#so i really hope i will be proven wrong

[orangerainforest]

🌻

[robbyykeene]

I actually really like robby and tory together even though I initially thought I wouldn’t, but their relationship is pretty unhealthy. the reason robby is so unbalanced without tory is because she is maybe the only person in his life who truly loves him and believes in him. so when he loses that, it only highlights the absence of it in the rest of his life and unravels every other aspect of his life and the relationships within it. and i just know that we are likely going to be forced to watch miguel and johnny give him “tough love” when he inevitably underperforms in the tournament—and im sure it will work—but it will also be unsatisfying as a viewer because robby doesn’t need tough love, he just needs actual love. he needs to be prioritized by the adults around him and supported unconditionally, even when he fails.

[saltyyetbland]

ngl im fucking terrified of how the fandom will act when the asian ccs get added and they are confronted with asian customs such as honorifics, asian cultural norms, and the language itself (ie words that are common in one language that sounds like a slur in another) and i know most of the fandom will be open and welcoming but idk im probably being way too pessimistic as someone who is asian and has seen the bs that people can spew esp regarding things like stereotypes

[slytherinshua]

slowly realizing more and more that the sm boycott effort is gonna amount to nothing in the end, and this is not the way we should be going about the riize situation.

i loved seunghan when he was in the group, and i am still an ot7 fan. but at a point, i think we need to think of how much of our time and energy we're willing to spend fighting for something that has such a small chance of actually happening. sm is gonna bounce back from any stock lost from the boycott because they are one of the big 3. they have like 4 of the biggest groups in kpop rn: nct, aespa, red velvet, riize. there's just no way either boycotting riize or boycotting all of sm would actually be detrimental enough to get a member who's been terminated from the group back in.

and while i don't agree with the ot6 fans who are being unreasonable, i think some ot7 fans have been just as bad. this fandom is so toxic and rotten, every day it just seems to get worse. and i don't like the narrative that most ot7 fans were spreading about ot6 kfans-- how they were just mad that seunghan was dating pre debut. that isn't why they were mad, they really didn't care about that. it's the fact that he took pictures of him with his possibly/alleged underage girlfriend (it's honestly bad enough with/without her being possible underage, which i don't have confirmation on) at what looks like a hotel and presumably sent it to his friends in a group chat (which was how it got leaked). that's why they wanted him out of the group.

personally, i don't believe that a member should get kicked out of a group or put on hiatus without a proper reason why. and seunghan's hiatus and termination is really messy. but there are valid reasons why kfans weren't too big on him. the problem is there have been many idols kicked out for things they didn't do, and others who have been caught doing really fucked up and nasty things and rightfully kicked out of the group, but it's hard to know which idols are innocent or not when there's no organization. and when we jump on a narrative train and blow something super big out of proportion, the facts and proper investigation of the situation gets lost in the mess of things.

what should have happened was things being properly investigated back in october 2023 before seunghan was ever put on hiatus, and a decision made from there whether to keep him in the group or kick him out based on that.

instead, we have the other 6 members who clearly want seunghan back tired of the state of everything (rightfully so), ot7 and ot6 fans fighting a full blown war every day without logical thinking, and misinformation being spread left and right. there's no organization, there's no firm confirmation on anything, all of this is just such a big mess.

now let me be clear IF it's true that there was anything suspicious going on between seunghan and his girlfriend, then i would obviously no longer support him. as it is, i'm not going to stop supporting him until there's firm evidence. i'm tired of kpop stans making rash decisions based on half truths instead of just being patient and waiting for the facts to come out. staying neutral during unclear situations is a valid stance to take. please let's all stop jumping to conclusions from both sides.

[cherryys]

ever since 266, I saw many people say that because megumi doesn't want to be a jujutsu sorcerer, that means his conclusion doesn't have to have anything to do with using his technique or completing his domain and that him just getting saved is fine, and that is his purpose in the story, and I completely disagree.

Megumi has always treated his technique as a curse in his life, one he had never wanted and one that had always hindered him. he viewed it as a crutch, a weakness, something that controls him rather than him controlling it as its user. it had dictated his life ever since his birth and subsequently forcing him into the gruel jujutsu world, with his father selling and abandoning him, the expectations placed on him by Gojo to surpass him because of his technique, along with now, Sukuna stealing his body, his autonomy, his agency, and his ability to make a choice along with killing his sister and hurting his friends just because of his technique. Him learning that instead of fearing his technique and treating it as something he'll never control or grasp and that its power is way beyond him, he does have the strength and newfound mindset to control it, be its master and be able to completely understand and interpret his technique would be a great way to conclude his character arc and his rocky relationship with his technique.

him completing his domain doesn't have anything to do with jujutsu sorcery. his domain is a representation of his sense of self, his self-identity, his character, so to speak. it being incomplete from the start was to show you that megumi hadn't grasped his sense of self yet, hasn't found an identity unique to himself outside of wanting to save his sister (and later, yuuji) and his complete disregard for his life in general. his incomplete domain is basically showing you his incomplete character. I just can't really fathom the domain not being completed especially after him being at the climax of his character arc. it's more than just a jujutsu thing for megumi's character, it represents him.

also, megumi's purpose this entire arc to just be saved is hardly a good conclusion to his character. his entire life, he'd been stripped of his autonomy, the power to choose, the power to control his life. that was what reggie's curse was: let fate toy with you, become a clown, then die. his conclusion should be him breaking AWAY from that curse, to stop fate from toying with him, and instead of just laying down and letting life kick him over and over, he stands up and finally kicks back, fights against the circumstances, saves himself, instead of doing nothing and just letting others save him. what would be the point, then? he'd be reduced to a literal plot device, whose entire role in the story is to let his body be taken over by sukuna for his technique, and he doesn't even save himself, he just lets others do the work for him. that would be a horrible conclusion. it wouldn't make his dream of wanting a peaceful life earned for me, not because megumi HAS to be useful or has to prove himself to deserve a simple life, but because he hasn't really changed. he's the same as he was before, letting life toy with him over and over and reduced to just the damsel in distress who constantly needs others to do the work for him.

I want him to fight back. I want him to save himself. I want him to put in the work to change his fate.

[i-really-like-phrogs]

I was sad about the sequel coming out in a month… A buddy challenged me to draw Keatlejuice as a way to cope. :’(

[journey-to-the-attic]

there's a moment in lesson 45 of nightbringer where mc falls off a thing (again?? is this foreshadowing?? i'm going to rule-of-three this and wait to see if it happens again) and satan tries and fails to grab their hand to catch them, but now i'm imagining the same thing happening with satan and ik except he does succeed, but it's her right hand and the prosthetic just POP comes straight off

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Chapter 110 is 13 pages long welcome to hell!!! so in a lot of ways this is just more fuel for a theory that I've had for a few weeks now, that's only gotten stronger with each recent season 5 episode, which is that the last episode of the season is gonna end on 110, and that Asagiri/Harukawa and Bones have been collaborating to make this happen, specifically because it's a major turning point that would be the only good place to end the season on.

When we started getting especially long chapters again (like from 25-35ish pages, with the exception of 107.5, the last two being some of the longest we've ever had), at first I just assumed that Asagiri/Harukawa got freed up from some other obligations they'd been having to cause the extremely short/half chapters, like promotional stuff for the anime/Beast movie, or working on light novels. But then 109 happened, with the "supposed" death of Dazai, and heavy emphasis at the end on how literally everyone is at their lowest point right now, and I got to thinking. 11 episodes is a strangely specific number for an anime season -- why not 12, or 13, or even 10, like you'd usually see? Why have we gotten suddenly gotten two 35 page chapters out of nowhere, that's almost unheard of at this point? They're both beautiful chapters, don't get me wrong (as always), and maybe A/H simply just didn't want to cut them in halves because they felt like the full emotional impact wouldn't hit/that there were no good cutoff points in them, but you can't deny that it's surprising, after all the shorter chapters we've been getting. Why has the anime been going at such insanely breakneck pacing for the most part ever since around the Sunday Tragedy chapters, even more so than it has in the past? So much so that it feels dangerously close to overtaking the manga?

Well, maybe, just maybe, it's because..... Asagiri decided a long time ago that whatever happens in 110 is the only point that feels "season finale"-worthy enough, in an arc that still isn't anywhere close to being completely wrapped up, and so both the manga and the anime have been specifically coordinated to reach that part within 2 and a half weeks of each other?

I've seen a lot of people now think season 5 will end with 109, and as much as my sadistic side would find that hilarious, I honestly don't think they'd do that and realistically don't want it to happen; it'd be so cruel to cliffhanger the anime for years like that, and just doesn't feel like a season cliffhanger BSD would do, a series that is ultimately hopeful and uplifting. Seasons 2 and 3 had a positive, conclusive ending; the only reasons seasons 1 and 4 didn't was because they're technically not really full seasons of their own, and are more like the first cour of another "season" that also came out that same year (seasons 1 and 2 both aired in 2016, so they're more like one big season, and seasons 4 and 5 have both aired this year, so they're also more like one big season, again taking into account how episodes 12 and 50 are not satisfying finales like episodes 24, 37, and hypothetically, 61, are). I really can't see season 5 ending with Dazai and Fukuzawa's supposed deaths, Sigma being unconscious and maybe close to death, Atsushi being vulnerable and limbless again, everyone we love still vampires, and the entire world being basically doomed; that's just too depressing and not like BSD at all. However, having said that, if it doesn't end there, there really isn't any good place to end the season before that, either, that feels in any way satisfying or like a finale at all. And so, to me, that only leaves after 109: chapter 110.

I think things are really gonna turn around next chapter. Like I said, everyone is at their lowest point right now, it cannot possibly get any worse, the framing of Dazai, Fukuzawa, and sskk at the end of 109 is telling us that; this is the time for the heroes to finally start winning again, with Aya being so close to pulling out the sword, and for all the thematic reasons other people have talked about to death that I don't need to go into here again. This upcoming chapter being so short again makes a part of me wary of 110 being "the one", so to speak, I won't lie, but at the same time, it's very possible that it needs to be that short because that's all the final episode of the season will be able to reasonably fit in, since it's already gonna be VERY close if they do make it all the way to 109. And at the end of the day, I don't doubt at all that Asagiri and Harukawa can make these the most monumental and game-changing mere 13 pages ever if they wanted to; a chapter does not at all need to be extremely long in order to be an important and impactful one, even if short ones we've gotten in the past haven't felt the most important.

An additional thought I've had, though this is much more crack territory than all this already is, is that since we know from Anime Expo that a Stormbringer movie at some point is highly likely (judging from Asagiri's reaction when someone brought it up), it's possible that chapter 110 and thus the final episode will involve the long-anticipated return of Verlaine and/or Adam, or at least some other major reference to Stormbringer, that would naturally and smoothly lead into a Stormbringer movie to explain things to people who haven't read the novel. It would make a lot of sense, especially since the s4 OP has the Old World sign behind Chuuya, which might be a hint that this has been in the works ever since seasons 4/5 were first in planning with Asagiri. We also know that Dazai and Chuuya's voice actors apparently struggled to record their lines together this season, which probably relates to 101 and possibly 109, but it could be 110 too.... I could be very wrong, as I'm no expert on this kind of thing, but I kinda doubt they would bring Chuuya's actor in for just the vampire growls, and Asagiri placing heavy emphasis on Chuuya's importance this season in that one interview gives me the impression that he's talking about much more than just 101/109. But that's the least solid evidence I have, that's just mostly based on vibes I get.

So basically, I think a lot of factors -- the unusual episode count, how close the anime is to catching up to the manga with three whole episodes left, the seemingly arbitrary recent chapter lengths, and the climactic events of 109 -- can tell us that 110 might be a very, VERY big deal. Again, there's of course no way this arc is anywhere near close to being finished, with so much left to address and resolve, but since it is currently incomplete in the manga, unlike the previously adapted arcs, if the anime was going to adapt it at all, they'd have to find a place that feels satisfying enough to end this season, knowing there won't be more anime for a long time after this, and so I think they specifically planned for that, from both Bones' and A/H's sides. 10 episodes might not have been enough to reach that point, but 12 or 13 might have been too many it wouldn't have been if Bones actually decided to slow down and let the story breathe the way it needs to, but this post isn't meant to criticize the anime, so maybe 11 was just right. And maybe Asagiri and Harukawa specifically pushed to make recent chapters longer than usual, in order to make sure that the manga reached the story content in 110 the monthly release right before season 5 was to end.

Is this just copium? Absolutely. Am I going to look like an absolute clown in two days when this post ages like milk? Probably. But the evidence is There, so let me just enjoy my delusions until Sunday, okay 🥂🫡

[utilitycaster]

Do you think that Laura and Marisha are deliberately making their relationship somewhat toxic and unsustainable or do you think they see the relationship as healthy? It is just so different from all of the other relationships they have been a part of and not really in a good way. Would love to get your perspective on it if you have one

I am honestly unsure. I would like to say it's deliberate. Prior to it becoming canon, in fact, I, and a lot of other people who were less than enthused by Imogen and Laudna's romance and weren't entirely sold from the start, made the case that we expected they would be talking to each other and would put together a compelling story, not the dull fluff so common in fanon. While whether it's compelling is a subjective judgment, we know for a fact they didn't talk to each other. We know for a fact Marisha was surprised by the question of "Can I kiss you," and Laura was surprised by the answer. We know from a 4SD not long after (4SD #16, Kiss and Tell) that several episodes later they still hadn't talked. We know that Marisha perceives Laudna as holding Imogen back (and that Laudna perceives herself as doing so) from the Rose City Q&A. We know that from 4SD #20 (Episode Twenty) that Laura doesn't like conflict in narrative and Marisha does, and that Laura was thrown by Laudna's regression following Ashton's attempt to absorb the shard (4SD #19, Shard Candy).

I don't know if it's deliberate or not; I don't have any extra insight that isn't public knowledge any fan can easily access. But man, it doesn't feel like these are two actors on the same page about what's going on.

I've touched on this before but mostly in tags or whisper posts but I've always felt ill at ease with a number of for lack of a better term "fandom-approved opinions" and one of the ones that has baffled me the most is this idea that Marisha and Laura have exceptional chemistry. I watched Campaign 1 knowing the endgame ships but deliberately avoiding the fandom, and Vex and Keyleth did not even once occur to me as a thing. I watched the first year of Campaign 2 without a ton of fandom interaction because I was avoiding additional C1 spoilers and it seemed crystal clear that the obvious ship was Beau and Yasha; it felt like Beau and Jester only even had enough potential for me to multiship it as my general "whomever Jester picks" for like, 30 episodes. And yet people - people who didn't even ship either of the above ships and in some cases disliked them- would just say "oh man I can't wait until we get to a campaign where we can finally explore Marisha and Laura's incredible chemistry!" and it's like. I feel like I'm the kid in the Emperor's New Clothes on this! I understand that chemistry is to an extent a matter of taste and subjectivity, but it just increasingly feels like people looked at two campaigns of tables where Ashley was frequently absent and said "well, if I want an F/F ship that's between two of the women in the cast, I guess this is what I have to work with" and repeated to themselves that a flat pamplemousse La Croix was a Piña Colada until they started to believe it. I mean if someone wants to explain it to me in good faith I suppose be my guest and I will try to take it in, but it feels like people just treat this as incontrovertible fact and if you doubt it they're like "don't you have eyes" and it's like, well, pretend I don't. Explain like I'm eyeless and five because I have never understood this. They both have more chemistry with every single other cast member; it's not all romantic but man, I didn't even buy Laudna and Imogen as platonic best friends of two years. I have never had this problem with any other pre-existing character relationships Marisha and Laura have played, platonic or otherwise. It's literally just them. I just never feel like they're quite on the same page.

Back to the relationship between Imogen and Laudna onscreen, this was easily the best conversation since the start of the gnarlrock fight, and it is my hope it doesn't fizzle out the way that did. You can't keep kissing Laudna whenever she fears she's lost forever to Delilah, Imogen. Or you can, but that won't fix the problem. Again: are you disgusted? Do you feel betrayed? If you're not, why did you say that? If you are, how will you move past it? Do you want to be with someone who never feels like they're good enough for you? Laudna, do you want to be with someone who, no matter what they say, you feel you're holding back?

Early in the campaign, my feeling was that of our current situation, switched - Imogen felt her powers were a burden and a curse and Laudna kept referring to them and to her glowingly. It's just...ships passing in the night, no pun intended here. I hope it's on purpose and whatever comes from it is a good story - and either a tragedy or a happy story could be a good one. But I have a nagging sensation that Laudna wants out but is afraid to say no, and Imogen is afraid to let go, and I honestly don't know if the actors have realized this impasse and how the characters might resolve it, one way or another, besides the insufficient bandaid of a kiss whenever the conversation gets too uncomfortable.

[epicness1000]

I'm Disappointed in How Honkai Star Rail's 2.6 Update Handled Boothill

I posted this elsewhere, but I thought to post this here.

If you're unable to take criticism of HSR and its writing, then don't read.

Is it just me? Well, it probably is, but I'm going to make a post (more like an essay) about it anyway.

I think a character like Boothill– one driven by anger, hate and revenge– isn't one to just be ignored or accepted. This is the kind of character that should be deconstructed. He claims to protect the innocent, and kill those who are evil– but who is he to decide who is innocent, and who is guilty? If he claims to spread justice– well, what is justice? Is it really as simple as the deadly means he uses, or is this all just a wall to justify his embracing of violence, a method of lashing out he uses in response to his trauma? I mean– he's killed a lot of people, and if those people include IPC lackeys (they almost certainly do), then there's no doubt at least some of them were innocent by most definitions of the word. And, if they're all truly just evil and guilty– well, that just feels like a weakness of the narrative, and its unwillingness to genuinely explore the possible issue it raises, an easy way out so to say. Boothill comes across as hypocritical to me, since who's to say that in the eyes of another, he's not also a villain/criminal to be put down? Is he not guilty in many ways too, maybe even within his own moral framework?

I'd LOVE to see the HSR narrative tackle these things, and I was hoping it would– but this update doesn't seem to have done any of that, even if it tried to open up his character.

I don't like that the fact that he genuinely doesn't seem to have any qualms with killing goes unquestioned. Don't get me wrong– I love morally grey/dark characters– but only if they're handled well. And I don't think that's the case here, since it feels like the narrative fails to frame his acts as something questionable. Even the robot ape guy he threatens brings up that taking a life the first time would make anyone hesitate, even the most heinous of villains– yet Boothill doesn't, and this... isn't really brought up again? Even though I think it really should be? If a couple things were flipped, Boothill could easily be a (really cool) tragic villain, or questionable anti-hero– but it feels like hoyo is just trying to make him marketable without really exploring these interesting ideas, because they might make him look less innocent/likeable.

I make this analogy a lot, but I think the best character to look at when it comes to 'anti-hero who is convinced that he's spreading justice and defending the weak, when in reality it's just a front for violence/trauma, and their morals desperately need to be deconstructed' is Raiden from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. If you know, you'll probably understand what I mean– if not, I'm happy to elaborate.

Either way, I just hope that when Boothill inevitably gets more development, these things are explored in some capacity. I love him as a character, I just don't like how the narrative is dealing with him so far.

(I'm very happy to have a discussion about this– I'm not aiming to change anyone's mind if they enjoyed the update's contents– but I did want to speak my opinion).

(ALso- I brought this up in a discord chat, and I want to bring it up again. This is kind of comparable to Light Yagami's mindset– OBVIOUSLY they are literal opposites in personality and character, but the whole concept of 'I eradicate the guilty and protect the innocent' seems to be driving both of them. The difference is that Death Note bothered to analyse this idea and point out how ultimately wrong it is for one person to decide who is innocent or guilty, who deserves to live or die– while Honkai Star Rail not only avoids this, but almost seems to frame it as heroic? To be blunt– I think that is incredibly stupid.)

[yaboy-miz]

I swear to god tumblr was normal all day and just now everyone is freaking out. Is it timezones?

Anyway looking forward to seeing who wins, I’m in a constant losing battle of trying not to panic over an election that I’m just barely too young to have a say in, what about y’all?

[lemon-wedges]

...

[themyscirah]

Heard about TK wanting to write WW for 100 issues and do a Trinity spinoff?

Yeah.... that's the word on the street 😔

To be honest with everybody though, I don't think he's hitting 100 issues. I think Tom King THINKS he will be writing 100 issues of WW comics, but I'm very skeptical. Like it's true he got pretty close to 100 issues when he was writing Batman, but that was during Rebirth, when comics were being published twice a month. At a normal monthly pace, 100 main title issues works out to be a bit over EIGHT YEARS. Even with specials and annuals and possible events (or the Trinity spinoff) compressing that timeline, there's still no way in my mind that Tom hits 100 issues in any less than five years. He spent three on Batman. You know, Batman, his #1, the guy he has to bring up every issue? Do we really think he's going to spend over twice as long on Diana?

Like personally I'm just not convinced that Tom King cares enough about Wonder Woman to write her for that long. Like I think he likes her, and I think he thinks she's cool, but reading his book he seems to love to put the focus anywhere except on Diana. Like all the narration is done by the villain (meaning we don't get Diana's actual thoughts on any of this) and the backup are all TK's audition to write supersons (so we're losing page space that could be utilized to develop the current narrative in favor of possible future stories with no plot relevance)

Like idk. Tom King is talking the talk and I think he has the power at DC currently to walk the walk if he really wants to do it and his hype squad keeps sales high, but he hasn't convinced me so far with his work that he has it in him to see out so many issues of Wonder Woman, especially when Diana finally defeats the Sovereign, and if Trinity gets her own book, like what is he going to do with his remaining 80 issues? Actually telling WW stories?

It seems to me from what I've read of his WW and interviews abt it is that this "100 issues of Wonder Woman" thing is coming from his opinion that Diana deserves a 100-issue run, rather any great, passionate love for Diana that would actually motivate him to write her for that long.

So anyways, my stance is that if he's really putting in a long one (however long it may be) we just hope for the best, (Diana getting her narration boxes back and being central in her own story again, Trinity getting booted back to Themyscira to be forgotten raised offscreen, etc.) and try to make the most & wait it out

[cringelordofchaos]

OK, so I haven't seen anyone talk about this, so I will.

So, we know in the new spin off Sean has his locs now!!! Seeing as the spin off takes place before the events of TMF, we can safely assume he had them the whole time, just due to gacha life barely having any nonstraight hairstyles he couldn't have them before

And while everyone's happy, I haven't seen anyone talk about Lia.

Lia. Lia's still got straight hair.

We know Lia, at one point, changed herself and pretended to be someone she wasn't for the sake of being popular, for the sake of people liking her. It was first revealed in the eighth episode - when Hailey told her:

"at least I didn't become a jerk just to please other people."

Which... Seemed to get to her.

We all know she used to be friends with Hailey. Not just from that piece of dialogue, but also during Hailey's song in the same episode, we have w quick shot which shows middle school her and Lia walking together in the hall, only Lia is wearing a simpler outfit, and her hair isn't straightened, furthermore suggesting that she did, in fact, change herself to be liked by Zoey, to be popular.

So, we know her personality, and possibly fashion as well, is primarily a facade she carried to be liked. And, now that we see her with her hair still straightened, despite rosyclozy having the ability to give her natural hair, we can assume she is straightening it to fit In, since the vast majority of rose meadow high consists of white people with straight hair

I'm not sure if the show is gonna really touch upon the subject of racism, or how well it would do in the first place, but this could very well be subtle commentary on how black people can be pressured into straightening their hair, due to natural black hair still being viewed as "unkempt" or "unprofessional" or "undesirable" by some...

And I'm not saying that every single black person that straightens their hair is doing it out of insecurity. But seeing as Lia's whole character is about someone who changed themselves in order to fit in, it does seem to fit her character...

Now, as of the finale, Lia kick-started her redemption arc that should carry on further into S2. She ditched Zoey and Maria, and by association the dromies as well, so we can see that she is on her way to becoming her own person again, and not having to care what people may think about her. And I can't wait!!! And, as she learns to love and accept herself more for who she is rather than what specific people think about her, she could also potentially stop straightening her hair (that is if she was doing it to fit in)

Idk how to end this lol

But yeah. Live laugh lia!!!!

[multishipper-baby]

Also I remembered that I hadn't yet talked about Bonnie's deal in the killing game, despite him being one of the survivors, so I might as well talk about it now.

The thing about Bonnie is that he kind of shuts off a lot from the rest of the group. While the others all form their own little cliques, he's more on the distrustful side, and tends to keep to himself so as to not make himself a possible target- he's already been a target for bullies most of his life, he'd rather not become a target for murderers now. Despite that, he does end up making two friends over the course of the killing game: Bon and Fox. Both of which are somewhat similar to how it happened in canon.

With Bon, they start hanging out pretty early on since Bonnie is a hobbyist guitar player, and he asks Bon to give him some advice. At which Bon figures out that Bonnie is actually, uh, way too advanced to be called a hobbyist. Advanced enough to threaten his status as the Ultimate Guitarist player, with just how good he is (Bonnie jokes that he got that way from playing so much Guitar Hero. Bon isn't amused). They form a rivalry from then on, frequently spending time together practicing and making up stupid challenges to one up each other. Bonnie teaches Bon how to be better at videogames in return, since he sucks at most of them. I'm keeping Bon's crush on Bonnie, but I'm not sure if it'll be requited or not...

With Fox it comes down mostly to them having a similar sense of humor, and a small degree of necessity- Bonnie knows his chances of living all the way to the end are low, so he's hoping that sticking next to the tallest and strongest guy in the class will keep him safe. Meanwhile, Fox is not really all that observant or smart, so he's banking on Bonnie keeping an eye out for any trouble or anything that might later be useful for a trial. A brains and brawn duo, you could say.

Of course, all this means that when Fox kills Bon on Chapter 4, he... Doesn't take it very well. He's already been pulling away from the group more and more as the tensions rise, and this becomes his final straw- because for the entirety of Chapter 5, Bonnie is locked in his room. He raided the kitchen the night of the trial to stock his room full of snacks, and is planning on staying there for as long as needed. Mostly, he's just lost faith in the group, and is fully expecting them to continue killing each other until the game ends because only two players remain. The only time he leaves his room is for the next class trial, since attendance is mandatory... And boy does that trial not give him much hope for the future.

[mymarifae]

also also i forgot to put this but what are your thoughts on firefly? i think she's probably gonna be okay (please please please) because it would honestly suck if she were introduced and then immediately thrown to the side

so! short answer: i don't fucking know 🫶🏾

long answer:

this is really tough because i really... don't know. there's a lot of ways this could play out.

like, for one, you're not supposed to be able to die in the dreamscape. ... right? but robin died. maybe her body was attacked shortly after she entered the dream pool thing? it would explain all the gashes on her

but also, the monster that attacked firefly? the way black swan keeps calling it just Death makes me a little unsure... an attack from THAT probably has more real world repercussions than like. getting whacked over the head with a heavy hammer. now, are the real world repercussions DEATH? i'm not sure. black swan and acheron sure do respond like firefly Died-died. and they both know a lot more about the dreamscape than most anyone else

other things to consider are firefly's entropy loss syndrome and the fact that she's a stowaway. i imagine being booted out of the dreamscape because you "died" has some jarring unknown effects. who knows how differently someone whose body is literally fading away respond? also, because she's a stowaway: where... is her body? how did she get into the dreamscape in the first place? can she get back in? lots of unanswered questions here. even if she didn't DIE due to all her unique circumstances she might not be 100% Okay

but ANOTHER thing is firefly will be a playable character. this doesn't guarantee that she's okay - like, *points at tingyun* this wouldn't be the first time a character with an ambiguous-but-probably-Not-Good fate is added to the gacha. but it gives me some hope, because we got a decent amount of time with tingyun before the phantylia reveal. and we were able to meet other characters she was connected to and learned more about her through them and so on. soooooo there is PROBABLY something else planned for firefly. in some way

one last thing: people are saying she's... sam? this kind of has me scratching my head a lot because ... ???? but in the penacony trailer sam is shown with the same weapon firefly's leaked file assets have. and her type appears to be fire

i think though that it's worth noting that the "sam" we had a boss fight with might not have been the REAL sam. while retracing firefly's memories, she talks to someone named "Mecha." who is probably an accomplice who turned on her? soooo maybe the "sam" we fought was this Mecha and there was just an assumption by stelle & co that it was sam. because like he never introduced himself lol

either way they're definitely connected so even if firefly herself never comes back we still have sam/possibly "mecha" wandering around and we'll get the chance to glean more info from him in the next update. probably.

but yeah in conclusion!!!!!! i don't know 🫶🏾 too hard to tell, too little info available, there's all kinds of foreshadowing in the dreampass stickers and readable texts strewn across the map but i haven't gone through everything and sometimes foreshadowing is only clear in hindsight so that might not help, i am waiting (im)patiently for the next story update