#post doc Genesis

[feathercreates]

"Old friend... I miss you so much. I'm so sorry."

[dumbc0re]

1 am sketches, a probably 34! Genesis and Sephiroth with a kitty !!

[dissidiacloudstrife]

i think one thing i like about post CC genesis that the fandom likes to do is make him full of regret and guilt, and not. whatever genesis at the end of DoC was doing

Honestly he should have seen this coming, wait he's had this happen before, as his hand shook as a broken mug and coffee spilled the floor in front of him.

Genesis grabbed at his wrist, the hand that once held the mug spasming. It was always like this now. His body would suddenly reject working correctly, and he couldn't do anything to get it back under control. The best thing was using opioids laced with mako. He scoffed at himself, moving away from the mess in his apartment's kitchen and sitting down, clutching tightly at his wrist.

The red head didn't like to think while this happened, because it always led himself back to the intense rage of regret. The fact that he couldn't do anything now. His entire arm ticked up and away from his body.

The more he tried to stifle and control, the worse it got. Genesis left our a mirthless huff of a laugh.

He took his hand, trying his best to make a fist, kneeling on his couch, and punched it was as much rage as he could let out. There were sparks of fire spitting from it, but smoldered out. The couch was worse for wear, but it wasn't the first or last time he's lashed out at it.

His arm slowly mellowed out as he kept it tense deep within the cushions. The tears started running down his face, hot, and terrified as he doubled over into the couch.

Genesis Rhapsodos let out a gut wrenching yell, down from the pit of his stomach, where everything congealed, up to his head where everything leaked. The couch could only do so much to hide him from the world.

He had so many men dead, how many people turned into clones, how many people were killed by said clones, how he lost the two most important people to himself, how one of them lost him and if he hadn't let his emotions, his degradation, if he had only known sooner-

No, he wouldn't have been much different. What would have changed? If only he had trusted them more, if only he didn't get taken advantage of so easily, if only he had seen clearly-

The thoughts rushed through his body, sobs being ripped out from him. Each new one louder than the last as his poor couch was covered in tears and snot.

The banging on his door shocked him up, hand already shakily pointed towards it as he heard, "Genesis, are you up?"

He felt his shoulders sag down immediately hearing Cloud's voice. A horrid sobbed was the only thing that could escape his trembling throat. Which caused a very concerned blonde to unlock and open his door, quickly closing it behind him as he took in what he saw.

Cloud frowned, looking over the small room. A broken mug with some drink in it, Genesis hunched over his couch, arm and hand outstretched towards him in defense, though flagging down, and Rapier beside the door.

He knew exactly what this was.

"Bad day?" He asked, as if Genesis' world wasn't crashing down on him for the 5th time that month. As if Cloud didn't have every right to torture him in some way, and instead put his sword right next to Rapier. As if he had any right to accept the, albeit, awkwardly offered hug, and he clung to him.

Cloud easily melted into it, and gently sat down on the couch, letting Genesis curl up into him, shaking.

"I killed them." The red head spoke, barely a whisper. "I killed them all."

Cloud didn't respond immediately, hands holding him, and combing through his ponytail.

"You did."

Genesis flinched at that. Cloud wasn't pulling back today.

"I'm the reason everything happened."

And again, the sobs and Cloud's fingers going through his hair was the only thing heard for a moment.

"You didn't help." The blonde settled on. "That's for sure." He sighed out.

"I shouldn't be here, Cloud."

That finally made the smaller man still and tense. Genesis looked up at him, and saw his face scrunched in, concentration. He couldn't help the soft laugh at seeing it.

"I shouldn't be either." Cloud looked at him, "I really shouldn't be either. But we are. We are because some people saw something in us, enough to help us out in our worst states." His hands adjusted, going to the taller one's sides, grounding him down.

"I know, we don't want to be here, Genesis. Not after everything we've been through and done. But we have too. There are people out there, who say we have too. And I believe in them. At least, when I can't believe in myself."

Despite how often his breakdowns have happened, Genesis looked over the earnest Cloud always was with him. The soft flame of love, finally appearing over the grief in his rolling emotions. It didn't stop them, but the fact his body finally started relaxing down, the tears slowly stopping as they stared at each other, made it easier.

He pressed his forehead's to Cloud, staying like that while the other spoke again, "Tifa wanted to know if you wanted to come over for dinner."

Genesis felt a smile creep onto his lips.

"I would like that very much."

[yourfavoritehouseplant]

I watched James Somerton's final video, and all I got was this 6 page document

As soon as I learned his final unreleased video was on Revolutionary Girl Utena, I knew I had to hate watch it. I didn't know that I'd spend the following 4 hours making a comprehensive doc on everything I hated about it. But here we are.

The TLDR (is this too long to be a TLDR?)

The intro section, as well as Part 2, are directly plagiarized from wikipedia. The rest is unclear.

He makes a “haha this show is so weird right guys” joke 10 different times

He reads Anthy as so emotionally stunted she literally has to be taught how to think for herself, and believes that being the rose bride makes her feel good

He says that his reading is ‘vastly different” from the rest of the community, before boldly stating that this is because he sees it as a “deeply allegorical and symbolic story”

He sees the sexual abuse as “not to be taken literally”

Insists that the show be separated into parts that are strictly literal and strictly allegorical for the entirety of parts 3 and 4, before making the contradictory move of analyzing characters as allegories during part 5

The only characters that get dedicated sections are Akio and Dios, who he doesn’t believe are the same person. 

He says Dios gets his powers by “deflowering women”

He calls Akio, known child predator, a chaotic bisexual

Uses 14 year old SA survivor Anthy’s passive personality to make a joke about her being a bottom

His final point is that Utena was the real prince all along

There are no citations

Anyway, full version for people who hate themselves under the cut. With time codes, because I cite my sources.

Part 1: Intro

This entire section is almost exclusively quoted from the Wikipedia article for Revolutionary Girl Utena. Words have been changed, but the order at which certain topics come up is not. Highlights include:

0:56 In his introduction of Be-Papas, lists the founding members in literally the exact same order as Wikipedia.

1:40-2:00 His list of Be-Papas previous works is lifted entirely from wikipedia, only with the words changed. This leads to a strange moment at 1:52 where he claims Be-papas ‘lent their talents to’ Neon Genesis Evangelion, a show which started production at least a year before Be-papas was founded. On the wikipedia article for Utena, this is instead referring to the previous work of Shinya Hasegawa and Yōji Enokido

4:23 he uses a quote by Yūichirō Oguro describing the production as a “tug of war”. He seems to have lifted this in its entirety from Wikipedia, as he does not cite the actual source it is from (the box set companion book, btw)

As for James Somerton originals, at 0:44 he claims that out of all magical girl series,”none to my knowledge have been more discussed and dissected than the 1997 series Revolutionary Girl Utena” He will go back on this at 5:05, where he states that “Sailor Moon takes the lion’s share of discussion” in regard to influential magical girl anime

Part 2: Part 1

(At least I know I’m not funny, unlike James Somerton)

Speaking of which. Here is every single time he makes a “wow this show is sooooo weird you guys” joke: 6:00, 8:50, 10:40, 10:58, 13:46, 17:07, 24:16, 30:34, 41:19, 48:01

Here’s every time the punchline to the joke is the existence of Nanami, a character who he otherwise completely disregards: 10:56, 12:05, 16:22, 42:40

6:16 Claims that the “Apocalypse saga” and “Akio Ohtori saga’ are two names for the same several episodes, depending on the release. This is untrue. Instead, different releases either only have the Apocalypse saga, or split the episodes into an Akio Ohtori saga and then the Apocalypse saga. 

7:58 Claims Utena intervening on Anthy’s behalf begins the first duel. While this happens in the movie, Touga intervenes in the scene he uses clips from (like literally right after the shot he uses in the video). Utena only gets drawn into the duels when Wakaba’s love note to Saionji is posted. Youtuber Noralities’ Utena video also gets this wrong, which makes me wonder if this was copied.

9:09 Claims Akio’s “End of the World” moniker is actually more closely translated to “Apocalypse”. In reality, the translation moves away from a more apocalyptic reading, with 世界の果て (Sekai no hate) apparently translating closer to “the furthest reach of a known world” or “edge of the world”. (Love the implications of this translation, but I digress)

9:10 As can be assumed from the previous point, this means I can’t find any sources that point to them not using the title “apocalypse” for religious reasons

10:10 Uses Anthy’s extreme passivity under her Rose bride persona to make a top/bottom joke. I’m gonna repeat this in case you’re just skimming. He uses a trait that likely stems from years of abuse, (possibly exaggerated by the persona Anthy uses to manipulate people), and uses it to call her a bottom. 

He also just doesn’t seem to understand how the whole point of Utena constantly telling Anthy that she's just a normal girl who should make more friends is framed as Utena imposing her will on Anthy, just as much as the previous Engaged have done. 

11:54 Apologies in advance for my most “um, actually!” point yet, but technically his statement that Anthy stops being host to the Sword of Dios is wrong. Akio literally pulls a sword out of her chest in the final duel. It's a more evil-looking sword of Dios, granted.

13:02 !!! CANTARELLA SCENE ALERT !!! He interprets it as them fighting over Akio?? Which like. I will allow people to have their own interpretations of vague and symbolic scenes. I will. I swear. This is not technically incorrect. It just makes me want to eat my own intestines.

14:44 Bad Anthy take #1: He states Anthy “is emotionally stunted to the point where she needs people to make decisions for her because she does not know how to think for herself” This ignores several moments of Anthy clearly making her own choices throughout the show, including the suicide attempt Somerton mentions about a minute prior. This also strips Anthy of what little agency she has throughout the story, usually exerted through messing with Utena or Nanami. (The fact that she repeatedly makes choices that contribute to her own abuse is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting parts of her character, and it's a shame that Summerton’s ‘reading’ of the story completely disregards that)

Additionally, he once again reads Utena ‘urging Anthy to think for herself” in the first arc as an unambiguously good move, and not as something critiqued in the show.

14:52 Summerton reads the Swords of hatred as symbolizing men’s hatred specifically. Again, I’m trying not to completely disregard differing interpretations to a show like Utena, but this feels very simplistic, especially considering the harm we see aimed towards Anthy by other women

16:42 Here he claims that his reading of the story seems to be “vastly different” from the bulk of Utena discourse. What is this reading? That the show shouldn’t be read literally. Or, in his words, “[we can interpret] Revolutionary Girl Utena as a deeply allegorical and symbolic story about the struggles of coming of age amidst widespread institutional corruption in a high school and which describes a passive culture of inaction in regard to brazen instances of domestic exploitation in which there is not only a question about the caporeality of the events transpiring but also which events can be taken for granted and which events are meant to signify abstract sociological institutions.” The idea that he believes this is in any way a new reading of the material honestly baffles me.

Part 3: Part 2

17:48 through 18:50 differently quotes the Wikipedia article for postmodernism. He even makes a joke at 17:55 about Wikipedia. Please kill me. 

The first three themes he lists at 19:11 are just the three main themes listed on the Revolutionary Girl Utena Wikipedia page. What was that about a “vastly different” reading, James?

You’re gonna have to take my word for it, but this section is so short because it's just him talking about the various ways the story can’t be taken literally. He does, ironically, call this a hot take.

Part 4: Part 3

Here’s where the reading falls apart folks

At 23:15, he states that some things in Utena are allegorically coded, while others are to be taken literally. This is true. However, he seems to take this to mean that some parts of the show are Strictly Literal, while others are Strictly Allegorical for things going on in the Literal World. 

This is apparently why he prefers the Anime to the Movie, where there basically is no separation between the Literal and Allegorical

This take is bizarre to me for several reasons, but here is my favorite. At several points, he mentions how Revolutionary Girl Utena is a work of Magical Realism. Magical Realism is literally defined by its blending of the “literal” and “allegorical”, the mix of fantastical elements in a mundane, realistic setting. This idea of the impossibility of a blurred line, that Utena must either have lore where the magic is all real and means nothing, or dedicated allegory segments quarantined from the rest of the story, is contrary to the very idea of Magical Realism.

I can’t help but wonder if Somerton took his mentions of Magical realism from a previous work, due to how little it is consistent with his final argument. Either way, this section suggests a great lack of creativity in his analysis, a shame for such a creative work.

24:36: Shiori slander, for those who care

After this he gets really worked up about people assuming symbolism in everything, even when the author ‘doesn’t make it clear something is symbolic’. He shuts down a reading of a shot in the Lord of the Rings. Miley Cyrus is there? Very The Curtains Were Blue of him. 

28:22 Claims that Wakaba is the key to telling where the Strictly Literal segments end and the Strictly Allegorical segments begin. He states that, under this lens, deeply personal moments of character suffering such as all of the sexual abuse and Anthy’s suicide attempt (which he literally cites) should be read as symbolic and be “approached with uncertainty rather than confusion”. (28:24-29:13)

This also somewhat falls apart when you consider Wakaba is the jeep in the movie's car chase

And then he rants about people not liking his Attack on Titan video for a bit. Since its potential symbolism also doesn't follow hard enough rules to be symbolism. Once again, the separation of “fact vs allegory” I haven’t watched AOT, so that's all I’ll say.

Part 5: Part 4

Thank god this part is short. Much like Dios’ on-screen presence.

32:55 Makes the extremely bold claim that Dios is not Akio. As in, never even became Akio. because Dios is Strictly Allegorical.

Just to be a pedant, this is pretty explicitly disproven in the show

Confusingly, both earlier and later he will address these two as the same character. 

33:04 he also explains the root of Akio’s name in a tone that suggests this is supplemental information and not like. Literally something he explains out loud in the show?

Part 6: Part 5

This section is nearly entirely about Akio Ohtori. I would like to note that him and Dios are the only characters with dedicated segments.

38:30 The part where he states that Dios gets his powers from deflowering women.

38:46 Claims, once again, that Akio’s abuse of Anthy “may not be literal”. 

38:59 “the instance of exploitation here is used because assault has deep roots as indicating that akio's gender is the source of his imbalance”  THE ASSAULT IS ABOUT AKIO NOW???

39:45 Bad Anthy take #2: “Anthy’s conformity to the Rose bride is based around the fact that she feels good being subservient because this is the only thing in her life that has ever brought her any kind of positive reward”. This is a direct quote. Anyway, I can’t think of any instances in the show where Anthy’s subservience gives her a positive reward, except maybe when she’s intentionally using it to manipulate others. As for her feeling good being the rose bride. She tries to commit suicide. Dude.

Side tangent, but isn’t this exactly what Akio says during the final 2 episodes? That Anthy enjoys being a witch? Is the main villain, who consistently says things during that very episode that are blatantly false, our source of information for this take? I guess so, since this is the dedicated Akio section.

At 40:20 he decides to introduce the concept of Anthy, Akio, and Utena as stand-ins for wider concepts, which is antithetical to his approach in analysis beforehand

Part 7: Part 6

42:40 he finally acknowledges that he’s been spending too much time talking about Akio, and literally no time on characters like Nanami

46:10 states that Utena’s exclusive motivation “is to protect Anthy from the predatorial intentions of the other dualists”, which disregards the fact, which she states herself, that she was largely participating in the duels and protecting Anthy to feel like a prince

48:04 The part where he says that Akio has ‘chaotic Bi vibes’ in regards to him sleeping with Touga, who is 17 and implied to be a long-term victim

Part 8: Part 7

54:01: His concluding point is that Utena was the real prince all along. 

In true Somerton fashion, the video then ends over a scrolling wall of patrons, with not a single citation in sight.

[altocat]

Currently wallowing in the idea of Post DoC Genesis being a wise and gentle peacemaker who does everything he can to settle conflicts but then you make fun of his shoes or something and he explodes just like in the old days.

The guy is chill and gentle and offers some really helpful advice but if you make fun of Loveless, all that wise and sage energy just immediately evaporates and now he's screaming and spitting everywhere telling you that you don't know SHIT about literature.

He meditates peacefully on a mountain, thousands of people having travelled for miles just to consult him for help and then someone in the crowd makes an offhand comment about his weird Dirge coat or his "gay earrings" and the entire mountain splits in half while Genesis crashes out.

[johnnysaints]

Zack, Genesis & Raven

DOWNLOAD BELOW :) Say hello to these three cuties!!! So I made a Tattoo artist, who's into partying… a lot hehe, a hot-headed girl, who has a lot of love to give (she has the Paragon Partner Aspiration) and a Pottery apprentice, who's all about finding his inner peace. :) Hope you like them ♥ Details: -1 male, 2 females -Young Adults -Zack's traits: Bookworm, Active & Creative -Genesis's traits: Creative, Hot-headed & Vegetarian -Raven's traits: Practice makes perfect, creative & active -Aspirations: Inner Peace, Paragon Partner & Esteemed Entrepreneur -Dlc's used: Zack- Businesses & Hobbies, Moschino Stuff & Urban Homage Kit; Genesis- High School Years, Urban Homage Kit, & Grunge Revival Kit; Raven- Businesses & Hobbies, High School Years, Business Chic Kit & Urban Homage Kit -All outfits done Defaults: Body Default (lean) Default Skin Default Eyes Default Teeth Default feet Remove Ea Lashes Ea Piercing Overrides Sliders: Better Male Body Sliders Buldge Slider Traps Slider Enhanced Thigh Sliders (incl. lower leg) Chin slider Mouth Scale Slider Pouty Lip Slider Eyebrow Slider + far-close eyebrow slider Default Breast Slider Male Chest Slider Enhanced Butt Sliders Hip Shape Slider Hip Dip Slider Arm Thickness Slider (incl. upper arm) Note: The defaults and sliders used on the sims, were added here with the links to your convinience, you may not want to add some of these to your folders, but remember that without them, the sims may look somewhat different in your game. TOU: ♥ Pls give me credit at least once if you decide to post them with no changes made. And pls DON'T reupload them and claim as your own.

(DOWNLOAD ZACK) (DOWNLOAD GENESIS) (DOWNLOAD RAVEN) (PREVIOUS SIM DUMP) on Google Docs

[unforestalledreturn-a]

Evidently, now and then were very different places, their contexts as far from each other as they could be. That much should have been already clear to Genesis, given the state of what was left of Midgar. Back then, to be a monster was terminal. There was only one way to go and only one way to be viewed. But somehow, the way Cloud spoke... monsters now were a dime a dozen, all set on their own course. ...Did that mean Genesis had a choice all along? The thought soured his expression, his penetrating stare cast to blister the rotting floorboards at his feet. It was difficult to recall everything. His rotting mind and decaying body then retained little for him to review. Only that what he did ended in disaster. One dead, one driven mad, one... gone. Thousands gone.

"... by 'delivery service'?" Genesis huffed. This was ludicrous. Cloud was deluded off that fantasy that normalcy existed for those touched by mako, by JENOVA. Genesis once believed in it. He fought tooth and nail to try grasping the ideal. But for what? Trickled through his hands like sand. With a dark glitter in his stormy eyes, Genesis looked back up, the air positively crackling with his building malice. "The moment they see what you are, one by one, they'll turn their backs on you." Then again, it was not like any of this was Cloud's fault. He did not know what he did not know. Genesis sure wished he had before... everything. The malice softened to something piteous. "They'll kill themselves of shame, " He gestured behind him, towards the Buster Sword. "They'll tell you to rot when you are dying and they hold the only cure." Then, Genesis smiled, soft, dejected. "And they'll give up this pretense of cordiality the moment they realize..." a pause, a moment of hesitation. Really, why was he so hellbent on making an enemy? Better now than be suckered in and blindsided later. In a burst of black feathers, a wing that blasphemous, awful thing sprung out like a dark veil, blotting out the dappling light from the rafters above. "... that I'm the one that started this mess." He loosely waved a hand to what seemed not to just be the decay of the church, but that which was beyond...

As Genesis turns to face him once more, fist in the air, and Cloud’s right hand twitches. They already fought Deepground once. Hundreds of men and women who went from one gauntlet below to a new one above, clawing their way to the surface and spreading to the outer reaches of Midgar’s ruins with pure, unadulterated violence in their hearts. A death cult under the service of Weiss. Weiss but not Weiss, as he came to find out later from Vincent. 

A bloody place to close one’s eyes, if Genesis had indeed been in Deepground all this time. But then, where was he when the conflict broke out? When Omega drew the Lifestream out from the Planet’s core and attempted to abscond with it.

“Depends.”

Even a Third Class SOLDIER could be considered monstrous. Mako and JENOVA cells changed them all. Enhanced strength, agility at the minimum, and for others, a newfound affinity for materia-casting. 

Where on that spectrum did Genesis Rahapsodos find himself now, after the world had nearly ended three times over? 

“Some monsters’re bent on world domination.” Cloud glares back, undaunted by the way Genesis peers at him. If Genesis thought he had found easy pickings or a Shinra stray, he was sorely mistaken. “Some want to kill anything and everything. Some just want to be left alone. I know a few.”

I am one.

He shrugs. “We get by.”

[sabianandocs]

(Grillby person (ofc))

Oh you've opened the flood gates /hj

So, me and my friends (mostly me, they asked questions that made me think about it) made a WHOLE thing to "elementals"/people made from an element (ex: Grillby. A man made of fire.) The idea is that they are not "natural" monsters, they were created. They were first created during the war to fight! The idea of them were created long before, but never tested, so they took the chance during the war. This whole thing was with the idea that Grillby was in the war, so it depends for you, but it's just an idea for all of em and how they were created.

Fire ones were created by two monsters imbedding magic into a fire, the bigger the fire, the older the monster it. Water ones were created by, again, two monsters imbedding magic into water. The more the water, the older the monster. Earth ones are a little different! Still, two monsters embedded magic, blah blah. BUT the monsters needed to use mud and sticks to create a human-like base to imbed the magic into, the plants around help determined the looks. Air ones are really hard to make. You need to catch just the right amount of wind, the stronger the wind the older the monster, but it's hard to tell how much wind is there so the monster that appears may be a child. Not many were created since this was a risk that they didn't wanna take during a war!

Elemental monsters have weaker souls than other monsters! During creation, you have the choice to put an object in the middle of the element, and that object becomes a sort of shield around the soul as an extra layer of protection! Usually for fire, you use metal, but you can use other things. Water is ice, but you can use others. Earth, usually rock, but it's easy to use other things. Air, paper or feathers, since the object has to stay in the element and it's hard to get wood or anything to float.

You can mix elements too! fire + water: Steam fire + earth: Lava fire + air: Fire Vortex water + earth: Mud water + air: Waterspout earth + air: Dust devil

Theres a lot more, but this was just the creation. I have a whole doc for this, but I get if you don't trust links. Just feel free to ask questions if you want. again.. this was mostly made with my Aus + head canons in mind.. so it probably doesn't line up with yours, but feel free to steal any ideas if you want!

This is super interesting! It's cool to see what people do with such limited canon information- one of the things I love so much about this fandom is our tendency to extrapolate on things that we aren't given much information on (Cough Gaster cough)

I like the concept of Grillby being a sort of war veteran! It certainly conjures up some compelling imagery, for me at least (Imagine the cool ass armor possibilities...) It's a really cool idea, although I don't think I'll integrate it into my own lore (I like the idea of Grillby being around the same age as Sans, or a little older; so, in his 30s ish)

If you have a blog that explores this concept and you're willing to share I (and I'm sure a lot of other people) would be interested in looking at it! Please feel free to include it in the notes of this post if you'd like :)

I haven't explored many concepts outside of canon yet myself, since I'm only recently getting back involved with the fandom, but my interpretation of elementals is a little different;

I think elementals are probably one of the oldest types of monsters to exist. They represent the things that the world is made of, so it makes sense to me that they would be some of the first things around. Caretakers of their elements, if you will. I think they probably existed from the sort of dawn of life? Starting as really basic lifeforms and then sort of 'evolving' into the humanoid creatures we know them as today alongside the genesis of other types of monsters.

I agree with your idea of elements mixing though! Putting different ones together to create more complex creatures makes a lot of sense. Elementals being a sort of 'base' that other things came from sort of? (Not all monsters came from elementals, just ones that are element based/inspired; like Gyftrot being long descended from earth elementals plus some kinds of plant monsters, or phoenixes coming from a lineage of fire elementals plus bird monsters)

That's just my take though! And, like I said, it's not something I've invested a bunch of thought into yet, I'm still building my own ideas of things that are a lot closer to the canon lore we know of (meaning, closer by proximity; things like where the skelebros came from and what the rest of Snowdin looks like- I haven't expanded into larger, further concepts just yet)

Anyway, all that being said, thank you for sending this in! It was fun to read & fun to share my own thoughts. I hope to continue to sense your presence around my blog, mysterious Grillby loving anon!

[foreststarflaime]

I had a dream that they’ve been being so cagey about Genesis because they were making a whole spinoff game with him as the main character set post doc. Why did I wake up. Why cruel world it was so good square PLEASE

[dingodad]

Does anyone remember that Lord English himself isn’t even composed of the original versions of the souls that make him? He’s the son of paradox clones, right? That means B2 Jack is the one who actually contains the original souls of Lord English, since he was directly possessed. English has been diluted by being a paradoxical copy, and being part cueball. His creation is not unlike that of breeding Genesis frogs. (The end frog does not chronologically branch off from the original frogs, he is a paradoxical copy of all of them combined. I’d argue that he’s almost like the inverse to a Genesis frog.) So the destiny of the original Caliborn, Equius, Lil Hal and Gamzee is to be decapitated by Dave and explode into a black hole. Caliborn brags about how he will become all powerful, but he will doesn’t get to do that. The paradox slime version of himself born in a lab is destined to become the laser skull epilepsy pharoah hulk man, not him. Not that any of this really matters or changes that much, I just noticed that it was odd. This all adds up right? I didn’t forget anything that would make this not make sense?

you are, on a technical level, completely right: at no point in the Pharaoh Hulk's* timeline was he ever literally Lil Cal. he emerges straight from Doc Scratch, who was only ever a clone of Lil Cal. but you're making a critical error by thinking of the Hulk and B2 Jack as if they're meant to be two different guys.

*I've always known this iteration of Lord English as the "Mobster Hulk" version - google seems to be telling me it's basically only my posts that use this phrasing but I'm guessing I must have picked it up on the forums.

I won't give you the long-winded explanation about Ultimate Selves and how it's the idea of a person that matters more than the specific body they inhabit because I already have about a dozen posts on the subject and I'm sure everyone's sick of hearing it by now. so I wanna focus on two specific and related reasons why "Real Lord English" and "Copy of Lord English" is a false dichotomy, based specifically in an area of Homestuck's worldbuilding that doesn't really get talked about so much:

Jack Noir's version of Lil Cal is just a copy too! Roxy banished the one containing Lord English's soul into nonexistence, so that in Caliborn's words it will "FLUTTER THROUGH THE SHADOWS FOR ETERNITY. SURFACING IN THE NIGHTMARES OF THE UNSUSPECTING." Gamzee is not a Thief of Void, he can't steal things back out of the darkness; he's simply a psychic whose chucklevoodoos can "amplify fears through dreams." The Lil Cal that emerges in Dave's dreams, is adopted by his Bro, and one day makes the journey to Jack's prison cell is just a manifestation of Dave's fear of puppets; the one that Roxy banished is still out there.

First rule of jujus, bro: "THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!" "if there ever appears to be more than one of the same, it is only a mirage of caUsality!"

cultured readers will be able to draw the line between the two phrases i've put special emphasis on. Homestuck uses the terms existing terms "voodoo" and "juju" to deliberately evoke an anthropological concept which is found around the world but is most pop-culturally associated with African and Afro-Carribean spirituality: Lil Cal is a fetish. his power comes not from the fact that he is composed of some special material (or because, as you suggest, he has some kind of unique or special genes), but from the fact that spiritual power is ascribed to him. think of a religious idol; there can be a million idols to the same one deity, but the power of each idol will be exactly the same, because each has the same spiritual significance.

put in overly-simplistic terms which aren't necessarily accurate but speak to a recurring theme in Homestuck: a juju works because of the belief that it works.

this is what Calliope and Caliborn mean when they speak of "bad juju", some kind of mystical force which Lil Cal is filled with. the "juju" isn't the object at all; it's an enchantment associated with the object. Calliope says a juju can't ever be destroyed, and yet Lil Cal is torn to shreds and repaired on multiple occasions - it's the magic, the juju, that persists. this is the only way an object with a self-perpetuating origin could possibly exist, or else the object would just keep becoming more and more worn with each loop of its timeline.

Scratch and Caliborn both say it: "Instances of [Scratch] have spawned in countless universes", just as Lil Cal will continue to infiltrate the dreams of infinite children and take Caliborn "FROM UNIVERSE. TO UNIVERSE. TO UNIVERSE." importantly, it's implied actually quite early on in the comic that you can't really "clone" a "soul", because paradox clones kind of follow similar rules to jujus; there can only be one TRUE clone, who will always travel back in time to become their own origin, and all other clones are "MALFORMED MUTANTS" with no bearing on the timeline. so the exact circumstances through which Cal arrives in each universe, be it via ectobiology or clown voodoo, don't matter: every copy is either a) inert or b) actually the same Lil Cal at a different point in its circuitous timeline.

in other words - thanks to a time loop of his own orchestration! - all versions of Lord English have to be decapitated and/or collapse into a black hole at the end of their lifespan because they all have to ultimately return to the void. you're really not that far off the mark in that there is a tragedy in the fact that Caliborn believes he will "GET STRONGER. AND OLDER. AND BIGGER. AND BUFFER!" each time he destroys a universe. the tragedy is just that he thinks turning into Mobster Hulk is the end goal when in fact by making himself immortal he has ensured there IS no end goal: he's trapped being reborn as new Lil Cals in new universes forever and ever. no matter how many brief excursions he takes out into the universe to play the villain, his essence is trapped in the void for all time.

[tegabyte]

happy day 2 of strifesodos week! :3

maybe at some point I won't start a drawing at like 2AM and then be up until sunrise. That day wasn't today.

I was going to draw Cloud in fragmented pieces, but then I decided. Genesis probably has whole chunks missing from his life, with his brain melted and whatever happens to him post-DoC. Holding himself together is a monumental feat, he's already cracked and missing in places. But Cloud knows that feeling. Can't put the pieces back, not entirely, but rebuilding some of it can happen. And putting new pieces in place.

Now that I've typed this I realize I should've done a kind of kintsugi thing on Cloud. I thought about that at one point but in my defense the pose was weird and I changed it like three times so I forgot. If I ever get around to finishing up any of my sketches in the sketch pile, I'll do that for this one.

anyway, same trauma my beloved otp

[dumbc0re]

aprecciation post for genesis, specially post-doc genesis u know..... he need to wash that coat bc i really believe it STINKs gen please

[theghostavocadoe]

a collection of my ff7 fanfics and what they're called in my google docs:

Snoork mimimimi (college au oneshot where Sephiroth falls asleep in class)

parry this you filthy casual (Yazoo uses Reno as target practice)

Just Two Guys Bein Dudes (your average toxic sefikura oneshot)

i survived a nuclear explosion and all I got was this lousy t-shirt (AU where Yazoo survives at the end of AC)

You Buffoon. You Absolute Fool. You Imbecile (Kadaj fucks up)

Genesis Doesn't Get Norted (name speaks for itself)

Ohhh shit a spider [said like "Ohhh shit a rat"] (the remnants encounter a spider) (I posted this one on AO3)

DORMAMU I'VE COME TO BARGAIN (time loop au)

Eh Bing Bong Hey What's Up (renzoo bullshit)

[chez-boi]

Alright, settling a debate between myself and my friends:

Reblog for a bigger sample size or smth

Edit: I’m the only one who says Yes in my friend group 😭🙏 they all think that he should stick to his previous look

@altocat @foreststarflaime @izunias-meme-hole @stairway-to-camaraderie

[ilminnestrone]

Post-DoC Genesis free of degradation but living with chronic back pain because of the wing.

Post-DoC Genesis getting weekly back massage from the best masseuses of ex-Wall Market.

Post-DoC Genesis smoking an inglorious amount of weed to relax his back muscle enough to get some sleep on the bad days.

Post-DoC Genesis using the coolest walking cane, carved in the finest red wood and with phoenix head shelaped handle with materia eyes and a secret pocket rapier inside.

[altocat]

A wild Totally not a Time Traveler Genesis (post DoC) appears in the middle of the SOLDIER floor and breaks down upon seeing Angeal and Sephiroth while the Genesis of that timeline is right there!

The older Genesis throws his arms around them both, holding them close, kissing their faces over and over again, sobbing loudly, barely able to stand. He knows this probably isn't real--just another hallucination, a dream. He knows he doesn't deserve to ever see them again after all the trouble he caused. But he can't help it. He holds them like they're going to slip away, crushes them to him, never wanting to let them go. He's so sorry. He's so, so sorry. He loves them both so much. His best friends. His dearest companions. And he's sorry he took them for granted. He's sorry for everything.

Meanwhile, the younger Genesis in the background: "Bro why are you wearing a net?"