#plus some of the themes be relevant

[constantvariations]

It would've been hilarious if ShawLuna had tried to cover their asses from the early volume transphobic jokes around Jaune by making him a trans woman. It can't be transphobia if it's ☆~foreshadowing~☆

[the-clock-of-the-time-dragon]

[Wicked: For Good speculation/predictions]

[obviously spoilers + wild conjecture + musings]

Okay so I have many thoughts about what we might get in the second film, and decided to put them all in one place; so here we are.

1.) I've heard a lot of people mentioning that the movie might choose not to jump straight into Thank Goodness, and instead opt for some sort of buffer opening to establish the time-skip and whatnot. I think it would be amazing to actually see Elphaba flying around Oz saving Animals and being harbored as a fugitive and stuff; maybe we could even get reintroduced to Brrr briefly! He's obviously able to speak, so maybe that implies Fiyero took him to an Animal resistance group or something for safety? The map of Oz shown in Something Bad does imply that there might be such groups around, plus of course Doctor Dillamond mentioning protests. Maybe we'll get to see some of that on-screen; I think that would be fascinating. Maybe as kind of a soft adaptation of Elphaba's domestic terrorist phase in the book. This is possibly all supported as well by the shots we've seen of the Yellow Brick Road under construction; presumably this will be early in the film, since obviously it must predate Dorothy's arrival, so I suspect these might be the opening scenes before we get to see how Oz is reacting to Elphaba's activities at the start of Thank Goodness.

2.) I suspect we'll find out that Madame Morrible is not only the one who brought Dorothy to Oz, but also the Wizard — and maybe even more interestingly, caused the Great Drought (which I think is quite heavily implied to be the Dust Bowl, based on the time period and a scrawling on one of the chalkboards in the background; which I think is meant to be Dillamond's research). (My current headcanon is that Morrible accidentally caused the formation of the Impassable Desert (since it is also mentioned on the same chalkboard), which caused a ripple effect out into Kansas and started the Dust Bowl.) If we do get more background on Morrible and her earlier magic experimentation (and maybe even the Grimmerie), I suspect we'll learn that her heart's desire was always to be the prophesied magical savior of Oz, and the Grimmerie based on those vibes (since it seems to read the hearts of the ones using it and flip to pages that will give them what they want, like how it heard "birds" and went straight to relevant pages) brought the Wizard (and by extension, Elphaba) and Dorothy into Oz. In a way it feels like the Grimmerie is sort of the dark magical inverse of what the Wizard does: they hear the desires of people's hearts, and "grant" it in a deceptive way. The Wizard "grants" wishes through bullshitery and spectacle (and the people who come to him for help always end up having to get what they wanted themselves), while the Grimmerie "grants" wishes using real magic (and so can actually give things that the wisher didn't already possess) but always in a fucked up way that they'll end up regretting. I've already made a post about the theme of "the heart's desire" and how it's explored in the original Wizard of Oz and in Wicked — and maybe at some point I'll do a longer analysis of that (for instance, the fact the Wizard was in possession of the book and got his heart's desire to be a father in the most catastrophic way imaginable) — but it's really interesting if we consider that Morrible's desire seems to be to essentially be the Witch of Oz, and the answer given by the Grimmerie might basically have been the giant magical backfire that brought all three of the most plot-important characters into Oz in the first place. It's possible this won't actually be explained and will remain in headcanon territory, but with the way they've been focusing more on Madame Morrible I think we'll probably get at least a little something exploring her background and connections with the Wizard (and it would be really interesting if we got more stuff relating to the Grimmerie in the process).

3.) In the frames we've seen of Dorothy, the slippers are still silver! Not ruby! We know from interviews that the production team read the original Wonderful Wizard of Oz and took heavy inspiration from it, so I assume keeping the shoes silver was an executive decision on their part. But it has some really interesting implications about what sort of changes might've been made to Part 2. We already knew that we're getting major alterations to Nessa's narrative — groundwork for that was already laid in the ways they changed her in the first movie, particularly surrounding her relationship to Elphaba and her agency regarding movement, which I think is great — but regarding this I've heard some people asking if this means we might not get Nessarose standing. Marissa Bode who plays her is capable of limited standing and walking, so I doubt that part will have been cut entirely; but I'm really curious about the ways in which Nessa's story might have been rewritten. The point of her independence has been emphasized a lot thus far, so I think we might get some tweaking (or outright cutting) of the "hideous chair with wheels" bit; and with how we got the lines about Nessa wanting to make a new start and Elphaba getting in the way of that, I think it's likely we'll get less of a focus on "why haven't you used your powers to help me walk Elphaba?" and more on "wow, you ruined my life again Elphaba". I am curious about whether Nessa will still be able to read the Grimmerie (which always felt a little like a plot hole/contrivance in the original show, so it would need a proper explanation at the very least), or if perhaps — since I believe it's being set up that the Grimmerie can "read" people around it and give them a fucked up version of what they think they want — Nessarose's dark desire at that moment is to not have a heart (kinda like that line from the 1939 movie: "As for you, my galvanized friend: you want a heart. You don't know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable") and gets Elphaba to read it: but neither knows what it will actually do until Boq's heart starts shrinking away into nothingness. (Also I'm fairly positive that the still we got of Elphaba below is from the Colwen Grounds scene with Nessa and Boq: I've heard some people presuming it's from No Good Deed, but the background, her expression (which seems to me to be obviously her trying to get Nessa/Boq to calm tf down), and the fact she seems to be in the same costume as in the Yellow Brick Road scene, tells me it's almost certainly from Wicked Witch of the East.)

4.) We're told to expect two new songs from Stephen Schwartz! I'm extremely curious what these might be (and naturally, Gelphie simp as I am, would like at least one one of them to have some more good ol' gay goodness from our girls), but we don't have a whole lot to go on for clues yet other than (as far as I can tell, unconfirmed?) reports that one is an Elphaba solo and the other is a Glinda solo. This is very exciting of course, but until we have more insight it's still too early to make deep predictions. Although as for hopes, I'd obviously like for a new Glinda number to involve her grappling with her feelings more — a much-needed addition — and for Elphaba to perhaps get some of that as well (it would help the lead-up to Wonderful make a bit more narrative sense, if nothing else). And if it turns out they aren't Glinda or Elphaba songs, then I think Fiyero or Boq deserve to get a little bit more to sing. All Schwartz has said thus far is that the new music was made to meet the needs of the story: so (since the two songs DON'T seem to just be reworkings of existing ones, and are actually all-new, film-only material) that further supports the fact we'll be getting fairly major changes to the plot.

5.) The Glinda-Fiyero wedding seems to either happen or very nearly happen??? Extremely interesting expansion on the original material, I can't wait to see what they do with it. I've heard some people saying it might just be a fantasy sequence or something — and I suppose it could be — but I don't think so; the style of filmmaking and writing is deliberately "grounded" to make Oz feel real, and the first film didn't have any imaginary scenes. I think the wedding scene will happen at the same time as (or directly before) Wonderful, and will probably be interrupted: maybe by the release of the flying monkeys, the Wizard rallying the guards after Elphaba, or — scandal! — even by Elphaba herself! (No, I don't think we'll be getting the "I object!" sequence out of Shrek, even though it would be hilariously apropos, lol.) We've seen an image of what looks like Elphaba back in the Emerald City (maybe right before Wonderful, perhaps sneaking into the Wizard's palace to free the Animals; or perhaps just after Wonderful, after finding Doctor Dillamond and deciding to remain the Wizard's enemy?), and judging by when these events would have to line up based on the story of the musical, I think these are almost certainly within the same section. It seems like the wedding sequence might be a decent spot for some of the new music: or maybe a beefed-up version of Glinda's I'm Not That Girl, if she got left at the altar or something.

6.) We've seen this image of Glinda running up a staircase (with the Grimmerie in hand, and in her Bubble Dress): this seems very likely to be immediately after For Good and the Melting — I suspect Glinda is heading up the stairs to see the aftermath, recover Elphie's hat, and receive the green bottle from Chistery. OR, it could also be related to the Wizard — the wood reminds me of the tower in the Emerald City palace where all of Oscar Diggs' old stuff from Omaha was stored at the end of the first film, so I'm wondering if this is Glinda going up to confront him after realizing that he's Elphaba's father, maybe.

EDIT: I realized after reviewing a better quality image with higher contrast and saturation that the latter possibility I suggested is more likely than the former — behind the wooden beams are the emerald blocks we see in the Wizard's palace, so this frame seems almost certainly to be from the scene where Glinda confronts the Wizard in his tower after returning from Kiamo Ko. And what a brilliant way to do that scene, if indeed that's what this is: the Wizard isn't just sitting despondent in his throne room, he went up to wallow in his old mediocrity — and Glinda doesn't just fly up to him, she ascends the same path she once went up with Elphie, processing her grief the whole way up. The painnnnnnn. It makes her ordering him to fly away in the same balloon that he arrived in — and that Glinda and Elphaba NEARLY escaped in before everything — all the more bitter and ironic. Can't wait to see Jeff Goldblum sell the Wizard's descent into the mother of all midlife crises, fiddling with his old sideshow props in the attic as he comes to know the true despair wrought by his hand.

7.) Will the ending be changed?? It seems all but confirmed that the cloaked figure riding away out of Kiamo Ko at the start of Part 1 was Elphaba: this costume concept for the second film looks identical to what we saw the rider wearing. Add to that (as I've talked about in a prior post) the fact the Scarecrow is shown alongside Dorothy on the Yellow Brick Road, implies that at the very least the events of the last few minutes of the musical have been revised. My earlier post listed four different possible alterations (from Elphaba leaving Oz alone, to her still meeting with Fiyero somewhere else after everything, to her somehow letting Glinda and/or Fiyero know she's alive before leaving, or (hope against hope) that she takes Glinda with her), but it's still far too early to tell what they might've gone with. I just hope that at least wrote it better than it was originally. The image of Elphaba riding out of Oz on horseback across the desert would certainly be striking, no matter which option they chose.

[vavuska]

In the 2025 reimagining, Snow White is referred to by the Magic Mirror as someone who is "pure as snow".

Snow White has ALWAYS been about purity of soul, it just used a thing called subtlety.

Snow White is NOT only about physical beauty, but also inner beauty. Snow White is kind, compassionate, humble, while the Queen is a sadistic and tyrannical figure in the tale. The mirror meant inner beauty all the time, but the Queen, who was vain and cruel, didn't understand this, because to her being a beautiful person meant only having a good look. So, she ordered Snow White's murder. It's unbelievable that no one get this.

Historically, fairy tales have been critical to children's values and moral development. Their goal is to communicate a value, because fairy tales were invented to help children know how to be good people.

Here are some of the key themes and lessons that can be derived from Snow White:

The Dangers of Vanity: The Evil Queen's obsession with beauty and her jealousy toward Snow White illustrate the dangers of vanity and the destructive nature of envy. It teaches that inner beauty and kindness are more important than outward appearances.

The Value of Kindness and Friendship: Snow White's relationships with the seven dwarfs highlight the importance of friendship, loyalty, and kindness. The dwarfs protect and care for her, demonstrating that genuine relationships are built on mutual respect and support.

Resilience and Perseverance: Snow White’s ability to endure hardship and maintain her goodness, despite the Evil Queen’s attempts to harm her, conveys a message of resilience. It suggests that maintaining one's integrity and goodness in the face of adversity is a virtue.

The Consequences of Evil: The story ultimately shows that evil deeds lead to downfall. The Evil Queen's malicious actions result in her own destruction, reinforcing the idea that wrongdoing will eventually have consequences.

The Importance of Trust: Snow White’s decision to trust the dwarfs and later the prince reflects the importance of trusting the right people. It underscores that while caution is necessary, trusting those who have proven themselves can lead to positive outcomes.

Transformation and Redemption: The ending of the tale, where Snow White is awakened by true love’s kiss, can symbolize the transformative power of love and redemption. It suggests that love can conquer evil and bring about positive change.

Overall, these lessons contribute to the timeless nature of "Snow White," making it relevant across generations.

The moral of Snow White's story is “Vanity will not take you far, but kindness will”.

So, the post is promoting the same nonsense we are seeing since the cast names came out: Gal Gadot is hotter than Rachel Zegler. As if Rachel Zegler isn't a beauty herself.

Plus, Rachel Zegler has spoken against Palestinian genocide and Gal Gadot is an enthusiastic Zionist who served in the Israeli army (like everyone in the state, but I don't want to victimize her by saying she has been plagiarized since childhood). However I don't think here is political.

Edit - 17th march 2025

Gal Gadot is reportedly annoyed by the drama surrounding the live-action ‘SNOW WHITE’ film.

A source says, “She enjoyed filming. She was fine with Rachel [Zegler] but they are not friends. They have nothing in common... They did a job together and that’s it.”

The source also added, “[They] have a huge age gap and very different political views.”

Gal Gadot is an industry plant. Some people is saying that she can’t act, she can’t sing, and she can’t dance. Ok, I don't agree that she can't act. Actually, I liked her both as Wonder Woman and Linnet Ridgeway in Death on the Nile (2022). I agree that singing and dancing are BASIC skills that an actor in a Disney movie should have. I NEVER NEVER saw Gal Gadot dancing or singing.

And it’s funny how Disney adults are calling this movie “woke” because Rachel Zegler isn’t white. GAL Gadot isn’t white either! According to Zionist mythology, she’s ‘Semite’. So now we have two brown women in traditionally white roles, but y’all are only throwing a fit over Rachel Zegler? The one who can actually do it all —act, sing, and dance—you know, the basic skills required for a musical?

On the other hand Rachel Zegler is a theater kid: She sings, she dances, she acts. So why pair her with Gal Gadot of all people? Did no one else want the role? Because that’s what it’s looking like. If I would be cynical I would comment that this looks like a political move Disney did to not piss Zionist and pro-Palestinians activist at the same time.

This is my opinion.

[thewertsearch]

@manorinthewoods asked: Vriska and Eridan have now killed one person each. Tavros and Feferi's respective moons have been destroyed; as such, they cannot be revived via dream selves or the moon-crypt slabs. What do you think will happen now? ~LOSS (18/5/24) @manorinthewoods asked: Welcome to Murderstuck, aka Homestuck's version of Canaan House. Who do you think's going to survive this? ~LOSS (22/5/24) Anonymous asked: tavros and feferi are D----EAD! do you think they'll stay dead? you've already stated your opinion that there are death flags like crazy all over vriska, so do you think anyone else will die? if so, who? Anonymous asked: Now that the bodies have started to hit the floor, what's your prediction for who's gonna survive to meet the humans?

I'm actually doing to do something a little different this time, and analyze the situation primarily from an author's perspective, rather than an in-universe one. I had a lot of fun doing that with yesterday's Kanaya post, so I want to try it again.

Let's enumerate the remaining trolls, in ascending order of how likely I think they are to kick the bucket (😳) during Murderstuck.

There's no chance whatsoever that Sollux will die. His Doom prophecy is fulfilled, and if he were to die a third time, it would break his long-established duality theme. Plus, he'd have predicted it, and would have been complaining about it since Hivebent. He's fine.

Death flag score: 0/10.

We just got Aradia back. She's not even involved in Murderstuck, seemingly travelling to the Furthest Ring after being resurrected, so none of the murderers can touch her anyway.

Aradia is a powerful time manipulator who can freeze even the most dangerous enemies. It would take a lot more than Eridan and Gamzee to defeat someone who can stalemate Perfect Jack, and I predict that she'll survive the rest of the Act with ease.

Plus, killing her again so soon would feel really cheap. Been there, done that.

Death flag score = 0.5/10

Karkat and Terezi are too important to die.

This doesn't always guarantee a character's survival - A Song of Ice and Fire comes to mind - but ASOIAF kind of proves my point, doesn't it? Martin can throw all the Red Weddings he likes at us, but everyone still kind of knows that the really important characters aren't going to die until their arcs are complete. If A Dream of Spring ever actually comes out, Daenerys will still be around, and you can take that to the bank.

So no, I don't think Karkat and Terezi will be going anywhere. Now that Kanaya appears to be dead, they're undeniably the most important trolls remaining, alongside Vriska. And we'll get to Vriska.

Death flag score: 1/10.

I know it's weird to predict that an already deceased character won't die, but I wrote an entire post last night about why I believe this to be the case.

tl;dr: it doesn't make narrative sense for Kanaya to stay dead.

Death flag score: 2/10.

Now, we're onto the characters who I think might actually die.

Gamzee's still alive at the end of the countdown, so he'll at least survive the next couple of hours.

Certainly, his position seems rather precarious. His stated intent to wipe out the entire Veil will make him a lot of enemies very quickly - and based on the image above, he clearly gets into some sort of trouble. That scratch almost looks like it could be the work of Jack's sword.

However, I have a hard time believing the Most Important Character In Homestuck is going to die less than halfway through Homestuck. He's been saying all sorts of cryptic nonsense lately, and he strikes me as someone whose role in the story will expand even more than it already has. Gamzee is the one character on this list we know will stay relevant for the entire comic.

I don't think he's going to achieve his murder mission, of course. I think he'll probably be 'defeated' somehow, and expelled from the Veil by the surviving trolls, only to pop up again sometime later. There's still a chance that he'll be killed - but if he is, I'm 100% sure that he'll return in some form. Gamzeesprite would be even worse than Calsprite, in my opinion.

Death flag score: 3/10.

Yes, I still believe Vriska will die - but I don't know if she'll die in Murderstuck.

Scratch positioned her as someone who will perpetuate a monumental, large-scale mistake, and I don't think there's anything she could do on the Veil that fits the bill.

However, Vriska is more imaginative than I am. She could easily pull a trick out from up her sleeve that I didn't see coming - some terrible, horrible idea that earns all of Scratch's foreshadowing in one fell swoop. Vriska is known for her Incidents, and you never know when the next one is on the horizon.

Death flag score: 4/10.

There's not a lot tying Equius and Nepeta to the Veil, is there?

They don't have strong relationships any of the remaining trolls, and even among the B-team, they've barely had any prominence since we've left Alternia. Killing one or both of them would up the stakes of Murderstuck without introducing the narrative issues that, say, a dead Karkat would cause.

Plus, if one of them dies, then the other would immediately gain an incredibly strong motivation, and become a more prominent character overnight. I already like Nepeta - but a heartbroken, vengeful Nepeta hunting Eridan down across time and space? That's a fucking arc.

They could also both die, and return to the story from another direction. It hasn't escaped my notice that almost all the 'important' trolls are Prospit Dreamers, and the two Furthest Ring explorers are Derse girls. I've been wondering for a while now if the solution to the Veil's bloated cast is to split the trolls back into the Red and Blue Teams, with the Red Team joining the kids outside the session, and the Blue Team joining Aradia in the Ring for some secondary mission. I guess that implies Tavros will be resurrected, but there do seem to be hints that that might happen.

I don't want either of these two to die, but... well, killing them would raise a lot of interesting possibilities.

Death flag score (both of them together): 6/10

Death flag score (one of them) : 7.5/10.

Eridan is screwed.

Neither the story nor the trolls can allow him to ally with Jack and lead him to the Veil, and they'll do anything they can to stop him. I don't think anyone's inclined to show him mercy, either - Kanaya and Feferi were very popular.

I don't really see any way out for him. He has no allies, he can't Hopesplode everyone at once, and he's never shown himself to be particularly resourceful. I think if there's one troll practically guaranteed to be Murderstucked, it's him.

Death flag score: 9/10.

[athena-the-undestructible]

Time to finally explain my new OCs

Well to start, I have a duo of characters

The first is a sniper who acts stoic at a distance, doesn't interact much with others and barely thinks about the fact that she's killing other people, it's just a job to her and she will rarely question what she is doing.

Up close she gets really nervous since she's not got any people skills and doesn't want to give the wrong information to the wrong person, plus her fighting style isn't very good up close so she prefers to stay away.

The second is a Knife Wielder with both stabbing and throwing skills. She's got great people skills and can manipulate them slightly and she greatly enjoys the act of killing others.

However she's very oblivious to anything that isn't immediately around her and in general is unable to grasp the bigger picture and of course her knifes are allergic to anything long range.

These two are supposed to be foils to each other although I still gotta develop them a bit like giving them names and more reason to dislike each other.

There is also a story I'm trying to construct around these characters although that's very work in progress and I haven't even got a proper idea of what the latter half or end looks like.

The basic premise is that these two kill each other at the beginning of the story, however both of them wake up the next day as if they'd only suffered a slight injury and a job listing they've both taken without remembering.

So they'll have to work together and it's not going to make them reconcile in any way, these two will still hate each others but in some different angles maybe.

They will also work with two others during these jobs.

The first I'll mention is a woman who wields a revolver and dressed like an MiB agent. She's been doing these mysterious job listings for longer and believes in some overall grand scheme that connects all of these.

She's initially supposed to give off mysterious vibes like maybe she did used to be an agent and she knows more than she lets on although this is supposed to be torn away as the plot moves forwards.

She doesn't have any more information than the other two but unlike them who don't think much further than what's happening to them, she's trying to piece together the grand scheme that she believes she's part of .

Her intense desire to be part of something important and her idealism is also why she has the secret agent theme despite never being part of any secret services.

And then we have the other one, the transgender robot I mentioned in a previous post.

So her cover "story" is being an assassin so dedicated to her career that she invested in cybernetics to improve her skill and become more efficient.

This is a total lie and quite the opposite, she's really a combat android who's been using her earnings to gain the appearance of humanity (hense the whole transgender part since she definitely wasn't a girl before).

She's also the total opposite of agent in that she has zero stakes in these missions and her enthusiasm goes as far as her payment.

This includes her inability to die like humans do which will be relevant and means she can just fuck off at any time.

Anyway that's all of them, I still haven't come up with their names (Once I can't make puns, I start to struggle) so maybe people could suggest them but I hope you enjoy these character concepts and would like to see me develop them.

My brain is also currently falling apart so I may have got something wrong, anyway that's all for now.

[korekiyoshinguj1]

!!! Spoilers !!!

Guys. The newest chapters have only proven Dess knight theory WRONG, and I can explain why.

For starters, the antlers. These are pretty obviously meant to lead you towards the Holiday family in general, and by process of elimination, Dess seems the most likely candidate, right? WRONG. One of the lines if you choose to watch the knight is saying that they "took off their helmet". Now, i personally don't know too much about armour but I feel like the antlers are misdirection, because it feels like it would be difficult realistically to make a helmet shaped around antlers, and also they could very much be for intimidation purposes, and possibly to trigger Kris by making them think of Dess?

So, how do we determine who the knight is? Well, lets look at what we do know of the knights appearance:

Shoulder pads, holes in hands- probably relating to Gaster, since he's iconic for that, roundish, semicircle shaped chest, unnatural waist area that's incredibly thin and seems more like a bone, jutting hips, and slightly longer than average legs.

Now, let's look at my personal favourite Knight candidate:

Shoulder pads, covers his hands, has some relation to Gaster, roundish, semicircle shaped chest, unnatural waist area that's incredibly thin and seems more like a bone, jutting hips, and slightly longer than average legs.

I think we all see where I'm going here.

I also feel like it's not too out of character for Toby to write it this way, since Undyne, Toriel, Asgore, Asriel, and sans have all been incredibly relevant to the story, and the timing is lining up extremely well. Notably, during the segments of Chapter 4 when you can move around Hometown, Papyrus isn't at home. Why isn't he at home?? And why is that perfectly timed for when the Knight is making dark fountains?

He's got good motives, he's got the timing, he's got GOOD MOTIVES. He's the perfect candidate in every way, plus hardly anybody suspects him because of him using Dess as a distraction.

There's also the way that sans has managed to infiltrate Kris's home life so easily, and then there's the usual amount of evidence towards the Papyrus Knight theory as well, but you're probably better watching a YouTube video on that, since I'm just yapping here and would probably miss something.

I'm STILL not finished chapter 4 so if the Knight turns around at the end and says "Nyeh he he" then I guess I'm awesome or smth, but if the knight says "I... Am Dess." Then well i guess I'll die.

Anyway:

Kris: I have just one question... Why do the dark worlds make me blue?

Knight, taking off helmet: Because that's what my special attack does!!

I also think there's something to be said with Deltarune having a lot of themes with fantasy vs reality, and Papyrus being the main antagonist, with this Papyrus being one grounded in reality as opposed to his Undertale counterpart.

OH AND THE SUPERSPEED/TELEPORTING.

This has gone on WAY too long I'm sorry.

Anyway Papyrus Knight canon

[taylorklosscomeout138]

More Uno things. 108 Uno cards in a deck. July 11, 2023 plus 108 days was Oct 27, 2023 or 1989 TV release. 👀 So keeping an eye on Aug 22, 2025 as the date 108 days after Karlie posted her Uno pics on May 6, 2025.

OH MY GOD !!

THIS IS SUCH AN AMAZING CATCH AND IT HAS LED ME TO DISCOVER SM MORE....

Here's the proof for everyone to see that yoh are correct as well as all my new findings !!!

108 days after Taylor's Uno game which was July 11th 2023 was the 1989 TV release which took place on a music Friday

108 days after Karlie posted her Uno which was May 6th 2025 will be August 22nd 2025, which is also a music Friday AND the closest Friday to the original Lover release (8/23)

However, the version of Uno that Taylor was playing was Uno Flip which on the contrary has 112 cards, framing into the 112 day theory which she continued with using around this time since the distance between Speak Now TV release and 1989 TV release was exactly 112 days.

112 days after she dropped TTPD was also the 1 year anniversary of her announcing 1989 TV when Karlie was at Eras Tour

Specifically 112 days after July 11th 2023 was HALLOWEEN. Which plays into the Jack O' Lantern anon that did predict a lot...

But here's what really gets me. Taylor has used multiples of 112 for time gaps too. And 112 x 8 = 886.

What was the card numbers in the hand being held that Karlie deliberately showed?

886... which was Chiefs themed and is code for "No 87" because there's an 88, an 86, and no 87. But it's also it's own time gap:

Because exactly 886 days after Taylor attended that Uno event July 11th 2023 is Taylor's 12/13 birthday this year.

Which has led me to conclude that at least one of the purposes of the +2 was to refer to +2 years after..... 2023 to 2025.

Back to the original point, I really think 100% now that 8/22/2025 will be the release date for the next TV album or at the very least some kind of significant event likely to do with her music !! It feels right

I also found that if she does Debut TV and Rep TV 3 months apart like she did Speak Now TV and 1989 TV... then this could be a potential date for the other....

Because I decided to do multiples of 108 as well, and 108x8 is 864. In which 864 days after Taylor's Uno game is Nov 21st 2025 which falls on a music Friday

November was the original release month for Rep TV and I believe Debut TV will come before Reputation so this checks out for me.

Debut TV - 8/22/25

Rep TV - 11/21/25

Also 283 days after Taylor's Uno event was the release date of TTPD.

583 days after was the 10 year anniversary of the Best Best Friends interview this year

108 x 2 = 216 days after was just about the 9 year anniversary of Best Best Friends

883 days after is just about the 1 year anniversary of the last time Taylor posted on her instagram, concluding the Eras Tour.

Which seems relevant because 108 x 2 = 216 days after Karlie's Uno event which is the 1 year anniversary of the date Eras ended

There is probably so much more that I missed but what do y'all think about all of this?!?! I really feel strong about those album release dates and they fit the same pattern of prior release so time will tell!

[evilkitten3]

#i think mdr also doesnt rlly care abt younger ppl's opinions sdffggfds#he's like. old man shakes his fist at a cloud#he is so OLD and i think he believes that its part of why he must be right#like ... he has all this experience. he has lived an extensive life#tried and failed to make 'teamwork' (cooperation) work#so for him it is. it seems naive probably of naruto to believe that this would work#(it is notable tho that he SEES that the shinobi villages are cooperating. he mentions this Twice actually the other time is#right after his edo tensei resurrection. its the very first thing he remarks upon being faced w the alliance#that theyre all wearing the same headbands but they seem to be coming from different villages#this kind of .. does blow his mind. but its too late for him to take on a new ideology Now ^_^#he has to go thru with it. he's so smart and so sexy after all <3 he has to be right. and they must be wrong#bc he has lived and seen that any alliance will just fall apart at the end and so thats why theyre 'pathetic' at the end of the day anyway)#it is very funny tho i think asfgdfdgd#bc obt is like out there screaming and arguing with everyone. and mdr is like ummm who the fuck cares. LMAO#lets beat the shit out of each other and whomstever wins. that one's the one that has rights. and IS right w their ideology#i also do think its notable that team 7's 'teamwork' doesnt actually manage to bring him down BUT#their teamwork does lead to the defeat of kaguya. so. i feel like at the end of the day#u can still say that the teamwork/cooperation ideology is the winner here#bc they get to have a future and konoha continues to exist. whereas mdr fucking explodes and then dies. lmao#so the narrative does. still prove him wrong albeit indirectly

1000% true he only cares about opinions of the youth (hehe) when said youth can shatter his ribcage. and even then he's still more interested in getting kicked again

alternatively i think he might find it somewhat amusing that the way to get everyone to cooperate turned out to be. having them all be really really really about-to-shit-themselves scared of him (obito but that's that same thing as far as he's concerned). moreover, if the only time they can work together is when they have a common opponent, then as soon as that opponent is defeated (entirely hypothetical ofc bc he's perfect and about to become the second sage and can't be stopped ever) then they'll just. go back to fighting each other. which just proves his original point (it in fact does not, but since he never tells anyone anything there's no one who can point out the itty bitty teeny weeny gaping massive gloryhole flaws in his logic such as that. while they can't prove that that's not true. he also can't prove that it is.)

your logic concerning the narrative is technically correct but unfortunately madara operates on his own crazy caveman logic, and while team seven can do. basically jackshit to stop him, as soon as kaguya takes over, they manage to beat her, which i think madara could easily interpret as black zetsu sacrificing madara to bring back someone weaker than him (did kaguya survive maito gai? no. did she survive a living full-power hashirama? no (neither did madara but pointing that out will just make him hard again). as far as he cares, all kaguya did was show up, steal his body via black zetsu hax, and then get pummeled by three teenagers, some corpses, and obito's ex. all of whom tried and failed miserably to stop madara).

now, technically, madara is crazy so his own potential thoughts on All That should be irrelevant.... if that had been the final battle. but the final fight of the series is naruto vs sasuke, and whoever is stronger is the most correctest, ultimately just. proving madara's power-over-all stance to be the correct one (i guess you could argue that naruto worked with kurama? but. idk kurama still doesn't really have the ability to just. leave. so i would at the very least have an asterisk there, personally)

wait so, as the holders if the most and 2nd most insane naruto characters, what did madara and obito have to say about team 7 dynamics ??

As a past memeber of team 7 Obito's opinion doesn't count cause he thinks kakashi's gremlins are the only normal people in the world. I don't remember Madara saying anything on the dynamics of team 7 but I'm not an authority on the matter so I turn it over to my resident Madara Scholars @evilkitten3 and @narutoenjoyer5000

[johanna-swann]

The one part of the story I'd still like to see is the year when Snow becomes president. He was a Gamemaker before he went into politics right? So that year must've been incredibly important to him, those were the games that had the potential to make or break his career.

We know how much politics are involved in being a Gamemaker already, especially if you're in some sort of executive position or even Head Gamemaker. The games are a tool that helps control the districts and the Capitol and the Gamemakers are aware of that. It's their job to use this tool in the most efficient way possible.

We also already know how the feud between Snow and District 12 started, we know how it ended, we know how the torch was passed from one generation to the next and how different people over the decades contributed even if it went unseen and unrewarded.

The part that is missing is how Snow went from a somewhat gifted student to actually becoming the president of Panem.

So if we got another prequel from the perspective of someone outside the arena, someone with connections in the Capitol and knowledge about the games - either a mentor or another Gamemaker maybe - and who witnesses Snow's campaign that could be an incredible last puzzle piece.

To keep the connection to District 12 the narrator could either be a mentor who coaches 12's Tributes or a Tribute who allies themselves with someone from 12 or someone who rose from working with/in 12 to a more relevant Gamemaker like Plutarch. (Ideally I think it'd be someone outside the arena who already has connections in the Capitol, not a child who sees the Capitol for the first time and is mostly occupied with staying alive.)

One of the themes could be how - just like the rebellion wasn't organised in one day by one person - Snow's dictatorship also didn't come to be without a lot of people who supported him for a long time.

It would take place at a time where they were still working on reforming the games from simple slaughter into a media spectacle and before there was such a big pool of rebellious victors and other key players that there was any sort of organised resistance.

It would make for a neat number (3 og books plus 3 prequels) and fill the gap between Snow being basically a child himself and being the most powerful man in the country.

[need-him-pregnant-poll]

I can't believe I'm on the opposite side of the SPN fandom on this one, even though it was my home for so many years 😭 But, guys, please read the propaganda!! Dean may be the origin of Omegaverse but he does NOT want to get pregnant the way Wei Wuxian does. WWX literally told his husband that with how much sex they have, he should've been pregnant by now. I didn't even care for mpreg when I lived and breathed Dean Winchester, I only started to like (and now love) it when I met Wei Wuxian!! Please. I am begging you. Don't just choose Dean because you know him. Please read Wei Wuxian's propaganda. Plus, as someone mentioned before, even though Dean is the OG Omega, in-universe, we didn't even get canonically bi Dean. Like, the CW's too homophobic to make that a reality. But Wei Wuxian is canonically queer, canonically married to another man, and his desire to get pregnant has literally made it past CHINESE censorship multiple times. Just think about this for a second, guys. China does NOT allow ANY queer romance to be shown on television, be it animation or live-action, and censor it in other formats, too, and Mo Dao Zu Shi has been adapted into an animation, another animation (chibi spinoff), a live-action, a comic, AND an audio drama! And it also has a Japanese manga, a Japanese audio drama, AND a Japanese stage play!! And there's also a Chinese mobile game that was in development, but nobody's heard anything about that in some time. But you see! That's how powerful Wei Wuxian (the CANONICALLY queer PROTAGONIST) is!! And, also, the original novel is not censored, but many danmei authors have gone to jail for writing explicit danmei like MDZS. There were rumors a few years back that MDZS's author MXTX was in jail, too, but they were never confirmed. Either way, MXTX risked so much to bring us such a beautiful story, and it has so much to offer. I'm a literature major (a single class away from my bachelor's) and I have read so much literature, including and especially classics and "masterpieces". I am not lying when I say that Mo Dao Zu Shi should be recognized as a literary masterpiece, with very important and relevant themes on top of the incredible characters and romance. I honestly think everyone should read it. However, as much as I love it, I don't think that about Supernatural. SPN is wonderful, but MDZS blows it out of the water. Speaking, again, as someone who adores both. Dean is also my favorite character on SPN. So, guys, please just read the propaganda before you vote. I know you'll probably vote Dean anyway, but I know the majority of voters are not reading the propaganda, so. Please 🙏

.

[tbb-appreciation-week]

THE BAD BATCH APPRECIATION WEEK 2025 IS HERE!!!!!

TBB APPRECIATION WEEK is a week-long, prompt-based creation challenge to celebrate our love for the Batchers and the show. There are 7 groups of prompts—one for each day of the week—, which can be used, skipped, or combined in any way you’d like.

Each SFW group contains several tags as prompts. I did my best to group them having a vague theme in common. That's why some days have more prompts than others. When it comes to the NSFW prompts, there are 2 per day. You can find the complete list of prompts HERE.

Your work may contain one (or more!) of those tags. The idea is to give everyone as much creative freedom as possible. The participants can create works in any media they choose, including but not limited to: writing, art, edits, gifs, videos, playlists, cosplays, etc.

Also, people can participate as little or as much as they want, meaning that they don’t have to do ALL the days if they can't/don’t want to.

Collaborations are welcome and even encouraged. For example, if an artist and a writer want to work together, or a writer and a podficcer, or two writers, go for it!

When uploading TBB Appreciation Week content to your Tumblr blog, be sure to mention this blog and add the following hashtags:

#tbbaw 2025

#the tag(s) used

#medium (gifset, fic, podcast, fanart, etc.)

#trigger warnings, if applies. (Please do NOT to add “tw” in front or at the end but only use the word/trigger itself, because the way Tumblr tag blocker feature works, it makes it harder for people to block the right tag.) (List of trigger warnings)

#nsfw (only for NSFW content)

#any other relevant tags go here

Unlike previous years and considering that we're having an added purpose of this year, it's vital to contribute to the AO3 collection to canonize those tags—the prompts. This is the link (will be open on Sep 09/07), and you should use the prompts, plus TBB Appreciation Week 2025 and/or TBBAW 2025 as additional tags when posting.

PLEASE BE DILIGENT WITH YOUR TAGGING (both by mentioning the blog and putting the necessary tags). That'll ensure that your post will be reblogged on this blog. On Ao3, please, use the correct rating and warnings as well.

I'll do my best to reblogged everyone's posts in this blog, but if it passes 2–3 days and I haven't posted yours, please let me know.

If you are posting NSFW fics or art on Tumblr, I ask that you use the Keep Reading break to hide the NSFW portion of your work; and please, give the proper warnings.

There won't be censorship in this event, so everyone is free to create whatever they want. Participants are expected to hold judgment to themselves of others and their works, even if they don't agree with or find it repulsive. That means that harassment of anyone or anything that they post (even if said work is something you personally find morally reprehensible) WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. Anyone that breaks this rule will be banned from the event. Curate your own experience by blocking what upsets/squicks/triggers you, and leave everyone else alone. That's the importance of the correct tagging, as it says above.

Important!! Show support to other participants by liking, reblogging, AND commenting. If an author or artist has asked for constructive criticism (not the same as a comment, and with constructive being the keyword) you may give it. However, refrain to give any of the unsolicited kind, as it can be discouraging for the author or artist.

But most of all, HAVE FUN!!! This is meant to be a lay-back event to show love for our favorite characters.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

If you have questions, you can check out the F.A.Q post. But if you don't find there the answer you're looking for, send me a message to the ask box or a DM.

Thanks for reading, and happy creating!

Mod Mare 💙

[guusagi]

MCR Fanfic Rec/Review List!

tl/dr: This is an MCR slash fiction recommendation list with various ratings, multiple ships, AUs and sections; not only with summaries but also my non-spoilery thoughts. I'm going to be yapping a lot in this one. MINORS DNI (as in i cant stop you from reading these but no comments plz🙏) Section 1: Danger Days / Fabulous Killjoys Section 2: The Infamous Fics (for example: Unholyverse) Section 3: Desolation Row Section 4: Various MCR AUs Pairings listed: Frank/Gerard; Fun Ghoul/Party Poison; Jet Star/Party Poison; Jet Star/Party Poison/Fun Ghoul; Frank/Mikey; Pete/Patrick (from FOB)

Welcome and be warned (or enjoy), this is a pretty long and wordy list! I've been actively reading mcr fics for about a month and a half now, so I felt compelled to do something with all this energy. The idea for this blog post came to me because I had to share my newfound knowledge!!

Part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/guusagi/766055506866569216/mcr-fanfic-recreview-list-2

If you can't stand RPF (real person fiction), feel free to just browse the Danger Days section, as I personally think it's disconnected enough from the band to be enjoyable. I was uncomfortable with rpf at first but I ended up loving these fics so much I stopped caring lol! I will still mention how much real life is involved in each fic so there are more options with different levels of comfort for you.

The most common ship on this list will be Frerard, because not only it's the easiest to find, but also cus a lot of amazing fics are written about these two! I also included some Frikey, cus it's underrated in my eyes and so good! I also found some Rayrard and poly ships yay!

I will start with some Danger Days fics cus that's how I started reading MCR fandom fics, and I LOVE the setting of this album and the Killjoys comic series! Party Poison/Fun Ghoul is the main ship, but you’ll also find Party Poison/Jet Star! There's also a poly ship (Party Poison/Fun Ghoul/Jet Star).

I decided to also yap about the most infamous fics in the fandom, like Unholyverse and A Splitting of the Mind (plus a 3rd one). I was skeptical at first, but what a ride it was reading these fics!

I also included a few Desolation Row AUs cus there's not tons but I ADORE the music video and it makes for an interesting punk/rebellion theme.

And finally, I’ll highlight some other general AUs, as well as a few MCR as a band fics for those who enjoy rpf in particular. This is my longest section.

Please feel free to explore the full tags on AO3, as some fics might have stuff that's triggering to some. If you want to avoid smut I will specifically mention if there is any, sometimes we just want cute fluff! I also will mention if there's something iffy like an age gap, or non-con, I personally do not go out of my way to read either, but there are 2 fics on this list that include those.

Also I love longfics so this is gonna have a lot of stories with around or over 100k words.

The structure of each fic rec is as follows:

-Name of the fic, and the author. -Rating and if the fic includes smut. -The main pairing, as well as sub pairings if relevant to the story, also what type of AU it is. -Main POV, who’s the main character of the story! -Are the characters MCR? If the fic is written with mychem as a band similar to real life (also if it follows their trajectory in life, like their wives and kids, or if it’s an AU where those relationships don’t happen), or if they use the same irl names but are not in a band like an AU. In the case of the killjoys, if their ‘city names’ are the same as mcr or not. -Status is if they are completed fics, works in progress, or abandoned/on hiatus. I also added amount of chapters and word count, and if it's a oneshot or otherwise. -Links will send you directly to the fic on AO3, if it’s a collection of stories I link that instead. -My summaries are just what I personally thought was the main plot of the story. -Personal thoughts are my observations on the fic, how much I enjoyed it, what I found unique about this story, and my feelings overall. I also will specifically mention if the fic has a happy or angsty ending, for those who either enjoy or don’t enjoy sad endings. I love happy endings but I did give some sad endings a try, even if I don't go out of my way looking for them.

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Section 1: Danger Days AUs

This is how I got started with MCR fanfiction. I wanted to read fics about mcr and was uncomfortable with rpf at first (like I mentioned before, I got over the discomfort cus I ended up loving the non-DD fics as well). Danger Days is a super fun universe, and I really enjoy the idea of the Killjoys. I hope I picked a good variety of options!

Don't Need the System by LiberXI

Rating: Explicit (smut in final chapter) Pairing: Frerard - Party Poison/Fun Ghoul Main POV: Fun Ghoul Are the characters MCR?: No, but they use the same irl names. Status: Completed, total of 25 chapters and 144k words Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55799308 My Summary: This is a Party Poison origin story! Fun Ghoul gets captured by Bl/ind to reintegrate him into Battery City's society. Little does he know, the supervisor he's been assigned to is none other than Gerard, the face of Bl/ind's Propaganda! Gerard doesn't really know how human interaction works and shenanigans ensue. Personal Thoughts: This is actually quite the unique spin on the danger days formula compared to most I've read, where Party Poison is not yet themself but being an active part of the System! Gerard uses he/him pronouns throughout half of the fic, then they switch to they/them. Korse is sort of their guardian and grants them privileges most don't get. For example having a lot of luxuries, as well as being off pills. They are still mostly controlled and very naive about the world. Most of the fic takes place within Gerard's apartment, as Fun Ghoul is not allowed to leave. The writing is super compelling and you can't help but read the next chapter as soon as you finish the previous one! The relationship between Gee and Ghoul starts off on the wrong foot but it's honestly super cute after that. I'm still actively reading this one, so once this story is complete I’ll attach an updated review.

Edit 10/23/24: So the fanfic JUST ended! I read the final chapter today and man, yep, there was smut alright! There's only smut in the final chapter, so you're safe if you want to avoid those types of scenes (also I want to warn that there is usage of the f-slur in one portion of the final chapter, but it's used with consent). My thoughts on the story have not changed, I still love it to bits!! I'm sad that it's already over but that's life for you haha, all things come to an end. If you are iffy about reading WIP fics, now you can totally read this one start to finish!

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I Believe We're the Enemy by Test_subject_306

Rating: Mature (no smut) Pairing: Party Poison/Fun Ghoul Main POV: Fun Ghoul Are they MCR?: No, only Frank is mentioned by his real name. Status: Completed, 39 chapters and 104k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8097178 My Summary: Party Poison gets captured by Korse, and is presumed dead by Fun Ghoul and the others. However, Party returns in an altered state, completely brainwashed. It's up to Ghoul and the others to get the old Party back... will they succeed? Personal Thoughts: Good god, this one was a wild ride! I actually had to take breaks to read a softer/less angsty fic between chapters, cus man this story HURT. Party Poison is brainwashed as all hell, and pretty nasty with the others... A fair warning, I think it's important to mention that this does NOT have a happy ending, but man the ride was so worth it! It's sort of an open-ended conclusion. If you read A Splitting of the Mind, that's how I'd describe the ending's structure.

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Graffiti On Your Grave by Honestmouse (Part 1 of "Sing It Out")

Rating: Teens and Up (implied scenes but no smut.) Pairings: Party Poison/Fun Ghoul & Jet Star/Kobra Kid Main POV: Various! Are they MCR?: No, they use unique names. Status: WIP; 3 out of 4 parts have been completed so far, with a 4th one in the works. As of 09/16/2024 there has been a collective total of 64 chapters and 269k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1909105 My Summary: Post-SING music video, our Killjoys are near death when they get rescued by an underground resistance in Battery City. This story takes place after The Girl is safely secured. They navigate their new home, and meet many new people, most notably The Youngbloods. Personal Thoughts: The world-building in this one was awesome! A new place to navigate, a lot of characters to meet, and overall a compelling story! I was pleasantly surprised that our killjoys had their own original names and not just the usual MCR band member's names. This really helped with keeping the immersion, especially if you enjoy Danger Days fanfics cus of the ease of separation. This is also only part 1 of a series called Sing It Out, and I'm not done with reading the others yet!

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Tongue Tied, In Distress by tired_stressed

Rating: Not Rated (there's only implied sexual content, aka ‘fades to black b4 they bang’ kinda deal, so I’d personally say teens and up) Pairing: Fun Ghoul/Party Poison/Jet Star (yep, it’s poly over here!) Main POV: Fun Ghoul Are they MCR?: No, and only their killjoy names are used. Status: Unfinished with no updates since 2023, 31 chapters and 152k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41650503 My Summary: Fun Ghoul and Jet Star reconnect after losing each other as kids. Ghoul also HATES those from Battery City, which is ironic because it was thanks to Party Poison and Kobra Kid that he gets to see Jet again. Ghoul has to reluctantly accept a deal between them, and they somehow end up teaming up for longer than he expected. Personal Thoughts: Despite this being an unfinished/maybe abandoned story, I still wanted to recommend it! I honestly really enjoyed the writing, and how much Ghoul HATED Poison's guts at first. This is sort of an enemies to lovers trope for Ghoul and Party, while being a childhood friends to lovers trope for Ghoul and Jet. Also not to mention how it's the only poly relationship I found and read from the fandom so far. I can't delve deeper into it without spoiling so that's all! Plz read it!!

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doesn't have to all be destruction by spelling bee

Rating: Mature (implied sexual content, no smut) Pairing: Party Poison/Jet Star & pre-established Kobra Kid/Fun Ghoul Main POV: Jet Star  (for once, poor Ray is never the main character) Are they MCR?: No, they use unique city names. Status: Completed, 26 chapters and 156k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17909432 My Summary: In this universe, people can manifest superpowers! Bl/ind wants to find them all and train them to work for the government, but Poison and Kobra manage to escape without their powers being revealed. Fun Ghoul has been abandoned in the desert since he was young, and Jet Star is an agent for Bl/ind, although reluctantly. Poison, Kobra and Ghoul team up as teenagers, and when Poison gets captured for conversion, Jet Star helps them escape, and decides to join them. It's up to Jet to figure out how to live in the desert, and perhaps become a killjoy himself. He also needs to learn how to control his strange superpower... Personal Thoughts: This fic was recommended to me by a fellow mcrmy friend! I really enjoyed the plot, not to mention the fact that it has some rareships imo! It’s so refreshing to have the protagonist be Jet Star/Ray for a change! Party Poison/Jet Star is really not explored very often, and what a shame cus with Poison's sass and energy, and Jet's kindness and..grounded..ness, it makes for a nice dynamic where they compliment each other very well! Fun Ghoul/Kobra Kid is already an established relationship, which is a nice change of pace, though I sort of felt disappointed that we only got a bit of backstory on how they got together cus, they're so stinkin cute (and later I came to learn that I just love frikey..)! Also the sexual content is only implied, so you're safe if you don't want to read smut.

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Overall Thoughts on this Section:

And that wraps up my Danger Days AUs, there are MORE I've read/completed, but I wanted to highlight the ones I thought were either unique, and/or have very decent writing. Danger Days and the Killjoys make for an excellent background for fiction, and many people have created self-inserts and OCs. There's probably plenty of original killjoy character fics that I haven't found yet.

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Section 2: THE BIG THREE!

I wanted this next section to focus on three very (in)famous fanfics from the MCR fandom. I started reading Unholyverse sorta ironically, expecting a My Immortal moment, but I was super pleasantly surprised! After finishing that series, I decided to read the other two and man I'm glad I did. So yeah, whatever I say here may be nothing new but I wanted to share my thoughts on them!

So, without further ado..!

Unholyverse by Bexless

Rating: Mature (lotsa blood, especially in Part 1, there's eventual smut at part 3 i think? i forgor...) Pairing: Frerard - Priest!Gerard/Body Piercer!Frank (with sub-pairing Mikey/Ray) Main POV: Frank Are they MCR?: No, they use MCR's irl names but this is an AU with no relation to the band. Status: Completed, 5 parts total and 186k words. Link: Republished on AO3 by bexless, separated by the main parts (full collection: https://archiveofourown.org/series/9795) My Summary: Frank works in a tattoo shop as a body piercer, training under Bob (Bryar) to become a tattoo artist. Mikey works as their receptionist, and Brian is the owner of the shop. Ray is sort of a hair stylist and makes herbal concoctions I guess?? Frank's world turns upside down, when he gets himself a mysterious tattoo one night from a stranger that is itching him badly...suddenly he's bleeding all over?? He also meets Gerard, Mikey's brother, who's hot and also a priest, oops! I guess they also have to travel together and vanquish demons as a team?! (If you know of the movie Stigmata, this is basically the plot of that movie apparently? I didn't watch it myself) Personal Thoughts: I have a lot to say about this one. Due to the nature of Gerard's job as a priest, this story has MANY discussions about religion, specifically Catholicism. If you aren't comfortable with that, I understand if you skip. My personal relationship with religion is that my family is Catholic, but my parents are non-practicing so the most we've done was attend Church for weddings and Easter? I also went through Communion. I personally do not identify with the Catholic faith, but I still managed to enjoy this fic a lot and was glad I gave it a chance. It's really hard to find where to begin with this one, cus honestly... this was one of the best fanfictions I have ever read, period! Which is shocking to me cus when there's a famous fic in a fandom, it's usually because it's like, My Immortal or something (aka so bad it's good). Rarely have I seen popular fics with genuinely high quality writing. This could also be cus I do not interact with fandoms much and have always kept my distance? The writing was genuinely clever and quick-witted, as well as super compelling. I'm a fairly calm reader and don’t often react out loud to things I read, but I found myself cry-laughing at many parts of Unholyverse. Maybe it's cus it took itself a little bit more seriously due to the era it was written in, and it could be seen as cheesy by today's standards. I also just think the writer is very good at writing funny dialogue, maybe it wasn’t taking itself that seriously after all (idk im neurodivergent lmao). The characters feel so believable, and I found myself seeing them as completely original characters pretty quickly. The relationship between Frank and Gerard is SO slowburn it hurts, but it hurts so good! The tension and pining is crazy, and I wish I could say more but I don't want to spoil!! I want to revisit this fic again soon, in fact I'm itching to re-read it now! This story is so good I wish for it to be published one day with changed names to make it original. Also, Fall Out Boy is in this fic LOL!

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A Splitting of the Mind by Shoved2agree

Rating: Explicit (smut mostly at the end, this is a mental institution AU so fair warning) Pairing: Frerard Main POV: Gerard Are they MCR?: No, they use their irl names but no relation to the band. Status: Completed, 21 chapters and 144k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/535958 My Summary: We follow Gerard, a mental institution patient, who believes he's the only normal one there. Gerard believes there is a group of people who want to kill him, so he has selective mutism to keep “them” from finding him. There he meets Frank, a new addition to the ward, and instantly feels a connection with him he's never felt with another person before. The story is very psychological so be warned. It's not a fluffy story at all, and doesn't have a happy ending, but it's at the very least a hopeful one! Personal Thoughts: What isn't there to say about this one..? It's also in my top list of fanfiction in general. It's a truly well-written story, you think you start to understand how Gerard's mind works, and then you don't. It's not a spoiler to say that he suffers from Schizophrenia, he's just completely unaware of it, or in denial it's hard to say. The way his inner thoughts are described are very compelling, I personally do not know anyone who suffers from this condition, nor do I know much about how it works, so I will not judge which part of the portrayal was good or bad, but at the very least it didn't seem offensive and it seemed to be respectful. I actually got super immersed in his thought process and I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't at times, just like him. I can at least say that it didn't feel like it was glorified at all. Frank's reason for his admission to the institution is also super heartbreaking and raw. Overall this story was definitely not a happy one, but I truly enjoyed this fic, the ending was just, god my heart😭... one of the best written scenes in fiction, not even kidding. I highly recommend you read this if you can stomach a sad yet hopeful ending.

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The Anatomy of a Fall by novembersmith

Rating: Explicit (smut near the end of the fic, this is a high school AU and there’s an age gap (kind of, not really, can't say without spoiling) but Gerard is 18 from my understanding.) Pairing: Frerard Main POV: Gerard Are they MCR?: No, but they use the same names though. Status: Completed, 12 chapters and 107k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/155168 My summary: Gerard moves to a quiet town in the middle of nowhere with his mom and little brother Mikey. Imagine a sort of Forks in Twilight kind of gloomy and mysterious atmosphere. Gerard goes into the woods one day and meets a strange boy called Frank. He doesn't seem to go to their school despite being his age, or at least, he hasn't bumped into him yet. This boy is super cool but really mysterious, they become close friends quickly and hang out together after school in the forest. There are also a lot of strange acts of violence happening in this town, and Frank wants to find out what is going on in this weird small town. Personal Thoughts: There's a twist that's hinted at super early and kind of obvious, this is a ghost story after all, but it doesn't ruin the experience at all. Gerard takes longer to realize what Frank's deal is than the reader but it's totally the point! This story was another great one from the line-up, and it DOES have a happy ending, yay! I really enjoyed the relationship between Gerard and Frank, the progression felt natural, and the mystery is great and has an excellent payoff methinks. The world building in this one was really good as well, I could totally picture this little town. Also, it comes with ''official'' art!

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Overall thoughts on this section:

I started off reading Unholyverse, assuming it was the most popular fic because it was similar to My Immortal in infamy. However, that could be further from the truth! Without repeating myself too much like in the review, it was super well written and compelling and I fell in love with this story! I also loved the other two I read. If I had to ''rank'' the fics to my personal preferences it would be something like Unholyverse > A Splitting of the Mind = Anatomy of a Fall. If you have been hesitant with reading these famous fics like I was, please give them a chance!  I do have to admit, I deliberately ignored “A Dove Keeper” due to its severe age gap. Let’s pretend there’s just 3 infamous fics ok??

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Section 3: Desolation Row AUs

I wanted to give the AUs based on the Desolation Row cover/music video some love! They are few and far between, which is a shame. This MV altered my brain chemistry not gonna lie, it was one of the best looks for the band imo. These fics are mostly oneshots, but on the lengthier side!

Truth on the Airwaves by stoplightglow

Rating: Mature (implied sexual content, no smut) Pairing: Frerard Main POV: Gerard, but it switches out of his POV often. Are they MCR?: Despite it being an AU, i’d say yes. They call themselves My Chemical Romance and sing their songs. Status: Completed, Oneshot with 34k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15704250 My Summary: This is a prequel to the Desolation Row music video, it also includes a ‘what happens after’ epilogue. Gerard is an office worker in a boring job, but the government is censoring the world more and more, they even banned booze and fun apparently! Gerard and company decide it’s time to take matters into their punk rock hands. This is an AU where MCR become a band to protest against censorship and illegally tour to spread hope and rebellion. With the help of a radio host, they spread their illegal music to the masses. They call themselves My Chemical Romance and create the Bullets album and more! Follow their shenanigans and see what happens :D Personal thoughts: This was the first desolation row fic I read, and man was it fun! This fic is transparent about the members being MCR, but it’s still an AU. The writing is super fun, Gerard is confused about how he feels about Frank throughout the fic in the cutest way possible. I love it! I also like the fact that they included what happens after they get arrested in the music video. It’s a happy ending yay!

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Heaven's Not About Your Reputation by impertinence

Rating: Mature (some smut) Pairing: Frerard Main POV: Gerard mostly. Are they MCR?: Pretty much yes! Still AU though. Status: Completed, oneshot with 28k words. (this might actually be one of the oldest fics on this list, from 2009) Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27280 My Summary: This is a collection of scenes with Gerard and the gang touring with their music, rebelling against the government and overall pissing off the cops. Gerard and Frank got some shit going on, after kissing each other to prove a point on stage, they’re confused about what this all means. Personal Thoughts: Not too much to say about this one, the writing is very good and is the main reason I recommend it. The scenes of their shenanigans are super entertaining too, lots of bickering and banter in this one! It’s quite short (for my standards) but definitely worth a read!

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Overall thoughts on this section:

There aren’t many fics here, as truthfully there isn’t too much to work with in Desolation Row, but the ones that I did read were pretty great! My personal headcanon is that this AU takes place before the apocalypse in Danger Days, as the government is starting to get super involved with people’s freedom of speech but isn’t completely controlling everyone just yet. I wanted to put this section before the other AUs, so that we can give our Desolation Row AUs some extra attention!

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Section 4: Various MCR AUs

Finally, I’ll be highlighting some other MCR AUs that don’t fit in a specific section. I’ll add an extra description for each one; like high school, or college, other jobs, childhood friends, enemies to lovers ect. This is also the section with the most recommendations so buckle in!

I'll start with some "MCR working at a store" AUs!

"that was easy" by metaleaterz aka The Staples Fic

Rating: Explicit (smut included) Pairing: Frerard & background Ray/Mikey Main POV: Frank Are they MCR?: No, they have their own separate paths in life. Status: Completed with 14 chapters and 88k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25903483 My Summary: Frank is in college and running out of money fast, Mikey tells him to apply to Staples and work there with him, Ray and Gerard. Brian is their manager too! Frank and Gerard's relationship blossoms from there and shenanigans ensue. This story was based on a tweet Frank posted about working at Staples one time, but just being high and not actually working much LOL. Personal Thoughts: This is actually another very popular fic, and was written in 2020! Most of the popular fics I've read were written before mcr's break up, so it was a pleasant surprise! This story was honestly super funny, the Staples setting is iconic asf, but the romance in this one was also extra cute and it was super satisfying when they finally get together hehe! I highly recommend this one, it also has excellent writing.

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Emotional Brilliance by kopperblaze

Rating: Mature (no smut) Pairing: Frikey (Frank/Mikey) & some poly?Lindsey/Ray/Gerard Main POV: Mikey (for once lmao) Are they MCR?: Nah, but Frank is part of a band and so is Ray. Status: Completed, Oneshot with 20k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/501146 My Summary: Mikey loves working at Lush, he really does. Despite his music career not working out for him, he loves working there with Ray. Unfortunately, Frank, who used to bully Gerard in high school, gets hired to work with them. Mikey hates his guts, but Frank is much more friendly than at school, maybe people do change..? Personal Thoughts: Finally some Frikey! (Hope the ship name is correct lol) No for real, I love frerard like everyone else, but frank/mikey is a close second. I'd like the ship even more if there were MORE FICS about them!! This one was pretty cute, and Mikey's hatred of Frank is super funny to me, because he really doesn't have a reason anymore, does he? Lush is also another funny setting, I can't imagine how they can stand the fruity smell in that store, it's so overpowering I never stepped into it much. This one was short but it felt complete! Anyways please give this one a try we need more frikey appreciation in this house!!!

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We Used To Be Friends by ladyfoxxx

Rating: Explicit (smut included near the climax/end) Pairing: Frikey; bassist!Mikey x School Teacher!Frank Main POV: Frank Are they MCR?: No, Mikey is a bassist for The Used and Frank is a school teacher. Status: Completed, Oneshot with 50k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/458760 My Summary: Frank used to be a part of a band before it split and ultimately ended his music career. Mikey managed to join The Used as their bassist, but Frank had not been contacted by him in years. Frank has since become a high school teacher, and one day Gerard finds a way to make the two reconnect! Mikey invites Frank to join them on their tour around Jersey during Spring Break, and he agrees reluctantly. Follow Frank on his tour as he navigates some old feelings and has a taste of what it's like to tour again. Personal Thoughts: Eeeek this was so cuuute! I usually don't read oneshots because I love me a longfic, but 50k words ain't nothing to sneeze at either. Also this fic made me fall in love with the frikey ship, like seriously it's too cute. I like Mikey's aloofness in fanfics, he's so deadpan in an endearing kind of way. I felt bad for Frank being insecure and it hit me a little too close to home cus he was so relatable haha. This is a fun story with some drama, but it ends happily! Honestly this fic will make you love this ship.

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When We're Both Thirty by Helena_Hathaway

Rating: Explicit (smut near the end) Pairing: Frerard (childhood friends, to enemies to lovers) Main POV: Frank Are They MCR?: Nope! Just the same names and a "if MCR wasn't a band" AU. (Gerard works in art for example) Status: Completed, 30 chapters and 84k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2757812 My summary: Gerard and Frank had been inseparable as little kids, they loved each other before they could put a name to it. They sign a contract saying if they don't get married at 30 years old, they will marry each other! Unfortunately they have a falling out and end up hating each other's guts throughout most of their school life, and lost contact after high school. They are both approaching 30... and their moms try to reconnect them once more. However, both Gerard and Frank still hate each other, so they both agree to help find themselves partners to avoid getting married! Personal Thoughts: This was a super fun story, I also devoured this one. It's like, an enemies to lovers too so one of my fave tropes hohoho! I love how supportive their moms were, so much so that they shipped their kids together! The writing was very solid, and these two are total idiots! I love when ppl write this ship as idiots in love, it's just so obvious they have a thing for each other but are holding old petty grudges. Their attraction towards one another, despite trying their darndest to still hate each other, is highly entertaining. I strongly recommend this one! It’s super sweet, funny and the payoff is so worth it!

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Before the Second Show by CharredLips

Rating: Teens and Up (no smut, this is a fluffy one) Pairing: Frerard (Bullets Era) Main POV: Frank Are they MCR?: Yes, but this is an AU where they don’t meet their irl partners. Status: Completed with 18 chapters and 75k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32276128 My Summary: This story is set during the Bullets era, and as the title suggests, it takes place during the very early days of MCR. Frank is the new addition to their band as they start their first tour, cramped van and all. However, he’s starting to have weird feelings about Gerard and is unsure what to do with them. Gerard is also feeling something but Frank is unaware that it's mutual. These two are complete idiots in love! This story also just follows the typical early 2000s band tour shenanigans; sleepless nights, driving all day and all night, eating junk food, getting wasted and smoking cigs, little to no showers etc. what's not to love?! Personal Thoughts: This is the only “true” rpf story on this list, the only difference is that in this AU Gerard and Frank don’t end up with their irl partners. Also this is a teens and up rated fic so you don’t have to worry about smut, perfect if you like the ship but don’t want to see em bang. I gotta say, this fic was SUPER FUCKING CUTE! Their mutual pining, how obviously they like each other and try to be near each other at every waking (and sleeping) moment, this is just so fun and precious. They’re so dumb, omg! I might be biased towards the idiots in love tag. There’s a lot of secretive intimacy (non-sexual) and hiding to do gay stuff together and man it was fun to read. I do wanna say tho Gerard has pretty bad self-esteem issues, and talks down on himself a lot, and it might hit a bit too close to home for some (like me). This one also has the cutest happy ending ever though!! Another banger!

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Did You Miss Me? 'Cus I Missed You by LiberXI

Rating: Explicit (smut with plot) Pairing: Frerard Main POV: Frank Are They MCR?: No, this is a college AU Status: Completed with 3 chapters and 35k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48104839 My Summary: Frank is starting college and is super excited to enjoy the freedom that comes with that. Mikey and Ray go to a college party with Frank, and he bumps into Gerard, who also lives on the same college campus as the others. They used to hang out a lot more back a few years ago, and Frank is super happy to see him again. While chatting it up and having a smoke together, Gerard and Frank realize that they had missed each other much more than they both expected. Personal Thoughts: This is the 2nd fic from LiberXI that I'd like to recommend, but it's also the most explicit I apologize lol. They wrote a lot more fics than I thought and found this little gem after reading the latest chapter of their DD fic (Don't Need The System). This is definitely a self-indulgent fic rec, it's short and sweet, with smut and their relationship is just rly cute and wholesome. So sort of fluffy smut?! IDK I just wanted an excuse to recommend this one here if anyone likes shorter fics, since I put so many long ones on this list lol. I also love this author's writing style a lot.

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The Calypso Initiative by theficisalie

Rating: Explicit ("activities of the alone variety" in some chapters, smut near the end) Pairing: Frerard (small age gap, Frank is 11 and Gerard is 16 when they meet; they don’t hang out much nor pursue each other till they’re both over 21) Main POV: Frank Are They MCR?: Nope this is a superhero/school AU Status: Completed with 20 chapters and 91k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/280176 My Summary: A superhero AU, where ppl with "mutations" are heavily monitored. They have to either work for the government or live in the streets as fugitives. Frank is 9 years old when his family abandons him, he is found by heroes-in-training Mikey and Gerard, and joins them in their school/compound which educates young mutants and teaches them to control their powers. Frank and Gerard's relationship becomes distant after Gerard becomes a part of an official hero team, and doesn't seem to have time for him anymore and is constantly ignoring him. Yet Frank still wants to join their team, will he succeed? Personal Thoughts: I was super hooked by this one! It's honestly a great story and the format is super satisfying. We follow Frank's journey from living with a group of other abandoned mutant children in the city, to learning how to control his unique powers at the compound, and growing into an adult who is ready to fight crime with his best friends (Gee, Mikey and Ray). I will say though, there is a bit of an age gap between Frank and Gee, Frank being the younger one. I feel like what the author did was pretty tame compared to other fics like a dove keeper (which is waaay worse like the age gap is 17/40 ew, sorry.) Gee and Frank are friends when they're younger and drift apart in between, interacting barely until Frank's 25-ish? So it doesn't feel predatory at all in my opinion. That's about as much as I'm willing to spoil, feel free to skip if any sort of age gap makes you uncomfortable!

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Marked like a bloodstain by drunkonyou

Rating: Teens and Up (no smut) Pairing: Frerard, with sub-pairing Rikey Main POV: Frank Are They MCR?: Nope, this is a vampire AU. Status: Completed, 12 chapters and 56k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29563299 My summary: This story is set in modern times (aka youtube, tiktok stuff is mentioned.) Frank and Ray work in a record store, and one day a tall pale man named Mikey asks to get hired for their night shift, and mentions having a brother with a chronic illness. He gets hired right away! One night, Frank goes to a haunted mansion, and there was Dracula working there, scaring guests...and he was really hot?! He comes back another night just to ask him out, and it's the start of something new! Personal Thoughts: Gosh this was a cute one too! I don't particularly seek out vampire stories, but this one also had a unique spin! Gerard and Frank's relationship is more angsty fluff, but it's so good!! I don't want to spoil much else, so that's all I've got to say! This is another one that's safe for the no-smut enjoyers.

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I am not the Phoenix that you wanted by GhostintheBathroom & Xygenscenic

Rating: Explicit (the first chapter has smut, then it cools down for most of the fic with smut sprinkled in more sparsely) Pairings: Patrick/Pete from FOB; Frerard and Ray/Mikey Main POVs: Various Are They MCR?: Yes and so is Fall Out Boy. AU story still! Status: Completed with 18 chapters and 98k words. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1659725 My Summary: SO this one is unique, it’s actually a Fall Out Boy / MCR / Danger Days crossover. FOB’s Patrick and Pete have an unhealthy relationship; Pete is always on and off with his current girlfriend, while also taking Patrick to his bed. One day, they are taken to the future of California in 2019, where they meet the Killjoys of Danger Days! Time-travel, dimension hopping, fighting hot babes who want to kill them. Courtney Love is somehow involved in all of this as well. This fic is a wild ride from start to finish! Personal Thoughts: This fic isn’t a pure MCR fic, if anything it focuses more on FOB’s Pete and Patrick, which is why I put this as my last fic rec. I still added it to my recommendation list cus it’s honestly one of the craziest, most unique plots I’ve seen in a while. I gave this story a chance despite me not being super familiar with FOB, and glad I did. The plot is absurd but somehow still able to keep its focus, the villains and overall premise are hilarious, and the way they tie together MCR and Danger Days is super unique. Give this story a read if you wanna have a great laugh and go through an emotional rollercoaster as well. The amount of times I laughed or gasped at certain reveals, really got me excited to recommend this one. My summary is super vague cus I don’t want to spoil the absurdity of some plot twists and reveals haha.

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Overall thoughts on this section:

This collection of fics were a super entertaining read. I honestly started out being weirded out by rpf fics of the band, but I quickly was able to suspend my disbelief and enjoy these stories as their own separate thing. AUs save the day once more! It might have helped that MCR as people have changed a lot since then, and they feel like a separate entity from their past selves. I also read so many of these that their irl names don't bother me anymore thanks to exposure therapy lmao!

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That concludes my MCR fic list!

Thank you so so much for reading, this took me a few weeks to work on and I'm so happy to finally be free from my shackles! I am still actively reading new mcr fics, probably until I get super sick of them like I did with ffxiv fics a few months prior. If you read this whole thing you're a trooper. I'm saved. I'm FREE!!

In conclusion: Thank you to the Danger Days album for starting this all; Frerard is an awesome dynamic for slash fiction; Frikey is so cute and underrated but is growing on AO3 from what I've seen; mildly embarrassed to admit I read mcr smut now; I'm cringe and I'm free; I know I'm having my teenager mcr fan phase at age 28 but I don't care! Anyways, enough yapping. Now I rest, thank you again!

[theresattrpgforthat]

hey what are some good zero-prep for players and good for one shot systems?

Theme: Zero-Prep Characters / One-Shots

Hello friend! I have some really fun games here that I think just produce straight-up Vibes for you to check out, although I also recommend checking out my Games To Run With Strangers recommendation post for some more great options.

Android Outbreak, by Munuxu.

Android Outbreak is a quick, skill/luck-based TTRPG that will have players taking the roles of escaped androids racing and battling their way towards an evac point on the other side of a megacity that is raised high in the sky above a burning miasma that's taken over the planet. 

Character creation is sleek, requiring one choice and a a roll or two to determine what your strengths are and how you are unique. Your goal is simple too - you just are trying to get out and get away. The game page itself is part of the rolling mechanics, with the lines on the page used to help measure at what distance you are throwing your dice onto the table. The GM is responsible for creating androids to pursue you as well as other obstacles such as weather events or events obstructing the streets. If you want a game that combines throwing skill with random chance, I recommend Android Outbreak.

Operation Final Monarch, by poorstudents.

A one-page espionage TTRPG in an alternate history 1940's. Assassinate Aleksander Von Korte on his opulent airship, The Watchful Luftrahmer.

Operation Final Monarch is a one-page Tabletop RPG for 4-6 players. One player will act as the GM, providing obstacles, portraying passengers, and describing the Watchful Luftrahmer. You play as Infiltrators, spies from the fallen countries around Arstarkan. Your final mission is to kill Aleksander Von Korte.

When situations get risky you gamble with danger and can always push your luck to try to succeed in any situation. Be careful not to roll a 1 though, as a devastating consequence will soon follow. Use can also use your leverage over the passengers of the Watchful Luftrahmer, asking them questions they don’t want to answer or enacting your special abilities.

Operation Final Monarch provides you with playbooks, which is one of the easiest ways to make the game little to no-prep for the players when they sit down to play. It also gives you a very specific goal - that of assassinating an important political figure while aboard a blimp. The setting is semi-historical, giving the players a frame of reference, but spices it up with elements like Machine Priests and steampunk technology.

Mechanically, the game uses a gambling mechanic that involves the GM rolling 1 dice publicly and 1 dice secretly. Players have to judge whether or not they can beat the total difficulty, and decide whether to Push or Call. Pushing gives you an extra dice but worsens the outcome should you fail, while Calling leaves the outcome up to chance, but minimizes consequences. One of those consequences may be revealing a character secret, which makes your character vulnerable, but also provides other characters the opportunity to help. I think the succinct way the game allows you to dive into character backstory as you are playing the game makes this a prime candidate for one-shot play.

CBR+PNK Core, by Emanoel Melo.

In CBR+PNK (Cyber plus Punk) you play as a team of RUNNERS—mercs, criminals, activists living on the edge and running in the shadows of a gritty, ultraviolent world.

In each game we play an entire new cast of characters making their LAST RUN.

CBR+PNK runs on a super-condensed version of John Harper's Forged in the Dark system, specially tweaked for action-packed ONE-SHOT sessions.

CBR+PNK is well known for its friendliness for one-shots, stripping away a lot of the mechanics that give Forged in the Dark games weight and length. The game is packaged into pamphlets, which means you can hand out only what is relevant to each person at the table: the GM pamphlet for the person running the game, and the character pamphlets to folks who will be playing characters. There are additional supplements that you can add to the game to alter or edit your experience.

The player pamphlet has two columns where you enter all your information, one column for character creation instructions, and a number columns with help and player instructions that you can use as a reference when you come across the relevant rule in play. The GM pamphlet takes a little bit more time to familiarize yourself with, and I think this game will be a lot easier to pick up if you’ve already played other Forged in the Dark games. That being said, this game has won a lot of awards and recognition for how concise it is, and I think it’s definitely worth checking out.

MotherFucker Stole My Baby, by Brabblemark Press.

MOTHERFUCKER STOLE MY BABY! is a quick-play roleplaying game inspired by Cradle 2 the Grave and other action films. 

You're a jewel thief - and you and your crew just nabbed a bag of black diamonds for a mysterious employer. You hand the jewels over to your fence for appraisal and kick back for a well-deserved party. Then comes the unexpected double whammy…

Gangsters robbed your fence and swiped the diamonds - and your only child has been kidnapped by the billionaire that you stole the diamonds from! Can you retrieve the diamonds and make the exchange - and how many bodies will litter the streets on your path to victory?

You can only wonder, as you stand in the rain and scream to the sky… MOTHERFUCKER STOLE MY BABY!

The genre and tone of this game are immediately understandable, and it shouldn’t take any time at all to communicate to your players exactly what’s going on in this game. Character creation is very simple - one of my favourite parts is that you circle three items from a list of possessions on your character sheet, and also that your character sheet looks like a Wanted poster.

The game itself is styled after Lasers and Feelings, with a single number representing your strengths, and your successes depending on whether you roll above or below the number. The game also comes with some d6 tables to help the GM craft scenes as you play. There’s also some very succinct but very helpful pieces of GM advice in the GM section, that I think will help you deliver a short but sweet experience for your players.

The Fall of House Prosh, by NotWriting.

The Emperor Hakkan VI has died without an heir. The Imperial throne world Lecatom Rex is empty. The previous Stewards of the throne, House Kotar, are leaving in shame. Their rivals, House Prosh, have ascended the other noble houses as new Stewards of the throne and the Imperial palace. 

Humanity lives on a thousand worlds. Star Witches fold spacetime to navigate the cosmos. Noble houses settle conflicts through duels. Prophecies and portents guide politics and religion. And now noble houses whisper of war and secession.

A thousand years of peace are in jeopardy.

The Fall of House Prosh is a sci-fi tabletop RPG about noble tragedy and melodrama inspired by stories like Dune, Shakespearian plays, and Game of Thrones. Players take on the role of characters within 3 factions: the powerful House Prosh, the maligned House Kotar, and the servants of both these houses. 

The Fall of House Prosh is a narrative guide through a story of tragedy and politics, where only one house can survive. You cannot decide who falls; you can only decide what that fall looks like. Players can choose to embody the members of House Prosh, House Kotar, or the servants of the two, with at least one character from each faction required to play the game. Each faction has their own special moves, half of which can be employed in the Day phase and half which can be employed in the Night phase. Over the course of the game, you add tokens to each houses’ tragedy pool; those tokens are then spent to carry out moves against each-other.

If you want a game about tragedy and epic stories of loss, you want The Fall of House Prosh.

The Family Rat, by V2S Games.

ONE OF YOU IS THE HEAD OF AN ORGANIZED CRIME FAMILY.

The rest of you are 'friends' or members of the family, who will be forced to decide where your loyalties lie. Who can you trust? Who'll be left standing? How will the family survive?

The Family Rat is a Tale of 21 and a hack of The King's Poisoner. It's a one-page tabletop roleplaying game for 3–8 players, which can be played with a deck of regular or virtual playing cards OR two ten-sided dice (2d10).

The Family Rat uses blackjack hands to navigate a story that carries the themes and vibes of the Godfather movies, setting up one player as the The Boss and the rest of the players as members of the Family. I think this game could be classified as GM-less, because even though the Boss has a different roll from the rest of the family, they’re still a solo character, which I think is an interesting format in which to couch this story.

Over the course of three acts, the family members will decide to make requests, moves, and suffer the consequences of their actions. The Boss enters each round with a significant advantage with their Blackjack Hand (having one card hidden from the others, and winning ties), and uses special mechanics at the end of the final act to dictate the actions they’ve taken for the good of the family.

This is a game with a winner and a loser, but I feel like it oozes with the same charms as the original movie. None of you are great people, and all of you have chances to pursue personal goals and leverage favours or debts against each-other, but at the end of the day, you’re depending on the heart of the cards to decide who comes out on top.

24XX - The Deep, by Chaosmeister

ONE DAY THE OCEANS DROWNED THE WORLD. Humanity survived below the waves. The sea birthed leviathans. Your crew owns a dingy old sub. Odd jobs, salvage, leviathan hunting and a few merc gigs keep you afloat and breathing.

I’ve played 24XX games a couple of times and all of the ones I’ve played before are definitely one-shot friendly and require minimal prep. Players choose a character class or type, and get everything associated with it, along with a few key choices like gear or background to flesh them out a little bit. All in all it can take as few as 5 minutes before you start play. The games also usually come with a bunch of roll-tables that give the Game Master interesting encounters, obstacles and goals without having to do a lot of prep. You can also easily condense an adventure into a couple of hours, making these ideal low-prep one shots.

What I like about The Deep is the setting. It’s an excellent example of how you can bake in unique setting elements in just a few roll-tables - for example, are you working for a genetic research & development group or a mining corporation? Does your submarine have giant claw markings from various dives, or a mural of a sea god that has importance to you? If you have a repelling electric net, what kinds of animals are you repelling? These kinds of details infuse the setting with flavour, which I think can really inspire and entice the people at your table.

Other Games I’ve Talked About Before…

Something Is Wrong With The Chickens, by Elliot Davis.

Faewater, by A Smouldering Lighthouse.

The Children of Saturn, by Dan John Crowler.

Subway Runners, by Gem Room Games.

Gay Crime: Sapphics Against Capital, by Evey Lockhart.

Spirit Line, by Jhryne.

Cryptid TV, by yahahn.

Lady Blackbird, by John Harper.

[learnastrowallura]

💚The 10th house in astrology💚

The source if this information is The Astrology Podcast (Chris Brennan) on Youtube and I will add a personal example plus some of my own thoughts as well

10th house: career, occupation, profession, work, enactment, achievement, reputation, intention, choice, actions, public image, visibility, exposure, rank, position, demand, duty, reward, honor, MC, legacy, bosses, power dynamics, angular

The sign and planet(s) in the 10th house can show us the image that is apparent or visible to others within a professional context, what we do exactly or how we take action toward achieving what we desire, what is the vision that we have and the contribution that we make (within the 6th house it is more... well what you HAVE to do, whereas with the 10th it is more end result based aka what impact will I have in the world), what is my role to play here etc, technical abilities and talents, career potential, our tendencies or even enthusiasm pertaining to taking action (or in the opposite case hesitation toward it) during work, which type of career the individual will take on, what we are known for

Looking at the ruler of the 10th house can, of course, give us more detail on career/reputation matters.

The midheaven in hellenistic astrology may not always fall in the 10th house, so for example if it falls in the 9th house your career may involve spiritual and/or religious matters, teaching people perhaps in college, and if it is in the 11th house then it may involve friendships so maybe there is an overlap with the coworker and friend relationship, or if you pay attention to the talks that you have with your friends there might be a certain theme that comes up that may be a good fit for you in your career, etc (use whole sign house system for this)

Personal example: Leo in 10th house, no planets

Right well this one is a bit tricky to delineate, to be honest

Starting with Leo I definitely make... a statement, I suppose? See the thing is with the 10th house it is something that becomes easier to analyze and figure out in adulthood. I would say I am known for being a certain kind of provocative and bold at my school for sure. Leo is all about shining and self expression and I do not shy away from being authentic and presenting myself as I am, yk? Not many people like it but yea

The reason why I mention college is because I do believe the way I behave there is close to how I would behave in jobs as well since it does count as 10th house work for me but that is my own perspective on it so take it with a grain of salt <3

Right now I am doing an internship which is as close as it gets to a job as of now and I would say I am all fired up to get shit done and I am also quite focused on doing the things that I have to do in a good and proper way (fixed sign quality; stability is prioritized) even though the situation rarely ever demands it; I would say I have good work ethic personally.

My midheaven is in my 10th house so there is not much to talk about there it is the most common case

My Sun which is the ruler of my 10th house is in 1st house placidus and I do resonate with that because my career, my legacy is of priority to me and I take that shit super seriously like it is this huge like goal of mine

Whereas with WS my Sun is in my 2nd house and to me that manifests in being very financially driven so while I do have a good work ethic if I find myself investing my time and energy into something long term that is not going to give me a financial ROI then I will look for something that does idc

My Sun trines my Saturn in the 9th house which does make me feel like that slowly but surely success in career vibes are relevant to me and that hard work and leaning into spiritual studies is going to be quite beneficial

My Sun is also square my Uranus in 4th house and I am not in a stage within my life in which I can quite explain that, however, I do think that shit constantly happening within my private life and home could potentially make me lose my focus and weaken my resolve at times butttt I always bounce back so it's oki

Thank you for reading <3

Masterlist

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[accirax]

Deciphering Gleamingtempest's DRDT Character Playlist

Hello!!! For those of you not in the know, @gleamingtempest recently posted a fan-made DRDT playlist with one song for each character in the same vein as the one @venus-is-thinking and I made a year and a half ago. Both because I was tagged directly and because it saddened me that I wasn't able to participate in the Tetro Pink one (due to not having watched Tetro), I, of course, wanted to throw my hat in the ring this time around! Although, because I want to get this post out quickly due to other obligations, I will be trying to keep this one relatively short and sweet. Relatively. We'll see how quickly that gets out of hand.

Thanks to Gleamingtempest for putting this fun puzzle together! If you want to play for yourself, make sure to give all of the songs a listen before reading my analysis.

Spoilers for DRDT through the end of Chapter 2, and CW for mentions of self harm and various ways to die.

I know I said short and sweet, but it wouldn't be an accirax post without a couple of disclaimers up top.

I saw that Pawsmos shared their own interpretation of the playlist in the notes of the original post, but I haven't actually read them yet! This analysis is all my own. I very much look forward to seeing what Pawsmos deduced after writing all this out, though ^_^

There will likely be some times in this post where I critique a song assignment, possibly calling it "a bad fit" or "not making sense," when that song assignment actually turns out to be accurate. Please understand that, in those instances, I'm not at all critiquing Gleamingtempest, their song choices, or their character analyzing skills. Most likely, I'm just calling my own logic or shots called bad. And even if I wind up disagreeing with some of the assignments, I still 100% respect Gleamingtempest's interpretations as different but equally valid to my own, and the work she put into making this playlist.

Obviously, Venus and I are the only people to have ever made a playlist analysis post like this (/j). But, if someone had made their own playlist analysis post, perhaps for Danganronpa: One Shot's official character playlist, I could imagine that they might have decided to include a number ranking displaying how confident they were about each assignment. That clever-yet-nonexistent person would have had a good idea, so I'm going to steal it.

(^I'm so sorry to everyone who hasn't read FF's DROS playlist analysis post, that bit was probably very confusing if you weren't caught up with the quote unquote lore 😅)

Okay, now let's go!

Alien by Lebanon Hanover: Levi Fontana

Confidence rating: 7/10

Alien is a song about someone who feels like they'll never fit in with their peers, which certainly fits Levi and his lack of remorse towards... most things in life. Mentions of a "brutal town" (likely matching Levi's rough upbringing) and how "small talks simply have no relevance" (which could fit with Levi's admittance that he doesn't really care about anyone in the killing game) also feel fitting along those lines. Things like pondering if anyone would notice his disappearance and keeping a "delighted face" work a little bit less, but they're easy to overlook in service of the major themes and fitting vibe. Plus, for Levi, things like the delighted face and "laughing at jokes of you" could just be an exaggeration of the typical pleasantries people are supposed to display when chatting with one another.

I'm pretty confident that this is Levi's song, especially because I'm not completely sure which other song he would pick up if this isn't his. However, I know that Nico also deals with feelings of alienation from their peers, so I wouldn't find it too hard to believe that Alien is Nico's and I'm just missing signs of Levi elsewhere.

curtain call by KANKAN: David Chiem

Confidence rating: 8/10

Apologies that this entry doesn't have any actual lyrics quoted in it; the music video itself seems to be the only source of English-translated lyrics online and I'm too lazy to skip around in the video and write stuff out :P

curtain call depicts a person who seems pretty detached from life and their perception of themself. They call themself meritorious and applaud themself for committing a "perfect crime" in one breath, and call themself a cynical puppet in the next. This matches up perfectly with David's ping-ponging "strategic evil genius" and "manipulative scumbaggy piece of shit" self-interpretations. The mention of being reborn near the end of the song also reminded me of the "secondary delayed introduction" from the infamous LGI MV.

Also, I mean... this song just oozes David energy all over it. The fact that it's called curtain call and mentions actors was already going to make me think of someone dealing with showbiz, AKA either David or J. The person in the video straight up looks like David down to the hairclips, and my choice of sprite in that header image was 100% intentional. And, furthermore, the character in the video puts on a mask around the 1 minute mark of the song that looks like the mask shown in Undead Enemy? Which I know that Gleamingtempest and I at least both believe is David's song on the official playlist???

The only reasons why I put this one as low as an 8 are that 1) 10/10 is only for songs that have been outright confirmed already, 2) the fact that I can't view all of the lyrics at once next to each other is making it harder for me to get a wholistic view, and 3) there are some other songs on which David could be kinda helpful, and if those are where he actually belongs then this could go to someone else. Not entirely sure who, though. J, maybe...?

Butcher Vanity by FLAVOR FOLEY: Veronika Grebenshchikova

Confidence rating: 10/10

I've seen a lot of DRDT characters drawn in the style of Butcher Vanity's MV-- J (likely due to Hayley's wonderful cover), Arturo (likely due to Lucius' wonderful cover), Arei, Veronika, and, just now, Min, while I was looking for the two aforementioned covers! However, I've always been of the opinion that, of the DRDT cast, this song easily fits Veronika best. And, I know for a near-fact that Gleamingtempest agrees.

Can't beat my memory on this o-- wait, fuck, you had Hu on Bitter Medicine and Teruko on TrusT here as well? Ohhhhhhh no, that's going to make the rest of my post really wrong. How did I miss that...?

Um, well, I guess I'll remain with my original assignments, since switching it now feels like cheating and reassembling so much of the playlist would take me a very long time, since I'd have to remake my graphics and fight all my original assumptions. You'll just see it reflected in the confidence ratings, I suppose 😅 This is not a bit btw this is a 100% genuine revelation)

Getting back on track, the mix-up of love and violence in this song perfectly fits our killing-game-stanning queen, and the frequent expression of others telling the singer to tame their impulses only for the singer to celebrate them is very reminiscent of Veronika dealing with her need for heart-pounding excitement. A horror fan would call a bleeding, cut-out heart an "aortic work of art," wouldn't they?

This is Home by Cavetown: Hu Jing

Confidence rating: 0/10

Immediately jumping into an assignment that I now know is wrong, here's Hu with This is Home! Well, here we can take a look at where I went wrong. I liked this song for Hu because, even if she isn't as notably focused on defeating the killing game as, say, Eden or Xander, she's still someone who tries very hard to be a force of good in the killing game, and her desire to be of use to people made me see her as the type to promise to help everyone escape (even if she didn't have a specific plan).

While the lines about cutting one's hair and hiding one's chest have a pretty clear trans interpretation (and Hu is not canonically trans at this time), I found it natural to connect those things to Hu's known history of self harm. Although self harm and body dysmorphia/negativity don't always go hand in hand, I, at least, could picture a world in which the blades used to cut Hu's hair were misused for other purposes, which would perhaps lead Hu to hide injuries on her chest.

Lastly, I felt that the "get a load of this monster" section reminded me of Nico, while the "get a load of this trainwreck" section reminded me of David: two characters with whom Hu's characterization is tightly intertwined. Might just be a me thing, but when I assign songs to characters, I often let them have sections singing about other people when those characters are 1) related to the singer in a meaningful way and 2) doing something important, like attempting to kill Ace or blowing up the Trial. Here, I thought Hu might have been doing the same thing.

I was never super confident in this choice, which retroactively makes sense, because it was wrong. On my first listen, I wrote it down on my whiteboard as "Xander? Hu???" However, looking at it again, I wouldn't be surprised if this one is just Nico themself. That would make the trans-coded parts make more sense, and then the "get a load of this monster" section could just be Nico talking about their own perception. The "get a load of this trainwreck" could I suppose still be about David, but it would probably also just be about Nico and the star mention would be a red herring. I'm still not so sure that Nico would be the type to be committed to getting "us" out of here (as opposed to just getting "me" out of here), but perhaps that's just a difference in opinion. Or, maybe it really was Xander all along. Or someone else who I haven't even thought to consider yet! :O

Tongues & Teeth by The Crane Wives: Teruko Tawaki

Confidence rating: 0/10

And, we follow This is Home up with another song that I now know is probably wrong, Tongues & Teeth! I still think it fits Teruko very well, though...

Tongues & Teeth's singer very clearly has poor self esteem. They describe themself as sharp-tongued, dangerous, destructive, greedy, and ruinous, and try to ward off a potential romantic interest(?) with depressing omens of their future together. However, they seem to have at least one soft spot deep down, as they acknowledge that, if the other person is truly willing to accept them for all of their faults, they too would be willing to enter a relationship.

Due to Teruko's luck, her "break[ing] your pretty things" and "wring[ing] you dry of everything" is both literal and accurate. If you spend a long time around Teruko, she believes that you will be negatively affected by her luck in some way. Such luck also caused Teruko to be distrustful and hurtful throughout the majority of Chapter 2, hence the sharp tongue and "not being a vessel for your good intent". I could certainly see her giving this warning to Eden or Min, or possibly Xander or Charles as well.

However, with the heads up that Teruko's song is very likely TrusT, I have to consider other options. Obviously, Mai is always a big mystery, and if she's another Lucky Student with a similar effect to Teruko, then she could have gone through similar things. Teruko is also far from the only character with self esteem issues, so this song could be attributed to someone like Xander, David, or Rose instead. Disregarding the rest of the list, I might pick Xander for this song out of those options...? See, this is why I decided to not totally rework everything, I don't know what I'm doing anymore ;-; (/lh)

Hello, World by Louie Zong: MonoTV

Confidence rating: 9/10

Unless someone else is going really hard on the robot analogy, this is easily MonoTV's song. It's a song about a robot being brought into the world, and pondering its purpose and capacity for emotion. This mirrors MonoTV's scene with Teruko in which it reflects on what it was made for ("does a toaster know why it toasts?"). The little robot in the music video even looks like MonoTV, with the simple white face on top of a flat blue background.

There are a couple of students who suffer with feeling different from/less than humans-- David, Nico, and Levi, off the top of my head-- who could absorb this song. However, I'm not really sure what else MonoTV would pick up in the interim.

MonoTV getting a Louie Zong song, and Rose's official playlist song being Cartoons (which I think pretty much everyone agrees on)... ROSE MASTERMIND CONFIRMED?! (/j)

Waiting for the Joy by The Staves: Rose Lacroix

Confidence rating: 6/10

I think this song fits Rose pretty well, I'm just shaken about most of my placements now so my overall confidence is low lol

Anyways! Ever since Waiting for the Joy opened on "I've been asleep for a week and I don't know / Where I've been," I had it pegged as an option for Rose. Then the song went on to describe a person who's trying their hardest but can't manage to find any happiness in their life, and... well, that certainly didn't dissuade me from my original Rose opinion. "Tell me what to do and what to do it for" is a highlight, as it mirrors the way that her entire artistic output is under the jurisdiction of the Spurlings, so that she can attempt to pay off her debt. "And my hair got long" also reminded me of Rose being able to call out minute distinctions in her physical appearance in the Prologue.

That being said, on the whole, this is a pretty generic song about depression, so it certainly could belong to any of our other sad folks of the cast. Still, the passiveness presented in this song makes me think of Rose, and her tendency to take a back seat in her own life.

Still Waiting by Sum 41: Xander Matthews

Confidence rating: 4/10

It makes me giggle that Waiting for the Joy and Still Waiting wound up next to each other in the shuffle. It makes it sound like they're talking to each other :)

At a first glance, I think that Still Waiting seems like a clear choice for Xander. The punk rock sound is something that I associate with the Ultimate Rebel, and the way that the singer calls out the hatred and injustice in the world also feels befitting of that title.

However, when you actually take a look at the lyrics, the singer doesn't really... do anything about those injustices? They continuously ask if they're still waiting, but they never challenge themselves to take a stand about it whether their answer is yes or no. In fact, they keep saying things like "Can't find hope to believe in" and "We're in a war that can't be won," which seems to be the exact opposite of Xander's belief that major systems can be changed. On my first listen, I thought that the song would resolve with the singer deciding to fight on despite lacking hope in the world, but that resolution never came. There's no actual rebellion presented in the lyrics.

Ultimately, I left Xander here because I wasn't sure who else wanted it. Maybe David or Ace? But now that I know that a lot of my list is objectively wrong, I'm as unconfident as ever that this is correct. I guess I'm Still Waiting for inspiration to strike here :P

Death Anxiety by Bleeding Through: Ace Markey

Confidence rating: 6/10

I mean, the title really says it all. Ace has anxiety, is dead, and had anxiety about the concept of being dead. What more could you want?

I like the way that the song mentions a lot of different ways that someone could die (flames, buried alive, cancer, one million knives, etc) and how that mirror's Ace's execution. I also think that, given the references to "walk[ing] with the dead" and "eternal sleep await[ing] me underground," it would really make sense for this song to go to one of our four (five?) dead options, which, again, Ace is one of.

That being said, in a killing game, surrounded by death on all sides, it would be pretty understandable for anyone to be worried about dying. "Every night I fear is the last with you" also strikes me as a little strange for Ace. I would have to imagine that line would be targeted at Levi, but even so, I don't think Ace would be willing to admit that so candidly, if he even felt that strongly about it in the first place.

If I were to hand this song off to someone else, it would probably be Charles, given his necrophobia and his greater proximity to/care for a couple of his fellow students. Still, the fear of death is one of if not the defining characteristic of Ace, which is what makes me think that this would land in his court.

Pollyanna (I Believe in You) by Catherine Warwick: Eden Tobisa

Confidence rating: 8/10

This song is so cute, and pretty much perfectly encapsulates Eden's life philosophy! The song even acknowledges the Terukos of the world with the line, "You may say I'm a fool, feelin' the way I do." Pollyanna is about someone with a knack for finding the beauty in the world, and choosing to channel that energy into believing in the people around them. It even has a reference to time near the end, for all the Ultimate Clockmakers out there.

I'm fairly confident that this is Eden's song, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if she was assigned the similarly optimistic Shelter later down in the playlist, instead. I also noticed that this song is apparently from the Mother/Earthbound series, so, I'm not sure if I'm missing any context there? But I believe that I can get at least a couple of songs on this playlist right, and that's why I believe in this!

Carousel by CJ the X: J Rosales

Confidence rating: 1/10

That 1/10 isn't related to any of the earlier shakeups; Carousel was sadly just my "process of elimination" pick of this playlist. Personally, I wasn't able to pick up vibes of any DRDT characters from this song, and I also didn't feel like J fit many of the other songs on the playlist. Thus, these two wound up together...? I'll try to defend my choice as best I can.

First of all, lines like "Perfect circumstance to write" and "You're a star, name your price," as well as the additional context of CJ the X being a music producer/YouTuber themself, made me associate this song with working in a creative and/or performance-based field. J fits both of those boxes. The line I highlighted on the banner image could also definitely be about Mariabella, as it's said with the same bluntness that J uses to insult her greatest foes.

However, that's about where my associations end. "Everything will be alright / Darling hold on tight" comprises many of Carousel's lyrics, but it's a placating sentiment that I don't think fits J's hotheaded tsundere nature very well. The whole second verse, the part about "Reminisc[ing] about your hand in mine" also doesn't have a clear target thus far in J's story. Out of the options, it would probably be Arei, but saying "You're too kind, I am a disease" about their relationship seems a little silly.

My other main contenders for this song were David (but I decided that I liked it better with David on curtain call and J here) or Whit (but the other song that I put Whit on didn't seem to match J at all). In the end, J and Carousel were the ones I turned into my dump stat. I think I'm just missing a piece of the puzzle with this one, so I won't dwell on it any longer.

TrusT by half alive: Charles Cuevas

Confidence rating: 0/10

See, this one being wrong makes sense to me, because I actually wanted to give TrusT to Teruko, but I thought that Tongues & Teeth fit her so well that she couldn't possibly go here instead. Hence, I put Charles on TrusT as a sort of "lesser Teruko." So, I can kinda claim a partial victory on this one, at least :,)

Still, I think there was a definite argument to be made for Charles here. TrusT is a song about someone who doesn't want to trust in others, but ultimately is kind of forced to due to being in an actually healthy relationship for once. Trust is a deep ocean, but one that the singer knows that they're supported in. Trust is an old, tall tree, difficult to cut down and known for weathering the seasons. "How sweet, the taste of certainty / The gift you gave is safe with me"-- over and over again, they reiterate that, even though they're afraid, they've actually found something that they can trust in for the long haul.

While trust as a theme is more integral to Teruko's character, Charles appears to be farther along in his arc of learning to rely on and let his walls down around people. So, the assurance present in this song could have reflected that further step of growth. Similarly, I think that, at this point in the story, Charles is closer to having a true trusting relationship with Whit (or at least admitting to it; see Chapter 2 Episode 3) than Teruko is with Eden, or anyone else.

However, I'm just nitpicking to defend my initial assignment. I think that TrusT is an excellent predictive pick for Teruko, and that by the end of the story this will match her development to a tee. I just now have to figure out if I can shove a Charles-shaped peg into a Tongues & Teeth-shaped hole...

Bitter Medicine by The Crane Wives: Nico Hakobyan

Confidence rating: 0/10

I just realized it was both of the Crane Wives songs that I initially messed up. I'm sorry, Crane Wives.

The beginning of the chorus is the main thing that initially drew me towards Nico. Letting their complaints die on their tongue so as to not draw any hatred towards them is Nico's main character struggle of Chapter 1 and the beginning of Chapter 2, so I immediately drew a connection between that occurrence and these lyrics. "Stolen sympathy / For all my worst mistakes" also reminded me of how Ace was blamed for what went down in the Gym, even though Nico was the one who was actually out for blood.

However, the whole "worst mistakes" thing fits with Hu's hidden quote super well, and I did think that "Don't look up to me / I'm not as tall as you think" was a little off for Nico. Nobody ever really looked up to them, and similarly, they never promised to get everyone out of the killing game, be a great emotional support, etc. Hu, on the other hand, does want others to rely on her, yet might feel guilty for asking them to do so due to her lack of faith in herself.

I do think that the titular "bitter poison" aspect fits Hu a bit worse than Nico, given that Hu's two biggest moments thus far have been 1) chastising Ace and 2) chastising David. That doesn't sound to me like she's "keep[ing] the worst of the words in" :P But, now that it's been pointed out to me, I do think that this is a really solid choice for Hu! On top of some very fitting lyrics, the general vibe matches her pretty well too.

But Not Kiss by Faye Webster: Whit Young

Confidence rating: 3/10

This song has very few lyrics, and even fewer when you discount all of the "Yeah, yeah"s. Therefore, I am relying a lot on the fact that the song has "kiss" in the title to assign it to the Ultimate Matchmaker.

The best part of this song for Whit, in my opinion, is the "I hope you're okay" segment, which I highlighted in the banner image. It shows that, while he does care about others, he's worried enough about drawing out negativity that he chooses inaction. It's very "bitter things go down the drain" of him.

The rest of it... well, it's a bit of a stretch, but we know from Whit's profile that he's been unlucky in securing a romantic partner for himself. Whether that's just a facet of his personality or a hidden part of his talent, it's possible that his prior bad experiences with relationships would lead to him keeping someone he really likes at a distance, and thinking things like "You're all that I have but can't get."

However, Whit wound up here because I wasn't entirely sure who would go here in his absence. I think that Charles, Min, or David could have relationships that you could interpret as doomed romantic interest. Now that I've had a bit longer to think about the implications of Teruko TrusT, I think my overall shuffle might be

Charles -> But Not Kiss

Whit -> Carousel

J -> curtain call

David -> Tongues & Teeth

? (I didn’t double check that very hard.) Although then I have to get rid of David curtain call, which I liked a lot. I don't know.

Let me reiterate that I am having a fun time, though! I'm just struggling within that fun 😅 and hoping that I'm not coming off as too much of an idiot.

by x0o0x: Min Jeung

Confidence rating: 2/10

I'm glad that I was already mildly aware of x0o0x's shenanigans before seeing this list, because the lyrics would have been really tricky to look up otherwise, lol. Anyways, this is going to be my longest entry, so strap in. Also, Genius Lyrics refers to this song as Slash, so I'm just going to call it that so that I have a word to use.

I was really struggling to interpret this song-- beyond just "I'm invisible at the train station"-- before I noticed that, on the Vocaloid Lyrics Wiki, this song was inspired by the Japanese horror story, "Kisaragi Station." Hilariously, I was already somewhat acquainted with the story due to the Garupa Pico episode, "Mashiro Station," but that's neither here nor there.

The urban legend follows a schoolgirl named Hasumi who accidentally falls asleep on the train home, and wakes up in a station she's never heard of before. The story is told through Hasumi's POV, posting on social media about her experiences. She tries looking around for people, but no one is there, and she tries calling for help, but no one can find the station on any maps. Eventually, she hears drums and bells, and finds an old man with one leg yelling at her from the train tracks. Hasumi tries to run away into a tunnel, injuring herself, and reports that she's found a person willing to help lead her to safety. However, said person wouldn't tell her where they were going, and started muttering mysteriously. The story ends with Hasumi saying that her battery has run out, and then she's never heard from again.

With that context, the lyrics of Slash make a lot more sense. However, I actually don't think that the lyrics are trying to be a perfect retelling of the story. I think that x0o0x is riffing off of the original structure to tell a new story.

In the first stanza, the singer arrives in the station, and someone comes out of it. Originally, I thought this was in reference to the one-legged man-slash-ghost, but he was on the tracks. Instead, this is a divergence point from the original story: Hasumi tried to look in the station and no one was there, but there are people in the singer's station.

Therefore, my interpretation of this song is not that the singer has arrived in Kisaragi Station, but that they're so afraid of being sucked into a story like Kisaragi Station that it impacts how they behave in regular life. If Hasumi's troubles started when she questioned the station, and she got injured when she was trying to run away, then the singer won't do either of those things, and instead stay completely stationary so that nothing scary can happen to them. In essence, the singer chooses to sacrifice their personhood by making themself invisible and avoiding talking to anyone to avoid the possibility of anything hurting or scaring them. They refuse to take a chance on anything.

That's why there's the lyric, "The truth is, I want you to come meet me." Unless this is just a horror fanatic who secretly wants to be abducted by a ghost (which I suppose would be fitting for Veronika, lol), there's no reason why they would want the ghost to approach them. Instead, I think this is something inside the singer knowing that all of the people around them are likely harmless, and seeking connection with them.

In the end, the singer gets what they want: for no one to acknowledge them, so they basically disappear, and no one will ever come to talk to them. But, once they're finally, truly alone, they realize that they should've stopped that with all they can muster.

For Min, I associate this with her relationship to Hope's Peak and/or XF-Ture Tech. Via the end of Chapter 2, it really seems like XF-Ture Tech was involved in the creation of the killing game somehow, which would make Min aligned with the very thing that ultimately killed her. Therefore, you could say that Min is a schoolgirl who wound up in a dangerous location (XF-Ture Tech), but was so afraid of making any of her powerful compatriots angry that she fully retreated into the inoffensive, obedient Ultimate Student to avoid any consequences for rebellion. However, in the end, she wishes that she had spoken up and made friends with her classmates, because the consequences of bending to the fear of XF Tech's wrath were just as bad or worse than what would've happened if she'd tried to lead her regular life.

Anyways, that's my very long-winded explanation for why I didn't give Slash to Mai! There's a very obvious interpretation here where you just put the mysterious, missing, probably dead girl on the story about a mysterious train station in which a girl goes missing and probably dies, but... well, there was another song I really wanted to give to Mai. I'm fully willing to admit that I'm probably wrong here, but in my heart, Mai has a different song, and Min lands here.

Alien Blues by Vundabar: Arturo Giles

Confidence rating: 6/10

Much like But Not Kiss, Alien Blues doesn't have a lot of lyrics, especially if you don't count all of the "Na-na-na"s. I'm also not entirely sure what this song means in the big picture, but it has a lot of individual lyrics that fit Arturo well.

First off, "I'd do anything for you, Mrs. Highness" can obviously be about J. Now, we all know that Arturo wouldn't actually do anything for J, because if he did then he'd leave her alone, but it still fits with his devotion to celebrity. "My teeth are yellow, hello world / Would you like me a little better if they were white like yours?" fixates on appearance as a signifier for worth much like Arturo does as the Ultimate Plastic Surgeon. It also has the added benefit of talking about Arturo's mouth, something he's always kept hidden (potentially out of insecurity). The "I need to purge my urges" section I put on the banner makes sense with Arturo's feelings towards Felicity. He attacks Eden when she merely brings up Felicity's death to seize a violent outlet for the guilt he feels for letting Felicity die.

Yeah! I think this song and Arturo are a good match, but since I don't understand what the song is overall trying to say, I wouldn't be surprised if this was meant for someone else. That being said, I don't really have anyone else in mind for this song, or anywhere else I'd like to send Arturo, so...

Shelter by Porter Robinson: Mai Akasaki

Confidence rating: 5/10

This is the song I really wanted to give to Mai!!! Thus far, everything we know about Mai points to her being an awesome person who everybody loves. And, she seemingly returns that love to everyone around her: the whole premise of the Bonus Episodes thus far is Mai spending time with and comforting her classmates, and the quote combo of "A girl with many friends" (Whit) and "Everyone confided in her" (Nico) proves that idea as well. Hell, Hu's quote, "A girl who wanted to keep everyone safe" is literally about Mai giving everyone shelter!

And, it's not like supporting everyone else is the only connection that Mai has to this song, either. Lines like "Have you noticed I've been gone?" and "And they won't need to know our names or our faces" directly allude to the fact that the singer isn't amongst the person/people they're singing to, just like Mai. The whole "you'll be watching over us / Until you're gone" part gets a little confusing in the pronouns-- it'd be cleaner for Mai if it was "I'll be watching over you / Until I'm gone" but the general sentiment of the lyrics still makes sense.

I'm very impressed that we've managed to have two incredibly Mai-coded songs (Shelter and Slash) on this playlist, as going into it I imagined that she'd be one of the hardest characters to hit. Instead, I'm just daunted by having to choose between them! As I alluded to earlier, I do think that Eden could take Shelter in Mai's place, but that would leave Pollyanna open, which is probably an even harder slot to fill than Shelter. Perhaps I should've put Min on Shelter instead, and related it to how she protected Teruko from becoming the first victim. But, this is the arrangement I went with, and I'm happy with it! ... For now.

Primadonna by MARINA: Arei Nageishi

Confidence rating: 8/10

As someone who's been listening to Primadonna for... I think about a decade now? (yikes), I'm surprised that I never had the thought to connect the song to Arei before!

Arei's "being a girly girl is awesome!" mentality lines up perfectly with her calling herself a primadonna, and cutely claiming that "All [she] ever wanted was the world." She also embraces the duality of "I know I've got a big ego" and "I'm sad to the core, core, core," given how she acts with the others versus how she feels about herself inside. The song doesn't really reflect any of Arei's struggles with feeling like she's a uniquely and irredeemably bad person, but... does it need to? I don't think so!

While Arei probably could go in other places, I don't know who would take on Primadonna were she to move. I guess it would probably be either Arturo or Whit, but to me those feel like stretches. This one, in my mind, is not "kinda difficult."

-

And, that's the end of my analysis! This whole post turned out very different than I thought, given that I learned that four of my assignments were dead wrong partway through, but I hope it was still an enjoyable read! I also hope that that pivot didn't make what I wrote come off as me trying to argue with Gleamingtempest that her choices were wrong, because that was not at all my intention! I just thought that it would be more interesting to hear my original thoughts on how I would've assigned the songs than to fully conform to the correct answers and just reiterate what she was probably already thinking.

Thank you again for the fun puzzle, and I look forward to learning what the true full list is! Take care.

[canmom]

Hello! I absolutely love your blog, everything from your festival recounts to animation analysis and programming (one of tumblr's recommended posts was the one where you made your own rasteriser, and I liked your attitude in what I've read so much that I'm gonna attempt to conquer my 3-year-long grudge against using opengl during college and do something similar now that I'm a bit older and have no deadlines :D).

But anyway, I have 2 questions (sorry if there's easily accessible answers, tumblr search is not helping): 1. During your animation nights, does the screen stay black while everyone watches their own video while you provide commentary? I haven't caught any yet but maybe someday! And 2. do you have any youtube channels or just one-off video essays that you like that also cover animation/directors? Or, even programming lol.

Sorry for the long ask have a nice day!

hiii! i'm very touched that you like my dorky eclectic blog <3

For the Animation Nights, I just stream the video over Twitch from local sources on my computer, typically by playing the video in mpv and recording it in OBS. This is obviously not ideal from a video quality perspective, but it's the easiest way to watch video in sync without making everyone download files in advance. Then we all chat in the Twitch chat box (in large part to crack stupid jokes, it's not that highbrow lmao). I've gotten away with it so far!

As for youtube channels, I can recommend...

anime production/history (i.e. sakuga fandom)

SteveM is likely the most sakuga-fan affiliated anituber. He makes long, well-researched and in-depth videos on anime history, usually themed around a particular director or studio.

Pyramid Inu might be my fave anituber - very thoughtful analysis of Gundam, obscure mecha anime and oldschool BL and similar topics. tremendously soothing voice too.

The Canipa Effect does excellent deep dives into the production of specific shows, both western and anime. I appreciate the respect he gives to the Korean animators of shows like AtlA in particular!

Sean Bires's 2013 presentation on sakuga is pretty foundational to this whole subcultural niche, and a great place to get an introduction to the major animator names to know and significant points in the history of anime. unfortunately a couple of the segments got slapped down by copyright but the rest holds up!

animation theory (for animators and aspirants)

I'm going to focus here on resources that are relevant to animation in general, and 2D animation. if I was going to list every Blender channel we'd be here all week :p

New Frame Plus is one of the best channels out there for game animation, describing in tightly edited videos how animation principles work in a game context and analysing the animation of various games. highly recommend

Videogame Animation Study is similar, examining the animation of specific games in detail

the 'twelve principles of animation' (defined by Disney's Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas) remain the standard approach to animation pedagogy; there are various videos on them, but Alan Becker (of Animator vs Animation) has quite a popular series. I haven't actually watched these but many people swear by them! Dermot O'Connor expands the list to 21. Note that some of the terminology can be a little inconsistent between different animators - c.f. 'secondary motion'...

Dong Chang is an animator at Studio NUT, who produces a lot of fantastic, succinct videos on standard techniques in the anime industry, timesheet notations, etc. etc. Studio Bulldog, a small anime studio, are a good complement; they focus more on douga than genga and are generally a bit more traditional.

programming

big topic here, I'm going to focus on game dev and tech art since that's my field. but also some general compsci stuff that's neat

SimonDev - graphics programmer with a bunch of AAA experience, fantastic explanations of advanced optimisations and some of the more counterintuitive aspects of rendering

Acerola - graphics programmer who makes very detailed guides to a variety of effects with a very rapid and funny 'guy that has seen monogatari' editing style. When he's good, he's really good. His video on water is probably the best one I've seen (though I can recommend a couple of others).

TodePond - the most charming, musical videos about recursion and cellular automata you've ever seen. less programming tutorial and more art in themselves.

Ben Eater - known for his breadboard computer series, a fantastic demonstration of how to go from logic gates up to the 6502 with actual hardware. worth watching just for how clean he puts the wires on his breadboards like goddamn man

Sebastian Lague, Useless Game Dev - both do 'coding adventure' style videos where they spend a few weeks on some project and then document it on Youtube, resulting in a huge library of videos about all sorts of fascinating techniques. great to dive into

Freya Holmér - creator of the 'shapes' library, makes videos on mathematical programming, with gorgeously animated vector graphics. Her video on splines is a particular treat.

There are definitely many more channels I can recommend on these subjects, but I'll need to dig into my history a bit - unfortunately I need to rush out right now, but hopefully that should be good to be getting going with!