#someone said its related to an animatronic and IF its who I think it is yall are seeing me on the news but in a good way

[slarkzin]

Terribly sorry for not posting art and animation updates by the way I'm still in the middle of planning out everything and it's beating me into a corner rn.

Also just as a little warning in 10 hours or so I MIGHT become the most annoying person ever about fnaf 2 movie unless it's something boring 🤞

[mimikyu-oli]

Five years after the accident that caused the death of his brother, Chuck , who still think it wasn’t "accidental", get expelled from his school. (Again.)

While helping his mother finding a new one, he slept on something. Which happened to be a brochure for a school close by.

He gets enrolled easily.

He is encouraged to find a club and so, in the first few days, he’s able to, by chance, find one about supernatural things.

One of its founders, a 15 years old boy named Oswald, is quite obsessed with the unknown and the weird. (Especially things related to animatronics. For some reasons.) He pretty much harassed the direction of the school to let this club exist. If not for a young teacher (or intern. Anyway, the guy is a genius.), Greg (I thought to give him Stevenson for a last name. Just for the joke. (His dad is named Steven, if I remember well.)), this project wouldn’t have succeeded.

The director still ask to let an exemplary student to be the president of this club. And then so, a certain Hazel was elected for this role. Both she and Oswald debate often on the existence of the supernatural. (Hazel’s excuses is "someone needs to be the head of reasons here".

Oswald: Isn’t it "the voice of reasons"?

Hazel: Shut up! I know what I said!)

Chuck is a bit baffled by it and almost decided to get out of it (screw this! Maybe he could try football?), if it wasn’t for the subject of the discussion getting towards Freddy’s. And it’s then at this moment a guy named Chris entered asking to get in too. (This guy is weird.)

[n3-x-us]

I know i rebloged something that said abt hating tsams moon rn but I take it back hes became a character I can't bring myself to hate 😓

Okay time for the ramble:

And whilst I don't necessarily agree with how he treated his family and what he's doing, but I understand it. I had a full on 2am talk to myself about this so

I understand why he'd sacrifice ruin to get solar back, I mean, ruin was the main thing that lead to solar dying. Bloodmoon I kinda do as well, but in the case of the fact that he's also done lots of horrible things rather than being related to Solar's death. Sure, he shouldn't have to kill someone whos not related to solars death since thats basically punishing him for something he didn't do, but I understand why he would pick him as a second option.

I get why he's acting this way, when you've experienced a death of someone you hold very dearly, expecially if they died right in your arms, you aren't gonna be in the best mental state. Doesn't help if you work yourself to the bone whilst having to deal with a bunch of other stuff. And I get why he didn't listen to old moon about apologising. I assume, and please tell me of it was said otheriwise, I'd understand if he's just worried that because of what he's said that everyone would just hate him. What he did was extreamly wrong, and eath said herself she'd never forgive him. Sure, she may not hate him, but she can't forget that.

I do know that doing all this would make no difference if he takes breaks inbetween, results wise whether thats solar coming back or not, but I know if he took breaks in between he wouldn't be this far gone.

I do feel like if he somehow brings solar back, memories intact, either someone else would have died, or that solar wouldn't approve of what he's done. I know for sure that he'd be seeing moon as his moon, they are acting the exact same with the whole 'continuious eorking to bring dead brother back'. But god do I hope that if solar comes back he knocks some sense into moon, at least a tiny bit.

But at the same time, if solar doesn't come back its pretty much the same as if he was a living thing/not an animatronic. You can't bring back living things, and if thats what it becomes with solar, then I don't know what. I know moon said he doesn't want help, and you obviously can't help someone who doesn't want it because they won't put in the effort, but if he somehow does manage to want help I hope he actually gets it done by a professional. He said it himself, earth isn't a therapist. Shes his sister, someone who just wants him to be okay. (Along with that the whole tsams cast should get actual therapy from a registered therapist, i guarentee you being the therapist sibling would be taking a toll)

Who knows, maybe if someone dies moon would finally knock sense into himself. That or he has to die himself before he becomes sane again. I do know for sure that sun is most likely going to die next, and even if he doesn't he sure does need it because doesn't that shit make them forget- it would be nice to get rid of the trauma. Though, I do also kind of hope that if sun dies its wayyy after all this has happened, because if he dies right after moon is sane again, it will just send him spiralling again.

Okay I think thats all thansk for reading all this

I should do rambles like this more often, this was nice :3 its like the evil twin of rants, except the evil twin is a sweetheart

[puppylove24680]

okay okay im going to vomit my ruin thoughts out here since my brother doesnt wanna hear it

there is something up with the Monty-Bonnie situation

cause clearly Monty killed Bonnie, thats the clear implication here

but Monty looked up to Bonnie as seen in the Monty ride, I dont think that was a lie seeing as Freddy was not shown in a positive light in it

but heres the thing, this goes directly against what was said in security breach about Bonnie going missing and Monty being a quick replacement

I would say, oh the ride was a cover, but why is Bonnie’s greenroom in the bowling alley?? why does it look like he was peacefully in the bowling alley?

and most importantly,

WHY IS HIS BODY IN THE BOWLING ALLEY

if his last known location was Monty golf how did he get there, why does it look like thats where he was attacked, was it a cover up? was he moved? when? how? and how did that go unmentioned by the reports?

this also feels related to Monty being the least “intelligent” of the animatronics, its clear that something is up with him, hes animalistic in every appearance, hes got rage issues and something is clearly wrong, so was it a mistake? did he kill Bonnie on mistake? cause clearly he looked up to the guy, so whats the story here?? was Monty one of those affected really badly by the Vanny virus? because we have evidence with Moon of it affecting behavior like that.

Reports say Moon gave the kids nightmares, but Cassie says she never had a better sleep than in the daycare with Moon.

So he’s clearly been messed with, the same was happening with the others and that has to be why Monty is like that.

but also WHO MOVED BONNIE AND WHY

if Monty was animalistic and it was an accident then either it was something he snapped out of and covered up, or someone did it for him

who and why? and how was it not recorded by the cameras? how did he get from Monty Golf to Bonnie Bowl??

things arent adding up

also

theres something up with the Roxy Raceway too, aside from the sinkhole stuff

because theres hints that it used to be a Foxy themed logride??

Cut outs of cowboy Foxy and mentions of a logride and stuff are scene in the backstage.

but that leaves the question, how NEW is Roxy?

Her track was the replacement to a Foxy themed area, it had to be, it explains the Mesa theme, but why? theres no reason to believe a Foxy animatronic was ever in the Pizzaplex, theres only cut-outs and areas that hint at it, nothing concrete like Bonnie had

Roxy’s area was operational at some point, but it was also under construction in the main game, how recent are these developments

HOW OLD IS THE PIZZAPLEX

If Foxy existed, he was out LONG before Bonnie, enough so that theres barely any mention of him, maybe he got reskinned as Roxy like the area, we have no way of knowing

basically, theres inconsistencies with the main game and Ruin that are triggering some theorizing for me, if anyone has any thoughts let me know, or maybe this is completely incoherent lol

[radical-sainthood]

Good morning! Today I'll be working on another system response. But to tie you over, you get more of my fnult ideas because its been haunting me. Mostly because I realized it's really fun to attribute how characters could act in the cult setting and how they could function as identity programming. The half baked handler in me is having fun.

So, overall, for the animatronic cult members, the way their system structure overall could be similar to the layers in FNaF world. Explore too deep into the layers and get too close to the truth, you find old man consequences. He'd function as an internal handler of sorts, and the lake could be a bit of a reprogramming site within the system.

The Mangle! My favorite mess of wires. Someone done as Mangle could function simply as the cult "pet" or plaything, layered with heavy Epsilon programs and masochism. They'll think being used ("taken apart and put back together") is fun, and they are playing. If you really wanted you could also use them as an attack dog of sorts.

My less fleshed out ideas:

FredBear and Spring Bonnie act as guards for H.E and W.A

Day/night mode programming: animatronics roam and gaurd areas of the compound at night

..

That's all I've got for now! Enjoy and I'll see you in my next sys related message!

-🦌👁

OOOH I like this a lot! This is all really interesting to add to the daydream! (If it's any consolation, if I was to choose a H.E. to join me, it would be you!)

Creating an innerworld that mimics certain aspects of FNAF (I think specifically helping create innerworlds that are specific to each animatronic, i.e. a stage for Bellora, a backstage area full of wires for Funtime Freddy) could really help them get accustomed to who they are now! giving them "ways out" (vents, doors that open) would be part of a larger plan.

See you would put them in such a deep dissociative state that whatever you said or did would no longer be remembered, so that you could intentionally program these vents and doors into their headspace. After doing so, you make sure to create fragment identities that are reporters. These alters will tell you everything that happened in inner in excruciating detail, that includes if someone was trying to use the vents or doors to get deeper into the system or find out more information. You then give them a chance to "confess" to this and if they don't you punish them for it.

This is just a larger plot to keep control over them and to breed mistrust in themselves and their system while maintaining complete control over them.

Mangle is a cute idea! I like that a lot, having a Mangle that is completely controllable and kept as a pet would be good, but they also serve as a reminder to the other animatronics, that at any point they can be disassembled and made into something pitiful. Mangle of course will have no autonomy or understanding that what is happening to them is "bad" they're just a good pet who likes to be treated like this.

A Fred bear and a Spring Bonnie as enforcers and protectors would be SMART so that even if W. A. and H. E. aren't online available, there is someone to keep everyone else in line and in order.

The day/night switch could be VERY interesting, and would be especially fun to program into a Sun and Moon animatronic.

Your ideas were wonderful! Thank you so much for adding more to this to flesh it out!!

[the-scungles-of-crungles]

Maybe it means something that I relate on a deep level to any fnaf animatronic that's falling apart and barely functioning,

Loose wires hanging everywhere, stray sparks of electricity flying off of them, giant cracks and tears in their outer casing, peeling back the once friendly looking, mascot exterior, to expose the barely recognizable jagged metal underneath,

Twitchy, erratic movements, as the damaged electronics try to continue moving the way they once used to, the twisted machine hardly able to drag itself around, almost limping,

Pointed teeth that once seemed cute while the rest of the facade remained, now a hazard to anyone who gets too close, the damage seemingly twisting the once innocent grin into an enraged, miserable snarl, showing off how those teeth connect to the rest of the inner workings,

Voice box damaged from years of wandering the rotting building, falling into things, having objects fall onto them, being shocked by their own misfiring electronics,

The cheerful voice that it once produced distorted almost beyond recognition, skipping, stuttering, crackling, interrupted by loud, horrible electronic screeching.

The machine stands, but barely. It still walks on its rusted legs, but does not put effort into moving the rest of its body unless it thinks it's necessary. Its twisted maw that looks to only lead to an unending void, hangs loosely open. Its eyes that were once bright and shiny, now faded, paint completely chipped off, now seem to look in two separate directions. The arms that once held gifts, for the children that had said they would be friends forever, now hang limp, except for being used to claw at what's left of its own face. The ears and tail that children would pull on, which once annoyed the animatronic, now barely exist, just bare metal frames.

And underneath all of that, is an AI, corrupted slowly by the damage to the internal systems of this horrible, broken machine.

It tries to hold out hope, occasionally setting up the long-abandoned party rooms, for birthdays it will never celebrate, for people it will never meet.

The building is sealed off, secrets hidden under layers of concrete. The mechanical beast wanders in darkness until the worn-down hardware finally stops functioning.

Maybe someone will find it, someday. Maybe the walls will crumble around it, and it will truly be forgotten.

But for now, I'll just have to wait.

[owlsong74]

thoughts and opinions on the D23 parks announcements under the cut. it's pretty long and rambly, and written as much to get my own thoughts in order as to share them. That said, would gladly hear others' opinions.

(edit: this was written before monday's news, and I've soured on the announcements related to the upper left corner of MK since then)

TLDR: It's more good than bad. A few good things I'm genuinely excited for, and some bad things tempering them. The bad things would have hurt a lot 10 years ago, but Disney is getting predictable in their faults, and we didn't get the worst possible outcomes, so whatever.

The Good

New nighttime parade MK -- genuinely good news, and it looks lovely

Coco DCA -- happy to see this! very cute. I like the sound of focusing on animatronics and use of music. I'm glad its not going to Epcot as was rumored, so we can still have the Three Caballeros there, and enjoy a new, unique dark ride in California. may tip the scales in favor of me wanting to go to DCA every DL trip again alongside Ariel/Monsters/Cars for the dark ride goodness. Basically no notes. Just want to know location and more details.

Lion King Flume, WDS paris -- very weird that they announced that it would be based on the original movie while the concept art very clearly shows the "live action" version. maybe a recent change? It's a good change if so. (Although still very unprofessional to show a Live Action concept art when it probably could've been edited to show the Animated characters within hours of the event.)

This is the resort's first water ride and is badly needed both on that front and as another attraction in WDS' sad lineup.

Will be excited to see more art for this, based on the original movie this time, and especially of interior scenes-- imagine a dark ride version for "I just can't wait to be king"!

A surrounding land was announced with shops/restaurants and I'm curious how they plan on pulling that off, given the humanless, naturalistic setting and relatively less-anthropomorphized characters.

Good idea for park and resort and looking forward to it!

Mostly good with complicating thoughts

Pandora DCA -- as someone who has seen neither of the Avatar movies, but enjoyed Pandora in Florida, I'm looking forward to this, but with less excitement than Coco.

I do like atmospheric boat rides and this looks more impressive than the one in Florida, which I already enjoyed. It seems to be based on the Pirates tech in Shanghai, which will be cool to have stateside. I hope some of the monsters are animatronics.

This addition basically confirms that the California theme for the park is dead, but I really gave up on that several years ago; this was just the final nail in the coffin. DCA is an Everything Park, and that's fine. Whatever. Making it a dumping ground for whatever movie franchise Disney wants to promote in its parks acts as a buffer for the more historical and foundational park, Disneyland. In addition, the California theme was also never uniformly executed well, which makes its watering down much less painful than the watering down of Epcot or Animal Kingdom's themes.

I'm hoping this is slated for the Disneyland Forward land, but I'm hearing it may take over Hollywoodland as well. I'd personally miss the Monsters Inc dark ride and be nostalgic for things like the Animation building or stupid backlot puns, but I don't think there's any reasonable argument that this wouldn't be an upgrade.

Tropical Americas DAK-- the way they described it makes it sound like it should fit in well with other areas of the park, matching Africa and Asia better than Dinoland did, and more generally that the Imagineers are putting a lot of thought into its design. I'm glad Indy is not a carbon copy of the one in California, and the Encanto dark ride sounds cute.

On a more meta level, I'm glad they are still designing and building themed lands that have more than one IP applicable to them, and even the opportunity/necessity for original elements.

I'm personally sorry to lose Dinosaur. It was my favorite attraction on my first trip to Florida as a pre-teen and I love the dinosaurs and kooky premise. That said, we've thought it was going to close for years now, so I've had time to come to terms with it.

It still sucks that they are doing replacements instead of building real expansions when they have the space for it and DAK needs all the capacity it can get. I also hope someday the animal-themed park may feature non-avian dinosaurs again. Overall though, I was happily surprised with how they seem to be handling this.

One remaining question: where are the animal exhibits...?? Isn't this park primarily supposed to be about seeing animals?

Monsters Inc roller coaster DHS -- This has been a rumor on the internet ever since I was a child in the 00s watching Screamscape.net and Disney park fan forums like a hawk. It's a no-brainer and it'll be a fun addition to DHS.

Hoping they're killing the Animation Courtyard for this and not Muppets. Muppet*Vision 3-D isn't an E ticket by any means but it was one of the last major Muppet projects that Jim Henson himself worked on, and has already been evicted from DCA. It's a cute show and one of the better 4D shows at the parks. Its loss would be felt.

VillainsLand MK - YES. This has also been rumored since forever. Again, at least since the early-mid 00s when I first got online. We got basically no details on this, but the art looks cool, and the concept alone is an immediate sell! Very excited for this!

Two reasons why this is in this tier instead of the "good" tier:

1. We don't have any details. Like, for a detail-dry panel, somehow we got even less info for this than for everything else. trying to reserve judgement until we know more.

2. If this is going behind Big Thunder, that means the Cars attractions might be going in a much worse location within Frontierland, which will hurt MK's thematic integrity and atmosphere pretty hard. Admittedly, this is mostly Cars' problem, but it did temper my excitement for this pretty badly during the announcement itself. If we're lucky, both projects are beyond the railroad tracks, even if they shorten the River à la California.

i dont care

all the marvel stuff. Like Pandora, I'm not very familiar with the source material. unlike Pandora, I haven't been impressed with Disney's offerings so far (with the caveat that I haven't gone on Rewind yet, which does sound better than the DCA attractions).

If they blow my socks off, cool! Awesome! If not, whatever. I'm glad others are having fun, and unlike in the past, this time they aren't replacing anything I care about.

Non-parade nightime shows. I'm sure they'll be fine. I don't love Disney Animation sing-along format shows (especially outside of Fantasmic, where a lot of the interest comes in the form of props, actors, the use of the big river ships, and the dragon). However, I realize this is very much a me thing, and their mere existence doesn't bother me.

cruises and fortnite. I'm not the audience for these things and I don't even understand why fortnite costume announcements were part of this panel.

...huh?

Great Moments with Mr. Disney or whatever DL -- It's mere existence vexes me, but more out of an intolerance for corporate worship of the man than anything to do with my theme park opinions.

I wonder if they'll also update the Lincoln figure to match him in tech? That would be neat, at least. Keeping Abe updated to the latest Animatronics tech is a long-kept tradition, and the last update was back in 2009.

If nothing else, we'll probably get some banger memes out of it.

bad

Cars in Frontierland MK -- ?????????????? why are we doing this. are we really sacrificing the thematic integrity of the land, and for the sake of the Cars franchise, of all things?

I only hope that this is in the area behind Big Thunder. If it's back there, it may feel like a modern sub-land separate from the more traditional "Western" sections, with a transitional area in-between. It would even follow the already-established pattern of moving forward in time as you walk from Liberty Square through Frontierland. The Cars ride itself could even be cute and better than DCA's if handled well.

However, it doesn't seem like we are so lucky.

The announcement of Villainsland and the rumors of Tom Sawyer Island closure make it seem more likely to be taking over the Rivers of America, at least the back half of it.

Edit, with the new Monday announcement:

It's not only taking over part of the river, it's taking over the front half, with the back half probably being used by Villains. This is the stupidest, most short-sighted decision I think I've seen Disney take in a long time.

MK's river is very nice, especially at night, and the TSI is absolutely delightful, if simple, and a good place to beat the crowds and concrete found in the rest of the park. Neither are E-ticket extravaganzas, but they aren't meant to be, offering a different kind of low-key attraction, and adding a lot of atmosphere to MK.

That atmosphere also includes placemaking for the three E-tickets in the area: Haunted Mansion, Tiana, and Big Thunder. All three will be negatively impacted by this change.

These things might not sound like much, but they add up and make the Disney parks what they are, and why they are loved.

It'd be a huge shame to lose such an asset to the park, especially one that still a nearly untouched example of classic WED imagineering, between the sightlines, the river gags, the island caves, the riverboat, and everything else.

(And this not even reiterating the fact that Cars does not "fit" comfortably inside the bounds of the historically based lands around the river, which I already mentioned in my initial paragraphs.)

This decision is not easily reversible and wrecks the entire balance and design of the entire northwest corner of the park, all for the sake of selling cars merch. It's times like this where I wonder why I even bother being a fan of these places. Or, for that matter, of themed design in general.

Why can't this be its own separate land from Frontierland, as with Cars Land in DCA? Why not in DHS, which badly needs more capacity and already houses other difficult-to-fit-elsewhere Pixar movies like Toy Story, Monsters Inc, and even Cars already?

/edit

I don't know. I hope the rides are fun, at least.

what we didn't see

Literally anything not based on a pre-established property would have been nice to see. Can we literally do nothing original anymore in these parks? Are the parks always going to be tied to movies from now on, like at Uni?

Where's this generation's Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, Spaceship Earth, Sindbad, Country Bears, Soarin' Over California, Expedition Everest, Test Track, Etc Etc Etc? Let Imagineers create their own stories and experiences for us to fall in love with! Have some trust in the medium!

I'm of course not totally against rides being based on movies or TV. Indiana Jones, Snow White, Tower of Terror, and Rise of the Resistance are some of my favorite attractions, period. But it's disappointing as someone who got interested in Disney in general through the parks, and not the other way around, to see them do nothing but tie-ins.

It also makes it harder to defend themed design as an art-form unto itself when the industry leader in the US, and in many ways the main innovator in the medium for multiple decades, only seems to treat its parks as a merchandising and marketing arm for its film and tv properties and little else.

/fin rant

We also didn't see the announcement for a new Tomorrowland for Disneyland, which was heavily rumored. It's disappointing to see the land stagnate for another decade, but tbh, I would be happy to let the current moment pass before they completely redo this land again.

It certainly needs the help. Literally anything would be better for the Carousel Theater's plot of land or the Magic Eye Theater than what currently exists-- even if it's not my cup of tea, it'd be a use for dead space in a park short on expansion land. Autopia needs electric vehicles at a minimum (although I'd love to see some new, cool theming or landscaping along the track as well), the Peoplemover tracks either need to be reused or torn down, Astro Orbiter needs to be moved to open up the entrance bottleneck, and tbh Star Tours is outmoded by the new Star Wars land.

However, I don't trust them not to pave over the Submarine Lagoon, and this is important enough to me to let the husk of Innoventions rot for another decade in exchange.

I would honestly be fine if Disneyland and Disneyland Paris (the castle park from the second generation of Imagineers) were largely untouched until winds have changed in favor of a bit of respect for what already exists, original works, and coherent non-single-franchise-specific lands again. Luckily we have DCA and WDS, whose needs are still more urgent anyway.

Finally, we also didn't see the constantly rumored Imagination Pavilion update. Imo, this is fine for the same reason. Figment and Dreamfinder deserve better than an Inside Out reskin.

However, as far as Epcot goes, it would have been nice to get the Play Pavilion and Mary Poppins ride back on the docket. It's also weird we got a mention of Test Track 3.0 but no new details or art.

Conclusion

This panel could have been way worse than it was, and I'm excited for some of the new attractions.

The disappointments were more of the same-old things I've started to expect with Disney parks, with nothing original, and the continued disintegration of park-level (DCA, to a lesser extent DAK) and land-level (Frontierland) themes.

However, the things announced look to be quality in isolation if nothing else, and they're unique to their respective parks, which is a good change from copying everything verbatim from one coast to another. I'm genuinely excited for the Coco boat ride, Lion King Flume, Villains land, and new nighttime parade, and cautiously optimistic for much of the rest.

The downsides felt like nothing near the disappointments of the past, where they announced rides I didn't care about to replace classics that didn't deserve to die, and made the offputting decision to put Star Wars Land in Disneyland instead of saving it for a 3rd park or keeping it unique to Florida.

(Although, frankly, Cars for Frontierland might be worse than SWGE in DL, and the difference is simply that I'm used to disappointment now. Edit: with Monday's announcement, I'm sure of this. SWGE is a lop-sided, unbalanced, out-of-scale addition to Disneyland, but at least it leaves the original park largely intact, and feels like a Separate Thing beyond the bounds of the berm/railroad)

Overall, not a bad showing.

[possumsarenice]

Ok, so someone responded to my Floormaster Sun and Moon AU with keyboards smash, so here’s some misc. ideas for this AU. Since I made the first post, I have decided that this is Fazbear instead of Asu-naro. Also I didn’t say it in the OG post, but I’m replacing the cast with FNAF characters, and maybe some TSAMS characters. Lmk if y’all would like that and who should be in the cast. (Remember, they are participants, not Floormasters. Also they’d be humans with different names to avoid confusion) Also, I need a name for this AU. I was thinking something relating to the alternate translation of the title Die Now, Darling (see vgperson’s translation notes). Someone’s already using that as an AU name so I need to think of something to differentiate it.

CW: Cults, indoctrination, death, mention of suicide (in a weird “I don’t want to die but my will is being overwritten I’m being forced to do this” way),

Fazbear is just as involved with everything as Asu-naro was in the actual game. They started as a Pizza Dinner like in canon, but they’ve branched out so much. And also, they’re a lot more professional and presentable then in canon. Like, the public thinks that after the missing children incident Fazbear got its shit together and started to strive for absolute perfection in all locations. Fazbear in this AU is known for stuff for Disney World-level customer service.

Sun and Moon used to work at a daycare-kindergarten hybrid thing run by Fazbear. All the animatronics used to do something else for Fazbear before becoming a Floormaster. However, all animatronics are both programmed and taught throughout their life to worship Fazbear like a god. All of them are created knowing that Fazbear is doing something that the public is never to know about, and that it’s the most important thing to the company. They don’t know what (to avoid spilling it out to the public), but they are programmed with the knowledge that if they do well enough at their job, Fazbear will take them to work on it in some way. As you could guess, Sun and Moon “pass the test” and get taken away to be Floormasters. Their memories of their old life were erased to avoid any complications, but some of their old teacher/caretaker programming is still there, unless it conflicts with their current programming… for the most part, but I’ll get to that later

When YN left, Fazbear considered wiping Sun and Moon’s memories of them or just replacing Sun and Moon. However, YN were involved with all of their training to be a Floormaster (programming can only get you so far) and erasing YN would mean starting all over on them. And replacing would do the same thing with even more steps. And since YN left a year before when the game was supposed to take place at most, and Sun and Moon’s training took 15 years, they just said “fuck it, we have no other option” and made Sun more sadistic and left Moon’s programming alone since he seemed more pissed at YN then sad. But they did add a kill switch to him, and by kill switch I mean physically forcing him to rip his own body apart until he shuts off. I’m not sure if this is a “something lifeless possesses him and shuts off all his thoughts as he is reduced to a empty husk that knows nothing except to do as it’s told as it tears his body apart as a display of what the company thinks the idea robot is, one who will literally kill itself without hesitation if the company decides it” thing or a “he losses control of his body but his mind is still there as he is powerless to watch his own two hands rip his own body apart as he screams and begs for his life to the cold and uncaring corporation who see this whole display as the only acceptable act of repentance for a defective machine who thought it had the right to think for itself” thing. Maybe both where it’s the second idea but Moon can’t use his voice box so it kinda looks like option one.

Ok that was dark let’s move on to less horrifying thingies

YN is AMAB and agender. They have a stubble

Cassie is here as sort of a “Gin” character. This isn’t “Character A takes is B” AU, I’m just saying she a similar type of role as. The nice little kid who gets dragged into this. He personally doesn’t change from in the game btw

On a very related note, as much as Moon tried to avoid it, he ends up getting attached to a participant: Cassie. Basically, Cassie gets injured a good bit during attractions and goes to Doctor Moon for it. The jabs turn into back and forth. Moon slowly softens up to her. His gremlin nature was funny to Cassie. And while neither would really consider each other a friend, Cassie does like Moon the most out of all the Floormasters so far. And Moon’s mix of teacher/caretaker programming, loneliness after YN left and Sun changed, and genuinely care for the kid makes him genuinely protective of her and mortified at the idea of her dying. I’m thinking of adding a plot point in 2-b where, like Gashu, he messes with the cards. But unlike Gashu, it was to protect Cassie who would’ve gotten the sacrifice card. This… obviously don’t end well for him.

Vanessa is here, she’s a secret spy for Fazbear like Hinako was. Unlike Hinako, she’s been in the group since the beginning. She and YN have been beefing since the beginning of the game. Both try to reveal each other’s secrets. However, they can’t just say “She is/They were involved with the kidnappers” without looking suspicious, so they try to sneakily put the other in situations that would reveal their opponent’s identities without leaving a trace that they put them in it.

Again, similar role, but not a complete 1-to-1. Vanessa is the “suspicious character whose the protagonist’s closest ally” like Keiji. Assuming the POV character has the same high survival percentage and being scary in the test runs deal as Sara, or at least something similar to it. Who the protagonist is I’m willing to discuss. Michael if he’s still alive somehow? Maybe if I use SAMS character’s Nice Eclipse? YN basically tried to play neutral with them, expecting Vanessa to do the same. Vanessa was going to, but saw YN strategy and changed her plan. She attached herself to them in hopes of getting an advantage. This actually worked because the protagonist is in good guy mode. Vanessa then started to paint YN in a bad light to hopefully get them bumped off. I was gonna go the Shin route with YN, they wouldn’t really have a reason to start causing problems so the troublemaker role can go to someone else. Maybe YN could also be the mysterious ally and the “game” is building up to an inevitable main choice between the protagonist’s most reliable allies, Vanessa and YN.

[driftingvoid-155]

((// ruin spoilers & tales of the pizza plex spoilers//))

Okay this little theory/ thought process kind of went off the rails into AU territory but again, it was fun thinking about and that’s all I’m here for. I’ve also never read the tales of the pizza plex books (currently working on it) so everything I know about the mimic in the books is second hand but I’m jumping in on this anyways.

Okay so,,

So in my experience, people always relate the creator of the mimic in the books (Edwin) to Henry and the son that was killed to Charlie. The mimic is said to be created around the 80s but what if it what William who was making it and not Henry? And the facility it was being created in was sister location? Apparently in the books Edwin was supposed to be creating a new line of robots for Fazbears which kind of sound what like William was supposed to be doing with the funtimes. So while Will was also making those, he created the mimic as well. The reason being, what if Liz dies first due to Circus Baby. Will is devastated but Evan even more so bc he used to play with his sister a lot. So Will creates the mimic in a sort of stand in for Liz and as something for Evan to play with in replacement of his sister. (Could also explain why Evan started being so scared of robots. Perhaps the thing started acting weird / off and it freaked him out. Perhaps he started to think it was the thing that killed Liz in order to replace her).

However, after Evan then died, like Edwin after his son passes, William gets angry and ends up trying to destroy the mimic by attacking it bc he can’t stand the reminder of two of his children that he lost. He closes down Circus Baby’s, leaving the mimic there along with all the others and he himself also disappears.

Flash forward, like in the plex book after Edwin disappeared, Fazbears starts wondering where their new animatronic line is. So they send workers down there to try and look for them. Workers who in the book get killed by the mimic but in game, are the technicians who get killed on the stages by the funtimes.

Perhaps the mimic wasn’t involved with the funtimes escape, but being down there, did observe them do it. Watched its counter part of Baby lure someone in to come ‘rescue’ them and decided to do the same all these years later. Also, what do we see the mimic doing in the ‘scooping’ ending? Combine a bunch of costumes together, sort of like in an Ennard fashion, to chase after Cassie (even if it’s not the canon ending it is a possible ending).

I think the mimic being first built to be a stand in for Liz perhaps would explain a lot of the circus baby stuff we still see around the plex (like the entire room in ruin just full of circus baby plushies). But then it could also be trying to copy William since that’s the last person it saw/ who actually created it (hence in a alternate ending, it becoming burntrap).

Overall I know the mimic in regards to actual fnaf lore is probably a separate entity if it’s own but just as I love the thought of the physical locations of Freddy’s all being stacked on top of each other, I love entertaining the idea of a creature made of Aftons guilt and despair which mimics mostly all members of the Afton family living under it. Something based on Liz, learned emotions from William, has habits from Evan (like how he held his plushy) and took inspiration from Mike’s actions (like how to escape).

Again, I just sort of let my brain run so don’t take anything here too seriously if at all. I’m 100% sure there’s plenty of contradictions and reasons this wouldn’t work but it’s just something I let my mind chew on for a moment.

[nineliabilityrisk]

been thinking about my muses even though ive been way too busy to write. todays topic was michael so.

adding a cut bc these rambles are probably gonna end up ridiculously long

my michael uses (SHOULD use. stubborn headass often refused when he was little because he thought people would judge him.) mobility aids. even pre-scooping his repeated injuries from getting into fights / being needlessly reckless only exaggerated certain pre-existing conditions he had (weak / unstable joints + chronic pain making prolonged periods of unsupported standing / walking difficult)

when he was younger, before everything went to shit, he did get brought to the doctor and recommended an orthotic brace for his bad knee and a set of forearm crutches to help take the weight off his lower joints. he used the brace a lot when he was little and his crutches a little less often, but as he grew up and outgrew the sizing for both, there came a certain point where william couldnt be bothered to take him in for fittings or get them replaced (especially after an incident when someone at his school broke one of his crutches — after '83 william never really bothered intervening in any bullying related incidents involving michael and probably rationalized not getting him a new set by telling himself the boy deserved the treatment as punishment for what hed done)

so he stopped using said mobility aids for a good few years, but after he moved out and before the time sl rolled around, he did end up scraping together the money to at least get himself a new pair of crutches because his pain was only getting worse the longer he went without them. sure he didnt hold many jobs where he was made to stand for extended periods of time but after a certain point it ended up making some everyday tasks incredibly difficult for him

anyway um. obviously he could never bring his crutches with him into circus babys. imagine trying to crawl through a vent while dragging those things along i would die. he hated it at the time but he is at least somewhat grateful that he didnt end up losing them when he got scooped because there was no way he would end up being able to afford a replacement pair, especially not with how hard finding jobs was post-ennard

especially after ennard leaves, his Everything Hurts All The Time problems just get worse, and he ends up relying on the crutches far more than he ever did when he was alive — no matter how much (or how little) the remnant heals him, the nerve damage he experienced from his body quite literally rotting away isnt exactly something that just disappears overnight. his crutches help take some of the weight off his legs — he found out after breaking his femur that even his bones had beem affected by the animatronic's prolonged stay, seeming far more brittle than before. he gets pinched nerves / numbness from where the crutch rests just below his elbows sometimes if he puts too much pressure on them, and with a good chunk of his muscle mass rotted away its gotten far more difficult to support his weight on his arms whatsoever, but trying to walk unsupported would just be so much worse.

tl;dr: my michael af.ton is disabled and had been long before ennard happened. i dont bring it up much because i cant often find times where its relevant, but it is a fact about him that i almost always keep in mind.

[ this entire post was written by a disabled individual who uses the exact mobility aids spoken on in this post. mentioning the incidents where michaels access to his mobility aids was limited / removed by others OR younger michael refusing to use them does not mean i am trivializing such experiences or supporting those actions myself. a disabled persons mobility aids are an extension of their body and should be treated as such. taking away his crutches likely did lasting damage to his joints + the rest of his body. if you are someone who needs a mobility aid – no matter if you dont feel like you need it "enough," if you think it will help you and improve your quality of life that means you need it – never feel ashamed to use it or avoidant due to fear of the opinions of others. mobility aids are important medical devices and should be respected as such. ]

[sholangagaga]

You said Foxy was kinda unintentionally flirty, so has it sometimes caught the other animatronics off guard? Also give us some angst headcanons too ples

It's definitely been rough for a few of them! He just has this. . .natural drawl to his voice. Maybe it's his programming, he has to sound sweet because it soothes children. But it works on everyone! It only really flusters Monty the most. He has no idea how to react!

We've gotten to the angst requests! Been a long time since I had to break out the angsty gloves buuuuut hcs under the cut!

Roxy still has her self esteem issues, however they stem from Foxy more so than anything else. She feels like she's always compared to him, and it tears her up inside.

Roxy has tried to stop wearing red since it reminds her of Foxy, but at the same time, she really likes the color because it reminds her of the good times

The good times being when Foxy mentored her. After all, her mother and functionality chip were based on his. So technically, that makes her his daughter in hardware

Chica is always smiling and cheerful, but she actually gets upset like anyone else. Especially when she does something wrong or messes up during a show. She just gets so frustrated and wants to cry, but never shows this to the other synthetics. The only know who knows is Bonnie, who can relate to her on a level no one else can.

Monty, hoh boy monty

He doesnt know WHAT'S wrong with him, but it makes his blood boil when the problems rear their ugly heads

He feels like everyone hates him for taking Bonnie's spot (even though Bonnie gave him the spot in this AU) and it wears on him every time he picks up the bass

Monty, like Foxy, was programmed with an accent (Monty's accent is Southern/Cajun) and he HATES it

It was fine back when he was only at the Golf Course, it fit in with the bayou aesthetic. But now that he's in the band? It's mortifying to think of someone hearing it

So Monty fakes a Northern accent, so much so that a lot of the synthetics actually don't recall if he ever had an accent to begin with

Monty issues lie so deep, but he refuses to get them fixed out of his programming. He has a jaded view of how rockstars should look and act, and he aims to stay in that image.

Monty isnt homophobic or anything of the sort, but he prefers to think that he only likes girls. However the amount of boys that get him flustered (Freddy, Bonnie, Foxy) outweigh the girl crushes (Roxy)

Monty channels this as disdain, jealousy, or even hate, because even thinking of admitting to something so embarrassing kills him inside. The only reason why he doesnt act that way to Roxy is because she's no pushover, and she can easily tell what he's doing.

Bonnie has fears about his relationship with Freddy, whether or not its superficial and in their programming, or whether its real feelings given form.

He worries that one day Freddy will "come to his senses" and move on. The thought depresses him

Freddy actually fears a lot of things, he fears losing his image of Fazbear Entertainment, he fears failing his friends, and most of all, he fears death or retrofitting. He's seen the endos. He knows that they could be a Freddy waiting to take his place. They make him uncomfortable, admittedly. Freddy doesn't even like looking at his own endo, just because of how badly it wigs him out

Freddy also gets extremely scared of undergoing maintenance while conscious. (Maintenance that doesn't involve any of the Chips doesnt require a synthetic to be "asleep")

Freddy will borderline beg to be put to sleep before any procedure, otherwise he just has a panic attack the entire time

To avoid injuries, the technicians always accept his request

[chrisodonline]

I managed to say awake! And of course now I can’t sleep! So here are some interview highlights:

Stephen asks COD why there are still naval crimes and how haven’t they solved them all.

Stephen also asked, “Why hasn’t LL Cool J aged a day?” Chris said, “He’s animatronic.” And admitted that might be true based on LL’s work schedule.

Stephen gave a shout out to the show hitting 300 multiple times and said, “Those are GUNSMOKE numbers.

Stephen showed a pic from SCENT OF A WOMAN, celebrating its 30-year anniversary. Chris admitted that Al Pacino had him so nervous (which was encouraged by Martin Brest, the director, to keep Chris on edge for the character) that he would roller blade up and down the streets of NYC in the middle of the night in the dead of winter during filming just to calm himself down so he could sleep. (DO YOU SEE WHY I LOVE THIS MAN?)

Chris also mentioned that his oldest son (Chip) looks exactly like him SCENT OF A WOMAN (sans bowl cut). Apparently Chip was also finally going to get a part on the show but it fell through when someone got COVID. (As COD’s clone, he’s going to be hard to blend in, so it’ll be interesting. He was going to be on earlier but it was a bigger role and required an audition, and he didn’t get it. Based on when Chris first talked about it, my guess has always been that it was “Rage” which was a more involved part.)

Chris talked about his modeling days as a kid and even showed off his, “I can run in place” and “I can whisper in your ear while still talking.” And all the ads he did: from Captain Crunch to McDonald’s. (Yes, he posed.)

He talked more about the family in the show and told the story of his wife and her friends getting a little too tipsy while he was directing, and he had to ask them to just act scared when a gun goes off so he didn’t get fired.

He talked about COME DANCE WITH ME, nothing new, how it developed and what’s fun and funny about the show -- notably parents who aren’t dancers trying to do it and then having to have a dance off at the end of the show.

Stephen brought up when he did the Kennedy Center Honors to honor Al Pacino. Chris said that he could relate to the parents on the show because that was the “most embarrassing” thing for him, which surprised Stephen. Chris said that he was invited to introduce Al and he was so honored and excited -- and then they said, “Hey, we were thinking about re-enacting the tango scene.” And Chris was all, “Oh, that sounds great you should do that.” And then they said they wanted HIM to do it, and he very, very much didn’t. He ended up agreeing and being talked into it to honor Al.

Stephen insisted he did a great job, “You tango’ed your heart out!”

Chris then talked about he was genuinely SO nervous he told his wife he needed to see a doctor because he thought he was going to have a nervous breakdown. But it all worked out okay, and “I didn’t drop Gabrielle Anwar.”

So, yes, fun fun interview. Stephen’s always so engaging and wonderful.

[lookforthefuture49]

I'm back at it with FNAF. Great.

After this I'll try to talk about other stuff, but people seem to only be looking at my FNAF related posts.

So I think I've mentioned this in the post about it literally not being possible for Michael to be the Crying Child, and, as all of you people who like FNAF know, the series is quite well known for its extremely confusing, convoluted timeline and characters.

When I was just coming into this Fandom and had only learned Michael existed as of recent, it was extremely difficult to fully understand what was happening because everything was a jumble.

Like, my friend says Sister Location comes before FNAF 1, and people believe Michael is Mike Schmidt, but, this isn't possible. Michael has white pupils and pitch black Sclarae, and Mike has normal blue eyes. Once again, people still believe this? It led me to believe Sister Location came after the first game, which honestly would make more sense since the animatronics are more advanced in SL, and yet somehow it STILL comes before?

This isn't exactly a timeline talk anymore but everything just jumbled together so I'm gonna keep talking.

Speaking of confusion, I was also led to believe that the Crying Child was experiencing hallucinations in FNAF 4 due to the bite, but after a bit of research it appears that if basic cognitive function isn't possible without a frontal lobe, vivid hallucinations and easy movement like that couldn't occur. Unless their nightmares, but that wouldn't be possible either. Anyway I've since remembered the minigames and corrected myself, but, it still is, admittedly, confusing. I chalked it up to nightmares.

FNAF 4 as a whole is confusing mostly because it's the one I both least and most hear about. Weird.

Anywhom, my own misconceptions aside, I'll continue.

I've noted that there are almost no actual fleshed out characters in the FNAF series (I haven't read Fazbear Frights but were going to ignore those here). Charlie from the books and Michael from the games seem to be the only two actual characters in this entire series, since they have the most development. Not sure about William but he's probably a bit developed. Not counting that jerkwad though. I hate him.

How can a series with an actual story have only 2 fleshed out characters, one of which being from the books? Charlie's game counterpart's soul is in the Puppet, and last time I checked Puppet doesn't get character development.

That leaves 1 character. Uno. A single character goes through internal and external (did I just make a pun?) conflict, and that's it. I mean other characters have gone through conflict of their own but I'm pretty sure Michael's the only one we know well. All the rest are built off of assumptions the last time I checked.

How did we wind up here? With a single developed character?

Not sure, frankly.

I thought it was cool FNAF was shrouded in so much mystery but now that I've both run out of content to take in from the games and books for Michael and am pretty sure I know everything I need to, I just have to ask:

Why would someone make a cool story and stuff and then NOT take COMPLETE ADVANTAGE of said story?

I noticed that FNAF has nearly nonexistent dialogue, relying solely on hints and mjnigames to get its story across, and while this is cool, it got confusing fast when they got an actual character and not a bunch of silent protagonists.

I'm still hoping the new creator goes in some direction that is open to letting us actually know characters. I wanna be able to root for someone, like them, and know them. I was able to do it a little bit with Michael, and it's a good step that we actually get a full 3d model for Gregory that we get to SEE. That's a very good step in the right direction indeed.

Maybe I'm not expecting the right things, since I went into the series with a long history of both hating it and only reading fantasy related things, so my outlook when I realized there was an actual character was "Well he better be a good one."

I want something to like out of this since I'm not big on horror but rather mystery, so that's what I'm here for, but I also need a good cast to get attached to, and all I've learned so far is:

-Its hard to get attached to animatronics.

-William is extremely unlikable, not that I liked him much before I joined the fandom.

-The only two characters I like in Charlie and Michael both died weird deaths (Charlie an even stranger one to be frank).

-Carlton did not deserve to be in a horror novel.

-I got attached to Michael and he ended up a scorched corpse.

Sorry for rambling I'm gonna post about something else later.

[world-of-puppets]

Puppetry Lost Media

In honour of reaching 50 followers last week (now 55 followers, as of writing this) I decided to cover two subjects of great interest to me: puppetry (of course) and lost media.

Everybody online loves a good old bit of lost media. Whether it be being a part of the many searches for the media in question, or watching documentaries about them on sites like YouTube. I’ve been mildly addicted to the latter kind of content for a while. From what I’ve seen, though, there aren’t many videos or articles out there specifically covering lost puppetry. So, in no particular order, here are a couple of pieces of lost puppetry I found while scrolling through the lost media wiki.

銀河少年隊 - Ginga shounen-tai AKA Galaxy Boy Troop (1963 - 1965)

Osamu Tezuka is one of the most pioneering figures in Japanese art and animation. Starting as a manga artist in the 1940s inspired by the animated works of American studios such as Walt Disney and the Fliecer Brothers, he adapted and simplified many of the stylistic techniques of both artists to create his own signature style of big shiny eyes, physics defying hair and limited animation. A style that would go on to heavily influence the world of anime and manga as a whole.

But animation and graphic art were not the only mediums Tezuka would dabble in. Ginga Shounen-Tai, or Galaxy Boy Troop in english, was a television series that aired on the public broadcast channel NHK from April 7th, 1963 to April 1st, 1965. Running for 2 seasons with a total of 92 episodes.

The series was a mixture of marionette characters that utilised the Supermarionation marionette technique, popularised by Jerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds, and limited traditional animation. The story revolves around a child genius named Roy who leads a rag-tag group of heros around the galaxy in a rocket ship in order to revive the earth’s sun and later protect it from alien invaders.

Out of the 92 episodes that aired, only episode 67 still exists in its entirety with French subtitles, and the full episode can be found on YouTube with English subtitles uploaded by user Rare TezukaVids. According to user F-Man on the Tezuka in English forums, footage of episode 28 exists but with no audio, and episode 87’s animated segments exist without the marionette segments. F-Man also claims the reason for Galaxy Boy Troop’s disappearance is due to Tezuka not being proud of the series and having all episodes of it destroyed.

Personally, I think it’s a shame that pretty much all of this series is gone. From what I’ve seen in episode 67, it looks really charming. Tezuka’s signature character design style was adapted suprisingly well to marionettes, and the puppetry itself isn’t that bad either. I love the little face mechanisms like the blinking eyes, flapping mouths and others. It gives the puppets a lot of personality and charm. Like, just look at this old mans eyebrow mechanism and tell me you wouldn’t want to watch 92 episodes of this show;

Tinseltown (2007)

Tinseltown was a 15 minute sitcom pilot created by the Jim Henson company under thier Henson Alternative banner. The pilot was commissioned by the Logo Network and aired as part of the Alien Boot Camp programming block in 2007.

The pilot (and likely the series, had it been picked up by the logo network) features a cast of both puppets and live actors as characters. The premise revolves around Samson Kight, an anthropomorphic bull preformed by Brian Henson and drew Massey, and his partner Bobby Vegan, an anthropomorphic pig prefomed by Bill Barretta and Michelan Sisti, as they attempt to balance thier lives working in Hollywood with life as parents to thier sullen 12-year-old foster son, Foster, played by Paul Butcher. Other human characters included Mia Sara as Samson’s ex-wife Lena and Francesco Quinn as the family’s manservant Arturo.

The Tinseltown pilot used to be available on the Logo Network’s YouTube channel, but was later removed for unknown reason. Since then, the pilot has not been made available online. However the characters Samson and Bobby have made appearances in other Henson related works, such as the improv stage show Stuffed and Unstrung, where they played the role as the shows producers, and in a 2011 video on the Jim Henson Company YouTube channel celebrating Jim Hensons 75th birthday.

I find Tinseltown pretty interesting as I feel like it should be more noateable or known, considering that this is (as far as my knowledge goes) the first Jim Henson Company project featureing openly lgbtq characters as its leads, and would have been the first Henson show to do so had it been picked up. As someone who’s interested in lgbtq+ representation in creative media such as animation, I realised that there’s not many examples of canon lgbt characters in puppetry. The only ones aside from Samson and Bobby I could think off the top of my head would be Deet’s Dads from The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and Rod from Avenue Q. Though, obviously, there could be more I’m not currently aware of. I don’t think the Tinseltown pilot was a masterpiece or anything. After all, there’s probably a couple of good reasons Logo didn’t pick it up for a full series. But I think it be cool if either Henson co. or Logo made this available online again, if just so we could appericate it as an interesting little footnote in the history of lgbtq rep in puppetry.

With that said, considering the pilot’s obscurity and the fact that it’s main couple haven’t been used in any Henson Related projects in almost ten years, as well as the possibility that there may be legalities preventing the Henson company from releasing it such as Logo still owning the rights, it’s unlikely we’ll see the Tinseltown pilot anytime soon.

Sonic Live in Sydney (1997 - 2000)

Sonic the Hedgehog is a fictional character no stranger to multiple interpretations of him and his universe across a diverse range of media. From the more light-hearted and comedic stylings of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Cartoon Networks Sonic Boom cartoon series, to more serious faire such as the Sonic SatAM cartoon and the Sonic Adventure videogame duology. One of the more obscure and stranger adaptations of the character came in the form of Sonic Live in Sydney, a one an a half hour live show hosted at the former Sega World Sydney amusement park in Darling Harbor, Sydney, Australia. Originally beginning as a live show with actors in meet-and-greet style costumes, the show eventually was replaced with a puppet show during its last two years.

The shows plot was set in an alternate timeline whos continuity was a mix of the SatAM cartoon and Sonic the Hedgehog 3, where Doctor Robotnik’s Death Egg crash lands in Sydney, Australia instead of Angel Island and attempts to take over before being foiled by sonic and friends. According to Phillip Einfeld of Phillip Einfeld Puppetoons, the company that made the puppets, Sega felt the costumed actor version of the show wasn’t dynamic enough, and wished to replace it with a version featuring live puppets with animatronics. Both versions of the shows plot are identical.

While Sonic Live in Sydney’s soundtrack is available on YouTube, and some photos of the show are available on the Lost Media Wiki, no footage of either the costumed actors version or the puppet show version have resurfaced. The show was closed down in 1999, possibly due to cost, shortly before the Sega World park as a whole in 2000. So unless there is someone out there who viseted the show between 1998 or 1999 who recorded the show via a handheld camera, footage of both incarnations of the show are likely forever lost to time.

On a personal note, I don’t have much to say on this one other than how gloriously peek gaudy 90s Sonic the set/puppet design is. I have no doubt finding footage of these puppets in action would truly be a silly delight to behold...

Legend of Mary (year unknown)

This one is a little different from the other entries on this list as while the film itself in its entiraty is available on YouTube for anyone to view, the information surrounding Legend of Mary, specifically its year of release, remains a mystery as of writing this.

I have mentioned the film before on this blog so I’ll keep it brief here: in summary, Legend of Mary is a short film retelling of the Nativity featuring the Rod puppets of Austrian puppeteer Richard Teschner. the video was uploaded to YouTube by user canada 150 archive. I looked up the people credited in the film and was able to find most of them, but didn’t find Legend of Mary listed in thier credits, and was unable to find the film on sites like IMDB, tMDB or Letterboxd. I reached out to Canada 150 archive asking if they had any info regarding the Legend of Mary’s release date, and after a coupe of months, they replied saying they didn’t know.

And that’s as far as I got on my search for answers, if anyone of you guys has any information regarding Legend of Mary, then it be of huge help in finding the release date.

Sam and friends (1955 - 1961)

Sam and friends was the very first puppetry television series created by Jim Henson alongside his colabarator and future wife Jane Nebel. filmed in Washington, D.C. and airing twice daily on WRC-TV and the NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C. from May 9, 1955, to December 15, Sam and Friends would mark the first apperence of Kermit (though not yet as a frog) and paved the way for Henson’s iconic and revered legacy in the realm of puppetry on film and television.

With the impact this show had in mind, it may come as a shock to some that almost half of Sam and Friends, specifically, 42 of the 86 episodes, are considered lost. With 16 existing, 8 documented, 9 known from memory, plus 8 existing Esskay commercials and 1 memory-known Esskay commercial. Some taped episodes have been shown at venues such as the museum of the moving image while others have been erased. It’s unknown if copies of these erased episodes still exist.

This post would become far to long if I were too list every episode missing from Sam and Freinds, but if your curious, the lost media wiki article has a comprehensive list of all lost episodes.

Annnd that about it for this post. This type of content is pretty different from the stuff I usually post. So I’m egar to see what you guys think about it. If you enjoyed this article, want to see more like it or have ideas for what puppetry-related topics I should cover in the future. And again, thank you all so much for helping me reach 55 followers. Your support really does mean a lot to me, and I hope you enjoyed this as a follower milestone gift.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this dip into lost puppetry, and have a happy holiday season!

[byron-von-raum]

Rebodied Toy Soldier Theory

Despite having a backstory and a semi-solid characterization for the Toy Soldier there’s a lot of questions we still have about it! To be expected among this impossible group of space pirates to be confused about their backstory and what makes them tick, in this way literally, but I have a theory that could answer a lot of those pressing questions.

Warning for image of choking, implied abuse, implied sex work, and canon typical fucked up stuff, especially UDAD related

So we don’t actually know in all certainty where the Toy Soldier is from. We have a few clues to help us out, though. 

1. The Toy Soldier was somewhere with very traditional English practices       “She taught him how to take proper English tea and how to talk like a real officer [...]” - SotTS (The Story of the Toy Soldier)

2. It came around not long after a revolution       “She once had a handsome fiance, but he had died in a long ago revolution. [...] The Toy Soldier was her favorite. He wore her fiance’s old uniform.” - SotTS

3. There is a Salvation Army or something similar on the same planet/colony

[ID: The Toy Soldier hitting a drum behind a procession of Salvation Army representatives with a sign above them reading “The Salvation Army.” An arrow points to the Toy Soldier in the back. A woman in the front tries to hand a pamphlet with a cross on it to a passerby. /END ID]

4. The planet/colony was knowledgable and within reach of the King Cole War        “[...] the Toy Soldier joined the ranks of the Rose Reds and fought in the bloody conflict of the Revolution.” - SotTS

5. The planet is close enough to the City from UDAD to have products imported from there.

You may be asking, “wait, Frankie, how do you know that?” Well, my dear friends, it’s actually rather stuble, but warnings for and image of choking, although crude.

[ID: A pencil drawing of the Toy Soldier choking out a woman with long, pale hair while she sleeps. A wine bottle lays empty above her head on the pillow. /END ID]

This lady is the Angel, a woman that the Toy Soldier fell in love with, presumably before leaving its original planet. So this scene also presumably happens on that same planet. Up in the top right corner is a wine bottle that reads “Dionysus 2011″ which is a product of Dionysus back in the City.

With that information, we know that products from the City were imported to this planet/colony. Whether this planet is, in fact, Earth or maybe just a colony of Earth is unclear and not entirely important. What is important is what other products the City might have had.

Re-bodying

“Orpheus’ story isn’t unusual: a broke young musician with a dead fiance, just another life chew up by the City. This broke young musician didn’t accept that though. Didn’t care that he didn’t have the money to have mind from the Acheron rebodied, or that those as were came back wrong.” - “Hades” Ulysses Dies at Dawn

Rebodying in the City is when someone takes a mind from the Acheron and places it in a new body. Someone dead being brought back. Now, let’s go back to the start of The Story of the Toy Soldier and take another gander at that rich old lady and her clockwork collection.

[ID: An old lady in a fancy dress smoking and leading the Toy Soldier away from a group of inanimate clockworks as it looks back at them. /END ID]

The most notable part of this image, I think, is the contrast between the Toy Soldier and the other clockworks. The other clockworks stand very still with no expression and seem more like dolls than the Toy Soldier, who holds close to itself and follows, looks nervous, looks confused. From this image alone, it’s clear the Toy Soldier isn’t like the other clockworks.

“But Frankie!” I hear you cry. “There’s no evidence that the rebodied people are put in animatronic bodies! Even in one of the fictions, the other people from the City think the Toy Soldier looks odd!” 

“Understandly, Narcissus now refused to have a Somnambulist in the house, and shuddered every time his eyes met the vacant gaze of one outside in the street. He was even deeply suspicious of the Toy Soldier at Dionysus’ speakeasy, despite its unconventional yet obvious sentience.” - Orpheus and Narcissus Go on a Trip to the Seaside

Well, first of all, that’s one person who finds the Toy Soldier uneasy and even then he was more concerned that it was a Somnambulist than it being a clockwork. I find that weird in of itself but that’s not exactly the point, is it? In fact, Orpheus at one point even thinks of the Toy Soldier as a strange re-bodying job.

“They’d soon promoted one of the nymphs to fill his place though: a bizarre prancing, whirring thing that would frolic and cavort for the clients’ amusement, flaunting an incongruously innocent joie de vivre. Some said it had stolen the voice of an angel, but Orpheus thought it sounded pretty human to him. It looked like another bizarre re-bodying job, although apparently it had been bought at a knockdown price from one of Dionysus’ business partners, Parsiphäe Minos, after the genius automaton designer had found it in her basement a while back.” - Orpheus, Dionysus, Muriatic Acid, and the Strange Whirring Thing

“Another strange re-bodying job?” you ask. “What other re-bodying job has Orpheus seen?”

Well, first of all, I think you’re missing the point but I’ll show you anyway.

“Orpheus had also heard recently of a new consultant based at Delphi (a strange re-bodied job by the sound of it) who would give good “moral” advice to assuage the guilt of atrocity wreakers: everything was excusable as long as the ends justified the means.” -  Orpheus, Dionysus, Muriatic Acid, and the Strange Whirring Thing

What’s interesting about this is that Brian, who is referenced here, is in fact a strange re-bodied job. He was technically re-bodied into his all-metal body.

That’s beside the point. The important thing is that, although these wooden and metallic re-bodyings are strange, they are only strange. They aren’t impossible, they aren’t incredibly uncommon, and they aren’t questioned. They’re just strange. Perhaps, the technology for this type of re-bodying isn’t the most uncommon thing out there if there isn’t a body available. Perhaps, even, the bodies just look more “human” when re-bodied than the Toy Soldier or Drumbot Brian do.

So, back to the point of the imported products from the City on the Toy Soldier’s originally colony and the fact that those who are re-bodied never come back quite right, we come to the climax of the theory:

The Toy Soldier is a re-bodied version of the old lady’s dead fiance.

Let’s corral all the evidence:

1. The old lady favors the Toy Soldier and acted like it was her dead fiance, even going as far as to have the Toy Soldier say things like “I love you” to her

      “Sometimes she made him say things he didn’t understand.” - SotTS

[ID: A pencil drawing of a spilled teacup, a thrown high hell, and a shattered tea saucer at the foot of a chair. There’s a speech bubble that reads “I love you.” /END ID]

2. Products were imported to this planet from the City

3. Re-bodying jobs that look like Drumbot Brian or the Toy Soldier are only considered “strange” (at least by Orpheus)

4. No one in the City entirely thought the Toy Soldier as odd except for looking re-bodied

Conclusion: The Toy Soldier is a re-bodied version of the old woman’s fiance after he died in the revolution. Liking clockworks, the old lady had her re-bodied fiance look like a clockwork. The Toy Soldier didn’t come back quite right, which is common for a re-bodying job. Frustrated with this, the old lady taught the Toy Soldier things that would make it more similar to her dead fiance like how to compliment her, what to say to sound like a real officer, and to tell her it loves her.

Now, this has a lot of implications in a lot of directions that you are free to speculate on and I would also love to hear other people’s input. Either way, thanks for reading my inane theory and thanks to the people in the various Discord servers I’m in for helping me with this!

[lysissisyl]

Here’s my story for the event @raines-stories-n-things organized. Thank you for your hard work.

I don’t know if you knew, but you assigned me a prompt for my fiancée, making it all even more special for us. So... to @patricia-von-arundel , with all my love. 💜

Trick or kiss?

Byleth has always loved Halloween. She could see the kids wearing crazy costumes and going out trick-or-treating in tv shows, all the horror houses, with their mechanical creatures moving and making creepy sounds (she heard people calling them “animatronics”). Even kids’ cartoons had special episodes airing on that day.

When she was a child, it was considered something foreign, an American tradition that nobody followed or cared about in her country, but things had started to change with time. Now kids wore costumes and went out asking for sweets. They knocked at their neighbors’ doors asking “Dolcetto o scherzetto?” Their parents had to hang messages to tell people to get ready, so they had something to give them, and they usually didn’t leave the building or the street they lived in, but it was something. They received normal sweets, nothing crazy, nothing made for the occasion. People didn’t hang up decorations, not many at least. The neighbors had carved pumpkin and put it out of their door once. You could see some funny things in shops, but not much, nothing compared to Christmas, for example (even if even Christmas decorations weren’t as fancy as the American ones). She knew there were Halloween Parties, but chaotic discos weren’t her cup of tea. She tried wearing a simple costume and walking around, she took some pictures once, but people looked at her like she was strange. (To be honest, they often did and it didn’t bother her, but the atmosphere wasn’t exactly thrilling.)

She could notice the difference the moment she arrived at the airport. The shops there were full, literally full of anything Halloween related. They even had pets’ costumes! There were decals and lights and things she didn’t know how to call on display. Some kids already had costumes, even if it wasn’t the 31st yet.

As far as she loved it all though, she never stopped to buy or look at anything for more than a second; she had other things on her mind now. One thing in particular: Edelgard.

Edelgard was waiting (in)patiently. She had arrived at the airport an hour and a half in advance and had been pacing since. After reading the flight landed, she started checking the time and her phone basically every 5 seconds. She only stopped the moment she saw Byleth walking towards her. They both froze for a few seconds before running into each other’s arms. It had been too long. It was always too long. Edelgard was sure she was going to cry any moment, but she categorically refused to cry in public. She needed to keep herself busy and she needed to bring Byleth home. Now.

Whatever was outside the airport doors, Byleth didn’t notice. She could blame the long flight (and she was actually very tired and dazed), but the truth was that all her brain could process for a while was the warmth of Edelgard’s hand in hers.

“...or you prefer going straight home?”

“What?”

The look on her face must have been 50% smitten adoration and 50% pure confusion, because Edelgard blushed and laughed. “I was asking if you want to go and pick up some food or you prefer going straight home and let me make something for you there.” She paused and smiled slightly. “Perhaps I should just bring you too bed though, since you truly look exhausted.”

Was that concern or a timid attempt to tease? Maybe both. And she sure wasn’t too tired to fight back. “Don’t worry about that. Resting my head on your shoulder while you drive will sure make miracles for my awareness level.”

Edelgard almost let her car keys fall and clumsily opened the trunk. “Give me your luggage, so we can go wherever you want.” The imperative tone told Byleth she hit home. Score! She handed her the big case with a grin.

After they both got in the car Edelgard started the engine and they left the parking lot in silence. Most people would have considered it awkward, but it wasn’t. It was that kind of silence that two people can share when they’re truly close and are just feeling each other’s presence. It was a very intimate silence.

They both liked listening to music in the car and they often did, but not now: this short trip was just for them, to enjoy being together after such a long time, alone.

Edelgard broke the silence first. “From a more practical side...”, she stopped, realizing her voice was going to betray her thoughts again. There was no time to think about the softness of Byleth’s body against hers. Focus, Edelgard! She cleared her voice. “Do you want to stop somewhere for food or not?”

Too harsh. But Byleth smiled. She could read her far too well. “I vote for sushi. Sushi is always good for a date.”

Edelgard silently thanked the darkness for hiding her blush. They had been together for month, but the word “date” still had such a strong effect on her! If felt like she was suddenly so light she could fly and the only thing preventing her from getting lost in the vast sky was Byleth. Byleth being there meant she could fly safely.

Drive safely. She should focus on the road and drive safely. No flying. Why was she even thinking about flying? “Sushi sounds good.” The answer came late enough for Byleth to giggle.

Sushi looked good too. That was Byleth’s first thought in the restaurant. She saw a waiter passing by with some and she suddenly realized how hungry she truly was.

When Edelgard showed her the menu, her eyes literally lightened up. It wasn’t that she had never had sushi, she had it often, but sharing it with Edelgard was different. It was special. She rarely smiled, but even just discussing what to order made her smile. Edelgard had that strange effect on her. She had had it from the start.

Byleth had lived almost all her life barely feeling. She acknowledged most emotions, but...they weren’t truly there. It was like living behind a glass. It was normal to her, but she could still see it. When she met Edelgard though, that glass began to crack and when they got together...it shattered. It felt truly like she came with a giant axe and just smashed it. Gone. In instants. She saved her from a cold she wasn’t even fully aware off. And now...now she was smiling at sushi and she felt like laughing.

The drive home was peaceful. They kept talking about places to visit and things to do. They had discussed them many times, most at least, but it was different now: the time had come. So they kept talking and planning, just because it felt good to. At least, they kept talking until Byleth stopped replying.

Now Edelgard was sitting in the car, parked in her usual spot, uncertain about what to do. Byleth was resting her head on her shoulder, like she had playfully mentioned before, one of her hands was holding onto her shirt. She was sound asleep. Edelgard didn’t dare moving. She felt like when a kitten fell asleep on her lap. Part of her just wanted to stay there and watch her sleep. She could admire her beautiful face, put her hand on hers, kiss her forehead if she turned carefully enough. Part of her though desperately wanted to bring her home, carry her to bed, wrap her arms around her and kiss her, being it just a kiss goodnight or something more. She just wanted to kiss her beaut-

The rational part of her cut that thought there, reminding her they needed to get out of the car, carry the luggage inside, have dinner. Only then it would have been time to go to bed. Together... Feeling her so close against her...and-

Focus! Luggage, then dinner.

She lifted her left hand, then stopped a few centimeters from Byleth’s head. Hesitation. They had been together for month, but she still hesitated. Her thoughts went easily out of control, she often found herself daydreaming until she could almost feel her skin, but her body still stopped, like it wondered if she was truly allowed. She internally laughed at herself, letting her fingers into Byleth’s hair. Messy and soft. She loved it. She stroked them gently, until she felt her girlfriend humming and her hand tightening its grip on her shirt. Cute.

“El?” Byleth’s voice sounded so sleepy... Unusual for someone who always said she completely woke up in seconds. Edelgard’s hand stopped when she found herself unreasonably flustered again. “Sushi is good fresh. We better go.” Too harsh. Again. She sighed, getting out of the car. “I’ll take your luggage.”

Byleth didn’t seem to object, so she did, holding the handle so tight her knuckles turned white. She walked straight to the front door, fully focused on one goal at a time. Keys, keyhole, unlock. She could hear Byleth’s footsteps behind her, stopping when she turned around to close the door. She heard the lock, then another step, Byleth’s hand on her shoulder. She froze.

“El?”

She left the case fall and turned around without thinking, pulling her close and holding her in the tightest hug she had ever experienced. She was there, home with her, she was real.

She was real.

She felt Byleth slowly hugging her back. She held her breath. Neither of them was used to hugs. Byleth was the only person Edelgard felt comfortable hugging and she had no doubt the same went for her.

•~•~•~

For the first time in a while, Byleth didn’t jump on her feet as soon as she woke up. The first thing she was aware of was the warmth of Edelgard’s body against hers. She felt her snuggling closer when she gently stroke her hair, still half asleep. She looked so adorable! She probably would have grumbled at the word, but she was. The thought made Byleth laugh.

Edelgard looked up, suddenly embarrassed, her hands trying to let go of her shirt and failing. She decided to hide her face against her chest instead. “What are you laughing at?”

Tempting, damn tempting… “You’re cute.”

She couldn’t see Edelgard’s face, but she had no doubt it was bright red.

“I am not.” She was clearly fighting herself when she got up. “We should have breakfast. We have an interesting day waiting for us.”

She headed to the kitchen without waiting for an answer, probably to hide the enthusiastic side that was breaking her sulking mask. Cute.

For the first time in a while, Edelgard had had no nightmare.

It wasn’t the first time. Having Byleth there always made miracles for her sleep. Having Byleth in general was enough for an improvement, but…having her there was like a spell. She could let go, she felt safe, like her ghosts couldn’t touch her, like her past couldn’t hurt her anymore. Her demons were tamed.

She smiled, the smile growing wider when she saw Byleth approaching. She knew she would have followed her right after, but actually seeing her there still made her emotional.

She took a pan and a few ingredients and realized she was humming a tune only halfway through the preparations. She hushed fretfully, pouring the mix in. Another giggle, then arms wrapping around her from behind, Byleth’s breath on her neck.

She shivered. “The waffles are going to get burnt.”

“Would it be a big deal?”

“I bought a pumpkin-shaped waffle-plate just to make you Halloween waffles. I would be very pissed.” She was such a bad liar. Her voice betrayed her. She laughed at herself.

Another giggle. “You’re lucky I’m hungry in the morning.” She left a kiss on her neck before taking a step back. “But you still owe me cuddles after leaving like that."

That playful attitude was new too. Byleth always appeared so distant around people… Being allowed to see this side of her was a privilege (even if the little shit loved teasing her). “You shouldn’t have called me cute.”

“But you are.”

Edelgard glared at her. “Do you still want your waffles?”

“I’m not saying another word.” Her grin talked for her though.

The waffles smelled delicious and tasted even better. Edelgard had added fruit on some, poured strange creepy-colored glazes on others. The red one looked like blood, but tasted like cherry. She couldn’t identify the purple and green ones, but food colors were probably involved. She sipped from her cup one last time, inhaling the characteristic smell of Edelgard’s favorite Bergamot tea. She usually brewed some to share when they were together, but today Edelgard had other projects. She had served her some in a black, spooky cup, with a spider-shaped cookie on the side. Byleth sure wasn’t the only one loving Halloween.

“You mentioned projects for today.”

“ Yes. We are going out early. We have some shopping to do.”

She had such a happy look on her face, like a child who was going to show their parents the phantasmagoric new dinosaur toy they just won in a game at the fair. Byleth couldn’t help it. “Cute.”

Edelgard wasn’t actually a big fan of shopping, but this was different: this was Halloween shopping!

She had spent a long time planning it all, thinking about all the things they had discussed, adding more... This was Byleth’s first time truly celebrating Halloween and she wanted to make it perfect for her.

Their first stop was the reason she wanted to go out early. Costume shops usually got really crowded later those days. They spent more than an hour trying the silliest things on, showing each other, laughing together. They ended up dressing as a king and his knight. Those costumes won their hearts the moment Byleth kneeled before her and Edelgard started stuttering something about giving the wrong impression and making her thoughts strange. Edelgard also added an axe to her costume, stating a true king should fight side by side with his soldiers. Brave and strong even when playing around... Was it silly to feel proud? Byleth shook her head with a smile. Did it matter? She was.

The second place was a huge, HUGE store, full of all kinds of things, from forniture to food. There was an entire isle dedicated to Halloween decorations. Edelgard only had a few, but she was determined to make her house spooky this year. The first thing Byleth took was a pumpkin-shaped string lights.

“We could use them for the Christmas tree too.”

“ Halloween stuff on the Christmas tree? Not very traditional.” Edelgard smiled. “ I like it.”

“We could keep some other decorations out too, put a Christmas hat on the skeleton’s head.”

“We don’t have a skeleton.”

Byleth shrugged. “Yet.”

Almost a hour later they had skeletons (humanoids, animals and dragons), three different kinds of spiderwebs, bloody handprints stencils for the doors, a bloodstained mat for the bathtub and many other things. They went back to the car with a heavy cart and a lighter wallet.

The third stop was at the supermarket.

“Are we getting something for lunch?” Byleth was looking at everything with genuine curiosity. The brands and packagings were all very different from the ones she knew. It was something most people would have ignored, but she found it fascinating. She completely forgot about it the moment they reached the produce aisle though. “Pumpkins!” Her eyes were sparkling. “REAL pumpkins!”

They had been talking about carving pumpkins for months. To Byleth, that had never had a chance, it felt like such a nice family thing! She had always wanted to try, but her father wasn’t exactly the kind of guy who likes decorating and such. Everything he did was always for a reason, always had a purpose. The idea of carving pumpkins, attempt strange shapes and be silly together was extremely precious to her and...thrilling.

Edelgard loved seeing her like that, especially since Byleth herself had told her she had never felt like that before meeting her.

She looked at all her smiles and laughs like they were the rarest marvels she had ever admired. Her emotions were a gift to them both.

Byleth was still grinning when they reached the baking products and then moved to other isles. They wanted to make something nice and creepy together, like the funny Halloween party recipes you can find on YouTube. Byleth’s cooking skills didn’t get past a hamburger and noodles, so the ingredients and recipes’ choice was on Edelgard. She had considered many options and was determined to try a few. She wanted to impress her.

Byleth got distracted again by all the sweets and weird...”things” in the next section. Kids sure could get very colorful, strange stuff in their baskets there! There were candies in all shapes, colors and flavors. There were cookies that looked like smiling spiders and happy pumpkins, purple witch hats, green potions, black cats.

Byleth was amazed by how many brands produced something special just for Halloween. In her country she could find chocolate eggs for Easter, panettone and pandoro for Christmas, butnever so many crazy, different themed treats. It was so hard to choose! Luckily they could try many, since they were going to give most to the neighborhood kids on the 31st. At least that’s what she told herself, while Edelgard’s face grew more and more concerned after every trip from the shelves to their cart.

Bringing everything to the car at once was a challenge, but they did it, impressing a few passerbies. Byleth had never been so happy Edelgard had a SUV.

Lunch. Edelgard had projects for lunch too. Something fast, because it was already lunchtime, but fitting. You could only get pumpkin ice cream around Halloween and Byleth had to try it.

Dinner was a whole different thing. Edelgard had made sure they had all they needed to try some funny recipes. They made pumpkin-shaped pumpkin bread. It was a must, one of the first Halloween foods Edelgard had mentioned and one she liked a lot.

The second idea they decided to try was far less traditional and definitely unusual: Frankenstein sushi. They put rice, water and green food coloring in and, after around 30 minutes, they boiled it, then let it cool down a bit. They pressed it into squares around salmon and avocado, topping them with nori sheets as hair. They arranged carrots matchsticks on the sides to look like bolts. More nori, some black rice and truffle sauce made the trick to draw the faces. They had fun changing the expressions and shapes. Those little monsters looked so silly! When they were done, they put them in the fridge to keep them cold.

They decided to make spooky donuts too, as a treat. They had bought a lot of decorations just for those. Edelgard knew Byleth loved them and there were some crazy options there that weren’t available in her country. Once ready, they looked adorably creepy and colorful. Some were covered in orange glaze, with a chocolate spiderweb. Some even had spiders on them, made with a dough ball covered in dark chocolate, chocolate sticks stuck in it to make the legs and big round sugar eyes. Others were covered in white glaze, with red jelly forming veins, colorful candies as the iris and a drop of chocolate as the pupil. Some weren’t even shaped like donuts. Squared ones with green glaze and chocolate provided another version of Frankenstein’s head; pumpkin-shaped ones, with dark chocolate as the carving were a must. Too many to count. Byleth was staring at them with sparkling eyes.

“Do you want one?” Edelgard couldn’t help giggling. “Or dinner first?”

“We could have a reverse dinner.”

“A reverse dinner?”

”We start from the dessert.”

The weirdness of it made Edelgard smile. It was very Byleth. “You want one.” She couldn’t help laughing again and her girlfriend with her. Byleth took an azure one with small sugar pumpkins and bats on it, split it in halves. “I want to share one.”

“Sharing sounds perfect.” Sharing felt warm.

The evening was pleasantly cool, a bit foggy. Edelgard came out of the kitchen with two big knives in her hands and her best attempt at a creepy look on her face. To Byleth she actually looked cute, but the jolt of excitement made her completely forget about teasing. “Pumpkin carving!”

Edelgard handed her one of the knives and she admired the blade. For a moment that simple gesture betrayed her fighting training. She was more comfortable with that weapon than any common person was supposed to be.

A moment.

A moment later she was smiling and choosing a pumpkin from the bags. She studied it with far less ease. “I don’t know where to start.”

Edelgard moved her chair closer, her pumpkin next to Byleth’s on the table. “Honestly, I’m not that good at it, but I know the basics” She explained her and showed her what to do step by step. “First you cut off the crown.” She grabbed two large serving spoons and offered one to Byleth. “You scoop out the seeds and fibers, then the flesh. We can make something with those tomorrow, maybe roast the flesh and toast the seeds.” She drew the eyes, nose and mouth with a marker, then waited for Byleth to do the same. “Careful when you cut it off. You’ll need some strength. Keep your hands far enough from the blade.”

Byleth, the expert fighter, the blades collector, nodded. She loved Edelgard’s caring protectiveness.

Despite her words, Edelgard made a very good job with her pumpkin. Byleth was kinda proud of hers, especially as a first attempt. It was winking.

Once they were done carving, they inserted the candles and put the crown back in place. The cinnamon candles mixed wonderfully with the pumpkins’ natural flavor. They smelled delicious!

They stayed silent for little while, admiring the lights and shadows dancing inside their silly creations, sharing the intimacy. When Edelgard leant her head on her shoulder, Byleth started to gently stroke her hair; their jointed hands were resting on her lap. She could feel her body gradually relaxing, her breaths getting slower and deeper. There was no more tension in her when she was in her arms. She tenderly moved a strand of white hair from her face.

A perfect moment, followed by many others.

For their second almost-halloween night they decided to stick to the tradition. Byleth had never been as big of a horror movies expert as Edelgard was, so there were many she hadn’t seen yet. They both had looked forward watching some together and Byleth knew Edelgard also saw them as a very good excuse for cuddles. She gladly curled up in her arms, as close to her as she could, wrapped in her warmth. That was a night to stay up late, shiver together, then sleep cuddled close.

•~•~•~•

That was the day: Halloween.

It was around noon when she woke up, but it still felt too soon to leave the bed. Edelgard wanted to keep feeling Byleth on her, her hands holding her shirt, her breath on her skin…

She was higher than she was, a trained fighter and a badass, but she still felt such a strong protective instinct towards her…

She wanted to keep her warm.

She wanted to keep her safe.

She wanted to keep her.

Judging by the way she was clinging to her, Byleth agreed.

It took them one more hour of cuddles to finally decide to get up and make some tea. Byleth was extremely smug about eating the donuts they made with it; it was so evident Edelgard couldn’t help a giggle. There were so many things that were quite usual to her and so new to Byleth! And it wasn’t just about Halloween. It wasn’t only about the cultural differences either (some were evident, but there was more). It was like many normal things, family things especially, were completely unknown to her. Edelgard obviously knew why. As for her…she had had no idea how much she had missed those things until Byleth.

They decided to shower and get dressed right after breakfast. They wanted to go out before it got dark and crowded. Edelgard had had the idea the day before. What better place for a King and his knight to spend some time together than solitary woods? There was a trail near her home that they could walk together and she knew places to stop and rest where no one would have bothered them.

Wearing the costumes home was definitely easier than doing that at the store. Byleth wrapped the long, red cloak around Edelgard’s shoulders with a a grin and an admired sound. “It suits you, my Emperor.” Edelgard fumbled helping Byleth with her armor. “It’s a king costume...don’t make it bigger than it is. It’s not... I’m not...”

A giggle.

The Emperor sighed. “I don’t seem to remember many knights being so bold with their lords.”

“Bold?” Something strange in her voice.

“Yes, bol-” Byleth’s lips on hers ended any complaint.

“Is this bold enough?”

“I...advise you to stop if you still plan to go out.”

Her face was so red Byleth almost giggled again, but the way Edelgard’s eyes were staring intently at her made her hold her breath instead. “I plan to come back soon. Or...” a long pause. “...how remote are those woods?”

The pauldron fell from Edelgard’s hands with a loud thud.

Most people go to parties on Halloween night, but neither of them was particularly fond of crowded places and loud music. The only thing they wanted was for that day to be theirs.

They wanted to read horror stories together, maybe try some creepy game. They wanted to hide spooky surprises for each other in the house or share some curiosities cuddled close on the couch.

Byleth didn’t know much about the origin of the festivity. She had heard of kids going out dressed as spirits so the real ones wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart and kidnap them, of people making offerings to such spirits to keep them away from their homes, to keep them friendly. She knew there were many legends, both local and well known in all the States, like Jack-O’-Lantern playing his tricks on the Devil and ending up a wondering soul.

Her knowledge though didn’t go past that. Edelgard was the expert and, luckily for Byleth, more than willing to share her knowledge.

“How do you know so many things?”

“Research, I suppose. You know I like creepy facts, folklore and peculiar traditions. Halloween is a mix of that all.”

“I’m impressed.”

“By my ramblings?”

“That’s not the word I would have chosen...”

An awkward laugh. “Maybe I wanted to impress you... Just a little bit.”

Byleth poked her. “Maybe.”