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bingsucks · 2 years ago

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STRAP IN JEFFANNIE LOVERS, IT'S ABOUT TO GET YUCKY AND YOU'RE IN THE SPLASHZONE

thought I'd give a comprehensive list on why I personally dislike JeffAnnie because I got called idiotic for it and I see that as a top tier compliment. I go more in depth at the end, but if you just want the quick stuff (since I know y'all like the quotes!!) here you go, but please read the rest of it!! this is an open discussion.

also I get pretty gross in my descriptions of Annie, be warned

season 2 episode 1: "since you have clearly failed to grasp the central insipid metaphor of those twilight books you devour, let me explain it to you. men are monsters who crave young flesh, the end."

season 3 episode 1: "we can't keep doing this forever, kiddo." "Can't we?" "no, that's gross. I feel gross."

season 4 episode 3: "I was just daydreaming. I mean, I've married you at least a half a dozen times. and Troy. and Zac Efron. Mostly Zac Efron."

season 3 episode 16: "but, we love Jeff." "no, we don't. we're just in love with the idea of being loved. and if we can teach a guy like Jeff to do it, we'll never be unloved. so we keep running the same scenario over and over hoping for a different result."

season 6 episode 13: "are you okay?" "is this really what you want?" "of course. I mean, I'd be fine with a dog too, but whatever you want." "do you have any idea what I want?" "yes?"

season 2 episode 20: "the general atmosphere of 'would they?' 'might they?'" "Annie, I think you're reading into some things." "oh really?" "oh, give me a break. I mean, you could do the same thing with Pierce and Abed!" "yeah, let's be honest, there's more between you and Annie than between me and Pierce." "Abed, it's called chemistry, I have it with everybody."

season 5 episode 11: "I'm 40."

I'd like to actually argue with a personal opinion based on a fact, and some anecdotal hypotheticals

first of all, I'm 17, a year younger than Annie in season one. I know people who are 19, 20 even. the concept of them or myself dating someone who is (not only fully developed in the brain, but) at least ten years older than ourselves-

-is gross, no? if Annie got held back at all, if she didn't drop out, if she and Jeff met in a different way, same age difference and her still in high school, one might say that is a little uncouth, one might even go so far as to say it's gross.

but, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt; make them closer in age, say Jeff is in his 20s instead of his thirties, say 25 (the lowest we can go for him to still be a lawyer). still, Annie's brain wont fully develop until she is 25, meaning Jeff will already be in his thirties by that point, if he dates her any sooner he will be dating what is medically considered an adolescent (10-24) while himself above 30. "but chrissy, chimbo, my love, you're legally an adult at age 18!" if we start bringing the law into this, the post will double in size, to make it simple, just think for a moment why that makes you legally an adult. why is a legal adult not allowed to drink? why would the United States want people who are not fully developed making decisions, and how does that affect their country? food for thought.

another benefit of the doubt! take age out of the question, just look at them as people and their experiences, not by a number! age ain't nothing number, right? like Aaliyah, right? Yeah, did you know R Kelly, the convicted sex offender, wrote that song? Crazy, right? sorry, off topic. Silly me, silly little baby brain. haha. let's look at their dynamic:

Jeff is a man who values the women he dates - rather, sleeps with - very little. "I'm Jeff Winger, and I would rather look at myself naked than the women I sleep with!" he states, so confident and proud of himself. "I asked this woman out 30 seconds ago to prove a point!" he shouts. "I'll be back with booty!" he sneers. does this seem like the kind of person that would think of women in the long-term? that is Jeff.

Annie on the other hand, as the boy-crazy girlish urchin she is, sees every man that comes her way as Christ incarnate. Annie is obsessive, she enrolled in nearly all of Troy's classes to get some sense that someone, anyone, no matter how bad they treat her, has to rely on her for something she knows. Annie is fresh and inexperienced, she can't say the word 'penis' because it makes her uncomfortable and squirmy. pure, untouched porcelain. so impressionable, don't you think? so untainted, virginal. looking for a father.

describing her like that makes you a bit uncomfortable, doesn't it? feels a little yucky in your tum tum?

that's because if you take away their ages, their experiences speak for themselves. Annie is young, obsessive. Jeff has more experience than her and will discard her quickly in favor of someone younger or better looking. if you're into the 'born sexy yesterday' trope, go ahead. I'm not one to stop you from doing what makes you feel good! We all know what you really want, you don't have to hide it, Humbert- sorry, Jeff. slip of the tongue. scream it loud! scream it on the rooftops, or on the streets: "I want to fuck a teenager!!" see how people look at you!

Oh, they're not smiling, are they? yikes.

i'd just like to leave you with a personal opinion.

is the pairing of Jeff and Annie iffy and pretty gross? yes, scroll up, read this post again if you aren't convinced. at the same time, should it be removed from the show entirely because it's problematic and horrible and everyone who supports JeffAnnie is a meth-addicted pedophile who eats babies and fucks sticky flashlights with the mouthless faces of their classmates taped to the rim? while I would prefer that JeffAnnie didn't happen, yes, I just think those of you who are into this are just uneducated and stubborn. some of you, one of you in particular, i'm sure is a sweaty neckbeard with a fedora and a 4chan tripcode. but not all of you, and for that I have hope.

JeffAnnie is legal, yes. JeffAnnie is by far not the worst, too. and we, as mature half-adults, can admit that. I for one believe that you should be able to ship anything that is both legal and non-blood-related. that's the magic of fandom! enemies to lovers is one of the most popular genres! the toxicity of the relationship is not the problem, it is the predatory nature and unsavory implications that are the problem. I think the relationship as a whole is not something to be looked at with positive emotions, but I also don't believe that this type of screen representation is bad. just because something is put to screen does not mean it is acceptable. I think that's something we all learned in second grade, yes? good. glad we're all on the same page. you're looking wonderful. I hope you have a great day.

also, just to cover all my bases, it's just a matter of preference. it makes a lot of us uncomfortable to see relationships like that, especially those of us who are around Annie's age. like, imagine being her: you're fresh out of rehab and ready to start your life. this guy who is more than ten years older than you, who you think is kind of cute maybe, starts to look at you the same way. imagine having the knowledge that every time he looks at a woman he just sees a pair of tits and a vag on legs. imagine what he sees when he looks at you. imagine that guy having a conversation with your dad, they might even be closer in age than you and him. that's uncomfortable, to me at least.

plus, Britta and Jeff are a better couple.

and if anyone responds with that whole "Dan Harmon DVD season 6" copy paste I hope you all know it makes me kick my feet and giggle. papa needs an ego boost, go ahead *bats eyes* *gets hit by a car*

#community #community nbc #nbc community #jeff winger #annie edison

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randomfoggytiger · 7 months ago

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Can I offer you more thoughts on whether Scully still hoped or didn't hope for a cure? You posed the question earlier whether her belief/disbelief might also be a form of avoidance/denial and I think that's a really interesting idea. As my sleep-deprived brain tried to say this morning, I think hope is a thing that has many layers and facets. You can also punish yourself with hope, in the sense that you're making yourself cling to sth that you know is impossible. I think Scully bounces around between wanting so hard to keep going (live her life, finish their work, not leave Mulder alone), knowing there's no scientific cure, hoping for a miracle, hoping for a scientific cure. I think her faith fits into that very neatly, because I do think it's a way of avoidance and denial. She can sign over her fate to a higher power, and she can do that 1) to believe she can be saved or 2) to find comfort in her faith in the context of death/afterlife/that the people she loves will be taken care of. So yes, I think when it seems there's no way she will cure herself or that Mulder will find a cure, her faith offers her a third (and fourth) option. The thing is, I think, that Scully doesn't want to die and is willing to grasp at any straws in her desperate moments, and biographically faith is one option that's available to her as a way to both accept and reject her "fate." So I do think that faith becomes a tool for her to navigate her way through hope vs acceptance. No idea if this makes any sense, haha.

Your thoughts make perfect sense and help to clarify Scully's switch back and forth between hope and despair~.

There's still something that eludes me about her turn to faith in that episode: mainly, I think, the dichotomy between CC's interpretation vs. the general concept of religion and faith. Also, what Scully's realization about herself how/if her actions failed her family; that she did believe, deep down, but had denied /talked herself out of that belief; etc.

I was going to say Redux II was about her and Mulder confronting their beliefs about themselves and their failures, but realized that's every mytharc episode. SO, can't put my finger on what I'm specifically picking up on-- for lack of a better word-- yet.

Your thoughts have given me a lot to mull over. :DDDD

#asks #thursdayinspace #thanks for droopin' in~#this was fun :))))

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a3mtls · 6 months ago

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Main Story: Act 11 - Acting On My Own / Episode 1

Note: Reminder that this is machine translated. Anything highlighted in orange or has [?] next to it, did not translate properly. I will try my best to make it simple for readers to understand. If there are any mistakes, kindly point them out. I’m always open to learn and receive help!!

—

[not proofread]

Act 11 / Episode 1 - Life Changing Experience [?]

第11回第1話 - 原体験

Note: I’m sorry, I used like 3-4 different translators to better grasp what they were saying but it’s hard. I tried my best to make it understandable.

Tenma: We are Aliens. We have come to begin our invasion on Earth. [?]

『ワレワレハ宇宙人ダ。コレヨリ地球二侵略ヲ開始スル』

Sakuya: If you value your life, surrender quickly. [?]

『命ガ惜シクバ速ヤカニ降伏セヨ』

Tsumugi: We are Aliens too. We have infiltrated the Earth as spies. [?]

『ワレワレモ宇宙人ダ。地球ニハスパイトシテ潜り込ンデイタ』

Banri: It is a violation of the Space Federation Law if you interfere. Leave immediately. [?]

『横槍八宇宙連邦法二反スル。速ヤカニ退去セヨ』

Izumi: Everyone, sorry I’m late—.

Tenma: Is that the Power Plant on Earth. [?]

『アレガ地球ノ植物力』

Sakuya: 『採取セネバ!』 [?] [harvest the plant?]

Izumi: ???

(Oh, they must be doing an Etude.)

Tsumugi: Do not touch it. That is our prey. [?]

『手出シハナラヌ。我々ノ獲物デアル』

Banri: If you do not leave, we will have no choice but to use force. [?]

『退去シナケレバ、強制退去ヲ行使スル』

Izumi: (Seems like an alien story. It looks exciting.)

Sakuya: …..Ah! I’m so sorry! I didn’t even notice that Director arrived.

Izumi: No, I’m sorry for being late.

Tsumugi: Then, we should start on the leader meeting.

Izumi: Before we get into it, why don’t we take a quick look back at our past performances.

I think we gained a lot of experience through the 7th performance of each group, the collaboration performance with GODza, and the mix performance, what do you guys think?

Sakuya: Well….. I think each of us was able to improve our abilities by playing the lead role for a second time.

Tenma: Thanks to the tie-up ACT with the first generation, my goal became clear and my mindset changed a lot.

Tsumugi: The collaboration performance with GODza was also a great inspiration. I think everyone, including those behind the scenes has become even more motivated.

Banri: The mix performance also became a hot topic of conversation, and I think it served as a good opportunity for the entire theater company to come together even more.

Izumi: Yeah, I think so too. With these things in mind, we will move on to the next performance…..

Thanks to the various challenges we faced at each performance, the new MANKAI Company is now gaining a lot of attention.

In addition, thanks to Kamikizaka-san, a board member of the Fleur Awards will come to the next performance.

I think it will be a great chance to be nominated for the Fleur Awards. I definitely want to leave an impact and succeed.

Tsumugi: That means…..

Sakuya: Mankai Show, alright!

Izumi: Yeah. Regarding Hakkaku-san’s concept, I have been reading the contents with Tsuzuku-kun and thinking about how to perform it.….

I think it's time to start working in earnest. The theme is space opera.

Tenma: No way, aliens—

Izumi: It's going to be a little different from the previous etude though.

Tenma: Is that so, I see…..

Banri: Obviously.

Izumi: It's a group drama set in the vast universe, where the lives of many people are intertwined.

Tenma: 今までになかった世界観だな。[?]

[it’s something we havent done before?]

Izumi: There’s one thing I’m worried about and it’s the length. If all the theatre members are going to have an active role, the script will be too long and dragged out.

Sakuya: It’s going to be too much for Tsuzuru-kun.

Izumi: Well, it’s a relief that Tsuzuru-kun will have the cooperation of GODza's Madoka-kun.

Tsumugi: If it’s Madoka-kun, then its reassuring.

Izumi: We will be having a direct meeting with Madoka-kun soon, so I think the plot will start coming together little by little.

Tenma: I’m looking forward to it.

Banri: As for the length, I guess we have no choice but to leave it up to Tsuzuru and Madoka.

Izumi: I agree. Let's support where we can.

Another issue other than the script, is the rehearsal schedule.

I think it's quite difficult to keep track of all the members schedules from rehearsals until the actual performance.

But first, what do the four leaders think?

Tsumugi: I think I can adjust my schedule.

Sakuya: I've talked to you beforehand, so I’m good.

Tenma: I've already talked to Igawa and asked him to save me from long-term work.

Izumi: What about Banri-kun's university?

Banri: I have to help out a little with my senpai’s graduation performances, but it's not a problem.

Izumi: Good.

Sakuya: So you help your senpai with their graduation performances.

Banri: The graduation performance is too big so there isn’t enough people to help out.

Plus, helping out is a good learning experience.

Tsumugi: Life at art school sounds like fun.

Tenma: That seems like alot of stuff, showing up here and there, doing various things. [?]

なんだかんだ、あちこち顔出して、色々やってるよな。

Banri: The people around me, including my senpai, kouhai, and instructors, are all people who are devoting their lives to theater and dance, which is very stimulating.

I thought I would make the most of this wonderful environment while I was at university.

Izumi: (He’s trying to absorb everything and grow.)

How reliable.

Tenma: I won’t lose so I have to work hard too.

Sakuya: Me too, I’ll keep looking for things I can learn as well!

Izumi: I'm also going to consult with Yuzo-san next Saturday to think about what I can do as a General Director.

Banri: You chose the toughest place yourself. [?]

自ら一番厳しいとこ選んだな。

[yuzo-san is a strict and tough teacher?]

Tsumugi: But, there’s alot to be gained.

Izumi: I’m prepared to work hard so I’m going to do my best! I have to grow just like everyone else.

As a troupe member, or as an individual, let’s all work together to improve our performance until the Mankai Show.

Sakuya: Yes!

—

Izumi: Oh, is it that late already? I have to go out soon. I guess that's all for today's meeting. Please contact every member from each group.

Sakuya: Yes, itterasshai.

Tsumugi: Ah, that’s right, Director——and she’s gone.

Tenma: What’s wrong?

Tsumugi: I was thinking of giving her a ticket to a play since I won't be able make it….. [?]

俺が行けなくなった舞台のチケット、代わりに行ってもらおうと思ったんだけど･･…………。

Banri: A play?

Tsumugi: A play by “Hyakka Troupe”.

I had promised Sakuya-kun a long time ago to go see it with him, but we couldn't get tickets.….

Sakuya: We were finally able to with the help of Tsumugi-san’s acquaintance.

Tenma: Is “Hyakka Troupe” a theater company that won the Fleur Award last year?

Tsumugi: It was already famous, but it seems like it became even more popular after the Fleur Award.

I was looking forward to it, but due to my part- time job as a private tutor, I’m not able to.

Banri: When?

Tsumugi: Next Saturday.

Tenma: Director, didn't she say she was going to meet Yuzo-san that day?

Tsumugi: Ah, I see….. That’s no good. I need to find someone else that could go.

Tenma: I also have work to do that day…..

Banri: I’m free though.

Tsumugi: Really? Then, Banri-kun, why don’t you go see it instead?

Banri: Yeah, I am curious to know what kind of theater troupe wins the Fleur Award.

Tsumugi: That’s great. This is the theater company that got Sakuya-kun interested in acting.

Sakuya: Yes. If I hadn't seen that theater company's play, I might not have started acting.

Banri: Heh. Now, I’m looking forward to it even more.

Sakuya: However, the actor I saw playing the captain may no longer be active.…..

Tenma: Many actors have been around for a long time, and even if they haven't, they're still involved in theater.

Sakuya: I hope so.

Tsumugi: Have fun.

Sakuya: Yes! Thank you very much!

Banri: (Life changing experience, huh…..) [?]

(原体験か…………………。)

(Well, I started acting by chance, so it’s nothing like that for me.)

(If I had to call it a "portrait".….? But I haven't done any of my own "portraits" on stage.)

—

masterlist △ next

Note: it was hard trying to figure out what 原体験 meant because mtl said “original experience” lol but after reading this chapter, im guessing it means an event that changed ones life, since they were talking about how hyakka troupe got sakuya into theater. i gave it some thought and translated it as “life changing experience”.

#a3!#a3! act addict actors #a3! translation #act 11 #main story #banri settsu #tenma sumeragi #sakuya sakuma #tsumugi tsukioka #mine

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oblivious-aro · 6 months ago

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can i request. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. for the aro ask thing. a lot of questions but I like me some powers of 2.

Words cannot describe how much I love that you just picked all of the powers of 2.

1. Where are you on the aro-spectrum?

Full on 100% aromantic. Not a drop of romance in me 😎

2. When did you first realise you were aro-spec?

I think it was late 2021/early 2022 at the ripe old age of 20 years old. Pretty good timing on my part, since Alice Oseman was on the cusp of getting big, and JaidenAnimations was just about to post her aro ace video.

4. What moments make you think, “Well, I’m definitely aro”

Sometimes if I think about certain aspects romance to hard, I get kind of...like...dizzy? It's like my brain just can't process romance at a certain level if I look at it too deeply. Specifically when people do romantic gestures.

Like when I saw caught a glance of a couple full on making out in middle school on my way out the door (I actually remember telling my dad about this on the car ride home in a state of semi-shock. He didn't seem to think this event was as noteworthy as I did), or when my brother holds his girlfriend's hand, or when my other brother was getting married and at one point wrote an itinerary on our whiteboard labelled "[Other Brother]'s Wedding".

My brain just can't grasp the idea that real people...actually...viscerally desire to do that. That it's so...natural to them...like an instinct.

It's not like I'm jealous or (necessarily) repulsed by the idea, I just simply cannot comprehend feeling or thinking that way. The concept is so...alien to me.

I strongly believe that alloromantic people do not feel this way ever.

8. What other identities are you, if any?

Asexual ♠️

That one's less significant to me, but also pretty neat. Was also a lot easier to figure out.

16. How do you feel about sex scenes/romantic plots/subplots in movies?

Sex scenes: When I was a teenager, they had kind of a "woah real sex things are happening in front of my eyeballs that's crazy" appeal, but now that I'm older they've lost the novelty and it's more like "Okay, I guess this is happening now :/".

Unless you're with other people when they happen. In that case they're HILARIOUS. The most cursed bonding experience ever. I wouldn't purposely seek it out, but there's nothing quite like watching the pony-play episode of Bones with 4 or 5 of your coworkers, all of whom are at least two decades older than you 👍.

Romance plots: There has to be some kind of connection for me to really get it, and even then it's more of a "this seems to make these characters happy, I'm glad for them". I don't really get any extra enjoyment from a romantic relationship that I wouldn't get from a platonic one.

On some level though, I'm usually thinking "this could've been a friendship".

I do get a bit excited about gay relationships becoming canon (go representation, woo!), but if I stop and think about it, I don't really get a lot out of the relationship itself, it's mostly just joy from seeing representation.

And I do enjoy seeing characters care about each other, and I'm happy for the audience that enjoys watching couples do couple stuff, but sometimes the romantic aspect gives me that kind of dissonance I mentioned in question 4.

That being said, I do think the attitude of "you can only love someone this much or show your affection for them in this particular way if there's romantic feeling involved" messed with my head a bit more than I realized, and I've kind of been mad about it recently.

If the romance plot has any kind of stupidity or stalling going on, I get irate very quickly. Especially stalling. If you want to do a romance plot, fine good for you, but like ACTUALLY DO IT!

Making the characters almost confess but then they get interrupted and go back to pining for another twelve seasons? Stab! Stab! Stab! You've been hinting these two are are destined by the writers to get together the whole series, but then suddenly one or both of them enters a romantic relationship with another character you know isn't going to last? Literally a bottom 10 least favourite trope, I always feel so bad for that 3rd party. Jail forever.

You know what kind of romance always hits good though? Power couple villains. I love how they're always boosting each other.

Long-time happily married couples are usually pretty good too. I think it helps that they're a bit chiller. And less prone to breaking into explosive maybe-toxic fights for drama.

In summary, I think it's fine, but I really crave more depictions of intimate non-romantic relationships.

#ask game #aromantic #aro #happy pride

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skye-huntress · 2 years ago

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The Witch from Mercury Reaction

Episode 1: “The Witch and the bride”

Now the fun part begins

So I know Suletta talks to Aerial all the time and treats her like a sister, and that Aerial is indeed sentient, but it hasn’t been clarified yet how much Aerial can actually communicate back. Would we ever be able to hear Aerial speak?

Asticassia School of Technology. Putting that here for myself as a reference for later because I have not memorised the name yet.

How was Suletta able to spot a person with how much she needed to zoom in on the screen? They must have been little more than a handful pixels on the screen at most.

It’s kind of worrying that in her rush to save a life she nearly steps on a few people on the way out.

As first meetings between potential couples go, it could be worse.

I am here for Suletta being an absolute awkward stuttering mess. I’m terrible with talking with people as well and if I grew up like she did I’d probably be just as bad, if not worse.

So apparently everybody knows Miorine’s plans to run away to Earth and I’m just wondering how much she has actually thought this through. If a pair of girls who are clearly not her friends know that much of her intentions, probably not her first attempt, and she hasn’t been as smart or secretive about it as she would need to be to succeed.

I’m somewhat interested in the duelling records of the other top pilots. Guel seems to have a perfect track record, though I wonder how much of that is due to actual skill, or if he has ever fought one of those other members of the duelling club.

He interrupted a class just to have Miorine as an audience to his ego trip. What a tool.

It’s interesting that despite everything going on, Miorine not only noticed Suletta in the line of fire but was the only one to risk her own life to drag her out of the way and even covered Suletta with her body when the mech fell.

Given what we know about her, I’m actually surprised that Miorine is allowed to own that little greenhouse. It’s clear that if Guel had his way she wouldn’t have had even that much for much longer, so I’m wondering if it was originally set up by her mother or something.

I can’t say I yet understand how Delling thinks but he seems to subscribe to the philosophy that the strong make the rules irregardless of any sort of logic or ethics, which would explain the current duelling system. That would suggest that he views his own daughter as weak and therefore unworthy of deciding anything for herself. She is basically a trophy, an object to be won and possessed, not seen as her own person.

Suletta is clearly not the confrontational type, and someone as violent as Guel is probably very intimidating to her, yet she still has such a strong sense of morality to stand up to him anyway, at least metaphorically speaking. It’s hilarious that she slapped him on the ass of all things and apparently hard enough to actually hurt him.

“Do you know who I am?” A walking cliche? Not only is Suletta so sheltered she doesn’t know, nor does she have any grasp on the concept of privilege, she is too idealistic (or naive) to care. She stood up to him aware of the risk that he could get physically violent with her, obviously she doesn’t care who his daddy is, even if she did know.

I like the switch to confidence at the mention of a duel. She doesn’t even hesitate at the prospect of being forced to leave the school. As far as I know, this girl has no actual combat experience, there is no reason she should be confident she can win at something she has never done before.

I get and respect why Miorine wanted to fight the duel herself, to win back her agency. I want that for her more than anything else. I also get that she didn’t expect Suletta to win and that if she didn’t do something the girl would have been kicked out school and her own situation wouldn’t have changed. All that said, she had no chance of winning.

Nika is just too nice.

I just noticed Guel actually does call Miorine a trophy. Ass.

Oh look, Suletta reciprocated the headbutt from earlier, they really are made for each other. I think this is the only time so far that Suletta has actually gotten mad at anyone. I suppose from her point of view, it’s a bit like Miorine kidnapped her baby sister. It sounds absurd when I say it out loud, which means I am absolutely going to keep calling Aerial that.

“If you run, you gain one. If you move forward, you gain two.” I get the purpose of this mantra was her mother’s way of encouraging Suletta to overcome her fears and take on new challenges, even at the risk of failure, but I do worry about how it would apply to life or death circumstances. In the prologue, her mother had no choice but to run, because to “move forward” would have meant throwing her own daughter’s life away. I have concerns that Suletta will one day put herself in a situation where the best course of action for her would be to run and she’ll make the wrong choice.

That was surprisingly easy and fast. For the supposed top dueller, Guel was easy to beat, which is why I questioned how good he actually is. His arrogance and hot-headedness would certainly work against him against a more level-headed opponent, so I wonder if he could have won against someone like Elan

Speaking of Elan, for someone who initially showed no interest in the duel, he was the first to speak up about Aerial potentially being a Gundam. That word certainly got Shaddiq’s attention

Congratulations to Suletta on her new engagement. I’m so proud, my girl is growing up so fast. Seems like just yesterday she started her first day at school. Actually, I’m pretty sure this all happened on her first day at school.

So I’m not surprised or concerned that she isn’t aware that same sex relationships are a thing. She’s lived on Mercury most of her life and obviously has very limited exposure to the outside world. Most of her knowledge of relationships probably come from media which we all know is heavily saturated with heteronormative content. Fortunately, Miorine seems to take it in stride and corrects her on it.

As for how Miorine feels, this is probably surreal for her. She didn’t win her freedom, but this obviously would give her a lot of breathing room. She knows Suletta is harmless, and she’s the first person in who knows how long to treat her like she is her own person. And if the arranged marriage did go ahead, being Suletta’s wife certainly wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen to her. Not that she plans on letting things get that far.

As for me, I don’t think the arranged marriage will happen. That is to say, I expect shit to hit the fan before that actually happens. When the dust settles and if Miorine lives to see it, perhaps then she’ll be free to make her own choices.

As a final note, there’s some irony in Suletta indirectly saving Delling’s life. That aside, I am not the least bit surprised that asshole had an assassination plot against him. There’s probably a long list of people that want him dead.

#the witch from mercury #g witch #g witch spoilers

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cleoselene · 2 years ago

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I posted 2,636 times in 2022

That's 762 more posts than 2021!

484 posts created (18%)

2,152 posts reblogged (82%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@sylvieons

@mariacallous

@greghouse

@elon-musks-disrespectful-nipples

@eatmystardustloser

I tagged 2,334 of my posts in 2022

Only 11% of my posts had no tags

#lmao - 157 posts

#lol - 140 posts

#henry cavill - 138 posts

#taylor swift - 122 posts

#the orville - 89 posts

#shadow and bone - 83 posts

#ben barnes - 76 posts

#lmfao - 57 posts

#star trek - 42 posts

#baseball - 41 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#i am like showing my age because i watched a couple eps of fleabag and felt scandalized like an old lady lol i was like oh no this is too yo

My Top Posts in 2022:

that 2022 existential dread feeling from watching DS9

Bashir: You know, Commander, having seen a little of the 21st century, how could they have let things get so bad? Sisko: That’s a good question. I wish I had an answer. [END EPISODE]

30 notes - Posted February 16, 2022

screaming at this amazing article:

“You see a single woman of 40, who has never had children – ‘Bless, that’s a shame, isn’t it? Maybe one day you’ll meet the right guy and that’ll change.’ No, maybe she’ll meet the wrong guy and that’ll change," he said. "Maybe she’ll meet a guy who makes her less happy and healthy, and die sooner.”

SCREAMING, I TELL YOU

68 notes - Posted May 13, 2022

legends only

293 notes - Posted June 26, 2022

Bill Nye wants you to vote and I know y’all love Bill Nye so there ya go

417 notes - Posted August 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Basic political concepts Americans should grasp

You have to vote in every election. Yes, every election. Not just the Presidential ones. You have to vote for Governor, Senator, Congresspeople – all of your state legislatures. You have to vote for mayor, city council, school board. You have to do this every single time. Republicans do this every single time. You can too.

It takes less time to tear things down than to build things up. This is why it’s so easy to be a Republican and accomplish Republican goals. They are destruction artists. It’s easy to eliminate rights, easy to eliminate social programs. Building and codifying and establishing these things is really fucking hard, takes time and patience. This sucks, I know. It sucks bad. But it’s just reality. So when you wonder why Republicans seem to accomplish more of their goals, it’s because their goals are to burn it all down. They’re not really goals so much as just torching shit.

Mistakes of the past will continue to haunt us and we will have to continue to fight against them. This really sucks, especially if you weren’t old enough to vote in previous elections. But we’re all handed what we’re handed in life, and the people who came before us who accomplished real change took what they were handed and did something with it, they didn’t just check out. And a lot of them fought really fucking hard so all of us could do #1 – VOTE. Do not spit on the memories of people who literally laid down their lives fighting for the right for all of us to vote by not voting or throwing your vote away.

We can learn a lot from the last generation of activists who accomplished significant change and a lot of those people are still with us, for now. Civil Rights Leaders still exist in our society, though they’re aging out. Take a look at what they’re saying, because you know what? They actually accomplished real change in their lifetimes, under really difficult circumstances. Believe it or not, there are older people you can learn from. We ignore the lessons of history to our peril.

Do you think you have something to offer? Run for local office. Or get involved with someone who is running for local office. YOU can make a difference if you get involved. But we also have to work together. Coalition-building has always been the key to liberal success.

752 notes - Posted June 25, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #i like all these top five posts #good content babes #thanks me

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renegadewangs · 3 years ago

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Van Zieks - the Examination, part 11

Warnings: SPOILERS for The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles. Additional warning for racist sentiments uttered by fictional characters (and screencaps to show these sentiments).

Disclaimer: (see Part 1 for the more detailed disclaimer.) - These posts are not meant to be taken as fact. Everything I’m outlining stems from my own views and experiences. If you believe that I’ve missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know so I can edit the post accordingly. -The purpose of these posts is an analysis, nothing more. Please do not come into these posts expecting me to either defend Barok van Zieks from haters, nor expecting me to encourage the hatred. - I’m using the Western release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for these posts, but may refer to the original Japanese dialogue of Dai Gyakuten Saiban if needed to compare what’s said. This also means I’m using the localized names and localized romanization of the names to stay consistent. -It doesn’t matter one bit to me whether you like Barok van Zieks or dislike him. However, I will ask that everyone who comments refrains from attacking real, actual people.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

Bring on the game's credits! BRING IT! The Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo part 2 is here!

Episode 2-5: The Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo, part 2

This is the first time in a while that I actually want to try other options to see what happens. The 'accusation' leads to some witty banter with a frustrated Stronghart, but 'report' is one that gets a reaction from Van Zieks himself. Ryu theorizes that 'since Klint was a well-bred and fastidious man, and knowing the end was near, he might have wanted to tie up some loose ends in all of his outstanding business'. Van Zieks immediately replies that his brother had no outstanding business.

DID I JUST GET PENALIZED BY THE DEFENDANT??? Just for implying his brother might've had some loose ends to tie up? Van Zieks really hates it when people show his brother even the slightest bit of disrespect, huh? Well, it's about to get a whole lot worse. Let's go for the confession option! Van Zieks definitely doesn't take kindly to this one.

“What are you saying? Do you even realise?! A confession...about the true identity of the Professor... That, that would mean...”

He fumbled his speech, there. We've never heard him do that before. And he's gone back to that bobbing, unsteady animation halfway into the above dialogue. Ryu insists it's the only explanation that fits. The man who murdered those members of the aristocracy wasn't Genshin Asogi at all, it was the one believed to be the fifth victim, Klint van Zieks himself.

Welp. We broke him. Stronghart remarks that Pandora's box has opened at last, making it clear he already knew what we just revealed. The gallery is outraged.

We've gone from well-bred to thoroughbred, have we? Susato feels very bad for Van Zieks, but Ryu asks himself whether such a brilliant prosecutor never suspected “what his older brother really was”. To clear up doubt further, he asks whether Klint Van Zieks owned a dog. Barok doesn't intend to dodge the facts of the situation, it seems.

Not what the concept art says, but it's possible Klint owned a different, smaller dog before Balmung. Van Zieks talks about how loyal the dog was and how it wore a jewel-studded collar which was stolen from the house “some years ago now”. This implies it was less than ten years ago, and must've been kept in the house as a keepsake even after Balmung passed away. Ryu and Susato bring up that they've seen such a collar; it was Selden's loot in case 2-2. They note the fancy B emblem on it, and this is the first time we find out that Klint van Zieks was a married man. His widow's maiden name was Baskerville. It's a little odd to me that for someone who thought so highly of his brother, Van Zieks never mentioned his sister in law before now. Conveniently, it never came up for the sake of a twist, I suppose. Either way, the emblem confirms the collar they saw was Balmung's. Ryu notes there was a considerable amount of blood on the collar (nobody washed this thing?) and while it could've come from typical hunting trips, it could just as well have been human blood. With that, the gallery begins to lean towards the truth that Klint van Zieks really was the Professor himself. Stronghart seems to have realized there's no way out of this now and announces that 'they may have the truth'.

Here comes that 'true nature' thing again, just worded a bit differently. Van Zieks doesn't intend to shirk away from it, though. He's open to the insinuation that his brother was, in truth, something truly horrible. Stronghart explains that Klint attempted to fight the growing darkness in London, only to end up being consumed by it. He also admits that after the fourth victim fell, Genshin showed up at his office, putting forth the accusation that Klint was the Professor. He didn't have any evidence and needed a warrant to get some, but Stronghart refused to anger the aristocracy based on the accusation of a visiting student, so he sent Genshin away. As a result, the man headed over to the Van Zieks mansion and Klint perished. Stronghart continues to admit that he was responsible for pinning the Professor's crimes on Genshin, right down to ordering Gregson to fabricate evidence. Sure enough, the late inspector's earlier claims ring true: it seems he did genuinely believe Genshin to be the killer, but was reluctant to falsify anything until Stronghart strong-armed him into it. The jailbreak agreement was also part of Stronghart's plan; he manipulated Genshin into agreeing by proverbially dangling his 14 year old son in front of him. Van Zieks brings up one more point: that Stronghart was the mastermind behind the Reaper organization. Not only does he admit to it, he calls it a “brilliant idea” and even takes credit for how his “minions” worked tirelessly to ensure Van Zieks was never accused of being the Reaper himself. What a smarmy bumhole. He insists it was all for the preservation of law and order across the empire, and the gallery is actually suckered into falling for this ploy. It seems as if he's going to get away with his masterminding without decent consequences. Kazuma now has one more question for Van Zieks, and it's the exact one Ryu asked himself earlier; did he never have any doubts about his brother?

“My brother's sense of justice was extremely strong. Perhaps...too strong, I observed. […] During the time of the Professor killings, my brother did not appear to be himself. But it was only once. Not more. Klint wasn't the culprit. That was my conclusion at the time. And I still believe that now. […] The third victim...was the Lord Chief Justice at the time. It was he who had recognized my brother's potential and trained him as a prosecutor. No matter what the circumstances, it's unthinkable that my brother could have killed his friend and mentor!”

So here, we learn that Klint wasn't an infallible paragon of virtue in his brother's eyes. Simply by saying that his sense of justice was “perhaps too strong”, a flaw is being brought to light. Younger Barok saw that Klint's need to ensure justice was overpowering him, and he also saw that during the time of the killings, something was off about his behavior. Enough to have the younger Van Zieks consider, for a brief time, that perhaps the Professor was him. However, the death of the third victim was like a lifeline to him, a flotation device keep him from going under- or perhaps more like a straw to grasp. It offered a sort of justification to him; a firm belief that Klint would never kill his own mentor and therefore he couldn't possibly be the Professor, and Barok was wrong to ever doubt him. However, it was just a very meager excuse to put his suspicions at ease and blind him to the truth. There are, after all, plenty of reasons why Klint would kill that Lord Chief Justice if indeed he were the Professor.

So Stronghart now tries to wrap everything up with a neat little bow, saying that's all the truth they'll be able to get from this trial and he'll present himself at the Ministry of Justice for whatever sanctions are deemed necessary. Since he's the Lord Chief Justice, I can't imagine the Ministry of Justice will give him more than a slap on the wrist. However, he says just a bit too much in his closing statement and Ryu jumps on that immediately. A third page of Genshin's will was hidden from everyone! Turns out, it was a personal message to Kazuma that they never bothered to send to Japan. Governor Caidin conveniently brought it with him and the contents are read aloud after some pressuring. With this last secret message left behind by Genshin, Ryu manages to find Klint's last will and testament hidden inside the Asogi clan's sword. GASP.

Oblivious to the shenanigans playing out in the Court Record section of the game, Stronghart once again tries to end the trial and even goes so far as to say Klint was basically insane when he took his mentor's life (to which Van Zieks objects fiercely). Ryu interjects, saying he has one more piece of evidence to present. When Stronghart calls the very notion absurd, Van Zieks once again raises an objection, pointing out that “this gentleman has an uncanny habit of producing evidence at the final hour that had escaped everyone else's attention.” Which, y'know, is true. That's how Ace Attorney works. I do want to draw attention to the fact that he said “this gentleman” as opposed to “this Nipponese” or even something like “this barrister”. He considers Ryu a gentleman now! So with that, Ryu has the opportunity to shove Klint's will in everyone's face and things escalate very quickly.

Ooh, his speech faltered again. He is shook! And it gets even better when he gets a closer look at the document.

Stronghart panics and demands Ryu hands the document over to him at once. When that fails, he even tries to forcibly adjourn the trial and get everyone to clear the courtroom. If that isn't suspicious, we don't know what is. It sure is satisfying to watch him squirm. Naturally, he can't actually put an end to the trial now- not with so many people watching, so the document is read aloud. It's revealed that Genshin challenged Klint to a duel, so that he might “depart this world with honor”. Klint goes on to write that he finds himself undeserving of this honor and that “the Japanese are a truly merciful people”. So here, already, we get the final nail in the coffin for Van Zieks's entire motivation for racial prejudice and for hating Genshin in particular. Klint never thought ill of Genshin, not even in his final moments. If anything, he was grateful for being put out of his misery and being allowed to 'depart the world with honor'. Genshin's actions were not betrayal; not ever. They were merciful. (COOL MOTIVE, STILL MURDER.) What we also learn is that while Klint did indeed take the life of the first victim on his own accord, he was then immediately identified as the culprit and blackmailed into the next three killings by someone else. You guessed it, it was Stronghart! Despite his earlier panic, he now has a myriad of justification ready, talking about how sacrifices have to be made for the sake of justice and whatnot. He also explains that he was the one who pressured Jigoku into shooting Genshin in the graveyard when Drebber showed up there. He acts like Jigoku is the only one to blame, but considering Stronghart was basically screaming in Jigoku's ear, I wouldn't be surprised if this poor man pulled the trigger by accident simply because he was startled by the shouting. Stronghart was the one who decided that Genshin needed to die and forced Jigoku to act, so Stronghart is the one ultimately responsible. Naturally, Ryu and Kazuma both attempt to argue Stronghart's justifications into the ground. At one point, Stronghart plays the victim card and asks them to acknowledge his 'struggle', but Kazuma insists that this jerk has done nothing and:

WELL. Okay. Looks like we've finally convinced Kazuma that Van Zieks is a victim in this whole ordeal, as well as someone who 'acts justly'. That's a wonderful way forward. With all this out in the open, though, Stronghart offers a literal round of applause. It's true; he's “done nothing” and “merely been surrounded by fools who've acted very rashly indeed”, which means he can't be charged with any crimes. We can't even prove he threatened anyone into doing his bidding, as he says it might as well have been “bargaining”. Thing is, bargaining with someone to end a third party's life is known as “contract killing” and is, in fact, illegal. I can't find any sources to verify whether it was already illegal in 1900 England, but I can only assume so, or people would've gotten away with murders very easily. I guess the bottom line here is that we can't prove Stronghart really did extort or pay anyone to take a life, since there's no material evidence for that sort of thing, nor anyone who can testify on it. Stronghart claims that the minutes of the trial will be heavily redacted to remove matters not related to Gregson's death, in the interest of preserving law and order, as well as to protect the queen. The gallery has now turned against us as well, chanting Stronghart's name.

Here we have a singular opportunity to deviate into the closest thing to a bad ending this game series has. Anyone who remembers the iconic 'the miracle never happen' ending in AA2, or even the bad endings in AA5 where either Trucy or Athena is implied to be killed by Aura, will be sorely disappointed by this one. First, to compare... In the standard ending, no matter how far along you've gotten in the trial- including proving that Stronghart was the Reaper- Van Zieks will still be found guilty. Stronghart will utter the words that he “would like to think however misguided, [Van Zieks] acted out of a sense of justice nonetheless”, and then pronounces the poor man guilty of crimes we've already proven were never committed by him. Now, in this slightly different ending, if you run out of all your penalty points because you fail to present Harely, the dialogue is tweaked. Stronghart declares that for the sake of justice, “the only correct course of action has been unanimously acknowledged by the clear majority here present. All mention of that which has been discussed in this courtroom today will be struck from the records. Barok van Zieks – Or should I say, Reaper of the Bailey... The heinous crimes committed by your brother, Klint van Zieks, will be lost in obscurity, this time forever. May you also find peace now as you join your sibling in the eternal darkness.”

And then, just as in the standard ending, Van Zieks is pronounced guilty and the doors slam shut. So effectively, the only real difference here is that Stronghart really rubs it in our faces that Van Zieks is taking the fall as the Reaper in the eyes of the public. He knows Van Zieks isn't the Reaper- everyone present in the courtroom knows it. However, since the entirely gallery is siding with the real mastermind, the minutes of the trial will be confiscated and destroyed so that the truth will be lost forever. Neither Kazuma nor Ryu reacts to this turn of events on-screen, which is a shame. Van Zieks doesn't fight the adjudication either, he simply accepts the verdict in silence- Hang on, where have we heard that before? Genshin? And didn't Van Zieks say that so long as his death served a purpose, he wouldn't mind dying over being called the Reaper? Stronghart certainly seems to feel that Van Zieks ought to be thrown under the omnibus and sent to the gallows for the sake of minimizing crime in London.

But we're not going to let the true antagonist of this game get away with his bullshit! Time to pull Harely's ears! Cue another (S)Holmeus Ex-Machina where it turns out the entire secret trial has been livestreamed to the Queen of England through holograms. By royal decree, Stronghart is stripped of his title and will be prosecuted for his crimes at a later time. FINAL BOSS, DEFEATED.

With Stronghart out of the way, Van Zieks has some closing sentiments to offer.

“Is that my brother left this world without a word to me.”

I can see why that might bug him. Van Zieks always looked up to his brother and shielded him from disrespect even a decade after his death, but Klint in turn didn't seem to want to leave any parting sentiments for him, not even a simple farewell. That's not the case, though! Susato points out there's actually more to Klint's will than was read aloud, so let's hear it now.

“Barok, you have always looked up to me, and now, you follow in my footsteps to become a prosecutor. It is my fervent wish that my unspeakable deeds should not hinder your advancement. I ask not for understanding, for none could understand my depravity. I ask only for forgiveness. Asogi is a fine detective, and a hunter worthy of respect. He has agreed to honour my final two wishes. The first is that this document survives. The second... I cannot commit to paper. I have confessed my sins to my wife. May she find resolution in my death. With my eternal gratitude to my Japanese friend, I rest my quill.”

Imagine how different things would've ended if the will had found its way to Van Zieks shortly after Klint's death. It would've prevented so much grief and so much prejudice, because if Van Zieks had learned that Klint still regarded Genshin with so much respect and gratitude even in this situation, he would never have blamed him for Klint's death nor considered it too great a betrayal. Everything that happened was in line with Klint's wishes. As it stands now, the words in Klint's will basically serve to scold Van Zieks for his attitude and hatred these past ten years.

Yep, there we go. The final straw. He's been truly, utterly embarrassed and made to confront his mistakes. When Stronghart explains how his ambition to become Attorney General is what prompted him to silence people like Watson and Gregson. Van Zieks asks him whether he ever bothered to count the number of brilliant people he had killed. Kind of a questionable remark, since Stronghart mostly had criminals killed. We don't even know for sure whether Watson was a good person or not; he comes across as a cowardly skeeve. I guess Van Zieks is mostly talking about Genshin, but even that is... Uh...

I received an Ask a while back, bringing up the matter that Genshin appears to be exonerated of any wrongdoing when the truth of Klint's death is revealed. That despite duels being outlawed and it being literal murder, Kazuma seems to take this truth as his father's name being cleared. Indeed, going over everything we've learned so far, it feels as if the narrative has set up both Klint and Genshin, and even characters like Jigoku and Gregson, as victims of Stronghart's manipulation. The thing is, though... Both Genshin and Klint took at least one life of their own free will, Jigoku pulled a trigger twice for the sake of his own career (and recruited someone into an assassin plot), Gregson conspired with a notorious assassin to commit over a dozen murders just because his boss told him it was the right thing to do... Feeling bad about murder or resorting to it because 'the other person is even worse and needs to be stopped' doesn't change that it's murder. It doesn't seem as if Kazuma or anyone else outright says their loved ones are absolved of any responsibility/their names are cleared, but it does really come across as if the narrative wants you to forgive them. So uh... Yes. This is something the game should have properly addressed, instead of just going 'oh, these poor people, all used as puppets by the final boss'.

Anyway, (S)Holmes takes the time to remind Van Zieks that he's the defendant in this case, not the prosecutor. Our old friend Santa Judge returns for the adjudication! Turns out, he was in the gallery all along. (Was he chanting Stronghart's name too?) He talks about how the darkness of the past ten years has lifted, in part thanks to a bright young star from the East. Awww, we've completely won over the judge! Van Zieks now also has something to add.

“I had the faintest of intimations. That if British justice, so warped and twisted over its long history, was finally to know change... This might just be the man to do it. But at the time, I wouldn't allow myself to acknowledge the possibility. I couldn't overcome my hatred of the Japanese, after the circumstances of my brother's death. Mr. Naruhodo...”

He takes a flourishing bow here, an acknowledgment that Ryu is worthy of his respect and perhaps even that Ryu is superior to him, then stands up straight again for the final whammy.

Ryu is shocked and Susato is brought to tears. We did it, y'all. We've secured the full, heartfelt apology. I'm not sure there's really anything to add to this, nor anything we could want from it at this point in time. Ryu doesn't say he forgives Van Zieks for his discourtesies, but considering how hard he worked to get this guy cleared of murder, that would feel kind of out of place. The forgiveness happened long before Van Zieks apologized, or so is the implication. (Is that the correct narrative path? Not at all, but I'll get back to that in the conclusion.) So after some more closing words from Ryu, Van Zieks gets his not-guilty verdict and court is adjourned.

In the defendant's lobby, Ryu feels a bit conflicted about how this whole thing went down. Susato tries to cheer him up by saying that everything will seem much better once he sees Van Zieks's smiling face. Indeed, in most other Ace Attorney games, this would be the point where at last, an emotionally distant defendant/witness drops their walls and allows themselves to smile (or cry). Just think of Gina, Lana Skye or even Athena Cykes when she cries tears of joy during AA5's ending. Hilariously enough, Van Zieks is not one of those characters.

This is a really fun subversion of expectations and Ace Attorney tropes. And I still believe his face got frozen like that. Even so, he's got something heartfelt to say.

“For you to have risen to the level of excellence you demonstrated today... Well, it's quite remarkable.”

Sounds like a hatchet job of a compliment at first glance, but the sentiment is there. It is extremely remarkable for a foreign exchange student who's only been in the country for about 9 months- and who only spent like 2 of those as an active lawyer- to rise to such a level that he not only uncovers the truth of the current case, but of a cold case from 10 years prior, which was part of a huge cover-up. Ryu points out that he exposed a most 'unpalatable truth' in court and that he feels as if he robbed Van Zieks of something precious. Van Zieks doesn't seem to agree. He reminisces on Stronghart's words.

“But that... That was just the feeble excuse of a coward. Only those with a steadfast eye for the truth have what it takes to fight the dark forces of crime. You made fine work of establishing that fact in court today.”

So once again, he's complimenting Ryu's courtroom performance. Not only that, but he's acknowledging (in different words) the earlier sentiment that the truth needs to come out, no matter how painful. Perhaps, indirectly, he's calling himself a feeble coward as well. Ryu and Susato are proud of Van Zieks's growth, with Susato saying that surely Kazuma would be smiling if he were here. Naturally, when he shows up at that very second, he isn't smiling at all. Like mentor, like disciple! Kazuma takes a polite bow before Van Zieks and congratulates him on his acquittal. Naturally, after watching Kazuma prosecute so ferociously for two whole episodes, that doesn't feel sincere. Van Zieks asks him whether he doesn't instead want to curse him. Kazuma apologizes for his earlier behavior, which does feel 100% sincere.

“Your father, Genshin... If I had been stronger, then perhaps... I made an unforgivable error of judgment. … I can offer no excuse.”

One more apology to add to the pile! And here we once again reach that question of whether the narrative is acting like Genshin should be absolved of all blame. In a technical sense, Van Zieks wasn't wrong to prosecute Genshin, since he did seriously murder Klint. That alone is already warranting of the death penalty, so the added crimes of the Professor on top of that don't change too much. However, I don't think Van Zieks's lines truly relate to the Professor trial itself. The error of judgment, in my eyes, can also be seen as the blind acceptance that Genshin betrayed him (as well as Klint) when there was actually far more at play. This notion that Genshin was a horrid traitor who abused their trust and hospitality was then allowed to grow into an irrational hatred which festered for a decade. Regardless of whether Genshin killed Klint, the insistence that the man's true nature was that of a monster was wrong, and I think that's what he's apologizing for. To be clear, he's not apologizing for racist sentiments uttered towards Kazuma or anyone else from Japan with these lines. This purely relates to his treatment of Genshin. However, he already apologized for his many discourtesies back in the courtroom and I think the racist outbursts were part of those discourtesies.

Kazuma says he can offer no forgiveness, which is totally fair. Kazuma isn't obligated to forgive this man. He does, however, admit that he has respect for Van Zieks, since he “fought for justice and the truth”.

Awww! Remember how in my very first 'strong thought about Barok' post, I pointed out that Barok almost appears to have been designed to be Kazuma's rival prosecutor instead of Ryu's? Yeah. Here we see it very clearly. The reconciliation conversation between these two feels like a much better resolution than the conversation between Van Zieks and Ryu.

So now Kazuma brings up that Genshin promised to do two things for Klint, but the second wasn't mentioned in the will. Mikotoba shows up to share a very heartbreaking tale about Klint's unnamed widow, the lady Zieks-Baskerville, who was hiding out in Dartmoor and passed away from childbirth very shortly after Genshin was executed. The newborn baby girl survived, though! Van Zieks blurts out that that makes no sense. “Why on Earth wouldn't Klint have entrusted the child to my care in that case?!” And that alone is already kind of tragic, but what really packs a wallop is this:

This means Klint and his wife deliberately kept the pregnancy from him. It's never explained why. Genshin showed up at the manor in the spur of the moment and Klint died that very same night, when his wife must've already been around 8 or 9 months pregnant. (she gives birth about a week or two later, after all.) Klint says that he 'confessed his sins to his wife', but that also must've been very recent, if not that very same night, since Stronghart was threatening to tell Klint's wife and brother of his misdeeds. Stronghart's hold on Klint would've weakened if he'd told her the truth months ago, which in turn implies the both of them decided not to tell Barok while she herself was still oblivious to the Professor truth. Honestly, it all feels like a vague plotconvenience.

What is explained is why the newborn baby wasn't entrusted to Van Zieks. It isn't because Klint had the amazing foresight to know his younger brother would become a salty, loner alcoholic; it's because he and his wife feared the truth of the Professor might come out. Heck, if Genshin had never been arrested for Klint's death, perhaps it would've come out for certain. “The girl would be forever branded as the daughter of the infamous mass murderer.” So the baby girl was distanced from the Van Zieks family as much as possible, with all of London unaware of her existence. This girl is, of course, Iris.

Right on cue, the Harely plushie activates to receive a call from (S)Holmes and Iris. She invites everyone over to 221B for a feast and makes sure to invite “Mr. Reaper” too. He very awkwardly declines the offer.

Humanization? Humanization! He does, however, give Iris his word that he'll present himself at 221B in the near future to express his gratitude. I think a big part of why he declined the offer was because he wouldn't feel at home during the big celebration when a whole group of people is there. He'd much rather visit Iris during a more quiet, private moment and that's sweet too. Plus, I don't think he's in the mood for a celebration, considering all the horrible truths he's learned in a single day.

So now Kazuma prepares to leave and asks Van Zieks to accompany him. The wording of “would you care to-” makes it very clear this isn't a demand, it's a very soft request that Van Zieks is free to decline. Not that he hesitates for even a second. Here's some more parting words.

“I believe... You saved my life.”

He takes a deep, flourishing bow and honestly I've lost track of how many times he's praised/thanked Ryu by now. More than Edgeworth thanked Phoenix, most likely. The prosecutor duo prepares to walk away, but Ryu calls after Van Zieks, asking him to wait. Which he does. Ryu asks him what he intends to do now.

... “Prosecutor van Zieks chooses death”??? In a way, he's thinking of pulling a similar move. He intends to publicize the full truth of the Professor, and I can only imagine that includes Stronghart's involvement in what went down 10 years ago. Maybe he'll even share the truth of the Reaper who's haunted the courtroom all these years. He believes that “once that's done, the Van Zieks family will be ostracised completely from London society.” (I don't think he means living family members, but rather, the legacy of the Van Zieks name and the rights associated with it.) So because of that, he intends to leave the capital as soon as he's free of his employment. Considering how easily this man took a five year sabbatical and adding in the fact that the Lord Chief Justice just got arrested, I expect his resignation could be as easy as packing his desk and leaving his office without saying a word. Kazuma, however, calls him a fool and a coward. He basically dares Van Zieks to keep going now that he's finally freed from the pseudonym of the Reaper. Van Zieks neither agrees with the sentiment nor shoots it down, instead saying it's unexpected to hear those words from Kazuma of all people. With that out in the open, they leave for realsies.

Just as Van Zieks doesn't attend the Baker Street party, he isn't there when Ryu's at the docks to return to Japan. I like to think Kazuma did bother to tell Van Zieks that Ryu is leaving the country, because withholding that information seems like a bit of a jerk move, but... Well. Not showing up at the docks to say some final farewells is even more of a jerk move on Van Zieks's part. Though it's possible he felt he wasn't wanted there, and may eventually ask for Ryu's address so he can write a letter (which is far less imposing than invading a heartfelt farewell with a scowling face). It's a shame, though. I would've liked to hear his thoughts on Ryu's departure.

We learn that Kazuma will “stay in Lord van Zieks's tutelage for the time being” to become a full-fledged prosecutor. Which is fine, I guess. It doesn't matter whether he's a defense attorney or a prosecutor; all that matters is the pursuit of the truth. What catches my interest is that even with all that bad blood and refusal to forgive Van Zieks, Kazuma still agrees to keep studying as his disciple. This implies to me that he sincerely doesn't believe Van Zieks to be a bad person anymore, and acknowledges he can learn a lot from this man. Which is not the same thing as being on friendly terms with him, but at the very least he's giving Van Zieks the benefit of the doubt when it comes to improving their... Well, their dynamic, I suppose I should call it.

On to the credits scenes we go! This time, Van Zieks legit does get a scene of his own, but before we address this one, I want to skip ahead real quick to Albert Harebrayne's scene.

“He sent me a very nice letter saying he'd like to show me around now that everything was settled. B-But what have I done? I was so excited, I picked this splendid hotel and now I can't afford the bill! Oh Barok! Come to my rescue again, please! I, I wish I could just vanish into thin air sometimes!”

Several things of note can be taken out of this little scene. First of all, with the Reaper nonsense behind them, Van Zieks seems to have wasted very little time with asking his best buddy to return to London for that sightseeing that was promised. Presumably, he even paid for the trip (again), since Albert still seems to be very low on money. This, coupled with the fact that Van Zieks was reading that letter with quite a bit of dedication in his jail cell, indicates to me that he's longing for the good old days, when he could smile and have friends. He's trying to return to a sense of normalcy and since Albert is still considered his closest friend, it makes sense he'd reach out to him instead of a relative stranger like Kazuma. Baby steps. Now, the fact that Albert says “come to my rescue again” sets the very clear tone that this guy believes Van Zieks has helped him before- during the trial, of course. It's another reinforcement of the notion that Albert is thankful Van Zieks chose the role of prosecutor in order to defend the teleportation theory, even if it meant that he himself would be branded a murderer. Despite his gruff exterior and blunt words, Albert thinks of Van Zieks as a sort of knight in shining armor who will come save him. … With cold hard cash, in this case, but it's the gesture that counts. Van Zieks might allow Albert to stay in his mansion instead, but it depends how high the risk of assassination is at this point in time. People are probably hating on the Van Zieks family now that the truth of the Professor is out.

On to credits scene of Van Zieks himself! We have confirmation by now that he hasn't retired as a prosecutor, since Kazuma already expressed his intent to keep studying under him. So we see Van Zieks in his office, addressing Klint's painting.

“In those days, when I was known as the Reaper, I felt your presence at my side. Once, unable to bear the burden of that grim pseudonym, I even retired from the courtroom. Despite everything, I still wear your prosecutor's badge with pride. But the darkness that beset me is no more. As you, too... Are no more.”

The first two sentences of this bit feel very disjointed and barely related to me, so I had a quick look at some fan translations. First is the sub translation on Youtube: “I could feel you standing by my side through the days in which I was called the Reaper. Yet there were times I could not bear the burden of that name, and left the courtroom far behind me.” The “yet” is very crucial, since it makes the insinuation that feeling his brother's presence was very important to Van Zieks, but the burden became so overwhelming that he retired anyway. Taisa the Gamer's script doesn't have a “yet” in it, nor any equivalent, but the sentence structure still flows well enough not to cast doubt on how he felt about Klint's supposed presence. Contrasting that, the localization's wording with “even” almost makes it seem like feeling Klint's presence was a negative thing- that he was overwhelmed by it and that this was the burden associated with the Reaper name, as opposed to the killings. Which can't possibly be right; he already admitted to us that the idea of his brother's ghost helping him was one of the main reasons he kept on being the Reaper. So long story short, the localization's take on these first two lines is a little off.

The prosecutor's badge thing, however, is spot on. Despite everything- despite the 'true nature' of Klint now exposed, Van Zieks still wears the badge with pride. We know the badge is symbolical, of course. He still believes in Klint's sense of justice and he's still going to openly admit to being Klint's brother- to being a Van Zieks. That's sweet. He goes on to say that the darkness within him is no more. To really grasp what that means, let's go back to the end of case 2-3 for a second. There, Van Zieks says that after his brother's death, he found himself in “a very dark place indeed”. In case 2-4, he mentions that he refuses to trust others to protect himself against betrayal, but has now sunk into a proverbial mire which makes it impossible to breathe. All of that is the same darkness he's referring to now, I'm sure. I don't believe depression can lift this easily; there's no way that darkness is no more. However, I think what he means to say is that it no longer has such a strong hold on him that it manifests in paranoia and irrational hatred. He has a chance now to start fresh and that's what he intends to do. He's striding away from that darkness, towards a brighter future. In order for a person to change for the better, they themselves have to want to change, and it looks like Van Zieks is all for that. Which at last brings us to the conclusion of this essay series! The conclusion, which looks back on the original query posed in Part 1, will once again include a load of screencaps. To keep the post size lighter, I'm going to put it in a separate post. I hope you'll look forward to it!

#dgs #dgs spoilers #tgaa #tgaa spoilers #barok van zieks #ALMOST THERE #HHHHHHHHH

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kitkatopinions · 3 years ago

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It feels so out of place how the narrative and the characters have always treated the Atlas military (alternatively suspicious, tyrannical or incompetent), yet when push came to shove that same military fought and died for hours against Salem's invasion to protect the tens of thousands of people trapped in Atlas BECAUSE of Ruby while Ruby sat and drank tea. How long did that battle go for? Four hours? Five? And if that wasn't enough, it only ended because Oscar was only covering the escape. 1/2

No lie, I feel like the world they invented pretty much requires the presence of a militarized force to sustain itself and it's one reason why approaching the Atlas military as 'point blank bad with no gray area' and approaching Hunters with 'point blank good with no gray area' makes no sense to me.

I've seen fans literally say that they knew Atlas, its military, and James were bad from the get go because of the use of the words army and military, and that army = bad, but ffs it's a fantasy world where the rules are one hundred percent different than the real world. The world of Remnant we're presented with is one with dark monsters thriving on negativity and attacking indiscriminately, reproducing at a fast rate, and adapting while showing intelligence and the understanding of consequences. They're known to bring down towns when something goes wrong, like a bandit raid. Single Grimm can take down whole towns. Panic stirs up Grimm activity and enough of it can bring down whole Kingdoms. The Hunter system we've been shown is A. corrupt, and B. a profession that doesn't seem to churn out a good many hunters, and many of the Hunters we see are concerned with big picture things or specific tasks, or retired or dead, due to the inherent danger level of the job. There simply aren't enough Hunters. There aren't enough Hunters to run border control, to protect the cities if they get attacked, to ferry kids back and forth from school while Grimm activity is up, to investigate suspicious activity and handle it when things go wrong, to save civilians when push comes to shove, to be parts of secret organizations while also maintaining their oaths to protect. Hunters seem more like specialists, at least from what I've seen in show. They're trained to be able to take on high level threats and go through a rigorous program, but they can't act as the only line of defense, partially due to their lack of numbers. They aren't actually the driving protective force keeping the Grimm out of the kingdoms on a day to day, hour by hour basis.

We see this over and over again in the show. Hunters get overwhelmed, towns fall, cities fall, they can't do the work of hundreds of people. Teams RWBYJNR and the Happy Huntresses never would've been able to protect Mantle from a direct attack from Salem, for example, when they couldn't even keep all the civilians safe from the Grimm that were occurring naturally due to political upheaval and unrest. In a world where demon monsters from hell will manifest and attack if too many people feel negatively at once and feelings of safety and security are needed to try and prevent the Grimm from coming in droves, an army is the only real solution here. Remnant is not the real world, the way we view armies is not automatically the way the people in Remnant view armies. And in fact, the show in the early seasons does a very strange thing; they have Ozpin express a belief that unrest and nervousness will occur due to James bringing his fleet to Vale (with every sign pointing to him having been asked there by the Vale Council,) and yet the reactions that we do see are actually the opposite, but this is still somehow heralded as foreshadowing by both the fans and seemingly the show itself. From Ruby geeking out about seeing the Atlas robots being displayed, to everyone being relieved and awed when the army showed up to protect everyone in the episode "Breach," where Atlas ships saved Ruby and she gave a grateful smile, salute, and wave, the Atlas military seems well received.

And the Atlas robotic soldiers taking down Grimm as civilians run past during the Fall is another example.

Even Oz, Qrow, and Glynda who were the only three people to express mistrust or anxiousness towards the presence of the army in Vale, are only seen either telling James to use his army (Oz,) or are seen fighting by the army's side, and then being welcoming and taking direct orders from James without being even the slightest bit suspicious of him.

We don't see the supposed anxiousness and mistrust in anyone outside of Oz, Qrow, and Glynda, who all one hundred percent trusted James anyway and were only worried that everyone else would be worried. The fact that Watts (someone everyone thought was dead) managed to hack the Atlas robots, has been the only negative effect we saw in the first three seasons, and that's not due to any corruption or mistake on the part of the Atlas army or James himself (something going horribly wrong in a way no one could expect due to the evil actions of a group of other people is not actually the fault of the person trying and succeeding to do good until the group of other people did bad.)

I could get into more reasons to not think the Atlas army is corrupt, but I don't want this post to get too long, and I want to address your very right statements about the way they portrayed their protagonists versus the army even while they were trying to push the concept that the Atlas army is corrupt and bad.

Ironwood: Desperately doing whatever he can to save lives from Salem, planning ways to bring down the Whale Grimm, trying to protect the Relics and the Maiden from Salem's grasp.

Team RWBY and co: Risking the lives of literally everyone on purpose because they don't want to be in a no win situation, preventing Ironwood from taking life saving actions because it won't save every live, expressing zero concern or grief for the hundreds dying to Salem on the battlefield.

The Ace Ops: Trying to navigate their morals while they do what they can to try and protect the civilians in Atlas who are directly in danger, trying to convince Penny to actually save people, planning to take down the whale grimm even if they have to suffer knowing a kid died in the process of protecting hundreds and likely thousands of other kids directly in danger of dying.

Team RWBY and co: Prioritizing their friends, prioritizing missions that logic says won't help people especially with the fall of Atlas making it impossible to protect everyone who's going to be in danger, picking fights with people who are trying to save others.

Team FNKI: Delving into war and battle while facing their fears, trying to protect people, trying to do the job they chose and stare floods of Grimm down.

Team RWBY and co: Drinking tea in mansions, worrying about their love lives, crying on staircases, laughing with a murderer...

Even while they were having Ironwood shoot down people that stood in his way and express that he wished he'd thought about torture and sending bomb threats, they still didn't have the protagonists actually seem like likable, convincingly good protagonists that I would want to root for. It seems like they had to try hard to make James someone people couldn't root for because they couldn't make Ruby and her team actually right, effective, and good. They really seem so selfish, immature, unprepared, and entitled. Which isn't to say that the protagonists can't have those flaws, but they're not getting treated like flaws, which is the most frustrating thing.

Before the writers needed to push their message that Ironwood is completely evil and everything he's involved with is inherently wrong, we didn't get much sign that the Atlas army was corrupted and bad, because projecting real world standards onto a fantasy world that we know is very different from ours isn't it. That's not to say that I think 'not showing us this system is corrupted early' means that there's no possible corruption, but I think it's clear that the fandom pushed narrative that the Atlas army is inherently bad and worse somehow than being a Hunter which is somehow much better is very biased, especially when we also see corruption in the Hunter profession.

Making James and the Ace Ops do vile thing didn't make the protagonists seem better. They still fell way short of adequate.

#rwde #anti rwby #rwby bashing #rwby hate #fndm hate #pro general ironwood #pro ironwood #pro james ironwood #pro IW #iw antis leave me alone

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dialovers-translations · 4 years ago

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DIABOLIK LOVERS MORE, BLOOD OFFICIAL VISUAL FANBOOK ー Interview Vol. 2 feat. Nao Nakamura

Source: DIABOLIK LOVERS MORE, BLOOD Official Visual Fanbook

Release date: 2013

Huge thank you to @keithvalentinex for providing the raw scans!

SECTION 1: Q&A

Q1. When was the series’ sequel decided on?

A: Around the time the first game ‘DIABOLIK LOVERS’ was released in stores. We were fortunate enough to have already received news of an anime adaption at the time, so at some point we played with the idea of creating a fan disc to go along with it. However, if possible we wanted to hype up the series even more in anticipation of the anime’s release, which is how the production of a ‘DIABOLIK LOVERS MORE, BLOOD’ series came to realisation.

Q2. Did you plan on introducing a set of 4 new characters during the early phases of development?

A: The initial draft we received from Rejet-sama mentioned four characters. We figured that with that amount, we could pack it into one game and create an equal amount of content as we did for the Sakamaki’s, so we proceeded with said idea. At one of the first brainstorm sessions, we casually dropped the idea of creating a game with 6 Do-M characters... (lol) However, that would stray too far away from the core concept behind ‘DIABOLIK LOVERS’, so it obviously got rejected. (lol)

Q3. How did you go about writing the characters’ dialogue and actions?

A: I believe that the previous installment can be regarded rather groundbreaking within the genre of otome games. However, the boys coming across as too strong to the point where it would prevent someone from delving deeper into their character is something we reflected upon. We wanted to make up for that this time and created this game with the intend of exploring them even further.

Q4. What did you struggle the most with while writing the script?

A: This doesn’t apply solely to the script, but the fact there are so many romanceable characters in this game is what made it so difficult. However, we did not want there to be a difference in quality between the different characters’ routes. Despite our strong wish to please the playerbase, it made the distribution of time very difficult. The writers would first pen down the script, then Rejet-san would do the proofreading and make adjustments and then pass it on to us. However, reading a script while playing a game or simply reading it on paper is still different, so we were making minute changes down to the very last minute of development. We ran through the same process for the last game, but this time around, the total amount of content was just very large. We once again felt the struggle of putting in so many characters to choose from. However, we did this to create an even better game, so it was worth the struggle.

Q5. Which character caused you the most problems while writing the script?

A: All of the Sakamaki’s. The four Mukami brothers who make their appearance in this installment may be Vampires, but they were once human just like the heroine, so in terms of emotions, they tend to sympathize with her more. As a result, it only makes the Sakamaki’s seem even more like they are the villains of the story. While this may seem obvious given their original setting of being both ‘Vampires’ and ‘extreme sadists’, it makes it very easy for the otome game element as well as the feelings they end up developing for the heroine to be lost, in which case they would no longer be the six brothers we wanted to deliver. Therefore, it was very difficult to convey to the player that the love they harbor for the heroine eventually makes them change, while still preserving the sadistic tendencies which stem from their nature as Vampires at the same time. The player base has spent quite a bit of time interacting with these brothers, and I am sure it was not always easy, but I hope said message was delivered to those who played our game.

Q6. Is there a character who underwent drastic changes compared to the last game?

A: All of them are still the same at the core, so my impression of them did not change depending on the scenario. I believe minor changes were done to the way some of the characters are drawn, but personally I perceive each character as a mix of both their previous and current representation.

Q7. In this game, each section is divided into a ‘Situation Part’ and ‘Story Part’. Could you explain your intentions behind this?

A: When collecting feedback on the previous game, we received many complaints about the different chapters feeling inconsistent and all over the place. However, we always intended ‘DIABOLIK LOVERS’ to be a game in which the player gets to enjoy these different kind of ‘situations’, so without losing this part of the enjoyment, we figured we had to make the plot progression easier to grasp, which is how the current structure was implementend. To make it even more clear to the player, we divided it into two sections and gave each of them a title, changing the names as well.

Q8. What are parts which have greatly improved or parts you want us to focus on in comparison to the first game?

A: To ensure the player gets to enjoy the development in the heroine and characters’ thoughts and feelings, we applied small adjustments till the very last second. We hope that the people playing the game will take notice of this as well.

Q9. Why do you think the series has received such a great amount of support?

A: I believe the impact of the ‘Do-S Vampire’ concept, Satoi-san’s eye-catching illustrations and the charm of the cast who voices the characters all play a big part in this. Furthermore, I also believe that the simultaenous announcement of both drama CDs and a game which took place during the early stages of development had a large influence as well. We were able to make a smooth transition from the release of the CDs to the release of the games, which made it easier for the fans to follow along with the franchise. We truly are grateful for that!

Q10. Were there any ideas you wanted to incorporate in this game, but were unable to do in the end?

A: This game features the same selection segment as the previous one in which scenario’s 1 ~ 6 raise your love meter, while scenarios 7 ~ 10 raise the SM meter. However, we implemented the distinction between the ‘situation part’ and ‘story part’ this time, so it might have actually been even more enjoyable if the situation part raises the SM meter instead...I think. Those kind of features may vary depending on the vision of the director and staff members, so I would like to use this experience to think of various possible routes for future installments, as well as to settle on an end product which is fitting for the franchise. Furthermore, this may seem like a task without an end but I believe that the voicing plays a big factor in delivering the story. It is a vital element of conveying the message you want to tell, in a way that whether or not the player understands the plot is often highly dependent on the voice work. Every time I find myself wanting to perfect this, but it is difficult to supervise all of it just by myself...However, there’s always next time, so I’d love to squeeze in the time to thoroughly check this!

Q11. Do you have any more games planned for the series at present? Would you personally like to create more sequels?

A: We do not as of now, but if there is a strong demand for it, we might just be able to develop another game. Personally I would like to make a stereotypical ‘fandisc’ but the very first thing that comes to mind with those is a 'sweet, romantic story’ so I do struggle a little envisioning how that would play out with a cast made out of nothing but intense characters.

Q12. Please leave a message for the fans.

A: Thanks to the support we have received from all of you, we were able to create so much content for this franchise. I put my heart and soul into this game, so I sincerely hope that many people will enjoy it. Your impressions and encouraging messages are a great motivator as well, so I am eagerly awaiting those! The series may deliver new installments in the future, and to ensure that you all can continue to enjoy ‘DIABOLIK LOVERS’, we will continue to try our hardest together with Rejet-san, so we’d be happy if you could send us your heartfelt support.

SECTION 2: THEIR FAVORITE EPISODES

Sakamaki brothers: The final few chapters of Ayato’s route left a strong impression on me. I couldn’t help but wonder if somebody could truly be that stubborn and in denial about their own feelings, insistent on calling the girl they love ‘a prey’ till the very end. I felt so frustrated when the heroine’s feelings just wouldn’t get through to him, tears welled up in my eyes.

Mukami brothers: The part which gave me the most goosebumps during the development stages has to be Ruki’s Manservant Ending. Takagi Sakurai-san did a magnificant job portraying his silent madness, it was truly wonderful. Second place would be Azusa’s brute ending, even though I knew how the story would go, I still ended up feeling a little depressed by it, so please be careful when you play this scenario...

SECTION 3: NAO NAKAMURA CHOOSES ー SITUATION-DEPENDENT CHARACTER SELECT

Who would you choose in these situations? What’s the developer’s opinion?

S1. To sleep together with?

Best: Subaru, I feel like he has a good sleeping posture.

Worst: Subaru, he might not move around much in his sleep, but it’d still be uncomfortable and narrow in that coffin, huh?

S2. To go on a trip together with?

Best: Shuu, I’m sure he’d just loaf around the lodge all day, so I get to enjoy the trip in whichever way I want!

Worst: Laito, I’d rather keep my distance from him.

S3. To eat together with?

Best: Kou because I’m sure he’d happily gobble it up.

Worst: Kanato, I feel like the food would be lacking in nutrients.

S4. To study with?

Best: Ruki, I think he’d do a good job explaining everything accurately.

Worst: ???, honestly all of them...

S5. To go on a date with?

Best: Yuma, I actually think he would make for a great boyfriend.

Worst: Shuu, because everything would be a chore to him...

S6. To play a video game with?

Best: Ayato, he just seems like the type of guy you can always have fun and make some ruckus with.

Worst: Reiji, he seems super fussy.

S7. To play sports with?

Best: Shuu, I don’t really like exercising so...I’ll go with the person who seems unlikely to exercise in the first place.

Worst: Ayato, I don’t like exercise after all...

S8. To go on a drive with?

Best: Ruki, I’m positive he would look handsome behind the wheel.

Worst: Azusa, it’d be bad if his bandages were to get stuck around the steering wheel or the gear stick...

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #diabolik lovers more blood official visual fanbook #diabolik lovers translation #diabolik lovers fanbook #diabolik lovers interview #nao nakamura

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lyrebright · 3 years ago

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Got through a good chunk of TMA episodes yesterday while at work but didn't really have an opportunity to share my thoughts on them as they came because while my job is conducive to listening to podcasts while I work, it is adamantly not conducive to posting on Tumblr while doing so.

Got through...I think MAG014 to MAG026? So. Thoughts on that block of episodes below!

still not super fond of MAG014 now that I've like actually finished it but I will say that the spooky methodology was Fucking Metal. Getting mailed your body parts before you lose them? High concept art.

MAG015 was probably low-key one of my like...favourite "closed" statements? Since it's clear now that a decent chunk are connected...I don't think this one is (I am prepared to eat my words) but it WAS very visceral, to me. As someone who had to leave a mine tour once from having a panic attack at being in the dark and small underground, this one Got To Me.

My initial reaction to MAG016 was holy shit. Man does not like spiders. And that was about it. Knowing some more things retroactively has made me like. See it from a different angle but I still think my overall takeaway is Man Does Not Like Spiders!

MAG017 was a case of me being Fucking Confused.

I had to check the transcripts WHILE ON THE CLOCK just to make things make sense.

Why The FUCK are they pronouncing Jared and Gerard exactly the same way.

MAG017 was clearly a fucked up books episode! So when I heard the name Jehred, which is apparently how both Gerard and Jared are just Pronounced Across The Pond, I was like oh! Gerard is here! Fucked up books are his thing! But then it was a Jared and I was lost.

Anyway! Good episode I liked it. I think I like the fucked up book episodes. Still would love to know why they get Jon so heated when he is such an asshole about being a skeptic. I can only imagine he has a fucked up book backstory.

Maybe a fucked up book ate his dog?

MAG018: meat

this one made me queasy I didn't like it

MAG019/020! Wasn't expecting a two parter but I definitely liked what we got. It feeding back into a previous statement was really cool and the actual story itself was gripping. Did have me fairly tense though because of the religious stuff mostly I think? I Don't Like Fucking With Demons.

Everytime I went in to do another coat on the room I'd been painting while listening to those episodes I just kept thinking about demons so those are just bad vibes rooms now.

BUT ALSO I called it I KNEW those delivery guys would be coming back into it somewhere. I know worldbuilding when I see it.

Speaking of: I think I'm just deep enough in now to start getting a grasp on the world building of TMA. Like, in a general sense; that one church has been mentioned a few times, something something the lightless flame, that one house on. A hill. Recurring elements are showing. I See Them. I Am Noting Them Down.

I Am Petrified Of Heights. MAG021 Is A No Thank You.

MAG022 MADE ME :D!!!!!!

Another live statement! But this time it is Martin who I am glad to finally properly meet. He seems so sweet Jon why are you so mean to him.

Did Martin kill Jon's dog?

Poor Martin though oh my god

I still feel like I'm missing something re: Jane Prentiss because they're acting like I should know who she is but I SWEAR she didn't pop up before the uh, worm sex statement so I have simply resigned myself to bafflement.

Clearly we're ramping up the plot that exists outside of the statements and I am so excited. Poor Martin though for real. Get some therapy.

Jon gets one (1) point for letting Martin stay in the archives at the end.

(Also: there is something both really funny and really scary about the worm hive lady just. Using Martin's phone to pretend to be him so people didn't like. Call a wellness check or something)

MAG023 Was An Old Timey Episode And That's Literally All I Have To Say About It.

MAG024: I Do Not Like Clowns. Or Dolls. Or Puppets.

Fuck Everything To Do With This Episode, Basically.

Except for Jon and Sasha♡

Jon and Sasha: arguing over the correct pronunciation of calliope. Me, a vtuber fan: (filled with knowledge)

MAG025 was just an exercise in me staring at the skirting I was painting and going But How Are You Not Immediately Cluing In That She Joined A Cult.

This cult has shown up a few times now I think? At least once before, I remember the mention of the closed eye symbol. I'll be keeping an, uh, eye out for more mentions in the future.

MAG026 was where I knocked off for the day and man. Very good. I loved it.

Another Michael?? I SWEAR that I've heard of at least two other Mikes already

I guess I did go to highschool with like eight Sarahs, though.

A Sasha statement! I love her.

I've now "met" both Martin and Sasha. When Do I Get Tim.

Jon is SO much nicer to Sasha than he is to Martin so I can only presume he and Martin do have some sort of torrid past. I'm choosing to believe a primary school Jon slipped Martin a note saying "do you like me" that Martin then promptly threw away because it's the absolutely funniest option.

Sasha Sweetie Your Sense Of Self Preservation Is Fucked.

You do have the gumption of a horror movie final girl though and I admire that.

I can feel the plot building up around me and I am so excited for the final worm showdown, whenever it hits.

Torn between taking a break for a few days and just charging on ahead because I'm so curious as to what happens next, lmao.

#lyre does tma #also the part in one of the episodes where elias interrupts to be like #Jon Be Nicer #is so funny #'I'll be more lovely' who talks like that #jon is a theatre kid who is simultaneously a crotchety grandmother

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heyheydidjaknow · 4 years ago

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I do not have a decent title for this. I’m also not even going to bother with an image (even though I know it would generate more traffic) because I’m not going to steal someone’s shit. It’s about 3500 words, so have fun with that.

Chapter 1

Dying is not fun.

I do not know if you knew that until last night. Maybe you figured that since it was romanticized so much that it would not suck as much as it so clearly and obviously did. Maybe you dreamed of dying relatively peacefully, surrounded by your loved ones. Alas, those dreams were dashed last night when you, oh so wise Y/N, decided that you were going to try baking and forgot the most essential step; taking the thing out of the oven. You remember that night so clearly, the screams of your family begging for their lives still bouncing around in your ears like a torturous golf ball that made a habit of forcing itself into your throat, the feeling of your hair catching alight as your skin bubbled and charred, and rational thought became a foreign concept. You do not remember if you had died from a heart attack or hyperthermia or smoke inhalation, but you had a general idea that, yes, that night had been your last on Earth.

So, where the fuck are you?

You pull yourself into a sitting position, your back pressed against something hard as your eyes struggle to adjust to the darkness. The air smells like rotten food and exhaust engines as you pull yourself off the concrete, looking around the alleyway that you had found yourself in. It’s small, narrow, unremarkable in every way, with graffiti covered dumpsters near the entrance. Dazed, confused, generally out of sorts, you make your way to the entrance, patting yourself down for injuries you did not seem to have.

You rub the side of your face with your hand. ‘My head is killing me.’ You slip your hand into your jacket pocket, feeling a key and a piece of paper. ‘God damn it is cold in this alley.’ You zip up your jacket, walking out into the open as you pull the note out, beginning to read.

“Dear Y/N,” you mumble as you read, “we are pleased to inform you of your acceptance into our transference program, yadda yadda yadda, whoopdeedoo…” You skim ahead of some introductory jargon before getting near to the point of the note. “From this point forward, enjoy your permanent residence at ten West.. fifteenth street… apartment number six two two… New York, New York?” You blink. ‘I… that’s not my address.’ You pull out the key. ‘Wait, hold on.’ Your eyebrows furrowed. ‘New York? Wait, I was dead, wasn’t I?’ Your eyes become unfocused. ‘I don’t live anywhere near NYC. Where am I?’ You look around for some sort of landmark, street name, anything to give you some idea of where you are.

You hear a car squeal to a stop on the street corner in front of you, snapping you out of your stupor. As identical men start climbing out of the back of the vehicle, all marching deliberately towards you, a fifteen-year-old girl, your immediate reaction is to run like hell. Unfortunately for you, apparently your speed was not comparable to that of the men who quickly apprehend you, scooping you up and dragging you kicking and screaming into a van. You hear vaguely familiar voices outside, but your focus is less on the mayhem and more on the more pressing matter of getting yourself out of the van. You pound at the door, feel for any sort of locks on the inside, something, anything to get you out of the van, still screaming your head off as you hope whoever was outside had the common sense to call nine one one. You feel your eyelids droop as your breathing slows, your voice dying as your pounding becomes less intense. You slide to you knees, eyes closing even as you mentally scream at yourself to get up, keep at it. You passed out.

You wake up laid on the floor this time, the pulsing of electricity above your head almost soothing as you open your eyes. You stagger to your feet, looking around your well-lit enclosure, pink florescent lights lining the ceiling and walls like arteries. After taking note of your new bruises and checking to see if you still have your few personal belongings—you do—you ran over to the door, eyes fixated on the mind boggling, ridiculous scene taking place in front of you.

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake.’ You back away from the slot in the door, trying to process the blatant larping headassery. You had not thought that you would honestly be able to say that, apparently, you were kidnapped by the mother fucking Kraang, yet, in some stroke of tomfuckery on behalf of whatever deity controls your universe, you have, obviously, been kidnapped by some seriously hardcore cosplayers. If nothing else, you must admire the obviously advanced set up.

You run your fingers through your hair, chuckling almost manically. “So,” you say to yourself aloud, “I got kidnapped by TMNT fanboys. Great. Fantastic, even!” You pace around the room, throwing your hands up in exasperation. “I guess this makes me April O'Neil, then? Cool.” Your voice is extremely tight as you shake with intense, mostly negative emotions. “So, I’m somewhere in New York, kidnapped by the Kraang in the worst convention ever. Let me guess,” you laugh, losing your mind a little as you speak to nobody. “I’m gonna have a run in with the Teenage Fucking Ninja Turtles next, right?”

As if on que, you hear laser blasts and shinking metal. The high pitched beeping on an alarm sounded as you heard people—‘Male, teenagers… fuck my life,’— talking about power or something as their footsteps approach your room. You pound on the door. “Hey! Over here!”

You see a brown set of eyes look in through the window. Your suspicions are confirmed; ‘Definitely TMNT larping.’

“We found her,” the owner of said eyes, the one cosplaying as Donatello, calls to the others. Lasers shoot by his head as he turns to stare death in the eyes.

“We’ll hold them off. You pick the lock.” ‘Leonardo.’ You breathe a soft sigh of relief; if nothing else, you are apparently on the side of the people trying to get you out in this game. You hear footsteps going towards the firing.

“Don’t worry,” “Donatello” reassures you, voice tight with apparent anxiety, “I’ll have you out of there in a second!”

“Thanks, Donnie.” You give him a half-hearted thumbs up, trying to see what he was doing through the window. “Take your time.”

His eyebrows furrow. “Wait, how do you know my name?”

You sigh. “Look, man, I don’t know the script for the first episode by heart. You’re gonna have to cut me some slack for not being off-book.”

“Off—what?” He stares at you blankly.

You purse your lips. “I’ll explain if you let me out,” you promise. “Just pick the lock before the blue one gives you shit.”

“Oh, right! The lock!” He nods, grasping onto the logical thing you say and leaning down to start working on the alien technology. He pulls the cover off a control panel by your door, starting to fiddle with the wires.

You lean against the door, watching him work curiously. You hear the battle cries of “Michelangelo” and the toppling of robots as he works, clearly focused on his task. You zone out again. “This is some serious shit,” you mumble.

He mutters in frustration. The one dressed as Raph marches over, more impatient. “Oh for the love of—get out of my way,” he snarls, proceeding to take a very real looking sai out and stabbing the panel with a very in-character ferocity. You almost feel the urge to applaud the acting, and you might if this weren’t such a high stakes situation.

The door in front of you and behind you open at the same time and, deciding against getting captured again—you remember something about hanging from a helicopter in that scenario and you want nothing to do with that—you run alongside the turtles like your life depends on it, stumbling to a halt once you reach outside and slamming the doors closed behind you, blocking it with your back.

Your feet scramble to gain some traction on the cement. “Donnie,” you snap, almost impressed by the force used to pound against the doors, “put your staff in the handles of the door. We gotta go ASAP.”

“Wait, hold up.” The one dressed as Raph jabs his thumb towards you. “How do you know his name?”

You groan. “For fucks- it’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, not fucking Happy Sugar Life. Get the thing in the thing before the vine thing kills us!”

“The what?” Donnie and Raph seem much more confused than before, staring at you inquisitively and angrily respectively.

“Uh, guys?” Mikey pointed. “I think she means that vine thing.”

From the shadows emerges a towering creature made of plant life, its vinelike limbs draping across the ground like roots as it rears its ugly head. Its exposed, pulsating heart pressed against what remains of the creature’s ribcage. “You did this to me,” It growls. “Now you’re going to pay!”

“It’s-“

You cut Leo off. “Snake guy. Mutated into a weed. If you wanna kill it, go for the heart.”

He looked back at you, joining the other two pairs of piercing stares. “Cut that out.”

“Then don’t monologue and kill it before it has mobility!”

“On it.” Raph charges at its lumbering form, and within moments, it falls to the ground in a heap.

The pounding against the door is getting more intense. “Donnie! Staff!”

“Right!” He runs over, sliding his staff in between the door handles.

You stumble forward, the pounding already starting to crack the wood. “Alright, now we can leave.” Without waiting for the others, you sprint away from the building like your life depends on it. The others, clearly confused, follow.

You got a fair few city blocks away before you slow down, breathing heavy and palms stamped with the outline of the key you were holding desperately onto. “You run really fast for cosplayers,” you pant, “with all the- the paint and all.”

“Yeah, about that.” Donatello stops next to you, a thousand questions apparently swimming around in his head. “How do you know our names?” His mouth moves a mile a minute. “How did you know the weakness of that vine creature? What do you mean, cosplay? Who are you? Who were they?”

You cut him off. “One question at a time, hot stuff. Deep breathes.”

His pupils dilate. “H-hot stuff?”

Leo cuts in. “How did you know what we were—uh—cosplaying?” he asks tentatively.

“Odd time to cut the act, but alright.” Your heart rate lowers to a decent pace as your mind still struggles to comprehend what had just happened. You slow your breathing. “I mean,” you explain, gesturing with your hands, “it’s TMNT. It’s iconic.”

“Iconic?” He nods. “Well, since you know so much about it, then why don’t we test your knowledge? To see if you’re a real fan..”

“Y-you think I’m hot?”

“I don’t see the point, but I’m down.” You shrug, deciding to ignore the melting turtle for a second. “Shoot.”

He thinks for a moment. “Who’s the main character?”

You shrug. “You four, I guess.”

Mikey jumped in. “What’s the theme song?”

“Gonna have to be more specific there, buddy.”

“Is it really a great idea to just talk out here in the open?” Raph crossed his arms across his front.

“Probably not.” You look around. “Unless you have a map on you, I’d suggest we go back to your lair.”

“Our—what kind of stalker—”

“Look, honey,” you sigh, “if we’re going to go over every aspect of their lives that I know about we’re going to be here for a long time. For our purposes, just assume I know everything I need to know, and if you’re curious about specifics, we’ll go on a case-by-case basis.” You start walking down the sidewalk. “I’m guessing you guys hang out in the sewer, right?” You feel almost tempted to say that they’re just flat out psychotic, their blatant conviction in their own characters almost frightening. ‘I’ve heard of kinning,’ you think, pulling up a manhole cover you see at the end of an alley and wincing at the smell, ‘but this is ridiculous.’ You blink at the surprising lack of weight.

“Yeah.” Mikey—no, the Michelangelo cosplayer—walked over, already hopping in. “Our show must be super popular, right? Who’s the favorite character? How long have we been running?”

“Oh, you guys are—” You stop talking. “Wait, what year is it?” You start climbing down.

“Two thousand and twelve. Why?”

You step off the ladder, starting to walk behind him as he lead the way. “Well, it’s not tweny twelve where I’m from. It’s twenty twenty.”

“Wait, hold up.” He turns around to face you as he walks. “You’re from the future? That is so freakin awesome!”

You rub the back of your neck, trying to ignore the smell. “I mean,” you confess, “being from the future would be cooler if I was from a better time, I think.” ‘I wonder where they—’ You shake your head. “But, If we were running on the same time, I’d only be seven, I think, so it’s pretty cool I get to be here, I guess.”

“Dude, totally!” He turns a corner. “Our first day up top and we meet a time traveler?”

“Technically,” a voice from behind you makes you jump, “if what she’s saying is true, she somehow also knows interdimensional travel as well.”

‘Mother fucking ninj—cosplayers, focus. Don’t let them pull you in too.’ “Well, I really wouldn’t say—”

“Guys, is there not a clearly bigger concern on our hands?” You were already getting sick of not hearing footsteps. “Like, say, I don’t know, the fact she’s claiming we’re fictional characters?”

“Look, man,” you roll your eyes, “I already said I’m more than happy to answer any questions I can. In fact,” you continued, stopping in your tracks as you stared the red—clad turtle in the eye, “I’ll even stay put until we sort this whole situation out.”

“Fine by me.” Leo and Raph both face you, eyes boring into your soul as you stand there awkwardly.

“Let’s start off with the basics.” Leo’s tone is awfully light compared to his blatant skepticism. “What is everyone’s name?”

You force yourself not to roll your eyes again. “You’re all Hamatos.” You point at the tall one with the gap in his teeth. “That one’s Donatello, the yellow one next to him is Michelangelo, you,” you point at the red one with the broader shoulders, “are Raphael, and the sensei appointed leader is Leonardo. Easy.”

Leonardo nods. “Okay, you got the easy one.” It is at times like these when you wish you could read people. “What are we?”

“Teenage mutant ninja turtles.” You don’t have to hesitate.

“How did we become the way we are?”

“Splinter had a Kraang run in and you got ooze on you. Last thing you touched before you transformed was a person, so you became turtle/human hybrids.” You rest a hand on your hip. “Oh, happy birthday, by the way.”

A sea of blank faces face you. “Wait, you know who those things are?” Donatello is the first to speak after a pregnant pause.

“Well, yeah.” You shrug, the reality of the situation not yet dawning on you. “They almost take over the world in at least two season finales.

“They what?”

“Yeah.” You stick your hands in your pockets, fingering the key and note, confused by their apparent horror. “I mean, I’m still on the season three finale, but alien invasion is this show’s bread and butter for the most part.”

“I- what?” Raphael appears to be having a stroke. “What- bre- I- huh? What the-“

“Is he okay?” You look, completely unconcerned, at Donatello, who is swaying on his feet.

“Alien.. invasion…”

You blink, walking over to him and placing your hand on his cheek. You were surprised at the feeling of skin under your palm. ‘Not face paint..’ You look his incredibly pale face over curiously. ‘Not a mask…’ “Oh.” Your fingers slide down and off his jaw, falling slackly. “You weren’t joking, were you?”

If nothing else, he seems less concerned than he did a second ago.

Leonardo—‘The actual—hold on a minute.’—grabs your shoulder. “This isn’t a joke.” His face is stone. “You’re being serious, right?”

You felt blood drain out of your face. “Sadly? Yes.” You force yourself to take deep breaths so as to not pass out. “But, on the bright side,” you smiled weakly, “I can guarantee your survival for at least a few months.”

“What do you mean a few months?” Raphael is shaking as he yells, his voice roar echoing in the enclosed space. “How is it only—what the hell?”

“The show only ran over the course of an in-universe year.” You fight to keep your voice steady as dread seizes your throat. “I don’t know what happens after the year is up, or if it even lasts the whole year.”

“So we have less than twelve months to live?”

“This is so not cool.” Michelangelo is having a bit of a mental breakdown. “So, so not cool.”

“Hey, it’s not a guarantee!” You put your hands up reassuringly. “That’s just how long the show runs. Besides, it’s a kid’s show. There’s no way they’d kill off the main characters.”

“The hell they—who the hell is they?”

“Nickelodeon.”

“What the fuck is Nickelodeon?”

You groan. “Look, I’m just saying that you four are definitely going to survive the next few months!” Your voice rises easily to his volume. “I don’t know what happens after those months are up! I haven’t gotten to that point!”

“Why the hell not?”

You ran your fingers through your hair, laughing incredulously. “What, do you think I knew I was going to meet the IRL Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and had a chance to plan accordingly? No!” You throw your hands up in the air. “I died last night and now I’m here! Hell, I don’t even know where the fuck I’m going to go, fuck knowing who’s going to get the fucking axe between now and the series finale!”

“Will you two both cut it out?” Leo snapped, shutting you two up.

You put your hands up, still fuming and glaring at Raphael. He responds in kind.

“What’s your name?” He looked at you.

“Y/N. Y/N L/N.” Your breathing slows slightly.

“Alright. Y/N, you said you’ve seen up to season three, right?”

“Yeah.” You nod.

“Meaning you know what’s going to happen in the next few months, right?”

You nod at the leader.

He thinks for a moment. “Then we need to stay in contact. If what you’re saying is true, your knowledge of our show could be extremely valuable to us.”

You rub your eyes with your hands, sighing, trying to cool down. “I can do that.” You put your hands down. “If nothing else, I’m more than happy to offer up emotional support. The next few months are going to be extremely physically and emotionally difficult for you guys.”

Donnie pipes up. “Do you have a place to stay?”

You pull out the piece of paper. “I have an address and key, but I don’t know my way around NYC.” You smile slightly at the unintentional rhyme. “Do you guys know where ten west fifteenth street—wait, it’s your guys’ first day.” You nod. “I forgot.”

“It’s alright.” Donatello is oddly quick saying that. “I-if you want, I—we can help you find it.”

You rub your arm, your previous indignance replaced with extreme embarrassment at your previous actions. “Nah, it’s alright,” you reassure him. “I’m sure I can find a map or something.”

“It’s really not safe to just wander around New York so late.”

You pause at that. “That is an extremely good point.” You nod. “Alright. But I owe you guys dinner or something for trusting me this far. Also,” you smile teasingly, “what you’re currently eating is legitimately revolting.”

“Amen to that.” Raphael, if nothing else, seems to have calmed down.

Mikey hopped in. “Oh, we just found this crazy awesome food—”

“I can order pizza,” you reassure him.

He punches the air excitedly. “Let’s go!”

“If you want, you can sleep on the couch for tonight,” Leonardo offers. “It’s going to get light pretty soon, and we really shouldn’t be seen.”

You shrug. “Works for me.

As you follow the teenagers down the sewer, conversating as you walk, you take a moment to reflect on all that has happened so far. A part of you, oddly enough, is almost excited by the prospect of spending time with these guys. But a stronger, darker part reminds you sweetly of the dangers you knew lay ahead.

You close your eyes. ‘I’m never going to see my family again, am I?’

How that is the least of your worries, you don’t know.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 2

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earthstellar · 4 years ago

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More TFP Deep Thinking: Transformers and Road Safety

So, we have two episodes in TFP that touch on road safety concerns in regards to humans using/driving/riding in sentient vehicles:

Road Safety Themed Episode Summaries:

1) Speed Metal - Jack gets into street racing to beat a bully. Arcee initially enables it, Bumblebee does later after Jack and Miko both pressure him into it.

This ends badly, with the bully being injured and needing to be rescued after being knocked out by Knock Out.

2) Legacy - Smokescreen fails to care for human road rules in any way despite Jack trying his best to teach him how to drive on Earth; Because Jack is a teenager, he gives in to Smokescreen’s peer pressure and screws around after the bully returns.

Smokescreen then gets called out for a mission, but not caring about human safety (probably due to an inability to internalise or appreciate just how dangerous this whole situation is for humans in general), he brings Jack along and it doesn’t go well.

This is a long post, so I am putting it below a cut to spare everyone having to scroll for a mile:

General Concerns About Sentient Vehicles in Practice:

Because this is a kid’s show, ostensibly anyway, the bully is mostly fine at the end of Speed Metal, and Legacy depicts dangerous driving in a way that a young audience can internalise as “oh, that’s bad” as the episode ends with Arcee being furious with both Jack and Smokescreen.

But they raise some pretty good points about just how dangerous the entire concept of being in a sentient vehicle actually is.

I’m only going to focus on two main points here to prevent this from being the world’s longest post ever, but I do want to talk about them because they are common Transformers media themes and I think it’s interesting to think about the ramifications of some of this stuff in-universe as well as from a more realistic point of view.

The Humans Involved are Mostly Children and Teenagers

All of the humans involved in these episodes are children/teens, which adds a new level of horror to all of us who are watching it as adults.

I used to work in education and social care for at-risk youth, and we did actually have some cases of kids getting hurt in reckless driving/illegal driving situations, so I’m naturally a little more sensitive to this whole topic altogether.

We do see Fowler and June get thrown around a bit, but I’m going to focus on the kids, because doing this kind of shit with children involved is inherently more dangerous and scary.

1) Being children, they don’t have any driving experience.

Jack does, but primarily/only on a motorcycle from what we see on the show as far as I remember, and even then, he’s a teenager in high school and we can assume he hasn’t been driving for very long overall.

So to kids/young people, who are overwhelmingly more familiar and comfortable with being passengers rather than drivers (even Jack only has probably a couple years of driving experience due to his age regardless of how much confidence he has behind the wheel), the idea of being in an uncontrollable vehicle able to do whatever it wants with you inside of it is sort of a nightmare!

When something goes wrong and you lose control of your car in real life, it’s scary as hell even with years of experience driving.

For example, when hitting ice on the road, your car starts to spin out or starts drifting, there’s no traction, and you have to get your shit together quickly.

I have experienced that several times myself, and it sucks. It is massively scary, every single time, and that is when you still have some modicum of control over your vehicle.

Now imagine if your car instantly became totally uncontrollable and no input or activity you could possibly perform would resolve the dangerous situation, because your vehicle itself is the dangerous situation.

Now imagine you are also a child with zero driving experience, who implicitly trusted that your vehicle would drive safely and via the intended route, suddenly thrown into a situation where shit has changed and the vehicle is now doing things that you cannot predict and cannot alter or prevent in any way.

There’s no way they could ever touch on this seriously in TFP or any other Transformers media because it has potential to be genuinely frightening to the target young audience demographic if depicted in certain ways, and it would sort of be show-breaking because of the potential impact of that kind of fear on the human characters within the show (at the very least).

But this shit is scary, and even moreso for young kids. I was in a pretty terrifying couple of car/road incidents as a kid, and I remember the feeling of being completely shit scared while the windows cracked and shattered, the muffler was ripped out of the bottom of the car, and we were pinned between two big rigs (cargo and oil tanker) on the highway at 65 MPH at night.

I can’t help but think of the TFP kids being put in a situation where they’re all driving convoy style away from Decepticons for whatever reason, and while they are in their respective guardian’s alt-modes, they get shoved up against Optimus at high speed...

I’m telling you, it’s a trauma factory.

2) A Transformer could just decide to do anything. Whenever.

This is obvious, but let me break it down in more detail:

A particularly unsettling moment in Speed Metal is when Jack is riding on Arcee, and they pull up to a light-- And Jack’s school bully makes some snide comments which set off Arcee, so she peels out at high speed from what looks to be a four way intersection.

It’s worth noting that Jack is more level headed than Arcee about it here, for the most part. He even questions her actions, calling her out for violating her own road safety rules. She disregards him, saying “just this once”. YIKES.

I’d like to point out that she does some seriously dangerous high speed manoeuvres in that scene, including a left side overtake while accelerating to attempt to mitigate wheel skipping and any lost speed from lateral drag that puts Jack inches in front of a high speed car:

Now, arguably, if need be she could have transformed and prevented any major collision/injury, but keep in mind the bully is a civilian and having to remain secret is a consideration; Any hesitation here could result in casualties, and that concern may well cause hesitation in deciding to transform or not.

And on top of that, is putting Jack in this position in the first place a good idea, even knowing a Transformer is extremely likely to out perform a human vehicle even without transforming? Hell no, and here’s why:

He is riding Arcee like any other motorcycle; He’s just holding on and hoping for the best at this point in the street race.

He could easily fall and roll off, because he’s not able to tilt his weight into any of the turns or effectively prepare for anything Arcee is doing. Look at the angle in that one screenshot above; Jack’s doing a hell of a job just trying to stay seated, and the sudden strain on his left leg/hip has to be pretty uncomfortable.

Motorcycles do not have seatbelts, unless they are specialty gear, and even if Arcee’s alt-mode does have some way to secure a rider, Jack absolutely did not have them engaged as this ride did not start out as a street race and I do not recall seeing anything that suggests Arcee has engaged any type of seatbelt or other additional rider safety measure here.

I’ve both ridden and driven motorcycles before, and the idea of doing so at high speed with an uncontrolled, unpredictable motorcycle (or driver if I am passenger) is frightening. There’s no way to know when to adjust your position/balance, grip, or anything. Jack isn’t manually controlling anything, his hands are off the controls on the handlebars because those are Arcee’s functions.

So she just hauls off, high speed, and does extremely sharp weaving turns in close proximity to another high speed vehicle-- Because a human teenager was talking shit to them at a stoplight.

It’s not responsible guardian behaviour, and this is somewhat called out in this episode and again more heavily in Legacy, but uh, there’s a lot of reckless Transformer driving with humans involved in this franchise in general, and this is a more blatantly unnecessary example.

And the thing is, Arcee is fairly serious and strict. She is a mature person and typically handles road safety well when it comes to Jack and the other children. Yet, she still ends up encouraging street racing.

Cybertronians don’t typically fully seem to grasp humanity or our realistic limitations as a species, and while most of them do generally try their best to avoid problems or injuries of any humans they work with, there are plenty of situations and conversations throughout all Transformers media that sort of emphasises as a running theme that they really don’t 100% internalise that yes, this shit is wildly dangerous for humans. Like, all of it.

Arcee was doing manoeuvres that I’m sure she could recover from if they went poorly. But could Jack? No, and she wasn’t fully considering that in this moment.

Unfortunately, although Arcee handwaves it as “just this once”, it only takes once for this to result in serious injury or death. A dumbass teenager managed to goad her into risking Jack’s safety for the sake of beating said dumbass teenager.

Even the most mature and strict Cybertronians are prone to screwing around now and then.

The more familiar they are with humans, the more lax they generally seem to get about keeping an eye on measuring out what they do in accordance to human tolerances and limitations.

We sometimes see this in reverse, which is kind of how this is handled in TFP; After this episode, in Legacy, she digs into Jack and Smokescreen brutally. So at least she learned something.

But Cybertronians are people, and they are still people in alt-mode, and no person is ever perfect.

Sometimes, your giant space robot guardian is going to turn into a car, let you get in, and then ten minutes later you are going at brutal speeds barely missing instant death every other second because another space robot called them a weenie or something.

Everyone gets mad sometimes, and does dumb shit. The thing is, “just this once” is not acceptable when driving with a much more delicate human.

The same thing applies in real life; No adult worth shit would ever risk driving dangerously with a younger person in/on the vehicle with them.

But people are people, and people still do dumb shit sometimes. And sometimes that dumb shit has a body count. It is unfortunately human, and apparently Cybertronian, nature.

Conclusion!

I’m leaving this as it is for now because I have to get ready for work. lmao

I had other stuff I also wanted to say/touch on here, but I write a lot and I know nobody wants to read a million pages about this. (Although if you do, tell me, because I absolutely could do that write up.)

If you read all of this, thank you!

#long post #transformers #transformers prime #tfp #arcee #jack darby #smokescreen #maccadam #tf

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infinite-xerath · 4 years ago

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Runeterra Retcons 1: Thresh

This is something that I did today. I plan to make this an on-going series (might even take it to YouTube someday if I get the nerve to share my voice), but for now have it as a tumblr post.))

The world of Runeterra is one of the most interesting and complex fantasy settings in modern gaming; a fictional realm bustling with fantastical beings, characters, and a wide variety of plot points offering near endless potential for story-telling. The story of League of Legends is not, in fact, a singular narrative, but rather a collection of different stories spread out across a variety of fictional countries, continents, and even dimensions.

Runeterra as we know it today wasn’t always like this, however; in 2015 Riot Games opted to effectively reboot the lore of their world to be rid of the more restrictive plot elements like Summoners and the Institute of War to allow themselves more wriggle room to tell the stories they wanted to tell. While the decision to effectively make League of Legends non-canon to its own story was initially controversial, the writers of Riot Games have effectively proven themselves extraordinarily capable of using this newfound freedom to its full potential… For the most part.

With a retconned world came the need to retcon characters; Riot has made a substantial effort in the last few years to reimagine and redefine the backstories of the iconic Champions to make them fit into the new narrative, albeit with mixed results. Let’s face it: no writer is perfect and hindsight is 20/20, so a number of characters throughout the years have been left with less-than-stellar backstories compared to most of the roster.

Welcome to Runeterra Retcons, a series in which I’ll be analyzing some of the more controversial champion bios in the game to pick apart the good, the bad, and the horribly missed opportunities. With all that out of the way, let’s begin, shall we?

Episode 1: Thresh

Thresh is at once both an interesting and a bland character. He’s arguably one of the more iconic characters in the game, to the point where he’s practically become the unofficial mascot for the Shadow Isles. In-spite of this, I’ve long felt that Thresh is one of the most awkward fits into the region; before we can discuss the problems with his current lore, however, we first need to address Thresh’s backstory pre-retcon and see if we can analyze the core of his character.

Insert original lore here

So, we can see the concept behind Thresh’s character pretty easily: he’s a jailor who loves tormenting his charges, so much so that he continues to do so even after death. If you were to describe Thresh in a single word, it would probably be “sadistic.” Unfortunately, the original lore doesn’t give a lot beyond that; not where he’s from, not when he died, not even where his prison was located. The bio itself literally says that no one knows the details, and while that does add a faint air of mystery to the character, it doesn’t do much to tie him into the faction he’s supposed to represent: The Shadow Isles.

With that out of the way, let’s now take a look at Thresh’s new bio and see how Riot decided to change him after the retcon.

Insert new lore here

Alright, so, there’s a lot to unpack here. Perhaps the most notable change is that Thresh went from tormenting people to… Tormenting “living relics.” The relics are offered no further explanation in the lore or given any prior context. There’s just… A mirror with a soul in it. There’s a sentient book hidden down in the vaults. For some reason, the monks of the Isles even decided to stash a living person down there because he infused his body with raw magic. Why? Who was this person? What did he do to end up in chains? If this was a dangerous mage, wouldn’t it be better to build a proper prison for him rather than stuff him in a vault full of powerful, dangerous artifacts?

There are so many mysteries here, but perhaps biggest one is this: why was Thresh changed from a warden of people to a warden of relics? Why did they feel the need to turn him from a jailor who enjoyed tormenting his inmates to a curator that was slowly corrupted by the very magics meant to help him do his job? Well, I believe that’s meant to tie into the change made to the Shadow Isles themselves, or rather, the Blessed Isles.

While we never had much info on what the Isles were like before becoming an undead haven, a lot of the lore suggests that they were effectively a paradise, hence the name “Blessed Isles.” This was a place without war, without starvation, without corruption. Naturally, there would be no criminals in paradise, and so this of course means that to make Thresh a warden of things that are inhuman… At least, this is the thought process one might have until they introduce the mysterious regenerating mage, but I guess he’s meant to be one bad egg amidst the crowd, assuming he even came from the Isles at all. Again, it’s never really elaborated on.

So, while the change does make a degree of sense, it kind of feels… Flat. I mean, a guy who enjoys tormenting prisoners in their cells to hear their screams sounds a lot more terrifying than a guy who just stops his sentences halfway through to spite a book. Also, the fact that his lantern just becomes a seemingly endless vessel for souls because of the Ruination is a little silly; like, I know the Black Mist does all sorts of nonsensical things to matter, but the fact that an ordinary lantern gets turned into a relic arguably far more dangerous than anything Thresh was ever guarding seems kind of backwards, at least in my opinion.

So, how can we change this? How would I, personally, retcon Thresh if given the chance? Well, there are a lot of base elements that I would keep, but also some key components I’d like to alter. I’ve written up a short bio of my own for you all to enjoy, so without further ado…

In an age all but forgotten to history, there existed a realm known as the Blessed Isles. Hidden away from the world by a veil of magical mist, the Isles were a place of peace and prosperity; a land free of war, corruption, plague and misery. This paradise was ruled by an order of sacred monks devoted to learning and enlightenment. It was within this paradise that Thresh was born and raised by a pair of humble farmers, growing up surrounded by nature’s bounty.

Though expected that he might follow in his fathers’ footsteps, Thresh showed an aptitude for learning from an early age. In-particular, Thresh seemed fascinated with matters of philosophy; the nature of the soul, morality, and other complex subjects were frequent on the boy’s mind. This attitude quickly earned Thresh the attention of the brotherhood, who invited him to join their order as soon as he was of age. Thresh agreed without hesitation, leaving the farm behind to study at the Isles’ monastery.

For many years, Thresh studied under the tutelage of the order, distinguishing himself from his peers for his ability to grasp complex philosophical issues. Though acknowledged by his teachers, Thresh was met with looks of envy and scorn from his fellow students; rather than let himself be disheartened, however, Thresh instead took an interest in the root of their envy in scorn. Upon approaching his elders with such questions, Thresh found himself being led to a secret chamber deep beneath the monastery, guarded by powerful wards and runes. It was here that Thresh learned the truth of the Blessed Isles.

Thresh watched as one of his fellow pupils stood surrounded by figured in ominous robes, chanting an ominous spell in unison. Thresh’s teacher explained to him that this was ritual had been used by the order for ages to ensure that the Isles flourished. Evil was present in all humans, and so the only way to ensure it did not corrupt their paradise was to extract it from the soul, and seal it away. As the ritual drew to a close, Thresh saw the essence of all the other student’s hatred, envy, malice and warped desire ripped from his body, and placed into a special lantern made to contain it.

Thresh was intrigued. He approached the lantern without hesitation as the other boy was escorted from the chamber, and to his surprise, he heard voice whispering to him from within. The monks explained that though the evils of humanity could be removed, they could not be truly discarded. They needed to be contained, and more than that, they needed a warden to watch over them. Thresh volunteered in a heartbeat, and the monks smiled, pleased by their pupils’ devotion.

What they did not know, however, was that the whispers in Thresh’s mind had already begun taken root. From that day forward, Thresh vigilantly stood guard over the lantern, watching each successive cleansing as it took place. Each time, the wicked essence in the lantern grew stronger, as did the whispers in Thresh’s mind. He began to dream of enacting twisted torments upon the monks, the other disciples, and even his own parents. Slowly but surely, the brotherhood noticed a change in Thresh’s behavior. Fearing that he himself would be subjected to their cleansing rite, Thresh stole the lantern and fled the monastery.

The monks chased Thresh for days, but their search was brought to an abrupt end when strange ships arrived on the Blessed Isles: something Thresh thought impossible. From the safety of the cliffs, Thresh watched in delight as a soldiers led by a foreign king massacred his fellow monks. Their screams were music to the warden’s ears, and as the chaos spread, Thresh found himself reveling in the suffering of all who fell to the foreigners’ blades. Even at the cost of his own life, Thresh dared to move about the battlefield, searching for survivors left in the king’s wake only that he may snuff out the remnants of their lives himself.

Finally, as the screams of his victims began to subside, Thresh turned his attention to the heart of the Isles. From there, he saw a cloud of pure darkness rushing to meet him, and opened his arms wide to embrace it. In that moment, all the wickedness trapped within Thresh’s lantern was freed, bound to his soul through the power of the Ruination. Thresh emerged a being of pure maliciousness, and his lantern, now empty, would serve as the perfect vessel to enact his twisted fantasies.

Thresh now roams Runeterra as an avatar of sadism, bringing pain and misery to all unfortunate enough to cross his path. He stalks his victims and torments them by slowly stripping them of their sanity, before finally prying their souls from their bodies with his wicked sickle. If you hear the sound of chains in the dead of night, run… Though it may already be far too late.

So, what did you think? Now, it’s at this point I feel I need to clarify something: I’m not trying to bash on Riot’s creative team, nor am I saying that I can definitely make a better version of someone else’s character. Hell, I’m not even really saying that my version of the story is flawless; it would probably need to go through several more rewrites before I’d ever consider publishing it as canon, not that I have the power to do so, of course.

Rather, I wanted to take a closer look at Thresh’s character and how well his current lore represents him. I said earlier that Thresh is at once and interesting and a bland character. I consider him a little bland because you can sum him up in a single word: “sadistic.” He has no goals and no motivation other than to cause pain and suffering. Even the other undead of the Shadow Isles typically have some kind of agenda, even if it’s only to spread the Black Mist’s influence. Thresh doesn’t care about that; he just wants to see you writhe in agony, both before and after death. I’d argue he has more in common in with League’s demons than the other specters of the Isles, but it’s BECAUSE Thresh is undead that he has so much potential for an interesting backstory.

The main points I wanted to emphasize in my rewrite are: expanding on the magics that corrupted Thresh into being so sadistic, giving his lantern some greater significance in the story, and replacing the vault full of otherwise pointless macguffins with something a little more sinister that gives the Blessed Isles a hint of dichotomy. Riot loves adding a little morally grey to all their characters and factions, after-all.

Anyways, what do you all think? Could Thresh’s lore be improved, or do you all like his story the way in currently is? Lemme know down below, and I’ll see you all next time!

#Outofpower #League of Legends #Runeterra Retcons

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3ternalslumber · 4 years ago

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Orange Side Theory - Ignorance

I’ve seen orange side theories on guilt and anger — but those are emotions and generally fall underneath Patton’s area. Ignorance, however, has much more evidence to back it up including colour theory, suspiciously coincidental timing and even breaking down a side to it’s basic functions. In this literal essay I will—

First, there have been lots of theories ranging from guilt to anger. However, these are emotions, falling under Morality’s area. So I thought, what makes a side a side? The answer was thinking. Every side is a way of thinking. Logic and Anxiety deal with the thoughts and processes: the problem solving, if you will. The more realistic views, even if some are a little far fetched. The Creativity twins deal with the thinking of the soul. They grasp ideas and concepts through passion and imagination. Morality and Deceit deal with more morality based decisions — whether or not something is wrong before making a choice. So the Orange side must deal with thought processing of some sort. Due to guilt and anger falling under Patton's management, they are unable to be the Orange side; Patton had said, in Moving On: Exploring Nostalgia, that he’s “at the core of a lot of [c!Thomas’] feelings” (7:14-7:18). I've done some research and I've come to the conclusion that the Orange side must be, or relating to, ignorance because the side has only shown up through little hints, not quite being shown, almost daring people to ignore his presence. Furthermore, willful ignorance is a choice we make and can be detrimental to one’s life. For example, in Putting Others First: Selfishness vs Selflessness Redux, Logan is providing information and Patton presses the ‘skip all’ option, showcasing an act of willful ignorance despite the possibility of the information being able to help with the situation at hand (23:18).

Second, the dark sides and former dark sides each have noticeable abilities. Janus can silence sides from speaking or having influence on others, like in Can Lying Be Good when he stopped Logan from speaking his name (19:09-19:13). Remus can make c!Thomas focus solely on him by drowning out the other sides’ voices and making c!Thomas be able to only hear him, like in Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts (5:35-5:48). Virgil can duplicate his voice and make c!Thomas physically do things — possibly on instinct or due to the panic induced Fight or Flight reflex — as seen in Moving On: Exploring Nostalgia when he makes c!Thomas throw his phone at the ground due to c!Thomas’ ex calling him back (5:00-5:05). The proverb “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” is displayed in the ever changing picture frame above the couch in Patton’s room, in the episode Moving On: Dealing With a Breakup (1:25-1:41). Their abilities could reference this proverb. For example, Janus’ ability and domain could be a reference to ‘speak no evil’, being able to silence other’s voices alongside being the embodiment of ‘evil thinking’, or lies. Remus relates to ‘hear no evil’, given his power to drown out the others. The intrusive thoughts add to this, c!Thomas ‘hearing evil’ or bad thoughts because of the Creative side. Virgil is a strange case, as he doesn’t exactly match up with the ‘see no evil’. He does, however, match up with the less commonly known fourth part of the saying: ‘do no evil’. Virgil’s voice becomes louder than others to be heard, to become authoritative — he doesn’t use it often, usually when he’s panicked, but when he does, c!Thomas listens and often does what he says. Perhaps he wasn’t in the metaphorical — and literal — picture due to not being a Dark Side anymore, or maybe it’s because the proverb is more common without the fourth monkey. The only one left is ‘see no evil’ but who could fill in the gap? Sure, anger makes people not see properly — “blind rage” and all — but anger is an emotion that fades. Ignorance is, by definition, the lack of knowledge or information: willful or not. In law, willful blindness is synonymous to ignorance; the act of keeping oneself unaware as an attempt to get out of breaking the law due to their lack of knowledge of why it’s a criminal act (2, 3). In addition, when Logan, during Putting Others First: SvS Redux, presents two options: informed or ignorant, Roman presses the ignorant button without hesitation (14:13-14:18). Roughly three minutes after Patton, also in Putting Others First: SvS Redux, presses the “skip all” option instead of reading the information Logan had presented (23:18), “01134” is seen in orange at the top right corner of the screen (26:32). When typed in a calculator and shown upside down, the text says ‘hello’. Furthermore, the top right side of the screen also says “Thomas=8”, showing that Thomas has eight lives; one for each of his six sides and himself. Or perhaps it’s more than that and there’s eight sides that make up Thomas, it would make sense for him to be balanced (that might be an essay written at a much later time).

Finally, the Orange side only shows up after moments of intense ignorance. For example, at the beginning of Moving On: Dealing With a Breakup, Roman gets angry about nobody wanting to talk about the fifth season of Lost with him. c!Thomas asks Patton about Roman’s emotions as it wouldn’t be unwise to say Patton’s room would have an effect on the others like Virgil’s did. Patton responds that it was nothing, that he just acts “a little bit silly! That’s all!” and tries to distract the others with pictures, unsuccessfully repressing the emotions (1:25-1:35). This time frame is simultaneous as the picture of the monkey proverb — “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” — appearance (1:25-1:41). The picture changes, however, when c!Thomas refuses the option to turn a blind eye and asks for clarification. Furthermore, in Putting Others First: SvS Redux, if Logan did not verbally speak, c!Thomas, Roman and Patton ignored him. They carried on as if he wasn’t there, choosing to not read his possibly important information. In one specific instance, Patton asks Logan what a real philosopher would think about what he’s saying — when Logan gives an answer Patton doesn’t like, a button pops up in yellow and black (Deceit’s way of ‘shutting Logan up’ without being there, albeit technically being Patton who did so — side note: this is where Deceit took Logan’s spot). Patton presses the button and Logan — Logic — is silenced (23:18). It is soon after this that the orange side makes his presence known as the earlier mentioned “01134”. Later on, Janus (disguised as Logan) tells us that knowing or having been told certain information “does not give you the license to ignore it in the future, especially when the consequences of forgetting are so perilous” (27:35-27:46). Basically, information repetition is not an excuse for ignorance. Less than three minutes after this, Janus asks Patton to expand on his contradictory statements to which Patton responds with frustration of his own lack of knowledge, turning into a giant frog — a beast, if you will (30:20-30:30).

Ignorance is complicated, being quite the broad topic, but this seems like it’s too coincidental to be anything else: the way of thinking, the abilities, and the little hints.

Sources

Episodes mentioned (in chronological order)

Moving On: Exploring Nostalgia (https://youtu.be/ihCqpkPNtNM)

Putting Others First: Selfishness vs Selflessness Redux (https://youtu.be/KCr3SN6vWFQ)

Can Lying Be Good (https://youtu.be/N2d4oti_eBo)

Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts (https://youtu.be/Tn0pKxShY8Q)

Moving On: Dealing With a Breakup (https://youtu.be/m-PMR1TDMQk)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_wise_monkeys (the proverb)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_blindness (willful blindness/willful ignorance)

https://freemanlaw.com/willful-blindness-and-corporate-liability/ (willful blindness/willful ignorance)

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