#lost future spoilers

[apreslulu]

Female layton character moment

Yes I am surrounded by Hershels in the second pic, god I love the Layton meet

[magpie-trinkets]

continuing that "maya tries to contact claire" post, i present you the post-Spirit of Justice follow-up

[justkillingthyme]

A compilation of every voiced line of Hershel laughing

Minor spoilers warning for all games

*do please tell me if I’m missing one and I’ll go back*

[princema-k]

erm now draw clive covered in blood....

chat can we fucking kill this guy already

[teenytinyapprentice]

a chance (almost) encounter

adorable commission for Flower @rosescarves - always fun to do some pencil crayon work

[cayenne-twilight]

Why is processor latent so sad 😢

[justewil]

hey .is this anything

[altho-arto]

Here's my piece for Our Shared Past by @hauntedhikingsociety , a story about the Professor visiting Dimitri after the events of Unwound Future, and interesting discussions they have together as the months go by :) i really recommend it !! 🎩🔬 This was drawn for the @proflaytonbigbang 2024 event, and it was a joy for me to participate in a fandom event around this dearly beloved franchise <3

The image description for this is under the read more, feedbacks on accessibility more than welcome btw.

Also check out the other piece made for this story by @kirbro here ! ✨

[ID : Professor Layton fancomic where Hershel Layton visits an incarcerated Dimitri Allen. The comic layout shows a big establishing panel on top of the page followed by two rows of three panels each under it. The big panel shows Hershel taking a chair to join an already seated Dimitri, the two men in the middle of a discussion around a prison table. A jaded Dimitri says "Fine, since we've established we're both busy men, I'd suppose it'de be a waste of time to spend out whole day arguing." Hershel answers "I thought we established that I'm a busy man", the "I" part of his sentence in highlight. Dimitri hand-waves the remark with a sparse "Details". Panel 2 shows a relaxed Hershel sitting down, gamely answering "Besides, I can think of bigger wastes of time than arguing with you". In panel 3 Dimitri leans back in his chair and rolls his eyes at him, answering with a smirk "Good lord Hershel, what a romantic you are." Panel 4 is shaped like an exclamation bubble and showcases a surprised Hershel sputtering "R-romantic ?", his face a shade pinker than before. The three bottom panels show Dimitri going from surprised to panicked to mortified in response to Hershel's embarrassment, the both of them realizing their banter developed an unintentional flirting tone. Dimitri's blank stare of surprise transforms into a flustered look in the penultimate panel as he starts clarifying "I-I only meant !", before interrupting himself. The blush appearing on his cheeks finally spreads to his face and neck in the last panel, where he slouches over the table and hides his face in his hand, sighing and adding "You know I'm no good at talking". End ID]

[qaiou]

[101flavoursofweird]

The problem with Layton’s character in the anime

I don’t think the problem with the LMJ anime is that is portrays Layton as a less-than-perfect parent/guardian…

PL3 already showed that when he ditched Flora in his office after he promised not to leave her. Okay, there’s no confirmation Layton adopted Flora or that she’s even a child, but she’s still a young person in Layton’s care— someone who he knows hates being left alone— but he still left her behind for his investigation.

Layton leaving a child, even one he definitely adopted, behind while he investigates a case isn’t necessarily problem. It isn’t necessarily out of character.

With knowledge from previous games in the series, I can headcanon reasons for Layton’s behaviour. E.g., Flora might remind Layton of Aurora, who he couldn’t save. Layton chased after Descole and brought Aurora back to the sanctuary, putting her life in danger. So, he insists on leaving Flora behind now.

During Azran Legacy, Layton had a very nasty shock when he learned that, not only was he adopted, but the enemy he had been fighting for three years was in fact his long lost brother, who had been trying to beat their long lost FATHER— the head of an archaeology cult— to the Azran Legacy.

So if Layton wanted to confirm whether the birth father of the baby he’d adopted was alive? And whether that baby might be linked to an ancient civilisation? I wouldn’t blame Layton at all—

But that’s me trying to make excuses for Layton as a character. That’s me trying to make excuses for the nonsensical writing of the anime.

The anime doesn’t reference Azran Legacy. It doesn’t reference any game or character previously seen in the series— outside of Layton and Luke and Rosa I’m glad you’re here Rosa but where are Grandma and Grandpa Layton— because it doesn’t want to spoil newcomers to the series.

And that’s fine! It’s fine if LMJ wants to be a standalone anime about Layton’s daughter solving daily mysteries and eating sweets and buying clothes! Even the plot point about Layton going missing is fine— it could be intriguing!

But for such a superficial premise… why does Layton’s disappearance need to be so complicated?  Maybe Level 5 wanted to involve archaeology somehow so they just copy-pasted the Azran-looking stones and technology? 

But why have Rosa and Luke question Layton’s reasons for leaving Kat behind? Why bring up Kat’s birth father only to never mention him again? 

Why wasn’t Rufus Aldebaran Kat’s birth father? Say, if he imprisoned Layton because Layton refused to give up Kat’s location, then at least that would make Layton somewhat justified! (Not for leaving his kids behind, but the fact that Kat’s unknown birth father was indeed a threat.)

Why not just have Layton kidnapped off the street, rather than having him go on an investigation and keep investigating when he knew things were getting dangerous? Why bring up the point of Layton being a questionable parent, only to never unpack it?

Kat gets a nice hug with Layton when they reunite. (That scene actually does make me emotional!) But Kat forgives her dad immediately and the next thing you know, they’re taking down the villain together. And then the credits and the happy music roll.

Maybe a moment of anger from Kat towards her dad was too much to ask from the anime… 

But it’s not just the anime. In PL3, Layton leaving Flora behind is brushed off as a joke. (Outside of Chelmey calling Layton out one time…) We get their hug when Flora is rescued from the Mobile Fortress, but it’s not mentioned after that. Flora doesn’t get to say goodbye to Luke with Layton. Flora isn’t present in that last scene with Layton in his office.

Maybe Level 5 were worried about showing Layton as a bad parent— as a ‘bad’ character, even. But… compared to some of the other parents in the series? (Hi, Baron Reinhold, Bronev and Arthur!) Layton really isn’t that bad, even with the anime in mind! It’s okay if he’s not a perfect parent or gentleman 100% of the time! But if Level 5 wanted to give Layton these…conflicted moments as a character, then it would be better if they could actually unpacked them. Give him the angst, Level 5.

[noneaazures]

Digging for answers, looking deeper

Close ups under the cut

[another-clive-blog]

Found this audio and it fitted just too well (except the marriage part ahah), so I just had to try and do something with it. Clive fandom I will never truly leave you even if I suck at social media <3

[justkillingthyme]

70 seconds of Hershel saying Luke or My Boy

(Please let me know if I missed any so I can update!)

[heal-the-ashes]

i'm thinking about pl and—like always—i get emotional after anything regarding this series. these stories. the ebb and flow of cherished laughs and pained expressions, the give and take of funny dialogues and heartbreaking reveals. when the end credits songs just wash over the entire experience with additional thoughts (usually angst-y in my case). when you've realized the story you just witnessed and the story that you felt apart of will stay with you for times that seem ephemerally immemorial...

[Slight Miracle Mask and Unwound Future Spoilers near the end]

these games don't show happiness and sadness. they don't show the positives and negatives of how a scene should flow. they don't just have dialogue and action and tone and intonations. 

they have perseverance amidst tragedy, the rose within the thorn, the sun within the bleak clouds. they show that everyone in this series is human. they somehow made me feel—and not in some type of pity way—for those npcs who were stuck on what i thought was the easiest puzzle in the world. there was no humiliation, no real sense of judgement. there was respect and patience and... and there was disappointment, only in one's self. there was no invalidity of emotions. yes, there were invalid actions, but i don't have a single memory of anyone saying another character was stupid for feeling a certain way. there was passive acceptance all around and across the series, there was no stuck-up sounding laughter; no one (to my memory) ever called another stupid for messing up.

and hershel layton is one of the most human characters i have ever seen. 

i saw a fanart that consisted of hershel in different stages of life. it made me emotional, because: 

in each stage of his life that was depicted there… it wasn't growing up. it wasn't milestones of age, it wasn't certain accomplishments in his character. it showed each time he has lost someone. and god does it break my heart to see and realize that he. is still. here. the amount of pain PL characters have gone through just breaks my heart.

and i am so glad and so honestly inspired to know that. and i feel so awful for thinking my problems are bad when i look at the greatest person to ever exist in media ever, who was shaped by traumas far beyond my own. and that is not an understatement: i genuinely believe professor hershel layton is my favorite character in any media. because he and his games tell you that there is more to life than pain. and it is a lesson that i am so glad that i can finally see someone else tell.

miracle mask and unwound future are two of my favorite games because they're the games that tell the audience that he is human. it reveals how he despises—he loathes, he hates—… not emotions. no, not sadness, not regret, not remorse, not disappointment, not pain. no, none of that. 

he hates certain parts of himself. he hates how he dealt with grief. he hates it when he's shown with "proof" that he's gone and done the very thing he swore not to ever do. he doesn't even hate anyone else even though he has so much right to. he should've cussed out bronev off screen. he should've yelled at bill hawks. he shouldn't of saved clive but god what did he do. he saved clive. he saved randall. 

oh, how love is a weapon. this is it. this is one of the greatest examples of how love is a weapon in storytelling. it's not even platonic love between the characters, its the love the audience has for the characters. stories like these twist this and they do it well. but, anyway—

when i was younger, i thought hershel layton was foolish. i thought he was stupid. i used to think: "what is he doing? someone hurts him, why doesn't he want to hurt them back? what's wrong with him that he doesn't want revenge?"

i couldn't of been more... wrong about how he sees the world.

no, he's the one of the greatest persons i've ever seen in media. i've learned so much from him and the PL series as a whole. i've learned something from each and every character. [what i learned from bronev and bill hawks is just to not be them.] 

layton is the kindest person i've seen. there is no earned malice anywhere near him. he doesn't purposefully aggravate others. he isn't mean, he's not one you'd call angry. he's patient and understanding, and he was made from pain. 

if every person was at least a little bit like him, i think the world would be a better place. a place where no one has to be made from pain.

[teenytinyapprentice]

Layclaire week: Day 6 - Future

The presence of your absence

(perhaps this is more loosely layclaire, and not a literal ghost story - but its important to me that despite losing their future together, Hershel is still able to cultivate a fulfilling life full of love and carry his love for and the memory of Claire with him)

[mr-poule]

professeur layton fanart, hell yeah ! dans le destin perdu, j’imagine qu’ils doivent gagner de l’argent d’une manière ou d’une autre, et je les vois bien travailler à l’hotel