#my favourite problem solver

[hawthornesbiggestfan]

i might be the only one hoping for an alisa ortega card and i think im okay with that

[flypug]

thread where your muse works in mission control and sully is the pilot who's always two seconds from death

[hamletteprinceofdenmark]

One of my favourite things about Tubbo and how he rp’s is that he’s simultaneously completely unassuming and ridiculously intimidating.

The guy has barely been here a week and has already demonstrated how crazy knowledgeable he is about the create mod, and how dedicated he is once he has a project on the brain.

The most common comment he got while he was building his base was “wait … you’ve done all this already? You’ve only been here a couple of days.”

And yet he carries with him such a completely non-threatening air (until he doesn’t 👀) that most people — despite knowing how competent and smart he is — let their guard down around him and underestimate him.

He’s just Tubbo. He’s doing his own thing. Don’t worry about him. Ha ha. The Tubbo Chunk. Isn’t he silly?

Until he asks Cucurucho all the right questions. Until Fit lets slip something to him he’s literally told no one else but Ramon. Until Tubbo keeps breaking and breaking and breaking rules and find new loopholes and back doors, not maliciously, not even necessarily with intent, but because he is so solidly practical that he will think of solutions to problems no one else has anticipated, simply because he wants to do something and he’s a problem solver. He will find a way. And by God, he will use a nuke to get there. Literally just give him the excuse. Make his day.

[rainintheevening]

Chronicles of Narnia 30 Day Challenge — Day 5

Favourite male character and why?

Lol, you all know the answer to this one!

High King Peter the Magnificent, Wolfsbane, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion, Lord of Cair Paravel, Emperor of the Lone Islands, etc, etc.

Peter Pevensie, my beloved.

"Peter did not feel very brave; indeed, he felt he was going to be sick."

Eldest, protective, leader, dreamer boy who has to grow up and be practical, problem solver, likes to be able to get his hands on things, huggy and affectionate guy, big heart, fierce and passionate, accustomed to being in charge, wants to trust but wants control too, seems like a big reader, likes to know his people are safe.

I loved Peter in the books, he's so very noble, and a bit of a classic British boy-hero. But the movies take his humanity to another level. He is so masterfully played by William Moseley, his heart just bleeds all over the screen. He loves his siblings so much, he wants so much to be brave and trust Aslan, even if it's hard.

Watching him in the Prince Caspian movie was like looking in a mirror, his story just gripped my heart, it's still preaching me a sermon.

I love him and Edmund, they have such a beautiful development of their relationship.

Just Peter Pevensie man. I love him.

[hero-ar]

Highlights of Ep 8 of Murder drone to me

The teachers nonchalantness to whole thing is so real. Especially the reaction the little slap.

I found the fact they was no sound during the space seens so cool. Excellent usage of that too.

"Stop :)"

Nuzi canon yay

Lizzy casually text V while she is in the middle of the fight is so funny

Why is the sentinel velociraptor beefing with Lizzy? (Still funny)

Cyn. Is so silly. And also so very terrifying (let me in, let me in, letmein, letmein, letmeinletmein)

Hands! That is so cool

I was at the edge of my metaphorical seats when V crashed through

I sorta wish all the cores look slightly different from one another.

Go- fu- da- it

Khan little moment where he saves N with the door, I adore it

"Wierdly hot robots" immediately made me think of NuziV, I still head canon it

They is something so funny about Cyn/the Solver saying "Kay" so casually after Uzi's speech about being an absolute nerd

She is not at all concerned and only slightly amused, and it for some reason is so funny

And then [amazing battle] also nightcore

Cyn was so cool through out all of it, she is so unserious.

V's absolute disgust with Nuzi is so real, also her disgust when Uzi fistbump her after the secret handshake is so funny

My brother screaming "Eat it, Eat it" into screen only made the moment funnier

Uzi standing like Cyn and swatting the gun away made me chuckle a bit, also her eyes look so cool✨️✨️✨️

(😧 . 😧)

WOMEN THATS YOUR HUSBAND

"Broken OC"

More ammo for my NuziV headcanon.

Doll.. a moment of silence for her

.

.

.

I know it says Solver in the caption, but that is definitely Cyn, Cyn was the one with the bow obsession.

Anyhow.

Khan and Nori. Just that

----------------------------------------------------

Overall, I really liked this episode, the animation was so COOL, I liked the story, and it made me feel some genuine horror sometimes. Generally positive feeling about the ending. Only truly negative feeling being how some questions feels unanswered, but Cyn's silliness somehow made up for it?

No actually criticism from, I don't think I know how to criticise anyway, not the point, I have no problems with the finale, 9/10 series would watch again

If you read through all of this thanks, and feel free to add your favourite moments.

[that-ari-blogger]

Weird Choice Of Words (Elsewhere and Elswhen)

The concept of an unreliable narrator is both synonymous and situational. This type or storytelling style doesn’t give you all the information, implying that the character telling you the events is biased in some way.

This is how all stories work, writers are biased in the direction of a story being interesting, so you generally won’t be shown every waking moment of the characters’ lives.

But it can be focused in on and utilised in any number of ways. Terry Pratchett lets his sense of humour bleed through in the narration of the Discworld series, for example.

But the Owl House has by far my favourite use of the technique, exhibited in Elsewhere and Elsewhen, and I can’t really go into detail in this introduction without plot spoilers, so let's just dive in, so to speak.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD (The Owl House, Treasure Planet, Romeo And Juliet)

I feel the need to clarify how this blog works. This is intended on being a companion piece to the series in question, so that you could read it as you watch. As such, I try not to spoil any future episodes too much.

If you have seen the series in its entirety, you are aware of why that makes discussion of this episode rather difficult.

With that said, Phillip is such a fun character, right? He’s a parallel to Luz, he’s a manipulator type villain, but most importantly, he’s the subject of the biggest reveal of the episode.

Remember the unreliable narrator thing? Well here, the narrator is more than just unreliable, he’s an asshole.

This episode continues a running theme of giving Luz foils. The season has thus far introduced Hunter, who matches her magical outsider status and challenges her impulsivity; as well as Vee, who was a bait and switch that didn’t really mirror Luz in anything except for appearance, but who causes her to reflect on what she left behind; and now we get Phillip, who is uncomfortably similar to Luz.

First up, the human thing. In any other story, this wouldn’t be a thing to point out, but here it is. These are the only two humans in the Boiling Isles, both strangers in a strange land. This means that they both use Glyph magic to cast spells, drawing on the magic around them and using it in interesting ways. They’re problem solvers.

They also share a flaw.

Hamartia is a term in tragedy that boils down to “the thing that will bring about a character’s” downfall. When ported over to a less downwards facing story structure, this becomes a heroic flaw for the character to overcome.

For example, in the greatest film ever made, Treasure Planet, Jim needs to overcome his propensity to blame himself for everything. He blames himself for his father’s disappearance and learns to stand up for himself over the course of the story. Notably, this pairs with a villain who deflects and projects like mad and who will overcome that flaw in time as well. It’s not hamartia there, it doesn’t cause his downfall.

For hamartia specifically, look to Romeo and Juliet, where Romeo’s lack of multiple braincells directly causes multiple deaths including his own. Yes, it’s a love story, yes, it’s well written, but the guy had one job.

Anyway, The Owl House plays this a bit weirdly, because Luz’s greatest flaw is her hero complex. Luz is looking to be the hero of her own story, she seeks out adventure, and is easily swayed by the slight mention of destiny.

You will note that this is exactly how Phillip writes about himself. So, what’s the difference?

Notably, Luz isn’t a narcissist, but more specifically, Luz gets over her flaw, Phillip doesn’t. Luz learns, Phillip doubles down into wilful ignorance and refuses to change.

This is symbolised by the use of the light spell. Luz uses it to illuminate her surroundings, Phillip uses it to illuminate himself and keep everything else in darkness.

In that way, he’s a bit of a diet Bellos, particularly in how he bring about his own destruction.

If you cast your mind back to the end of season one, part of the reason for Belos’ defeat was that he turned Lilith against himself by gloating too early. If he had kept on the charade for literally ten more seconds, Lilith would have left the room and still believing him to be benevolent, but he counted his chickens before they hatched, and ended up with geese.

Anyone notice how he had no reason to distrust these two. He assumed they were making stuff because "you witches come up with the worst lies". Completely oblivious to the irony therein.

Meanwhile, Phillip could have waited until after Luz and Lilith had solved the puzzle and tricked his trap before he wrote his gloating diary entry, and they probably wouldn’t have survived. They would both have been by the door and been snatched up by the technically-not-a-dinosaur.

Which leads me back to the wilful ignorance thing, because neither Phillip or Bellos can comprehend their plan failing, partially because they both think of themselves as individually superior, but there's also the bigotry here.

Phillip uses “Witches” as a pejorative term, and this is just straight up racism on his part. Like, I don’t have to explain this, he thinks all witches are inherently inferior to humans, that’s racism.

Belos at least makes the pretence that it’s actions that lead to acquiring his ire, but Phillip is just a bigot. He’s not special.

Hey, um... Phillip. That's a nice bag of Palismen you have there. Where did you... where did you get those? Also, how did Phillip find out that he had to kill Palismen to survive?

Which bleeds into his planning. He finds it easy to sacrifice people because to him, they aren’t people. They never were. And he is willing to tell them his plans before they succeed because to him, they aren’t capable of subverting him. His racism is self-sabotaging.

The most damning difference between Luz and Phillip is this. The Boiling Isles that Luz first witnesses is horrifying. She nearly gets dissected twice, she gets arrested, she meets the Zack Oyama tooth fairy, and she grows attached to its weirdness. She accepts it.

The Deadwardian Era, meanwgile, is so nice and pleasant, everyone is polite, even the street thugs barely get worse than school bullies holding your lunch higher than you can reach, and yet Phillip decided it was worth damnation because it wasn’t like him.

I want to briefly dwell on the subplot of this episode before I go, and that is because the scene with Eda and Dell is one of my favourites in the series.

“Stop! I’ve ruined your life. Have you even been able to carve a new Palisman since I attacked you? Stop trying to forgive me. I don’t deserve it.”

Eda is a character stuck in the past, unable to move forwards. She is trapped, that’s why making a deal with the curse gives her wings, it means she can fly, and be free.

But it does beg the question of how you move on when you can’t fix what went wrong. Dell's life was irrevocably changed by the curse and its difficult for Eda to not feel guilty about that.

So, the two sit, watching the setting of the sun and discuss the past and the present. It’s a new time, and that means new family members in the form of King and Luz, but it also means new opportunities. It’s no accident that Dell gives Eda a seed, from which a new relationship can grow.

“Let the past stay in the past. It’s ok to move on.”

Dell was the one Eda hurt most, and if he’s moving on from it, maybe she can too.

Hey look, Lilith has a theme with eyes and knowledge. I wonder what that's about.

Final Thoughts

I do like that Luz didn’t change history; she was a part of it. As in, she stops the burning of the diary, if she hadn’t, she never would have found it and never would have gone back in time.

Also, Dora Desplora could have been an interesting midboss for season three. I’ve got in my mind a version of the series that cuts between the characters in the human realm trying to get home, and the characters in the Boiling Isles just trying to stay alive. It would feature the coven heads in more detail, as well as the gradual wearing down of Bosha, but also camaraderie, and a moment where Flora D’splora rocks up to Hexside and threatens Puddles, only to get absolutely beaned by Viney. I think that would have been cool.

Next week, I’ll be covering Any Sport In A Storm, and the most important character arc of the entire series: Steve. Stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[scarystickers]

THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES IMPRESSIONS: EP 65 - 69

EP 65: Binary

Making a non binary joke here would be fun but I fear that’s probably already been done. This may be my favourite episode of this season it’s so good. Guessing that since Tessa has a voice actor she’ll be a recurring character (wooo!!) Good on Tim for calling my favourite problematic queen, Jon, out.

EP 66: Held In Customs

Weird dealer guy is back!! And weird captain guy!!! Weird dealer guy is probably going to be important to the plot so I should probably try and remember that his last name is Salesa (That is the fakest last name I’ve ever heard for a guy who sells stuff bfw). Bro really stuck a guy in a box for 20 pounds. (Sidenote: When are the entity dudes coming into play??)

EP 67: Burning Desire

IT’S ALL FALLING INTO PLACE??? Omg I’m so excited rn yall don’t understand. AGNES !!!!!!!!!! I’m actually so curious about how she doesn’t age. Also how it all ties back from the burning touch to worms!!! guys this is actually making sense to me now im locked in

EP 68: The Tale Of A Field Hospital

What the hell is Fake Sasha doing in the tunnels?? I do not believe her tbh, maybe she was the one who was going down there earlier??

EP 69: Thought For The Day

MARTIN!!!!!!!! Aw my favourite problem solver. All this spider stuff with Annabelle reminds me of that one guy who’s spider just kept reappearing after he’d kill it. Also that vampire hunter guy who met a woman where a bunch of spiders fell out of her face

[ledalausnows]

elzar, the tinkerer. elzar, the problem solver. one of my favourite genres :)

[kandyzee]

I love finding a fellow Debbie appreciator in the shameless fandom because I absolutely hate the unending crap she gets for simply growing up from a traumatised child into an adult who has never been given the space or support to deal with her issues.

Anyways I was wondering what your thoughts were on the Gallagher sibling dynamics? Because my unpopular opinion for years has always been that Ian (and Debbie to an extent) was made in Fiona’s image with dash of forgotten middle child syndrome. He was her first baby and took on a lot of her good and bad characteristics except he has a slightly higher level of emotional intelligence than her and the rest of his siblings. My Roman Empire is wondering what the Fiona-Lip-Ian dynamic was in their early days. That and baby Mickey and Mandy Milkovich

Thanks for asking :pp

sorry this took so long to answer I had like a really hard time knowing what to talk about so this is VERY unorganised hope I answered u still!! Also super long anyway

One of my favourite things about the Gallaghers is how they are all a little bit like fiona. Ian and Debbie the most but in the others too. Debbie is extremely caring. She would do anything for the people she loves, especially franny. She 100% got this from fiona. She grew up watching fiona throw her needs aside for her siblings' time and time again, and I really think she took this to heart. Both fiona and Debbie are willing to do anything for family. They also share this kinda "mean" shell. What I mean by that is that they both can come across as mean when they never really want to do anyone harm. Where as fiona was pushed into the motherly role, debbie wanted to be a mother. To me, this makes her selfishness even more prominent? I'm not sure if that's the right word. Debbie doesn't need to desperately seek recognition for all her hard work in the Fiona has had to.

Ian is determined and an incredibly hard worker. His resilience is something he learned from fiona. Ian is old enough to have watched fiona have to adapt to caring for even more children while being young enough that he wasn't always expected to help. He watched fiona work job after job, sometimes more than one at a time. In the same way Ian found his job with being an EMT, I can see fiona having the same kinda thing she just never found her job, yk? Fiona and Ian are good at taking charge, adapting. Not only this, but they both great at talking to people, VERY charming.

Lip is stubborn. He's self-destructive. Those are some of the more unfortunate traits to get from fiona, but he's also a great problem solver and a natural talent. I don't think this is something he really got from her entirely, but they are obviously similarities. Fiona and Lip are the closest in age so often worked together, they solved problems together. It's a trait they picked up as a team because fiona is older, so I'm assuming it's something that came to her quicker. Fiona was a natural at track. She was amazing working towards these record-breaking goals. Lip is a natural genius (sadly not physically gifted like fiona Poor Guy is losing every fight). They didn't reach their potential, both dropping out. I do think lip actually got his stubbornness from fiona, tho. Lip and fiona share a lot of similarities because they are so close in age.

Carl is very childish and playful. He struggled with knowing what he wanted, like he went through so many phases. He has the same bright smile as fiona but also her indecisiveness. Fiona goes through a few phases, mainly hopping career paths. These are kinda like Carl's many phases. Carl is the 2nd youngest and is the first one I think who really did see fiona as a mum sometimes. I can see Carl always mistakenly calling fiona Mum as a kid. He's outgrown that. I know a lot of people wanna be like, "Carl is the only one who appreciated fiona." I don't think that's true. I think he just appreciates her in a more motherly way(while obviously still knowing fiona is his sister, please don't think in saying Carl things she is his mum or something) Carl disrespects fionas just as much as the others but he also shoes his affection more clearly. Anyway, a bight smiles and phases are what Carl got from fiona.

We don't really get to see Liam because he's so young when the show ends. We do get to see Liam as a leader/manager. Fiona was a great manager for the majority of the time(she had her bad moments). Leadership is something Liam got from fiona. I definitely think Liam is gonna be the most different from his siblings, tho because he isn't growing up with fiona looking after him + no Monica, no Frank. I wish fiona had taken Liam with her because they are such a cute duo but yk.

Talking about fiona/lip and Ian as kids now

I think they all would have been very close as kids. First of course because they are all closest to age. They were discovering things for the first time together.

I think a lot of the reason ian and Lip dont appreciate( IK THE DO I JUST DO NOT THE RIGHT WORD) fiona as much is because they are closer in age the the other 3. They don't value all the help fiona gave them because they were also helping her. They saw all her first mistakes and were the ones to help her learn. They see her less as a guardian/ parental figure and more of the big sister she is. Idk if I'm getting mh going across rn so imma move on.

Lip has always been very smart so j think fiona and Lip were a really strong team as kids. Fiona had the advantage that she was older, a people person and Lip was sort of the brains. Fiona, in her own respect, is smart too.

Ian was the baby for a while. He was the one Lip and fiona were working to protect, and I think he got typical little brother treatment. Brother bullying from Lip and smothering love and teasing from fiona. Where as Lip was a real team with fiona a lot of the time Ian was just learning from them. I think this is why he's more emotionally intelligent than them both while having some of their better traits. When Debbie is born, he stops being the baby and starts to get pushed into the independent forgotten middle child role we see him as.

Lip and fiona are a partnership, but lip and Ian are best friends. They all love each other, but lip and Ian are just closer. This pushes fiona away and makes her cling more to the caretaker role. Ian and Lip are closer in age they go to school together, share a room. Fiona is sometimes left out from actual childish sibling bonding. I think she would have been ecstatic when Debbie is born because of this. The boys stick together and now she has a sister to stick with too.

Some random head cannons I have of them as kids

Ian and goes through a coping phase and is always mimicking fi and lip.

Fiona is always using cheesy and sweet nicknames for Ian, like sweet face bit it gets less when Debbie is born. The pet names mean a surprising amount to ian

Lip was always arguing that he should take care of the money but fi doesn't let him.

They come up with the squirrel fund after a school project/something one of them learns in school but it gets more serious when Debbie is born.

Lip gets fiona a dvd player for her 12 birthday and ir sparks her love for movie nights.

A little about the milkovichs now.

Mickey and mandy were also close as kids because of the only Yr age difference, but they drifted. Mickey will always try to look after mandy and protect her, but they grow up, and mandy realises mickey can't always save her. Mickey isn't super strong.

Mickey has to start hiding who is his and that puts a strain on their relationship. Mickey is just another gross boy now instead of her super strong kind brother.

Baby mandy and mickey were always together , they have 1000 inside jokes ans I see them as the kind of siblings who tell people their twins and have their own language. It's hard for them to make other friends but they have eachother.

Mandy will sneak into mickeys room when she's scared, and that's one of the only things that last till she's a teen. She still does it during s1. Mickey never sleeps with his door locked so mandy can get in even tho he really wants to. Mandy locked the door behind her and sits on the edge of mickeys bed. Sometimes, she waits for him to wake up, but most of the time, she pushes his leg till he wakes up and lets her climb in beside him. She will hide in his arms, and he holds her till she falls back to sleep. Then, never talk about it. As they get older, mandy stops waking mickey up. She steals a blanket and crashes on the sofa. Mickey keeps it in his room till he's forced to room with svet.

They donr talk about their feelings but they understand eachoth34 the most out of the other siblings. I like to imagine them getting close again after the show

[sol-consort]

Whenever someone questions "what does it mean to be human" what they're really asking is "How much of me is truly me?"

Because how do you even define the human experience? When empathy and love can be found even in the deepest of oceans amidst the most fearsome of killer whales.

Or is it a question regarding our purpose. Because we can understand what it means to be a bird by simply observing one, we can understand what it means to be a plant by studying one. As if they're all born with a purpose, with a passion in mind with reserved seats at the grand meaning of life.

Are other species born with a purpose? Do the asari find it laying around through their early couple hundredth years? Do the salarians know what food is going to be their favourite before the first bite. Just how much of what it means to be a krogan is engranged in their biologically rather than sociology, Is that why Grunt struggled with the desperate need to fit in? Was it hereditary or acquired?

You look at a turian, and you see their bright future, the way they stand with pride, the way they honour their tribe. You look at a hanar, and you wonder how they adjusted to being a fish out of water with such grace at all times, how effortless they made it look, how divine.

What do they see when they look at us? What's the purpose written across our earthly skin and hungry eyes. Do they see an open book of emotions? An animal learning to crawl? A bunch of kids playing pretend, wearing their special uniforms and clumsily navigating the jenga tower that they built a government system out of.

We claim to be problem solvers at heart, but we end up breaking the things we fix more often than not. We say creativity is our speciality, but we box our definition of what counts as art.

We desperately want to be something, but we're not. We're a blank slate being constantly carved onto with a hammer and chisel. We're not born knowing how to swim, We're not born knowing how to make art, invent things, or start wars. We can only cry, and even that gets taken away in the shortage of time.

But maybe that's the point, fish can't talk, snakes can't walk, and I can't read minds.

That there might be some wisdom in this, some deeper meaning. Or maybe it's as deep as the earth's crust and is just hiding in plain sight.

We created language because we cannot read minds, asari had no reason to, so their language and poetry are ass. that's why it took them so long to master writing and passing down information accurately.

We somehow preserved our genetic diversity because we kept eating everything that's not nailed down. We licked those instead. This is why we have so many dishes and little allergies, why we can get around with one heart, one liver, and one spine. At any point, we could've exclusively just eaten potatoes or whatever is the easiest grain to plant and forced our bodies to adopt with time, but we didn't. We liked the diverse taste of different dishes, we enjoyed the different flavours the world offered, we hunted for meat and we aged wine, we churned milk into butter and cheese, we preformed all these convoluted steps just in order to create something that makes us feel good, that tastes good.

There are paintings on cave walls as old as time, there are colourful handprints of your younger self somewhere on your childhood home, be it left over melted chocolate or actual paint or your mom's lipstick that she dropped.

There is something in us doing this, something that feels like me. There is something in my brain that makes me love the moon and long for the stars, there is something in your brain that makes the mental image of a waterfall in a forest actively slow your heartbeat down, try it right now.

There is something that makes the oceans look inviting when other animals would avoid it not to drown. Something that makes the horizon tempting, the large mountains taunting, the abyss of space alluring, the unknown worth exploring.

It's the effort. They look at us and see someone who thinks all this convolution is worth the effort, that reaching the moon with spaceships with less power than the phone you're currently holding was worth all the risks. That learning to fly was worth all the engineering, that antarctica was worth living in a freezing hell.

They see a human with a purpose of their own design, be it just having a good time or defeating death itself once and for all. They see passion personified, love pushed to the extreme as a conscious decision rather than some built-in evaluationy gene.

They a species who won't back down, who won't take the easy way out, who won't stop trying to just have a good time in general.

[kaaaaaaarf]

when u get this u have to answer with 5 things u like about yourself, publicly. then, send this ask to 10 of your favourite mutuals (non-negotiable, positivity is cool!)

Hi Zo! ✨ I also got this ask from @wanderingdonut, @greengrug, @angelfruittree, & @faggylittleleatherboy, and I could really use some positivity this evening so I'm gonna give it a go. I'm terrible at being kind to myself, but let's see...

I've seen other people mention their eyes, and I too really like mine. I'm not sure whose eyes I have, but they are a lovely hazel of dark brown and dark green. Sometimes they are both colours at once, and sometimes they change with what I'm wearing. They are also a lovely shape, and I honestly think they are my best feature.

I have been told that I'm funny, and making people laugh is honestly so important to me. If I can make you smile, then my day is made.

I feel weird saying this, but I think that I'm kind. It's really easy these days to not be kind, and while I'm certainly not a perfect person and I sometimes miss the mark, I always try to choose kindness first (unless I'm given a good reason not to).

I'm a really good problem solver. I can troubleshoot my way out of anything.

I think I have good taste in music, and I like that it's my way of expressing myself in the world.

[seventeenlovesthree]

@digimonadventureweek Day 1, March 1st - Destiny / Favourite Digidestined: Koushirou Izumi

I'm a little late to the party, as I had, for some reason, assumed the week would start on March 4th, but alas, here we go - I couldn't get any drawings done in time, but how else to display my love for the OG Digimon Adventure than with these beautiful dolls I could look at and squeeze 24/7?

Koushirou has been my favourite Digimon character ever since I had watched the series in German for the first time as a 9-year-old in the lovely year 2000. I may not have related to him as much back then, but as I kept returning to Digimon time and time again, I absolutely do right now: I adore him for being the natural problem solver of the team thanks to his thirst for knowledge and sense of curiosity, but also his overall kind and helpful nature; for trying his best and being trusted and valued by his friends and family, even if he doesn't catch on every single social cue out there; for being a guidance and mentor, for being persistent and ambitious. I love him a lot. 💜

On a side note, I technically could have used this edit to display my three favourite Adventure characters, but since I'm already in a photo-mood... Let's have my favourites-order from left to right! 💜🧡❤️🤍♥️💛💚💙

[velvet-vox]

A needlessly over-complicated analysis on Doll's bathroom line.

<<<<Previous part (unnecessary)

I thought that, since I brought it up, I might as well analyze the one line from Doll that I tend to overlook the most, so that I can move on from it and forget about his existence again, since, quite frankly, I doubt that I'm going to bring it up again in the future, as I don't see any use for it outside of its context: it's just a silly, comedic line whose only other purpose is hide a minor incongruence in the story.

Final note: this is a serious analysis, but this line isn't meant to be taken seriously, so while I will try to look at it with analytical lenses and insert it into the slightly more serious larger picture of the show, I'm not going to pretend like that's something Liam Vickers ever expected anyone to do.

Once again, the lines in question are these:

...... It's a joke.

1: How did it slip under my radar for so long?

The first and major problem that I have with this line, and the reason why I ended up overlooking it for so long, is that it comes right after what is my favourite line of dialogue from Lizzy:

"Dude, no one will notice SHE is missing. Just do your thing, and I'll let in V. We'll see you there!"

As a Doll analyst, this line gives me A LOT to think about, it not only provides a lot of implied characterisation for both Doll and Lizzy alike, but it may also be the closest we get at understanding how deep their partnership truly went.

In fact, let's actually take a break from the Doll line and let's talk about this Lizzy one instead.

Why is Lizzy saying this line to Doll? The most obvious conclusion one may arrive at is that this line is a response that Lizzy is making to something Doll has said to her off screen. So, what did Doll say to get Lizzy to respond like that?

At first glance, it would seem that Doll was showing Lizzy concern for being caught by killing Uzi, after all, both Khan and the Teacher know that Uzi went at Doll's place to prepare for Prom, it would basically be impossible for the two of them to pass off as unaware. It would also perfectly line up with the picture of Doll that was built up to this point in the episode. But then... The rest of the episode actually happened.

So, Doll CLEARLY always intended to blow off her cover at the Prom, when she would finally kill V. Furthermore, Doll doesn't seem particularly concerned with chasing down Uzi, as her reaction to as they say in Russian whoops, I should've predicted that someone could escape out of the ventilation shaft using discarded mirrors as stairs would entail.

So, why does Doll feel any form of concern over killing Uzi when she's yet unaware of the fact that Uzi is a Solver host? Could Doll have possibly... cared about Uzi before even knowing that she also shared her sickness? These are questions for another time.

Going back to the titular line of dialogue that started all of this, let's actually try to dissect the individual components of this pun to see if there's any new or weird information (aka implications, because that's all you ever get out of Doll) that we can extrapolate from it.

2: Over analysing the nothing.

(If you wish to know what rules for this analysis are... I don't really have any. Once again, I don't think anyone on the production team of this show was expecting people to take this line seriously, once again, this is a comedic line, and while I am going to sound serious in the following segment, most of the stuff I'm going to say can be chalked up to mere, yet fun, speculation.)

The scene starts with Uzi panicking at the mere sight of Doll's broken furniture, and then hearing footsteps coming closer to the bathroom's door. Having terrible feelings about what's about to happen, Uzi quickly pulls a Dream clutch and uses the mirrors inside the bathtub to reach the ventilation shaft above her head and escape from Doll's apartment.

After setting foot inside the bathroom and seeing what Uzi has been up to, Doll reacts by putting her mechanical hands on her sides and finally proclaiming the iconic line:

As they say in Russian...

"Whoops, I should've predicted that someone could escape out of a ventilation shaft using discarded mirrors as stairs."

Doll keeps staring at the moved out vent in the ceiling for a couple of seconds, with a dumbfounded yet pensive expression, then the scene ends.

Fun fact: this is the longest uninterrupted string of words that we ever see Doll formulate, as she's quite the quiet type.

Let's start our analysis by taking a look at the first phrase:

As they say in Russian...

Already, there's a question we could ask: who or what does "they" refer to?

It could probably be another "sentient" being by Worker Drones standards, as it's highly unlikely for there to exist a not-sentient object/machine that said the hyper specific line of "Whoops, I should've...." enough times or in such a memorable way for Doll to have it internalised as something "they" say.

Though remember, the Murder Drones universe is also extremely unserious by nature, so it's entirely possible for there to exist a preprogrammed machine that says this very specific lines in Russian.

I can totally imagine a shop alarm in the Murder Drones universe going like: "Whoops, I should've predicted that someone could escape out of a ventilation shaft using discarded mirrors as stairs." in Russian when someone steals something from the store. It's reasonable to assume that Doll inherited some money from her parents when they died, hence how she manages to pay taxes without getting a job (if Workers need to pay taxes at all), but I doubt she actually uses them to buy groceries and other stuff. I wouldn't put stealing past her.

Where was I? Oh right.

It can't be something. It has to be somebody.

But who?

The second part of the phrase that we have yet to discuss clues us in that whoever this somebody must be is capable of speaking "in Russian".

The word "Russian" actually makes a universe of difference, because if the actual sentence was "As they say in Russia..." like how I remembered it to be, the answer to the question "Who?" would be much more simple: Doll has never been to Earth, where Russia is, therefore, with this phrase she was actually referring to the Humans/Drones that inhabited Russia on that planet, and unless Doll has secretly had contact with a human/drone coming from that country in the past, she either must have gotten this information from another source, or she's making it up on the spot basing it on her preconceived assumptions.

But no, the line of dialogue is "As they say in Russian...", which is ten times more vague.

Keeping in mind that the aforementioned theory of the russian humans/drones being the answer to the "who does they refer to" question is still a valid conclusion, other candidates could be Doll's classmates, teachers, neighbours, unknown russian drones and parents.

While we can't defy one, singular, correct answer to the question, let's review our options either way:

- Classmates - I'm going to divide Doll's classmates into two possible camps (fever): those who speak Russian as their default language, and those who don't speak Russian as their default language.

As far as we are aware, none of the students in Uzi's class aside from Doll speak Russian by default, which means that the default Russian speaking classmates in question must be students of other classes. We see Doll hunt down and kill some kids of other classes right at the start of the episode, implying that both Doll and Lizzy know various other students in their school, and probably spend time with them.

In case the students in question are the classmates that we have seen in the episodes from 1 to 4, whom we know for a fact that they don't speak Russian, then let's ask us another question to divide them into two more groups: can Drones change their language setting, or are they stuck with their default one?

If Drones can change their language setting to Russian from English, then a reasonable conclusion as to why Doll's classmates said "Whoops, I should've predicted that someone could escape out of a ventilation shaft using discarded mirrors as stairs." in Russian was to mock Doll for messing up something in her language, and it remained impressed inside Doll's mind exactly due to the circumstances and people it was used (It's not really probable).

If Drones cannot change their default language setting, then this implies that Doll's classmates and at least all of Gen 2 Worker Drones kind can speak languages not adhering to their default one, which, while a fun and interesting theory, doesn't lead us anywhere.

- Teachers - it's definitely possible, we don't know if Liam is the only teacher at their school, for what we know, the class or the school could have multiple teachers, and some of them could be Russian speaking ones; probably, since Russian speaking Worker Drones were likely built to serve humans who could only speak or primarily spoke russian, the russian speaking teachers could've taught Doll what they perceived as some way of saying the Russians taught them.

The line "Whoops, I should've predicted that someone could escape out of a ventilation shaft using discarded mirrors as stairs." would then make far more sense than you think: we know that the humans used Copper-9 as a base for their experiments, therefore, it's possible for one of these experiments to have escaped through a ventilation shaft using, and the Russian speaking human in service could have said the iconic line in front of one of his pet drones, to which he interpreted it as something Russian people say in general.

I'm attributing this theory to the teachers, but this also applies to Doll's parents, just like the default language question applies to both students and all of Worker Drone kind alike.

- Neighbours - we're never given any reason to believe that Doll has neighbours, much less that she interacts/has interacted with them and they spoke to her in her language setting; they are a perfectly valid answer, but they are also an incredibly bland and uninteresting one.

- Unknown Russian speaking Worker Drones - pretty much in the same camp as Doll's neighbours; they are perfectly valid, but they are a blank slate type of answer. Also, one thing against both this and the neighbours theory being plausible is that these made up characters should be memorable enough in order for Doll to pick up their lines as something she would quote in this situation.

Memorability isn't a necessary qualification for the classmates and the teachers, as Doll is forced to see them every single day of her life, meaning that even if she finds them boring, she has to put up with them enough times for her to memorise some of their characteristics.

- Parents - Lastly, we arrive at Doll's parents, characters that have massive importance to Doll's personal life story.

It's heavily theorised by the community that Doll's parents probably spoke russian a lot, and may have even been their default language; this theory is so popular that the majority of the fanbase views it as canon, and can you blame them? The evidence is there:

Yeva is the russian version of the name Eve, wife of Adam, first sinner, giving Doll's mother (and maybe her father too, if we ever end up learning his name is not Mitchell 👀) possible ties to the Bible. Also, if Doll's parents spoke Russian, it would explain why Doll speaks that language as well: she probably inherited that default language setting from them, or at the very least she favours it over other options because that's how her parents preferred to speak, in case she's able to change her own language settings.

That being said... What reason would Doll's parents have to say the following line of "Whoops, I should've..." at all? Much less in front of Doll?

Yeva had the patch, therefore she probably didn't need to kill and consume other Worker Drones for their oil, and it seems that Doll only awakened her Solver powers when her parents died, so again, if the implication is that someone tried to escape out of a ventilation shaft using discarded mirrors as stairs (mirrors that, may I remind you, probably weren't there when Doll's parents were alive, and were put there by Doll after she was orphaned) and Doll's parents were commenting on that in Russian, what would have been the necessary situation for this to happen?

Furthermore, Doll uses the word "say", not "said", and if Doll's parents are truly dead like we think, it would be illogical of Doll to quote their words with the present form of the verb, unless she's delusional and still believes they are alive, which is something plausible if their position at the dinner table is anything to go by.

But now, I want to zoom out those analytical lenses and take a second look at the phrase in its entirety:

As they say in Russian...

If the "they" that I've been talking about this whole time actually refers to all Russians, as a community, and in the most generalized meaning of the word, then, we might consider the idea that Doll, despite speaking their same language, may not view herself as a Russian, or it's trying to put some distance between herself and that group of people.

And if these are the cases, we could ask ourselves this:

Does Doll like the fact that other people think she's Russian? Or does she like speaking Russian at all, if Worker Drones are only capable of speaking one language only?

Maybe Doll doesn't like her own russian speaking voice, as it alienates her from the rest of her class, maybe all of her school, and, since we never see any other Russian speaking Worker Drones, maybe the entire colony (Khan's multiple languages manual is not a piece of counter evidence, because as far as the series shows us, all of the Russian speaking Worker Drones in that colony with the exception of Doll might have died before the pilot).

This little idea would also tie back to Uzi's own feelings of social alienation, helping Doll to better serve her purpose of dark mirror/foil to the protagonist.

Finally, let's look at the second line of Doll in this scene.

"Whoops, I should've predicted that someone could escape out of a ventilation shaft using discarded mirrors as stairs."

Despite this line being way longer than the last one, this portion of the segment is going to be far shorter, as there are far less things that I want to discuss.

"a ventilation shaft" is interesting, as it implies that Doll has multiple ventilation shafts inside her house, unless, of course, this is a phrase she took from someone else.

From what we know of the Patch, it seems capable of shielding the wearer from possession, but there's no evidence that it also stops the overheating problem, therefore, it's possible that Yeva installed multiple ventilation shafts inside her house to avoid this precise problem, or she might have done it as reference to how human trauma victims have respiration problems. (Shout-out to @dreamii-krybaby for reminding me of the overheating issue).

"discarded" is also a very interesting word, as it's pretty much in the same vein as "Russian": surprisingly vague when you inspect it further.

I looked up the meaning of its present form online, and its etymology is: get rid of (someone or something) as no longer useful or desirable/a thing rejected as no longer useful or desirable, which... it's a surprisingly in character word for Doll to say.

This is actually a VERY huge thing to me, as it makes me think that the writers could have putted a minimal amount of effort to make this line sound like something Doll would actually say, which runs counter to what my original assumptions when starting this analysis were.

Keep in mind: this word didn't have to be discarded, it could have easily been broken, or bloody, which still fit, but no, it's discarded. Where did Doll get all of those mirrors from? I don't know. Ultimately though, I don't think any of this leads to any interesting theory or idea.

Finally, let's repeat what we did with the "As they say in Russian..." phrase and let's take another zoomed out look at this entire line:

"Whoops, I should've predicted that someone could escape out of a ventilation shaft using discarded mirrors as stairs."

Now it may be a good time to ask the question Why is Doll saying both this and the previous line, as it doesn't seem to fit the context of "my next victim has just escaped from my grasp and this could lead to problems for me later on". This could just be Doll's way of expressing stress, but her facial expression is so hard to read, that I have absolutely no idea of what she could be thinking in this moment.

Now that I'm finally done squeezing the "reading between the lines" metaphor to it's absolute limit with this scene (I could have gone on for much longer, I could have talked about the possible meaning of the tent showing a toaster inside a bathtub or other things), it's finally time to go back to another question that has been going on in my mind lately:

Are this lines something that Doll would actually say?

Is this joke in character for Doll?

3: It's Doll... Right?

Do you remember how I previously implied that this joke line was out of character for Doll? Well, the truth is... that it really isn't.

I actually believe that this line makes perfect sense for the character that Doll has been built up to be... up to this point.

One of the things that analysing these lines made me notice is that every time Doll changes design she also feels like a completely different character then the one we were introduced with; I can definitely see the classic, cheerleader Doll that we saw in episode 2 and in the earlier parts of episode 3 saying these lines, but not Prom dress nor button eyed Doll.

All the times we saw the classic, quiet girl Doll she was presented as calm, unbothered, and collected, even if she was secretly a serial killer; that's the Doll I can envision saying this joke in such a situation.

Prom dress Doll by contrast is completely different, she's extremely emotional, very spiteful, deadly serious and has lost all of her cool.

Button eyed Doll is straight up the bottom of the barrel, she's completely lost it: she lacks both the coolness factor of classic Doll and the threat level of Prom dress Doll, she's so emotionally unstable and irrational that it's a miracle that she's to formulate any plans at all, then she dies once she's no longer needed for the story.

Keep in mind: all of these different characterizations make sense and are supposed to be different stages of a much more nuanced antagonist, it's just that... not all of the puzzle pieces are there. Everything adds up to one unique identity eventually, it's just that some of the steps are way too up to interpretation or are just omitted entirely.

4: is this joke actually funny?

You might think that this is an unnecessary talking point, and it is, but since we are already overanalyzing a joke line, we might as well see if the general public finds this to be an actually funny bit of comedy or if it had any lasting impact in the fanbase.

Since comedy is subjective and I'm a machine, I thought about doing a Google search to see what are the most common ingredients that make comedy hit, but then I remembered that the main reason why I went so unnecessarily in depth when breaking down the dialogue of this scene was because these lines, despite how unimportant and uninteresting they might be to me, are still undisputable pieces of Doll content present the show; looking up the comedy aspect of this dialogue and attempting to objectify it, something that would get me to be clowned on a lot by basically everyone despite how happy I would feel to show other people my mental instability, doesn't really give me any new informations about Doll's character aside from maybe seeing if she has some hidden comedic potential.

So instead, let's just see how other people view this line.

Fun fact: I started writing this post 6 days ago, and I was going to use only the comments under episode 3 of Murder Drones as evidence for the public opinions, but then Yagster, the poll guy on YouTube, made a poll to see what was the best line of episode 3 according to people, and as you can imagine, this joke was amongst the four options, and it's what was picked up as the best.

Anyway, here's some screenshotted comments:

(Got these from various sources)

Here's the positive ones.

And here's the negative one. (I was sure there were more of these, but this is the only one I ended up finding)

From what I've seen, the fanbase has a mostly positive opinion of this dialogue, there was a sizable chunk of individuals quoting it in the comment section of episode 3, though it doesn't pop out as often as other great lines from the show, probably because of how long and overly specific it is.

I would have said that they have forgotten about it, but if you bring it back up to their faces they remember it immediately.

So there we go.

Closing thoughts.

I think this is it.

I didn't have to do this, nobody wanted me to do this, but now that I've done it, I feel an immense sense of closure, something that I've been needing for a while.

I feel like one of the major problems that I need to work on a lot is my priority list.

Originally, I started writing this post as a side project, something to push out to compensate for the amount of time I needed to complete other works of mine, but due to my maniacal need for perfectionism and short attention span, this "side project" ended up taking much more time than I wanted to, I feel like my ideal model for fast produced, high quality content just isn't viable for me, and I should really learn to focus on one task at a time.

Once again, this line is just a comedy bit, I doubt anybody ever expected it to be put through as much scrutiny as I've put it to, but if any of the ideas I came up with while writing this stimulated your creativity in any capacity, I'll be glad to have inspired you.

Good morning, afternoon, evening, night and day everyone.

[shoko-komi]

The Komi Report - Communication 450

Komi is a day early!? This week in Komi Can't Communicate:

Broth is sampled...

...and dreams are dashed upon the stones.

Read It: Mangareader Mangakakalot Viz Media (North America Exclusive) Mangadex (English updates are dead, but there’s the backlog; and Spanish + Portuguese language updates)

I was caught completely by surprise this morning when I woke up and had a notification from the r/komi_san discord server (I exclusively use it for the new chapter notifications. All other notifications are muted and I never go in there because I value my sanity aklsdnlkasndlaksnd).

Now that tensions within the broth crew have been loosened they can get into the favourite pastime of friends everywhere - good-natured bickering.

Nanoda was so timid when she first appeared, so it's really nice to see her coming out of her shell.

I've only eaten good restaurant ramen once - other than that it's been 2 minute stuff - so I don't know what to make of this smelly-ramen vs unsmelly-ramen conflict. Where do you stand?

My girl is flopping so hard at this aksdlkansd.

I might have a hard time explaining this one, but; I love seeing Komi fail. She tried her best to settle the ramen dispute but doesn't know what to do and is sort of useless.

Part of it is I want her to learn that she doesn't need to be problem solver girl all the time, and her friends will like her and want her around even if she isn't "usefull". She's a leader among her peers but it's ridiculous to put everything on her own shoulders, and her peers can solve their own problems such as in the case of the broth. All Komi needs to do to be valuable is be there.

The other part of it is my sadism flaring up.

Really funny that she blames him here. A girl needs her tantrums

Only a brief glimpse of them..... Oda you tease me.....

Also add an entry to the list of left-handed Sukida appearances

My complements to tumblr user fareasterncurlew for this infographic which I think about every day

Classic Najimi gag

Miwa Omojiri my beloved, hello again. Also Tsubo is so me... I would be laughing so hard....

Such heart-breaking news after all their hard work. I love how the camaraderie of the class keeps them in good spirits!!! So many times I've been in a bad situation but I've felt alright because I could laugh about it with good company.

It brings a tear to my eye....

This is really funny but also!! Ogiya comforting Kori is super nice after them being recently at odds. Kori blended into the group so quickly after they figured him out.

The culture festival!!!! AAAAAA I'm excited

We've been shown this beautiful glimpse of what Hiki and the girls are up to. Aaaahh, maid cafes. Literally what would we do without them?

Oda I'm still waiting for a follow up to the Susumi/Hiki yuri...... and I want Yamai/Nakanaka band yuri.... and I want SukiYama yuri.... Oda give me yuri please I'm starved Oda I'm starved to death and dying fatally.......

I hope the culture festival is 50 chapters long and every character is featured and has a super funny joke and there's lots of yuri and wakai dies mysteriously between chapters and is never mentioned again and we find out the details of the Ase/Naruse kiss and Benujit Spopo appears and Tadano is force-femmed permanently and there's happiness, free, for everyone!!!!! And no one is left behind!!!!

Stay safe! I'll see you next week!

[blubushie]

ask game :D

6, 13, 23, 27

6. Say three nice things about yourself (three physical and three non-physical).

Uh... Fuck. I've got good aim, I'm determined, I'm a good problem-solver. And... I got nice hair, and I'm broad-shouldered, and I like my eye colour.

That's all you're getting out of me, this exercise has been uncomfortable.

13. What’s your comfort food?

Fettuccine alfredo with chicken and broccoli. And steak. Ohhh. So much steak. And hash browns. I don't mean the patties (though those are great) I mean the shit you get in American diners. They're so fucking good.

23. Favourite piece of clothing?

Hat.

27. Which character would you want to be?

Sniper TF2 or Mick Taylor with preference for Mick Taylor cuz at least then I'd be back home lmao

[venomousray]

FINALLY! Making a little WIP intro for my page.

HELLO! My name is Will! (Though Ray, Dan and Magnus are also fine!)

I use He/him!

I’m incredibly hyperfixated on Starcanwrecked at the moment, in particular, my favourite medias at the moment are

- Spies are forever

- Hatchetverse

- Problem Solvers

- The case of the greater gatsby/guilded Lilly

- Poe party

- Headless: A sleepy hollow story

- Starcanwrecked in general

With particular characters I’m fixated on being

- The homeless guy / Ted spankoffski

- Thrash (Needy beast)

- DASH GUNFIRE!!

- Vanger Borschtit

- Barry Swift

- Ernest Hemingway

- Scrags

- Ichabod Crayne

- Crumb

- Probably most of joey’s roles at this point I’m not going to lie

I’m a little shy, but I love making mutuals! And LOVE to talk about shared fixations! So feel free to drop me asks and dms!