcore stuff, he sounds like mafumafu))

Once again, this one was hard because Zane only ever sings with the help of some kind of nindroid shenanigans, so I dont have a lot to go off of but I'm happy with what I came up with so 🤷‍♀️. Anyway, Zane's normal speaking voice is really clear and smooth and slightly accented and wonderful and he has perfect understanding of music theory and all the technical aspects of making a voice sound pleasant and musical, and he sounds really good when he hums, and he's got the technique DOWN, but his voice just always sounds weird somehow, so whenever he wants to sing along to smth and sound a certain way while doing it, he'll just replace his own voice with the original vocalists or another generated voice that he thinks sounds good. He still has an absolute blast though.

It is a rare and I mean RARE occurrence to hear Lloyd sing and 99% of the time someone does manage to pick up his voice, he sounds slightly below average, even if he's actually putting in some effort for once. But that ultra rare 1%, when someone manages to overhear him late at night, almost silently raiding the cupboards for candy as he quietly sings the softest, sweetest, and most comforting melodies to ever be given lyrics, then he sounds pretty wonderful. Don't let that fool you though, it's his comfort zone for a reason.

Like her brother, Nya has a pretty awesome natural voice, but, also like her brother, she doesn't really care for "normal" singing. She tends to lean more towards rapping, usually resulting in her unconsciously putting more energy into rap segments than the rest of the song, and the rest of the team. However, she absolutely ADORES hearing the others sing, especially Jay "What? He just has a nice voice. It has absolutely nothing to do with our relationship, no way". Its like she can sense whenever Cole and Jay are having another random duet and she always manages to "coincidentally" appear before the song ends.

Pixal was originally programmed by Cyrus Borg to have a lovely, gentle, mother-like singing voice, and she definitely appreciates it (its surprisingly come in handy on quite a few missions) but she finds it just a little too different from her normal speaking voice for her to get totally into it. She usually prefers to stay away from vocals anyway, finding that she has more fun tapping her fingers or toes or even just making percussive mouth sounds to the rhythm of whatever's playing (and these days, she's kinda hesitant to even do that, ever since Zane accidentally let it slip that he thinks its "positively adorable")

[screamingwiththewolves]

Even as a kid, I thought vampirism as depicted in the SS books doesn't make sense. Every creature, human or animal, living or undead bitten by a vampire turns into one. If vampires need blood regularly and have existed for centuries the entire world population would've turned into vampires, or they would need to kill every person they feed from which wouldn't be sustainable in the long run.

In the books, vampires that live in GHOUL communities have special pipes alongside water for blood but GHOUL hasn't always existed.

I suppose that hunting animals would solve the problem, but it never made sense to me that even zombies could turn into vampires since they're already undead and don't even have any blood to drink.

yeah, admittedly vampirisms being transmitted by just a bite was never my favorite trope. It can certainly make sense in some stories/plots, like when vampirism is treated like an illness. But when Vampires are treated as a species it doesn't make much sense in my opinion. Same logic with werewolves. The only story I've seen that treats werewolf's like a species, and still gets away with the bite thing, is Wolfwalkers. and that's because it does such a great job of showing that the lycanthropy of that film, is a gift to be bestowed, or a curse to enemies. So it works.

That all being said, I can also appreciate the silliness of vampirisms being transmitted to any creature via just a bite. In the case of the Scream Street books, it creates a situation that is just absurd. But, like, in an enjoyable way? Like it's over the top, camp, chaotic, ridiculous. It's like a tart cherry pie. Usually, I don't like cherry pie because it's so tart. But sometimes I crave a cherry pie specifically for the tartness. You get what I mean?

I guess if you wanted to have your cake and eat it to, one could theorize that such easy vampirism is specifically something of the Negative lineage. Maybe their bites transform others into vampiric minions, where as with most vampires that's not an issue. Maybe that's why their last name is "Negative" because their bites come with "negative" effects. Could even be a reason Resus's ancestor helped found Scream Street. He may have felt that doing such would keep their mutation from causing more harm. (could also be why he stays in a hibernation mode rather than enjoying his undead existence.)

Or, second theory, it could be that it's due to something that Ghoul did to the vampires in their facilities, like experimentation or adding something to the blood supply. They've certainly done far worse. Heck, maybe the thing about the supply coming from the drains of the world is a lie to began with. Making a supplement certainly sounds easier than a complex blood gathering system. After all, if the vampires thought that the blood supply was from a pipe system, when they'd be fully dependent on the Scream Street facilities. And we all know how much Ghoul loves anything that gives them more power over the cryptids. Furthermore, I'd make sense if they were particularly controlling of vampires, as vampires are a more threatening creature, they have a lot of powers. We don't see the Negatives have a lot of powers, but I'm willing to bet that's because they were raised in Scream Street. They've been denied a lot of things, and likely don't know the full extent of their powers.

Idk, just some theories that came to mind while thinking about all of this. (screw Ghoul, they are awful people) :D

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

Dick & Rachel and the Invisible String theory (part 3)

Let's continue with season 2! (You'll find part 1 and part 2 here) Good news is, I fixed the problem of the image limit (silly me didn't know I can put up to 30 images in a post on my laptop). Also good news — season 2 has so many clues that I had to give ONE ENTIRE EPISODE a separate post!

Season 2 is interesting when it comes to the Invisible String because it all seems to be very chaotic and all over the place, which is kind of reflecting the state of both of Dick and Rachel's minds this season. Dick, quite literally haunted by his past, is fighting hallucinations of Bruce Wayne, while Rachel is trying and failing to rein in her newly upgraded powers and struggling with her sense of identity. Their problems are pulling them in different directions, making them deal with stuff separately rather than together. The String becomes frayed and loses some of its integrity. Until, finally having enough of the bullshit, it takes the matters into its own hands (ropes?), so to speak.

And in episode 2x11 "E.L._.O.", sends Rachel a dream.

It's a blaring alarm. A wailing siren. Code Red, it screams, he's doing something really really stupid and it's going to get him killed. It urges her to go, now, before it's too late.

But first a little reminder how we got there.

Dick revealed the truth about what really happened to Jericho. Mad that he kept it a secret and blaming him, everyone (including Rachel) leaves him and goes their separate ways — except for Kory, who leaves to deal with her own stuff but promises to be back, and Gar who ends up the only one staying at the Tower. Dick leaves as well, packs a bag and goes to visit Jericho's mother. After a confrontation with her and Slade, he heads for the airport, a plan to go somewhere remote and away from everyone on his mind. But once he's there, he experiences something like a psychotic breakdown, gets himself detained and sent to prison, being convinced that this is what he deserves for all his fuck ups and mistakes.

Rachel originally goes with Donna but ends up ditching her as well and finds her way to a homeless shelter, where she meets a girl named Dani. Dani invites Rachel to an abandoned house where she and her friends have their place, and tells her she can stay with them. This is where Rachel has the nightmare.

It's all very symbolic this time. A cemetery, a funeral, a gravestone with Dick's name on it. Rachel's reaction to it is heartbreaking to watch. Then Dick appears behind her, dressed in a suit and tie as if attending his own funeral, and begs her not to give up. On him? On Titans? Rachel grabs his hand to look into his mind and find out what's going on but all she sees is some place called Elko diner in the middle of nowhere, which at the time doesn't make much sense. She wants to ask, but a sword is driven right through Dick's chest, Slade standing behind him, and she watches in horror as Dick chokes on his own blood and dies. She wakes up screaming, tires to call him, but his voicemail box is full.

When she doesn't leave immediately, the String tugs at her again. Dani gives her a reading from Tarot cards and the reading is terrifyingly accurate:

"Your past. The Tower. Upheaval. It leads to a period of darkness." — fighting amongst the team, Titans breaking apart.

"Your present. The Moon. The realm of dreams. Your unconscious knows the way back to the light. You have to trust your intuition. It will guide you to your purpose." — THE REALM OF DREAMS!!! GUIDE YOU!!!! TO YOUR PURPOSE!!!! Do I even have to explain?!

"Your future. The hanged man. Brutality is coming your way. You must prepare to make a great sacrifice or... suffer a great loss." — explains the meaning of the vision and predicts the future. The hanged man is Dick, his life is in danger. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Rachel gets another scary vision:

Something insane hit me while I was rewatching this scene and making these gifs. Something that made my jaw drop to the floor.

Dani could be the personification of the Invisible String.

She's only in this one episode, we never see her again. Rachel doesn't get the vision of Dick's death until she's at her place. Her only purpose seems to be to have this scene with Rachel, read her from the cards and help her understand this dream. She's literally guiding Rachel on the right path, a path that will take her back to Dick.

Rachel leaves right after that and heads for the bus station. This is another example of the String working in mysterious ways, because it's a direct callback to the moment from the pilot where Rachel decides to go to Detroit. This time it's a little more intentional — Rachel picks Elko because she recognized the name of the diner from her dream — but the two scenes are done nearly shot for shot to remind us that neither of the instances is coincidental. Just like the previous season, the String is leading her to Dick.

On the bus she has another dream. She's in the same cemetery, sees Dick standing over his own grave. Deathstroke emerges from behind the trees with his sword in hand and Rachel tries to warn Dick but she's unable to move and he can't hear her. Deathstroke kills him again and Rachel jerks awake just when she's about to miss her stop.

Meanwhile, weird things start happening with some of the others. Donna gets a strange call from Rachel, but the static cuts off her voice. Kory, who ended up in Vegas, sees a commercial of the Elko diner on TV. Dawn hears Rachel's voice on the radio as she's driving. All three get the same message: get to the Elko diner.

When they get there, though, Rachel is actually shocked to see them all there and claims she didn't do anything. Then none other than Bruce Wayne walks in and has a nice little chat with them. (Btw Bruce is preaching in this scene. Amen to these words!)

He gives a speech about putting the gang back together despite all the hurt that broke them apart, then simply leaves. Kory, Donna and Dawn aren't too convinced, the latter two deciding to leave. But before they do, a small TV in the back of the empty diner turns itself on and shows news footage informing that Dick is in a nearby prison and apparently helped two men escape. Convenient, right?

All of this is so weird, isn't it? So random. You watch it and immediately claim it "shitty writing" because the way these events happen is so goddamn ridiculous. It feels like it doesn't make much sense.

Or does it?

Because it's not really Bruce. Because in the season finale, when Kory thanks Bruce for coming and his advice, Bruce tells her he doesn't know what she's talking about because he was never there.

But if it wasn't Bruce, who or what was it?

At this point, Dick is having hallucinations all the time. While locked in solitary confinement, he has no one but his mind's projection of his adoptive father for company. They talk, they argue, even fight. Bruce has been appearing to him throughout the entire season, most of the time uninvited (as hallucinations do) and Dick couldn't get rid of him. But the one time when Dick actually does want Bruce to appear, he doesn't.

Bruce doesn't show up, but a large bird appears in a window of the cell and catches Dick's attention.

The only way I can describe Dick's face when he sees it is relief. Man nearly looks like he could cry. He immediately jumps to his feet, eyes never leaving the bird, and softly calls to it, but the bird flies away and doesn't come back even when Dick is shouting after it. Left alone again, Dick hangs his head and drops back to the floor, where he curls, crushed and defeated, as if the last glimmer of hope he had just died.

Bruce comes back shortly after that, and at the question "Where did you go?" he ominously replies that Dick needed to rest, and then changes the topic.

Okay but why pay attention to some bird? It's just a random bird, right? Wrong.

It's Rachel. Her "soul self" as she calls it in season 4. Still linked to Dick's subconscious even after leaving the dream, she "borrowed" Bruce's projection to bring him to the diner and sent the Raven as a replacement. Even Kory and Dawn came to a similar conclusion in the finale:

What's more, Dick must have recognized her in the bird. Otherwise, why would the bird catch his attention? Why would it cause such a range of emotions on his face? The bird doesn't stay for long, it flies away almost immediately, but I'd say this way Rachel now knows where to look. The bird comes back, the tv turns on and now they have the location.

One extra clue that proves it is that the scene in the cell happens right after the scene at the diner, which implies that the two moments might be happening at the same time.

How did Rachel do all of that? Found her way to some random diner in Nevada, brought the girls and Bruce together, sent out a projection of herself to Dick and did it all unconsciously ? Is it her powers or is it the String pulling her forward? Or both? It could be her instinct, her fear, her helplessness and desperation because she's just a kid and she's alone, and she just had a premonition of Dick's death. There's not a lot of time and she needs help. Outside of the diner, she's begging Donna and Dawn to stay, tears shine in her eyes and her breath hitches while she explains to them how she saw Dick die, but ultimately only Kory stays by her side. She gets some of the help but not all, and Dick eventually finds them before they get to find him, but all these weird things didn't stop happening until the threat of Dick dying went away.

As for Dick's end of the String, it kind of only makes a cameo. In his last hallucination, after Dick and Bruce exchange a few kicks and blows, Dick finds himself standing in front of several screens showing some important, pivotal moments from his life, moments that shaped him into who he is. There's many different things here: Robin's violence, his parents' killer's death, cutting Bruce's tracker from his arm, Jason falling from a building — and two memories of Rachel. The first meeting in Detroit and the moment she appeared in Trigon's dreamscape to save him (which also proves something I'll be talking about in season 3, so remember that detail).

And honestly, I can't think of an explanation to this other than the String's mere presence. It doesn't do anything — the scene's purpose is for Dick to figure out a clue left by Jericho. But I find the choice of picking not one but two important memories of her for this scene a really interesting and thought-provoking detail. Especially that the way this entire section is constructed draws your attention to it. We hear Rachel saying "It's you, you're the boy from the circus" in the background and her voice doesn't drown in the cacophony of others from different memories, but it's distinct, standing out from the rest — we as the audience are meant to hear it and recognize it. All the memories on the screens change, some appear on different screens at different times, but everything, from the camera angle and blocking, to editing and effects, made sure these two memories were seen at the same time. They're not the focus of the scene of course but you can tell there's been a lot of thought put into making sure they end up where they ended up.

You know, it's funny how I used to not take this episode too seriously — like most of the fandom — because of all the stuff at the diner and how there's seemingly no explanation to it and it feels so random. Because of how stupid some of the characters decisions seem. We always blame it on the writing, shit on the writers for leaving plotholes and making retcons, and 99% of the time we are right to do it. But maybe we just have to look deeper. Maybe we're supposed to look deeper. Because after looking at these events through the perspective of The Invisible String, this episode will never not make sense to me again. It's not dumb anymore, it's not random. It's actually fucking brilliant. I think it speaks of something that I had to give it a whole separate post to explain it — and that was something I did not plan when I sat down to write this theory.

Now we move to seasons 3 & 4. And check out Part 4!

[firebirdsdaughter]

Aaaaahhhh…

… Was reading a (very good!) fic, and the author pointed out that it's Very Interesting that Kubo used Byakuya and Renji to explain Sasakibe's backstory, and I was like… Oh my gods.

Bc a) I love the whole 'I will be your right arm and do what you cannot' thing and b) I was just thinking about how I think that does apply to Byakuya and Renji.

Now it says in my contract I can't put too much stake in Tite 'I never thought we'd make it to the Soul Society' Kubo using too much deep literary symbolism/association, plus this is shonen, where said symbolism/association isn't a main priority (which is fine, BLEACH was my first manga/anime and I still love it in it's silly 2000s nonsense).

But to me… That is so them? It's a point of interest to me that Byakuya ever approved Renji as his Assistant Captain. Like. Surely that's a position that the Captain in question has to approve, since they'll be relying on each other so much. And you can't tell me Kuchiki Rules Lawyer Byakuya didn't do due diligence w/ the candidates. So why Renji to begin w/? Neither manga nor anime ever explains, and it's not relevant to the actual story. Renji bc the plot demanded it. But I also kinda like the idea of Byakuya intentionally picking someone who's a little more brash and aggressive than he allows himself to be. Someone who's more reliant on brute force and forging forward. Although it doesn't ultimately get explored much bc of the nature of the genre and the era it was written in, it comes across as Byakuya choosing someone who can be the things, have the reactions and emotions he feels he must withhold from himself. He's rigid and stoic and stingy about praise, while Renji seems to be pretty friendly with the squad and even has a subordinate that looks up to him. Like Byakuya know he's chilly and he needs someone more passionate and expressive to balance him out.

Which also makes the blood war arc events very interesting to me; unlike the other Captains, Byakuya has an Assistant who has bankai. He could, and by some theories should have had Renji use his bankai to test the enemy. He's the superior officer, technically stronger. From certain povs, it might have made more sense to risk the Assistant Captain's powers. But instead, he does it himself, and even after his bankai is stolen, he keeps insisting Renji stay back and learn from his fight (I do love the little aside in the manga where he tells Renji he's probably not smart enough to test the enemy and Renji grumbles but agrees w/ him, bc it felt so humanising and just… kinda brother-y for both of them). And even while horribly injured, he drags himself back to his feet when As Nodt starts attacking Renji. Now, it's probably also or the sake of the Soul Society itself. It makes sense, esp since they both have bankai, for one of them to stay back. But the fact that he has Renji do so, effectively sacrifices himself from the get-go, is so interesting to me.

And, of course, the very end of that fight clearly establishes how much Renji has come to mean to him. They could have just made him ask about Rukia, as so many of his appearances are primarily focused on her (sigh shonen), but instead, he apologises to both of them, and then the first thing he asks Ichigo is if they're both alive (non sequitur but if they hadn't been I thoroughly think Ichigo would have lied to him to spare him the knowledge, and also I'm a little lukewarm about Ichigo but I loved that moment).

It convinces me that while there was definitely logic/strategy in it, he was also trying to do his best to protect his Lieutenant, esp after shit truly hits the fan.

But to cycle back around to… What ever my point might have been, whether it's intentional or not, I think the fact that it's Renji and Byakuya used to tell us this story of the eternally loyal Assistant, that Byakuya clearly thinks very highly of Sasakibe's loyalty and duty. That it comes right at the start of that arc where the above happens. That Renji and Byakuya are… Aside from Shunsui and Nanao, I think the only Captain and Assistant pair that last the whole story? Oh, and Soi-Fon and her Assistant. And Hitsugaya and Rangiku! That they are one of four out of thirteen pairs that remain unchanged by the end.

I could go into a lot more (finding out the Captain you thought was kind and compassionate is a monster, while your emotionally challenged, expressionless jackass of a new Captain is a genuinely honourable and noble person), but that would get even more nonsensical. The short version is, I definitely think that whole philosophy, that image of the Assistant becoming the indispensable right hand that balances out the Captain, fills in for the things they lack or can't do for whatever reason, is really well displayed by these two, esp compared w/ some of the other dynamics we see (Momo and Izuru's blind devotion to their initial Captains, Yachiru being more moral support/after fight recovery, whatever the hell is the deal w/ Oomeda). Like Renji was his hot headed younger brother he was mentoring long before he and Rukia actually became a thing.

They're not the only ones, of course, Hitsugaya and Rangiku sync very well, so did Isane and Unohana. Kenpachi and Yachiru work, and Ikkaku stands a high chance of fulfilling the same role (albeit they should probably keep Yumichika on hand just in case). And tbh it didn't register w/ me the first time (I think partially bc I was a little overwhelmed by all the Things going on), but when someone else pointed it out… I'm like. Yeah. I think that means something.

[bioedwinmx]

Devil fruits are meta if you think about it

Crackpot theory time!!!

So today I was daydreaming about a fanfic I read while paying my bills (Like an average person) and remembered how it described the X-gene could give mutant powers in Marvel (I swear this will make sense).

In short, the X-gene works like eldritch magic (The Dr. Strange thingy), by basically pulling energy from a random dimension of the multiverse, the human body will proceed to evolve accordingly and maybe get you superpowers and mutant traits (I guess this is how spiderman kinda works as well? don't quote me on that).

Thus, as long as long as you can imagine a superpower, it will exist due to parallel universes being infinite in possibilities. Cool right?

AND THEN IT HIT ME

Vegapunk describes Devil fruits as possible evolutions of humankind being brought by desire (the whole possible/parallel universe/future is kinda similar and my brain made the connection there)

BUT, we can see that with GEAR 5, the superpowers can be a lot more meta in nature, by literally making the reader smile with its silliness :D

So this got me thinking, devil fruits are a manifestation of desire/dreams/wishes right?

In-universe it sounds a bit goofy, one piece kind of goofy though, that, by literally wishing for something to exist, it will manifest itself through sheer willpower (Haki and other shit tends to work like that in this universe, like people becoming more beautiful if they follow their dreams and that stuff)

But from a 'meta' perspective, doesn't this literally mean that any power could manifest itself because it is a shonen manga? that as long as SOMEONE could imagine it, it could become reality by being written in?

If one smoked enough crack, they could even argue that devil fruits have a will of their own because they are being written in with some purpose by the author.

Like, by that logic, of course, Doflamingo got the fruit that let him cage a whole country and control people remotely, its power is literally part of his whole theme as a character and douche bag manipulator!!!

Anyways thank you for coming to my ted talk, I'm gonna proceed to scream into a pillow for a few minutes and then become normal again.

[pocketsizedowls]

I think there are two things that could add some nuance to this conversation: systemic sexism and purity culture.

While Lan Zhan chugs respect woman juice on a daily basis and the Lan Clan once had a woman leader (Lan Yi, granddaughter of Gusu Lan Founder Lan An), systemic sexism could very well exist in Lan Clan. This could manifest in a variety of ways, including but not limited to separating facilities by gender, giving men and women different lengths or styles of education (ex. boys are educated until 18 y/o while girls until 15, or boys go on night hunts while girls are healers, etc), or even ignoring/punishing disciples for the physical differences between men and women (ex. shaming women for being "weaker" in the athletic department or punishing women for not coming to class due to period cramps).

Just because the Lan Clan had a female leader at one point doesn't negate the possibility of sexism on a systemic level. Many queens have ruled throughout history, even if their respective countries still have ways to go in terms of gender equality today. Dowager Empress Wu Zetian, Mary Queen of Scots, and Tzarina Cathrine of Russia are all powerful female leaders whose legacies are still remembered today, but they are also remembered as controversial. Specifically, they are often remembered as "cruel." Lan Yi is also controversial and cruel according to the Lan history books because she invented the Cord Assassination Technique (the one that Lan Zhan used to kill the Xuanwu of Slaughter) specifically for killing dissidents. Why did she need to kill dissidents? We don't really know, but my theory is that she got desperate. As a lone woman in a position of power usually given to men, she had a lot to lose against people who speak out against her. As such, she killed them in order to keep her people silent. If you look into the stories of Wu Zetian, Mary, and Catherine, you'll see parallels to this too.

Next, purity culture.

Someone (I forgot who and where) once called the Lan Clan forehead ribbon a "chastity belt" and it made me laugh out loud. Especially in western fandoms, many parallels can be drawn between the Lan Clan and more conservative/rule-bound societies today, such as fundamental Christianity or one of those boarding high schools where you have a curfew at 12pm and an RA constantly circling the dorms. As such, it's easy to come up with silly headcanons such as "the Lan Clan believes abstinence is the only way to prevent pregnancy" or "the Lan Clan believes sex before marriage means you'll get pregnant and die." But this also means it's easy to come up with more serious interpretations such as "the Lan Clan disempowers women just like many fundie Christians do" and "the Lan Clan's idea of restraint/punishment is very similar to Catholic guilt." Are any of these things true or false? we have no idea. But I do think that MXTX must have gotten her ideas somewhere, and aside from traditional Confucianist ideals, conservative organized religion sounds pretty plausible to me.

Another important theory to bring to the purity culture conversation is "Lans only fall in love once," which was never actually confirmed by MXTX but sounds pretty believable to me. And if Lans do only fall in love once, it makes sense why the forehead ribbon is a thing. It's a mechanism for controlling a group of people whose tragic devotion is so genetic that they have another rule to keep skeletons buried in the closet - "no gossiping in the Cloud Recesses." We don't know really know the truth behind Qingheng-Jun and Madam Lan's love (?), only that nobody is allowed to talk about it and as a result, Lan Zhan is afraid of his feelings for Wei Ying because all he knows about his mother is that his father's love clipped her wings.

Anyways, I digress. That was really damn long. If you're still here, hello! And sorry! Because we have a little more to go!

So, is the Lan Clan sexist? I don't fucking know. Probably. If only MXTX put more female characters in her story, right? But that's a conversation for another day...

My personal theory is the third option on the poll, "Yes, but not intentionally." I believe systemic sexism exists in the Lan Clan, and it goes unaddressed in the story because, lo and behold, the main characters are men. Not only do they benefit from this system, they also don't notice it as much as a female cast would. So they don't talk about it. However, I do believe in the inherent goodness and empathy that exists in our male characters, specifically in the twin jades, as they were raised to believe in the good in others (ex. Xichen) and to always have integrity (ex. Wangji).

In modern society, I believe Xichen and Wangji would both be feminists. Xichen would debate with lawmakers about women's rights (i.e. changing things on a societal level), while Wangji would attend protests, walk girls home at night, and curb-stomp sexist frat bros. (i.e. bully incels until they cry). It takes them time to get there though, due to their upbringing in a more conservative and traditional household. Once they start learning about feminism, they'll start rethinking the importance of rules, punishment, and traditional masculinity in their lives.

TD;LR: Lan Clan is sexist but our boys are feminists! yay!

I Can’t Decide If the Lan Clan Are Sexist or Not

They’re the only clan to have been lead by a woman (I’m sorry I can’t wether she was named or not.) but we don’t know if that was because she was an only child, or perhaps had no brothers, or whether she was simply the oldest and everyone was just okay with it.

They seem to be the most heavily segregated, bathing in the cold ponds, classes and even meal times. (I think if I’m remembering right.)

(To be fair to them, I wouldn’t want to strip naked and get in a cold pond with a man, Lan or otherwise I just wouldn’t be comfortable.)

I think perhaps they aren’t intentionally sexist, but their level of segregation makes things that way.

The Lans have little interaction with women but seem to treat them well. (I’m using Lan Zhan’s treatment of Mianmian here at carp tower, when she sticks up for Wei Ying.)

[sukirichi]

Hi! I hope you're doing okay. So I just had a thot. And idk what to do with it. So Imma just put it here cause your blog is my new favourite. I'm not even joking. I literally devoured everything related to Tokyo Rev on your blog. So here's my theory. Do correct me if you think I'm wrong Sensei!

Bouten husbands and where they liked to be kissed the most/ or is their weakness. (Ps: it's just my opinion. I mean no offense to anyone.)

Mikey~ Kiss him on his shoulders and he'll cry. Cause he's been bearing all the burden of his dark and decaying world for so long that he doesn't even know that he needs to take a minute for himself and rely on others around him. Especially since most ppl around him are willing to give their life and limbs for Mikey. He just can't seem to keep that in mind. So you've taken it upon yourself to remind him frm time to time. Just a little peck on his strong and broad-ish shoulders to remind him that he's not alone. That if nothing, he has you. He always will.

Rindou~ Something about being kissed on his cheeks, especially by his lover, does things to him. Like his cardiovascular muscles do a little somersault in his chest or something. Because yes, it doesn't matter if he's one of the big, scary and irreplaceable executive of Bouten, he still has an unconscious inferiority complex. Sometimes it just skips his mind that despite everything, he too deserves the world. And every once in a while you need to remind him about it. That he doesn't have to be flashy and snarky like his brother. He just needs to be himself and that he is undeniably worthy of love.

Ran~ Not many people are taller than him, you are no exception. So it makes sense that in order to kiss him you need to be on your tippy toes. And still you're only able to reach his neck. So yeah, just kiss him there. Right on his Adam's apple and he's a goner. It doesn't even have to be sexual. Ran is always the one to take charge. It's kind of in his nature and you happily oblige him. But every now and then, you also need to remind him to take a breather That he can just let go and get dotted over for a change. You're more than happy to take care of him, that he needs to be taken care off.

Koko~ This man not only, brings in the big dough for Bouten, but also beats up people while at it. To say that he's always overworked is an understatement. His hands are always doing something, illegal things most of the time. He knows he's no saint. That there's no coming back into the light. He's painfully aware. But once e intertwine your hands together and kiss him on top of his knuckles, he swears that it's his redemption. You're the only light in his dark and dangerous world.

Kaku-chan~ Please. Just kiss this man on his forehead. Please. He's literally out there, ready to give his life for the things he wants to protect. He's always doing that. Protecting the people that have gone astray, who have no more hope left. He's ready to die for them, if it means they'll keep going. So please, just once, just protect him instead. Protect him from the demons he skillfully hided in his head. Protect him from the nightmares that torment him every night. Just protect him for a change. He needs it more than he's willing to admit.

Sanzu~ Okay. Hear me out. He's deranged and he knows it. He knows he's won't bat an eye before painfully torturing someone to death. Heck he'll even do it with a smile plastered on his face. He knows that he's stained in blood almost all the time.(sometimes his own, most of the other times, not his own). He'll even relish it. He knows that he's been tainted with burden of death. He knows that he lives in the shadows. He's not sane. He's not good. He's bad. He's ugly. You can tell that these awful thoughts keep him awake at night. So when they do and he has this almost painful look on his face. Just pull him close and kiss him on his face, over and over. Kiss his scars, kiss his lips, kiss his nose, his eyes. Just don't stop until he's got your point across. That yes, it's true that he's despicable. But you still love him nonetheless.

Ps: Sorry that was too long and kinds got out of hand. But these are just my "thots". Thank you for hearing me out!~ Thot anon

hi i’m doing okay, thanks for asking n i hope you are too !! also aaah i’m glad to know my blog is your new fave, i hope you enjoy more of my future tokrev content 🥺 ALSO YES ITS HEADCANON TIME LETS GO LETS GO

mikey n shoulder kisses 🥺 i hc that mikey is stiff and rigid all the time without knowing. like you said, he has a lot on his mind and draken even said mikey had a heavy ass cross to bear, so imagine the weight and burdens he has to shoulder 🥺 so if you lean into him for a hug then kiss his shoulders, mikey deflates. to him, its like a reminder he doesn’t have to carry it all by himself all the time and poor bb forgets that often

cheek kisses for rindou 🥺 the idea of this big, bad executive infamous for breaking limbs but is actually a sucker for cheek kisses and turns into a soft lil bean when you cup his face and just smother him with love n affection? bless. rindou probably unknowingly exerts too much effort sometimes to prove something - may it be his strength, his power, or how he’s perfectly capable of fighting by himself - he’ll have that voice at the back of his head that he needs to do something. giving him cheek kisses grounds him and elicits butterflies in his stomach bcos he realizes that, “oh, i don’t have to try so hard. silly me...now more cheek kisses, please.”

ran and neck kisses !! ON THE FLOOR RN, TELL ME MORE. but yes omg i also hc that ran is such a giver and grown up to look for others the way he does for rindou, so in his head, he’s kind of drilled it into himself that he has to be the one in the lead - not necessarily in a mikey way - but in a “he needs to take charge and take his responsibilities seriously” kind of thing. like mikey, ran is probably often deep in thought as well despite his teasing mannerisms, that when you kiss his neck he can’t help but soften. he enjoys being doted on. loves to be the one on the receiving side. has the sweetest smile on his face when he gets a lil ticklish and he just feels like he’s on cloud nine <33

knuckle kisses for koko 😫 everything you said was on point !! his hands are probably so tired from fighting and counting bills all day, not to mention the amount of paperwork he has to do bcos who else will do them ?? no one knows the inner system of koko and how it works as well as koko does, and he wants to do his job right. he gets a little too absorbed in his work, however, that koko gets a little confused when you take his hands away from whatever he’s working on to leave little kisses at the pads of his knuckles, maybe even massaging his hands or playing with his fingers to help him relax a bit. and you know how koko is so good at what he does bcos its all he knows, but at the same he probably hates how he treads on this dark path ?? so when you kiss his knuckles, he feels relieved. like everything will be okay and second chances are real n something he’s worthy of

omg now this is my favorite - kakucho + foreahead kisses. forehead kisses are always so intimate and soothing in a sense. like come here so you can kiss him on the forehead, watch the way his eyes flutter close and a smile tugs at his lips when your lips trail down to his scar, all the while your hands are cupping his face with such tenderness he never really knew of. kakucho is so used to being the tough guy with his rough childhood that it almost feels surreal. surreal that he’s in bed, with you, safe and sound and you’re kissing his forehead so comfortingly he doesn’t have to worry about putting his walls down for a second. he feels safe. he feels at home. but most of all, he knows he’s not alone and he has you - his family

kissing sanzu’s scars 🥺 everything you said was beautiful n i can totally see it happening !! as much as we all know sanzu takes great pleasure and finds entertainment in what he does, it sinks down a little too late. when he’s not high, that’s when he feels the lows. when the blood on his hands are dried, that’s when he realizes it gets harder to wash them off until it stains deep all the way into his soul. then his scars. he sees his scars and remembers how he has to hide them at some point. he stays awake at night and oddly enough, silent and unmoving. and what better way to ease his worries than to pull him close and just to kiss his scars that he thinks are only one of the ways the darkness - the ugliness - of his soul shows through. keep him close and kiss his scars. sanzu may not always be in the right mind to understand your words, but the simple gesture of showing love and acceptance to a part of him that makes him a whole will engrave deep into his heart. leave him butterfly kisses. kiss him from everywhere to his eyes until they flutter close to sleep. kiss his nose adoringly until they scrunch so cutely. kiss his lips until its your taste that overwhelms him. and kiss his scars to remind him his imperfections are accepted and loved

[maarigolds]

Ok so we need to talk about Pietro/Peter’s powers for a second here. He refers to it as “super speed”, but is it really? 

This is something I’ve seen people mention before, especially in relation to the scenes in the x-men movies where he saves everyone at the mansion or during Magneto’s prison break. In those moments we see the action from his point of view, and everything but him slows down to the point that the other characters can’t even see him or realize what is going on. Time is almost frozen. 

This must mean that Quicksilver is running really fast. Like, REALLY fast. In fact, fast to the point that, even if he had some sort of super resistance and strength to counter the effects of the acceleration, he’d still make a mess: stuff would shatter around him, his clothes would burn down in a split second due to friction, and any normal person he tried to save would pretty much explode. Literally. 

Still we see him carry many people to safety at super speed and they’re all fine. 

Now, this could simply be a plot hole because, really, who cares about physics in a superhero movie where impossible things are constantly happening? Those scenes are cool, that’s all that matters. Suspension of disbelief, whatever.

...or at least that’s what I thought until the last episode of WandaVision. Hear me out.

At the beginning of the episode Pietro’s powers are working as usual: he scares Billy and Tommy after seemingly appearing out of nowhere (but actually just running really fast). Everything is normal.

But then, when they’re out trick or treating, they all go on a super speed pranking spree. And this is what we see:

Pietro didn’t just take the kids with him: the two of them are actively engaging in the pranks. Unlike everyone else (beside Wanda, but we'll get to that later) they perceive what’s going on, despite the fact that they’re running at an insane speed. And yes, in this episode it’s revealed that Tommy too has super speed, so it makes sense that he would. But what about Billy? Billy is not a speedster. If Pietro was simply carrying him around like he did to the people he saved in the x-men movies, Billy wouldn’t have the time (or, to be precise, the reflexes) to see what’s going on, let alone spray silly strings on people. Hell, even the fucking silly strings wouldn’t probably come out of the cans fast enough!

...Unless Pietro (or whoever is controlling him) wanted him too. 

And what I mean by that is Pietro’s power is not super speed at all: it's time manipulation. And maybe this is him learning how to extend it to other people. Also, considering that Wanda has telekineses -meaning the manipulation of the first three dimensions- it would make sense for Pietro to have the fourth... although I’m probably reaching here.

But, since we’re talking about Wanda, what about her then? She sees the guys running ....And I don’t have an answer to that. It might be because of her powers. I might be because, even if she doesn’t actually see them, she can feel their presence through telepathy. It might even be that she simply knows it’s them because who else could it be.

There is a really interesting moment when she stops Tommy (which seeems to confuse and surprise Pietro quite a bit), so I'm leaning towards "she just has this power".

Billy later does the same, but it still doesn't make sense that he was running at Pietro and Billy's speed. (I think. I’m not sure of anything at this point.) 

Either way, Pietro’s powers work in weird ways and I hope it will be addressed soon. 

And yes these are most likely just 90s tv shenanigans and I should’t be paying attention to them because it’s not gonna work outside the hex but I can’t help it okay tv shows conspiracy theories are my shit

Second gif is from @quentintarantinos and first one I couldn't find a source sorry

[sinnohborn-trainer-evan]

Adventure trio thought...

So you know when it comes to things like virtues, there's often like a thing where a number of parts make one whole?

Like faith - hope - charity

Prudence - temperance - courage - justice

That sorta thing.

Somewhat related, but after finishing a Zelda game, I had checked into Pokemon Masters, and then suddenly had this idea.

If I were to relate Nate, Ethan and I to something like the three virtues of the Triforce, it would look like this.

Ethan would represent Wisdom

Nate would represent Courage

And I would represent Power

Here's why I think this:

Starting with Ethan, he's the explorer type of Trainer. He wants to see the world, so he always keeps his bag extra-packed to bursting with camp gear, refreshments, and items for battle, just in case anyone joined along with him. He keeps his trusty Pokégear on-hand which is his navigational tool, his days of experience with the wilderness of both Johto and Kanto allowed him to develop a natural sense for geography. He is always keeping up to date on regional cultures, legends and lore. Therefore, he is a wise friend and a wise choice to have any adventure even away from civilization.

Next, Nate would best represent courage because he would do anything to defend his and others beliefs, to protect his Pokémon the people dear to him, and to achieve his personal goals. He, alongside his Pokémon can get beat down and pushed to the ground over and over again, but he would still get back up on his feet and try again. And he's not afraid to put himself in danger to test himself against fate. Hell, this kid was cornered and nearly got iced by Kyurem, and he stood there ready for it to happen! Nate has guts, and his courageousness earns him a special place in a team of Trainers.

And finally, my reasoning for being in the spot of power.... Well, it mostly comes from my brute force battle style. Compared to the other two reasons for Nate and Ethan, mine sounds like nothing special. But it's not really far from the truth either. When I participate in a Pokémon battle, neither me nor my Pokémon hold anything back, sometimes it's a do or die situation and we really have to think about whether to do or fall back and think of a smarter action to take. The majority of moves in a Pokémon's moveset I tend to choose are attacking moves, be it physical or special. And although it's silly and sometimes detrimental to just always be on the offense, with the risk of fainting looming over, I feel like a turn that could be used to do some damage before the opponent can dish out more damage than I can, is a wasted turn. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try and branch out move styles to find a good combination. I tend to just attack attack attack as fast as I can before the opponent can get the edge. But of course I'll have to change strategy when the opponent becomes faster than my Pokémon.

That about sums up my hypothesis on my team's Triforce theory. Do you guys agree? Or do these characters have any qualities that clash with the placements I gave them?