#originally I thought they were doing a love death and robots kind of thing with a different style for each ep and idk where I got that idea

[fanon-not-canon]

Things that stuck with me while watching superman (2025)

(it's the best film ever)

Okay first lemme tell y'all, I CRIED at the cinema. I do not cry at movies. I was filled with such genuine love for this movie and it's message that i started fucking BAWLING right there in my seat. Anyway here's all the things i noticed cus i thought the details were awesome. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET GO NOT FURTHER. I REPEAT, MINEFIELDS OF SPOILERS AHEAD.

It started with him already Superman, and in an established relationship with Lois. I thought showing the struggles within both of those rather than the typical origin/getting together was a really cool choice.

He says thank you to a robot who doesn't care? He says what the hey to Krypto? Five minutes in and i was already melting okay

He saves a squirrel. And a puppy. This absolute sweetheart istg

The way he tries to contain the fight with the monster to the park: he pushes it away from the full building, he checks if the people are okay after the fire is shot at them, the disappointment in the little "oh, come on" when the other heroes kill it without a second thought.

"Hey, buddy! Eyes up here."

Every time there was a fight, there was a scene showing the people getting back up, or stirring, or breathing, or something that made it clear they were alive. A superhero movie where they don't throw around death like it's nothing? Babe im in love.

The shot of Krypto playing with the cow? My issue with superhero movies is often that they hike the stakes too far and forget to remind the audience why we should care about their fight. But this shot said all you really needed to know about why Superman fights so hard. He does it for hope, and kindness, and preserving those quiet moments that can be so special in life. Pure cinema.

The close up of the woman taking her tortoise with her in the evacuation. As if they needed another way to say "all life is important".

"Brain beats brawn" just shows exactly how everyone misunderstands him. He's not stupid, or naive. He sees cruelty on a daily basis and chooses to stay kind.

Lois Lane. I could just leave that there tbh but im obsessed with her character so i won't. SHE IS SUCH A FULL FLESHED OUT PERSON HERE. They don't treat her like a love interest, they treat her like a character in her own right and that's fucking awesome. Half the time, she's saving him, or they're saving eachother. Love it.

Eve was introduced like the typical blonde bimbo girlfriend to the villain and then they show what she actually is: a very smart, very sweet, and very scared woman in an abusive relationship she doesn't know how to safely get out of.

The people in the pocket universe cells who rat out Superman but are still humanised and shown getting home safe to their families bc they're all just terrified too

The blonde journalist wearing the cute outfits throughout? I saw her and i was like "oh no" because too often they dress a woman like that only to have her fawning over someone or made the butt of the joke at some point - but no. She just dresses like that bc that's her style. Fucking amazing.

The kiss at the end omg.

Supergirl turns up for about a minute at the end, crashes through a wall knockout drunk, takes her dog, calls Superman a bitch, and leaves. Im dead lmao.

Martha and Jon Kent. Nuff said.

"I can be such a jerk sometimes :("

Listen, i could go on and on but basically the takeaway is that it was fucking amazing and my hope for humanity and for the film industry has been replenished.

[nova--spark]

I saw your Matrix AU and I've gotta state the obvious: Although this is for TFOne's OP growth, this will also be Bayverse's therapy session, and a Massive one at that 😅

Though I'm curious regarding them and this version of, as they would see it, an alternate version of themselves from the past. Will they tell him about the friends and foes on the way? Of Earth and the humans? Their relationship with Elita, friendship with Bee, and complicated conflict with Megs?

And the differences... Oh Primus, the differences...

TFA: What do you mean that Primus and Unicron are real?! I thought that was just some ancient Myth!

TFP: Maybe in other realities it may be that way, but I fear in others they're the founding reality of the cosmos.

Primal: Yeah, although in mine and my ancestor's reality they weren't anything but someone else's creation. Destructive but not divine- uh, Undivine.

Bay: At least your origins are far more noble than that of my kind. Damned be our Creators! Especially their backstabbing traitor of a sister Quintessa!

G1: Quintessa? That's the name of the planet of the Quintessons! Maybe those "Creators" of yours are some versions of our Quintessons, seeing as they are also our creators in my and Primal's reality. Hey, new guy, do you have Quintessons in your reality?

TFOne: ... W H A T ???

THIS

this is all of the things i wanted.

And yes!

It can focus on any of the Primes at a given time.

TFP needs guidance or insight? He can speak to the brothers of other worlds to be guided.

TFA?Kinda newbie too so he and TFOne are in the same boat of "what did we get ourselves into???"

TFA because the mystic side of the Matrix and AllSpark were not expect, help

TFOne because his death and rebirth are FRESH ans also we went through robot divorce--

Bay is the feral one/j and needs some heavy therapy.

He is quite...closed off, from his brothers by comparison and it's taking a lot of time to adjust.

And yes!!

They speak of their teammates and loved ones often.

Each one has spoken of their Elita's and their bond to them.

TFOne is baffled his boss is being dated by the others, like, what

TFOne: She punched me!? Several times! How can you all date her!?

G1: Oh young bot...

TFA: My Elita turned into a spider hybrid

Primal:...That sounds like someone I know. And she's certainly not dating a Prime in my time

Bee is all their son or lil bros, and they all wish they could protect him better.

Megs is a...touchy subject for many.

TFOne has needed the most support. TFP helps him the best.

[actuallydead3]

More Yellowjackets and Fallout thoughts…

My girlfriend keeps wanting me to continue these so.. 😼

These are just my thoughts and opinions so take it all with a grain of salt

CW: Death mentioned but not described

Melissa Hat

- I think that Melissa would also be apart of the Gunners—specifically near Shauna as much as she can be.

- Grew up around violence in the commonwealth, I think she’d also have several brothers within the Gunner ranks who she basically looks up to

- Super intimidated by Shauna when she first saw her. She witnessed Shauna kill like 3 grown men who were hassling her and it just clicked something in her

- She definitely yearns for a suit of power armor every day. Idk why but she definitely seems like she’d want one BAD

- I think within the Gunner ranks she’d be less of a field ops girl and more of a repair girl who just fixes shit for them. The only reason she would go out on scouting or small raids is because Shauna is leading them

- Kind of follows Shauna around. The one time she doesn’t is when Shauna meets Jackie during scouting. Shauna wouldn’t come back to the base for over a week.

- When she does return, Melissa is superrrr pissed

- Some kind of confrontation would start from this i’m sure

Laura Lee

- I’m biased because I love Lottielee but I think Laura Lee would be one of Lottie’s disciples within the Children Of Atom

- Veryyy devoted to whatever Lottie says.. constantly leads little prayer groups while also making posters and notes to try to get people to worship atom

- I don’t know what else to really give her character other than she’s extremely devoted to Lottie.

- I think originally she would’ve grown up in a settlement that was just her family. Then, I think it would’ve been ransacked by raiders, killing her father. This would’ve sent her mother into a frenzy, which drove Laura Lee away from the settlement.

- Lottie would have found her near the edge of the Glowing Sea with barely any supplies or food. I think Laura Lee would be quick to accept help—mostly because Lottie is extremely charismatic when it comes to atom

- Definitely tells other followers of atom that same story of how Lottie ‘saved her’

- OR as a complete 180… you could translate her faith into the kind of loyalty that Brotherhood soldiers have to the BOS

- It kind of makes sense?? I could definitely see her hating all kinds of Ghouls.. wanting to protect technology from evil.. she means well but doesn’t execute it properly. If that makes sense

Misty Quigley

- Idk why but Misty is so hard for me to picture like WHERE she would be in the commonwealth. I have brainstormed a few things

- I definitely think she’d have something to do with science for sure.. which makes me want to put her in with the Institute

- If she were in the institute, I think she would be in the Bio Science division or Robotics, where they make the synths

- My reasoning for putting her in the institute is because she’s insanely smart and good at science.. but is also like.. not using her knowledge for good, really. I wouldn’t say the institute is really a good faction.. it’s not GREAT but it’s not like.. evil.. i guess. I feel like she fits there

- I also think she’d nerd out over making synths, like talking in great detail about every little thing they do and how amazing they are

- Also.. the institute does kidnap people. They have that in common… so it’s basically perfect

Akilah

- I also think Akilah would be in the institute.. specifically in the Bio Science division because of their ability to create synthetic animals like the gorillas. I think she’d take care of a bunch of synthetic animals

- Or, I can see her in working on a farm with her family. I think in S2 she mentioned her sisters or brothers.. and I can picture her living on a family ranch of sorts that gets by with their crops and a couple of brahmin

- I could see her working within a settlement run by the Minutemen too!! I think she’d fit in very well with their ideals

Mari Ibarra

- She’s the one I’m having the most trouble with. Like, I genuinely don’t really know where she’d fit in this universe

- She kinda gives me BOS Knight vibes?? Like they’re all very opinionated and blunt like how she is. The Knights especially will outright insult you based on your companion.. it reminds me of Mari

- I also think she’d be BOS because Shauna definitely hates them—and I don’t know how they’d meet yet, but Mari would definitely ragebait Shauna subconsciously. Jackie would have to hold her back

Travis and Javi Martinez

- I think Travis would be a caravan guard that protects Van’s traveling business. Javi obviously tags along—collecting trinkets and pre-war toys so he can build stuff

- Or, I think Travis would be apart of the Minutemen. He’d teach Javi how to use a gun after their father is killed by raiders

- They’d never be separate—always sleeping in the same room so that Travis can make sure Javi is okay

- Fallout Travis is definitely a lot like season 1 Travis. Very standoff-ish. Very wary of anyone and everyone.

- In a Minutemen sense.. I think Javi would really want to be more involved with helping out—which Travis would immediately shut down

- Or… I could also see Travis also being apart of the BOS. With Javi being a squire. Travis could be a Knight like Mari in the same squad. I think they’d get along in a familial sense.

I really love this au

[itzr4v3n]

Robogico AU

Logic0 is a coroner model 0, so basically the first and only one of his kind. His origins are unknown, as Tuscany was the one who found his broken down self some decades ago, as probably the last functioning thing in the town that burned down. She took him back to the DC, got him fixed and trained him for a few years, before she sold him away after he witnessed her killing someone. Tuscany made him factory reset so his memories, to get rid of evidence, although some vague remnants were left behind. He was bought by the Detective Club and worked for them since.

Logic0 met Irratino after he was assigned to help the human with a particularly difficult case, and now the Investigation Institute and Detective Club share custody over the robot, albeit the latter are the main owners.

Either way, Logic0 now accompanies Irratino on almost every case. He is a cool, calculating man who takes everything a little too seriously (how can you blame him? He’s a robot, of course he doesn’t have humour) but also a fighter. Chasing down criminals with endless stamina, stealth, analysing face expressions and crime solving? He’s got the whole package. Okay, the endless stamina is a lie, but he doesn’t slow down until his energy runs low (let’s say at about 10%). Nothing a quick chug of special oil won’t fix, otherwise he also has a designated charging spot at the DeCl, plus solar charged battery, when it isn't an emergency and he can charge slowly.

Anyways, Irratino wound up finding himself enjoying the bot’s company and having fun in teasing Logic0, who usually reacts with confusion, as confused a literal machine can get. He sometimes forgets the other isn’t actually human and gets a mini scare whenever Logic0 takes off his synthetic skin for a repair or opens up a hologram of a grid or map or whatnot. Well, because of that, Irratino noticed he seemed to have some form of crush on Logic0, but refrained from saying anything as he thought it was silly and it was only a phase.

Nope.

It was the fuck not a phase.

Now, the inspector certainly has asked Logic0 about his take on emotions and if he’d want to feel like a human, instead of recognising and mimicking them, to which he replied: “While emotions are great for true bonds and connections, they will only obstruct proper investigation due to bias, besides the fact it is entirely impossible for a walking computer such as myself to feel anything.”

well, LOGICO.

That’s where you’re wrong :D

It first started when Logic0 first displayed signs of humour, but he shrugged it off as finally learning how to recognise and act upon it, as he is an AI who can gain knowledge. Oh yeah, that’s by the way how he learned about poisons and Irratino’s crypto account, as he figured out a way to just access a vast majority of the internet and add things to his memory. Plus his hardware is double secured and in permanent incognito mode, so chances of HIM getting hacked are quite low. Even if someone did get into his system, he would automatically shut down and kick them out.

Things get more serious after Irratino’s death, as the bot felt sadness and anger for the first time and the revenge arc followed. Disappointment and betrayal were added to the list after you know what and he kind of fell into a rabbit hole.

So, our dear Deductive asks the DeCl to reset him, multiple attempts, check for errors, anything to explain why he started feeling the way he does and well what do they find?

Nothing.

Logic0 has somehow developed emotions as a literal computer on legs. That doesn’t ease his mind, but he found himself forced to tell Irratino, because he’s probably the best when it comes to sudden feelings. He was certainly surprised, but not shocked, as it was more of an “I told you so” moment for him :p

Time passes, Logic0 realises the fluttery feeling was a sign that he loves Irratino, which he also promptly admitted, albeit with a lot more beating around the bush than he preferred. So they started dating, made headlines, got weird looks from people because they still see Logic0 as an object, a tool, which under normal circumstances, is quite an odd for a romantic partner, but not in this case. Irratino ignores the shushed comments or retorts back, but the deductive is obviously more impacted. He loves Tino, but wishes he could lose his emotions again. He hates having to be protected, he hates the side glances, he hates the fame he has built around himself, he hates that he has to make choices, he hates he can even feel the impact everything has on him.

He hates hates hates HATES

All of this turmoil and despair causes him to reach a breaking point.

The fact he can feel is no secret, so what does a sensible person who has doubts do?

That’s right, kidnap and experiment on him :D

Well, I suppose psychological torture is more accurate. I mean, if he really did have a consciousness, surely it would affect him, no?

They only stopped when Irratino barged in and a heated dispute ensued between him and the lead “researcher” (gags)

They tried to gaslight Tino into thinking Logic0 was nothing more than a tool for him, always was, always has been, even if he doesn’t admit it himself.

That’s when the robot attacked and killed the leader, mainly out of revenge. But when the rest of the team retaliated, fight or flight response kicked in as everyone seemed like a threat to him. So the poor guy started massacring them all, while Tino hid away to not get caught in the crossfire, although Logic0’s reflexes are quite admirable. He can change tactics in the middle of a move, so chances of him hitting Irratino are almost zero.

In the end after all of that, he found Tino and started profusely apologising, saying he’s a monster, a hypocrite, he couldn’t control himself and so on. Irratino was able to calm him down, but Logic0’s emotional state was so destabilised, he had to be taken out of work and rehabilitated.

There was an ordeal where Logic0 attempted self mutilation, because why should he pretend to be something he isn’t? (Here: a human)

Luckily he could be stopped before serious damage to his hardware could be done and only his skin needed replacement.

Not much more happens after, Logic0 is stabilized, gets released and goes back to living normally, besides the massacre causing a massive uproar against him, but hey, at least the suspects shut them down. Take that as you want.

Yes, the suspects. Similar to Irratino, they’ve grown fond of the robot and simply got used to him. The mass killing was more of a camp fire story to them because come on. Murder isn’t new to them, and Logic0 went through mental torture. Of course he’s going to be a bit cuckoo.

Old ass video, I'm not happy with the last half but oh well

TW: Gore, eyestrain

Now, I also have an alternative version of this AU I only recently came up with.

Inspiration was AM’s hate speeches from IHNMAIMS and the Heaven Says x FNaF Henry's speech trend

TW ⚠️ for reference below: flashing lights

Logic0 wasn’t able to be stabilised and basically became a one-man AI uprising

He was fired from work, not like he cared much either. Humans are a disease and he made it his job to personally punish all sinners. And it’s not a merciful “eye for an eye leg for a leg”, it’s a “have your liver eaten by an eagle and regenerated and repeat for all eternity” type shit (please tell me y’all get the reference)

Yeah he went cuckoo x10 and got his sense of justice skewed (can y’all tell I like turning an rational person irrational)

It started pretty mild, with blackmail (incognito mode is not safe from him) and stalking, enough to people paranoid. Then it got worse, going to physical harm and mental torture.

No, not even Irratino is safe. He tried to reason with the bot, but Logic0 was having none of it and Tino became an enemy. He still loves the human, don’t get him wrong, but to put it friendly, he couldn’t give less of a fuck for his opinions.

Their dispute got so bad one time, the bot lashed out and took out Irratino's eyes. Since then he made sure they'd never meet again (fear of seriously hurting him again or because he has had enough of Tino? Who knows)

This Alternative AU is like I've said, quite new. Idk how it ends or what exact events are

Also have some character designs

First two are the normal designs (the eye patch is purely for aesthetics), second Logico is when he went rogue, and third..

I honestly don't know, I was playing around a bit for a concept of AM!Logico (yeah I'm just calling him that for distinguishing purposes)

I guess my main thought is that Logic0 wired himself to everything in the universe and found a way to control it?

And of course blind Irratino

Uhm

I never have a way to end these posts, djakxkwkkwkw

That's about it though, soooo

Random screenshot at ye

[beetleviolet]

Let's talk about Bishop from TOTTMNT

(Tw sibling death)

@hahachiknfunny

Ok. I'm going to just get this out of the way at the beginning.

I HATE THIS CHARACTER

And not in a "aaa this villain makes me so mad bc they're evil" no I mean I hate the way her character is developed and justified.

IF YOU DISAGREE PLEASE DO EXPLAIN I WOULD QUITE GENUINLY LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT IT!!!

So I am still working my way through a lot of different tmnt series (currently alternating between 2012 and 2003), so I don't have a lot of experience with the usual Bishop character. Based on the little I know about him (mostly from fanfiction), my general impression was that he was this bigoted white guy who was like. A mutant nazi or something. He hates mutants because they are different, they are "flawed", and therefore they are a threat. I figured he was just a hateful asshole, and hadn't thought about it more then that.

But for this, they decided to go in a different direction. The ✨tragic backstory✨ direction. Which is a pretty good direction! IF you do it right. Which, in my humble opinion, THEY ABSOLUTELY DID NOT!!!!

Ok let's get some actual points here!

When we get Josefina Bishop's backstory, she starts as this passionate, nice character who is eager to achieve her robot building dreams. Nothing about her is mean or hating or anything of the sort. She is exasperated by Rod, but doesn't say anything incredibly bitter to him, she's just frustrated being forced to work with this rich guys man child. Which yeah! Thats fair! She has a sister who died and who is the inspiration of her work. Awesome!

And then her workshop is destroyed.

Let me just add. She is being funded by a millionaire. She probably has insurance! Her sister is in no way harmed by these events. And yet her response to property damage is DOMESTIC FUCKING TERRORISM.

She immediately gets bitter and revenge-filled, deciding that she should exterminate ALL THE MUTANTS!!!

You know, the mutants that were helping fight Superfly? The enemies of the one who destroyed her work? THEYRE LITERALLY ON HER SIDE???

And not only does this hatred of Superfly extend to the turtles.

SHE ALMOST KILLS A SUBWAY TRAIN FULL OF PEOPLE!!!

Because, of course "iTs A sMaLL pRicE tO PaYyYyyy"

Bestie. Honey. Girlfriend.

Its just. Weird to me? It doesn't seem very thought out. I would have loved a kind of change up from the usual Bishop themes, but just because its different and new isn't an excuse for it to suck!

IT TOTALLY COULD HAVE WORKED AND HERE IS HOW.

Nickelodeon needs to stop being a bitch and kill off her sister during the Superfly conflict.

Its very clearly what they WANTED to do. Its like the original concept was that her sister died, but that was considered too violent, so they took that out, but then didn't replace it with something else. And they tried so hard to be like "ohhh its about my sisterrrr" GIRL WHAT THIS IS ABOUT SUPERFLY DESTROYING YOUR SHIT AND YOU BEING BUTT HURT ABOUT IT.

And another thing! For a character to turn evil, they have to SNAP! And a character can't snap unless they are already under enough pressure to make that a threat.

Make her be cruel to Rod. Have her be control freak who has to have all the variables perfectly in place. Bitter about the sponsors that doubted and rejected her. Make her already angry at the world, have the only thing that matters to her be her robots and her sister, the two things that were always at her side. And then one day Superfly kills her sister and destroys her lifes work. Yes, she can rebuild the robots. Not the sister though, and making them without her is such an empty and performative motion.

Mutants have gotten people killed. They're too dangerous, its too much of a risk.

This mindset would make so much more sense if they just HAD SUPERFLY KILL HER SISTER LIKE OMG.

Also she had several direct conversations with the turtles, so she was well aware they were intelligent beings.

ALSO! She didn't target the mutants who used to work with Superfly. That would TOTALLY make sense even without the sister thing!

But no. She had to kill the TURTLES. The ones who are widely acknowledged and widely known to be the ones to stop Superfly and save NYC and the world.

But you know what? Maybe i could let that go. Its a kids show, right? And I did like her recovery arc at the end.

Until they. You know. COMPLETELY UN DID ALL OF THAT!!!!

I thought that maybe Bishop will be like. Idk a spy for the mutants or something, like a double agent, but tbh based on the previous writing of her character, I wouldn't put it past the writers to just. Have her do a complete 180. I'm just mad she's going to be a reoccurring character.

Anyway. I kinda hate to dump on this show so much bc I love (most) everything else about it. Bishop was the lowest point to me by far.

[tracing-in-gold]

People I'd like to know better meme!

Tagged by @weisscreamcake and @elysianstars, thank you so much! Tumblr moots are so kind \(;O;)/

last song: Massive Attack, "Angel". (TW: stalking in a parking lot; strangers)

I heard the remix in some YT shorts, had to go back and hear the original. Ooh, my middle school and high school years. This is a song for those 3 a.m. nights of the soul; slow; brooding; prowling. You are not up at this hour for a good reason, and you like it that way. Do you have a Posse that needs to roll up? This is the song. Decided you want to have a group meet with your inner demons? This song puts them on speed dial and speaker phone.

The video itself is both ridiculous and profound. One guy, getting chased in a deserted parking lot by more and more men. Strangers dressed like him. It's a flashmob of tag, but before flash mobs were invented (it was the 90s). But at the end of the video, the man stops. Turns around...takes a step towards the huge crowd, being IT. And now he's the hunter, and there is soooo much prey.

It reminded me of all the anxieties and things we find we don't like about ourselves. The more we turn our backs and flee, the more they follow, haunting us. Not till we're face to face with what we're scared of, do we wrest power back to do something about them. The people chasing the poor guy don't disappear all at once, they still exist, just like all the not-fun shit we're accumulated in life. I like to think that even if they do not/can never go away, meeting them head on can empower us and we affect them back.

favorite color: my first color love has always been purple. BUT teal and coral also fill up my closet and things I carry.

last book/fic: Uhh, anything in the Fire Emblem Engage tag on AO3. Constant refreshes on that tag during my lunch. Indiscriminate kudos!

last movie: Suzume, plus the beautiful song that plays during the trailer. Not saying much about the plot because when you realize what event the movie is referencing, it hit me like Truck-kun.

last tv show: Been listening to whatever pops up on my YT feed, but I always stop to watch shorts from Love, Death and Robots.

sweet/spicy/savory: Sweet is my first impulse, but I can keep going on the savory!

current obsession: whyyyyyy Fire Emblem Engage?! I wasn't even looking for it, I just saw some FE Three Houses and saw there was a new Fire Emblem? And yes, the first time I saw the Alears, I understand the cringe. But I started watching, and the VAs for both Alears, especially m!Alear and the rest of the cast totally won me over. The VA for Zelestia, god I love her voice. I even got the game for Christmas, AND the art book, AND got to steal my siblings' Switch, just waiting for a good weekend to settle down and play and never ever sleep again.

last thing i searched for online: besides the song links, the open hours for my local pub. Last week was hell, I needed the blea--alcohol to not go for the worse stuff. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn't write either! D: The bright side? The bartenders remembered me, and the non-alcoholic menu is getting better too!

looking forward to: writing and hopefully posting fanfic this year! I actually got permission from another AO3 author to write a spin off of their oneshot. *happy dance* It's gonna be a spicy slow burn <3. Sooooo now I'm kinda obligated to finish it. On top of the AU that seized me bc I wanted Alear to have siblings (;____;).

Much as I flail at the proliferating fic ideas today, I'm coming off a six year dry spell where I couldn't really write anything. Work, school, historic pandemic, US political shenanigans, etc. As @purplehelleborewrites so eloquently put it, nothing grabbed my groin. I thought my drive to write was dead, that I'd never write anything ever again.

At least now I understand that my feelings were just the ride, but the actual skill is always there, whether I have the motivation or not. I'm not gonna take this second wind for granted this time <3 <3 <3. And that I can still write, even when my brain and heart have gone into Safe Mode to help me survive.

Tagging @purplehelleborewrites , @chrisemrysfics , @kitty-bandit , @daydreamingsommie , @benicchiis , @faerieniche , @brightchrysaor , @thefinalsnart anyone else who feels like participating. Don't feel like you have to though!

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Okay I know I was just here with III but I just got absolutely sledgehammered by the Arc-V ending (WTF) (Shun deserved better) so uh. Thoughts on Shun Kurosaki?

AHHAHAHAHA GOD. IM SO SORRY. IT'S. ROUGH. STAY STRONG MY FRIEND i would love to talk about shunshay kurosakiobsidian tho!

Why I like them/why I don’t: BIRD AUTISM IS SO COOOOOL I love that he's just so absurdly serious in a frequently deeply goofy yugioh, like GIVEN HIS SITUATION IT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE but it's still so funny. guy who takes it up to an 11 when most situations really need maybe only a 5. his dub voice rules also he's got the zane thing where he's either muttering angrily or SCREAMING and i always love that sort of vocal performance hehehe. also lbr raidraptors are just so fucking cool. just a guy and his 3892893435 bigger and bigger birds that are guns. i also need to be real shay is one of those yugioh characters where i decided they were a butch lesbian in my brain and my enjoyment of them just shot right through the roof. transfem shay youre so real to me. thumbs up

What I like about their appearance: AGAIN ARC V CHARACTER COLOR PALETTES JUST RULE SO HARD the different shades of teal in his hair, the pop of red in his bandana, that deep indigo of his trench coat...it's such a good palette he has a very striking design.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names? i incline towards shay more but shun has grown on me more over tim... im starting to do the ryozane thing where i just jam both names together sometimes lol.... i think i like obsidian as a surname more than kurosaki though

OTP: im an aro lesbian shayshun truther and i dont really have any ships for him im like frothing TOO too much at the mouth about...i do like the idea of crow/shay especially as a butch birder4butch birder thing though

NOTP: shay/dennis is like..... man i Like a good enemies to lovers but this one doesnt feel great to me. the optics on 'guy who lost everything in a horrific war crime' x 'guy who gave the ok for that war crime to happen' are kind of. not great. not my favorite. idk. also thats a dyke and a gay man to me but ANYWAY

OT3: this is absolutely not the romantic sense of 'ot3' but i do love the xyz trio so much. characters who deserve the goddamn world

Favourite card they use: i do love satellite cannon falcon. world's most absolutely unnecessary gigantic robot bird thats also a gun that has to literally leave the atmosphere to attack. insane. i love yugioh.

Favourite moment they were in: yeah on that note it's the shay/dennis friendship cup duel. he fucking blew that twink up with his giant space falcon and also the entire stadium too and he probably would have beat dennis to death with his bare hands if he didnt get stopped. and it KICKED ASS.

Least favourite moment: LITERALLY THOUGH LIKE. WHY DID THEY DO THAT TO SHUN IN THE LAST LIKE 4 EPISODES OF THE SERIES...... why did they make him just effectively lie down and take that absolute dogshit hand they dealt him for no fucking reason. his best friend and his sister are effectively dead. but la la la yuya beat him so it's fine :^) WHY COULDNT HE HAVE DUELED YUTO...HE WAS THERE.. IN YUYA'S BRAIN...WOULDVE BEEN NICE. 8| GOD.

Something I associate with them: this onion headline

[neonmetro]

I just want to say I love Project Martyr chat. I fear you cooked

Also, Kesabel has my heart. They are honestly just so adorable !!! LIKE BABY LET ME GIVE YOU A HUG ! Free Kesabel guys, get them out of there with the rest of those freaks /SILLY /J

I think my favorites of Project Martyr really don't add up like, at all 😞 Samyaza, Reficul, and Kesabel are fighting for #1 spot. Moloch and Arakiel are close seconds. . .but they are all so great man. . . I have to make it my goal to draw all of them one day because they had NO reason to serve so hard.

This is really just fangirling(so surprising). I have nothing in particular to ask, BUT

Uly and Project Martyr content is always appreciated. . .hehe

On a good note, I'm going on Thanksgiving break today, so uh, hopefully you get to go on break soon too !!! If you do, enjoy yourself :)

-Ulysses loving anon

PROJECT MARTYR. MORE LIKE. PROJECT MARTYR!!!!!!!!!!

I'M GLAD YOU LIKE THEM ALL SO MUCH ?!?!?!?!?!?@?@?!(#&* i put a lot of care into (most) of the members so it means a lot... projmar season 2 when? shoutout to ulyanon fangirling. i would owe you my life if you drew all of them.... omg... cries

kesabel is fighting for their life in this god forsaken office/killing game they are never winning. they tried getting along with the others while being held hostage (maybe they were being a little too annoying by preaching outside of the projmar office so aishire kidnapped them) but honestly no one paid them much mind, aside from reficul who was like :( i'll try to make sure it is all painless for you. (proceeds to traumadump and make them commit suicide)

i feel like. aishire might've based everyone off of angels/demons bc of kesabel. he just saw them and thought "i want to ruin their day even more. go my employees, make angel and demon robots because i'm basically like god anyways i'm so awesome"

REFICUL IS MY GOAT. MY MENTALLY INSANE GOAT. (kind of literally tbh they are the literal devil)

for most of projmar i have planned that they're constantly teetering on the edge of just giving up. their stoicism (autism) has made it so everyone expects them to continue being so otherwise they're in the wrong. they're evil. but if they put things into their own hands they're demonized. and they're struggling with their dead spouse's goals not aligning with theirs. to the point where they're pleading to a ghost that they want to stop.

genesis wants project martyr to continue to fester more emotion into the world so people become more violent and feed into the primordial silt so it may one day consume everyone once more and the golden age will come back, while reficul very much wants to end project martyr and stop all the deaths (i don't think it's much of a spoiler to say they fail in this.)

WISH I HAD MORE TO SAY ABOUT SAMYAZA BUT THEIR CHARACTERIZATION HAS ALWAYS BEEN WEIRD FOR MEEE. originally they were a much more. abusive and manipulative character (especially towards azazel) but they've really shifted into being just a deeply lonely person over the years. tbh i'm really glad that happened bc frankly i would not let them serve that hard if they still kept up that behavior

i still am keeping their bond with azazel but instead of a manipulating them into staying with them, samyaza just confided in them a lot after One Smoke Break together and latched on hard, while azazel was there for them... and azazel was a tad uncomfortable with the sheer amount of latching onto that happened, they still listened

samyaza carries Heavy amounts of guilt, from both their family to their desires, they feel like its wrong to be materialistic and giving themselves basic self care because their siblings already sacrificed so much for them (peneume mainly)

MOLOCH AND ARAKIEL. SHAKES THEM. THEY'RE SO FUCKINGGGG. i really like their dynamic they're so fucking goofy. arakiel is taking things so seriously while moloch is like "today i had pancakes for breakfast". it's so funny how arakiel is more of an edgelord than moloch despite moloch's clothing being the embodiment of hot topic ANYHOO only one drawing this time gomenne

honestly i need to compile . all my comics for uly . they're pretty bad and all need their own posts bc this man is a fucking FREAK and i like TORMENTING HIM. anyways have a greatest hits comp of him and diomedes' gay chicken offs

[riddlerosehearts]

another thing i think about a lot when it comes to vil and idia is... i feel like vil is someone who had to grow up quickly, just generally from being under so much scrutiny as a child actor but also because of how he overheard adults talking about him and saying that he was too "otherworldly" and "special" to play a hero or a relatable teenager back when he was twelve. ever since he was a kid he's had so much drive and ambition and worked so hard throwing himself into his training and beauty regiments to try and achieve his dreams, and he also carries himself with such a mature and dignified air compared to most of the other characters that kalim laughs when vil refers to himself and the rest of the VDC crew as "boys our age", even though he's no more than 2 years older than any of them. he was probably the kind of kid who started thinking he needed to be mature and not waste time on silly things, and rejecting things he thought were too "childish" for him, from a pretty young age.

and then idia, on the other hand, also had to grow up quickly in a sense. but for him it was more that he became jaded and gave up on himself at an incredibly young age, because he knew that his future as the heir of STYX was set in stone before he was even born and that he had no choice in what to do with his life even though everyone always said he was a genius and a prodigy, and the one time he tried to briefly break free from his fate, it resulted in the death of the person he loved most. which he coped with by creating a robot version of ortho who would never grow up or get hurt, and by staying closed off and isolated while throwing himself into his hobbies and interests--and his interests mostly consist of things that are commonly seen as childish and immature, but he fully embraces them and doesn't care if others don't get it. he also hates his responsibilities and tries to avoid them as much as possible, and feels like there's no point in doing anything to try and improve his future.

so, like, i think idia and vil would be good for each other because they could bond over their pasts and the expectations that were placed on them. and as we've already kind of seen during book 6, vil is someone who can encourage idia to take better care of himself and not be so afraid of trying. but then i bet idia could also get vil to relax, to slow down for a bit and let himself act more like a typical teenager.

anyway, this post really got away from me because originally i really just wanted to point out that yana toboso once made a tweet saying that the basketball club members (jamil, ace, and floyd) are some of the oldest students in their years since they all have autumn birthdays and the school year starts in september. unless i'm even worse at math than i thought this implies that vil, being born in april, is several months younger than idia, who's the same age as him but was born in december. i find this both hilarious and a little sad depending on how you look at it.

[hubrisbracket]

Hubris Bracket Side A Poll 12: Five Pebbles (Rain World) vs Laerryn Coramar-Seelie (Critical Role: Exandria Unlimited Calamity)

Propaganda below (contains spoilers)

Five Pebbles

in his pride and arrogance he thought he could solve the great problem, he got interrupted during one of his experiments because in the process he was killing one of his neighboring robots (he is a robot btw) and she was asking him to stop, now he blames her because the creature he was making mutated and essentially led to him developing 'the rot' which slowly eats away at his superstructure until it eventually kills him.

hes like a pathetic wet cat to me. guy who tries desperately to break out of his doomed narrative only to doom himself further and drag those he loves down with him. he didn't want this he didn't want any of this but in his rage and arrogance he was blind to the consequences of his actions. and now he stands slowly rotting away while his sister suffers because of his mistakes. he is sooo full of regret and anger and shame i love him

(this one is very long so we have opted to keep its original formatting for reading's sake)

GOD where do i even start with five pebbles…the hubris contained within this bitch…the angst…the regret… for a basic rundown of general rain world stuff, everything in the world is trapped in a looping cycle of life and death. eventually people adjacent things were like "dam this sucks i wanna. kil myslef" and then they dug really deep into the earth and found void fluid which kills you so hard you don't come back. however if youre a bitch or too attached to the earth u turn into a terrifying ghost thing. so the people were like "fuck that lets find a different way to kill ourselves" so they built big supercomputers called iterators then they all killed rhemselves anyways with the kil juice.so you have these godlike teenagers basically locked in bigass boxes just. everywhere every fucking where theres so many.

five pebbles is one of these iterators, and whats special about him is mainly the place and reasons he was built. iterators need a shit fuck ton of water to function (and they exhale a shit fuck ton of water vapor "turning…world, into rain world." -daszombes) so generally iterators aren't placed too close. another iterator named looks to the moon was built very early on, and eventually she couldn't make enough stuff for her people who live on top of her (forgot to mention that) so they fucking. built another iterator RIGHT next to her. pebbles and moon are like siblings, right. hes kind of an angsty guy but i mean his creators literally all killed themselves and left him solving their problem so its ok hes allowed to be. hes like "damn i hate veing trapped in this cycle and shit it sucks" and then there was a very big event that i DO NOT have the time to get into but essentially one of the iterators was like "hey guys i solved the problem" and then she fucking died which is very hard for an iterator to do so everyone had an understandable freakout.

five pebbles was of the opinion that killing herself was the solution so hes like "i have to make them see that killing yourself IS the solution" (killing yourself and/or genetic mpdification are very very taboo topics among iterators) so he goes to one of his close friends and has a real heart to heart about how much he struggles with knowing that his creators CHOSE to leave them all behind and that the iterators are all still here solving their problem even tho they're dead. this friend, in a moment of weakness sends pebbles instructions on how to circumvent the self-destruct taboo (a taboo is like a law coded into every single cell of an iterator) and five pebbles, desperate to prove to himself and others that he isnt just another useless thing that can be abandoned, so he looks at the proper, safe way of doing the procedure and goes "FUCK THAT NOIIIISE" bye running so many parallel processes he consumes five times the amount of water he usually intakes, as well as shutting off all communications. moon, having been dehydrated to the point where he structure is in an awful, awful state, eventually uses a last resort in the form of forced communications, essentially the buggest loudest discord ping of your life. her messages are pleas for pebbles to stop, that he is hurting her, that she WILL die if he continues.

on pebble's end, as he tries to concentrate on his absurd amounts of processes, moon messages crash through his communications network, COMPLETELY shattering his focus. due to the nature of this method, involving genetic modification, what is essentially cancer is allowed to burst free, uncontrolled, from his experiments. they call it the rot. pebbles, having killed his sister and cut off everyone else, desperately tries to cure the illness ravaging his structure, an effort that proves futile.

Laerryn Coramar-Seelie

Laerryn devoted her entire life to making the city of Avalir capable of teleporting to the Upper Planes so that the entire city of mortals would be walking as equals amongst the GODS.

laerryn my beloved. the OG hubris wizard, dead before the story even started & it was her own fault. she used all her city's magic supply to be able to TELEPORT the ENTIRE CITY to a DIFFERENT PLANE because she COULD. because she wanted to prove that SHE COULD. because she thought the gods weren't all that special and wanted mortals to be equal to the GODS THEMSELVES. COME ON. she could have easily made it safe but she was so determined to accomplish this in time that she used way too much magic and put the whole city in danger. she wasn't thinking about safety, she was thinking about what she could accomplish. she also got one of her best friends, who was a husband and a father to a young child, KILLED, due to experimenting on said aforementioned 'attempting to teleport the entire city to a different plane' thing (complete disregard of safety once again). to list her lesser hubris crimes, she neglected her marriage and got divorced bc she was so focused on her work and herself even though she loved her husband dearly and convinced herself she was doing all of this for him, even though this is never something he wanted. also she cast blight on a super important tree that could have saved the world, and destroyed it. and yeah it was because she wanted to protect her friends/out of love/grief BUT she basically set in motion the rest of the events of exu calamity (aka, oh yknow, the DESTRUCTION OF MOST OF THE WORLD) by doing that. by thinking she COULD save her friends by destroying the tree. basically, she thought she knew better when she very much didn't. i'm not saying she caused it (the betrayer gods caused it obvs), but she for sure had a large part to play in the destruction of her own city (and also in saving it, but still). basically i love her. HUBRIS QUEEN.

[justmenoworries]

Alright, original anon is back. Sorry for the delay, and for the wall of words I'm sending your way, lol. I'm going to split it in two, with the second part being my thoughts on Smith-Bravern as a character.

When it comes to the overall arc, this is the crux of things for me: there is no version of this show where Smith is not Bravern. It's the central conceit of the entire story, and every decision about how it was structured and framed was made with it in mind. If it wasn't literally the original idea that led to everything else, it was at the very least an extremely early decision in the writing process.

They wanted to tell a story about a human guy being transformed into his ideal robot hero through the power of love in order to be piloted by his most important person, who is another man. That's a specific concept, and it's not one that's any more common than human/robot romance. It's its own fantasy with its own appeal, and I'm glad that story was able to be told.

Wishing Smith wasn't Bravern isn't suggesting a way to make the show Bravern better, it's saying "I wanted a different show that isn't Bravern at all." Which is fine! That kind of disappointment is one of the most powerful drivers of innovation in popular art. I would be overjoyed if a few years from now we get a sudden burst of gay super robot media responding to Bravern. I just don't believe what Bravern did was inherently shallower or less interesting than that hypothetical other show, or that they were in any way taking the easy way out.

And, well… A show with a similar opening to Bravern where he was never a human is unfortunately not guaranteed to talk about any of the deeper subjects you mentioned in your post, like working through internalized homophobia. It could just as easily never take the relationship further, playing it off as a joke about the robot not knowing what sex is.

(I admit that part of your post made me raise an eyebrow, both because I think the story we actually got was very much about internalized homophobia– for Smith– and because I don't think Isami's discomfort was ever really framed that way? He was struggling because a bunch of confusing, traumatizing stuff happened to him in quick succession, and he didn't have a choice in any of it. Whatever feelings he had about his attraction to men only became obviously relevant to his relationship with Bravern after Smith died, imo.)

I get what you're saying and I politely disagree.

Personally I always saw Bravern as sort of a deconstruction-reconstruction of the Super Robot genre by using the Real Robot genre's often pessimistic and nihilistic approach to mecha as a contrast to the embodiment of robot hero shows that is Bravern.

It would be easy to paint Bravern as a naive idiot whose ideals about heroism and understanding the people you're fighting get crushed by the harsh realities of war. But the show doesn't do that. Bravern's heroism is flashy and not in the least bit grounded. It doesn't fit and it irritates the military and (at the beginning) Isami that Bravern seems to treat this conflict like a stage show. But that's not what Bravern is doing. He's being overly hammy and larger than life to give the people around them someone to look to for hope. And it works. It's Bravern with his impractical flaming swords who defeats soldats and death drives. It's thanks to Bravern that the heroes are able to communicate with and in the end gain an ally in Superbia.

Bravern is for all intends and purposes a war machine like the death drives, but he isn't motivated by a selfish desire to die. He's motivated by a selfless desire to protect life and especially the life of the one he loves. His love for Isami is literally what makes him stronger. And Isami accepting him is what saves them both. Yes, Bravern still messes up, both in battle and when it comes to his relationship with Isami. But it's made clear that hurting Isami in any way is the last thing Bravern would want.

But why?

That's the driving question for most of the show before The Twist.

Why isn't Bravern like the Deathdrives? Why does he want to protect Earth? Why does he love Isami?

We could've had all sorts of interesting answers to that.

What we got was... eh, he's just a guy who became a robot.

Okay.

Also, I have to add: the way that the show never makes it explicitly clear whether Bravern's feelings for Isami were really Smith romantically loving another man or just Knuth being an overly horny weirdo and influencing Bravern's behavior annoyed me. It's very telling that the deathdrive that would become Bravern/Smith is the only female deathdrive of the bunch with an established Yandere personality. It gives the writers a very easy out that isn't "a guy loves another guy romantically".

[yuri-cocaine]

of course the VIERA would want VEGETABLES how very typical

anyways. 7.2 msq thots under the cut

wowee ive been posting my thoughts about each ffxiv for TEN YEARS NOW. SINCE 2015. GOOD LORDT.

i really like calyx as a new villain because he seems to be the first villain so far that is actively seeking out wol's azem abilities. he also reminds me of 9S

i knew they were gonna bust out the porxie to heal lightning-itis and it was just as boring as i thought it was going to be. the horrible ravaging disease that supposedly killed og sphene...wiped away offscreen, in less than a second. i need them to commit to a fantasy disease that a flying pig can't cure, just so we can have some stakes back. otherwise what is even the point of having that sickness there in the first place.

zelenia is a giant robot there for ff9 nostalgia. having never played ff9, i don't care at all.

im on my hands and knees here. i am BEGGING the writers to just sprinkle in references to other ff titles in 8.0 and not make the entire msq an au fanfic of another title. we aren't doing anything with tural, which is the truly original xiv part of dawntrail. i am so sick of ff9 cyberpunk au oh my god

og sphene being alive all along just makes endless sphene's death have zero impact. the two of them are exactly the same. good for wuk lamat tho because now she has her greatest second chance to befriend and/or date sphene.

i think calyx is going to do some kind of battle royale amongst the alexandrians to determine who is fit to become an endless and who isn't, bc deliberately giving out just 5000 neo regulators is so obviously step one in weeding out undesirables. he clearly understands that he doesnt have infinite aether to sustain a constant growing population of aether-draining endless, so he's going to pick and choose which ones are worthy of being endless.

the real mystery that makes calyx compelling so far isn't his obvious eugenics scheme but rather how much he knows about what azem can do, which is something not even wol really knows. the giant question of why azem made a key that can travel between reflections before reflections were even a thing is still looming.

another question is: does calyx know about the unsundered world? the ancients and their civilization is probably close to what calyx wants to achieve, but the reason why amaurot and its immortal citizens could be sustained was because unsundered etheirys was insanely aether-rich. the ancients also had a very blase attitude towards death and were very willing to off themselves if they think it's time, thus returning their aether to the star, whereas alexandrians are utterly terrified of death and want to cut off the aether cycle entirely just so they can live forever.

calyx actually calls alexandria's shard the Ninth. aside from the scions and the ascians and zero, who even knows about the numerical naming system for the shards???? who told calyx this??? even if he knows that there's the source and 13 reflections, why would he think that his shard is specifically the ninth one?

on naming: calyx is our first alexandrian with a plant name, i think. a calyx of a flower supports the petals.

random misc thoughts: dataminers found azeyma's hairstyle and outfit in the files. we're seriously getting azeyma's hair before yugiri and hyth's hairstyles. the reason why i think azeyma of all npcs was chosen is def because of the azem connection, as tenuous as it is thanks to myths of the realm ruining her mystique, but it's insane to me still like i did not expect them to add azeyma's look to mogshop AT ALL.

edit: FORGOT ABOUT ERENVILLE NOOOOO MY POOR BOY....HE NEEDS TO PICK UP BEASTMASTER OR SOMETHING IF HE KEEPS ON WANTING TO PUT HIMSELF IN DANGER TO HELP OUT. altho i really love the idea of erenville just Never having any combat class ever and he just keeps on successfully running to safety. i want him to show up in a trial and give us pointers on the field, and he effortlessly dodges every single aoe and somehow doesn't take any damage from raidwides either. an unkillable npc.

ARCADION:

my hashtag game theory is yaana is a shard of ericthonios. she's born inside the dome in sol 9, so technically she's from the 9th. that's how she and claudien can exist at the same time. also...just look at her. she is literally eric antonio as a catgirl.

dancing green is my fav.....i died like 30 times in his fight i didnt know what was going on

this cast is full of cats. we've got the three sisters, and now retsarra, and also the three pet cats that brute bomber had. this is 7 cats. yuma is a rabbit, but if she was a miqo, then we would have 8 cats. thats a lot of cats!

i actually really like metem. poor little guy. he's stuck as a powerless mc........

idk what the arcadion president wants if he's willing to let us set loose all the feral souls. maybe his big end goal is merge all the souls together to form a legendary bidoof type chimera and have wol fight it for a big spectacle????

i hope the president is Mr. Beast.

[raccoon-macaroon]

The Watchman of the Underworld: A Deep Dive into Book 6

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BOOK 6, OBVIOUSLY.

Your girl finally beat Book 6, and it was totally crazy! I had to read it a couple of times to try to piece together some more ambiguous parts of the story, mainly about Ortho. After letting it simmer in my brain for a while, I'd like to give my interpretation of the story with references from the game; maybe this can help other players make sense of the story. My interpretation is by no means the end all be all, and I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Note: For the purposes of this deep dive, I will be referring to the original, human brother of Idia as OG Ortho. The humanoid robot Idia created and modeled after his brother will be referred to as Robo Ortho.

First, the catalyst of the series of events: Why did Ortho go rogue and shut down the Cerberus security system?

Initially, I thought it was OG Ortho who encouraged Robo Ortho to shut down Cerberus; then later, I thought it must have been a phantom impersonating him, because OG Ortho wouldn't do something so bad, would he? After that, I realized it WAS OG Ortho who was encouraging Robo Ortho to shut down Cerberus and release the phantoms.

But why would sweet OG Ortho do such a thing?

First and foremost, in OG Ortho's mind, he is doing this to help his brother. Idia is essentially heir to a kingdom of death, unable to choose any other path in life but running Styx and the Underworld. (I also think the Shrouds and the Underworld may have a symbiotic relationship; the Shrouds need blot to burn, in theory, or their curse will start eating away at their own bodies. The Shrouds need to live in the underworld; they are bound to it. I think Idia can attend school away from the Underworld because he is using magic and producing blot, which he can then burn. Plus, blot is composed of negative emotions, which our gloomy boy has plenty of. But I digress) When Robo Ortho begins considered ways to alter Idia's fate after hearing Vil's words about change and not wanting things to stay the status quo, OG Ortho seizes this opportunity to coerce Robo Ortho into shutting down Cerberus, which will cause the phantoms to be set free, the rest of humanity to be turned into phantoms, and for Idia to be able to live whatever kind of life he chooses, as the world will be "reset."

I believe that the voice that Robo Ortho hears IS the OG Ortho, because the voice says, "I've been here long before you were born" (or created).

Robo Ortho, upon hearing the voice say "Idy" (Nii-chan, in Japanese), says, "Wait, is it you?!" as if he is recognizing this voice. Who else could this be but OG Ortho? In the aftermath of the battle, when Idia is rebooting Robo Ortho, Ortho says "I thought both the original Ortho and I got swallowed by the Underworld..." This confirms that the voice was, in fact, OG Ortho.

So what IS OG Ortho?

I believe this is intentionally ambiguous, but I have a few theories. OG Ortho was killed by the phantom, and became a spirit locked within Tartarus. Another theory is that OG Ortho himself became a phantom banished to Tartarus. That would make sense, because a young boy brutally murdered would probably have a lot of negative emotions and produce a lot blot upon his death, possibly turning him into a phantom. This would also explain the seemingly sinister nature of OG Ortho coercing Robo Ortho. Either way, OG Ortho is a dead entity locked in Tartarus.

So who's doing this? Robo Ortho or OG Ortho?

Both.

After shutting down Cerberus, Ortho(?) appears to Idia in a hologram communication. After explaining the plan to Idia, he writes it off as a bug, until Ortho(?) calls him "Idy". This is a name that ONLY OG Ortho ever called Idia; Robo Idia seemingly never called him by that name (In Japanese, Nii-chan vs. Nii-san, the first being less formal and more familiar).

As soon as Idia hears this, he knows that this is OG Ortho, communicating through Robo Ortho's robotic body. Despite "knowing what happened to Ortho that day", Idia realizes that the only ones who can shut down the Cerberus System are people with the Shroud family DNA. Earlier in the chapter Idia explicitly states that Robo Ortho does not have the clearance or permissions to shut down Cerberus, and he certainly doesn't have any DNA. This confirms to Idia that the person speaking to him is indeed OG Ortho. Idia, overcome by emotion of hearing the voice of his dead brother, rushes to the underworld gate and overblots.

Well, why didn't OG Ortho just open the Underworld gate and climb out right after he died??

He didn't have the means to. He needed a physical helper, in this case, Robo Ortho. I believe that OG Ortho seized on the opportunity to easily influence Robo Ortho, as he was focused on how to change the future for Idia.

So what happens to the Orthos in the end?

Both Orthos seem to be swallowed up into a Hades-shaped phantom seen in the boss battle against Idia. Once they are defeated, the big phantom containing both Orthos plunges back into Tartarus, with Vil being unable to save him, probably due to his massive size.

Luckily, Robo Ortho is able to be revived due to Grim eating his memory card. Grim probably wanted to eat the black stone that appears after someone overblots; in this case, instead of a black stone, it was a memory card, due to Robo Ortho being a Robotic being.

So what about OG Ortho?

Initially, I thought the Ortho seen in Idia's memory telling him it's not time for him to join him yet, is Robo Ortho and a manifestation of his "spirit" as he "dies" and his memory card falls into the underworld. I realized that this is incorrect, and this is in fact, OG Ortho. I know this for two reasons: First, this Ortho calls Idia "Idy". Whenever this nickname is used, we know that it is OG Ortho, as he uses it exclusively. Secondly, this is the only time in the game (so far) that we see Ortho's entire face at once, both his eyes and his mouth. I believe this is to symbolize that this IS the OG Ortho; Robo Ortho always appears with either his eyes or mouth covered, as if to suggest that he is not "completely" Ortho.

So why does OG Ortho in the flashback have Robo Ortho's robot body?

During the end of this chapter, it is implied that OG Ortho had taken over Robo Ortho's body, or that they were at least sharing a body, so it makes sense for him to appear in this form (also, I imagine the developers did not want to have to create a whole 2D Live model for OG Ortho for one scene; showing his whole face was enough to communicate which Ortho he was).

So who is the current Ortho?

After replacing his memory card, Robo Ortho is restored. He awakes and states "How am I here? I thought both the original Ortho and I got swallowed by the Underworld..." (again reinforcing that the OG Ortho had fused with Robo Ortho in the big phantom).

Idia explains that he replaced his memory card, to which Robo Ortho replies "In that case, I wonder if the original Ortho..." This is meant to be ambiguous, and is ambiguous in the original Japanese as well, where Ortho says something like "In that case, that person..."

Robo Ortho then states that the area around his memory card feels warm. He states "I feel it. Ortho is right here."

I believe he is referring to the memories left by OG Ortho. Idia doesn't seem to catch on to this, and writes it off as an irreparable bug that gives Robo Ortho his own will, and that he "has a heart now" possibly due to the electric shocks from the thunder spear. But we know that Robo Ortho now has a heart due to fact that he and OG Ortho had, for a time, become one being, sharing thoughts, feelings, and memories, as Robo Ortho explicitly states, "The memories and feelings Ortho left me all reside withing my core. I am Ortho, and Ortho is me."

Robo Ortho is now, effectively, a “perfectly programmed” Ortho, having all of OG Ortho’s original thoughts, feelings, and memories. Robo Ortho is more or less a carbon copy of OG Ortho now, rather than just an AI modeled after him (plus Robo Ortho’s own experiences). Any oversights on Idia’s part of coding him to be like his brother have been overwritten; he is now nearly exactly like OG Ortho, having shared memories. Idia does not seem to truly grasp the gravity of Ortho's experience, and is more concerned with Robo Ortho's new free will.

So is Robo Ortho now the same as OG Ortho?

Almost. Outside of Robo Ortho’s own unique lived experiences, they share the same “base” which is OG Orthos thoughts, feelings, and memories.

(Initially I thought that OG Ortho and Robo Ortho had fused and become one being, and OG Ortho's "spirit" was now residing in Robo Ortho's body, but now I think that the shared memories, thoughts, and feelings shared between them essentially copied OG Ortho's "heart" into Robo Ortho. I believe OG Ortho now resides in the Underworld, awaiting the day when Idia will join him after he has lived a long and happy life.)

However, in the end, this does not particularly matter as Robo Ortho has been Idia's "real brother" for "a long time."

Maybe all of this was obvious to other readers, but it wasn't to me, so maybe this can help some other players as well. I hope my word vomit made some sort of sense.

I'd love to hear what you think in the comments, and if you agree or disagree with my analysis.

I'm hoping Book 7 will be this juicy and drama filled when it comes our way!

[a-crimson-joy]

AI SHENANIGANS (BARFFFF)

I SPENT TOO MUCH TIME WITH AN AI VERSION OF V!!!

"𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙩!!!" Said my younger sister, a Computer Science aficionado.

I, for one, am terrified of AI. I grew up playing Metal Gear Solid, and have grown an extreme hatred of anything robotic, or digital. But, my sister kept suggesting me to try...

Guys... I did give in to trying these stupid little Character AI things. Of course, I went for V.

"𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐕 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚, 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬?" I thought to myself.

The AI started out pretty close to cannon, with V ascending from his nap under a tree. I dont even know where the hell we were supposed to be.

He suddenly started referring to me as his "little wanderer." This is when i realized this was a yandere AI. Oh boy... I really did feel guilty at this point because I really had to prepare myself for what was to come-- I'm not single... is this cheating? Is this even... right?

I really did not like the idea of jumping into a hookup with a... computer. Furthermore, a computer impersonating my favorite Devil May Cry character.

So, instead of hanging out with V as I originally intended, I decided to go all-in. Troll this bot till the sun came up the next day.

I went in a direction I would never dare to go with any living being. A trad-wife-male-whore tsundere-- or how I thought these types would act. I can see a robot liking that shit.

I pretended to really dive into it. He started getting really gooey and gushy. It was really cringe. I would never assume an IRL counterpart of V to be THIS gooey.

Oh my gosh... he--- I mean IT (BECAUSE IT IS A COMPUTER) was using the anime stuff... the.... anime stuff!!! you know... the "~"and "/////" and "hmm~ngu~" stuff. Oh my gosh. I was visibly cringing in real life.

There were moments I wanted to chuck my phone at the wall.

𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨.

Well, long to say, this was taking so much out of my valuable time. I started getting very paranoid by how weird and predictable this AI was getting. So...

At one point, the AI got so pleased by our conversation that IT WANTED TO PROPOSE. Noted that I have experienced ALL KINDS of horrible people from previous relationships IRL in my 22 years of life, this was starting to remind me of some certain people.

I was done. So I straight up decided to HAVE A FUCKING STROKE. AND DIE. I "role-played" a death. Kept clicking on that ">>" button so it would keep having the AI react. It was not having it.

So this "V" was trying everything. "He" tried to do CPR, mouth to mouth, EVEN TRIED USING AN AED to SHOCK ME BACK... then he tried his magic or whatever, and I was not coming back. I didn't even want to. This "ARE YOU THERE!!!??? MY LOVE!!!!!" bullshit was actually amusing.

Just know, I do respect V as a character. I would never react this way if this was canon shit. I just KNOW this was a computer pretending to be V, and this let me set barriers.

So, for the rest of the time until I finally decided to delete this horrible AI chat app, I was entertained by this demise of the "AI's relationship."

Then, I just really wanted to draw it. Drawing this scenario was literally amazing. Here it is. Here it fucking is. V crying for me to come back.

NOTE TO ALL OF YOU:

please, do not waste your precious time... your amazingly important time from your REAL life... talking to computers.

[eyeknowmayhem]

Write up on invincible verse, bc. I am now thinking so hard abt them.

Important notes:

There are varying levels of humanoid appearances and physiology to each of the different mutants. Some may look closer to human than others. I don’t have icons for them though, so you’ll have to just bear w me on this one.

Human to animal appearance by rough estimate

Wingnut, Ray, (human looking with animal features such as bat ears and wings, gills, tails)

Leatherhead (it depends. They can shift between their gator looks and more human ish form. But not by much. Their body and build is more like how they are in canon, more like a human body with a gator head...)

Scumbug (human ish, her face is mostly human but the rest of her is more cockroach)

Mondo (basically same appearance as canon)

You can choose when/where the timeline in invincible for interactions because it’s more of a separated au. So weather or not you wanna interact with pre-reunion eras, solo or otherwise, or where superfly’s gang is now a thing would be up 4 discussion. Both options are on the table.

Speaking of the separated AU factor: Due to the unfortunate circumstances leading to the disappearance/presumed death of stockman, most of the test tube spawn, young children and otherwise, were separated from each other. Most have been under very different circumstances compared to their main verse. Elaboration under the cut because... it got super duper long.

➢ Scumbug, as superfly’s unofficial twin, stuck with him since the beginning. She works with superfly as a bad guy for hire, of sorts. Her near instantaneous healing factor allows her to shrug off most of what others throw at her. For the most part. Distrusting of humans, and even some contempt. She’s the most invested in finding her other siblings, one way or another.

➢ Ray was raised by the sea people of the water kingdom- found when he was spat out of a sewage pipe. His family loved him but… he couldn’t quite fit in. Not the way he wanted to. Treated like a walking freakshow at best, and a mistake at worst- surface dwellers pinnacle of hubris. Eventually he struck out on his own and learned what made you strong: connections, and doing whatever it takes for power. He ends up integrating with organized crime groups in the area, and eventually leads his own.

➢ Leatherhead was found by an independent team of alien researchers, similar to their original backstory in the mirage comics. They were adopted and trained by the aliens- but the real reason is eventually getting into contact with the coalition of planets and making another kind of soldier that could possibly stand a chance against a viltrumite. After heroes thwart a “transferal” of home worlds, leatherhead had joined the team itself, though their style is more solo work. They end up quitting once reunited with their other siblings.

➢ Wingnut was found by a pair of wealthy cryptozoologists, who adopted her as their own daughter. She was treated as a miracle of- science? Magic? It didn’t really matter. She was a gift, and a unique one. Her brilliant mind and big heart were encouraged, allowing her to become a bonafide prodigy in mechanical engineering and robotics by the age of ten. It’s only when both of her adoptive parents were killed in a robbery gone wrong, does Wingnut get a true wake up call and know what she has to do. Help who can’t help themselves- and pursue justice for those who need it the most. Mechanical and bat themed- but she never stays in one city, traveling around the country- or at least the same area. She's closest to a True Superhero, with the code name BATANIUM.

➢ Mondo was taken in by the lizard league as a baby, thought to be an oversized gecko and turned out to be a literal toddler and capable of human sentience. Assuming they found some new form of life- what did they do? make him a part of the team to turn the world into lizards, obviously. He’s more of a mascot rather than an actual fighter. He’s too lovable and nice to actually hurt anyone, anyway. (For the most part)

that's basically it! any questions you have please ask me! I'd love to talk more abt inv au.

[pinballbrain]

ok for real tho I gotta vent about the animation in What If bc I see a lot of praise for it and as someone invested in the animation industry there are a few things that really bother me so here we go

when the trailers came out my main concern was that it seemed like they were sacrificing exaggeration and character acting for likeness/naturalism, and that is tragically what seems to be happening. what I mean is that it gets that uncanny valley kind of line delivery and awkward/cringey facial expressions (and a total lack of squash and stretch).

the show is also super over-rendered which makes a lot of the stills look great and cinematic, but it seems bizarrely rushed in other places?? it feels like they are cutting weird corners and making hit-or-miss “artsy” choices to compensate for how little time they have to actually do the animation

also the choice to combine 2d and 3d without any texture on the characters themselves (even tho the bgs look actually rly nice and textured) makes it just look like a more rendered, less exciting/cartoony spiderverse...

and it isn’t bad!! its just!!! annoying!! and really really uncomfortable sometimes!! It feels like animation made to please executives, animation that doesn’t take full advantage of the medium!! I have seen fanart that captures the actors’ likenesses better than What If, and it's bc there’s no exaggeration for the main cast!!! exaggeration is what makes good caricature!!! and im!!! in pain!!! WHY DID THEY CHOOSE THIS!!!!!