#pv's side: the chess game scene

[applepies-and-starlight]

If I had a nickel for every time Kim Yea-Lim voiced

A blond character

Who is some form of nobility/royalty

Lives(d) in a castle

Is the one with the least* moral ambiguity surrounding them

Has a mini arc about them getting their shit together (but not nessecarily lock in)

Has the fandom dread their Big Boy Arc™ because one of the recent stories gave Information that points to "yeah they're Not gonna have a great time

They do not have a great time

This ungreat time is instigated by a blue twink with a knack for theatrics and stageplay

The blue twink Also has unfanthomable powers

They get harrased by said blue twink into a crashout

The crashout happens because they've been told that their life and reality is a lie

They get a new outfit that is more in line with the antagonist party's theme

By extension, join the opposing side

Have a boss fight somewhere in this crashout arc

Leave and distance themselves from the main character party

Have an important story beat involving a river that is a clear reference to the Lethe from greek mythos

Their voice is noticably deeper/heavier as a 'bad guy' character

There's another storybeat where they go "i'm a monster" even though admission of such makes it so that isn't the case because it means they're aware of what's wrong and feel guilty about it

"The person you knew is gone" [LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER SOUND] (buzzer was pressed by their friends)

"They're not my friends; I don't care about them" (cares so much that they hesitate to leave them to die)

Eventually realizes that even if their life was a lie it was still true to them and others

Then proceeds to embrace that lie and the truth which resolves their crash out arc

At the end of the arc the place where everything happens starts falling apart because the person who maintained it is no longer present (either dead or gone)

The fandom ships them with a blue character with associations to uncanny knowledge and the moon and it is So gay

I'd have 2 nickels, which... ok why is this list so long??

[gothicwitcholive]

how the discussion with beast x ancient ships has occurred shows me that people will refuse to acknowledge when the dynamic presented is abusive until it’s explicitly spelled out for them in big bold letters and that’s just really aggravating

especially because in this case, in my opinion it ends up watering down/distorting both Shadow Milk’s and PV’s dynamic and Shadow Milk’s character. (Going to ramble for a bit sorry)

There’s an official personality quiz the devs made for the update (it’s only in Chinese though for some reason?) that the KR fandom found. SM is one of the characters you can get, and something that sticks out to his description is that they emphasize the word control. Each character on that quiz gets their own word tags, and control is on there *twice*. And for me, it just kind of clicked because no yeah, controlling *is* the right word to describe SM and also how he is with PV. He gaslights him to break down his mental stability all to push him towards an outcome he believes WILL happen. The motifs he’s associated with, as shown in the teasers, all relate to control:

Shadow Milk as the puppeteer and the protags as his puppets (PV as his “most treasured marionette and his journey as “Shadow Milk’s puppet show”).

The scene in the teaser with him sitting at the chess board. The protags are the “pawns” of his game and he’s the only person who has any ability to play the game so he moves *both sides*. PV is too small to play and even smaller than the pieces themselves. I think both this motif and the puppet motif, especially that line of “treasured marionette”, really does show how much Shadow Milk disregards the free will and autonomy of the people he toys with

And frankly, this is why Shadowvanilla gets called what it is (as you said, a spade being called a spade.) Because abusers try to exercise their control over their victims, and this is exactly what Shadow Milk has done frame 1 of his introduction. All he’s done is display abusive behavior that’s appropriate to show for a child’s mobile game, and Pure Vanilla hasn’t been able to find a good defense for himself outside of *White Lily’s voice*, who I’m 100% sure Shadow Milk separated them on purpose with that riddle so she couldn’t intervene.

I wish fandom would analyze it instead of going “wow this is romantic.”

Sorry if this is too much I’ve been thinking about it ever since yesterday after reading the first “SM x PV is abuser x victim” post we’ve gotten - passerby anon

I love how you came up with a long, detailed reason on why this is shit

Yes, SM is VERY controlling, and you bring up a good point. He pulled WL away so she couldn't help him, trying to make him feel like he's second guessing himself in front of kids, who have had a HIGH image of him!

As you've said, all he's done is display ABUSE, using crappy ass situations to try to force PV to get mad, to snap, to make him seem evil.

All this shipping is saying "We don't care about PV's/DC's/Ancient's mental health, all we care about is making OURSELVES happy with OUR distortion of reality between canon and wants."

[imthepunchlord]

Thoughts about Papillon / Hawkmoth PV? I do not know if I wrote it well n-nU

Papillon was, intimidating. He’s a villain to really fear and be unnerved by. All the scenes that we saw of him, he kept a cold expression, with illuminated eyes, walked with a purpose, and kept his lair in a blimp that floated above Paris. Which was kind of stupid but, also a power move. It shows that he knows that he was dangerous, he wasn’t afraid to let people know he was there, always looming over them, staring down at them. It really represented how he viewed this city and its people beneath him. 

And if people wanted to challenge him, they were welcome to. I can believe that he would destroy them, especially while holding the brooch of metamorphosis. Depending on the powers and the limitation, he could transform himself into a true monster. 

Its a popular idea that he was a mafia boss to. How he talked with Mime in the PV. 

Concept art of him with, presumably his wife, and possibly early concept of Gorilla. 

I can believe that idea that he was one in earlier concept. He had the connections, the power, the control. And then he found himself a magical jewelry piece, one that allowed him to change people, make minions, bring out inner demons, adjust their mind. 

And then Ladybug appears, rising up to challenge him, the first in a long time. Behind impassive mask, there was a little bit of intrigue and amusement. A child with her own power coming to face him. And she’s proven to be innovative, crafty, and flexible enough to work around the dangers he let loose on Paris. 

Chess was always a favorite game of his. It was refined, worked through by cunning and calculation, and worked off total devastation of your opponent. He felt like a king that had all the pieces. And she was one rogue queen, working alone, thinking she could take out his army of pawns. And one rogue knight, a wild card, that he believes, could destroy her just as easily. When alone, he allows himself to smile, his eyes gleaming in anticipation. 

The game was on, Ladybug, and there was only going to be one winner. And it was not going to be him left broken down, lying on his side. Play his pawns right, and everything will go as it should. 

It’ll be a nice message to Paris once this game was done. 

[greythroat]

Pasta Platoon PV Analysis

I went full idiot on this because things like this make me go crazy. A few things are definitely a huge stretch, but whatever. Just in case it was intentional, you know?

Spoilers ahead - click keep reading

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCFYL2wc8Fg

Funtoy logo appears at the very beginning as white on black, inverted from what you see when you start up the game.

What is presumably the Azure Stone appears. Oyster holds a piece. Another piece is probably the blue stone in B-52's art.

"Back then, how would I... have percieved the power held in this stone?" Whether it's actually cursed or not, Spaghetti uses it to bring people's downfalls.

Borscht is shadowed behind Spaghetti. Implying she is the real mastermind or something? Or just that she's more powerful than she seems.

Oyster in his skin next to Pretzel. Oyster looks shook. They both have Christian-themed clothes. The same scene, but with an empty throne in the center. Perhaps referring to how Spaghetti's Master Attendant was killed by his brothers. Note that Pretzel is to Oyster's left, like Borscht is to Spaghetti's left, not the right, the "right side". So implying Borscht and Pretzel are villains.

Then a pretty castle, which flickers to the word WRATH. Those teeny words in red appear for each character, and it just says their sin. The castle apppears again, but with all colors inverted except for the fence. Again, inverted colors. This maybe represents being trapped? Surstromming appears with roses and thorns to show that she's dangerous and beautiful, such and such. Then there's a second Surstromming that shows just a little bit for like half a second, showing duality and a hidden side?

A hallway that looks a little like the Dream Time hallway. It's bloodstained. Black Pudding is LUST, with red lines around her.

A palace. Stargazey Pie is GREED, with the same red strings around her as with Black. The mirrors:

The one in the back right and the front left are in her art, but the ones that don't appear to show a fish eating... something... and the other is a strange fish.

Then it shows red chess pieces, queens, bishops, and something else. In the bottom left, there are solid red pieces, a queen and a knight. I believe in this case, they represent Stargazey and Black.

Spaghetti appears in the throne room, giving more weight to my earlier assumption, and in front of him are Surstromming, Stargazey, and Black. More chess pieces. A queen falls into Spaghetti's hand, maybe meaning that even as Borscht is controlling things from the shadows, he's manipulating her. Surstromming, Black, and Stargazey have their eyes scribbled over. Surstromming's mouth is erased. She's based off a siren, and this is taking away her voice while sirens are known for singing. Black and Stargazey are smiling.

Still looking shook in his skin, Spaghetti is looking at Oyster. Possibly to get the Azure Stone back.

A Fallen Angel is attacking Spaghetti. Its attention is clearly on him. Pretzel's doing nothing and not having any attention paid to him, and its already passed Oyster, who's also doing nothing.

The Azure Stone is confirmed to be in multiple pieces. Oyster is looking at it and being all emo. There are construction cranes behind him at the end, representing new growth. Something new is being created.

Clearly, a theme is the 7 deadly sins. Stargazey=Greed, Black=Lust, Spaghetti=Pride, Surstromming=Wrath. This leaves Pretzel, Borscht, and Oyster with Envy, Gluttony, and Sloth. I believe Borscht is either Envy (Vodka) or Gluttony (her sack of vegetables and how she drinks alcohol in her animations), Oyster is Sloth (he doesn't like interacting with strangers or the outside world, showing that he wants things to remain the same, and known to him, a sort of apathy or lack of interest/hatred of foreign things), and Pretzel I can't see as any of the 3. The order shown in the video does not match the Circles of Hell.

I thought the 7 Heavenly Virtues may be connected to DDS, but it doesn't match up. Some of the assigned sins are disputable. Black can be seen as Sloth, letting her loved ones get away with anything. Spaghetti and Pretzel could both be Wrath. Surstromming could be seen as Lust.

Another theme is chess. This is kind of like how Spaghetti is manipulating people around him, and has a royal theme like him and Stargazey.

The description (translated by hinabes):

The bewitching siren's song; the red cure-all fluid; the ballroom waltz as the bell tolls.

All of this, in the little Desire Tavern.

Betrayal, is but a prelude.

Pretense, is but the hypocrite's trophy.

Whose sorrow is it, that is presented before you?

Line one is Surstromming, Black (fluid in her syringe??), and... Stargazey? The Desire Tavern I believe might be connected to Borscht and Spaghetti, since they grant wishes, though I don't remember the details. It might also be the bar Vodka was in.

Betrayal, as Spaghetti's Master Attendant was betrayed by his friends and family, which sent Spaghetti on his quest for revenge.

Spaghetti's noble image, but also that he resorted to the same ways as his Master Attendant's killers.

Whose sorrow is it, that is presented before you? It's literally asking us, "Whose sadness do you see?", but I interpret is as something like, "Whose sadness caused this? Whose fault is this? What tragedy made these things happen?"

Well, there it is. Feel free to add on.