#longest text post ever

[derangedthoughtssideblog]

thought about enjolras for 2 minutes. now i'm deeply unwell

[trypoed]

I'm just thinking.

Hoffman’s path as Jigsaw's apprentice began with revenge, with the desire to inflict suffering on the one who had caused him pain. And his path ended with revenge as well. His final act of vengeance was not only against Jill personally, but also against John. It was as if he was trying to make John suffer by taking the life of someone John cared about.

It doesn’t matter that John was already dead. It doesn’t matter that killing Seth Baxter wouldn’t have brought Angie back.

Revenge is blind.

"Fix me, motherfucker," Amanda cried to John. Nothing changed for her.

"Fix me, motherfucker" - this is precisely what Hoffman could have snarled in fury and despair, feeling betrayed, if John were still alive. Hoffman was hurt all over again, and the only way he knew how to cope with his pain was by inflicting it on others in revenge. For him, too, nothing had changed.

Both Amanda and Hoffman were ultimately defeated because John didn’t fix people. He broke them further. And they were both undone not by John’s hand, but by the consequences of his designs.

And I am curious about how John would have reacted to what happened to Jill. Would he have been as lenient with Hoffman as he was with Seth Baxter? “Everyone deserves a chance,” he shouted directly into Hoffman’s face, speaking about the man who had so unfairly and cruelly taken the only person he held dear from him. “You didn’t see the blood! You didn’t see what he fucking did to her!” and John showed no trace of understanding or sympathy in response. But what would he have said if he had seen Jill’s blood? If he had witnessed what Hoffman had done to her? Would he have given Hoffman the proverbial chance? I’m not sure.

[froschli96]

You know what, fuck it, I have to speak my truth! (this is gonna be a rant, so anyone who actually likes assassin's creed revelations and/or the secret crusade, be warned or maybe don't read this at all)

remember how altaïr talks to king richard at the end of ac1, and richard is like "[humans] come into the world kicking and screaming, violent and unstable. it is what we are. we cannot help ourselves."? and how altaïr answers "no. we are what we choose to be." and how that ACTUALLY has meaning bc he himself was "violent and unstable" at the beginning of the game but he has learned and is now CHOOSING to be a better person who cares about others and humanity at large? remember how his calmness and gentleness was something that he ACQUIRED over the course of the story?

and remember how in revelations they then suddenly had a PRE-AC1 altaïr say about the first of his targets "no man should pass from this world without knowing some kindness." and be all wise and calm and collected during a nice little chat with al mualim, who suddenly acts all fatherly? (like, this is suddenly supposed to be a positive relationship? what??)

also, during the confession the target says to altair: "you put too much faith in the hearts of men, altaïr. [...] humans are weak, base, and petty." and altaïr answers: "no. our creed is evidence to the contrary." KJASJFJDKL???? like, it’s almost insulting how close this exchange is to the one with richard. you know, the one that was actually earned after a whole game of character development. like WTF??? cool congrats now that development means nothing. like, apparently that was just altaïr reverting BACK to being the exemplary assassin who understands and believes in the creed that he was apparently just born as. (i also hate how having a young inexperienced altaïr saying this implies that altaïr's faith in humanity is a sign of naivete instead of a sign of the wisdom he has gained after being confronted with counter arguments for a whole game, and also something that distinguishes the assassins from the templars who use humanity's supposed wickedness to justify controlling them like in AC1, but whatever)

altaïr’s development in AC1 mattered BECAUSE he is not NATURALLY a good person, it actually said something about humanity's capacity for both bad AND good and how humans don't have to be forced to be good through mind control bc they can by their own free will choose to be better when taught how and when allowed the freedom to grow. but no. apparently altaïr has just always been calm, wise and gentle. and he just sort of forgot about that during AC1 bc…. ? bc of adha?? bc of abbas???

oh don’t get me started on the whole abbas thing. (it doesnt even make sense that abbas is so hung up about his father and "his family’s honor", like what about the whole point of al mualim not allowing parents to be close to their children bc it would make them weak? like, my dude, you’re not supposed to HAVE any family aside from the brotherhood)

they used the throwaway character that had like 5 lines and made him into altaïr’s main antagonist in revelations… like, abbas wasn’t supposed to be this ONE dude who had personal beef with altaïr, he was just supposed to show how while altaïr’s revered by many, a lot of his brothers also hate him, bc 1) altaïr is a shitty person at this point and 2) bc there’s no real feeling of community and family in this version of the brotherhood, but just a pervasive sense of competition and jealousy — these assassins don’t care about their goal of safeguarding humanity bc they’re too hung up on petty squabbles and divided by rivalries (you know, the things that made malik hate altaïr even before solomon’s temple and that he overcomes in the end which enables him to forgive and to reconcile with altaïr so they can work together and stop al mualim? (you ever just think about "we are one. as we share the glory of our victories, so too should we share the pain of our defeat. in this way we grow closer. we grow stronger." and cry? bc i do. all the time. malik, the man that you are))

and now abbas is altaïr’s childhood best friend turned lifelong enemy?? like, bowden bent over backwards to come up with an explanation for why altaïr is an arrogant ass at the beginning of AC1, when the explanation is right there: he was raised to kill without asking questions and was constantly praised for how good he is at murder, which resulted in him becoming arrogant and disregarding human life. like, it doesn’t have to be some shakespearean family feud type shit. and guess what, this "simple" explanation actually plays into the story’s themes, who’da thunk!

(like, abbas might not have been a "fleshed out" character in AC1, but he had a specific function and now that function is gone. mr bowden, mr mcdevitt, you know characters are allowed to simply exist to tell us something about their worlds and the systems they live in and sometimes that’s more important and also more interesting than having every single character have a detailed backstory to explain all their behaviors, right?)

with all of this revelations loses all nuance in regards to the levantine brotherhood and also the creed in general. like, altaïr being a master assassin at the beginning despite being a terrible person and not actually understanding the creed is a criticism of the brotherhood and the creed itself. like, it said something about the order that someone like altaïr was able to get that high in rank, simply bc he's good at killing, which also tells us what is considered important in the al mualim era assassin order. when you make altaïr’s arrogance the result of his personal conflicts instead of how we was raised by a brotherhood that only valued one's ability to kill, you lose that characterization of the assassin order itself!

and by suddenly making al mualim a semi good "father figure" you also downplay his manipulation of not only altaïr but all those under his care. (altaïr says something about al mualim being "as a father" to him exactly twice in the codex, but he doesn’t mean by that that he WAS a father to him, what he means is that he was the CLOSEST THING he had bc HE DID NOT HAVE PARENTS, not because his mother died in childbirth and his father was executed when he was young btw, BUT BECAUSE IT WASN’T ALLOWED, like his parents actually lived but weren’t allowed to be close to him, he says he came to view al mualim’s "weak and dishonest" love as enough and even better BECAUSE HE HAD NOTHING ELSE, BECAUSE AL MUALIM ISOLATED HIS ASSASSINS FROM THEIR FAMILIES. al mualim "loved" him bc he was good at killing people for him! hm, i wonder if this could be trying to say anything about cults and indoctrination and the inherent contradiction in fighting for peace and free will by taking children away from their parents and raising them to become killers?? like, altaïr wasn't ~the special orphan boy~ taken in by al mualim bc his father died a hero's death, it was "the way of the order" to have al mualim be the closest thing to a parental figure for everyone to ensure absolute loyalty! altaïr saying al mualim was like his father is not supposed to make you go "oh, he must have actually been a good guy for altaïr to consider him a father", it should make you go "oh that's kinda fucked up that he considers the dude who made him into a killing machine and who manipulated him a sort of father figure"!)

and then in revelations they suddenly portray that relationship as positive and healthy??? like, it would be one thing to give it some nuance by delving into the psychology behind al mualim’s "love" and maybe showing how al mualim did care about altair in a complicated, fraught sort of way (like, you know, there’s a lot of interesting things you could say about al mualim at several points addressing altaïr as "my child" in AC1 and how that parallels Garnier referring to the people he drugged and abused as his "children", and what that says about how the templars view the people who they say they want to save and in whose best interests they supposedly act (in any case, al mualim doesn’t use that phrase because he has any real parental feelings but rather to patronize and to invalidate any objections, like in a "mother knows best" way))

but they even fucking DARE to parallel that relationship with that of altaïr and darim in revelations, by having the reflection in the puddle of darim hugging altaïr showing altaïr hugging al mualim…. like their relationship wasn’t inherently abusive but just tragically cut short because al mualim was just "corrupted by the apple"… like WHAT???? so it’s not the very real problems like grooming, manipulation and indoctrination and the hierarchical structure of the brotherhood itself (all of which are antithetical to the assassin ideology), it was just the evil apple all along. great. that’s DEFINITELY a lot more interesting.

god im sorry i really dont want to spread negativity but this is driving me INSANE. like, somebody please tell me im not crazy bc i feel like somehow most of the fandom is in agreement that revelations and the secret crusade have better storytelling and characterization than ac1.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, can we talk about how, even IF we completely ignore AC1 and treat revelations altaïr as his own character…. the narrative still doesn’t really work?

basically, the whole point of his story in rev is that "he gave his whole life to the brotherhood", this obsession led to him not using his time with his family which has him ending up dying alone in a dark library and this in turn makes ezio reevaluate his life choices…. except. he doesn’t? neglect? his family? or whatever? like, his devotion to the assassins is sort of painted as this tragic flaw that leads to a lonely death bc it supposedly comes at the cost of his family, but… his wife has joined the assassins, (at least) one of his sons is in the brotherhood and even when he goes to protect the assassins against the mongols, he takes his family with him (except for the son who stays behind bc he has a family of his own and who, ironically, ends up dying bc of that)… like, you can’t describe altaïr as a good husband and father in the database and have his son tell him that "everything that is good in me began with you, father" when they say goodbye, and then want to make us believe that he put his family behind the brotherhood and that that is a character flaw that leads to his tragedy.

because you HAVE to have a character’s tragedy be the result of a character flaw. like. that is how tragedies work. otherwise it just becomes tragedy for the sake of tragedy which is… boring bc it has no purpose. and we know it is SUPPOSED to have purpose bc ezIO FUCKING QUITS BEING AN ASSASSIN AFTER WITNESSING IT!

it’s like they want to have their cake and eat it, too — they didn’t want to actually make altaïr a bad husband/father, but still wanted to make his life a tragedy where he loses his family which is why instead they outsource all responsibility to abbas who now has to be the reason for ALL the deaths.

like, they try to make at least maria’s death kind of sort of the result of altaïr’s rashness or whatever but like… these guys KILLED THEIR SON and TOLD HIM THAT ALTAÏR HAD ORDERED HIS DEATH. like, altaïr losing it in response to that is not rash, it’s fucking logical and justified! if anything the scene made me angry at maria for trying to stop him. like, GIRL, he was YOUR son too??? but god forbid we give female characters actual real emotions, she has to fill the role of "voice of reason who dies for altaïr’s man pain" i fucking guess.

like, it’s this weird mix where his tragedy is simultaneously painted as his own fault but also not really bc abbas is the one responsible for all the shit that happens. it just… it just doesn’t really go together.

the only way to make his story make sense narratively and to give it actual purpose is by looking at it in the context of ezio’s story, bc the things he sees in altaïr’s memories are supposed to be a revelation (ha!) to ezio specifically. and i guess that’s maybe the crux of it all — altaïr’s story in revelations was conceived of first and foremost to support ezio’s story and development. which is probably also why many people maybe don’t notice bc, having skipped ac1 and started with ac2, the majority of people mostly care only about ezio and only really appreciate altaïr’s story in as far as it serves to push ezio forward. (tho i’ve also seen a few people say that ezio is also written kind of weird in rev, but i’ve never really been an ezio girly myself so i can’t speak to the truth of that)

like, altaïr dying alone in the library doesn’t really have to make sense for his character, i guess, bc it’s only really supposed to be a cautionary tale for ezio.

so, i guess, for once, they actually had a MAN dying for another man’s character development, which is pretty woke actually. ubisoft, i take everything back jksdsfjhgdsahfhsdhfghfdsgjhsdgjh

[skellagirl]

Hello everyone from the Potion Permit twitter!!!! Here's some more silly doodles of my beloved pathetic loser man 🥰

Also read my super self-indulgent Matheo/Chemist enemies-to-lovers fic??? 🥺

(descriptions in alt text)

[von-rosewald]

A (not so) brief theory about Sukuna and Tengen:

HEAR ME OUT OK

TL;DR: Sukuna/Tengen's relationship parallels and exists within the same repeating cycle of Geto/Gojo and Yuji/Megumi, which seems to form the basis of the overarching JJK storyline

I don't necessarily think that their relationship was romantic in nature (although it could have been), but there are clear parallels in the relationships between Sukuna/Geto/Yuji as well as with Tengen/Gojo/Megumi.

(A few of these parallels are just seen with Sukuna/Geto and Tengen/Gojo because Yuji and Megumi are still living out their main story, but so far it adds up. I'm also going to focus less so on Yuji and Megumi in this post since that has been discussed plenty already.)

I've listed below the cut where I think these parallels are and what other clues have been hinting at this:

Direct Parallels:

“The Fallen”

Angel refers to Sukuna as "The Fallen," which not only indicates him as someone who is evil or lacking in morality, but also as someone who had previously not been that way (i.e he had to "fall" down from somewhere). Therefore, we know that Sukuna must have been someone who was well respected and probably a "good" person before he turned and became a curse user. It it thus not unlikely that Sukuna would have at least crossed paths (if not more!) with Tengen when they were both on the same side of Jujutsu society and the two strongest of their time. Sound familiar?

We know that Geto was also someone who "fell" from grace and respectability like this, after being in his close relationship with Gojo (who remained in that position after Geto's fall). This fall is something that happened following a very traumatic event that restructured how Geto looked at the world around him (and himself within it)—we also see this same thing happening to Yuji over the course of the story (especially with Megumi currently being taken from him and potentially dead—just like Gojo was during the fight with Toji). Could it be that Sukuna experienced the same thing during the Heian era to make him become "The Fallen"?

Remains of their Bodies

In chapter 220, we see Sukuna’a mummified body dressed as a monk left at the site of one of Tengen’s purification barriers, and it is noted how it is not actually needed for the basis of the barrier. Thus, it seems that Tengen had placed Sukuna's body at the centre of one of their most sacred locations, in a position and attire of significance and respectability. Why would she do this with someone who supposedly was the one of the most evil sorcerers in history if it did not matter to the creation or maintenance of the actual barrier? The only answer which makes reasonable sense it that she carried some sort of lingering emotional attachment to Sukuna in some way.

Similarly, in JJK 0, Gojo has to kill Geto, but notably does not take care of his body afterwards in the proper way. This is not exactly elaborated upon, but it is certain that Geto's body was not cremated, and given the reason for this lack of proper body disposal was his emotional attachment to him, it is probably likely that he was intent on doing something else to properly respect his life — perhaps giving the body to Geto's newfound family or interning him differently. Whatever it was, he clearly defied whatever treatment his body was going to endure at the hands of Jujutsu society who viewed him as an evil and corrupt person.

"The One who Taught him about Love."

In Sukuna's fight with Yorozu, she realizes that someone has already taught him about love in the past. During his fights in Shinjuku, this is also repeatedly brought up again, and he seems to think very bitterly about it—which indicates that whoever "taught him about love" is probably someone he cut out from his life in some way, that he may have parted ways with philosophically and that he detached himself from the idea of enduring love, pushing that aside the best that he could.

We know that Geto pushed Gojo (and his love) away when he sought to embark on his quest to rid the world of curses. We also know that he believed that after this Gojo hated him (even though he did not), potentially also looking bitterly back at the past and his naivety about love—he didn't think that love could be that enduring (even though his still endured, he did not think that it was reciprocated).

Eating Curses etc to Gain Power

Sukuna's CT is still unknown to us, however, we do know that in chapter 249, he ate something sent by Kenjaku and absorbed its power in some way. We also know that he is canonically a cannibal, and that he often will use cooking metaphors in his speech, indicating that his CT may have something to do with eating people/something else to gain power.

Geto's CT is that which involves him eating curses in order to absorb and control them, thus forming the basis of his power.

Yuji's CT is also still unknown to us for the most part, but we do know that he has an inherent ability to absorb the power of cursed objects that he eats—notably, Sukuna's fingers. It is also implied that he ate the rest of his brothers, the Cursed Womb Death Paintings, and absorbed their powers through that (such as blood manipulation, which it is heavily implied he able to use now).

"The King of Curses"

In chapter 3, Sukuna is referred to as "the king of curses." In JJK 0, Gojo calls Geto "the worst curse user" (and Geto also is someone who has the power to control curses as their master—I wonder what other word can be used to describe this relationship?). We see then that both Sukuna and Geto are seen by those around them as simultaneously superlatively strong and evil with relation to curses in their respective times.

Other Hints:

Tengen's New Form

When Kenjaku met Tengen again, he called out how Tengen’s current form seems to look a lot like Sukuna’s true form (with a knowing tone in how he pointed this out). Clearly, it is being hinted at here that there is some sort of history between Sukuna and Tengen where Tengen is still holding very closely onto his memory in some way. It is also potentially relevant to mention here how Gojo's blindfold changed in colour from white to black after Geto's death, showing a potential similarity in memorializing their fallen and lost friend—and a refusal from both of them to move on even after they were gone.

Ties of Fate

It is already established in canon that fate and repetitive cycles of fate exist within the JJK universe, where we see how Kenjaku has been tied to the owner of the six eyes for a millennia and is always somehow doomed to lose to them. If this is true, then would it not be plausible that another cycle of a tie of fate exists between these three duos?

Breaking the Ties of Fate

Sukuna remarked recently how Yuji has a spirit that is near-unbreakable (unlike himself according to this theory) and we have also seen how Yuji, despite the trauma he has gone through, has not fallen in the same way that Geto or Sukuna did. Will the crux of the story rest in Yuji's ability to break this tragic cycle of fate? Or will it fail the same way that Kenjaku's sealing of Gojo failed to break his own cycle of failure to the Six Eyes?

If you actually read all of this thank you for entertaining my rambling theory!

[khytal]

ok gamers I rewatched tristamp one more time in order to write a post about the soundtrack, and some of the stuff I found blew my socks off (even though I've seen every episode like 6 times) so buckle up because oh my god. oh my god

this will cover most of both volumes of the OST (which you can find on spotify), with a focus on wolfwood, and a little bit of vash, meryl, and the eye of michael

...and a very thorough breakdown of "drain arm" :)

notes before I get into it: -I won't be analyzing the plant song because I. already wrote an entire separate thing about that haha (a link to that doc will be in the replies section of the notes if you're interested)

-you won't need to know anything about music theory, because I'm just pointing out where certain themes come up (with the exception of "duet", but I'll explain terminology there). timestamps will be included so you can listen for them as you read

-if you're obsessed with the OST like I am, most of this probably won't be anything new x) but I hope it's enjoyable regardless

-my credentials: I was a pianist for 10 years and an oboist for 7.5 years and I only had 1 semester of intermediate music theory but I got to analyze the 1st mvt of tchaik 5 and I think that permanently altered my brain chemistry

-the tracks I recommend being familiar with to have a better grasp on this post are: -> "whistling/blues harp in the wasteland" (vash's leitmotif) -> "reality" -> "childhood memories" -> "duet" -> "human subject" (eye of michael, or EoM, leitmotif) -> "drain arm" (technically optional)

-please don't take any of my interpretations/speculation as fact! you are absolutely free to come to your own conclusions I just have a lot of thoughts about the soundtrack lol 👍

here we go :]

EP1: -you can hear a variation of the plant song in "immigrant space explorer" (0:36-1:00)

-vash's leitmotif is first heard in "no man's land" (0:41-0:48)

-only about half of "mystery man" plays, and his leitmotif (0:38-0:51) is actually cut from the scene so it's not heard at all

EP2: -"escape" has vash's leitmotif from 0:18-0:31. they also took out the lyrics in the episode's version of the track x)

-it's possible that we'll hear "might is right" or a new arrangement of it if we get to see the rest of the nebraska family in future episodes, since there were posters of marilyn. I think people largely associate the song with EG the Mine but due to the track title and the fact that it first played in this episode, I feel like it's more about the nebraskas

-I'll talk about "childhood memories" in ep12 because it's related to rem's themes

EP3: -the plant song can be heard in "compatriots" (1:01-1:11)

-"reality" is first heard here, right before the episode in which wolfwood is introduced. keep this in mind for later :')

EP4: -"undertaker" has a dissonant sax part (0:48-0:54) that's similar to the one found in "irritation" (1:05-1:11), but it's an ascending passage rather than descending. it doesn't show up anywhere else so it might become a motif we'll hear in the future, but there's no way to know until the next part is released

-"planet zaji", from 0:55-1:04, has that one part from "time left" (1:02-1:09). it's heard while wolfwood's spinning the punisher around but I think it's just something that sounds cool, and you can't really hear it anyway because of the sound effects/dialogue. if zazie gets any additional themes in the future I might have more to say on this

-vash's leitmotif kicks in in "hungry !" (0:21-0:43) when wolfwood introduces himself at the end of the episode. I really like this track I hope we'll get to hear it again x)

EP5: -I don't think there's any meaning behind "shadow" borrowing from "worms network". I'm pretty sure it was just for mood (and to be fair it is a cool track)

-you can hear vash's leitmotif at the beginning of "boy and vash". this is the part where vash is escorting rollo back to the village

-"cyborg" introduces a new 4-note pattern (0:07-0:14) that I'm calling the eye of michael leitmotif. if hearing this reminds you of episode 6 then you already understand what I mean

-"dud" has vash's leitmotif as well (2:20-2:59), which starts playing when vash is begging rollo to wake up after wolfwood kills him

-only a small part of "human subject" (0:25-0:35) is used for the final scene, right when the windmills start turning. using the EoM leitmotif as a sendoff to the empty village is. really haunting

EP6 (this is a long one I'm sorry): -the EoM leitmotif can be heard in "reborn" (0:09-0:14, but it's easier to hear in 0:26-0:30). this is the opening scene where wolfwood guns down the deserter

-they do reuse "worms network" when livio first opens fire on vash but that's more for mood in my opinion. you could say it hints at zazie monitoring the sand steamer though

-we're probably going to hear "the desert rogue" again when the bad lads gang shows up in a future episode, possibly with a new arrangement for brilliant dynamites neon (this is one of my personal favorite tracks actually. it's a shame they didn't get to use the whole thing because 0:45 to the end is really cool)

-"boyhood" contains the EoM leitmotif and it's very in-your-face in this song (1:15-2:19). in the episode itself the track gets cut at around 2:10, but in the OST the piano motif from "orphanage" can be heard one more time right at the end of the song at 2:18-2:20. which is an evil thing to do. anyway

-"nicholas the punisher" is an arrangement of "reality". let that sit for a second, maybe go listen to those two tracks or something.

okay so we can look at this in a few different ways:

-> the end of episode 3 is of course a reality check, supported by the corresponding track being titled "reality" (even though it's fabricated by nai: to suggest and then prove to the people of no man's land that vash is indeed deserving of the $$6mil bounty; and to tell vash that his presence will pose a threat to humans). you know who else is supposed to be* grounded in reality? the pragmatic nicholas d wolfwood, who's introduced at the start of episode 4 *tristamp wolfwood hasn't quite found his resolve yet, as shown by his hesitation when livio appears

-> in the scene where "nicholas the punisher" is heard, vash is insistent on rescuing livio while wolfwood pushes back and says it's too late for him. he's clearly wishing he wouldn't have to eliminate livio though, and with "reality" as the foundation of this song, it presents wolfwood's inner turmoil in a new way for the audience: vash, who is physically right there trying to persuade him that there's still hope for his brother, vs his role as "nicholas the punisher" in sound, in his mind, and the "reality" that developed along with it (death is/can be a mercy, and sometimes it's necessary to sacrifice one life to save many)

(I also want to add that while legato's dialogue shows he intended for the orphanage to be eliminated through livio's death, it seems wolfwood didn't even realize that killing livio would mean more kids would be taken by the EoM for experimentation. he thought he had to choose between livio or the children, but it was a "test" of loyalty; and legato was attempting to obtain said loyalty by force)

-> outside of the episode, if you were to just listen to this track within the OST it's very representative of his character. contrary to "undertaker", which is fairly laid-back and....honestly kind of playful (and equally reflective of wolfwood's personality, when he's relaxed), "nicholas the punisher" is a more somber and contemplative piece. the fact that it's built on "reality" already suggests that he's someone whose beliefs conflict with vash's; and even without knowing that, both of wolfwood's themes contrast with the energy of "vash the stampede" quite clearly (even if I personally don't consider that track to be vash's official theme, it's still associated with him). I think it's really interesting that vash, the quieter one, has more raucous songs while wolfwood, the one with a sharp tongue, has calmer tracks :)

you might be wondering if "orphanage" is in "nicholas the punisher" and the answer is......yes, but actually, no. but kinda if you're delusional like me. this little pattern from 0:29-0:42 in "orphanage" is found in the low brass from 0:57-1:11 in "nicholas the punisher" (although it's in a different key and has a slight variation in the 2nd half). it's not quite the same, but both phrases start by going down a half step, then down a P5 interval (D->C#->F# for "orphanage", F->E->A for "nicholas the punisher"). lastly the sand steamer's leitmotif (I guess) is also present but that's. obviously because this is happening on the sand steamer lol

-"whom to kill, whom to let live" is just a faster/more tense arrangement of "orphanage" with saxophone over it. starting at 1:07 you can hear the worms leitmotif (1:31-1:34 in "worms network")

I can't say whether or not legato is already represented in the OST because he's currently not associated with any unique tracks, but they might tie the dissonant saxophone passage from "irritation" to him. it's first heard when legato stops wolfwood from escaping the facility, and as far as I can remember it's not played anywhere else. if he plays a bigger role in the next season, which I'm sure he will, I'll be keeping an ear out for this x) (I only mention the sax thing because I don't think he's represented by the sax solo that plays in "whom to kill, whom to let live")

EP7: -a little more of "the desert rogue" is heard when the bad lads make their way onto the sand steamer but it's very hard to make out over the gang yelling in the background lmao

-we're treated to the entirety of "human subject", for the scene where livio briefly returns to himself. if you somehow weren't convinced that those repeated 4 notes had anything to do with the eye of michael, this is the last instance where it's heard: the moment livio's overcome by whatever brainwashing was used on him by the EoM

-I think most people associate "time left" with ep12 but it's first played in this episode and I believe that it was primarily composed with the ion cannon sequence in mind (though a majority of the tracks in the OST only play once for specific scenes, with some songs being cut short and getting different parts played across 2+ episodes. "irritation" and "human subject" are examples of this)

EP8: -this one's a little hard to hear because the 1st note is implied in the C drone but vash's leitmotif starts at around 0:09 in "complicity" and runs all the way to 1:06

-it's also in "home" (1:38-1:57), playing at the moment luida hands vash the red coat :)

EP9: -I've talked about this before but I really like that there's 4(?) measures of polyrhythm (2 or more differing rhythmic lines that are played within the same time signature) when vash joins in, before the brothers come together on the same even rhythm. you can see how vash's quarter-note pattern doesn't line up with nai's quarter-note triplets, and in fact, neither of them ever land or start together:

(for the sake of comprehension I wrote it out with a faster tempo to stretch the polyrhythm part over 8 bars instead of the slow tempo/4 bars. I'm not sure what the official tempo is. I think a sane person would write it at a faster tempo so that the part doesn't look stupidly cluttered but a good musician would be able to play it regardless. anyway-)

it sounds even more stilted because vash is playing on the offbeat. polyrhythm's such a great way to represent the brothers' relationship because it seems so chaotic but both lines are still in time together, following the same beats. they're so different but in the end they're still brothers who (are trying to) understand each other. and I love that vash is playing secondo, a more harmonic/supportive part, while knives has primo, where the melody/ornaments are. it says a lot about their personalities :')

since I don't know what the original sheet music looks like I can't say if this is true but you can hear that the plant song at 1:03 is played in octaves (2 notes that're the same pitch with one higher than the other). because of the nature of a duet, and the fact that this was played by the twins when they were little, the octaves were probably split between the parts. so vash was playing the lower octave of the plant song with his right hand, and nai played the upper octave with his left hand (we don't get to see this because it cuts to nai playing the song alone at that point). also: vash favors his right hand while nai favors his left

-now for something far less interesting: "last run" is a medley combining "ethics and morality", "compatriots", and "millions knives"

EP10: -"a cruel sight" seems to be unused. it was probably intended to lead into "bio-power reactor" in the scene where meryl and roberto meet elendira in the tank (given that it ends the same way "bio-power reactor" starts), but they cut it and just played a version of "bio-power reactor" without the melody

-elendira's themes ("elendira the crimsonnail" and "which is the monster?") seem to have some lyrics that're most audible in the beginning of the tracks but they're almost impossible to make out without some kind of editing software, which I don't have lol. they're already very quiet in the background and they echo, on top of sounding like they were put through autotune

also this is entering speculation territory but it makes me wonder if elendira's theme is going to evolve with her. we've seen some concept art with her having a more teenage appearance, so I think it'd be really cool if the vocals also changed accordingly

additionally she doesn't have the EoM leitmotif anywhere but she DOES have a proper 4-note chromatic pattern that descends from D in "which is the monster?" (1:32-1:35), which is the same note that the EoM leitmotif starts on. if we consider EoM's broken chromatic passage to represent the failed experiments, then elendira, with an actual chromatic passage in her theme, is a success

-"meryl's regrets" is ALSO an arrangement of "reality" :') this is the track that plays during roberto's final moment, which was. you know. the consequence of meryl running off in pursuit of the truth. the "reality" roberto had warned her about several times prior to episode 10. interestingly, while "nicholas the punisher" expands on the original track, "meryl's regrets" is a reduction--it's mostly just the baseline with some notes here and there. she doesn't have a theme yet, but 1:23-1:33 might be something we hear again if/when she gets a track associated with her

EP11: -"nicholas and meryl" is an arrangement of "boy and vash", with erhu echoing vash's leitmotif. I think it's a neat way to show through music that both of them are here because of vash :]

-the tracklist goes slightly out of order at this point for some reason. after "memory retrieval", "memory of geranium" is what plays in the final memory, when nai decapitates rem

EP12: -"memory of rem" is a combination of "childhood memories" and "memory of geranium". "childhood memories" is also found in "knives's piano", which is based on "duet". one fun way of interpreting this is that the "childhood memories" part of the duet is actually from rem, if she was the one who taught the twins how to play piano, which would make "duet" a musical representation of vash and nai's roots (pun intended. sorry). this also suggests nai misses rem, with how often he plays the piano, even if he thinks he hates her.

but "childhood memories" can also simply be seen as a theme that's associated with rem, nai, and vash's brief time together x)

-okay this is the part where I get to rant about "drain arm" because THIS SONG was literally the reason I decided I needed to rewatch stampede. I was listening to "drain arm" a couple weeks after the finale aired and I heard vash's leitmotif near the end and I was like "NO WAY!!!! HOW DID I MISS THAT"

as it turns out, it was cut from episode 12.

:)

not to worry though, I still have plenty to say about it. even if I'm a little disappointed. just. a little.

-> from 1:13-1:25, you can hear vash's leitmotif in the cello. this DID make it into the scene, and it plays when vash rises through the clouds

-> 2:44-3:10 is where some of the lyrics from vocal version of "millions knives" play: "remember how / we used to be / no turning back / sky's (skies??) falling down". although you can't actually hear the "remember how" in "drain arm" (at least not without blasting the song into your ears, which I don't recommend), it starts right when the image of vash and nai sitting in the geodome appears

-> we finally get the plant song at 3:36, when the condensed energy starts to leak out/charge. and then after it fires, but before nai dives into the beam, we hear "I still care for you" (3:44-3:52). and while it's originally from the vocal version of "millions knives", in the context of the scene I think it's a sentiment from both brothers: vash, who pleads for nai to let go and releases the energy away from him; and then knives, desperately reaching for the cube because he believes the success of his plan will ensure his family's (and especially his brother's) safety, the only ones he's ever cared about

in other words: plant song in cello = vash -> "I still care for you" -> continuation of plant song in low brass = knives. they're connected by this single sentence

-> knives's leitmotif (I didn't talk about it because it's only found in songs that signal his appearance, so it's really obvious, but yes he's got one of those) plays at 4:03 for the "nai is dead. you killed him" exchange

-> it goes back to a variation of the plant song at 4:29 (I LOVE the piano at 4:40-4:49 btw. it's so good. I could cry about it. probably)

if you've read my plant song analysis you might be wondering how to tell when it's being associated with the name millions knives instead of the plant race. since we know that a good chunk of the songs in the OST were written like a film score, the visual context (and/or the song titles themselves) can clue you in. "drain arm"'s use of the plant song is meant to highlight that vash and nai aren't human, so it's the latter

-> now here's the part that was removed, probably due to the runtime: vash's leitmotif in the cello again, from 5:03-5:09. if you revisit the part right before nai lets go of the cube, you'll hear that it skips these 6 seconds and goes straight to knives's theme ("but that's the plant song!" yes. we'll get to that in a sec). this missing bit right here?? fucks me up EVERY time. it's the most mournful his leitmotif has ever sounded, appropriately so, and it's absolutely criminal that it wasn't included. especially because knives's theme, the plant song melody, follows it up on violin as the cello continues to play a line in harmony.

and it's knives's theme because in this moment it's about him dying, not the plants. they spent a whole season tricking us into thinking that the plant song was knives's theme, and then they used it to send him off.

-> and then july city explodes o7

as much as I'd love to hear "drain arm" again for another chance to let the weight of vash's motif come through, I think it's too intertwined with this scene to be recycled. like. maaaaaaaybe they could use it for fifth moon if that's supposed to be the climax of the next part but they kinda?? already did the "fire a really big laser at the sky" thing? anyway yeah I'm totally normal about "drain arm". so normal

Extras: -the punisher and the double fangs have these cool sound effects when they transform and it kinda makes me think that their guns are built from lost tech, if the punisher's laser cannon wasn't evidence enough of this

-there's no equivalent of "sound life" in stampede, and I don't think there's going to be one. however, I do think that it would make a lot of sense if rem taught the boys how to play piano, because we could get something like:

-> rem asks vash about the plant song (the memory in ep12) -> she gives the boys piano lessons -> she helps them compose "duet"

-they didn't use "stampede out" for this season but I really hope we'll hear it in the next part. I know it's just a longer version of "escape" but it's a fun song :]

-this is. obvious but you can hear "gate" in "millions knives". no idea if they'll put "gate" into more songs, especially for vash now that he seems to have some control over it

-there's also something kinda fun with key signatures too: -> "millions knives" is in b minor -> vash's leitmotif is in d dorian (of course this changes depending on the key signature of whatever track it's used in) -> "undertaker" is also in d dorian -> I think songs associated with no man's land/humanity are usually in some dorian scale or specifically the key of a minor but this is solely based on jeneora rock since july city had its own unique theme so I'm not totally sure yet. "duet" is in a minor by the way -> "nicholas the punisher" is in d minor. if "undertaker" is tied to humanity (which is tied to vash) then "nicholas the punisher" is linked to the other side: knives, through the EoM. it adds another interesting layer to the contrast between wolfwood's two themes, but I don't consider this to hold any meaning lol -> I WILL say that b minor is the relative minor of D Major, so having knives and vash's songs be written in those keys was likely deliberate. and what makes it really interesting is that to get d dorian, you take a D Major scale and lower the 3rd and 7th notes by a half step

-I'm not 100% sure but I think plucked piano strings were used to create the low, scratchy string sound effect in some of the songs (one example is literally at the beginning of "irritation"). I think it's really cool that piano is everywhere in the soundtrack, but not necessarily by hitting the keys

-I am unbelievably excited for livio's/razlo's themes because they have the opportunity to do some REALLY COOL things with the music for them. we might not get them in part 2 (though I think we will) but whenever it happens I'll be so ready for it >:)

and that's all!! o(-< thank you for reading! if you actually took the time to go through all of this with the soundtrack pulled up, I'm. impressed. i think. anyway I'm a big fan of OSTs with strong storytelling and tristamp's OST is no exception :]

if you've got questions, feel free to ask ^^ I definitely didn't cover everything I just picked out whatever I thought was worth mentioning. which was uhhhh quite a bit x)

(also again if you're interested in reading the plant song analysis I did it's in the replies section of the notes 👍 I recommend reading it on a computer though)

[nessa007]

after almost a month of being in the icu, my mum is almost fully recovered from the terrible infection she had. she’s now in a general ward and just needs to build up her strength again before she’s able to come home 😭👏🙌

[greatcurve]

I'm at the point in my talking heads special interest where i dont listen to them nearly as much as i did, but David Byrne has affected my life in such an immensely positive way just by Being Him that i dont think this is one that is ever really gonna go away. and that is very special.

like i finally, after so many years of wondering what was wrong with me and why i felt so different, understood! all because he was (and is) so open about who he is and the things he makes.

reading about him describing his emotions as being "crossed wires" really deeply made sense and i'm sorry i'm kind of infodumping now but i am just so grateful for him and his music existing. genuinely. thank you david byrne for your autism and your self

[peridots-pixiwolf]

sketches from @mipexch 's whiteboard a couple days ago!!

also feat. a very small reference to @onlineviolence :]

[losing-track]

honestly i understand kindaichi so much like, imagine getting your selfish asshole of a teammate benched and you spend months confidently hating him, then the next time you see him again he's nothing like he was and is actually a team player who apologizes to his teammates and uses "we" instead of "i." like seriously i would've had a crisis too

[frostedpuffs]

yeah

[themadknightuniverse]

i love Lacho asks and everyone's different feelings/opinions on them! that being said, how would you feel about a lacho personality/outfit swap au?

Omg YES those are always SO FUN

Let's focus on the outfits first Listen I just love it. It has a lot of potential. Lalo only wearing black and red??? Yes PLEASE. But it also mean bye bye loafers Lalo you're only wearing pointy boots or sneakers now. Lalo in converses omg. Lalo in Nacho's black sweater OMG ! I need a minute here. And the leather jacket. yes.

Also he would rock those gold chains! The leather bracelets and riiiiing oh my.. Men wearing rings is just always a yes. And oh boy the snake earring... With his curly hair.... Someone hold me down I'm going feral (here is an unnecessary high quality pic of 💖 Nacho's hands 💖 to illustrate)

I tried to find a pic of tony wearing red shirt but it doesn't exist??? Except his Lalo outfit with the flowery pattern, I mean, it's too Lalo coded to be used as an exemple of him in Nacho's outfit. There is just one pic of him wearing a red t-shirt (told you red is perfect for him, wished he would show up somewhere with a black and red suit like in Sir Avila, or even with a red dress shirt under the black costume, because damn) and I edited a pic because photoshop gives me that power

!!! BUT !!! While looking for pics, I just realized something. The red shirt (kind of) he wears in the scene he's doing loops at the race tracks is, to me, a look a like in style to the shirt Nacho is wearing the very first time we see him in the series. I mean the blotchy/stains looking pattern makes me link these two shirt. That would be the closest we get to actually see Lalo in an outfit that looks like Nacho's

Now, Nacho with the fanciest shirts yes yes yes also the nice pants YES YES YES and the shoes letting his ankles visible yes yES Y E S (god I feel like a dude from middle ages here)

Here (left) Lalo's shoes in Magic Man (s5E01) where he's wearing the splendid yellow shirt/deep blue pants. On the right, Michael wearing the same kind of shoes. He would do just fine I'm telling you.

It also means he would be wearing COWBOY BOOTS and that's something important. True weapon here. Him in blue loafers is hilarious tho, if they don't swap the personality but only the outfits this is just so out of character I would need to find a reason why he would wear these ones. Maybe his papa gifted them to him and he feels like he has to wear them, or maybe Nacho would be that wild little thing when it came to buying clothes, it would be how his extravagant side expressed itself. But Nacho would look totally credible with other colors than red and black! The series shows us he looks really good in light colors (like we seen higher)

But! Michael offers us the chance to picture Nacho wearing shirts with more patterns that to me could fit in this AU (look, with his pendant in the second pic, Lalo core)

And he's even wearing yellow with dark blue shorts! Maybe he would look good in that Lalo outfit?

Okay enough digressions about outfits (I love clothes, sorry) let's speak about the Personality

First thing coming to my mind : the first time they meet.

Okay so I have two visions for this, depending on how much we move the cursor on the personality, what "personality" includes or not. Does it swap their habits/abilities too or not.

1) No swap of habits/abilities. Nacho arrives at El Mich', smiling of course, and when he notices Mingo and the owner sitting with a stranger busy in the kitchen, he first stares at Mingo, but we can tell the affinity he has with him is even less good than in the canon version. I mean Nacho is now someone much more cold blooded here, and does Lalo have any real friends sticking at his side? no. Here Nacho is a terrible friend, a terrible dude, manipulating and mocking a lot of things, with no real consideration for people around him except his father. I'm not even sure Lalo's personality would allow a friend like Mingo to happen, but I don't want Mingo to not be in this either so they somehow make it work. So Nacho goes to the kitchen, and on the opposite of how we seen him in canon, he's much more relaxed, his arms are rarely crossed too, and just like Lalo would when he has to be intimidating, he would just stand with his arms by his side. Unlike the canon, Lalo would spot his arrival immediately, because now he's a very attentive man, he doesn't get distracted -or pretend to be- by cooking. Still, he wouldn't be the first one to talk, it would be Nacho, who would put a big smile on his face and maybe go "Hey there! You're the new cook?" and Lalo would be like "No. I'm here to replace my tio." because now he goes to the point. "Your tio? You mean Hector? What happened to him is so sad, I'm sorry. So you're a Salamanca too then?" "Yes" "Awesome! You know Tuco told me a lot about you, that you have a good head for numbers." because yeah, in this AU Nacho would be much more chatty and friendly with everyone, so he would know things about the Salamanca family members after all that time spent with them, he gets to know things about the members he never met before. Lalo would send him looks like he's not buying the friendly attitude at all, "And you are Ignacio Varga." "That's me. I've been told you were smart, and here you are, and you are!" "Great. Get to work." "Ooh bossy! Your tio taught you well, eh?" And Nacho would make his way back to the table, and Lalo would stare at him through the opening in the wall, trying to mentally explode him.

2) Kind of the same exchange EXCEPT there is a swap of habits/abilities, and now Nacho is the one cooking when Lalo arrives, and he's all singing and super busy in the kitchen and Lalo just wonders where the fuck did he just put a foot into, already regretting he left his hacienda to find himself dealing with such a loud guy.

Or maybe Nacho is still the last one to arrive at El Mich', and when he enters Lalo is sitting at one of the table, waiting silently after he met with the owner and Mingo, already getting info about how things are run in Albuquerque. Then Nacho arrives, says something like "It's so quiet in there, who's dead?" and they just all stare at him, Mingo a bit mortified, Lalo very much not amused and instantly feeling annoyed with Nacho. His tio almost died, this guy thinks he's being funny? Nacho wouldn't linger, he would act completely obvious of his joke and still be very friendly with Lalo "I'm Ignacio, but you can call me Nacho." and then he would tell the owner "You're not feeling well today? No prob I can help!" and he's gone to the kitchen in a flash to start the stove and blast music far too loudly and Lalo would rub at his temples while Mingo sends him a sorry and a bit scared look. Lalo has been nothing but very professional since he arrived, all very serious, and he's a bit scared for his friend Nacho. How will Lalo handle his personality?

Lalo knows he'll have to spend a lot of time with Nacho, but he'll do everything he can to avoid that. At first he would still ask Nacho to drive him through the city, he still have a job to do and he does it well. So they visit the different places and all.

Nacho invites him to a lot of poker nights with the guys, it happens very often, and Lalo refuses multiple times before finally accepting one day.

At some point Nacho calls him Lalito and Lalo never frowned this hard in his entire life ever before. He tells him to not call him that, but Nacho just laughs and keep on calling him Lalito. Lalo corrects him multiple times until he somehow gets used to it and stops trying to make that change.

And Nacho is very loud, unnerving, but Lalo has to admit the man is really good at his job. And that gets his respect.

I think I could keep on writing about this AU, but this is already a stupidly VERY long answer. Anyway, I hope this all make sense! Thank you for this ask, it's a very super fun one! A LOT of things to think about 💖

[makeit0utalive]

𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕞𝕖 𝕞𝕪 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖

𝕦𝕡 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕧𝕖

[mismess]

Please God. I've been desperately scrounging around for anything chasulia- do you have any coherent thoughts about them? I would love to read them oml

OK this turned out way longer than I intended. I NEVER know what to write about with things like this so this is a nice change LMAO and this is just like all fluff. Anyway here's some ramblings:

I feel like it was something that just happened between them. No big discussion no big reveal to each other, they spent most of their time together already and as time went on they just kept getting closer and closer. Despite how loud Chase can be I've always felt a lot of it is shown in the little things for both of them, walking so close their sides bump into each others, pinkies intertwined, small gestures they do without even thinking like getting something for the other without being asked or running ahead to open the door first for the other, a reassuring "I've got your back" that can always be followed up with a confident "I know.".

But I also think a lot of the relationships dynamic stays the same honestly, they still just call each other their partner, it works for both work and life, they still treat each other like besties most the time, they still bicker from time to time, but now there are moments in between, softer moments, loving moments, and often times a room they both can return to together.

Of course Chase can still be loud in other ways, he's more for physical touch, he likes to kiss her and pick her up, he hypes her up to others cause he wants you to know as much as he does how brilliant she is. He loves to listen to Julia talk now, and traveling to new locations all the time he can easily nonchalantly ask about something that will get her talking for a good while. Julia can tell he's listening now.

I think Julia likes to drop subtle compliments to him and the like here and there throughout the day and give him a sly little smile and wink. If he goddamn slows down enough she'll pick out a place for lunch while they're traveling where they can each get a separate dish to share and try new foods, and just talk about whatever also ensures that Chase remembers to eat at least one decent meal haHA tricked into being healthier-. She likes to listen to him too, even if he's rambling about nonsense half the time.

Honestly just. Romantic or not I think they would both move the world for each other. And then they fist bump

[scionshtola]

started to gpose for glamtober but im tired of gpose 😭

[doggirling]

mmmm i wanna talk about my kirby hcs mainly surrounding puffballs so ill just drop them here. in case anyone's curious. look at this with the perspective of the gameverse and animeverse combined. also remember most of my kirby hcs/lore stuff is meant to be in direct connection/relation to my kirby ocverse so some notes might be exclusively starstruck/oc-dependant. long post warning under the cut

like i said in my kirbsona post i think puffballs as a species are classified as a divine/astronomical phenomenon, which basically means the (somewhat unexplainable/unknown) circumstances of their species' creation are attributed to both natural cosmic occurrences in space and a potential omnipotent/higher power having a hand in it.

puffballs (with very few exceptions) form within molecular clouds aka stellar nurseries. their bodies are relatively made up of the same stuff that literal stars are made up of, which is attributed to their natural hardiness, long lifespan, and strength.

there's usually only about 1 puffball exclusively formed per every stellar nursery. after a stellar nursery forms a puffball, it'll basically go back to forming only stars, and won't form a puffball again. the contents + appearance of the stellar nursery itself dictate the specific features, colors, and powers of its respective puffball, so everyone's unique! this is also why compared to the population per other species across the universe, there's a relatively small ratio of puffballs.

puffballs normally don't wake up after the initial formation, usually remaining 'asleep' in a dormant state from infancy to early childhood so they can continue to grow off the resources within their respective molecular cloud. the naturally intended time between initial formation and actual awakening is about 8 years, with the intent of the puffball waking up with already fully developed intelligence, speech, and coordination.

HOWEVER, it's certainly not unheard of for puffballs to wake up earlier than that, and while they'll obviously be at the lesser developmental stage that is in line with their younger age instead of an 8-year-olds, they're fine and will grow normally with just a little bit more help required. this is the case for Kirby, who prematurely woke up at around 2 years old in puffball age. he's basically a toddler, and in the context of the puffball species, he's considered a premature puffball.

it's also possible for puffballs to wake up later than 8 years, but 'overdue' puffs are exceedingly rare and almost unheard of compared to the premies.

in terms of biological/blood relations within puffballs, it's very, very rare. this is due to the fact that puffballs aren't exactly a species that sexually reproduce (or at least produce hybrid offspring that are puffs), and also because of the aforementioned fact that every stellar nursery only forms 1 puffball each. due to the unique makeup of a stellar nursery factoring into a puffball's genes, in the exceedingly rare case of twin puffballs (2 puffs forming/growing together simultaneously) or a second puffball forming in a stellar nursery that's already hosted a puff in the past, the puffballs are biological siblings (share 50% of DNA). i'm still brainstorming the specifics about how a biological puffball child created via reproduction between two puffs comes into existence, so i don't have any concrete answer/hc for that yet.

in relation to that, a majority of puffs after awakening are often raised either by themselves or by adoptive parents, usually of a different species (e.g. ricky raising kirby, nimue raising sir lancelot/nonsurat). it's sort of a destiny thing. the one who takes them in is usually the one meant to do so, so it's not exactly a coincidence.

in relation to the aforementioned hybrid offspring between a puffball + non-puffball species, though, it's a lot less complicated. while i'm not sure if puffballs are really that capable of being pregnant simply due to anatomical limitations (because lets be real im not exactly sold on the idea of a 2'0 sphere that lacks a distinct abdomen/pelvis being pregnant), i do think they're capable of getting other species pregnant via good old copulation to result in a biological child. not gonna get too into the specifics of puffball sex. this doesn't always mean the offspring is gonna be a puffball (since they can take more after the non-puff parent's species instead, sorta a 50/50 chance), but regardless, its an example of a puffball having blood relatives/parents. an example of the potential special differences between hybrid puff offspring would be kelemon (kay and bedivere's biological offspring, genetically a puffball hybrid that physically counts as a puff) and stellaluna (meta knight and ricky's biological offspring, genetically a puffball hybrid, but not physically a puffball).

(this hc is starstruck/oc-dependant) back to the subject of puffballs partially being a divine phenomenon. puffballs as a species were intentionally and personally created by divinity, the omnipotent, but unknown almighty god + creator of the universe. due to this, puffballs have one of the closest links to divinity alongside the 'common' deities (nightmare, florence, etc), but much like deities, they're unaware of the connection and divinity's overall existence. haven't really finished fleshing out exactly why divinity created them though.

branching off from that... out of every puffball, the one with the actual direct link/relation to divinity is kirby. ik ik call me basic but the void/kirby theory is real af in starstruck. so just know kirby's existence/role within the universe is not a coincidence and divinity has been watching over very closely.

puffballs as a general collective (excluding some specific individuals) sort of lie in the grey zone between mortals and demigods/deities. they're by no means on the same level/don't match the specific requirements to be classified as a deity/demigod, but they're nothing like mortals due to their previously mentioned lifespan/power/origins/etc. They're sorta just their own thing.

still sorting out if every puffball is a star warrior. sorta like not every star warrior being a puff but every puff being a star warrior.

depending on the environment they grew up in as a child, a puffball's natural capabilities and physical construct may be different and generally exclusive to themself. like i mentioned in my lancelot hc post for example, lancelot being raised by a selkie/growing up in a colder coastal environment with regular exposure to waters gives him a natural affinity for it, making him an exceedingly skilled swimmer, giving him a general immunity to water-exposure conditions (hypothermia, shock, decompression sickness, pulmonary barotrauma, etc), leaving him capable of holding his breath underwater for 15+ minutes, and having reinforced airways that let him dive extremely deep without harm. the same goes for chavra who grew up in a swamp/wetlands, meaning she's generally immune to water-borne infectious diseases/ailments. on top of that, her skin is much tougher, making it hard for her to be bitten by anything in general ranging from mosquitos to snakes. both are examples of the unique capabilities and even genetic/physical changes that can develop when a puffball has prolonged exposure to certain elements/environments in the developmental years during youth.

puffballs are a surprisingly diverse species for a bunch of walking spheres. animal puffs (puffs with animal features like ears, fur, tails, etc. e.g. kay, who's a cat puff, and cari, who's a moth puff) are their own subsection of puffballs, and are not to be confused with puffs who just happen to have animal wings (e.g. meta's bat wings, galacta's dove wings). some puffs have neither of these characteristics as well.

there's very, very few, but some puffs are deities. specifically galacta knight and cari. and maybe kirby but thats more complicated. they're the main outliers in the aforementioned note about puffball's grey area classification.

cutting it off here because this got freakishly long and i also feared getting off-topic. to those who genuinely read all of this thanks and you're gods strongest soldier. if any of you like any of these ideas/concepts in particular feel free to tell me and steal it for your own kirby universe (with credit) ive been developing this in my head for 4+ years and i dont mind sharing. except for the starstruck/oc centric hcs. cause theyre like. yknow. centric to my ocs.

if anyone has questions or wants more context or anything like that also feel free to ask me anything. i mean it. please. (BIG NEON FLASHING SIGN ABOVE MY HEAD THAT SAYS PLEASE LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY FIXATION)