#ngl i just made this for fun lol

[meltedcapsy]

What would the Collectors' Palisman be?

That's what I will be theorizing today!

Kitsune. In my opinion.

What do Foxes represent?

Foxes, generally, represent cunning, playfulness and resilience. They walk the fine line between the wilds and urban living, making the best of both environments. They are adaptable, clever and full of mischief.

One of the most common associations with foxes is their cleverness and resourcefulness. (as said from above) They are known for their ability to outsmart predators and humans alike, and have long been associated with trickery and deceit. (I will be talking about this part early on) This cunning nature has earned them a place in many cultures as a symbol of intelligence and shrewdness. In fact, the phrase "as sly as a fox" has become a popular expression to describe someone who is clever and quick-witted.

Most of these (not all) are personality traits of our Collector.

The Little Prince parallels

The Collector himself, is clearly inspired from "The Little Prince" a story about loneliness, friendship, sadness, and love. The prince is a small boy from a tiny planet (an asteroid to be precise), who travels the universe, planet-to-planet, seeking wisdom. On his journey, he discovered the unpredictable nature of adults. Which is funny because, that's what the Collector is doing right now. He's returning back to the stars, trying to grow by himself - whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. And also to potentially face his siblings again.

They also have a fox plushie under their bed, which can be seen in FtF referencing the Prince's best friend, the Fox. And the Fox to the Little Prince, is exactly what King is to the Collector.

Come and play with me," the little prince proposed. "I'm feeling so sad. " "I can't play with you," the fox said. "I'm not tamed. " "Ah! Excuse me," said the little prince. But upon reflection he added, "What does tamed mean? " "You're not from around here," the fox said. "What are you looking for? " "I'm looking for people," said the little prince. "What does tamed mean?" "People," said the fox, "have guns and they hunt. It's quite troublesome. And they also raise chickens. That's the only interesting thing about them. Are you looking for chickens? " "No," said the little prince, "I'm looking for friends. What does tamed mean?" "It's something that's been too often neglected. It means, to create ties..." "To create ties? " "That's right," the fox said. "For me you're only a little boy just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you have no need of me, either. For you I'm only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we'll need each other. You'll be the only boy in the world for me. I'll be the only fox in the world for you..." "I'm beginning to understand," the little prince said.

"Please... tame me!" he said.

"I'd like to," the little prince replied, "but I haven't much time. I have friends to find and so many things to learn. " "The only things you learn are the things you tame," said the fox. "People haven't time to learn anything. They buy things ready-made in stores. But since there are no stores where you can buy friends, people no longer have friends. If you want a friend, tame me! " "What do I have to do?" asked the little prince.

"You have to be very patient," the fox answered. "First you'll sit down a little ways away from me, over there, in the grass. I'll watch you out of the corner of my eye, and you won't say anything. But day by day, you'll be able to sit a little closer..."

Language is the source of misunderstandings.

Foxes in Japanese Mythology

Kitsune are foxes that possess paranormal abilities that increase as they get older and wiser. (Which i am speculating is true for Collectors/Archivists) According to yōkai folklore, all foxes have the ability to shapeshift into human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others—as foxes in folklore often do—other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, and lovers.

Kitsune have become closely associated with Inari, a Shinto kami or spirit, and serve as its messengers. This role has reinforced the fox's supernatural significance. The more tails a kitsune has—they may have as many as nine—the older, wiser, and more powerful it is. Because of their potential power and influence, some people make sacrifices to them as to a deity. (i.e the Titan Trappers in this case.)

Kitsune are believed to possess superior intelligence, long life, and magical powers. (Similar to Collectors' race) They are a type of yōkai. The word kitsune is sometimes translated as 'fox spirit', which is actually a broader folkloric category. This does not mean that kitsune are ghosts, nor that they are fundamentally different from regular foxes. Because the word spirit is used to reflect a state of knowledge or enlightenment, all long-lived foxes were believed to gain supernatural abilities.

Conversely foxes were often seen as "witch animals", especially during the Edo period (1603–1867), and were thought of as goblins who could not be trusted (similar to some badgers and cats). (And wouldn't you know it, Phillip was born in the early seventeenth century!)

The Two Types of Kitsune

The zenko (善狐, lit. 'good foxes') are benevolent, celestial foxes associated with Inari; they are sometimes simply called Inari foxes in English.

Evil behavior frequently attributed to kitsune is always the work of yako, not zenko. Whereas yako have no interest in advancement in kitsune society, zenko work hard to improve themselves and increase their social standing. Zenko may occasionally play tricks or pranks on people, but they do not seriously harm or kill humans. (At least for him, he didn't think that he was wiping them out of existence)

I'm bored! Is the Draining Spell ready yet? I wanna play and see everything go all… (Imitates screams)

Ooooh, you were maaaad! I thought you were gonna go all… (Imitates screams) …on that kid.

I want to be their friends. And besides, my powers don’t work on King.

You're not being very nice right now.

Aw, you act like I’m doing something bad, but I’m just having fun.

So? Toys break all the time? You just fix’em.

I get it now. You just need kindness and forgiveness, huh?

But I thought, I was doing the right thing.

Luz? Luz? You-hoo! You can come out now. Well, it’s okay. She just broke, so I’ll fix her.

I don’t want anyone to go away, I don’t want anyone else to go missing. I’m sorry for everything!

Leave them to me!

Come on, you can at least do this!

Collector doesn't necessarily want to kill people, like the rest of his siblings. He just wants to play and have fun.

Speaking of yako..

On the other hand, the yako (野狐, lit. 'field foxes', also called nogitsune) tend to be mischievous or even malicious.

Don't bother, beast. You can't run away anymore. It's. Over.

"Oh, let's play a game!", they said. "Let's play hide and seek! You go down there and see if the Titans wanna play!" So I played, and it was great! The baby Titans were the cutest, just like King! And they were all so welcoming! But the Archivists were scared of their power. So one by one, they disappeared, until there was one Titan left. And he thought I was the bad guy! He hid his egg from me and trapped me! But I showed all of them! Even when those trapper jerks started acting weird, even when Belos lied to me, I FOUND KING! I FOUND THE LAST TITAN, AND HE'S MY FRIEND NOW!"

His siblings tricked him into playing with the little titans so they could murder them. Sure, some had malicious intent or some were simply delusional or even both. But in the end, they're all pretty awful people just like yako.

His so called "friend" used him and intended to abandon him.

And now, his new pal that he just made - was lying to him this whole time and had a plan on imprisoning him. (from his perspective)

The closest people to him 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢, everyone did.

I did say I was going to bring up the topic of how foxes are generally associated with trickery and deceit, especially in Japanese Mythology, wasn't I?

Instead of him lying to everyone, everyone lied to him, and instead of him being a complete liar - he's actually a pretty truthful little guy. Keen on friendship and most importantly honesty, you can trust him with anything. That's a major part of his character that is very often brought up in the show.

I just wanted a friend that wouldn't lie to me, or trick me. But everyone's the same. King lied. Belos lied. Even they lied.

Just free me already! You've proooomiiiised!

You need to have more faith in pinky swears.

But... but you said! You said you'd let me out! I hate it here!

You better not be fibbing. You pinky swore me.

Uh, excuse-a-what- now? B—But you said you'd use the Titan blood to help free me!

But you said we were friends! We pinky swore! You LIED! LIAR! LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR, LIAR! Oooohhh, liaaar!

WOOOOAAAAHHHH! You're a liar, liar, pants on fireeee!

Leave me alone. I don't associate with fibbers. 

Wait. You're not tricking me into doing your chores like Philip? Are you?

King! You promised you'd play with me! You pinky-swore!

Though, the possibility of him having a palisman is pretty low - if he does get one and it turns out to be a fox, it'll at least remind him that King truly is his friend and that nobody is lying, or tricking him anymore. He has friends now, true friends who he can turn to in times of support and it'll coincide with his wish of having honest sincere friendship as well.

[turtleblogatlast]

Don’t think I ever quite said what my LGBTQ+ headcanons are for the boys, so these are my current thoughts! Always changing of course but this is what I feel most strongly right now.

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

Pig backing on the person who asked for a lin Chung headshot, maybe Apetrully doing one?

sure thing boo, have a cute monkey king selfie in a bit of royal fashion in an AU where Apetrully did not have to hide that he is a monkey <3

[press-f1-to-grieve]

Liam telling stories about him and Yuki on the Red Flags Podcast

Source: Red Flags Podcast - WE INTERVIEWED F1'S LIAM LAWSON!!! (edited down and transcribed by @press-f1-to-grieve)

to @2bluetwo85: i read your tags from that yuki and liam post. thank you for letting me know this exists (and for reading my long tags). i hope i got the right podcast you were talking about.

---

full transcription underneath beware, it's long. and i'm not familiar with the podcast (my newbie is showing) so i'm not sure which voice belongs to who. please excuse me if i got them mixed up. i listened to the episode on a podcast app and only found out they have a youtube channel later, after i had already finished everything bar hit the "post" button. the visual would have helped greatly with knowing who's speaking but alas...

---

Matt: Ye so, I wanna talk about another teammate of yours, Yuki Tsunoda. So we've read that you and Yuki go back. He lived with your parents in New Zealand?

Brian: (laughs) No! He didn't live- He didn't live with- Liam: He came to- So this is a series called the "Toyota Racing Series" in New Zealand, used to be like, really really big, especially before Covid. And basically we were both competing in it as teammates, and so he came to New Zealand. And we've been teammates a year before that in F3 and Euro Formula, so I've spent a lot of time with him already. So when he came to New Zealand, he basically just hung out with us. A lot. Like, I basically just drive around with him. Matt: So like step-brothers a little bit? Liam: Honestly, ye. (laughs)

Matt: What was your favorite thing to do with him, growing up?

Liam: It was always away from the track. Cause away from the track, he's a really funny, genuine dude. So, obviously, it's harder. When you are competing, with Yuki, (...) competing for the same seat. So, it's like, at the track, it's real intense. And then, away from that, it's real cool.

Matt: How're you able to maintain a friendship when it's just like, you know, blood sport out there for these few seats?

Liam: At points, over the year, (stammers) you know, it's not a friendship. And then he- Like, obviously, his journey was pushed a lot earlier than mine. He went to F1 quite early so, then I was- I wasn't really in competition with him anymore so- Matt: Right. Does that help your friendship? Liam: Then we are like, pretty chill again. And then we are put in competition again.

---

Brian: I think in one of the earlier seasons of Drive to Survive, you were in his room, and his room was like, all messy, and he was annoyed that they put it in.

Matt: Did you catch him on a bad day or is that just is? Brian: Is his room just a mess always? Liam: That's literally- I don't know now. Oh actually, I went to his house recently and it was a lot better. Both Hosts: (relieved) Okay! Liam: He has improved. (stammers) I remember, well, it wasn't really- (vocally winces) It was fierce because you shouldn't live like that anyway. BUT!- Both Hosts: (crying laughing emojis in audio form) Liam: But I remember, he had just moved into this apartment at the start of, I think it was the start of that year, and I- Oh no, it was the year before! But same thing, Covid, here, basically. I went to New Zealand because I was about to be locked out of the country. There was no racing. And Yuki stayed, in Milton Keynes for months. Just on (his own), he didn't go back to Japan. Like he just stayed in this apartment. Brian: Like Cast Away Liam: But I had to move into this brand new apartment and it was sick! And I went to New Zealand and I came back 3 months later. Matt: He has got a beard. Liam: And I walked into this place and it was just like DUUDE. It was bad, like it was real bad. Brian: (hums of understanding) Like takeouts and- (all three make noises of agreement) Liam: It was just food everywhere. Like, the laundry basket was just like, overflowing. Matt: Yuki was basically all of us during Covid. Brian: (enthusiastic YE's)

---

Matt: So, what are you most competitive with Yuki off the track? Like what do you guys like to-

Liam: Awe, dude, everything. Both Hosts: Ye? Liam: No, like, everything. We're like- At the moment, we've been playing table tennis. Just little disc. Matt: Oh you'll just make- Liam: M-make one! Ye, just make it. (...) not a proper one. Matt: Who is up? Liam: He plays a lot more, to be fair, but- Matt: So he crushes you. Liam: (cute babbles) No no- Both Hosts: (laugh) Liam: So, we played in Japan. I think I had him in Japan. And then we played last week and he beat me. Matt: You don't keep a serious tally? Are you better on certain surfaces? Like if it's a dinner table, you got him. Liam: On a smaller table, I have him. But on a slightly bigger table- Like depends on what table we get during race weekend.

---

Liam: But one thing with Yuki that was real funny that we did back when we were in New Zealand.

Liam: I don't know how this is a thing but you can rent a boat, at like 15 or 16 years old. And just take it out, to Lake Taupo. And so me and Yuki were like- I was probably 17 or 18 and he was like 19 or 20, and we just rented this boat, and got like, you know, biscuit, or tube? What do you call them? (...) And we just took it out and basically- It started off like real fun. Like we were just towing each other around. But then it just got like, who could throw the other person off like, the biggest. We just like, tried to kill each other on this little tube, in the middle of this lake. Matt: Just the two of you? Liam: Just the two of us. Just out there in the middle of a lake. Brian: Just the two of you tried to kill each other. Matt: It's like a fucking thriller. Liam: Honestly! I've got videos of like, him and me, like, in the air. Like, meters in the air. Matt: Who won or lost that game? Brian: "We both lost that game." Liam: Actually, I lost pretty hard on that one, to be fair. Matt: He threw you- Liam: I went off like, big time, ye. Brian: It seems like, that's the common experience of tubing, is that. It's like, it's fun and then you're like, am I gonna die? (...)

Matt: So Yuki was a master at flinging you?

Liam: Well, he would like- Sometimes I feel like it's on accident. He would like, get a lot of slack and it will just build up real fast- Both Hosts: Sure, he said it was on accident.

---

Liam: We're drivers. Everything turns into a competition.

Liam: We had a rental car, again in New Zealand with Yuki, that we like, basically would like, make a little track and just set time trials off the side of the road. Matt: Like with a Camry or something? Liam: No, Yuki had this little Mitsubishi ASX. I don't know if you know what it is, it's like a boxed car. And we, with like a couple of drivers, basically made like, a little track, and, basically goes until somebody- until Yuki crashed it. (...) The funniest thing, it wasn't even in the- He had finished his lap. It was afterward, he tried to be cool and do like a flick spin, and just totally sent it into a bank. We had to go to a store to get one of those plungers to try and plunge out the dent in the front of the- Because we had to get the car back. Brian: Right, of course. Matt: Renters insurance, man. If I see you or Yuki walk into an enterprise or something, I'll just like, go somewhere else.

[satsuha]

u know im back on my bullshit

[megidoreyn]

Drew the SMT4 Samurai Squad floating away on the twitter profile balloons to celebrate my birthday in September! 🎈🍰

💙twitter 💙misskey

[sysig]

Red Eyes and Evil Time, practically the same thing right (Patreon)

[yeyayeya]

I know I’ve said this before but why is dialogue so hard to write

Trying to write something but it ain’t looking too good

[prisonpodcast]

.

[widevibratobitch]

actually im kinda happy with it lol probably because ive given up quite some time ago but yknow. its not that serious.

[greensaplinggrace]

pretty privilege is real because the producers of shadow and bone really thought jessie mei li’s beauty could distract from the absolutely horrendous looking costumes they put her in. and they were fucking right

[mbat]

no cause like the difference is actually night and day lol, these new-ish customization options for the draenei are a fucking blessing

now its more accurate :]

[fragmentedblade]

I've actually found a coherent (negative) criticism on Jingli.u's quest!! Wow!! It's in Chinese on weibo

This user said her behaviour is very double standard. That she criticises and condemns both Dan Fen.g and Yingx.ing severely for trying to bring back Bai.heng in any way, but then she goes to visit Bail.u and tells her that seeing her is better than any medicine. And the user is right! That's exactly why they did what they did (well, I've always been of the opinion that Dan Fen.g had more reasons going on based on the in game information), so why the insistent asking to Blade?

The user also says that Jingliu doesn't really behave at all like a friend, that while very believable that she loved and was close to Bai.heng, it's hard to believe the same thing when it comes to Yingxi.ng and Dan Fen.g. They said that nowadays we still see instances through the Xianzhou in which they are both spoken about in positive terms, that Yingxi.ng is talked about as a legendary furnace master, and we can even stumble upon good opinions on Dan Fen.g, but that Jingli.u never shows that kind of understanding for people in theory she loved, knew personally and was close to.

I don't agree entirely with this, I do think there was a lot of fondness from Jingliu shining through despite everything (especially towards Yin.gxing, in my opinion), but I do think it's a somewhat fair criticism. I loved how they mention that despite everything the Xianzhou's view on Yingxin.g and Dan Fen.g isn't just negative. They're right, and it's a detail I love.

[patron-saint-of-emesis]

sometimes, changing something that has been the source of a longterm insecurity isn’t giving up on self love but embracing it i think.

[umilily]

the older i get the more i appreciate my mum cooking the things she did when i was younger. considering she doesn't even like cooking all that much and was still working full time back when i was a kid, i'm so impressed when i look up some of the recipes she made and seeing how much effort it actually was.

[bastard-of-a-bog-being]

Wip but you know what

I was initially SO bothered by this guy not having a nose or eyebrows but the more I make art with him I’m just like “oh thank fuck the little guy doesn’t have many facial features this is way easier than making Poppy or whoever else”