#or explaining things like the viewer is 4 and doesn't know anything about the most popular video game in the world

[tiangouaway]

why do all minecraft youtubers edit their videos the exact same way

[mrfleshwizard]

I'll be honest, I think enough has been said about how both Lucifer and Charlie leave a lot to be desired.

Incredibly, I feel that Charlie can be forgiven for one thing or another because if we focus on her being ignorant of her own world… it could make her a good protagonist to introduce us to her own world.

I mean, she knows about humans, but she only knows through sinners. That is, all she has seen of “humans” is something more oral than witnessing something genuine. It's always the bad side, from what little he's seen (since he doesn't even seem to know the concept of Overlord).

There are things that can be forgiven or worked around better. The one who has no excuse is Lucifer.

If I could make a list, I think I would fall short because there are too many things wrong.

1) The lack of “I am the king of Hell.” If we were to go by things more attached to the biblical canon, this would be more taken in his favor since Lucifer is not king of anything except his own delusion. However, we are talking about the “popular canon” so if in design he is not going to be scary, in personality he needs to be scary; vice versa as well.

Fuck, the Overlords look more like rulers than he does. They pull the strings, have territories and so on. And they are not even important fish.

2) Depression: It is the card up the sleeve of some characters (not only Vivzie's but other authors as well) to justify things. The fact that you suffer from something does not justify it, it only explains the reason for those things, but sometimes that line even fails in the viewer.

Here it makes no sense. If your home was so oppressive, even if you have some sense of nostalgia, you should feel a sense of relief to get rid of that burden. Now, what's he going to be depressed about, he won a kingdom thanks to the descendants of the people who screwed up their lives, he has a wife (who has marital problems? Like anyone else) and a daughter. He wins more than he loses.

“ You offer humans everything and they destroy everything” said the one who had everything and sent it all to hell.

3) Grooming and misogyny: This one is very simple, Lilith and Eve in comparison to Lucifer are too young. And he decided to mess with both of them, and even rubs it in Adam's face, as if they were things to give pleasure. Yes, I know the joke is “Adam is no good in bed” but all he did was shoot himself in the foot. He could have said a lot of things, including that “without Heaven's help, you can't get someone to put up with you or that you'd be a creature no one would love.”

We are also talking about technically being the adult, if Lilith and Adam were having problems or he saw that Lilith was falling in love with him, he should have stopped the situation. Here also half of Heaven is to blame because why did they allow it, even when they created Eve, it didn't seem that they (Lucifer and Lilith) would have left, therefore, they gave the go ahead to that relationship.

4) Charlie: For a supposed universe where Daddy Issues abound, this must be the most pathetic “daddy issues” I have ever seen. That it's solved with a song and that in reality they both love each other very much. It's not even necessary to say that they were estranged thanks to Lilith/Eva/Roo, they could have put a father present but at the same time absent. That he didn't really value Charlie or that they spent little time with her.

It's just insipid.

5) Hypocrisy: This one abounds a lot in his character.

He doesn't like sinners, Lilith and Eve are sinners. He fights with Alastor over who is the better parent, hasn't seen his daughter in years and doesn't even support his daughter's dream. He likes Vaggie, for the fact that she is a woman and doesn't say her name well. He brags to Adam that he knew how to satisfy his two wives, objectifying them by focusing more on sex than, I don't know, feelings. He loves Lilith, he messed with Eve. Here we can argue whether it was a free relationship or not… but, it would be between the two of them, not Eve.

And the funniest thing of all, is that some points would be perfect… if they didn't want us to empathize with him. That they allowed him to either be evil or a being with delusions that really has no power and that people realized that “he just wants to drag people into the same hole where he is.”

There's a lot of things that could work, if the approach had been different, including it feeling like something fresh and new

On the part of Lilith, the mythological, although evil, is also an interesting character. Of course, popular culture has transformed her from an "evil woman" to an "empowered woman". As they have done with characters like Medea, Medusa (the original version and Pseudo Apollodorus' version) etc.

Although most of the myths she is a despicable being, to a version that is very little explored: One where she and Adam end up 120 years together in a consensual way. It would be interesting if the show handled that version or the evil version.

At the same time, asking for that kind of thing from a show where they focus more on the male characters and the female characters are pretty flat… is asking a lot.

I agree. If the show actually tried to acknowledge her flaws, challenged her views or show that she isn't good person she would be so much better, but show doesn't let her to grow.

1) Overlords are bigger leaders of hell than him. I would find interesting if Sera was the one who leads hell, but no, Lucifer is King of Hell and does absolutely nothing.

2) I don't think Lucifer has depression. That one line seems like a joke. His "suffering" is non existed. Fans love to make sad Videos of him missing his wife. They villainize her for being bad wife without knowing the whole story. He got everything he wanted but stills earns for more (maybe he should replace Mammon.) I hate how the show villainize humans becouse "Lucifer give them free will and they ruined in" or some shit like that. For what I seen humans had free will BEFORE Eve eat the apple and Lucifer ruined everybody lives.

3) The whole situation in eden is weird and creepy becouse how the fuck do Lilith and Eve know that what they doing (cheating) could be wrong? That thing could can as a grooming, but even if it wasn't, it is still predatory as fuck, and I hate how fans tries to justify it. Him rubbing in Adam's face is so pathetic. It doesn't make him cool and I wish fans could see that.

4) I hate how fans act that "He missed Charlie!" When fucker called her when he needed something or was bored, but people choose to ignore it becouse they don't want to admit that Lucifer suck.

5) I always saw Lucifer as delusional. Him dragging others in the same hole where he is could be a very good idea, but Viv refuses to make Lucifer something else than a "Goofy sad misunderstood guy".

I hate mythological Lilith with burning passion. Making rapist an feminist is so wrong. They're more feministic religious characters who aren't sex offenders. (for example Norea from gnostisc religion) Even if the show would go with "120 years" version doesn't change the fact that Lilith assualted many people. (Adam wasn't the only victim.)

The characters and the world are just boring and flat. There is nothing interesting about them and it's disappointing, especially after seeing how fans were hype for this show.

[butterflydm]

2x8 - some thoughts this morning (mostly about rand)

The contrast for Rand between this and last season's finales.

Facing Ishamael alone in the dark vs alongside his friends in the light.

Going off by himself after the confrontation (with no one in Fal Dara being aware of his actions) vs being heralded by all of Falme.

Moiraine willing to kill him because she doesn't trust him not to fall to the dark vs being willing to do whatever it takes to support him because she does trust him.

And within this episode itself, we have Lanfear telling Rand she's the only one who cares about him (manipulative technique to try to keep Rand emotionally isolated and dependent on Lanfear) vs that beautiful ending of him being supported by all these people who genuinely care about him (and not the guy that he was 3000 years ago).

I loved the placement of where the heron is on Rand's palm. I always thought it was in the middle and it felt kinda awkward to me but it looked really good the way that they did it.

book spoilers through the shadow rising are below

I am sad that the /wot subreddit freaked out over Rand's power progression getting smoothed (just like they did last finale) because they were doing so much better for most of this season. Alas, sigh. /wotshow is somewhat better, at least.

But, yes, about Rand's power progression. One of the big things about book 4 is that Rand is desperate enough to learn the One Power that he is willing to use one of the Forsaken as a teacher. That means that Rand needs to not be a powerhouse badass. The books mostly handled it by powering Rand up at the end of each book and then depowering him back at the start of the next one, but a lot of that was buyer's remorse on Jordan's part, imo, as he realized he'd accidentally made Rand too strong for the next part of the story. If Rand had already had those big power moments from the books, then it would be jarring that Rand is desperate enough to let one of the Forsaken that close to him (especially after everything with Lanfear); this isn't a book so we can't get Rand's internal justifications for the choice. The viewers need to believe that Rand NEEDS Asmodean. We've seen that Rand has raw strength, but his control is shaky and he doesn't have anyone to learn from.

The show turning Rand's growth into something more steady is good, imo. Right now, even as untrained as he is, Rand can run circles around non-channelers without thinking about it (killing Turak and his entire squad), but he's unprepared for facing other channelers because he lacks finesse and control. So... he needs a teacher and Logain didn't work out.

Enter Lanfear's way of contacting Rand while not contacting him. This actually feels like a clever way to handle it -- that Lanfear might use Asmodean as her proxy to stay informed about Rand while covertly helping him out, since she's kinda in time-out right now.

Also -- I've had a thought about the plotline that Ingtar didn't get... what if it goes to someone else? Mostly, I am wondering this because Lanfear specifically said, "Light protect you, Rand al'Thor" at the end of the episode. There are none who walk so long in the dark that they cannot seek the light?

I've also had a thought about Siuan. I know there are a bunch of theories out there that basically boil down to "she wasn't acting the way she really feels in her heart" and most of them don't really do anything for me. I just don't feel like the evidence is there and Siuan's actions are reasoned out and clearly explained in the episode.

...and then we learned in this episode that Ishamael did not want Rand in Falme. Not yet.

So everything that Lanfear did in 2x7 was entirely of her own design. The only thing she did on Ishamael's behalf was deliver Mat to him. But she and Ishamael were not working together to bring Rand to Falme.

So I think that there's real potential that Ishamael has continued screwing with Siuan's dreams this season; because we can reasonably guess that he was the one who gave her the idea of Moiraine taking the Dragon to the Eye of the World, and we've seen both Ishamael and Lanfear playing around in TAR this season, and compared to the tiny bit we got about Compulsion, we have gotten a LOT of exposition about TAR and multiple scenes set there.

Rand believed that Ishamael wanted him in Falme, but he was wrong. Ishamael didn't think he was ready yet.

...but if Rand is locked up in the White Tower for months? Shielded from the One Power and helpless? Completely isolated from anyone he cares about? Maybe then making a deal with the Dark One would start looking a lot more tempting.

And all of sudden... we've got motive (Ishamael wants to break Rand emotionally), means and opportunity (TAR/dreams, which we know he has access to), which were things that were missing from the other theories that I've seen.

Briefly: the 'it was all a ruse by Siuan' theory lacks proper motive imo -- attempting to trick Rand in this way is just as likely to backfire and make him unwilling to ever trust Moiraine again and Moiraine should absolutely know that by now; and the 'Siuan is under compulsion' theory lacked proper opportunity because we saw how Siuan brushed Liandrin off in 2x6 and she's been traveling all season so Traveling or Skimming to find her in order to Compel her would be more difficult, for the same reason that Lanfear didn't Travel when she was trying to chase Rand in 2x5.

I am also thinking about how the various changes that the show made will affect some storylines in the future. Renna, Seta, and Suroth's early deaths definitely impact a storyline later on and I definitely want to unpack that at some point (did Suroth die? I will double-check when I do my rewatch).

I really want to talk about how much I deeply loved the choices they made with Mat's storyline but I think I want to do my rewatch first, because I'm pretty sure my brain blanked out for parts of it because I was so happy. Everything about Mat in this episode was just so beautiful.

But there has been so much Mat foreshadowing for Rhuidean and certain other future things that I do find it confusing when people say that the show is going to skip those things for him. Maybe the fact that Ishamael's 'past lives tea' was confirmed to be a lie will make some of those people think twice about their assumptions?

Oh! The glorious contrast of Ishamael, LTT's BFF in his past life, being the "betrayer of hope" and then Perrin giving Mat the Horn and telling him to take it to Rand, saying, "you're his only hope". That's so good, that's so tasty, I can't wait to dive into the Ishy-Mat compare-contrast.

I plan to write up a post about my thoughts about where we might go in s3, and I'll post that next week sometime. This weekend is for my rewatch and my deep dive, and I'm really looking forward to it. So much happened in the episode that I know there's a lot that I missed talking about last night.

[blairsanne]

I just finished my first rewatch of taj. This time around, I noticed more than the first time I watched. I was actually paying more attention to the storyline instead of just watching Dean in every scene and how good he looked lol.

I felt bad for Anders and how everyone treated him, even up until the last episode. Yeah there were times when he acted like a prick but hey that’s his character and I understand him putting up a wall and acting the way he does because if how others treat him. Still loved Ty. Yeah at times it was a little creepy with his approach to Dawn but I love the ending how it all turned out for them. Still cried. Mike, still can’t stand him. I think this time around I found him even more annoying. I almost got to the point where I had to wither mute when he was talking or just outright skip it lol. Axl was better this time around. First time I found him really annoying but this time he was better. Love Zeb, hilarious! Love all the goddesses still, except Gaia. Don’t even get me started on her! Especially the storyline with her and Anders. Nope hated that part, couldn’t watch it this time.

I loved it even more this time around! Since finishing it, it got me thinking about it they did go ahead with a season 4 and what would play out. I would’ve loved to see how each of them adapted to their life now without their god powers and who would embrace the new change, who would struggle the most, would they change anything about their life or try and keep it steady? Who knows!? And then what about Axl moving back in with Zeb, do you think he’d eventually start telling him everything or just leave that all in the past and build a new friendship? What are your thoughts on if they did another season and what they would tackle?

Yay, talking about TAJ is one of my favourite things!!

I fully agree re: Anders. I often feel sad for him when people who watch the show accept his brothers' opinions of him as fact, despite Anders himself repeatedly trying to tell them that he does the right thing often, that he's trying to protect them, etc. -- and the audience even being shown that effort on his part multiple times. It grinds my gears that other characters thinking Anders is a shallow jerk is taken as a statement of fact from the writers and not, y'know, the character's opinion.

Anders may not have the same set of ethics as Mike, but he clearly has his own set of ethics (which he brings up in S2 when he's uncomfortable with Helen's ideas for his powers, in S3 with Colin's ideas for his powers, etc...) and doesn't see his own actions the way his brothers interpret them, and I think it's a very uncharitable reading of his character to think of him as flat and selfish, instead of the very complex character that was actually written into the show, with flaws and good points and complicated family dynamics where mostly there's a lot of misunderstanding of each other going on. I could probably ramble on about that forever, but I'll refrain.

Mainly I wish that viewers would take Anders word for it what his own motivations are, because he does outright state them at multiple points, right from the first season where he explains that the thing that got him BANISHED FROM HIS FAMILY was done in an attempt to protect Mike.

I really disliked Mike my first viewing, because I felt like he caused a lot of strife for other characters by being inflexible and believing he knew best. As I've rewatched, I've come to better appreciate his character and the immense burden he bears. I think his attempt at controlling his family is his own way of trying to protect them, and that this was caused by the events surrounding both the toxic relationship of his parents and that he was forced to be the head of the family at age 21. (I still get annoyed with him during the S3 Odin contest stuff but I also headcanon that it was a "fate" thing to force Odin and Frigg together.) I try to remind myself that every character on the show thinks they are in the right, and why that might be.

I have a theory about Gaia, but that's a whole other essay lmao.

My answers to your questions re: S4 will be somewhat colored by the deleted scene from the final episode, which reveals what Colin was doing tossing a red gem on the ground before the Ga.

In the deleted scene (which they filmed in case they got renewed for S4), Loki comes out of the gem, and we were left with Loki and Colin standing in the woods, apparently about to cause some problems.

With that in mind, I have to assume that the Johnsons would discover Loki was in Midgard and try to do soemthing about it. I further assume that at least some of the other characters would have god spirits inhabit them again (mainly because that's more interesting than them coming back to Earth on their own and interacting with mortal Johnsons).

I think it would be REALLY interesting if they didn't necessarily get the gods they had the first time around. Maybe Odin doesn't want to leave Asgard, so Axl becomes another god. Maybe Freki, just for the lols. Maybe they find some new McGuffin that allows other mortals (liek Zeb and Dawn) to take on god spirits!

Re: Zeb and Axl living together, given how long their friendship was, I headcanon that - much like Dawn - Zeb would eventually start to remember Axl, and maybe everything. Alternatively, maybe part of the season is Axl finding a way to make Zeb remember!

Just re: the Johnsons being mortal in general, I have a bit of a hc where, since Mike's career wasn't based on his powers, he'd go back to construction (maybe rebuild the bar to sell it), and Axl would work for him. Anders (who I assume does know how to do his job, despite no longer being able to just Bragi his clients) might even do promo for the construction business. Ty could still be a courier, and as the only one to actually live as a mortal since turning 21, I think he'd have the easiest time of it, especially with Dawn remembering him and all.

I think initially there would be a lot of razzing Mike by challenging him to games and beating him, but overall I think Mike might actually feel really happy to get to be included in those games again after so long. I think losing Ullr would really help Mike chill out. Or, at least, I hope that for him.

I don't really see Michele and Anders working out long term unless Michele started to take Anders seriously. She didn't really seem to understand him very well even in S3. I did feel like Anders seemed to want a more serious relationship (not necessarily that he wanted what Ty or Mike would want, but just that he seemed to be looking for emotional connection in S3, and not only physical, perhaps because of the whole Idun plot?) so I could see with not having Bragi anymore that he might settle down a bit and get a gf. I've always sort of thought maybe mortal women didn't seem like suitable gf material to him because they couldn't know about everything going on (like he saw how being with Val was complicated for Mike) and that's why they're always little flings. We do see him treat Michele and Helen pretty well imo (not cheating on them, taking them seriously as people, etc.), so I thought maybe he would do better with a goddess gf. (See Lofn fic lmao)

Ahhh that was a lot of rambling, but I'm always happy to talk more about TAJ!! Thanks for the ask :)

[aquitainequeen]

Aside from news on how things possibly stand for a Shadow and Bone/Six Of Crows renewal (basically no news is good news, keep going with the campaign!) there's also a short interview with Eric Heisserer, which sheds some interesting light indeed on the writing and making of Season Two, and it explains a lot of things:

Here are the questions posed for Eric's interview: 

"I'd like to know if there's a way to liberate the pre-written scripts if Netflix doesn't plan on using them" - Christian Thalmann (creator of the Fjerdan language)

"In my view, 'The Crows' have the potential to revitalize the Grishaverse. Unlike "Shadow and Bone", this new show could rely less on elaborate visual effects and offer a fresh narrative angle. Heist-themed shows are currently in high demand, adding to its appeal. Am I mistaken in thinking that our focus should primarily be on 'The Crows'? The likelihood of 'Shadow and Bone' returning seems slim, but I've always believed that 'The Crows' had a greater change of success." - Joleen

"If/when the spinoff is back (finger crossed) was there anything he had planned that would completely surprised, for good reasons obviously, the audience? And we should hold our breath for that twist/turn??" - Rti

"What are the difficulties you mentioned about filming S2 in that Reddit comment? Don't want to sound negative, but what went wrong?!" - Mitra

"How long was the sizzle reel ready to go but he had to keep it secret?" - Discord Team

"I would love to know his perspective on the impact of streaming on storytelling. Would we have had to launch a campaign like this 10-15 years ago for a show like this? What are the main points when it comes to streaming models and telling unique, diverse stories?" - Acorn_Bri

Eric's Responses: 

1) "There is a way to liberate the Crows scripts from Netflix, yes, and in fact that would be part of the buyout for another streamer when acquiring the rights to Leigh's novels. It would be a package deal." 

2) "The focus on the Crows is helpful in two ways -- first, those scripts were written, which lets us get a running start at production, and second, just from casual analysis of book sales, it's far more popular worldwide than other Grishaverse titles. So it will be a bigger draw for viewers. The trap though is the cost. It's more grounded than S&B, sure, but the Ice Court is a unique location that either requires a really costly set build, or set extensions and VFX work to make it look authentic, which means nearly every shot of the heist once our crew gets there could be a VFX shot. My guess is the budget would be on par with S2 of S&B.

3) "Yes, there is a surprise or two in the Crows spinoff season, but overall it's as close to the novel as we could make it. And Leigh's novel is such an amazing story with natural cliffhangers that work as episode "out" moments, etc. I think the biggest move we made was to feature every single Crow's backstory to go with their episode. So that was fun/sad/exciting." 

4) S2 kept throwing challenges at us, and it started long before we got to production. Like months earlier, when we learned the location we needed for the Little Palace in S1 was closed to us due to the pandemic. So right there we lost out on a ton of S&S scenes, because it wouldn't be a match. But we also had written a compelling side arc for Ivan and Fedyor in S2, these two Grisha trapped on either side of the civil war. Each of them played a big role in the story, but Simon (Ivan) had a feature film that overlapped with our schedule and couldn't move, which meant we lost him. So Daegan worked to revise the season keeping Fedyor and leaving Ivan like dead from the end of S1. He was Kirigan's right-hand man for the season. But poor Julian caught COVID just when we were to shoot out most of his scenes, and after tyring to ake the schedule work, we had to come to the brutal truth that there wasn't a way to keep Fedyor in the story. Our only option was to bring him in at like episode 8, which would've been too little, too late. 

COVID continued to be a monster all through production, requiring us to juggle schedules and miss out on days, and it was madness for the cast, who had to pivot with almost no notice whenever someone was ill and quarantined. This isn't unique to our show of course---it happened with everyone. It's just the challenge. 

Beyond that, we had been given the go to write a special standalone story: The Demon in the Wood. This would have been released on its own around Christmas, like a BBC special but for Netflix, and would help bridge seasons 1 and 2 by showing a little of what Kirigan was doing before we seem him in S2, and also provide more character context, etc. Christina Strain wrote that and did great work adapting Leigh's short story. But it never went the distance. 

There was a lot more to S2 as well, scenes and side stories and little interactions that were lost due to budget or time restrictions. Again, not unique to our show, but agonizing all the same, since what you get is not what we had written, or in some cases even shot. I'm incredibly proud of the cast and the team, and Daegan did the heaviest lifting while I was off finishing the Crows writing room. But we had a lot more thrown at us." 

5) That sizzle reel was put together four months before the second season dropped. 

6) Streaming is a challenge to serialized storytelling in that it looks at 'content' often with a different agenda and uses metrics that can take a creative issue and exacerbate it. Like in broadcast, if viewership and thus ad revenue has slightly declined, the show will ned to find a way to make their 22 or 13 episodes on a proportionally smaller budget. What is not done is reduce episode order. But if a streaming series underperforms or doesn't meet expectations, an the streamer doesn't cancel it outright, the go-to budget reduction idea is to reduce episode order for the next season. When you just have 8 episodes and continue to deal with notes to compress, pace up, or omit for what you'd scripted for a longer season, reducing further to six or four episodes is exhausting. 

This happens due to a slide in autonomy from what the showrunner position has been. What the chatter on the picket lines revealed to us is that most showrunners today don't get to see their own show's budget, and thus don't get the freedom to make budgetary decisions that could better protect the story they're telling. More and more, showrunners not at a legacy network aren't the final say or at times even involved in hiring key roles. I don't have any ideas that aren't already in contract language, I just see how the job on this side has gotten harder and there isn't much of a way for us to make it easier for each other like we could with having writers on set or in post production, because the streaming model has made that impossible." 

[enchantra35]

Reflections on V4 & V5 of RWBY by a first time watcher

(Lengthy post ahead)

Hi, it's be again, back on my bullshit. First of all, I'd like to say that I didn’t expect my first post to get that much attention LOL. I'd like to clarify (again) two points:

First, I agree with most people's explanations. I didn't mean to sound like I was accusing fans for not thinking that bumbleby would become canon. My intention was to point out to some earlier hints, and I realize now that I could have used some better phrasing. As I explained elsewhere, when rwby aired, I was too young to know anything about the state of queer representation in media at the time. Now of course I know better, although I never got to experience that kind of anxiety - at least, not to that extent. My second point is that I was mostly referring towards homophobes and incels who were trying to persuade shippers that bumbleby wasn't happening, and not to fans who couldn't be certain due to the overall circumstances.

With that said, the aim of this post is mainly to discuss some things I've noticed while watching volumes 4 & 5. There wasn't much I wished to comment on after finishing v4 as I found it very transitional, so I decided to do one unified post for both volumes, especially since someone suggested to watch these volumes as one. Let me now get to the main points I'd like to mention.

-Edit: I forgot one of the most important motifs imo; the moon. I noticed how each volume it looks bit by bit more ruined, showing how the world below is also falling it chaos and society as it is known is destroyed. Also, it's eventual (potential) complete destruction will make the nights darker, symbolizing the triumph of evil. I love subtle details like that.

- Ozpin's and Crow's dynamic really reminds me of Dumbledore and Snape. Ozpin in particular reminds me very much of Dumbledore - and I definitely don't mean that as a good thing. Although he clearly has good intentions and he's a "good guy" per se, sometimes it feels like he's using his students as sacrificial lamps for the greater good. Personally, I'm not exactly font of the idea of pushing the fate of the world onto the shoulders of a bunch of teenagers. Oscar is still a KID and all he's ever known is how to be a farmer and suddenly he's sharing a body with one of the smartest and most powerful people to ever walk the earth and their fates are suddenly intertwined. That's so insane. And on top of everything, Ozpin isn't 100% honest with him. I'm glad that Yang confronts him about keeping secrets. I will give it to him however that he's honest enough to admit his mistakes.

-Raven is probably one of the most fascinating characters. Can't say whether I like her or hate her, but there are so many layers to touch upon. It's interesting how she's constantly trying to prove to others - and essentially to the viewers as well - that she's cruel, smart and calculating (and she definitely is all those things) and that she doesn't care about trifle things, but ultimately she fails, as it is evident by the end of volume 5. She does care about Yang (although she has a very strange way of showing it) and her tribe most of all. She's also smart enough to see Ozpin's shortcomings.

- I liked how they explored Yang's trauma from loosing her arm and how she copes with the loss. "A part of me is lost" is such a powerful statement and it points to how everything has changed, but Yang accepts it.

-At the same time, that girl has no chill with that prosthetic arm. She straight up dismantles it off her shoulder just to win the wrestling against Nora (and later on to elude Mercury. I bet that if anyone asked her to give them a hand, she would just toss it on their feet then laugh her ass out. She's so silly, I love her.

-With that said, I wish they could have explored a little bit more of Jaune's trauma, but still I think we see well enough how Pyrrha's death has affected him. But why the FUCK did they have to give him more trauma in order to unlock his semblance? Another of his friends almost dies before his eyes, give that boy a break, good Lord.

- Ren and Nora 👀. I love me some good childhood bestdriends to potential lovers. Their background is so tragic but there's something about then growing up together that makes me feel things. I love their dynamic and I think it's pretty hilarious (collected, quiet guy and loud, silly, powerful girl). It was nice how they gained some catharsis when they finally killed that monster. And the symbolism when they hid under similar building where Nora tried to calm Ren down? Literal tears.

-"I was struck by a lighting and I lived. What a Wednesday" GIRL WHAT, LMAO

- I really enjoyed Blake's and Sun's dynamic, whether someone sees them romantically or platonically (for me personally it's the latter, but that's besides the point). Sun has always been a great friend, and although he can be really annoying sometimes, he is there for Blake and he's able to make her see things clearly and persuade her that isolating herself isn't a good thing. I feel like without him around, things for the Belladonnas would have been very different. He's a bit of a himbo, but I love him.

-The angsty Bees got me really well this season. Yang's anger is definitely justifiable and she has every right to be upset.

-"What if I wanted her to be here for me?" BITCH-

-Weiss pulling the "what's that supposed to mean?" every time the Bees are being angsty will forever be funny to me. The OG Beekeeper.

-That said, I think that she explains Blake's point of view really well and I liked how she reached out to Yang although "they aren't that close" (her words, not mine) and seeks to comfort her.

-Did I say that I hate Weiss's family? (Except maybe Winter, but the rest can go burn in hell). I'm GLAD Weiss realizes that ream RWBY is her true family. You love to see a good found family trope.

-Genuinely CANNOT stand the Bees this season /j. Blake seeing her team again and the only person she calls out for is Yang? And Yang's puppy eyes when she sees Blake again? WHY ARE YOU GAY?

-One of the funniest lines was when Crow was like "How can six children make so many noise while having dinner?", like BUDDY, you just answered your question. Tired uncle Crow for the win.

[ssadumba55]

Here is the Toy Story 4 tea y'all.

My opinion on Toy Story 4 is in the minority, it's the opposite of what literally everyone else thinks about it; I think that Toy Story 4 was a necessary film, I think it was good in terms of Woody's character development and I think people who boil it down to Woody ditching his friends for his (in their words not mine) 'hoe' are missing the entire point of Toy Story 4.

Let me explain myself.

The most relevant argument I see about this film is the 'Woody would never argument; 'Woody would never leave Bonnie', 'Woody would never leave Buzz and the gang', etc. and I'm not going to knock this argument, because at some point this was true. In the first three films, Woody was given the option to abandon his kid or the gang and he chooses to stick with them but there are a lot of differences in Toy Story 1-3 and Toy Story 4 Woody.

For starters, Woody's whole purpose throughout the first three movies is Andy. He wants to be there for Andy, he wants to help him grow, he wants to be loyal and fulfill his purpose which is being Andy's toy. As soon as Andy gave Woody to Bonnie in Toy Story 3 that purpose was fulfilled, as we see in the fourth movie, he doesn't know where to go from that point because up until that point his purpose was Andy and Andy is no longer in his life.

This leads to my second point which is we (the viewers) and Woody himself don't really know who Woody is. Sure, we all know he's a loyal guy who will stick by his friends and yeah, we also know he has a little bit of a by the book kind of guy, but those are all things he has to be for other people. He has to be loyal to Andy, because Andy needs him. He has to lead the toys, because the rest of the toys would be in disarray without him and he has to follow the rules because the rules keep his friends safe. In all honesty, we have no clue who Woody is in terms of himself and neither does Woody. When Bonnie stops playing with him as much in favour of her other toys, Woody realizes this. He doesn't have a purpose, he doesn't have anything besides the people around him and he starts to realize throughout the film that he needs to start being a little selfish.

Before I go deeper into Woody's character arc let's talk about Toy Story as a whole. I like to think of Toy Story as an analysis of a relationship; particularly the relationship between Woody and Andy, because in my opinion, that is the main relationship in the film. In the first two films, Woody is tested in his relationship with Andy and he decides to hold firm and loyal to this relationship both times. In the third film, Andy starts to drift from this relationship and Woody, not ready to let go, holds onto it for as long as possible until at the end he realizes that what he and Andy have can never be the same as it was when Andy was a child. He has to come to grips with this change and he does it with his friends at his side. The fourth film then is Woody finding himself. As I'm sure anyone who has been in any type relationship they thought was the most important at the time, only to later have it die out would tell you; after that relationship you do a lot of self exploration. You start to realize who you are outside of that relationship, form new relationships and become a stronger individual.

The same can be said for Toy Story 4; I personally think that even had Bonnie been as invested in Woody as Andy was, the outcome would have been the same. Woody would have left, because when you leave a relationship like the one he had with Andy, you can't replace what you had before and that's essentially what he was trying to do with Bonnie. He was forcing Bonnie in his mind to be the "new Andy" and that's not a healthy way for anyone to live or foster a relationship (even if that relationship is one sided).

So then, if Toy Story 4 is Woody finding himself it makes perfect sense he'd run off with Bo and it makes perfect sense his friends would let him. Now that he no longer has his loyalty to Andy tying him back, he's starting to put his own wants and needs before others, something everyone has to do at some point. And bumping into Bo, getting a second chance at something he hadn't been able to pursue before, probably accelerated that process. Buzz, Jessie and the other toys realize that Woody has spent decades selflessly giving himself up for them and Andy, they have been there all along. They know it's a breakthrough that he's finally focusing on himself and being a little selfish. All they want is for him to be happy, much like all Andy wanted was for his toys to be played with at the end of Toy Story 3.

So to basically summarize my thoughts and feelings on Toy Story 4; I do not think Woody was out of character, I do not feel like it was unnecessary. I don't think it was Bonnie's fault Woody ran away, I don't think Woody was choosing Bo over his friends; I think Woody was choosing himself over his friends and that it just so happened to coincidentally be that the selfish thing he wanted to do to make himself happy was be with Bo because he got a one in a million second chance to be with the one he loves and how often do you get an opportunity like that?

To dispel some other arguments I feel like people will bring up in response to this, I don't care how Andy would feel about all of this. Bro is in college, Woody and the gang aren't his toys anymore, they're Bonnies. Andy doesn't matter anymore, like it or not. He isn't even there. Andy also would not be mad at Bonnie for this, she's a little kid. In some event where he did find out, he may be mad at himself for giving her the toys but it's not Bonnie's fault Woody left. Buzz and the gang can do just fine without Woody now. Dolly is in charge of Bonnie's room, so Woody doesn't need to fulfill that role anymore and everybody else still has each other. Plus, I like to think Woody and Bo visit if they can.

And finally, at the end of the day, yes I know none of this matters because Toy Story's 2-(now)5 are cashgrabs meant to monopolize on your love of these characters. I am aware how capitalism and movie sequels work, but that doesn't mean these movies can't mean something to the people who watch them and that they can't be enjoyed. And this is what Toy Story in general and Toy Story 4 meant to me. It just kind of sucks to see people shit on it because sometimes, in a way it feels like people are shitting on me. I've been in a position like Woody, where someone I cared about suddenly didn't want me anymore and it sucked, it took a lot of growth and yeah, I ended up leaving a lot of friends who I loved and who I cared about but in order to grow I needed to do what was best for me.

And sure, maybe most people won't see Toy Story 4 as this metaphor, maybe you'll think I'm projecting or that I'm stretching a bit too far and that's okay. This isn't intended to change your mind, only show you a different perspective. I hope it at least was an interesting read. And yeah, I'm a 22 year old guy who thinks way too critically and deeply about cartoon toy movies.

It's the autism, innit? /j /lh

Either way you wanted it, so who's really the weirdo here? /j Feel free to ask for clarification, I tried to organize this into coherent thoughts but sometimes my brain works faster than my hands and things get lost.

[vixthefantheorist]

Thoughts on Audio findings

I originally had this typed up on phone but THAT got lost when I had to put it down in the middle of typing to do something because it needed my attention. Came back to it to find that my tumblr app decided to close the tab... so all that was lost. -angy rifter noises- So starting this over AGAIN... I realized I never typed up my thoughts and guess of what was going on in the audio files. I was functioning at 4 hours of sleep yesterday and I had things to do but I had promised to at least get those files out there for everyone. I rushed to get them out there that my brain dead, too tired to think properly self forgot to do the... you know thing of explaining what I thought of what I found. And for that I apologize, I'm sure some of you were curious of what I thought about them and provide a theory for it. And I will provide it here.

But I do want to get something clear, I know I missed a few things in my run around deciphering audio; like Echo's conversation with Chase. I know people burn for it but with my current dismal skill of Audacity and audio editing in general, I couldn't do anything to see if there was any actual words in there or it was just sounds that only Chase (currently for now) could understand and leave us to guess what the hell was being said. For all we know the sounds Echo gives are some kind of code, I don't know. I don't even have the basic understanding of editing or usage of Audacity to even begin to pick that apart. The there's the whispers of Anti's mental assault on Chase's psyche, there's so much going on in there I... couldn't even begin to know where to start on working with that. That's why I gave the full audio of the video in the files I provided in my previous post. Take a crack at it and share it. Heh, We all want to know! Now, I can provide what I heard with a few audio bits. I'm sorry for the wait! I apologize for the volume for the files, I forgot I was wearing a pair of headphones that have its own volume so I had like 2-3x the volume control... which led me to not really change the volume in the files... but I will add these to the google drive for download and you can fiddle with the volume. Though in hindsight, I think that's for the best; with my shitty audacity skills, I could have blown out people's ears. And that would be bad. At least this way, you can adjust them to your own liking without going deaf by some idiot like me. XD First off, starting at 11:13-11:16. This little timestamp holds this Anti whisper...

Originally, I thought it said, "You can't hide from me." (It probably still does) But upon further fiddling around to make Anti's voice clearer, my thoughts on what he says changed. It sounds to me like he says, "You can't help his fate." Followed by his eye. Interesting! Given the fact his eye flickers on the screen like that makes me believe he's talking to whomever is watching through the camera in Chase's room. Meaning Anti is well aware of someone else in the room, watching Chase like he's watching even though he hasn't even shown up yet. Very much talking to US, the viewers, (as well as possibly the other party. Haha, nudge nudge, wink wink. Assuming he even does know they're there. Don't know) since we're the ones hacking the joint to seek out Chase. (Then again when haven't we been meddling around look for the Egos? As well as look for Anti? Come on, you know we were all there for sights of them all. He knows this and it doesn't surprise him that we're here. In fact, he's enjoying this. (I am so sorry, Chase! We were trying to help you, I swear!)) Speaking of that other party! We're at the set of lines I was the most curious of. On the Day Anti decides to drop by for visit to the IRIS facility we get to hear THESE whispers. At 19:58 - 20:04 A lot going on in there huh? But what little you do hear is that someone else (or a group) are already here. Why they are here, we're not sure. But I'll give you some clearer audio files of that same timestamp. I know its a bit hard to hear some of the dialogue in there I don't know how to clean it up any better, sorry. But from what I was able to hear (and probably lost my mind in the abyss of Audacity) is : "You know we have a plan. We can't be here."

"We have/got to go"

"Stop being stupid!" * The one saying "We have/got to go" sounds a bit like Echo... (or the pitch is high, very likely the pitch is high) And the last line... I don't even know where to begin with that one. It sounded like, *"Stop being stupid" "Stop sounding stupid" or "Stop sending stuff". The last bit of that dialogue is just super distorted and I don't know how to fix it, I'm sorry. But of the three guesses to that one thing, I just chose the one that made more sense for the argument. Now is the version of the same time stamp where we only hear Anti's demonic screeching. Settle down there, eldritch boy.

It might not be anything of actual value but the way it sounds, to me at least, sounds like Anti is screeching Chase's name. Creepy. But with all of these together... we can somewhat get a picture here. Besides us, the viewers being here to see Chase and try to find a way to help him, there's another party that's also there, making their own plan. What the plan is... I don't know for sure but I have a guess. Whatever the case is the pair (I don't know if its just two guys, two guys and Echo, or one dude and Echo, working together. For now I'm thinking just the two guys here) are arguing over what to do. These other files are what sounds to be the other half of the pair, arguing back with their partner of what to do. (20:07-20:08, 20:09-20:10, 20:13-20:15, 20:18-20:18, 20:25-20:28)

"No! We are going for it." This one wants to deviate from the plan and do something else while they have the chance, much to their partner's annoyance. But one of them states, "We gotta go." In confusion the partner asks, "What did you see?" Instead of answering the question, they merely urge the other, "Go." They seem to be aware of something, "Whatever happens happens." Suddenly an alarm blares, red lights flashing all over the place as Chase figures that something is happening from Arin's mannerisms and urgency to move. Those very same alarms seem to surprise our other party! One of them exclaiming, "What?!" at the alarm system going on. From the sounds of... My guess is that they didn't see that one coming. (-cue Last Surprise from Persona 5- ...I'm sorry I had to.) Though there is one piece of the whispers I can probably point out at 20:53-20:55. It sounds like it says "He won't give up." I'm not entirely sure, so if anyone can figure that out, cool. And as Chase is dragged down the hall, kicking and screaming, begging to be released... we hear one last thing... before things go silent in that hallway. (21:09-21:11) Anti whispering softly, "This is your grave."

*~*~*~*~*

My Summarizing Thoughts :

So what I can gather from all this... is that the same time we were poking around IRIS' computer systems, there was another party at the facility. I don't know if they were imprisoned in there as well or had broken in on their own. They had a plan of their own that they were going to do but I guess our meddling with the systems changed things for them. I don't know if they're here for the Stone Tablet or somehow planned it to be there to collect Chase and escape the facility together with the rock... maybe, I don't I'm just guessing here. But I don't think they accounted for our meddling which allowed Anti to speedrun (I can't help but think of Anti going "SPEEDRUN!" running around in there) the facility, forcing the party to go into action. What that action is, is anyone's guess. My guess though, is that they're going to try to rescue Chase. How, I'm not sure. Either intercepting from one of the T section of halls Chase is sitting at and block Anti from him or if Marvin is there or something, magic his ass out of there before Anti can kill him. Either case, that scene is not over! And I can't wait (of course I'll wait, I want Sean to have the time to make it as spectacular as he wants it to be and to do that, he needs time. I'm a patient birb) to see what that will entail and what will happen! Also I would like to apologize... again. I wanted this post out MUCH earlier in the day but I kept getting interrupted in my typing. And then, I originally wanted to add audio clips to talk about them, sadly I wasn't aware that there was a limit of how many flies/links one can add to a post. And I really didn't want to break this into two parts... so... here! A SUPER ASS LONG ONE! With timestamps to match to the files I gave. (Yes, I'm well aware there's a lot of files with the same timestamps, I will move those into a folder within the JSE IRIS Clues folder and leave it for anyone to see them if they want. That has been updated as I wrote this out) Well, I hope you guys enjoyed my thoughts on the files. I'm curious to what you guys think, or discover on your own with the audio files I gave. Please do share them, Sean did point out about looking into the audio so I hope there are others out there mining away at this to truly uncover the hidden clues within! At least we know there is another party involved! I'm sorry we screwed up your plans, honest! Please save Chase.

[bugheadchemistry]

People keep saying that BA ia endgame bc of stuff Lilly or Ras or whoever hinted but ..... If they implied anything else Barchies would throw the biggest tantrum we've ever seen lmao

They don't want to risk their current viewer base ditching them so early in the final season. They want to squeeze every Barchie tweet out of this that they can for promo. I have no idea who will be endgame but I DO know that if it's not Barchie, the last thing anyone working on the show is going to do is imply that this early lmao

I know they feel rly confident right now, but they need to remember Ras wants views, and the Barchies are easy views and promo atm. But I think they also know if they bring back older, more popular ships that could also make them BANK later lol so at the end of the day, it'll be what they think will get the most views/money I think.

I also just think with all the universe hopping and time line changing, and then choosing to do BA during that, is a BAD sign for them lol it feels like they're going to switch things up at the end and if Barchie was going to be endgame for sure, I don't think they would get this much content this soon. I could always be wrong, but I just think Ras is 100% using Barchies atm bc they're ravenous and LOUD so its good to get tweets about them going and stuff. Long story short, they probably should consider the fact that if anyone implied anything BESIDES Barchie endgame, they'd all mass exodus out of the viewer base lol they're gunna keep them on the hook but that doesn't mean they'll get what they want at the end. I don't think Ras is loyal to them in any way, and if he IS a fan of the comics at all - he knows Archie literally never chooses Betty EVER lol

Also the whole Tabitha guardian angel thing feels like an easy cop out for that relationship - she's not of this world or has a bigger purpose or whatever and won't end up with anyone from the show lol they've done a poor job incorporating her organically into the cast people had already been watching for years so I'm thinking she won't be there when things wrap up. Her being a literal angel feels far too convenient lol

Only time will tell, but they're much more confident then I think they should be. If I was them, I'd be skeptical and anxious. I think they'll likely slowly hint at other ships in hoping of luring back more of the old fan base over the season before the Barchies foam at the mouth and jump ship - so that they wont lose out on viewer numbers. Will that work? Probably not lmao but I still don't think BAs are going to get the perfect happily ever after they've invisioned

Whew! There’s a lot to unpack here. I will do my best to respond and try to make sense. 😂 I’m just going to go paragraph by paragraph.

1. It’s been said multiple times, by myself and others, that RAS never confirms anything. He’s always vague and misleading so as not to give anything away (which I’m of the opinion now that he actually doesn’t know where they are going with anything which is why the show became such a dumpster fire 🤷🏼‍♀️). It’s already been established that Lili never confirmed anything either. I’m convinced that BAs just don’t know the definition of that word.

2. I’m curious to know who the viewer base is now. They lost the BHs and VAs for sure. Casual viewers ditched because the storylines were so far out there that “jumping the shark” is too kind of a phrase to use at this point. Is it just BAs? If so, that would explain why the ratings are so low. Turns out, there are not as many BA fans as they BAs would want us to believe.

3. I am honestly baffled by how sure BAs are that they are going to get everything they have ever wanted when these writers have proven that they will screw anyone over just for drama. That overconfidence is really going to bite them in the ass one of these days (and hopefully soon!).

4. Yeah, the BA storylines in seasons 5 & 6 were nothing to write home about. I mean, yeah BA hooked up a lot but where was the romance? There wasn’t any. Didn’t they also go for a long stretch of episodes without interacting at all? And didn’t Betty kill Archie twice in the multi-verse? I just don’t get what there was to like about any of it, and if I were a BA I would be pissed.

5. Yeah, I don’t know what to say about Tabitha. By the time she joined the show, I had already stopped watching.

6. I would be absolutely shocked if they gained back any of the viewership they lost. It’s too late and too many bridges have been burned.

[eightfifteen]

I'm one of those people who won't believe Byler is going to be canon until I see it because this isn't my first rodeo and I know that just because it textually, subtextually, and narratively makes the most sense, doesn't mean it's going to happen.

My biggest concern was that even if the Duffers had planned a Byler canon all along, I doubted Netflix would allow their most popular show ever to be queer. And also because the GA loved midleven; they were iconic.

This is what makes it so strange that the Duffers were allowed to ruin them in season 4. And how Midleven is not being marketed AT ALL. If the reason for midleven being endgame is because it would be most profitable for Netflix,... then why aren't they cashing in??

And then I was watching this video essay by Verilybitchie on YT about Queer media which explains how oftentimes new companies (streaming platforms but also in the past just regular up-and-coming cable channels) would target minority groups because they're the ones most looking for new places to get content.

"In the 60s and 70s, when cable channels were first introduced, small new networks like Fox, and the CW, got their early success targeting niche audiences, specifically black audiences. (...) And streaming is following this exact same business strategy. They're churning out huge amounts of diverse content because they're building up a new business and they want to attract invested viewers who don't feel like they're getting enough content elsewhere. That includes people of colour, LGBT people, women, and young girls." - Verilybitchie

For example, one of Netflix' first shows Orange Is The New Black, is diverce as fuck. The main character is bi and in multiple queer relationships, and most side-characters are also queer one way or the other and ethnically and racially diverse. But it also targets women specifically; a huge demographic that isn't being catered to enough. This clearly helped build Netflix' userbase.

But now, with Netflix having become as popular as it is today, they want to target bigger, more lucrative audiences (aka predominantly cishet, white groups), which is why all of their shows are slowly becoming stale and mainstream or get canceled after one season.

But my point is that Stranger Things was given the green light in phase 1 - the phase where they were targeting minorities. This means that there's a higher chance for them to have been greenlit even if - or maybe even especially if - it was queer. And now with the panel saying "they were just amazed Netflix was letting them do this at all", I don't know it's just reminding me of all of this.

It's clear that Netflix is being very hands-off when it comes to ST, trusting them to deliver one way or another. Especially now re-watch value isn't as important in Hollywood anymore; they don't have to please the GA for it to remain popular, the GA will watch it either way until they figure out the queer endgame, and by then they've watched the whole show and ST will no longer be the reason for them to renew their subscription at the end of the month anyway.

If they hope to get a new audience for ST after the show is already over, so they can get a small boost of new subscribers, it would make more sense to once again target the queer audiences who wouldn't otherwise have watched it. Everyone who likes Sci-Fi Fantasy is already subscribed (or watching the show illegally) so they have to give it a new appeal if they want to get new fans; the queer userbase that will watch anything just because it's gay. In my opinion, it's their only way for getting new fans, especially once everyone knows how it ends and the suspense is taken away. And with shows like Sex Education, Young Royals, and Heartstopper doing as well as they're doing, they know there's a huge audience for this.

But more importantly; this brings more credibility to the Duffers having planned Byler all along, and with it being slowburn, and them only getting together in the final season, Netflix would have no reason to not allow the Duffers to continue doing whatever they want.

[penny-nichols]

I posted 5,234 times in 2022

That's 3,059 more posts than 2021!

2,700 posts created (52%)

2,534 posts reblogged (48%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@penny-nichols

@dumbasswhatever

@aramanna

@toomanyfandoms008

I tagged 1,132 of my posts in 2022

#feychols swap au - 45 posts

#daryan crescend - 26 posts

#maya fey - 21 posts

#penny nichols - 20 posts

#clay terran - 18 posts

#phoenix wright - 11 posts

#miles edgeworth - 11 posts

#klavier gavin - 9 posts

#vampire au - 9 posts

#unreality - 8 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#(genuinely unsure if these people are lawyers though. like if gumshoes there he'll be a detective and if edgeworths there he'll be a lawyer

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

One June Global Studios changes their social media profile picture to. Idk a rainbow mr monkey or something and most people are like "yeah ok superficial pride month stuff I guess" and then it hits July and it just. Doesn't change back. People assume they forgot but it's on all the accounts and they're still posting regularly. Finally a week in someone asks and the response is just "I'm the social media manager and I'm gay. Also everyone else is cool with it. -Cody"

39 notes - Posted July 3, 2022

#4

Not to be an ace attorney fan or anything but Ive been watching murder mystery shows and it makes me appreciate mystery video games more. Video games are genuinely one of the best mediums for a classic whodunnit and its a shame that we dont get more of them. Let me explain.

In a video game, you are active in the story. You have to follow the logic of the mystery. You have to know what's going on. What the player character knows, you know, so you can't just have a talk offscreen and come into the big reveal with a new fact no one had ever heard.

Now, I've been watching a lot of Elementary lately. It's pretty good, I enjoy it, but inherently, Sherlock knows things that the viewer does not. The camera can cut away from him while he's questioning someone. He has knowledge of the in-show universe that we do not, but sometimes that knowledge gets brought up too late. We can't follow the process, so we just have to trust that what he's saying is true and right. Like, they'll introduce some random guy we haven't heard of or met most of the way through an episode and then say "This is a famous serial killer and the crime fits his MO perfectly" and we just kinda have to go with it.

Meanwhile, with Ace Attorney, you see everything Phoenix or Apollo or anyone sees. If there was a thing that happened that's relevant to the case, it will either be internally monologued about, explained aloud to someone else, or told to you directly. You Know what the character knows (with a few notable exceptions like whatever the fuck was going on in DD but thats mostly because of the timeline, how Phoenix knows Edgeworth in game 1 before the class trial explanation in 1-3, Nahyuta and Apollo being siblings, etc). Anything you DONT know that the character knows is irrelevant to the case. There can be twists, but they're things that turn your preconceived notions about a case around, not just grabbing some random guy in the last 5 minutes and saying "it was him!"

Im just having some thoughts

44 notes - Posted September 6, 2022

#3

Some people make ace attorney ics with normal person names but I actually physically cannot. it HAS to be a pun or stfu. Like come on. When in Rome

60 notes - Posted September 12, 2022

#2

Klavier banging out the tunes

81 notes - Posted April 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

They really made Apollo’s best friend an astronaut and they were so right to do it. IDK the direct translation of his Japanese name but at least in english we’ve got the Apollo space missions AND the fact that Apollo is the God of the sun. It feels obvious

154 notes - Posted October 13, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[lookineedsleep]

I posted 14,520 times in 2022

That's 4,657 more posts than 2021!

134 posts created (1%)

14,386 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@pokemon-cards-hourly

@cloudtail

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I tagged 919 of my posts in 2022

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Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i will try to eventually i promise i just need the brain to relax and i need to relax for a few hours and watch a show that isnt a hyperfix

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

The Kugelblitz makes no sense

aka, Explaining how the Grandfather Paradox should have worked, and the ways it doesn't.

This is the tl;dr, for a full explanation, it's under the cut:

Now, I will try to keep things clear cut and explain anything that is less than, as well as keeping a somewhat intriguing writing style to attempt to keep you engaged. I will waffle on. You'll get used to it. And now, to start talking about the thing you actually want to hear:

Now you're probably looking here because you looked at my pin board and thought one of several things:

- Is this man insane?

- How long did that take you wtf??

- Can you explain that?

And to that, I can firmly answer two. It took me 4 hours with soft-tissue damage and yes I can explain it. As for the first question, I will leave you to decide.

As I hope you know, the Grandfather Paradox is one of the main plot themes in series 3. However, the explanation of it makes absolutely, completely and utterly, no sense. If you're a casual viewer, you probably haven't even thought twice about it, but if you're anything like me, and you sit and think about the timeline for hours at a time, and spend a healthy amount of time thinking about the solution of the paradox's solution, the Kugelblitz, I'm sorry to say, is just wrong.

So what does this mean in terms of TUA?

To start off, I will give you, directly the solution to the Grandfather Paradox:

"At the time that movie was made in 1985, the 'parallel world' explanation of the grandfather paradox was merely a philosophical conjecture. In 1991, however, it was put on firmer ground by the physicist David Deutsch. Deutsch showed that, while parallel timelines are normally incapable of interacting with each other, the situation changes in the vicinity of a closed time-like curve (CTC), when a wormhole curves back on itself. Here, just as the sci-fi writers imagined, the different timelines are able to cross over — so that when a CTC loops back into the past, it's the past of a different timeline. If that's proven, then you really could kill an infant grandparent without paradoxically eliminating yourself in the process. In that case, your grandfather would never have existed only in one parallel world. And you, the grandfather-killer, would only have existed in the other."

Well, it means that there is 2 (and a bit) timelines, to which I have affectionately nicknamed the Umbrella timeline (season 1) and the Sparrow timeline (season 2 and 3). We know the Sparrow timeline is separate to the Umbrella timeline because it it mentioned a few times through series 3 that it is a different one.

You see, I firmly believe that when the Umbrellas time travelled back to Dallas in the 1960s and onwards, they managed to cause the CTC as described above, and go back in time into the Sparrow timeline.

This is where the show would believe that the actual grandfather paradox happened when Harlan started killing the mothers of the other 27 children before the time where the sparrows and the other 9 kids were born. This would imply that the Umbrellas went back in time to the Umbrella timeline, and Harlan still got the powers but didn't accidentally kill the mothers. This doesn't work at all.

We know that The Kennedy Six doesn't exist in anything but the Sparrow timeline, and in the Umbrella timeline, it is (largely) history as we know it. This is the problem. If the Grandfather Paradox doesn't start before Haran gets his powers, that means the Kennedy Six would have to exist also in the Umbrella timeline, which they don't, which causes all sorts of problems.

And here's where I propose a solution.

The Sparrow timeline splits off on February 11th 1960, aka the day Klaus and umbrella!Ben arrive in Dallas, due to this being the first instance of them travelling back in time to this separate timeline as the Grandfather Paradox's solution would suggest. The Sparrow timeline stems off to contain the changed history of the Umbrella timeline, and it also allows the Umbrellas to exist in the Sparrow timeline, where they were never born in the first place.

The one main question you may have now is, well if all of this is the case, then why didn't the Kugelblitz form in Dallas? Well I have an explanation for you on that too. To put it simply, there was already an apocalypse coming in Dallas, and there was no need for the Kugelblitz so come in and destroy the world for it. And then, once the Umbrellas left Dallas, nothing was in that timeline to disrupt the flow of it (I'll explain Harlan in a moment) for the next 56 years, so the Kugelblitz wouldn't need to form due to the peace of space time.

Harlan is okay to exist the way he does because, while he is an anomaly compared to the Umbrella timeline, he works in the Sparrow timeline because that's how their history flows.

So, the disrupt in space time and the trigger of the Kugelblitz stems from the Umbrellas going into the Sparrow timeline, where they don't exist. This is where the Kugelblitz becomes the problem child, because to my understanding of the Grandfather Paradox, because the Umbrellas exist in the Umbrella timeline leading to them having a stable form of existence, just elsewhere, they should be fine to be in the Sparrow timeline and co-exist with the Sparrows.

So yes, that is my problem with the Kugelblitz, sorry for ruining your fun with the show, trust me, it frustrates me too, but I genuinely don't understand how the Grandfather paradox can cause the Kugelblitz when it's largely solved itself.

To that I pose the question to the rest of you tua!Tumblr, what the hell do you think happened?

(I am also ignoring the new new timeline from the end of season 3 until season 4 gives us more content to work with because I don't even want to begin thinking about that one.)

23 notes - Posted July 10, 2022

#4

Why do Five and the Handler give off the same hate-dynamic as Holt and Hunch from B99

30 notes - Posted July 15, 2022

#3

I think I'm alone in thinking the handler and agent were a lil fruity-

36 notes - Posted May 28, 2022

#2

MENTALLY ILL FUCKERS GET YO ASS HERE

48 notes - Posted July 2, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Tua Season 3 meme dump

See the full post

88 notes - Posted June 30, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[rainbowsky]

Did DLS Out DD During a DDU Recording and Make Him Cry?

This has been making the rounds on Twitter and YouTube and even Tumblr, for a while now. Fancam footage of DLS making a boyfriend joke and then leaning in to a supposedly upset DD and trying to smooth things over.

This whole thing is based on fancam footage taken during the recording of the DDU 20190825 episode. In this episode dating was being discussed using four beautiful young women, DD and QF along with two handsome young guests as a backdrop.

The subtitles of the fan cam present a scenario where DLS supposedly refers to DD as ‘not needing a girlfriend because he already has a boyfriend’ and then leaning into a supposedly emotional DD and apologizing, trying to calm him down; saying viewers won’t understand what was said.

Let’s take a look at the video:

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The full fan cam footage that this out of context clip was taken from can be found here.

If you watch the episode and the complete fan cam footage, you’ll see that this happened during the segment where they were being asked to comment on various dating scenarios. An announcer would present each scenario in a multiple choice format, asking the women to choose between four options based on the type of guy they’d most like to date. For example:

How would you like the boy you like to invite you for a meal on the weekend?

A] Save your weekend for me. Do not say no.

B] You had breakfast at 7:50 this morning and lunch at 12:30. It’s already 7pm now. You have to eat meals on time. Why don’t I take you out for dinner?

C] I tried to explain my thoughts when I look at you, but I failed. So do you have time for dinner with me this weekend? Let’s talk about it.

D] Get out. Dinner.

My opinion

We should always, always be suspicious of anything that is presented without context. 99.9% of the time, when someone removes context they are doing so to mislead audiences. This clip is a perfect example of that. The video creator appears to have removed important context in order to make the clip better fit the narrative they’re trying to sell.

In this segment of the episode, the hosts and guests were seen commenting on the options as they were being read out. The comments DLS is making appear to be in response to something the announcer has said. I don’t think the comments have anything whatsoever do to with DD.

I also don’t think DD looks even remotely upset. Certainly not near tears. Some fans seem over-eager to claim DD is crying. We’ve all seen DD cry, but it’s exceptionally rare and only happens in very personal situations. This doesn’t qualify. It wouldn’t qualify even if everything the video creator claimed was true. DD would be more likely to get angry than cry in such a situation. He isn’t doing either of these things.

Whoever made this video simply doesn’t ‘get’ DD’s personality at all. The people who buy this are similarly unfamiliar with him.

I invite everyone to use your own eyes and your own judgment. Ignore what’s being claimed, ignore the framing you’ve been given of the scenario by me or the video creator, and instead just watch the clip. Does that look like a man on the verge of tears to you?

Second and third opinions

I asked the indispensable @potteresque-ire and @knivescharade what they thought of the clip. I didn’t tell them anything about my opinion, but simply sent the clip and asked their thoughts - are the subtitles correct, what do you think of the lip reading, etc.

@knivescharade

wow, for this person to put this analysis in i would say that lip reading is a very difficult skill. and to try and lip read someone like DLS, who speaks like a bullet train and doesn't really enunciate SUPER well (unlike Han-ge, for example) ... i would say the interpretation is only very vaguely possible at best.

i know both the cand int fandom have a major something for how WYB keeps swallowing around XZ, but honestly. WYB tends to get throat issues. i think swallowing has become one of his habits at this point. so... in conclusion... there are already lots of major, amazing, and irrefutable candies in the fandom already, let's not bother with such iffy ones :D

he is indeed saying that "this man has a boyfriend", but i cant quite remember which part of the show that was in. i watched that episode, it was something to do with love and having 4 guys paired with 4 girls or something like that, and listening to 'types of guys responses to etc etc' so DLS wasnt saying that WYB has a boyfriend - he was saying that 'this man', the one whose voice was playing in the audio, has a boyfriend.

That tracks with my interpretation of what was happening.

@potteresque-ire

Unless people have learned the dialect, Mandarin speakers cannot understand Cantonese, and vice versa. This is why I don't support or wash auditory candies, especially if it involves someone from Northern China (such as DLS, who is a Beijing native). Their local accents make their Mandarin even more difficult to understand.

This dialect restriction is actually not specific to a me, or other Hong Kongers. Someone whose family is entirely from Northern China would be equally prone to making mistakes if they're asked to lip read southern Chinese.

Lip reading also removes tonal consideration, which makes everything that much more uncertain. Have you heard of the Mr Shi Eats the Lion story? This is why, even if I hear some similarities, I'd hesitate to say X has to be saying ABC. Context is important.

Cantonese speakers are especially picky about tone. Mandarin have 4. We have 6 or 9, depending on who you ask. So... I may be more picky than I should be that way too. And I don't want to spoil anyone's fun 😊

The translation was correct in the sense that it was faithful to the Chinese words in the clip I saw, which replicated what DLS said accurately. But the video itself was from a fancam. Where that fancam happened (and got cut off) was at Q3 at the Q & A segment, starting ~9:34 of the official YouTube clip.

DLS said what he said half way through the voiceover of Option A (very precisely, right after the words "I'm the only one"). Technically speaking, therefore, he wasn't talking about DD.

However, it was also a little strange why DLS said what he said. If you watch that segment, all options have a certain personality attached to them. C was very talkative / pretentious. D was connected to DD because it was blunt and direct. A was the so called "overbearing CEO" personality... which is common in het romance dramas but isn't one that has been connected to the gay stereotype. And so, DLS's timing of saying that ... is curious.

Dd did look a little ... I wouldn't say upset, but tense after DLS said that. Maybe it's because that comment kinda came out of nowhere (because of its curious timing), and so it would be read as hinting at something. But that comment is harmless, wording wise.

Alternate theory

I’ve seen some talk from fans about a different theory for why DLS said what he said. Fans say the announcer for option A was Bian Jiang, the actor who did the voice of LWJ in The Untamed. They say that DLS was making a joke about LWJ not needing a boyfriend because he already has one. That actually makes a lot of sense to me as well, and if that’s really Bian Jiang, then I’d say that’s the most likely explanation for this entire thing.

Conclusion

It’s my firm opinion that DLS was not talking about DD having a boyfriend, nor was DD ‘near tears’ in this clip. Whatever DLS said to DD after that, it almost certainly wouldn’t have been ‘words of comfort to placate an upset DD’.

The Bian Jiang theory fits best, but we don’t need to know why DLS said what he said to be able to conclude he wasn’t talking about DD.

Cute DD candy from this episode

If anyone wants a better candy from this episode, look no further than when he emerges from “door #2″, chosen by one of the women as someone she’d like to date based on the food he’d picked out, and immediately launches into “I want to take a man back to my place and hide him.” A LWJ reference (which DLS and Wang Han clarify with him because they appear baffled by what he just said), but still a tactful, perfect rejection of this woman he’s being paired with. 😅

[wingsyliveblogs]

'Palismans' seems to be the OH's unique take on a cross between a witch's familiar and wand/Wizard's staff, which i've not seen any other form of media do so far- In fact, seeing how it's so well implemented here, I kinda want to see other variants of the concept in different media. Interestingly, I think Harry Potter got his Owl hedwig more or less at the same time he got his wand.

1. Yeah, it's a pretty unique concept! I quite like it.

One thing I thought was interesting about this episode was that the show didn't go out of its way to explain what a Palisman was; it just introduced the concept by name and trusted the viewers to figure out what it meant for themselves. We may get a more in-depth explanation of how Palismen work in the future, but it was a neat way to establish them in the story pretty naturally.

I don't know anything about Harry Potter and at this point I'm afraid to ask

2. Oh, that's a good point!

The design of the bus critter does seem reminiscent of longboats... just with feet instead of oars. That's a neat little detail!

3. Good to know! I can imagine that teeth work a bit differently in the Boiling Isles - though visually, there doesn't appear to be much of a difference, since...

...it looks as though Gus hasn't actually lost his baby fangs yet.

huh, I forgot about that Hexside tunnel... wonder when we're going to find out what's up with that?

4. Yeah, that was definitely a fun little bit of foreshadowing. And I agree with you - I think it'd be fun to see what Grudgby is like for real.

5. True! While I feel as though the reveal of Eda's Owlbeast form was enhanced by the stormy atmosphere of Episode 4, and she seemed a bit less overwhelming when framed in broad daylight, the expressions on her partially transformed form in this episode were a lot more unsettling.

6. That's fair! I didn't want to let the info I wasn't supposed to have about King influence my perception of his actions too much, but that's as much of a lost cause at this point as my opinion on Amity. Among the main trio, King is the least likely to think his actions through properly, and that's definitely because he's the youngest. I'm aware of that, so it's a bit unfair to him if I pretend otherwise.

Funnily enough, I had the opposite interpretation of Luz's actions in this episode - in Episode 6, she asked Eda for permission and was outright told no, and she got in trouble when she went ahead with the conjuring anyway. In this episode, it almost felt as if she was a little too eager to convince herself that Eda wouldn't mind and that she didn't need to ask her directly... which made me think that perhaps she was hoping that if Eda wasn't on board with her borrowing the staff, not telling her about it would reduce the risk of Luz getting in trouble, and she could play the plausible deniability card if Eda found out about it later on.

In the end, though, her personal sense of responsibility led her to face the consequences of her own actions head-on, while Owlbert did his best to cover for her with Eda, so we got the best of both worlds this time (with Luz acknowledging what she did wrong, but still escaping what would probably have been a pretty severe punishment).

7-8. Good points! Once it was revealed that the Bat Queen was a Palisman herself, I did guess that the glowy eye thing was a Palisman-specific method of communication, but it's interesting that Palismen are also able to communicate with their witch partners, since I don't believe that's come up before.

I wonder if there are any other Palismen that can speak "human" language the way the Bat Queen can, or if she really is the only one..?

At least Owlbert is certainly capable of expressing himself without words. I imagine most Palismen must be, since they can't always guarantee that they'll have someone around to interpret for them.

9. Haha, nice one! There sure are a lot of queens, aren't there?

do we know that the Emperor rules over the Isles yet..? ehh, it can be extrapolated from the information we already have, so it's probably fine

[mgsapphire]

Ethics and morality... and how they're not the same...

Weird title, and I don't even know if I'll properly approach this one with all the topics I wish to this discuss in today's The Devil Judge essay, because a lot of things peaked my interest, I was debating on doing a separate post for each subject, but I'll do them all in here:

Starting simple

I know we're only 4 episodes in, but I want to break down the things that I often look for in a new show:

Cinematography

Soundtrack

Character building

Plot devices

Social commentary (sometimes)

Of course, these are things most people would consider basics, but I find that a lot of TV shows don't have enough balance in them. Also, cinematography and soundtrack are pretty up there for me because when a plot gets slow, or something like that, I stay for those two (biggest example: King Eternal Monarch).

The soundtrack in The Devil Judge is amazing and the cinematography can be a character of its own. They really get me hooked and are used as tools to properly tell a story. And I'll get into that further down this post.

The onlooker will never understand the actor

Experience is your best friend not only applies to job hunting, but it's true in the real world too. You can't truly weigh in on something unless you've experienced it yourself, you can give it your judgment and everything, but when bad things happen to someone, you'll never truly understand their pain. Am I bringing up because of the difference of mind in Judge Kang and Judge Kim's opinions? On how the public treated the minister's son? No. I'm talking about a very specific scene, where the cinematography told me to think that way and not the dialogue (it's that easy for my mind to be swayed). In episode 3, when the rich are about to dine right after the foundation's commercial for a better future, we see this aerial shot:

What's interesting about this? The seclusion and the enclosed feeling it conveys as a counterpart to the poverty shots we were just shown. Yet, these are the people making ads for a better future, what do they know?

They live comfortably behind concrete walls with no windows to see what goes on apart from the bubble they live in. This idea is further enforced at the party in episode 4, where they're not even a part of the donations, and watch and mock from afar as spectators. Yet, these people call the shots. They even call it commenting, as if they were watching the pain of others on TV.

The intriguing personality and the duality it encites

Now, this was a costume and wardrobe decision, but it was also very well thought of:

Judge Kim wears white and Judge Kang wears black. One is morally perceived by viewers of the show as morally good and the other is perceived as morally dubious at best. However, besides the costume and wardrobe thought put into this, we also have to think about the delivery of this scene and how it may further affect my detailing of this section. Judge Kang brings down the coats, and hangs over the coat to Judge Kim, he's the one who is making that annotation: You're pure, I'm tainted. This can have one of two interpretations:

Either Judge Kang believes Judge Kim to be pure and innocent due to his status as a rookie in the field

Or he believes Judge Kim to be morally white and himself morally black as he's looking at his brother's face and not at Judge Kim's heart.

Because most of the back story we're unveiling is through Judge Kim's perception, there's also an inherit bias we're having as well, because in Judge Kim narrative, he believes he's doing what's right and believes Judge Kang to be evil. In being served information about Judge Kang through Judge Kim's eyes, our bias is inherently skewed.

Another thing is that, when they put on the coat, they're standing in front of the other, as if the producers of this series are telling us they're two sides of the same coin.

The duality is made in more deceitful ways, which include:

A difference of classes that implies one has suffered while the other has not.

A difference of experience that implies one is more tainted while the other is pure.

A difference of age that implies one is a sly fox while the other one is is bunny about to be eaten.

A difference of temper that makes one erratic and the other logical.

Power dynamics

This one, in this one I could make a whole thesis based on just a couple of scenes in the drama. And you know I have to mention it: director Jung being the puppeteer.

It may not be as unexpected at first, nevertheless it brings forward a lot of things I've wished to touch upon for quite some time now. A woman being a puppeteer of an old man in the portrayed dystopia that The Devil Judge is painting makes much more sense than more common demonstrations of these dynamics where it's either a:

A man of power being controlled by a bigger man of power.

A man of power being controlled by a seemingly man of a lower status.

A woman being controlled by a man of power.

Although, there's nothing wrong with those power dynamics, and if they were to be used, a message could also be conveyed, this one in particular works as a megaphone.

A subversion of power in such a way can be interpreted as a true indication of the weak overcoming the powerful. Why? It is not that woman are naturally weaker than men, but that in society, patriarchy has been a big factor in taking voice away from women in order to give it to men.

In order for Director Jung to achieve her purposes, it's smarter for her to do it under the pretense that an old rich man in power is the one calling the shots.

This is better exemplified by her stance when the old man tries to excuse his behavior, and what her moral compass is. I'm not saying I agree with her unethical conduct, but that her morality is directly impacted by the perception of the public of her as a weak woman:

Just because a dog bites a human does the person get dirty?

This is telling on how she perceives the actions of the old man in gropping the waitress. She didn't do anything wrong, even if you touched her, you are the dirty one.

While she's evil, it's a refreshing and deep evil.

The public's opinion and how there's actually logic in the show's portrayal

The public opinion can make or break a person, even if it's not on a public trial like this. While "cancel culture" barely works in today's society, a person's reputation is forever tainted. The show does tell that, but it also exhibits the scary downside of it, by showing how easily it was to make people accept flaggelation as a fitting punishment.

There are many experiments that have tried to test the effect of societal pressure on an individual's decision and the effect of the authority's enforcement of power in the outcome of these decisions. Furthermore, theories based on analysis of human behavior not necessarily relying on experiments can also help break this down. What do I mean? Here's a small attempt at explaining:

Milgram Experiment on Authority: which measured the individual willingness to carry out actions that go against their conscience due to an authority's approval.

Argument from Authority; The idea that people are more likely to use an authority's opinion on something as an argument for their reason. This is often seen in science, where trusted authorities have done the research and offer it to the public. In here, authority bias also plays a role, as we often believe, at first, that an authority must be right.

Moral disengagement: basically speaking, because this is evil or bad, I'm not part of it and I most probably am not actively participating in it. One may disengage by moral justification, which means that before engaging in something that has been previously perceived as immoral, I'm changing my stance on it based on what I tell myself to be logical arguments. This particular form of moral disengagement is very effective in changing the public opinion. I'll be touching on another form further down this post.

Other factors played a part, but these ones in particular came to mind when public flagelation as a form of corporeal punishment was wildly accepted. First, an authority is the one telling them it's correct, to go ahead. Secondly, another authority (the minister) had previously shown approval to such unusual punishment. Thirdly, they are not the ones to be engaging directly in the act, and even if they were, it would be acceptable because an authority has told them so. They may even believe the punishment to be a necessary evil for the greater good.

In fact, the minister's son was actually correct when pleading his case, they were accepting it because it wouldn't affect them directly.

Regarding the cinematographic descent of the public opinion regarding the situation can better be exemplified by the old man we've seen through the episodes.

Does suffering justify misdeeds?

Today I came along the difference between excuse and reason. You may give a reason for your behavior, but it doesn't excuse it.

Not because I've suffered through shit, means I have to make you suffer too.

I may explain myself, but it's on the other side to excuse me.

Why I hate the unreliable narrator and why I love it so much

This story has been told mostly through the eyes of Judge Kim and what he hears and sees regarding Judge Kang, if anything, the narrative is very close to that of the narrative we've seen in The Great Gatsby. An enigmatic man is being narrated to us from the eye of a man who hasn't known him for a long time.

How is that an unreliable narrator? The narrator has their own set of bias and moral standards which function as lenses through which they see the world.

Another way of putting it would be the way teenage romances are often written in a first person narrative where either of the two teenagers is the narrator, so the author can sell to us something as simple as offering a pack of gum as the most romantic act on earth. We're perceiving interactions through rose tainted glasses.

In this case, we're seeing the interactions through Judge Kim's eyes who doesn't trust Judge Kang from the get go due to his own preset bias.

The narrative becomes even more unreliable as we're not exactly sure if what Judge Kang disclosed himself is a fact.

The reason why I love this narrative is because it leaves a lot of space to make simple plot twists to a narrative and make them seem grand, and can elongate a story without making it obvious.

The reason why I hate it is because sometimes, in tv shows mostly, we as viewers can see the other side of the story and grow increasingly frustrated with the main character's prejudice and misunderstandings (I'm looking at you my beloved Beyond Evil).

Also, because I have to wait for a long time before I actually have a clear picture of it.

[flowerbloom-arts]

Welp, since two people asked (@xanzusx and @ratdaduniverse ) I suppose I have an excuse to do an unnecessarily deep dive into a character literally nobody cared about that much or bothers to draw before I came along with my thing for all too unpopular characters!

Let's start with a quick tl;dr :

Aunt Jane is (probably, this is more speculative than anything) a victim of capitalism and misogyny working together to create a damaged woman with anger issues and a toxic relationship with money.

How, you may ask? Well, let's take a close look at her titular, starring, and only episode of the 90s series;

episode 27: Aunt Jane

In the beginning of the episode, Moominpappa receives a letter from an aunt from his father's side and it's made immediately clear that he is not a fan of his aunt or the reason she sent the letter to him, it's also stated that Aunt Jane had no one else to turn to besides her nephew to "discuss money matters" as the episode puts it. Moominpappa says that he isn't really scared of Aunt Jane herself (though she is quite scary and a not-great person as MP himself describes, being bossy and not letting people have a moment of peace) but it's the money he's afraid of, he's afraid of having to discuss something he knows nothing about with someone he dislikes, so he takes it upon himself to leave before she arrives. (sidenote: this may tie into some fear Moominpappa has of looking dumb and ruining his ego, aswell as generally not being able to put up with people he finds unpleasant for very long)

Then Aunt Jane arrives on a rowboat down the Moomin Valley river with someone else rowing for her (cool detail: her boat actually matches her umbrella! We can assume she owns the boat based on this and the rower is either an employee or some guy she paid [his mustache is delightful by the way, I love the round little fella]) and she just has this... Very odd blank stare as our very first shot of her? It's an odd first impression for the viewer to be sure.

Jane gets off the boat and the rower simply continues down stream without her, Jane notices Snufkin fishing and asks for directions to Moominhouse, Snufkin gives her the tip and then Jane asks Snufkin if he could carry her suitcase of gold coins for her. Snufkin politely declines, saying he's busy, and then Jane attempts to bribe Snufkin by offering a "handsome reward" in a very confident manner, almost as if that trick has always worked before. Snufkin still declines, saying he just wants to fish. Aunt Jane is legitimately shocked at Snufkin not wanting money, now a first-time viewer might interpret this as Jane being vain with her wealth but it actually ties into how everyone in her life would simply be interested in her money (which is something that'll be elaborated further on) so Snufkin is perhaps the first person in a long while to not be interested.

Jane has little time to let that sink in as Sniff (the ultimate capitalist of the show) runs in, introduces himself as simply someone to help take her to Moominhouse and goes to help Jane carry her suitcase, to which Jane simply acts like a more poised individual and bimbles behind Sniff.

They arrive at Moominhouse right after Moominpappa had already left in the previous scene, Aunt Jane adjusts her glasses and says "A round house? How stupi- typical of my nephew." which establishes that Jane... doesn't like her nephew (and considers round shaped houses as being dumb [which I think a couple architects/engineers would agree but correct me if I'm wrong])

Jane gets welcomed by Moominmamma and after Moomintroll introduces himself Jane's attention immediately goes to Little My, assuming that My is a child of the family, she says that My's too small for a daughter (her expression says that she's bothered by it more than anything), then Moominmamma explains that Little My's not related but lives with them and My says she won't get any bigger, to which Jane simply squints at the small creature in a strange but I guess concerned manner? It's easy to assume that there were some strange beliefs about daughters that she was raised on.

Jane then asks where her "worthless nephew" is (again, she doesn't think highly of him), Moominmamma barely manages to not tell her the truth and Moomintroll saves her by saying Pappa's away to find inspiration for his work. Jane says "When has he ever worked? I'm here to see him!" (Score 3 for putting down her nephew) and Moomintroll suggests she should talk to him instead, Sniff butts in saying Moomintroll knows nothing about money and Aunt Jane simply says "In that case it's about high time he learned! As for his father, I may still disinherit him." (Score 4), Sniff says he's a member of the family and she can talk to him about money, Moomintroll says he's a great friend of his, and Jane adjusts her glasses then says "But hardly a member of the family" (we can see here she only really cares about relations more than anything when it comes to others taking care of her money, perhaps the money was passed down through generations and she wants to uphold that tradition, which is only one major reason she wants to get rid of it)

Snork and Snorkmaiden walk in, Snork introduces himself and explains how his sister is a "special friend" to Moomintroll and basically that they might get married someday, thus merging the Snork and Moomin family together, thus making them practically family already (Which I find just so utterly hilarious, he can be such a weasel I love him). Jane doesn't accept that as an argument (OBVIOUSLY) so Snork explains that he needs money to fund his flying ship project, and then Mr. Hemulen walks in with a very happy confidence (that chaotic metallic theme [you know the one if you pay attention to the soundtrack] cues but then stops shortly, I got so hyped and it just ended like that :( ) and he tells Aunt Jane about himself and asks her to fund his scientific research (assuming Sniff had already told her about it) and Sniff tries to save it by explaining that they could grow a greenhouse of orchids and roses and sell them to make money, he corrects himself by saying "I mean you'll make alot of money!" instead of "we'll" which he thinks might make her more lenient to the idea, but Jane shuts it down by saying she already has plenty of money (showing that she really isn't interested in hoarding wealth, she's satisfied with what she has especially since the whole point of going to the Valley was to shove her money-related issues onto her nephew)

The three guys try to talk over eachother trying to explain themselves, Jane is overwhelmed and confused so she stops them and asks Snork to clarify that he's Snorkmaiden and it goes downhill from there, Snork asks if he's explained his connection to the moomins well enough, Sniff says he's a friend of Moomin's, Mr. Hemulen asks Sniff if he could explain his research to her for him, and they all talk over eachother, Aunt Jane looks back in forth in a confused and overwhelmed manner and then gets angry, then she yells "BE QUIET EVERYONE!" with an overhead shot of Moominhouse (this sort of sets up Jane's anger issues which builds and builds until the climax of the episode)

Moominmamma escorts Jane to her room and tells her that she can call if she needs anything before leaving Jane alone, Jane more or less just observes her surroundings (it's clear she wasn't used to such a simple environment but she isn't opposed to it either) and then sits down on her bed with her eyes closed, looking peaceful for literally less than two seconds before Sniff knocks and she stands up instantly with her hands held in front of her like a "proper woman" sort of pose. Sniff stumbles in the room with the suitcase of gold and sets it on the floor, Jane thanks him and then Sniff stands there and looks around as if he's looking for something and goes "Ehem". Jane sees this and unenthusiastically asks "What is it? Want a reward?" (This is like the most telling scene of the episode and shows that this kind of thing is something that she's used to) Sniff lies at first but then admits it after a second thought, he hesitates and looks around if anyone would eavesdrop on them, Jane tells him to make up his mind and then Sniff gets close to her and whispers that he knows where Moominpappa is, Jane dismisses it saying she knows that he's on a trip (atleast she's willing to believe it? Doesn't revert any of her put-down points tho), Sniff corrects her by saying he's actually nearby and Jane is immediately interested and asks Sniff where he is, Sniff says Pappa said not to tell her where he is since it's a secret and after teasing it with her Sniff says he'll be taking a risk if he tells her so Jane asks "Oh, how much do you want?" knowing full well Sniff wanted to get paid for this without him even saying it, Sniff plays it safe and says she can decide how much she'll give him.

Sniff leads her on the beach, Snufkin notices this and runs to the cave to warn Moominpappa before she arrives (what a champ, that Snufkin) and then Sniff and Jane enter the cave with it's watery floor, Jane thanks him with a singular silver coin, Sniff asks if that's it and then Jane replies (with a very angry tone) that yes that's it until she actually sees her nephew, the two enter the cave with no Moominpappa in sight, Sniff is bewildered by this and Jane is very angrily disappointed that her "worthless nephew" (Score 5, though it's just a repeated insult, it still counts) isn't there, Sniff says "this is very strange!" while desperately looking for Moominpappa and Jane assumes Sniff had tricked her and takes away Sniff's one coin as punishment and simply leaves despite Sniff's desperate cries that he has to be there somewhere.

Jane goes back to Moominhouse and enters the kitchen to ask Moominmamma where Moominpappa is hiding, Moominmamma gasps and tries to reiterate the lie Moomintroll said, but Jane says she wants to know the TRUTH, so Moominmamma stutters and Jane tells her to hurry up, Mamma sadly admits that Moominpappa is hiding in the cave but Jane says she's already been there and didn't find him. Mamma is suddenly hopeful and is like "Oh so he really must have gone on a trip!", Jane proceeds to ask why Moominpappa would want to hide from her anyway, Moominmamma "suggests" that maybe Moominpappa is afraid of her, and Jane gets legitimately surprised and furious over this and asks "But why!?", Mamma says that he's mostly afraid of money matters, Jane exclaims "Incredible!" and contemplates "Afraid of me because of money matters...?" and then storms out of the kitchen saying "He must be utterly mad!" (Score 6)

Jane sits down on the table in her room and talks to herself about how this family is so confusing and only Sniff seems to know anything about money, Little My enters smuggly and shits the behind her, saying she knows where Moominpappa is at that moment, Jane assumes Little My wants gold from her and My says she couldn't care less about her silly gold, Jane strangely enough seems to try and defend the thing by saying "My 'silly gold' indeed! With my 'silly gold' I can assure you you could do just about anything you want!" and My claps back with how it isn't helping her find Moominpappa, this arouses Jane and My continues saying she should forget about her money. Jane responds by turning around in her chair to look at Little My directly and says "Young lady, money isn't something you could just forget about! It needs constant looking after- that's why I must talk to Moominpappa at once! Now take me to that rascal nephew you of mine if you really know where he is, you hear me!?"

My and Jane walk down the dirt path and see Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden being all lovey-dovey with eachother on a tree stump, saying how they love eachother and such, Jane scoffs "Oh, how frivolous!" and My smugky responds with "Not really, if I could find a small enough boyfriend, I'd be frivolous just like them too!" and starts to walk away, Aunt Jane turns to her and says with a very strong sense of longing "Ah well, Fredrick and I were frivolous once..." (With an inexplicable voice change by the way) and My just teasingly says "Really? If you says so! Suppose I'll have to believe you!" while still walking away, and Jane gets so mad at this dismissal/mockery that she almost snaps her umbrella but stops herself and stomps forward to follow Little My. The marshmallow couple notices the two and follow them.

Little My interrupts a game of chess between Snufkin and Moominpappa in Snufkin's tent, she introduces them to Jane as a "special guest" and Snufkin is shocked by her presence, he says Moominpappa's name and he looks up to look at his very angry aunt, Moominpappa runs out of the tent and Jane chases him with her umbrella around a tree and stomps on the ground with enough force to make Moominpappa, Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden hop off the ground (OKAY I'M NOT GONNA GET INTO THIS PART SINCE IT DOESN'T REALLY TIE INTO THE THESIS THAT MUCH AND WOULD BE TOO SPECULATIVE BUT HOLY CRAP??? HOW??? WHY DOES SHE HAVE THAT KIND OF STRENGTH??? IS IT SUPERNATURAL??? HELP????), this causes Moominpappa to fall over on the ground and Snufkin intervenes by saying Moominpappa was just coming back from his trip and stopping by to play chess with him, Moominpappa tries to go along with this but Little My says it's no use since Moominmamma already told her the truth, Moominpappa gets all defeated and Jane asks him why he's afraid of her, Moominpappa says it's not that he's afraid of her, he's afraid of her money. Jane gets enraged by this and stomps of the ground again to send everyone hopping, she then tries to "reason" with Moominpappa on this by saying "It's perfectly good money and all in gold coins! Listen nephew, I'm depending on you as my only relative!" (For some reason her voice gradually gets higher pitched in this line? But anyway this just confirms Moominpappa is literally the only family she has left), Moominpappa echoes "Yes, yes, depend." and Jane continues with "When I get too old to do it, you must look after my gold for me! I'm relying on you!", Moominpappa gets spooked by this and desperately suggests they should just give it away to people who need it, Jane blurts out "HOW UNGRATEFUL!" and turns red from rage but then is subsides, the red fades away and Jane, probably after having a thought, breaks into actual sobbing and falls to the ground to cry even more, Moominpappa tries to comfort her and suggests that maybe they should put it in a bank, Jane retorts through her sobbing that her money would hate being in a bank and it's a terrible idea (which is the start of her talking about it like it's a person/entity which follows to the very end of the episode), Moominpappa reassures her by saying banks are so nice these days and Jane looks up asking "They are...?", Moominpappa continues by describing how they have "Flowers and shiny little piggy banks and paintings on the wall!" and Jane lifts herself up asking "Is that really true...?", then Moominpappa tells everyone they should go home and fix a welcoming party for Aunt Jane, the scene ends with a shot of a sad Aunt Jane looking around everyone, possibly confused or even sorry.

We cut to the dinner party when Mamma is putting the cake on the table saying it's her grandma's best recipe (I have to note that Aunt Jane's face here is just... So sad and guilty-looking), Moominpappa gets up and says to drink a toast to the only millionaire in their small circle and how he hopes she'll live a long and happy life. Everyone drinks except for Jane who simply looks around and then looks down at her glass to sigh, Moominmamma asks what's wrong and Jane says "Never in my life have I and my money felt ourselves so welcomed before, I'm so happy I could cry" (jeez woman that is actually sad to hear considering just earlier that day 3 complete strangers went to her asking for money and her nephew literally tried to hide from her before she even arrived, that must've been one heck of a welcoming party) and then she genuinely starts crying saying "And once you start crying- you just wanna go on and on-" and proceeds to sob a bit and says "Oh dear- oh deAr- Moominmamma-" and looks up "Moominpappa-?" Moominpappa answers and she says "I'll put some of my gold in a bag, but you must look after the rest when I'm too old!", Moominpappa hesitates and then Jane snaps into anger mode by asking "Why not?" and slamming her fists against the table, Moominpappa sheepishly describes how they'll take care of it and Jane says it's not what she had in mind though it does sound nice and sufficient, but then she says how the money will miss her. She decides then and there that she'll leave the suitcase of gold to Moominpappa so they can "get sorta used to eachother" and use it as they please, even complimenting the flying ship and botanical research funding as rather splendid. Everyone is happy except Sniff who laments he should've gotten a better idea than flowers, and the episode ends with Jane smiling and a pan out of the house as the narrator closes off the episode.

~

Alright so already we have quite alot to unpack here and it's all gonna get a bit rambly and jumbled if I don't segment it into specific parts so let's do that. We're gonna put allllll of that baggage into 5 parts

1. Moominpappa and the lack of a family

2. Money is not a good partner

3. A woman millionaire

4. A bitter, lonely maiden

5. Conclusion

~

1. Moominpappa and the lack of a family

It's been stated twice that Moominpappa is Aunt Jane's only relative, and it's said that they relate through Moominpappa's father.

(Side note: We'll be going by the 90s cartoon canon because Aunt Jane is a moomin comic strip character and in the comic strip Moominpappa wasn't left at an orphanage I don't think, so it's logical to assume they just met eachother because they're family. But we're talking about the 90s canon where Moominpappa WAS left at an orphanage like in Moominpappa's Memoirs/Exploits of Moominpappa)

It's really unclear on the backstory of their relationship. It's unclear how these two met, it's unclear when they've met, and it's unclear how they knew they were related. Moominpappa clearly met her atleast without anyone in his current family (esp. Moominmamma) and hasn't talked about her ever since (given how literally nobody INCLUDING MOOMINMAMMA knew who she was) which to me signifies that their encounter was both somewhat isolated and unpleasant given how he describes her as bossy and not letting people have a moment of peace (which only brings images of some kind of business setting when they met in my mind, and knowing how Moomin stories operate Moominpappa probably found himself as one of her employees somehow). Whatever happened between them has certainly put a sour taste in eachother's mouths, making Moominpappa believe Aunt Jane to be unpleasant enough to avoid at all cost (he probably also witnessed the horrors of wealth which is why he's scared of her money) and Jane believing Moominpappa to be incompetent, worthless and idiotic.

Pulling back from whatever encounter they had... Was Aunt Jane aware of her nephew's existence before then? We don't know the circumstances which lead to Moominpappa's parents leaving him at an orphanage in a paper grocery bag (if the person/people who left him ever WERE his parents), and since him and Aunt Jane are the last members of their family, it's easy assume something tragic most likely happened to the parents. And not only that, the rest of Jane's family would've been gone aswell, leaving Jane as the sole heir and possibly not knowing about her orphaned nephew. Can you imagine being in such a position? Your whole family is gone for whatever reason, you're the only one left to your knowledge, and you have all the money you could ever want in the early 20th century. You are responsible for millions of [money unit] in gold coins. Jane is responsible of that kind of money. And what is that to her?

2. Money is not a good partner

Aunt Jane's relationship with money is extremely weird but clearly somewhat toxic in a sense. We know she has it in the millions and she's not interested in making more of it (though we do have to ask if she runs a business or if all of it is inheritance and nothing more, does she turn in a profit? What business does she work in? How big is her paycheck? Does she work with employees? Why is it all in gold coins? Where does she even live? Nobody knows! It's all vague and unspecified and there really is no point in speculating something like this because there's literally no evidence to speculate about)

Anyway, money is 3 things to her: it's something people use to get what they want, it's a burden and it's something that needs to be taken great care of. It's both a commodity and a child to her, she doesn't particularly "like" having it yet she thinks it's in need of care by someone she knows she could trust, it's a pet she doesn't want since it attracts so many people who want to pet it. By the end of the episode she treats her money like it has feelings, it "hates being in a bank" (presumably because it's "uncomfortable" since Aunt Jane is swayed as Moominpappa describes how nice they are), it "has never felt so welcomed", it "will miss [Jane]" and it "needs to get used to Moominpappa", the thing is she hasn't treated it like an entity with feelings until her breakdown near the end of the episode. Moominpappa's "ungratefulness" broke her so much that she resorted to characterizing her money, and it's unclear if she ever has done this before in her life. It's odd to me, but her life does revolve around the thing, for all we know she's gone for extended periods of time talking to her money when she feels particularly unsafe/alone, but I digress.

Aunt Jane has presumably spent alot of her life taking care of her money and fears growing too old to do so anymore, so she turns to the only person she believes she could trust to continue that legacy. She has enough wealth to do whatever her heart desires, And what is her social reward for having such wealth to look after?

3. A woman millionaire

Misogyny exists. Yes, even in the moominverse, it sucks but it's true even if it isn't explicit sexism. Jane is presumably single, she had someone by the name of Fredrick who she was "frivolous" with but clearly that didn't work out as implied with the tone of her voice when she drops that information, Jane is alone in her wealth and that leaves her open to many people who believe they can get themselves some cash for whatever venture they want to pursue. It has happened plenty of times before in her life and it has happened within the episode when 3 males come up to her asking for funds, of course they didn't seem to care that she is a woman, not a word of it was even mentioned, but it's an issue that may be less present if she wasn't. Nobody is intimidated by her aside from Moominpappa who has met her, Snork and Sniff think they can weasel a family inheritance if they just do enough logical leaps, Mr. Hemulen just assumes she'd be interested from his botany credentials alone, and none of them really listen to her, they just talk over eachother trying to convince her to give them money until she bursts out yelling at them to shut up.

And she has to have some traditional feminity instilled in her, given the way she stands when Sniff knocks and gets in her room, how she arrived to Moomin Valley under a pink shade with curtains, having someone else carry her suitcase for her, being bothered at how small Little My is, her whole outfit among other small things, she seems to have been raised on traditional values, and those values, well, they don't lend well to someone of her status. She can be bossy and terrifying (and surprisingly powerful) but she's not respected by anyone that we know of, nobody's explicitly treated her kindly besides Moominmamma and maybe everyone at the welcome party if you count that, everyone only cares about her because of her money. Moominpappa is scared of her money and every other male only cares to get it from her for their own gain, she just can't win as a millionairess because any care directed towards her is actually care directed towards her money. And what does that treatment leave her as?

4. A bitter, lonely maiden

Jane is very, very alone. Nobody likes her as a person and the fact nobody likes her as a person only makes her more bitter and unlikable, it's a feedback loop. She doesn't seem to have anyone, and I mean, literally ANYONE. We have her rower but he's just a random guy she pays for all we know, she just sits there and stares blankly at the pink curtains until the guy rings the bell and she gets out, she just has no personal connection with anyone even by the end of the episode. Speaking of the end of the episode; she literally cries because she hasn't felt so welcomed by anyone IN HER LIFE (side note: I know I'm not supposed to bring up the comics but she actually cries when Moominpappa uses the word fond on her and it makes me so upset because she's treated even worse there too)

She's angry and alone because people use her for her money and don't care about her, everybody cares only about her money including herself, the only times she'd pay mind to her own self as a person is when she's flabbergasted at Moominpappa "BEING AFRAID OF HIS OWN AUNT!?" or when she feels disrespected by My teasing her about how she used to be frivolous with someone, Little My doesn't really care about her, she just takes her to Moominpappa to view the chaos that would ensue at such a meeting of two worlds. Moominpappa says she doesn't let people have a moment of peace yet it looks like she doesn't have a moment's peace herself, there's literally one moment and it's the one second she sits on her bed before Sniff knocks on the door.

Aunt Jane is both pitiful and somewhat sympathetic, she's an antagonist who's clearly not a good person but she has her own very understandable reasons as to why she's the way that she is. And what do we take from this?

5. Conclusion

I don't know if you know this but uhm, capitalism is bad, folks. It really just brings out the worst in people wether it's the scummy ways they gain money or the problems money causes for your mental health, and in Jane's case it's the latter. It's unclear how she got the money to begin with, I assume it's inherited but I could be wrong obviously, though I don't think that question could truly be answered. Aunt Jane is insistent on keeping her wealth and only giving her wealth away to her own family even if it's the root of her problems, but also Snork and Mr. Hemulen only ask for her money so they can continue with their hopes and dreams, Sniff is well, Sniff, but I'm pretty sure he's traumatized into believing he's only worth the wealth he has so that's another capitalistic problem.

Moominpappa is happy the way he is without the money, the Moomin family is decidedly non-capitalistic and Moominpappa knows nothing about how it works, so he chooses to simply not have it. They simply don't need it with the way things are.

And I suppose that was the appeal of the Moomins franchise that got people hooked into the fantasy of living there, it's pure freedom from an oppressive system that doesn't even give people what they're worth, it's being able to be yourself with a small, loving and accepting community.

But Aunt Jane never had that, which makes her feel out of place in this valley more than other outsider characters do in the show. And like the weirdly smooth and good animation that was clearly outsourced to a different studio for this one specific episode, being rich looks nice, but the cutthroat system of how it's made probably doesn't make it worth it.