#spoilers for episode 18

[everythingitcouldbe]

What always kills me is the fact that NOT ONLY did Lovelace get a tape of Fisher’s death but the fact that she LEFT IT FOR THEM TO LISTEN TO

OH MY GOD. THAT IS SO BRUTAL. THATS SO SAD.

you gotta wonder how many times she’s played that stupid tape. You gotta wonder how many times she’s replayed his death wondering what she could do differently. I feel like she does the same to Fourier. Could she have protected Fourier?

[neo--queen--serenity]

Marcille is actually one of the biggest reasons it took so long to pinpoint which Chilchuck was the imposter in today’s episode.

The Senshi and Marcille imposters had their own reasons for being hard to decipher, but that was a joint effort on the party’s part. Chilchuck was the only example where a single member’s bias actually swayed the others so strongly that it made them all doubt themselves.

Ryouko Kui did an excellent job of giving us a rich background on how different races interact, and how they may descriminate against each other. Each of the races in this series struggles with these prejudices. Our main characters are not exempt from this, and we see it clearly in the way the shapeshifter manifested as each party member, showing us how the others percieve them.

Marcille knows Chilchuck well, and cares deeply for him as a friend. But she’s not immune to assumptions and biases that come from her elven background. The Chilchuck imposter we are faced with, when it’s down to two of them left, is Marcille’s memory of Chilchuck, Marcille’s perception of how he behaves.

One of the first manifestations of this bias occurs when shapeshifter Chilchuck can’t get a jar open.

The real Chilchuck knows that this would never happen—at least not in this way. Chilchuck is proud, yes, but he asks for Laios’ help all the time. Laios is actually one of the party members he is the most likely to ask help from, given how long they’ve known each other, and how much mutual trust exists between them.

However, the whole scenario isn’t right. Chilchuck wouldn’t give up so easily on opening something; his whole job is opening and unlocking things. He would never quit an attempt like this within 5 seconds, then run to Laios so that “big strong adult tall-man” can open it for him.

Marcille is the one who asks, “Huh? Why do you say that?” because Marcille is partially right. Chilchuck does rely on Laios, and Marcille knows this to be true. But she fails to realize how he relies on Laios.

Chilchuck respects many of Laios’ talents, but the most important ones are his combat skills, his emotional fortitude, and his quick thinking when delegating tasks. He trusts Laios as someone he is comfortable following (he literally said to him and Shuro in the last episode: “Laios!! Tell us what do!! Give us orders!!” when chimera Falin was quickly overpowering them).

So while Marcille almost understands Chilchuck’s confidence in Laios, she tends to accidentally infantilize him in the process.

She immediately believes that Chilchuck B (the imposter, who is specifically using her own memory as its base for Chilchuck’s personality) is the real one, and says so, because she’s blinded by her perception of him as being childlike and adorable because of the very common racial prejudices that half-foots deal with all the time.

She dotes on the imposter, and is open with her affections, as usual (again, her care for him is clear), but doubles down on that bias, on her own assumptions of Chilchuck’s behavior shown through her own lens.

And ultimately, Laios was able to tell the difference, but only because he watched how the Chilchucks handled other minute tasks. Marcille’s stance on which Chilchuck was real truly did throw the others for a loop, at least until the threat passed. And honestly, that’s part of what makes the shapeshifter so terrifying. Its strategy almost worked.

[pancake-breakfast]

Fake Marcille's spellbook in the shapeshifter episode is so bad, y'all.

Not only is it in Japanese instead of Made-Up Fantasy Language, it's written almost entirely in the kana. The only kanji on the page (時間) is jikan, which just means "time." This looks like something a second-grader would write.

I'm still learning, but here's my translation of the pages:

Left Page:

How to Cast Black Magic

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do that stuff you know how to do

Ready your staff

Chant

Doodle corner

Right Page:

Go Back In Time Magic*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Abracadabra

*I really need to note here that, as best I can tell, it does not say "Time Travel Magic." Japanese has a few words that could be used to say "Time Travel," and this spellbook uses none of them. Instead, it says, "Go back in time." It's so bad. It's beautiful.

[marvelousbelladonna]

something about Adaine loving the ads on podcasts is so funny and so correct for her

[egophiliac]

OH YEAH HIS TAIL ALSO LIGHTS UP

here's a bunch of quick reactions to some of the smaller bits, while I work on bigger things for the bigger bits and obsess over Silver's breakdown some more. don't be fooled -- this is only the beginning of my descent into pure diasomnia hell.

(I also need to figure out how to draw OB Mal better)

[exhuastedpigeon]

Just thinking about how 9-1-1 is a network television show and Evan Buckley is a stereotypical hot, macho man. How this show isn't niche or 'gay'. How people from all walks of life watch this show. Millions of people watch this show.

Someone out there watched tonight's episode and realized they've felt that way before. They realized they aren't alone.

Someone out there watched that episode and gained a better understanding of how people can figure out their sexuality later in life.

Someone out there watched tonight and saw that there isn't one way to be queer.

Someone's parents watched that episode tonight and realized that just because their kid isn't stereotypically gay or bi or queer, that doesn't make their sexuality less valid.

Someone watched this episode and realized that just because their friend/sibling/cousin/etc has only dated the opposite gender before, that doesn't mean they can't be bisexual

This episode matters so much. It matters so much.

[pagerunner-j]

Decided on a whim to rewatch The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit, since those episodes seem rather more relevant after all those dire intonations about Sutekh this past week, not to mention a certain recurring voice actor, and...

...yeah, I forgot that this is how it starts.

editing to add:

I just pulled up the commentary track for The Impossible Planet, and lo and behold, here's David Tennant pointing out that the Beast here is voiced by Gabriel Woolf, who voiced Sutekh in Pyramids of Mars, and--I quote--"So there's a sort of link there. And if you want to believe it's the same character, then that's...you're free to do that."

I will indeed be taking that as carte blanche for the time being, thank you.

Guess we'll see how things play out next week. :)

(And another comment re: that particular bit of casting: "I suspect if you're listening to this DVD commentary, then you already knew that." Yeah, well, funny thing about that, David...)

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

Has this been done already

[tokutaiseichan]

How old is everyone, really?!?!

Prefacing this with the information that the legal drinking age in Japan is 20 years old bc it's important.

OKAY so at first we were only shown that it's the third years who go to Rui's bar. This made me think, "Oh, I guess that'd make the third years a bunch of 20 years old, at the very least. So Darkwick is like a university?"

But then come Episode 6 and we were told that they don't actually serve real alcohol at Rui's bar. Not to mention we saw Ritsu getting fussy about a bar in the school grounds. This made me think, "So Darkwick is a high school? Everyone here is a minor?? Which is it???" (※To be fair, Ritsu was only fussing about the existence of a bar and not the possibility of underage drinking cmiiw)

And last, Episode 8. Here we saw Taiga ordering a martini一an alcoholic drink. And when Ritsu came to fetch him, he didn't scold him about underage drinking so that means Taiga is at least 20 years old (Ritsu warned Jin about Swords and Arms law when he took out his artifact so if Taiga really is underaged, Ritsu would definitely scold him).

But what caught me truly off guard is when Ritsu snatched the cocktail and drank it himself. Ritsu "Stickler for the Rules" Shinjo is drinking alcohol. There's a few possible explanation for this a) Ritsu is of drinking age; b) Ritsu is making an exception and broke a rule bc he's exasperated with Taiga (less likely considering how much of a stick in the mud about rules he is); c) Writer Team's mistake.

I'm leaning more to a), which means all of the first years is also at least 20 years old. That makes the second and third years in their early twenties. So Darwick is still a kind of university? Or does age isn't one of the parameter to enroll there?

[elegantmarigold]

Not that I wasn't already on-board with the idea, but this episode thoroughly convinced me that Lena is autistic because there's zero other explanations for that conversation with sam, absolutely none. And honestly I love that for her, I hope she continues to baffle her employees by just existing the way she does. The Lena fans were right this whole time, she is a fantastic character. I get it now.

I specifically want to shout out this line. That's so real of you Lena, I understand, flawless logic:

Big fan of this one too:

[cirrus-grey]

Georgie sounds like she may be without a Melanie and I am devastated.

[beautifulphilosopherbird]

just this shot, no caption needed

[spacen000b]

because of episode 18 i just remembered that eventually they're going to have to animate this thing when the shapeshifter shows back up and i have to say, i cannot wait to see it.

side note, but i love the concept of kabru's party running into, and being wiped by, a shapeshifter because of just how close he is with everyone in his party.

[marvelousbelladonna]

Omar is a perfect, precious baby

[dimension-20-every-introduction]

Everyone Introduced in Dimension 20's Fantasy High: Junior Year episode 20 (finale)

[candycassowary]

YOU VILE EXCUSE FOR A MAN . STAY DOWN, ARTHUR, OR ILL CHOKE THE LIFE OUT OF YOU

New to posting on tumblr so Im gonna play it reeallllyy safe with the warning tags