#player 271

[deok-su]

cephalopod lodge or something idk

[zenokei]

blue lock manga chapter 271 spoilers, mentions, and analysis (this is an absolute word vomit)

my drabbles, understanding, and analysis on the itoshi family goes something like: when the itoshi parents didn’t know how to properly deal with rin’s behavior when he was little but sae seemed to be the only one that can ‘understand’ and ‘get along’ with rin—they unintentionally gave the responsibility to sae.

i suspect that their thinking is something along the lines of “sae seems like he’s got an understanding of rin that we don’t, maybe it’s better that way, he’s rin’s big brother, after all.”

and honestly, i think that’s why we as the readers find the itoshi parents “distant” from the brothers’ lives.

but do i think they’re bad parents? not necessarily, although i also do think that they could’ve done more. but given certain circumstances…it’s kind of subjective.

let’s talk about itoshi mom first

evidently, itoshi mom is a very concerned mother: she doubts herself, she worries for rin (and sae), and she’s generally lost.

and how could she not feel all those things?

i perceive this as she’s a mother who doesn’t distance herself from her children, but because she doesn’t know what to do at all, she seems hopeless and doesn’t have any solution to fix things. naturally, she has the instinct to do what a parent should in times like scolding, etc—however, this is blue lock, everyone has their own ‘ego’, yet some of those inner desires are just cultivated beyond rationality at this point.

(which strengthens my suspicion about the itoshi parents unconsciously putting the responsibility of rin’s behavior onto sae…)

now, itoshi dad

honestly, i don’t have much to say about him, he’s pretty hands off with what’s happening with their children.

as seen, he does seem more composed and lax about everything, and sae definitely got that from him. i wonder if it’s because of itoshi dad’s ‘talks’ (?) with sae that somewhat developed sae to be the big brother he was to rin back when they were little.

i believe the narrative is just implying that he doesn’t think much of the behavioral differences that rin and sae show, even when rin gets injured and gets in trouble, which is a little yikes on his end but that’s just what i understood.

most definitely, the siblings got the trait of being closed off from their dad, lol.

overall, i still don’t believe they’re bad parents whatsoever. however, i do want to talk about my recurring theory that the itoshi parents gradually placed the responsibility of rin’s behavior (and his whole development) onto sae.

let’s discuss the impact of itoshi sae

when sae was around 13-14, he went to spain, and during the pre-teen/teenage years of the itoshi brothers, their family seems rather peaceful.

the itoshi parents—aside from the pride and joy they felt about sae’s success as a rising soccer player—seem rather refreshed, anew, and just happier. they don’t carry the gloom of being worried for their children’s behavior anymore.

but why?

it’s because of rin and sae’s bond over soccer. from a young age, rin has joined his big brother’s soccer team as they both relished the games they could never play with anyone else aside from each other. basically, the itoshi brothers found what they were for. and they definitely got occupied over it.

though i’m only connecting the dots for my own analysis, i firmly believe that the moment rin played soccer with sae, he found a way for his destructive mindset to be utilized. through soccer—the only thing rin has been focusing on—rin was able to effectively let out his desire to break, destroy, and kill what’s “amazing/perfect”.

and who was the only one there by his side, every pass after pass and goal after goal? of course, it’s his big brother. the one to only truly understand and see rin from the very beginning.

honestly, it all makes me wonder if the itoshi parents ever talked to sae one-on-one about rin’s behavior. (which honestly makes sense, because sae seems like a pretty obedient kid). but at the same time, what are the chances it made sae extremely analytical, too?

i mean, sae was deemed a prodigy at what 7 years old? that’s seriously insane. so it shouldn’t be a surprise that all of what’s leading up to the ego of the itoshi siblings plays a big part. i’m leaning on the possibility that sae was somehow influenced by the itoshi parents to be more keen or observant on rin—that or sae was only doing what he did out of pure instinct, that’s entirely plausible.

however, whatever the course may be, the outcome that sae noticed something with rin (even before their ego in soccer) will not change.

from this point onwards is just my random babbles about the itoshi family’s relationship (kind of…)

“but when sae left for spain the itoshi parents didn’t appear to care about rin-” i am not hearing that. we should remember that blue lock is (honestly borderline but whatever) about SOCCER.

i believe the first ever backstory we got of the itoshi siblings was only soccer-centered, and in rin’s perspective/narration. why would his parents be included in his soccer career when they most definitely weren’t?

again, i don’t believe that they’re bad parents.

also, i doubt that itoshi mom would ever just stop worrying about rin, even when he’s grown up! in fact, i think that with sae leaving for spain, she probably felt even worried because their children are separated. yet at the same time, i do see her not knowing what to really do again. perhaps they had no cameo after the airport scene because rin found it irrelevant in regards to soccer and his ego.

but, then again, i’m very certain that the itoshi parents do care for their children, and are still connected to them somehow…just not when it comes to the field.

aside from the second backstory (the most recent one) they look out for them (i assume this goes for rin too). in the character book the egoist bible, sae mentioned how his parents send him salted kelp from home to go with his rice when he asks. additionally, we saw itoshi dad say in their first back story for sae to “take care of your health!” as he leaves for spain. the itoshi parents do seem to care for rin and sae as supportive parents of athletes, however, only in the sidelines, because i personally don’t think it goes deeper than that.

honestly, everything for me is pointing that the itoshi parents aren’t active and present in the itoshi brothers’ soccer careers. not necessarily implied, but in the ‘another blue lock: episode omotesando’, rin is the only one seen that has a ticket to sae’s japan triumphant match. a ticket sae sent—of which i assume—only to him.

although this is all still just my speculation, i am still leaning on that the itoshi parents aren’t really relevant in the itoshi siblings’ soccer life, but rather, they play a role in how they ended up developing.

that’s all!

again, this are just my own thoughts about this chapter. this is not canon by any means and i am not forcefully saying what i am discussing is right and should be deemed the only theory/ies out there.

i’d love to talk more about theories and analyses on blue lock, let’s chat!

[saturnscherie]

༄ Megumi’s Epilogue.

༄ I wanted to clear up the mind of anyone who didn't like Megumi not getting an Epilogue. This is just my interpretation. You’re still allowed to feel unsatisfied with Megumi’s ending because I am too. I personally just don’t believe JJK ended with Yuji being in Sendai timeline-wise. This means that the last panel we see of Megumi in Ozawa’s Epilogue isn’t supposed to be taken as his last moment in the series.

(There are spoilers below and it’s quite a long discussion. So, please don’t waste your time if you think reading this won't be worth it to you. Everyone’s time is precious.)

Something about Megumi not having closure in the Epilogue section didn’t make any sense to me. So I got to thinking.

I eventually realized that both Yuji and Nobara’s appearance in the Epilogue section, involved them tying up loose ends with their family.

When I thought about it I realized that Megumi ties up loose ends with Tsumiki by laying her to rest in ch. 270. So, there was no need for him to get closure in the Epilogue section.

If you think about it, ch. 270 serves as an Epilogue for not only Megumi but for the other Culling Game characters.

༄ Cont. reading below to see why I think Megumi’s Epilogue happens in ch. 270.

༄ Theory about the Timeline of Events

I have a theory that the last mission the first years go on at the end of ch. 270-271, happens two weeks after December 24th, the day when the Culling Game ended.

༄ Analysis

In ch. 270 When Ijichi explains the last mission to the first years, he suggests that the victim's fiancée started seeing his face being morphed, two weeks ago.

Megumi also mentions to Yuji that the culprit might be an awakened player from the Culling Game.

This suggests that the Culling Game ended on December 24th, the day of the Shinjuku Showdown arc, which was two weeks before the start of ch.270-271/the last mission.

I also noticed that Megumi confirms the two-week time skip at the start of ch. 270.

While Megumi is leaving his sister’s burial site with Shoko, he receives a phone call most likely from Ijichi, and tells him he’ll head to the last mission now.

༄ So what do these two weeks after the Culling Game suggest about the order of events?

༄ Within those two weeks before the last mission, I believe this is how the order of events went down:

1. Yuji goes to Sendai to handle business with the inheritance of his grandfather’s house.

2. Nobara meets up with her mom.

༄ The day of the last mission ch. 270-271:

3. Megumi puts Tsumiki to rest.

4. The first years meet up and then go on their last mission together.

5. The first years finish their last mission, talk about Sukuna’s finger, and walk forward on a path of a new era together.

1. Yuji goes to Sendai to take care of the inheritance of his grandfather’s house.

In Ozawa’s Epilogue, Yuji goes to Sendai and tells Ozawa that he left his grandfather's house empty when he moved to Tokyo. He then says that he has loose ends to tie up.

I believe those loose ends were him taking care of the inheritance of his grandfather’s house and putting Sukuna’s last finger in the thermometer box back at his old high school.

Later on in Ozawa’s Epilogue, Yuji tells Ozawa that it’s snowing.

When Yuji was in his domain with Sukuna, he told him it barely snows in Sendai anymore. So, I thought that if it snowed the day Yuji went to Sendai, the chance of it snowing after that day had to be super rare.

With this in mind, I checked to see if the panel of the thermometer box where Sukuna’s last finger was located, had snow on the ground. To my surprise it did! The grass has snow on it!

To me, this suggests that Yuji had to have placed the finger there during his visit back to Sendai. The same day it snowed when he saw Ozawa.

2. Nobara meets up with her mom.

༄ Before I address Nobara’s Epilogue I wanted to point out why her Epilogue may have not taken place so far into the future because it seems her hair is the same length as it always was. (I added this section about her hair because I received a comment about it.)

When I first read her Epilogue I thought a lot of time had passed because it seemed her hair was long enough to now be put in a ponytail.

But, when I checked the manga to see if Gege ever drew her with her hair in a ponytail, I found a drawing of her at the start of ch.32 with the same type of hairstyle from her Epilogue. I also think her hair at the beginning of ch.38 where she is drawn in a panda shirt, is the same type of hairstyle from her Epilogue as well. (Please check out the beginning of these chapters, only if you want to see what I’m talking about.)

It seems her hair was always long enough to be put in a ponytail. This is why I think it’s safe to assume not much time has passed for her Epilogue to take place. Gege always had the option to draw her hair in the main story with a ponytail he just chose not to.

༄ Nobara meets up with her mom

I believe Nobara goes to meet her mom after she’s had a random feeling that Yuji is getting ahead of her.

Her saying, “Something tells me,” is she admitting she didn’t know what Yuji was doing. She just had a feeling he was, “standing at the doorway to adulthood.”

It’s Megumi who tells her what Yuji is doing. He responds to her comments by saying, “Well yeah inheriting the house isn’t something a kid can do.”

This implies that Megumi already knew Yuji went back to Sendai to take care of matters involving his grandfather’s house, based on his response to Nobara.

༄ Homage

In the image above, the first panel pays homage to the third panel. The third panel is Nobara not liking the idea of Yuji getting a girlfriend before she got a boyfriend.

Her reaction to Yuji in both panels suggests that she wants to beat Yuji when it comes to big milestones in life. For Nobara’s character, this homage proves that she still values the silly little competition she has with Yuji.

༄ From my perspective

These panels have nothing to do with her suggesting Yuji and Ozawa are getting together. Especially since it implies she doesn’t even know what Yuji is doing in Sendai until Megumi tells her.

Also, some people theorize that Megumi and Nobara are in Sendai with him, but it doesn’t make sense based on their clothes. Megumi and Nobara are wearing their uniform and Yuji is wearing his casual clothes.

This further proves my point, that she had no idea what Yuji was up to, she just had a feeling he was getting ahead of her. But keep in mind her not knowing, doesn’t mean that she has a weak character relationship with the Yuji. Just based on the fact that she randomly gets a feeling that Yuji’s ahead of her, is a good representation of their bond.

This is why I believe her Epilogue with her mom happens after Ozawa’s Epilogue. Nobara finally meeting with her mom to honor Gojo’s dying wish, also suggests her wanting to catch back up to Yuji.

༄ Megumi’s reaction

It’s funny to see that Megumi doesn’t sound or look surprised in both panels. I think these panels add to the suggestion Nobara makes, about Megumi knowing Yuji better than she does. (She says this to Ozawa at the cafe)

3. Megumi puts Tsumiki to rest. (I’ll include all panels I think are meant to be his Epilogue)

Megumi’s Epilogue occurs after Ozawa’s and Nobara’s because it happens the same day as the first year’s last mission. Two weeks after the Culling Game ended. (All these panels are from ch. 270)

It also makes sense that it would take Shoko two weeks to finally get a chance to cremate Tsumiki. I’m assuming that after the Culling Game, Shoko had to heal a lot of injured players and civilians.

I’m also sure she needed Megumi’s help to find Tsumiki’s body since he knew where she was based on him watching everything Sukuna was doing on the inside, with his body.

༄ Love interests

You can see that Megumi’s Epilogue is very similar to Yuji's appearance in Ozawa’s Epilogue. Both Yuji and Megumi take the time to resolve their families loose ends and have conversations with their love interests.

This creates a typical Shonen Jump-style ending, where the two main characters in the series engage in discussions with their given love interests. But, for jjk, it remains one-sided/unrequited on the girl's end.

4. The first years meet up and then go on their last mission together.

Together the first years stop the guy who was making a woman’s fiancé's face morph, with his curse technique.

This mission suggests that they are all capable of working together on missions, even if they enjoy their youth by joking around. Even though Yuji and Nobara share the same brain cell, Megumi is there to hold them together.

5. The first years finish their last mission, talk about Sukuna’s finger, and walk forward on a path of a new era together.

Now I will wrap up this analysis as to why Megumi’s Epilogue is implied to be in ch.270. I will talk about how the first year's final scene in ch. 271, the last chapter of JJK, further proves my point.

༄ Sukuna’s last finger

In their final scene together in ch.271, the first years discuss what happened to Sukuna’s last finger after they finish their last mission.

Nobara asks Yuji what did he “do with that thing?” He responds to her and says that he “tossed it,” jokingly obliviously. Fushiguro then says, “Come on” and Yuji tells him not to worry because it isn’t “dangerous anymore.”

After this, the next panel is from Yuji’s pov with him staring at his left hand. The hand where he lost his pinky and ring finger. He then tells Fushiguro that “it’s all good.”

This entire conversation proves that Yuji had already taken care of Sukuna’s finger back when he was in Sendai, during Ozawa’s Epilogue.

༄ What does this ending suggest about the first years?

By the end of the manga, the first years have now all tied up their loose ends with their families. Timeline-wise, first it was Yuji, then Nobara, and lastly Megumi.

It’s also good to note that Yuji’s grandfather was the reincarnated soul of Sukuna’s twin, not Yuji’s dad. Knowing that in the JJK verse twins are connected, Sukuna’s death means that both Yuji’s grandfather and Sukuna's souls can move on. Therefore, when Yuji took care of his inheritance regarding his grandpa’s house he had to make sure he took care of Sukuna’s last finger. It was his way of tying up loose ends with his family.

The final panel of ch. 271 (I already added the image above) shows that the thermometer box is left slightly cracked, with Sukuna’s finger wrapped without a protection seal, in an open box. This is the perfect way to symbolize that Sukuna is no longer a threat. The finger is harmless and the start of a new era has begun.

The first years are now ready to move forward together, with the strong and intelligent allies they make along the way. Gojo’s dream finally came true.♡

༄ If you made it this far thanks for reading! Please feel free to comment what you think. ♡

[bestiarium]

How a mythical catfish became the symbol of the Japanese working class: the Namazu

In 1855, a colossal earthquake hit the city of Tokyo, which at the time was called Edo. The clean-up and rebuilding efforts of this disaster coincided with a steep rise in pamphlets, booklets and prints featuring a giant catfish: this is because in Japanese mythology, the giant catfish Namazu is the great bringer of earthquakes. It was also called Jishin no Uo, the Earthquake Fish.

The Namazu is a giant, monstrous catfish who lives deep within the Earth. When he trashes about, earthquakes plague the lands above and cause great suffering to humans. The Namazu is usually depicted as either a colossal catfish or a humanoid creature with the head of a catfish but still wearing human clothes. In some cases, it is portrayed as a dragon with the head of a catfish.

The Kashima deity – who is worshipped at the Kashima shrine in Ibaraki prefecture – managed to defeat the monster and keeps it under control with his sword. Supposedly, this god is still there, and whenever he falters or lowers his guard, or when he falls asleep, the Namazu is able to thrash around it and cause an earthquake. In another version, the monster is pinned under a giant rock, the top of which (the ‘Kanameishi’) is visible at the Kashima shrine. It is believed that the god pushes down on this stone to prevent his enemy from moving.

And yet, despite this calamitous catfish being a bringer of suffering and despair, there are texts from this period that praise the Namazu and welcome it. Some of these prints feature the creature singing a ‘yo-naoshi chobokure’ song, which consoles the hearer by telling them to ‘rejoice and be happy, for you will become rich overnight!’ In some images, the Namazu is even vomiting gold and silver coins while fighting the god who restrains it.

This association between earthquakes and wealth seems contradictory at first, but there is a reason for it: those who have the largest properties have more to lose in an earthquake. The manors of nobles and rich people, as well as the storehouses of wealthy merchants, were thoroughly destroyed in the disaster. In fact, by coincidence, residences of the elite seemed to have been disproportionally damaged whereas commoner neighbourhoods got off with (relatively!) few casualties.

More importantly, the rebuilding efforts allowed a massive redistribution of wealth to those who were actually rebuilding: the carpenters, plasters, roofers and other workers of Edo reaped record profits in the years following the great quake, as their trades were in higher demand than ever before. Similarly, merchants who dealt in construction materials saw demand for their products skyrocket. In an ironic twist of fate, the Namazu became a political symbol of the working class, and of social rectification.

In fact, some illustrators in this era were less subtle and made images (now in the Tokyo and Fujisawa University collections) of the Namazu violently shaking the rich until they vomited or even defecated money. I find this really interesting because these are quite literally political cartoons, just from a distant time and place. In one of the prints from the Fujisawa collection, the text tells how the rich suffered from ‘choja kane no byo’ or ‘money disease’ and the Namazu, now hailed as an earthquake god, forcibly takes away their hoarded wealth and distributes it to the builders. As far as allegories go, you can’t get less subtle than that.

Nevertheless, the Namazu remained a symbol of earthquakes and that association still exists today. The Pokémon Whiscash, for example, is based on the mythical Namazu. In Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, a giant catfish gives the player the ‘quake medallion’. The Namazu remains a somewhat common sight in Japanese pop culture.

Sources: Ouweland, C., 1964, Namazu-e and their themes: an interpretative approach to some aspects of Japanese folk religion, Brill Archive, 271 pp. Smits, G., The Ansei Edo Earthquake and Catfish Prints, essay, University of British Columbia. Steele, M. W., Apocalypse Now: an alternate view of the Bakumatsu years, essay, University of British Columbia. (image 1: An 1855 woodblock print depicting the Namazu fighting the sword wielding god while the rich pour money onto the working class. Image taken from World History Encyclopedia) (image 2: an 1855 woodblock print depicting the Namazu, dressed as a monk, chanting the nenbutsu in an attempt to appease the people who died in the earthquake, as their souls look down from above. Source: Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum) (image 3: the Namazu, now with a human body, is attacked by courtesans and rich merchants while construction workers (dressed in black) attempt to stop them. Image source: University of British Columbia Library)

[homestuckreplay]

Homestuck with a Different Starting Character

In some video games, players are given a choice of which character they’d like to begin the story with. Homestuck doesn’t allow this – Act 1 begins with the player as John Egbert, and Rose Lalondegets seamlessly folded into the story – but Acts 2 and 3 take us back in time to the moment the story starts, and give us a glimpse of what a Homestuck starring Dave, Jade or even the Wayward Vagabond would be like.

Starting with Dave. This means beginning with pages 309-333, 337-357, 381-384, 443-466, 562-613, and then Dave’s full strife with Bro (p.665, 836, 871, 1070). During this whole time, both the narrative and Dave’s friends would be talking about Sburb and stressing the importance of Dave playing it to save Rose’s life, and as readers, we would either have to take it on faith that Sburb is capable of that, or we’d be skeptical and ultimately very surprised when Dave eventually boots up the game and sees Rose. In other words, we would get an immersive Dave experience. Dave also really loves John and makes that clear in his earliest pages, so as readers we’d be excited to meet this even cooler guy that the existing coolguy loves so much. However, Dave’s resistance to reader commands such as ‘retrieve arms from cinderblocks’ wouldn’t stand out in contrast to other characters, and the Midnight Crew would be the second characters we meet visually, making this comic within a comic feel plot crucial.

Starting with Jade. The story would begin at the start of Act 3 and continue uninterrupted to page 835, followed by several other Jade sections scattered throughout the act leading up to ‘Jade: Pester John’ (p.1073). This would be out first glimpse of ‘real’ John, but we’d actually see him sooner in the Midnight Crew intermission, which would call into question his entire character arc when we met him for real – does John suck so bad at his sylladex because he’s just escaped from a comic into the real world? Jade is the weirdest character who breaks narrative patterns, but her fourth wall breaking, naming herself, interacting directly with the reader, and having multiple fetch modi, instruments and home decorations would feel like the norm. Going from the weirdest to the most surface-normal character could be an interesting story, but I think it’d work better if it was done intentionally. Jade has a life filled with exciting things like her dreambot, radioactive pet dog, and mystic frog ruins, so we’d be waitingfor the other shoe to drop with similar weirdness for the other characters, and it never would. Also, Jade’s story is so interlinked with WV’s that I think introducing them consecutively was a really good move, so it’d have to be Jade and WV before meeting the other kids.

Starting with the Wayward Vagabond. This would mean beginning with the ‘Years in the future…’ pages (p.248, 271, 439, 509), followed by WV’s extended sequence creating Can Town in the bunker (p.666-756) and ‘WV: Ascend’. This would introduce us to John through WV’s command terminal and an incomprehensible list of past/future commands, telling us right away that John is being commanded in-universe as well as out, and to Rose, Dave and Dad through brief glimpses of their positions at the end of act 2. I actually love this idea, and think this would be a fascinating prologue. The first glimpse of Skaian cosmology would come from WV’s wall drawings and chessboard, and we’d unearth Sburb like an archaeologist, piecing together that something very bad happened centuries earlier and that a very small number of humans might have survived. It would probably raise a lot of curiosity about the meaning of ‘captchalogue’, which is mentioned only for WV to say he doesn’t know what it means. It would also emphasize the role of timeloops and paradoxes much sooner, and begin with an already large-scale, zoomed-out story, instead of the slow build we currently have.

Starting with Rose is challenging, as her story begins already very entwined with John’s, but here’s some bonus options instead.

Reading Homestuck chronologically by when its pages are set would (right now at page 1088) mean starting with pages 999-1000, which take place on December 1, 2008. This begins with Jade’s birthday instead of John’s, and keeps the focus on birthday gifts that starting at page 1 has. It hints at Jade’s powers, and the supernatural elements of the story, right away, and it shows the reader John’s graffitied and clown-covered walls before we see his blank room, so we know something weird is going on with this kid from day one. The trolls are discussed more than Rose and Dave in this conversation, so starting here makes it seem like the trolls will be much more important to the kids’ adventures than they are so far.

Reading Homestuck at one page per day, an update schedule more comparable to other webcomics, would take almost three years to read everything that’s been posted so far. It would also dramatically change the story’s pacing. Jade Harley would spend five days picking up fruit (p.781-5) but ‘WV: Ascend’ would still be a single day. Flash updates such as ‘Dave: Abscond’ would help avoid a common problem with webcomics (including Problem Sleuth) where fight scenes take up a lot of out of universe time, but weeks of an extended sylladex joke would probably frustrate more readers into quitting.

Reading Homestuck with just the pictures. I have heard about people doing this, and it makes sense – most webcomics keep their text entirely within the strips, and external text is optional. Following John’s actions early on is okay without text, but it’s almost impossible to get a sense of his character.

Reading Homestuck with just the text. I think it would be nearly impossible to get to grips with captchalogue mechanics this way, which are already lots of people’s least favorite part of the story, plus it would remove all the interactivity and music, which are a big part of what scratches the brain.

Reading Homestuck by randomly sorting the numbers 1-1088 and reading the pages in that order. DO NOT DO THIS.

[runabout-river]

Do you believe that JJk part 2 would be made? The author seems to make it clear with the pacing, that the story is concluding in this series.

What other plot points could be addressed thoughtfully and with adequate pacing, if the trio's comeback, antagonist death, and main heros power escalation in the final arc, did not get the pacing it deserved?

It'll mostly likely wrap up in the next two chapters, with the last one serving as an Epilogue.

Thanks for this question! I'm going to cheat a little by copy/pasting a previous post of mine about everything that's still open ended in JJK, most likely will not get a proper conclusion in the last 3 chapters, and could serve as the groundwork for a potential JJK 2.

First, though, your questions seems a little misaligned. JJK is going to end in three chapters and there is no pacing issue there. Maybe it's a bad word choice or you've seen others talk about it like that, but chapter 271 is going to be a rounded end for the story that, in my opinion (08.09.2024), will lead into a JJK Part 2 because of these:

The Culling Games have not Ended

They still go on because players like Yuji and Hakari are still alive

We didn't even come close to the Merger

We have so much setup including pregnant Sukuna who left baby Tengen (probably) with Megumi now.

When as a writer you introduce world ending stakes, you better deliver on them even if only for the good guys to win against them.

Those stakes were never even reached though

The foreign invasion of Japan was introduced but then forgotten about

There are now militaries in Japan who abduct sorcerers for resources, giving Gege vast storytelling potential for the future

But Gojo could've dealt with them off screen and Yuta might continue to protect Japan in his stead now. This plot thread can be dealt with in the last 3 chapters but you would still ask: Why was it here at all?

Remy survived

Remy was the girl who tricked Megumi and who Megumi wanted to kill afterwards. Tsumiki's soul intervened on Remy's behalf and saved her, just for Remy to be abducted later. She's one of those characters Gege could've killed but instead we have a scenario where Megumi is poised to save her now while also getting into contact with Tsumiki's soul that hasn't happened yet

Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessel and the Six Eyes are connected by Fate

Multiple SPVs can exist simultaniously but not the 6E. After Gojo's death this minor detail mentioned by Tengen became obsolete for the story.

But then Yuta took over Gojo's body and now the 6E are back for this particular fate to happen again especially with Tengen's life in the strange state it is

Gege had come up with the story of the 3 Kugisaki women at the beginning of the manga

But instead of discarding it at the end of it, becasue it had no relevance or plot attention at all, Gege decided to open that thread and let it hang there, promising things to come like the bastard that he is with regards to the Kugisaki family.

Megumi's incomplete Domain

This is basic story telling especially in battle shonen: when you show the audience an incomplete ability, then by the end that ability has to be mastered barring a tragic end to the character.

Gege could throw us a curve ball about his domain with the last chapters but with Sukuna defeated now all tension of him accomplishing it is out.

But if this is Megumi's midpoint of his character arc and development, then everything regarding him, his domain and even his relationship with Sukuna can come to a proper end in JJK2

Sukuna's and Megumi's relationship and interactions were lacking in the end

But with Gege deliberately leaving behind 1 Finger, the option of Sukuna coming back as a curse, the remains of his first body most likely being permanent parts of Megumi, and not to forget the psycological and physical scars that Megumi has from him now, the potential for deep future interactions is there.

Sukuna's story has only been told to us from the perspectives of others

Sure, that does not have to change. Gege can leave it like that and he could or could not give us a Sukuna flashback in the last 3 chapters.

But he can go further than that and delve into that villain from more angles outside of mainly the narrator's and Yuji's.

He could eg go into the difference between Sukuna's relatiosnhip with Yuji and his relationship with Megumi to dive deeper into his personality

Kenjaku/Kaori, Jin and Yuji - none of that is resolved in any way

Just like how Kenjaku's true motives for creating the perfect vessel, who was in the end the perfect cage for Sukuna, was never explained.

So, yeah, I think JJK 2 is a real possibility with everything that hasn't been done and talked about, which was why I titled my original post with all of these points: "Gege kills off unneeded characters, why didn't he kill this?".

And I can see multiple reasons for why he would go the hard cut with the middle point of the series.

It's easier to structure narratively

he can make genre, theme and protagonist changes

he can get a break that can be longer than just a few weeks

it creates hype for the ending

keeping the story going makes him and his characters a cultural icon and him and SJ rich

also we would have a JJK 0, JJK 1 and now JJK 2, which would be funny

[leveloneandup]

We Can Do Hard Things | 271. Christen Press & Tobin Heath Protect What Matters Most

Three soccer legends and Glennon go on an epic double date! Our beloved Pod Squader, Christen Press, is back with Tobin Heath to share their revolutionary reimagining of what life and love look like when you protect the sacred – and the resistance in doing things quietly and privately, especially within the queer community.

How to be free and independent inside a relationship – and Tobin’s seven-year contract idea;

Christen and Tobin describe each other as soccer players and as people outside of sport – and how they handle conflict; and

Why they say, “Don’t look at us, look at our work” – and their current mission to build a sports media house for women. 

[everythingseasoning]

Squid Game HAS to have at least one tragic duo per season.

SPOILERS BELOW!!

S1: Sae Byeok and Ji Yeong (my personal fav😭)

S2: Hyun Ju and Young Mi (another personal fav)

And there are countless tragic single deaths too…

Ali Abdul after being betrayed and tricked by Sang Woo

Sae Byeok who died so unjustly due to an injury from the glass bridge exploding (fuck the game creators. They preach about it being fair when everything is FAR from fucking fair— from not letting players know that elimination means deat, to shooting people with loud ass guns during the game and scaring players so they lose, to manufactured mass hysteria.)

Possibly 246 in S2, the blood cancer girl’s dad. If he died I’m going to be sad and mad.

…even the deaths of characters we barely knew

Everyone who died in red light green light during the initial mass panic

119 in S1 (who sees that it’s a KID behind the masked pink uniform, then shoots himself after the Dalgona game),

271 in s1 who stood up for himself after the bullies stole his food, and got beaten to death by the main bully—

and the lady whose number I forget, who called out the food thieves and then got murdered later that night

069 in S1 who killed himself after his wife died in the marble game (his breakdown and anguish was really sad, granted, I pity him less if he voted for playing again— bc in that case, he only opts out when it hurts him)

017 in S1 the glass manufacturer who could tell real glass from tempered, the player Sang Woo pushed into tempered glass when In Ho turned off the lighting (FUCKKKK In Ho, I hate him for that.)

Many more from S1 that I forget

The players in S2 who had found a room in the Carousal game, but one got shoved out and the other got his neck snapped by 001/In Ho so In Ho & Jung Bae could take the room, despite the others having gotten there before them

Se Mi who was actively not an asshole, stood up for the wimpy guy, and got killed by the psychopathic freak that was “friends” with Thanos.

Drone Pilot who got stabbed and thrown overboard by the ship captain. Like that was so fucked.

072 who had bravely joined the fight against the higher ups

Player 206 ^similar death

047’s death due to In Ho’s betrayal, (was it that number?) in S2, made me upset. He was angry at the O voters and had to be talked down from killing those players, and he went out with Gi Hun to fight against the higher ups of the Game. He was angry at the injustices, strong, and brave to fight. I admired that about him.

015 who was betrayed and then left to gurgle out on the radio as In Ho lied to Gi Hun, pretending they all got shot and said they weren’t going to make it. (Not fucking cool man.)

145 who was brave but got shot after the guards closed in because the revolt team ran out of ammo due to Dae Ho’s fear. (I understand why he was so scared and paralyzed by fear, and I sympathize with him. That being said, he should’ve gotten somebody else to go out and deliver the ammo. His lack of actions and follow through caused a lot of death and a hole in the revolt plan.)

imagine how many characters there are whose backstories we never got, but if we did see it, we’d be devastated over the loss of them.

There are also characters who are still participating in the games but haven’t yet died, and others who aren’t in the games, who have been affected deeply by a hard life and the games, and i pity them.

Let me know if you think I forgot any …

[footballerimaginess]

Tipsy

Please can you do number 1 from the prompt list with Ben Chilwell? 1. "Are you a little tipsy?" Ben Chilwell Word Count: 271 You were partying the night away at a night club. "Look over there, isn't that the Chelsea player?" your best friend asked as you all turned round straight away. "Fucking hell girls, don't turn ya necks that far you'll break it and don't make it so obvious either" you all laughed as you watched him walking over. "Fuck" you whispered as he walked straight over to you and stood beside you. "Someone talking about me" he cockily remarked as you felt all the blood in your body rush to your head as you went bright red. "Maybe" you whispered under your breath as he eyed you up and down. "Hmm, someone is a little red" he laughed as you touched your cheek with the back of your hand as you were now absolutely boiling to the touch. "Yeah, get a bit nervous around fit men" you blurted out, immediately regretting it. "Oh do you now? don't get told that every day so I guess it is a compliment" he smirked. "Aww that's cute, don't flatter yourself. I'm sure you have loads of girls throwing themselves out you" you blurted out, the drink was now doing the talking. "Are you a little tipsy?" he laughed as he watched you swaying as the girls had now walked off and left you to it. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not" you laughed. "Shall I meet you when you aren't drunk and can remember a conversation?" he laughed as you firmly nodded. You punched your number into his phone. "See you soon" you smiled as you walked over to your friends to reveal the gossip.

[actuallykyogai]

Jujutsu Kaisen's ending

I can't believe it's really over... JJK has been a huge part of my life for a good while now. I'm gonna try not get all sappy, and go into my thoughts on the ending straight away. I'm sorry if things make no sense!

A nice little summary before I go onto yapping about characters I like...To be honest, I don't mind the ending all that much. Sure, I'll admit there's flaws, almost everything has them. But this ending isn't exactly one that I hate. To me, it's perfectly mediocre. Seeing the main trio together again is fun. Sukuna's philosophy and everything regarding his character's ending was great, probably a highlight of that final chapter. That final cursed finger being in the exact same place where it should've been 271 chapters ago was nice. It doesn't seem like an AOT type thing to me, where it's a never-ending cycle. (albeit, I'm yet to finish AOT, I just saw this from other people's posts) It more so represents a new beginning, what's done is done, it's finished.

Woah, a bittersweet, nonsensical sentiment from me!! There's a huge chance I'm wrong with whatever I was yapping about in those final sentences. But hey, a lot of things are subjective, I don't mind if I'm reading into things wrong.

If there's one main complaint I have, it would be the lack of information regarding the Culling Games, the US military invasion, and that kinda stuff. I like what Maki was saying here because it shows the sub-plot hasn't been completely forgotten, even if it won't be expanded upon. (Also because Remi was an abducted player, and I liked her)

Glad to see a bunch of the Culling Games players again! Unfortunately we've heard nothing about Uro, but Amai and Takaba returned!

My personal favourite thing to happen in these final chapters is whatever was going on with Takaba and Kenjaku (?) Naturally, I was ecstatic to see my favourite comedy duo back. Even if that dude isn't actually Kenjaku, it still proves to be a sufficient conclusion for the two of them. They're happy doing what they love, and I love that for them!!

Takaba talking about no sex jokes, as if the first thing we see from him isn't a sex joke ^V^

With Sukuna, Uraume and Mahito, I don't have much to say yet, I'll make another, even more nonsensical post divulging into them. Hopefully I didn't confuse anyone with all of this. I barely talked about the ending itself...

[saltminerising]

Was curious on exalted progens, so I collected some data!

There are 269,376 exalted progens at the time of checking, the earliest is a male tundra, #53

139,948 are male, 129,428 are female, 10,520 more males than females

271 are Abbies

2 are Aethers

38 are Banes

38 are Boggies

81 are Coatls

74,401 are Faes

658 are Gaols

71,071 are Guardians

6 are Imps

63,217 are Mirrors

291 are Nocs

32 are Obbys

252 are Pearlcatchers

161 are Ridgies

1 is a Sandsurge

315 are Skydancers (mine are in here lol)

42 are Snappers

188 are Spirals

57,994 are Tundras

138 are Undertides

21 are Veils

and 158 are Wildclaws

This puts Faes at the highest, and Sandsurges at the lowest

Also, the first exalted progen imp was leveled to 25! I thought this was a neat fact

This means that we can confirm at the very least, 2,693 progrens were breed changed, just to be exalted anyway (I am one of these people I am guilty of this) This of course doesn't count people who changed them from one plentiful to another plentiful

In order, from least to most, is:

Sandsurge (1), Aether (2), Imperial (6), Veilspun (21), Obelisk (32), Banescale and Bogsneak (38), Snapper (42), Coatl (81), Undertide (138), Wildclaw (158), Ridgeback (161), Spirals (188), Pearlcatcher (252), Abberation (271), Nocturne (291), Skydancer (315), Gaoler (658), Tundra (57,994), Mirror (63,217), Guardian (71,071), Fae (74,401)

Numbers are subject to change between submitting this post and it being posted, and I'm also not 100% sure if blocked player's dragons will show up or not, so I don't know if that skewed the data at all

I am desperately curious over who made their dragon a Sandsurge just to yeet them

I also thought for SURE Tundras would be the most exalted progen, with how people shit talk them, but they're actually the least exalted plentiful progen! Fascinating!

[jjmaybankshousekeeping]

hello! I dont know if youre taking requests or not but, do you mind if I request jj maybank x gn reader whose john b’s sister? ty!

summary - jj and y/n have to sneak around for a while. but eventually john b did a out about their relationship and slowly gets used to it.

warnings - fluff?, mentions of kissing?.

word count - 271

a/n - hi, i absolutely do take requests! i think if forgot to say on my page so this will be me saying it. thank you so much for the request, hope i did okay!

post number - 3

reader - they/them, gn

at first it was a case of sneaking around, harmless flirting when nobody was paying attention, even the odd kiss if their friends were looking the other direction.

however, over time as their relationship grew, it became more and more difficult for jj and y/n to hide their relationship and it became more of a nuisance.

they didn’t want to hide it, but they knew john b would be mad if he found out that his player of a best friend and his sibling were dating.

when he did find out he flipped, as expected. he walked into his house, an hour earlier than they expected him back, to find his best friend and sibling making out on the couch.

“what the actual fuck!” he yelled. multiple times.

he wanted so very badly to punch jj. to do unnecessary things to him. however, he knew it wasn’t the case.

he spun around and covered his eyes as if he’d walked into something dodgy going on, making the situation worse and just making it more awkward.

after a while though, -and a lot of deep conversations with the two- he finally came around. even though it still didn’t feel right yet, he got more and more used to it. jj and y/n can hug, flirt, etc around him, nothing major yet, they’ve snook a few kisses in every now and then, but other than those few kisses, john b had no problem with his sibling and best friend dating.

at the end of the day, all he wants is for the both of them to be happy together (but not too happy).

[hetalia-club]

Got Bored And Made An Entire Hetalia Baseball League (HBL)

the league is meant to have fictitious and near impossible goals for regular humans to achieve. They are all scaled beside each other accounting for superhuman strength.

~Scotland's Stats~

Batting Average Regular Season- .275 Projection- .283 Career- .271

Running Speed MPH- 18-20 Hitting Power MPH- 90-95 Regular Season Stolen Bases- 8 Career Stolen Bases- 120

Scotland is a well-rounded player with a balanced mix of power and contact hitting. His durability and resilience make him a mainstay in the lineup, and his strategic approach to both hitting and base running reflect his strong, steadfast character. While not the most powerful hitter, his consistency and ability to perform in clutch situations make him a valuable player on any team. His disciplined eye at the plate helps him get on base regularly, contributing to his team's overall success. You’ll notice his strike outs are high and that’s because he likes to swing for the fences. He does not want grounders or line drives he wants to smack the shit out of it. So if it’s not a good pitch for that he won’t take it.

Tsunami Titans- link to their team and positions

Other Players: (will update with link as they are added) America Russia Sweden England Ireland Iceland Canada Denmark Turkey France Scotland Greece Germany Japan Nyo!America Prussia China Nyo!England Spain Austria Italy Norway Romano Finland

Scotland breakdown below >> (Chat GTP helped with this part because I'm not good at describing things or sports talk)((it also made me the lay out above I made the stats and it put them in MLB format for me & calculated batting average because math :/ ))

Player Analysis: Scotland

Personality and Play Style:

Resilient and Tough: Scotland’s durability and ability to play many games reflect his tough, resilient nature. He can withstand the rigors of a long season and remains a consistent presence on the field.

Strategic and Tactical: His disciplined approach at the plate shows his strategic thinking. He waits for the right pitches and makes calculated decisions, similar to his thoughtful and tactical personality.

Reliable and Steadfast: Scotland's consistency and reliability make him a go-to player in crucial moments. His ability to deliver in clutch situations is a testament to his steadfast and dependable character.

Strengths:

Consistency: Scotland is a dependable hitter with a high number of hits and doubles. His ability to make solid contact frequently makes him a consistent threat at the plate.

Strategic Hitter: He has a disciplined eye for pitches, reflected in his decent number of walks. His strategic approach helps him avoid chasing bad pitches and increases his on-base percentage.

Durability: Scotland’s high number of games played indicates his resilience and ability to stay healthy throughout the season, making him a mainstay in the lineup.

Clutch Performance: With a good number of RBIs, Scotland demonstrates his ability to perform well in pressure situations, driving in runs when his team needs it most.

Weaknesses:

Speed: His lower number of triples suggests that he lacks the speed of some other players. This can limit his ability to stretch hits and take extra bases.

Strikeouts: Scotland's tendency to strike out more often indicates occasional over-aggressiveness at the plate. While he can make strong contact, he sometimes swings and misses, leading to missed opportunities.

Stat Distribution Analysis

Games Played (GP)

Regular Season: 130 | Projected: 140 | Career: 1900

Analysis: Scotland’s high number of games played indicates his durability and resilience. His strong sense of duty and commitment ensures he is almost always available to play, reflecting his steadfast and reliable nature.

At Bats (AB)

Regular Season: 510 | Projected: 530 | Career: 7200

Analysis: Consistent at bats highlight Scotland’s role as a dependable player in the lineup. His experience and resilience enable him to perform well at the plate, contributing regularly to the team's offensive efforts.

Runs (R)

Regular Season: 75 | Projected: 80 | Career: 1100

Analysis: Scotland's moderate number of runs scored reflects his ability to get on base and contribute to scoring opportunities. His tenacity and strategic approach to the game help him navigate the bases effectively.

Hits (H)

Regular Season: 140 | Projected: 150 | Career: 1950

Analysis: Scotland’s solid number of hits indicates a reliable hitter who can consistently make contact with the ball. His balanced approach at the plate and keen eye for pitches allow him to rack up hits and maintain a respectable batting average.

Doubles (2B)

Regular Season: 25 | Projected: 28 | Career: 400

Analysis: Scotland's ability to hit doubles showcases his power and ability to drive the ball into gaps. This reflects his strategic hitting approach and physical strength, allowing him to stretch singles into extra-base hits.

Triples (3B)

Regular Season: 4 | Projected: 5 | Career: 50

Analysis: The moderate number of triples highlights Scotland's occasional bursts of speed and ability to take advantage of fielding gaps. His strategic thinking and determination often push him to take risks on the base paths.

Home Runs (HR)

Regular Season: 15 | Projected: 18 | Career: 250

Analysis: Scotland’s home run totals indicate he has respectable power but is not primarily a home run hitter. His strength and ability to capitalize on mistakes by pitchers give him occasional long-ball capability.

Runs Batted In (RBI)

Regular Season: 70 | Projected: 75 | Career: 1050

Analysis: Scotland’s RBI numbers reflect his ability to come through in clutch situations and drive in runs. His reliability and calm demeanor in pressure situations make him a valuable asset in scoring opportunities.

Base on Balls (BB)

Regular Season: 50 | Projected: 55 | Career: 700

Analysis: Scotland's walk numbers show his disciplined approach at the plate. His patience and keen eye for pitches allow him to draw walks, contributing to his on-base percentage and overall team strategy.

Strikeouts (SO)

Regular Season: 100 | Projected: 110 | Career: 1400

Analysis: The number of strikeouts suggests that Scotland can sometimes be overly aggressive at the plate, leading to missed opportunities. However, his willingness to take risks also results in solid contact and power when he connects with the ball.

[alltid-og-for-evig]

AU-gust fics accountability/update:

Canon Divergence: Strange Bedfellows, Margo/Kady - Complete, 1,664 words

Colorless: There's a Place Where the Lost Things Go, Legacies Multi (hizzie, lethan, maleb, immortalfury, finsie, benjed) - Incomplete, 483 words

Dark Academia: Untitled, Chris/Adrian - Complete, 6,164 words

Zombie Apocalypse: To Die By Your Side (the pleasure, the privilege is mine, Stan/Jimmy - Complete, 1,954 words

Chess Players: There's No Deal, Partner (who's your real partner?), Klaus/Hayley - Complete, 1,023 words

Reality Show (Joker) Wings: Untitled, Chris/Adrian - Complete, 648 words (might rewrite)

Farm/Ranch: Untitled, Bonnie/Caroline - Incomplete, 781 words

Nomad: Nice, Jen/Cleo - Complete, drabble (might expand)

Accidental Baby Acquisition: Untitled, Margo/Kady - Complete, 274 words

Enemies to Allies: Are We Allies or Enemies?, FCG/FRIDA - Complete, 1,792 words

Retail Worker: Untitled, MG/Kaleb - Complete, 2,836 words

Animagus (Joker) Thriller: My Dear It's Worth the Pain (when they're pulling your insides out), Hope/Lizzie - Incomplete, 1,353 words

Found Footage: Untitled, Finch/Josie - Incomplete, 74 words

Princes & Princesses: Poison Hidden in My Tooth, Landon/Ethan - Incomplete, 643 words

Secretly Alien (Joker) Everybody Lives: Untitled, Hope/Lizzie/Landon/Ethan - Incomplete, 145 words

Hobby Drama: Untitled, Fearne/Ashton - Complete, drabble

Flower Shop: Untitled, Jen/Cleo - Incomplete, 222 words

Space Travel: Untitled, Legacies Multi - Incomplete, 117 words

Spies: We Might Be Double-Crossing the Line, Hope/Lizzie - Incomplete, 552 words

Crossover/Fusion: New Beginnings, Legacies/Magicians Multi - Incomplete, 171 words

Absurd Tragedy: I'm An Accident Waiting to Happen (so happy I happened to you), Landon/Ethan - Incomplete, 487 words (might rework)

Orphan (Joker) Guardian: Untitled, Margo/Kady - Incomplete, 357 words

Musician: Untitled, Landon/Ethan - Incomplete, 271 words

Pretend Hate: Don't Make Me Be the Bad Guy, Hope/Landon/Lizzie - Incomplete, 1,179 words

Scientists: Untitled, Barbara/Tabitha - Incomplete, 143 words

Victorian Era: Untitled, Legacies Multi - Incomplete, 84 words

Younger/De-Aged: i Feel So High School, Klaus/Hayley - Incomplete, 116 words

Caretaker: Untitled, Hope/Landon/Lizzie - Incomplete, 78 words (might rework)

Forced into Hiding: Untitled, Legacies Multi - Incomplete, 641 words

The Beginning of the World: Untitled, Legacies Multi - Incomplete, 88 words

Two of ^ - Crossover/Nomad: Not Started

The AUgust Writing Challenge

Ask me about my wips!

[homestuckreplay]

Skaia: *20d6 fire and 20d6 bludgeoning damage*

(page 756-758, again)

One day later, I can confidently say that WV: Ascend is the coolest thing Homestuck has done so far. There’s an impressive amount happening in just two and a half minutes of animation - it does a great job at advancing most of the storylines that have been woven throughout Act 2, and setting up some new mysteries for Act 3.

First and very excitingly, we get the coordinates of John’s neighborhood when WV’s bunker flies overhead. John lives at 47.362101, -122.054144 – a suburb in Maple Valley, Washington, about halfway between Seattle and Tacoma. It’s even near a lake, just like the one we see in zoomed out shots of John’s house. Real life pictures of this area look like a very generic suburb, one that could be copy-pasted from lots of parts of the US, so it’s perfect for his context. I really love the idea of John being so close to the ocean – a place associated with openness and freedom – yet so unable to access it.

John himself doesn't appear in the animation, only his home does. I think the same is true for GG. The coordinates of WV’s appearified pumpkin (coordinates p.733, pumpkin seen next to GG on p.665) are identical to those of the frog statue, where WV touches down. Every possible clue to GG only makes her more mysterious, and the idea that she could live in a place so connected to Skaia is no exception. If she has some access to Skaia’s potential, this could explain her knowledge of the future, especially in regards to Sburb. I’m guessing that this statue and GG both will play a big role in Act 3.

The Peregrine Mendicant, as they approach the ruins of John’s house and the apple shaped bunker close by, may also have a role. Since we know Sburb’s pre-punched card can contain a variety of items, and the apple and its tree were John’s, I’d guess that Rose’s item will be cylindrically shaped – as suggested by someone on discord, it could even be a can.

WV: Ascend really highlights the malleable and nonlinear role of time in Act 2, and takes us much further back into the past, and a little further into the future, than anything so far, radically expanding the scope of the story geographically and chronologically. I’m going to discuss time in Act 2 at length in an essay I’m currently planning, but for now I want to mention the meteor that collided with Earth in (apparently) prehistoric times. This happened before the Pacific Ocean was even an ocean, and the raptor flying overhead once it has become an ocean suggests that the meteor, Skaia’s power over Earth, and the frog statue built inside the crater, all far predate recognizable life on Earth. Page 545 shows us that Dad has been collecting newspaper clippings related to meteors for decades. This felt pretty huge at the time, but is made vastly insignificant by the idea that such meteors go back millions of years. Who’s to say it wasn’t the ‘creative potential’ of Skaia that created life on Earth itself????

I went through act 2 to find all the ‘psyche!’ moments, so here they are: PSYCHE cuts from Rose to Dave (p.308), OH SNAP cuts from Dave back to Rose (p.357), PSYCHE and OH WAIT – x2 DOUBLE PSYCHEOUT COMBO cuts from Dave to GG to WV (p.665) and finally, PSYCHE?? – UNPSYCHE. cuts from the fakeout end of act animation to the actual end of act animation.

Beyond just these moments, act 2 is very focused on transitions – fitting, as it begin with John’s transition from Earth to the Medium. Some others that get highlighted by the narrator or player are John to WV (p.270-271), Dave to John (p.466-467 and p.613-614) and John back to Dave (p.663-664). Cuts between John and Rose are never highlighted, perhaps due to the link between them as co-players making these feel more natural.

I’ve mentioned before that WV’s ‘Years in the future…’ pages have always been followed by Rose’s GameFAQ pages (p.248-249, 271-272, 439-440 and 509-510), creating a parallel between these two characters. Finding out that they are in the same physical space, four hundred and thirteen years apart in time, both vying for control over John Egbert, is such a cool payoff to this with a BIG implication. Does being a Sburb server player create a sort of ‘node of potential’ in that physical location through which it’s possible to control the corresponding client player? Does this mean John eventually becomes a server player? Does this happen so that Sburb guarantees that if something happens to a server player – for example, dying to a meteor while trying to enter the game themself – the client player can still be guided through the game? Are these bunkers really natural formations, as the animation implies, or are they formed through some kind of alchemy? A combination of both?

Both Rose’s mom and Dave’s bro appear in this flash, although their stories are still entirely tied to their charges, while John’s dad (Mr. Egbert? Clown Egbert? Can Clown be a honorific?) now has an arc of his own. All of the guardians seem to be in control of their own situations, but Dad is now far away, while Nannasprite has taken on the role of actively looking after John.

We already knew Dave’s bro was a scheming mastermind setting up saw traps for his brother, and Dave being colored in orange, pink and yellow as he stands on the rooftop reminds me of the red, pink and yellow of Rowlf in Bro’s ‘ironic’ comic (p.565) – but this is the first time we’ve seen Bro’s actual, non-silhouetted form. We’ve seen Rose’s mom before, but she’s now revealed as an equally high level mastermind, and it casts her actions in a whole new light. Mom did not erect Jaspers’ mausoleum in a ‘spirit of scornful IRONY’ – she was in fact concealing an escape hatch to which only she knew the passcode. How much she knew about the specific circumstances it might be used in is still up in the air, as well as why she waited for this exact moment, when Rose has already been in danger for hours, but I think there’s a lot more to her than being a (possible) neglectful alcoholic.

After this very beautiful animation, the curtains close on Act 2 (p.758) identical to those closing on Act 1 (p.247), and to those opening on the Skaian gates during Nannasprite's lore (p.422). Thanks, Act 2. I miss you already.

Also I still love that frog.

[bearterritory]

12 Talented Transfers Bolster Cal Football

Golden Bears Solidify 2023 Roster with Experienced Veterans

BERKELEY – The California football team has officially added a dozen players to its roster since the end of spring football with the signings of QB Luke Bottari (Utah), WR Taj Davis (Washington), RB King Doerue (Purdue), WR Marquez Dortch (Mississippi State), QB Ben Finley (North Carolina State), RB Isaiah Ifanse (San Jose State/Montana State), OL Barrett Miller (Stanford), P Thomas Lee (Cal Poly), DB Patrick McMorris (San Diego State), DB Marcus Scott II (Missouri), OL Matthew Wycoff (Texas A&M), and OLB Tidiane Jalloh (Independence Community College)

Below are highlights on each of the signees:   Luke Bottari – QB, 5-10, 205, R-Jr., 5th Collegiate Season San Mateo, CA (Utah/College of San Mateo/Serra HS) – Completed 338-of-550 passes for 4,673 yards with a school career-record 46 touchdowns and 13 interceptions for a quarterback rating of 155.7 at College of San Mateo – Named the Northern California Player of the Year while adding All-State honors as a 2019 freshman – Led Serra High School to its first state title as a 2017 prep junior   Taj Davis – WR, 6-1, 205, R-Jr., 5th Collegiate Season Upland, CA (Washington/Upland HS) – Played in 24 games with 10 starts in his final two seasons as a 2021 redshirt freshman and 2022 sophomore at Washington – Contributed two-year career totals of 47 receptions, 606 yards receiving and four touchdown catches, while also playing on special teams and adding six tackles all as a 2022 sophomore – Ranked as the nation's No. 54 wide receiver according to Rivals in the 2019 high school recruiting class

King Doerue – RB, 5-10, 205, R-Jr., 5th Collegiate Season Amarillo, TX (Purdue/Tascosa HS) – Played in 32 games with 16 starts in four seasons at Purdue from 2019-22 – Rushed 309 times for 1,145 yards and 10 touchdowns, while adding 47 receptions, 381 yards receiving and three touchdown catches   Marquez Dortch – WR, 6-0, 170, R-Fr., 2nd Collegiate Season Lucedale, MS (Mississippi State/George County HS) – Played in one game and recorded one reception for one yard in a single campaign at Mississippi State in 2022 but did not use a season of collegiate eligibility – A consensus four-star recruit in the 2021 class who was ranked the nation's No. 24 wide receiver by 247Sports

Ben Finley – QB, 6-3, 205, R-So., 4th Collegiate Season Phoenix, AZ (North Carolina State/Paradise Valley HS) – Played in eight games at NC State with two starts over three campaigns, completing 83-of-152 passes for 912 yards with four touchdown tosses – Led the Wolfpack to a 30-27 double-overtime win at No. 18 North Carolina as a 2022 redshirt freshman in his first career start in North Carolina State's regular-season finale, connecting on 27-of-40 passes for 271 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions   Isaiah Ifanse – RB, 5-9, 205, R-Sr., 6th Collegiate Season Bellevue, WA (San Jose State/Montana State/Bellevue HS) – Played in 40 games in four seasons at Montana State (2018-19, 2021-22) and finished as the school's all-time leading rusher with 3,742 yards and scored 25 touchdowns on the ground to rank sixth on Montana State's all-time list on 630 carries for a program that posted a 43-14 overall record, made the FCS Playoffs each season including a trip to the title game during his 2021 junior campaign, and won a share of the Big Sky title as a 2022 senior – Became Montana State's first All-American running back since 1982 (second-team AFCS, Associated Press, Hero Sports, Stats Perform) and All-Big Sky running back since 2011 as a junior in 2021, when he established a single-season school-record with 1,623 yards rushing and scored 10 touchdowns on the ground on 280 carries that were the second most in school history

Barrett Miller – OL, 6-5, 315, Sr., 5th Collegiate Season Aurora, CO (Stanford/Eaglecrest HS) – Played in 38 games with 30 starts (26 at left guard and four at right guard) over four seasons at Stanford from 2019-22 including all 18 starts possible during both his COVID-shortened 2020 and 2021 sophomore seasons – A four-star recruit in the prep class of 2019 according to 247Sports

Thomas Lee, P, 5-11, 185, R-Sr., 6th Collegiate Season San Ramon, CA (Cal Poly/Dougherty Valley HS) – A member of the Cal Poly football program for his final three years – Became the team's starting punter for the final nine games of his 2022 senior season and punted 31 times for 1,152 yards (37.2 ypp) – Finished his career with 33 punts for 1208 yards (36.6 ypp) with his 2 longest punts for 56 yards   Patrick McMorris, DB, 6-0, 210, Sr., 5th Collegiate Season Santa Ana, CA (San Diego State/Santa Ana HS/Godinez Fundamental HS) – Played in 42 games with 27 starts at San Diego State from 2019-22 and contributed 162 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss (-14 yards), five interceptions that he returned for 61 yards, 15 pass breakups, 20 passes defended and two fumble recoveries, including one that he returned 30 yards for his lone career touchdown – Earned first-team All-Mountain West Conference as both a 2021 sophomore and 2022 junior to become just the second San Diego State safety to pick up spots on two All-MWC first-team squads – A team captain as a 2022 junior who was named the preseason Mountain West Co-Defensive Player of the Year and also was a member of preseason first-team All-MWC teams by four publications, as well as on watch lists for the Senior Bowl and for the Chuck Bednarik Award and Bronko Nagurski Award given to the nation's top defensive player – Listed as a four-star transfer by 247Sports

Marcus Scott II �� DB, 6-0, 180, R-Fr., 2nd Collegiate Season Houston, TX (Missouri/Conroe HS/College Park HS) – Did not see any game action or use a season of collegiate eligibility as a 2022 true freshman at Missouri – Totaled 55 tackles, four interceptions, 18 pass breakups, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries as a prep during his 2020 junior at College Park High School and 2021 senior campaign at Conroe High School, while picking up three touchdowns in his career on a pick six, a 75-yard scoop and score, and an onside kick that he returned 65 yards – A four-star recruit of Rivals both in the 2023 transfer portal class and 2022 high school class, while also being listed as the No. 34 cornerback coming out of high school   Matthew Wykoff – OL, 6-6, 330, R-So., 3rd Collegiate Season Magnolia, TX (Texas A&M/Magnolia HS) – Played in 16 games with nine starts over two campaigns as a 2021 true freshman and 2022 redshirt freshman at Texas A&M – Earned a spot on the SEC's All-Freshman squad – Ranked as the No. 34 offensive tackle in the 2021 recruiting class according to Rivals

Tidiane Jalloh, OLB, 6-5, 270, So., 2nd Collegiate Season Toulon, France (Independence Community College) – Contributed eight tackles with 0.5 tackles for loss (-2 yards) in six games off the bench as a 2022 true freshman in his first season of American football –Ranked as the nation's No. 9 defensive lineman in the 2023 junior college recruiting class by 247Sports Composite