#still trying to understand the context of the first photo

[sunofmoon]

he is officially the happiest man in the world

[sirfrogsworth]

I think in this new age of A.I. the general public is going to need to increase their photography and lighting literacy. The response to this photo has just been a shit show.

There are people pointing out perfectly normal edge lighting and misunderstanding how reflections work.

First the plane is parked at an angle. The tail is farther back than the nose. But also that is a curved surface and it tapers. It's reflecting the area to the right of the photo.

And the bottom of the plane is reflecting what is directly underneath. Which is the tarmac, not the crowd.

It should also be noted that photo was shot with a very telephoto lens and everything is super compressed. The crowd appears much closer to the airplane than they actually are.

But then someone who should have good understanding of lighting said this...

And now I'm worried for her clients. Because that's very... wrong.

Well, wrong-ish.

First, let's try to understand why this photo is setting off some alarm bells.

The crowd toward the rear is in shadow, but they are still very well exposed. But then there is also a bright light source creating a strong edge light on them. Looking at this photo with just the context of what is in it, there are some things that seem uncanny.

The information we do not have is the people in the shadow area are inside a very brightly lit airplane hangar.

So they have artificial light blasting them from the top.

But that light is still much dimmer than the sunlit areas outside so they appear in shade. But we are used to shade being much darker than areas in direct sun. So the balance seems off in our brain. We expect the people to be darker because we don't have the context of the bright hangar lights above them.

But the other issue is that the photo was post processed. It wasn't manipulated. The pixels weren't changed. But the exposure balance was altered.

If I were to guess, the original photo looked more like this...

But newer digital cameras can have 13 to 15 stops of dynamic range. And if you shoot in RAW, you can easily lift shadows and bring down highlights. You can balance the exposure so the dark parts aren't as dark and the bright parts aren't as bright. This photographer might have overdone it a bit in this case, but this is a fairly standard edit used to bring balance to photos.

And lastly, where does the edge light come from?

Edge lighting or backlighting or rim lighting (all the same) should probably be called wrap-around lighting if you want to be more accurate.

It comes from a homogenous light source that is larger than the subject being lit. So with my knife photo, I placed it on a large LED panel light.

The light source was bigger than the subject so it wrapped around the edges.

And I'm afraid the airplane is not nearly large enough to create a light source to wrap around everyone in the crowd. It isn't even reflecting direct sunlight. So I'm sorry to say that lighting designer was mostly mistaken despite the confidence.

The light source is... everything.

That entire red area I highlighted is the light source.

As well as everything above and everything to the sides.

And the biggest aspect of that light source would be the sky above. I think people always forget the sky is a light source. If you are seeing blue, you are seeing light. And I guess the plane is included in that, but that entire highlighted red area is so bright, and so filled with sunlight bouncing around, that it creates basically a giant softbox. It becomes a huge single light source for the people in the hangar.

If you look at footage taken from way inside the hangar, you can see the camera adjusting exposure for the crowd inside, but look at what happens to the sunlit area outside.

What does that look like?

A giant softbox.

A single homogenous light source blasting light inside the hangar.

The sun is so incredibly bright that even when it is not directly lighting something, the light just bouncing around outside is enough to overpower the very bright hangar lights.

So, what have we learned from this?

Perhaps people should hire me to be their lighting designer.

Though I'm sure she is actually very talented. She seems to work with stage lights and this is more physics and photography.

Phystography.

[issdisgrace]

Hello, an apology, I don't know if you are still posting with the Slashers but if you can I would really like a reaction from them.

How would the Slashers react to seeing that their partner prepared a dessert with a somewhat sadistic theme? (Context: I saw a video where there is a person who makes a cake with details of a face, and when you cut it juice comes out of the red fruit, he also makes cookies with eyes [Clearly they are not real])

An apology if I have spelling mistakes, but I don't know how to write English very well. If you can't make the publication I understand. Have a nice day.

SLASHERS WITH A BAKER S/O THAT MAKES TERRIFYING DESERTS

WARNINGS: disturbing imagery I guess, nothing else really

This is what I had in mind when righting this

MICHAEL

Michael comes home from killing and he sees you taking photos of a heart on a plate. He's so confused. Did you kill someone and take their heart out while he was gone? He's even more confused when you pick up a knife and cut into. This is when he decides to make his present known. You look up and smile, all proud, asking him if he likes the cake. He is shocked that's a cake. It looks so real, it's trippy. But yes, he likes it and is now more interested in your craft. So be warned you will probably have Michael hovering around you next time you bake.

OTIS

It's Halloween, and it's yours and Otis anniversary. So you decided to make something special for you and Otis to enjoy together. But you don't want it to be a plain and boring looking. So you rack your brain then the idea of making a cherry pie then making the top crust a face. It was perfectly macabre, so you slaved away in the kitchen making it. Then when you and Otis were alone, you presented to him and he is amazed to say the least. You thought of this? You made this? You are so creative darling; it looks almost too good to eat. So yeah, you created a monster, and he expects only beautifully macabre deserts when you bake.

PATRICK

It’s was yours and Patrick’s first Valentine’s Day as a couple. Taking this opportunity to show off Patrick you take him to Dorsia. You guys have a wonderful night before you head back to your place. You show Patrick the cake and explain how you made it. He listens intently, appreciating your work. He loves how real it looks. How you took your time to craft such a work for him. FOR HIM. He’s flattered and doesn’t turn down your offer to hand feed the cake to him before the nigh turned more macabre and the true fun started.

VINCENT

You wanted a pie but you knew Bo and Lester would want some so you decided to try a deterrent that being the creepy ass face you put in the pie. Boy did they both stay away from it claiming it was cursed. Proud of your work and new found deterrent you showed Vincent the pie. He found it quite funny that his brothers thought it was cursed. Yes it looked frightening but in a weird way it was beautiful. It was definitely a work created from your hands and mind and Vincent loved that. He loved anytime you made things like this. He also loved that he got a piece of the pie because most time it would’ve already been gone by the time he could get a slice so he appreciated your macabre deterrent a bit more than others.

[read-marx-and-lenin]

I’m following the DPRK debates (or trying to at least) but ultimately I’m struggling to understand how to glorify a nation that impedes so heavily on its citizen’s human rights, any insight?

Two things:

First, you shouldn't be trying to glorify anything. You should be trying to understand things and separating truth from fiction.

Second, in that vein, you should be seriously questioning what is being said about the DPRK and why. The US and its allies have a vested interest in ensuring that any socialist project fails, and when they are unable to cause a real failure, they work to make the public believe that it has failed anyway.

The two main sources of the most egregious human rights violations are defector testimony and US/ROK intelligence. If you've been following what I've posted about the DPRK on this blog then you should already know the problems with defector testimony (you can watch this short documentary if you want to know more about that and hear from a few former DPRK residents who rebut many typical defector narratives,) but suffice it to say that the ROK actively pays defectors to make false and scripted statements in the South Korean media, and those who do not go along with the ROK government narrative or who actively contradict it are censored and even face prison time.

Meanwhile, Western intelligence is inherently unverifiable. The best you're going to get is a satellite photo with a building labeled "torture facility" as if we're supposed to look at a roof and be like "uh-huh, that looks like a torture facility to me". US and ROK intelligence officials can and do say whatever they like, but at the end of the day they are the direct enemies of the DPRK and their claims cannot be trusted.

The two Korean governments are still at war; they have never signed a peace treaty. Their conduct must be viewed first and foremost in this context. Both the ROK and the DPRK block movement of people across the DMZ. Both the ROK and the DPRK prevent the dissemination of information coming from each other's nations. Both the ROK and the DPRK surveil their citizens and place controls on the media. Both the ROK and the DPRK place limits on political and cultural activity. The ROK acts to suppress anti-capitalist movements and protect the capitalist way of life, and the DPRK acts to suppress anti-socialist movements and protect the socialist way of life, as both sides view their own political and economic systems as vital to the protection of human rights. On any of these grounds, you cannot fault one side without faulting the other, which is why Western media often opts instead to focus on the more exaggerated and unverifiable claims except when explicitly advocating in favor of capitalism over socialism.

Finally, there is the issue of contradictory ideas of human rights. The capitalist West will insist time and time again that the right to private property is a basic human right, while avoiding or even denying the idea of a right to food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, etc. as a basic human right. To the West, a landlord's right to evict a tenant is inviolable. To the West, denying a person shelter is more of a human right than granting them shelter. The opposite is true in socialist nations such as the DPRK. That the DPRK holds different values as human rights does not then mean that the DPRK is some terrible oppressive violator of human rights. The right to be a capitalist should not be considered a human right. The right to be a saboteur should not be considered a human right.

The DPRK Association for Human Rights Studies, a non-governmental organization in Pyongyang, published a report in 2014 on human rights from the perspective of the DPRK, outlining their objections to US-led international human rights standards and the progress being made in the DPRK towards guaranteeing human rights. You can call it propaganda if you like, but if you do not even look at the statements coming out of the DPRK, how can you have a rounded view of the situation?

Had the DPRK not succeeded in withstanding the attacks against it, had it managed to become subjugated by the US and other imperialist forces, I do not think we could then say that human rights in North Korea would have been secured and safeguarded. The poverty and inequality that the proletariat of South Korea are afflicted with today would have become the norm across the whole peninsula. Even if you believe that human rights are violated today in the DPRK, you must at least admit that the victory of the US and its puppet government in the South cannot be a means of combating any alleged human rights violations in the North.

[kathaynesart]

The call has ended, but the final recording still has a bit further to go.  

BEGINNING || PREVIOUS || NEXT MASTER POST

Sorry these past several updates have been such downers.  I promise the next one will have some fun banter.  Can’t wait to get back to the real world with less digital effects and data dump.  I don’t know how Donnie deals with all of it. 

Below the cut I’ve added a little talk about Donnie and the way he handled this heavy conversation, something I fear might come off a little harsh without the proper context clues.  Also, below is a fun little discovery I made about Omega! 

I’ve already had a few people express how Donnie seems mean to his family in this update, which I totally understand how it can come off like that.  A certain amount of nuance is lost in this sort of comic format with neither descriptors, actual voice acting, or even Donnie’s face to give context for the way he is saying certain lines.  It’s an artistic choice I made, but one I still wish to clarify.

I see the sudden hang up as less Donnie being a jerk and more him having to cut the conversation short because he has to keep focus and he’s scared of Leo talking him down from the ledge he’s standing on.  He’s sticking to his guns and it hurts him to see how much it’s hurting his family and so all he can do is distance himself before the strong emotions cause him to make a mistake in the middle of enemy territory (placing legitimate logical concerns over emotional ones).  At the same time he is attempting to remain calm if only to try and let some of that wash onto Leo and April, because he knows if Leo freaks out too much he could risk bleeding out faster, which is why he was pressing for April to care for him first and foremost.  Were he a better liar he might have done so just to keep Leo calm a little longer, but no such luck.   Donnie holds so much love for his family, and I don’t think an apocalypse has changed that, he just has difficulty at times knowing the hierarchy of emotions expected of such a rare and dire situation and instead chooses to focus on the logical issues because at least those are some things he has certain control over. He wants to keep his family safe at all costs and if he has to cut off the last conversation he initiated and desperately wanted with his family to do so then he will.  I hope that clears some things up.  I might make this paragraph into it’s own post tomorrow for those who might have missed this update. 

On another note, I discovered something fun while researching Donnie’s screen UI!  (Extra photos under the cut:) Omega is actually in the movie (kind of)!  Look at the lil’ guy!  All sorts of dead!

Thanks as always for your support and comments, it means a ton!

[nenoname]

Gravity Falls DVD Commentary Highlights

(just a huge, and I mean huge, dump of random quotes that stuck out to me, which I sorta separated into characters+their relationships and it's probably gonna be obvious that Stan is my fave lmao

I dunno how to make this legible for anyone but whatever, just take all these rando character tidbits. Stan Twin pranks! Sonployee essays! The concept for a post-Weirdmageddon episode that Alex insists is just too miserable but I want it anyway! The Pines family making me cry!)

Stan

"We love the idea of Stan [in Boss Mabel] having a minute to uh, having a context where we want to see him be his worst self and seeing his big brash personality in like a setting that everyone can understand, because the Mystery Shack is a little bit ungrounded because he's in his world of his characters, but seeing him out in the outside world is funny weird."

We really enjoyed the fact that he's as awful as ever and he's rewarded for it. We like those anti-morals where Stan uses his terribleness to succeed incredibly well.

I think it was a little hard for people to understand in the writer's room at the beginning of the series was that, even though Stan is following a lot of these tropes of being a miser, he's not grumpy. Like he actually loves being himself. He really revels in it like even though he's got some kind of sorrow inside, his kind of day-to-day like he's more about just the uncle who loves to hear himself and make dumb jokes than he is somebody who's mean or cruel or cynical per se.

The [NWHS] storyboards managed to make Stan this awesome action hero while still keeping him Stan. Like I like the fact that he steals a wallet in the middle of it. He steals a wallet, he smashes somebody against the wall, he sasses him but he also has this just great Inception moment. And it's because we're building to a big question about “who is Stan?”, I felt a moment of seeing him be kind of awesome further increases your “who is this guy?” He keeps going back and forth between like “oh geez my back” and you're like “all right that's the Stan I know” and then like “whoa, he just did an awesome jailbreak! Is he some kind of super villain? Who is he really?

There's more of Ford in Stan than I think Stan realizes that I think only comes out in certain moments.”

Why did Stan keep a clipping of himself titled “grifter at large”? I think he thought he looked cool in that picture. “You know I kind of have a Clint Eastwood look in this grifter at large photo. I think maybe I'll use this as an About the Author one day. I gotta hold on to this one. You know what, I'm a criminal but I'm a nostalgic criminal! Loving the past is my greatest crime now!”

I know how Stan feels in this [Principal talking to his family] scene, when somebody comes in and says like “You know what? There was a race you didn't know you were running and you're already behind, way behind.” 

And you know even though Stan is a guy who looks like he's having a fun time, I always, in my gut, thought of him as somebody who is a huge well of sadness, a loss of human connection. And that need to please, that trying to get laughs from the crowd and constantly telling dumb jokes and you know putting on a big show in the Mystery Shack, he's trying to get from them the affection that he never got from his family and lost with his brother.

Stan has been waiting for years to have a reunion with his brother. He's always felt like a screw-up. Stan once again had an idea of how he thought things were going to go. He thought that his brother was saying “I need your help” for the first time. He's going to go up there, they're gonna have some drinks, they're gonna catch up and instead he ended up shoving his brother into another dimension and running out of food and money. It's sort of his worst nightmare. But this was Stan's entire character, from the very beginning of the series, was built around this idea that he's living with this tragedy. He's a guy who outwardly seems like he doesn't appreciate family but in fact wants it more than anything in the world and feels like maybe he's not worthy of it and would do anything to prove that he is.

Seeing Stan figure out what he's good at felt important to me. Like he's never been good at anything in his life and he makes a stupid hokey joke and it suddenly turns into a profit. I felt like without [showing how the Mystery Shack was created], I was missing something and understanding why he would do this, how this would be the solution to his problem.

We would like the idea that Stan appears to win through dumb luck, that it's sort of Intelligence versus Guts but Stan wouldn't actually bet everyone's life on a dice roll. He's a cheater! At the end of the day, I believe Stan has been thrown out of Vegas for counting cards and for weighing dies and I believe he could con his way out of any game, particularly for an obnoxious wizard like this. The idea that Stan would gamble everyone on pure chance is like no. No, he's got a plan. This is the guy who escaped prison using gravity leaps, he's got a way out.

The one big thing [The Stanchurian Candidate] does is really highlights Stan's inferiority complex compared to his brother. Part of what he's doing is he's trying to be an important man here and this episode is actually a pretty good setup in many ways for Weirdmageddon Part 3. When we see Ford they're all going on this rescue mission to rescue Ford and this episode shows you just how much Stan wants to be the hero like the reason that he can't shake Ford's hand when they're in that circle.  The cold open of this where he sees everyone loves Ford and now that Ford's back, he's the best. Stan's like “well, how about I run for mayor!” It's just to boost his ego and make him feel better about himself.

Dipper and Mabel

“Straight man protagonists are really hard to write because every other character had a comedic hook. We understand that Soos is kind of this weirdo, his brain is in another place. Mabel has this exuberance and sees the best in every situation and is very creative. Stan is a crooked conman. Dipper is… the normal guy and a character like that can often feel like they don’t have agency, start to feel just reactive.

Waddles is Mabel's only love that lasts the summer. Mabel is very prone to love at first sight and Waddles is able to love back with Mabel's degree of love.

[In Sock Opera] Mabel's in love with Gabe, Dipper's in love with the Author and they're both willing to do something crazy to get get closer to that thing

There kept being layers of adjustment to make it, “okay what would it take to get Dipper to make a deal with Bill?”  1: He would have to not understand the rules of the deal. He's been tricked, he thinks he's just giving a puppet, he didn't know was himself. Classic genie rules, you get what you wish for in a way you didn't expect.  2: There's a little ticking clock that just started, which if he doesn't do it by now, he's gonna lose all this.  3: Bill rightfully points out that Mabel has been kind of not sacrificing for him and he maybe needs another ally right now  4: He was sleep deprived and actually you'll notice that Dipper blinks right before Bill arrives and that's our way of suggesting that that countdown might not have even existed

I think Dipper and Mabel are of equal exact intelligence but Dipper's insecure. He sees his accomplishments as a way to make himself better and thus is motivated to focus on things that are accomplishment type things. And Mabel is very confident and likes having fun and when she's having a good time, she has a little tunnel vision for the people and the things around her. That's one of her biggest flaws. She's actually really, really sweet when she notices and understands your pain but not when she's doing a bit, when she's doing a scene, when she's doing a gag.

Ford

Originally [the fake Author] looked a little bit more like an oddball wacky inventor and I felt he had to be pretty idiosyncratic. There's certain color things about him you'll notice. He's more or less got the color scheme of the Journal, you know maroons and golds, so that you kind of feel instinctively like maybe that's him. A lot of these motifs though we would end up using in Ford's design, as well the gloves and the coat and all that but much cooler later on but preparing you, it's Ford Lite. 

Now this is there's no logical reason that Ford would break [the warnings about the portal] up into all these books this way but up until this point he's been shown as this sort of all-knowing mysterious Puzzle Master that it felt appropriate, even though it's not logical.

It works for the storytelling so when Ford wrote that, that's when he was super sleep deprived. He realized that Bill had betrayed him, he was starting to have a hard time differentiating between fantasy and reality, he was losing sleep and scribbling all sorts of lunatic serial killer looking stuff about the end of the world.

In Time Traveler’s Pig, we see what should be a young Stanford Pines even though again, the design's a little off but we knew big sideburns, bushy hair. Although that Stanford looked a little bit more swole than this guy and that's one of the what we thought were very subtle clues in season one that helped a lot of fans figure figure everything out way too soon.

[Using the memory gun on the agents scene] needs to show that Ford's really awesome and so we could get rid of the agents and show that Ford can pretty much handle anything that Stan can't and also call back to our memory ray all in one.

There was a lot of fan speculation when we first met Ford. Generally when television shows introduce a new mysterious character late in the game, they turn out to be a villain like 9 out of 10 times. They turn out to be a villain or they're there to get killed off to show the stakes of something and like we could have made Ford evil but I always felt that that would be less interesting. The point that I was trying to get to is that Stan and Ford had this relationship that fell apart and it was both of their faults and I thought that if I'm Stan, I'd be more frustrated if Ford is actually a good guy. It would drive me insane if he's pretty reasonable, pretty rational, better at me than everything.

So we've flirted with this brief moment where it seems like he's a villain and we worked really hard to make it so that like his eyes are being covered by the reflection of the light. His dialogue is ambiguous enough here that for a moment you believe what Dipper believes, which is “maybe he's possessed by Bill.” You just saw him shaking Bill's hand, what is he supposed to believe?

I like that Ford has this photo with him, he had for a really really long time all the way through multiple dimensions. And he's probably told himself- I almost imagined if McGucket found that photo in his coat while they were working on the portal or something, like “What's this here?” and Ford would say “oh yes, that's a photo of a very important moment! That's when I…  that's when I first decided I want to be an inventor!” There would be no reference to the real reason he's keeping it. “This is me and my brother.” It would be like, “oh yes I was thinking about science as a horizon, a frontier to reach towards– you know like a boat, like a ship, like science! It's about science!”

Soos

You choose family. That you create over the course of your life and if that somebody earns being your family, like the Mystery Shack. These kids and Stan, they’re Soos' family and he's happy about that.

I feel like Soos gained something out of [Blendin’s Game]. He gains the knowledge that like “I'm tired of thinking about this man who I'm missing, who doesn't care about me. I'm going to concentrate on the people in front of me, the people that are my true family.”

Soos is a fan of the show even though he's in it. He's a big fan of Gravity Falls and [NWHS] killed him.

I always knew what I wanted Soos’ end to be Soos running the Mystery Shack. I imagine that Soos is actually way better at giving tours than Stan is because he loves all that stuff truly and he believes it. That's part of the difference. Stan’s like “um, all right suckers, this stagnant puddle is the befuddle puddle!” while Soos is like “yeah, one time I looked in there, I think i saw like a cyclops dude. Like, I really think I saw one! Like it might have been a reflection combining my pupils, but like?” and people are like “Whoa, really??”

McGucket

They hired a bunch of people and then they erased their memory. That’s my explanation for why there's like such amazing inventions that would take whole teams of people. McGucket secretly hired a number of contractors and erased their minds. Like I think of McGucket as being like a really sweet nice guy completely in over his head who just like “oh well, once I've erased one guy's mind, I gotta erase ten more guys’ minds to cover it up” and it just sort of builds into like “I guess I'm kind of this kingpin of crime and I'm starting a cult I didn't mean to. Whoopsy daisy!”

When we get to Ford and see their backstory and see their relationship, it just makes all the stuff that happens with the portal and what happens with Ford and all that more poignant that he had someone there who was not only his friend but also a voice of reason and telling him to stop and that he wouldn't listen to him, as opposed to Ford being down there on his own with nobody to bounce off, anybody to say “hey wait a minute, is this a good idea?”

“McGucket was the assistant and he was maybe this assistant who was sort of put upon and Ford kind of brought a college buddy together with him. You know Ford as somebody who lost Stan, and even though he rejected his brother, he kind of needs that other person and he tried to find that in this kind of sweet prodigy and he just pushed him too far.

[The test scene] is meant to show sort of what it was that McGucket needed to erase, what it was that drove him to madness. It was partially seeing the Nightmare Verse and the way it messed with his head and also partly just realizing that this thing has apocalyptic consequences and he doesn't want to be a part of it. And if he can't destroy it or talk Ford out of something, he can forget about it.

Because If Ford's weakness is pride, McGucket's weakness is weakness. He's got a kind heart and he can't stop people, he can't destroy things. I mean he should have basically knocked Ford out with a wrench and take this thing apart piece by piece. He's the one who understood how to build it but I think he's kind of a follower and I think he's the kind of person who could get suckered in by a cult leader. He’s the kind of person looking for instruction and he really respects Stanford and can't bring himself to uh, he's like “I just got out of a bunker! I don't want to go work for another guy down in another bunker! This is my third doomsday cult this year!”

Stan and the kids

Stan and Mabel have such a different life perspective it seemed natural that at some point they would get to a major conflict

Seeing Grunkle Stan and Dipper bond like, I sort of believe that both of them are bad with women and both of them would rather believe there's a giant conspiracy than that they have they just can't get ladies 

Can this idea about Mabel's relationship with Waddles actually reveal a rift between Mabel and Stan where Mabel and Stan actually get along pretty well in the series you know? When they they're both such strong stubborn personalities that when they conflict, they conflict hard like in Boss Mabel. But this idea that Waddles is sort of a metaphor for what Mabel loves and Stan loves Mabel but he doesn't really think that anything she thinks is necessarily smart or right. He loves her like “guys she's my sweet niece but she doesn't know anything you know? She doesn't know anything about a pig” She forgives a lot with Stan but like Waddles sort of represents like the purity of her deepest love and the idea that Stan would threaten that is genuinely a shock

In the previous season it ends with Dipper giving up his journal and there was a lot of argument about “oh is it lame if he just gets his journal back?” Another thing we struggled with, we knew that Stan knows the importance of this journal he wouldn't give the journal back to Dipper so it was a bit of a convolution we'd written ourselves into a corner. We wrote ourselves out, we said “okay he's photocopied it. he's giving it to Dipper because he knows that Dipper's really precocious and he'll never stop asking.”

“We knew that we wanted everything to come to a head when the kids are going to discover Stan's secret and they're going to discover it in such a way that they only get little bits and pieces and they have to decide for themselves based on the limited information. Is Stan's a good guy or if he's a bad guy? Ultimately that decision will be a decision of heart versus mind. And Dipper's mind, Mabel is heart and they're fighting with the scraps of information they have.  Should we trust our heart about how we feel about this guy over the course of the summer and everything we've been through or should we trust the clues? That seemed like a believable way to get Dipper and Mabel to begin a rift between them that is resolved by the end of the series.”

The way Stan acts in [NWHS] is like, to me part of what feels so grounded about it is like I'm a child of divorce and like I know that when parents or parent figures know that hard times are coming for the kids. They kind of lay it on thick they're like who wants ice cream you know what I mean? Like Stan being extra nice to them at the beginning is like it's kind of a realistic thing that that adults do when they know like big changes are coming.

I felt it was really important that we added the scene where they're at maximum bonding. They're up on the roof, they're shooting firecrackers. Stan knows in his heart that when his brother arrives everything is going to change in ways he can't predict and he's really savoring this moment because he knows, even if things goes completely smoothly, which they don't. the kids are still going to be mad at him, especially Dipper for basically lying.  They had this big meeting after the end of Scaryoke where of course Dipper also crossed his finger but Stan crosses his fingers and says “oh I'm telling you everything” and he knows that the kids are not going to be happy about the fact that he's been keeping this all from them because they've done amazing things together already and he should have trusted them before now. 

This act break is them saying, “wait, Stan might be a random grifter who maybe killed our real uncle!” That's pretty heavy for any show let alone a cartoon show.

What that would mean for them if all this stuff is true is so much further than just like, “oh he lied to us about a couple things.” It's just like, “no he's straight up just some random dude that we don't even know uh and the guy that I've been pining for this whole time is dead!”  We really try to stack the deck so it's like Mabel's perspective and Dipper's perspective are both kind of racing to see who gets in front and there'll be a moment where it's like yeah you kind of buy with Mabel she feels good about about Stan and then this scene is the most you’re ever with Dipper where we discover this huge crazy curveball and this feeling that you have looking at this newspaper and looking through these fake IDs this is how Dipper feels all the time.  If you want a window about what it's like to be Dipper, this moment where a giant conspiracy reveals itself out of little pieces and seems to suggest that no one is trustworthy like that's that's where Dipper lives and this to him confirms every bit of suspicion and every bit of paranoia he's ever had and he's willing to run with it. 

I love these characters so much that, for me I was like “I need to see Stan saying goodbye to the kids at that bus. And I don't want him to be some guy who isn't Stan, who doesn't even remember the kids.” That would be really dramatic. It might make you cry more but to me it doesn't actually mean anything. Their relationship which they've built, he was willing to sacrifice his memories to save them. That's how much they meant to him but because he was willing to do that, I think he deserves to get him back.

Stan and Ford

But I think Stan's hope is, that in Stan's mind this is going to play out one way which is that; he's going to free his brother, his brother's gonna come out of that portal after 30 years. Stan's probably imagining that Ford is weak, emaciated, wrapped in a blanket, that he'll stumble forward, through a beard. through blurry eyes, he'll be “my brother, is that you?” He'll embrace Stan, he'll hug him, he'll say, “all these years I thought I was goner but you saved me! I was wrong to mock you, I was wrong to call you the stupid twin! Dad was wrong about you! You're the greatest man and let's be friends again and who are these niece and nephew?” Like that was what Stan was kind of hoping. He knows it's there's a million things that could go wrong, including potentially the destruction of this dimension, but he so desperately needs to believe that he can make up for the problems of the past. He's hoping for this but he knows that things are going to change

When I started the series, I always knew Stan had a twin but all I knew about Ford from the jump was that he's everything Stan Isn't. So Stan is a guy with a huge chip on his shoulder, he's kind of a loser at life. There's somebody who is a winner at life or at least was a winner in all these ways that Stan wasn't.

We realized that in order to bring out the maximum amount of frustration in Stan, [Ford] needed to have a bit of a heart. Like here we see him being kind to the kids, he's not he's not all bad which is what's so infuriating to Stan. The idea that he would quickly get along with the kids when he can't get any respect from them. Ford is designed for what would bring out the most amount of conflict in the family. What would be Dipper's hero, what would be Stan's rival and who's somebody that we could empathize with. I mean, it’s  hard to empathize with a character that comes out and punches one of your characters in the face, basically before he almost says anything.

You see that at this age, that all the stuff [in their room] that would cross over, that would appeal to both of them. It's not just like “there's science stuff here” and then there's “what Stan would be into.” but no, they both like all this.

There was also a version [of ToTS] where early on, they'd rigged the school water fountain. They did sort of like a caper, it was science and a scam together when they were in elementary school but we decided to save the science for the science fair stuff.

We played around with the idea that you would see them working together doing little science games or pulling little pranks. There was actually a scene that some of it was even storyboarded where they're in a treehouse together and Crampelter and his friends have tracked them down and are begging for their lunch money and Stan and Ford have used their jerkiness and geniusness to rig up like a water balloon throwing machine that knocks Crampelter in the head. I remember him saying, “oh no, my old-timey paper crown!” We were really hanging a lampshade on all these sort of Little Rascal cliches.

Ford's not a villain. You know he's getting in Stan's face and saying “I want my life back” but hopefully by the end of the episode even though you don't root for his perspective, you understand his perspective where it's like Stan ruined his science project, Stan shoved him into the portal, Stan took over his house. He’s not completely unreasonable to want it back and he's not completely unreasonable about his request. He says “okay you've got till the end of the summer” and Stan's little look there tells you everything you need to know about how he feels about the situation.

We needed pressure to be at the point where Stan and Ford recognize their lifelong rivalry and Ford does a sincere apology to Stan and almost more importantly, he acknowledges Stan's intelligence. He says “you wouldn't have fallen for Bill's nonsense.” He recognizes that his brother has a kind of intelligence he doesn't.

I always imagined that as kids, Stan and Ford were like this dynamic duo. They were getting into scrapes and like planning pranks and with Stan's creativity and Ford's genius that they were an unstoppable awesome team, before life turned them against each other. I imagine that as kids they were always swapping glasses and tricking their parents so that they could get double presents. And this is a move they did back in New Jersey constantly. We had to figure out who's gonna make a sacrifice and how and even though it's Stan who agrees to be “I'll be the one erase my mind, it's fine, it's worth it”, it's a sacrifice for both. Ford at this point is willing to get his brother back and he has to lose him again. 

Stan and Ford, when they can finally work together, do bring out the best in each other. They just have been missing it for so long.

Post-mind return, Stan and Ford get along and that scene where they both threaten the bus driver gives a hint of what would happen if their powers were combined. We've never seen them working together as adults, they would be a really formidable duo.

Pines Family

[The Blind Eye has] such a great scene between Mabel and Wendy. We don't have a lot of scenes that are just them hanging out and she can kind of be like the cool older sister. Mabel's so obsessed with boys and Wendy's just like "yeah, whatever. They're a dime a dozen."

“in the storyboard, the postcard that Soos is holding up from New Orleans actually said Vegas and at the last minute we got really worried that people were gonna see that and think that that was a clue that Stan was Soos's deadbeat father. And because like our audience, we've trained them to look for clues and to connect dots, they start connecting dots that are not connected. And I called a late retake because, and I see people be like, “wouldn't that be cool if Stan was actually Soos's father” and I hate that headcanon. Whoever's listening and you think “that's a great idea!”-- that's a terrible idea!! Because it means that Stan ran out on his kid and then came back in his life. And weirdly pretends to not be his dad. It flies against the moral of this entire episode which is like, you know this guy who is Soos’ blood relative like cast him out and didn't come back and didn't make time for him and all these people did. These people are Soos’ real family and to say “Stan would be Soos' real father more if he was genetically–”, I'm like “no, no forget that!” Like relationships are about what you do. To me friendship is thicker than water and family is something you can create so I really didn't want anyone to think that we were suggesting that because to me, it actually wasn't just the wrong idea, it was like thematically against what the show's about.” "

"[In NWHS] Every character faces their worst possible choice, which is “Mabel must choose between Dipper and Stan” and “Soos must choose between Stan and the kids,” like “guard that thing with your life. I'm not going to explain to you why.” I believe that Soos would do anything to guard Mr Pines's secrets and these are the only two characters that could possibly make him doubt Stan, these two kids that he loves so much."

"For [DD&MD], you want to set it up as being like [Ford]'s like the coolest toy that's down in the basement that Dipper really wants to play with and he is not allowed to play with him."

"The first three quarters of the series are sort of about Dipper's crush on Wendy and this final quarter is sort of about his crush on the Author. He's such a fan of this guy and he's so used to being denied that which he's a fan of and he's never found anybody who cares about his nerdy stuff. Mabel doesn't care, Stan doesn't care, Soos cares but on a different level. He's so hungry for the approval of somebody like Ford This idea that they would bond over a nerdy board game felt like sort of the way to do this big idea in a sort of grounded way that I like better than like Ford presented Dipper with the Five Trials of the Genius Boy. “I passed these when I was your age! Can you do it too?” and it's like nope he just likes the same dork game that he does."

"The arrival of Ford is creating the two sets of twins starting to pair off between the Brainiacs and the Maniacs"

"Actually I enjoyed that [Ford putting the die in a cheap plastic case] got a little bit of a reckless side because it shows you the Stan part of him. The Stan part of Ford, the little bit that likes a little bit of danger, he likes a little bit of risk. If he would show that side, it would be in when he feels at ease, with a kindred spirit. Around Dipper he’d be like “isn't this pretty cool?” He'd never be that irresponsible around Stan.  I like that Dipper is sort of a little bit of a Achilles heel for Ford as well. Ford has certain blind spots and Dipper exacerbates some of those just because he's willing to encourage, he's willing to “yes and” Ford towards whatever dumb idea he might have."

"Dipper, Mabel, Stan and Ford, they're all characters who need each other. Without Dipper, Mabel's just in a fantasy land. Without Mabel, Dipper is just sort of just spiraling into misery, spiraling into his own neurosis and not being pulled into those social situations, not growing as a person."

"You want [Stan] to be true to our various awful grandfathers, so I feel like for the most part you know that [being shitty to women] a plausible thing for Stan to do, that you only forgive because you know he's not a role model. Nobody wants to be like Stan. The kids never look up to him. The only person who looks up to Stan is Soos and Soos is enough of a comedy character that you understand the joke is “oh this guy thinks the worst way to live is good.” And then at one point you realize why. We made it clear why Soos looks up to Stan is because he gave him his job. He gave him a father basically, he’s essentially Soos’ father. And of course Stan who's had a life of just chaos and disappointment, the only person who would be a surrogate son is [Soos] but also Soos has the biggest heart in the world. So only the biggest heart in the world could forgive all of Stan's many flaws and also if Soos can love Stan, then maybe there's something in there worth loving, then maybe we can too."

"Stan, even when he's sweet, he still has to threaten to murder his niece and nephew."

"I do think the value of [Stanchurian Candidate] is that we're learning just how important it is that [Stan]’s seen. At this point, the kids have become a surrogate family. At the beginning of the show, they were just kind of a little nuisance and then he kind of tried out getting the family from them that he never got from his brother and the idea that he would lose them to his brother is his greatest nightmare and the only way he can really express that is by trying to be impressive to them and trying to be his brother's rival."

"Ford offers Dipper this apprenticeship because Ford sees Dipper as somebody who's special like himself. That Ford's great flaw is arrogance. He believes that there's special people and everyone else and that you can be held back by your siblings. That human attachments are actually weaknesses. The song and dance that he's giving Dipper right now is the exact song of dance that he gave McGucket back when they were younger which is like “sure you could continue working on your job and computers but you and me are different. We're better than everyone else, we have a path that no one else can understand. Only us can do this.” And it’s a very seductive idea for Dipper but he starts to be a little insecure here. He’s kind of “I can't believe it” and he's sort of right to be suspicious because Dipper is a smart kid but Ford's projecting. Ford loves Dipper because he sees someone who tell him yes to everything. He'll never challenge him and if Dipper had taken Ford's apprenticeship,Dipper probably would have gone the way of McGucket, turned into a kind of insane paranoid hermit with no friends, just kind of losing his mind. Like it's a seductive offer but also ultimately Dipper needs to learn not to try to grow up too fast."

"This entire time Dipper's been having this journey of self-discovery and seeing his future as this wonderful thing that he can't wait for. Mabel has been, piece by piece, seeing her idea of the summer fall apart."

"As Ford and Dipper's relationship grow stronger, Stan and Mabel also find much more sort of connection. They both feel like the sibling that's getting kind of sidelined."

"I think [amnesiac!Stan] would be hardest on Soos, second hardest on Ford but Soos would show it. Probably third hardest on Mabel, fourth hardest on Dipper just because where their hearts are. Dipper's not heartless, that's a testament to just how heartbroken those other characters are."

Series goal+ The Finale

"So our idea was; the memory gun can erase a concept as designated by the dial. It stores it. It records you and it keeps that recording and that if you watch that recording things start to come back a little bit, that it hasn't actually completely erased it from your mind. It's more sublimated somewhere where it's really really hard to reach and in the series finale, my concept of Bill is that; if he hadn't gotten in all those forms and fought Stan, Stan is the one that destroyed Bill. Were it just the mind eraser itself that he would be sublimated somewhere but he was weakened in the mindscape and destroyed in the mindscape. But Stan's memories were being sublimated and by looking at the scrapbook in the same way that McGucket's memories come back, they start to come back to the surface."

"I think part of what makes [NWHS] work also is that it has the strongest ticking clock. Yeah, I mean. it has a literal ticking clock. Also the sun is going down it's also, the town is starting to drift apart as the characters are starting to drift apart. There's just such a sense of Doomsday and even though we have like a three-part apocalypse, to me nothing feels as apocalyptic as this episode now."

"The entire purpose of [ToTS] is that Stan and his brother have had this huge rivalry that remains to this day and threatens to tear apart Dipper and Mabel and briefly does, and then Dipper and Mabel are able to find their way together, which is meant to repair Stan and his brother's past."

"Here we're teeing up the rest of the conclusion of the series which is just “whoa this is different. The status quo is shifted and is it going to shift us?” and that was the mission of this entire story was shift. Shift things such that it pits Dipper and Mabel against each other so that they can ultimately make things right and fix their uncles’ trauma in the process."

"“Let's try to set things into motion such that all of these characters who we love, who love each other are placed at maximum odds”. So Ford's entire existence in the series is basically a wrench in the relationships between Stan, Dipper and Mabel, that Stan has had a sibling who he didn't get along with and they've grown up having this horrible rift. Dipper and Mabel are these two twins who love each other but are very very different and are at this sort of volatile growing up moment where if something goes wrong could they turn out like Stan and Ford."

"[The convincing Gideon] scene works for me because it sort of represents the full completion of Dipper's Wendy Arc. Even though he's talking about Gideon and Mabel, he's really talking about himself. That idea that you can't force someone to love you but you can strive to be someone worthy of loving. It really does come down to like be the best you, you can be and the right person will see and feel that."

"It was gonna be W1, W2, W3 and then some kind of goodbye story. I remember it being something vaguely about some sort of other time travel. Bringing Blendin back because he just kind of vamoosed in the middle of this big story. There was that discussed like time traveling back to the first day when the kids arrived. The challenge was thinking of a valuable arc. So like each episode needs to have like a new problem and a new resolution and I was trying to brainstorm what's something that could feel valuable for like a final episode after the apocalypse, after Stan's mind has been erased and he's in the process of getting it back. "

"The thing I remember I wrote one out it was it's the last day of summer. Dipper and Mabel are packing uh they're planning to go home, they're feeling like nostalgic, they kind of don't want to leave. Blendin shows up and he explains that there's all these time bubbles left over, these weird anomalies because of all the time business and what Bill has done and just to watch out and be careful. Then Dipper and Mabel actually accidentally trip into one of these bubbles that are sent back to the very first episode or actually beyond the first episode, their first day in Gravity Falls um and somehow this was meant their character arc was to go from being like a little sad that they're going to leave Gravity Falls to seeing what it was like on the first day. When they were scared to be in Gravity Falls. The idea is like their first day they're like “oh Grunkle Stan, he's this weird old man and we hate living in this house and like we missed our place of comfort back home! And this is a kind of scary new adventure that we don't like.”  The kids see their own growth and realize like “the way we felt about going to Gravity Falls like we don't think we can handle it, is how we feel about leaving.” That feeling of going into a new experience means that something new and exciting is going to happen you're going to grow. There was some thought that maybe over the course of that episode, Stan would get his memory back and something that the kids had done in the past would help him in the present, get his memory back.

"What's supposed to be happening here isn't that Stan's entire memory reappears in an instant. It's supposed to be a couple days of work and we see the beginning of that process when he looks at the scrapbook and then we're kind of jumping ahead a few days. maybe a week of just intensive memory therapy with Stan before he gets there."

"When we were trying to crack the half hour episode after Weirdmageddon, it felt like we were just kind of wallowing and Stan not having his memories. It was a very depressing thing. And we didn’t get to have Stan for the last episode, which was like “it's a great it's great i think you get the emotion like in this episode. It tears you apart when you see it. You could last a little bit longer on it. But going much longer, then you just feels like well what are we doing? Why are we just kind of wallowing in our own sorrows for no good reason.”

"When we had discussed the idea of an episode beyond this episode, a fourth episode, it was basically 20 minutes of [amnesiac!Stan]. This is so intense, you might think you want it but good lord, this is enough."

"Bill singing “We’ll meet again” was something that just felt like the perfect reference because this is kind of an ending about endings in a lot of ways and we know we know Bill's going to be defeated. We know that people like Vill and have grown attached to him and for him to sing “We’ll meet again” is sort of the perfect mysterious way to say like “I might be going, I might not be going.” It’s a reference to Dr Strangelove, a movie that famously ends with nuclear apocalypse and the song “We’ll meet again” so it's for those pop culture savvy. It's already tinged with a kind of a fear and an irony and the apocalypse built in, so it's perfect on a number of levels."

"The concept of the Zodiac as existing in our current canon is this idea that the prophecy was that friends and enemies would need to come together, seemingly impossible alliances would need to be made to stand up to Bill for this prophetic moment. You know that characters like Gideon who was who used to be an enemy, characters like Pacifica, like Robbie, that we've reached the point where thanks to the kids’ kindness and growth, they are now friends with Pacifica, they've resolved Robbie's jerkiness, they've helped McGucket with his memory. They've even overcome this issue with Gideon in W1 and so it seems like friends and enemies have all been restored, leaving only one thing which is Stan and Ford have to shake hands. And their pride once again is what dooms the entire world but they get so close."

"It's clear Stan, even though he's being stubborn here and holds things up, he's ready to do it.  He clasps Ford's hand and then Ford can't help but correct his ignorant brother with something that doesn't matter at all after professing how important all this is and how important it is to put pettiness aside, he's the one who ends up being petty in the end."

"I like that Stan [during the deal] is just thinking “all right, think white, think white, think white.” He's like “think about nothing but sitting on your lazy boy.” "

"Stan and Bill had never interacted in the series up until this moment  because he had just been taken over when he was asleep. We'd seen a lot of Ford and Bill, but Stan and Bill has never happened. And Bill sort of represents all the mystery and weirdness, and Stan is the guy who just wants to have a good life and protect his family. He's the one who never invited Bill in but he's willing to take Bill out."

"If Mabel's going home with a pig, Dipper's going home with this symbol of his friendship with Wendy. And even Stan he's wearing that Mabel sweater. That's a visual symbol of; he's softened up, he's embraced family, he doesn't need to be the tough guy all the time."

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for asking my boyfriend to stop watching porn?

This is pretty simple tbh. NSFW mentions of porn, sex, and masturbation.

🐣🐣

I am a transgender man and struggle a lot with sexual intimacy. I don’t think I’m on the ace spectrum, I just have a lot of insecurities and dysphoria that I’m working through. I still crave sexual intimacy, I just get very anxious about it. My boyfriend is understanding but a little pushy at times because he’s got a high sex drive. He doesn’t do it on purpose and backs off when I tell him to. Important to mention that my boyfriend is cis. So, because of this, my boyfriend usually takes care of himself. I help out whenever I feel comfortable.

Recently, we somehow started talking about porn and hentai (don’t remember the context of the conversation) and I asked him what he does when he takes care of himself. He said he watches porn, which I was surprised to hear but it makes sense because he has aphantasia. So, he can’t really imagine me or anything. Sometimes he uses my photos, but he said he needs some movement. At first I was fine with it, but then he mentioned that he only watches straight porn.

Now, I know my reaction was out of line, because I started crying and calling him an asshole for watching straight porn when he’s dating a trans guy. He’s pansexual, so he can really watch any kind of porn he wants, but I just started freaking out for some reason.

He kept telling me that there was no good gay stuff or ftm stuff, which is just straight up not true. There’s plenty of ftm nsfw content, but when I mentioned that, he said it felt weird and fetishistic.

I told him it hurts me when he watches straight porn, he said that’s stupid and he needs something to get off to. Fair enough but it still hurts me. There’s just something about me trying so hard to get past my anxiety and dysphoria so we can finally be intimate with each other and him blatantly disrespecting my gender identity that hurts like hell.

Plus, every time I suggested we do something that I’m into, he shot me down. I’m a bit of a kinkier guy and he’s very vanilla, despite insisting that he’s into the same stuff as me. I 100% respect his boundaries and never brought it up again. But I don’t think it’s fair that he won’t even try stuff with me that might make intimacy more enjoyable for me and then goes and watches straight porn. I keep trying to make our sex live work and he can’t even be bothered to figure out ftm bodies. Idk.

I talked to an online friend and they called me biphobic.

Am I out of line for trying to tell him what kind of porn to watch? Am I overreacting?

[lukolabrainrot]

That Damn Polaroid™ (and Some Thoughts on the Events in April/InStyle Stunt)

This polaroid... Nicola, Nicola, Nicola 😂

This polaroid still gets me today. Like, yes, this was for PR to some extent, BUT this was also SUCH a public statement. We know N has her phone ALL THE TIME. And (from what we know) the picture was on her phone for WEEKS (MONTHS technically). L appeared fine too with it being there (at least from what we know in the interviews where they talked about it). And that wasn't just like a cutesy little picture of two friends/coworkers. It was a 🔥/powerful pic. And as I mentioned here, N uses pictures as a way of communicating with others. And her excuse that she just "didn't have any pockets at the time", so she put the photo there (and proceeded to keep it there for MONTHS) 🙄 Sure Jan... So, with all of this context, I'm first going to talk about some of my thoughts on what was going on between L/A between the end of February to beginning of April, what was going on between L/N in April up until the Italy stops (including thoughts on the InStyle Stunt), and then at the end I will talk about my thoughts on WHY N had that photo on her phone for such a long time and the deeper meaning it might have had then just promoting the show.

Heads up, this is going to be a longg post...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think this post from @newghlan pretty much sums up what I think was going on between L/A during end of February to early April. There was MAJOR flirty energy between L/N during the VDay event and BAFTAs. I talked a little bit here about how there was a very brief clip from the BAFTAs where they look like they got caught when they were embracing each other. I highly recommend checking out the video if you haven't already, because the noverbal cues speak VOLUMES. And it's just interesting that they would look like they got caught at this public event? It read to me that for SOME reason, they did not want that small clip to be captured and put out to the public 🤔

My theories are that by the BAFTAs, A was NOT happy about L/N's chemistry and connection. Maybeee L promised to redirect his attention to A, which is why L wasn't seen at/didn't go to the Big Mood premiere, and why L took A to LA with him and agreed to the InStyle Stunt to appease her. I've never doubted that L has probably had feelings for A (although I still think it was/is fairly casual), but like tbh, I'm CERTAIN his feelings for N are SO MUCH DEEPER. So when those feelings came flooding back when they did reshoots in December 2023, and then had to proceed right into working on promotion in January (which I think just made all the feelings stronger), I feel like he probably had some guilt because he was TRYING to explore his relationship with A. BUT L was reconnecting with N, and I think emotionally, that's where his heart is at. And A noticed this, so she was upset (which honestly, is understandable imo- some of A's actions though because of these feelings she was having I definitely don't agree with). I think L was unsure though about going there again with N, and so he wanted to prove to A (and SPECIFICALLY to himself) that A was the one he wanted to be with. So he focuses his energies on A, agrees to the InStyle Stunt so she gets SOME kind of public acknowledgement (which was a BIG goal of hers in the relationship), and tries to distance some from N. That didn't reallyyyy work though, and then we got what we did for the rest of the tour between L/N.

Before I get to my thoughts on April between L/N, I want to list some specific timeline things around the InStyle Stunt:

L does the InStyle interview (in LA I believe?) near the end of March (so that's when L/A were in LA)

A posts the LA photos on her IG on April 7th and April 14th (and L likes these posts)- I believe she has since deleted another set of these LA photos, so idk what date she posted those photos (sometime in early April though I believe)

The InStyle article comes out on April 29th (with the accompanying Polaroid pics that prove A was in LA with him- this also confirmed that L had coordinated these photos with A to acknowledge (without publicly acknowledging) that he and A were an item)

L posts the non-polaroid photos from the InStyle article on his IG on April 29th (and N likes the post and comments (on April 29) "Yess dude!!")

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

April/Early May Between L/N

L/N attend the Bridgerton Season 3 London Photocall on April 12 (which is where the photo above was taken AND where the infamous polaroid was taken). Earlier that day (I believe), L/N also did a series of interviews for the show, and those interviews had some SERIOUS flirty/sexual energy to them (including one of L's (not so subtle) butt pinches with N). I would highly recommend rewatching those interviews if you haven't. If anyone has the links to these particular interviews (N is wearing the same necklace, and L the same tank top and jacket that they are wearing in the picture above), please link them in the comments below.

L/N are at events in Bowral, Australia from April 21-23

L/N in Milan May 9 (with the interviews where they are disconnected and likely beefing)

L/N in Verona May 10 (and they are all cutesy with each other and seem back on the same page)

So here are my thoughts (and why the InStyle Stunt/article might have come into play as to why they had been beefing in Milan):

As I mentioned, I think L was TRYING to distance himself some from N in March and refocus his attention on A. However, I think that pull with N was still really strong, and BTS they were still having to see each other and communicate in order to prepare for their upcoming promotional events. My guess is that all this sexual/flirty tension was building up between them BTS in March, which is why they were soooo unhinged in those interviews before the London Photocall on April 12. I also think early April is when L was starting to realize that his feelings for N were coming back full force, and was maybeeee getting a little green light from N that the feelings were reciprocated (but they weren't actually addressing it because I think they were scared/nervous). However, I think they continue flirting with each other in April (maybe secretly through messaging, and also when they were in person).

Note: We also have to remember that L gave those polaroids to InStyle (most likely) at the end of March when he did the interview. Therefore, the InStyle Stunt was set in motion by that point. I've been wondering though recently, if he had known what was going to happen between him and N in April and early May, if he might not have gone along/set up the InStyle stunt 🤔 Just some thoughts I've been having...

Then we get to the Bowral events near the end of April (BEFORE the InStyle article comes out though, confirming L had coordinated this with A), and it seems pretty obvious to me that L is trying to test the water with N and see how she's feeling about them (they are both being a little publicly flirty, but L much more so imo (N still seems to have a lot of her walls up in public)). It makes sense L might be hesitant to open himself back up to N when, as I talked about here, I think he got his heart broken a little by N. However, I think N was starting to open herself up to the possibility of really trying with L (because I think she has ALSO loved him for a while, but just was never in the place to really commit to the relationship for various reasons). I think she was finally feeling though that she was ready to give this relationship a serious shot, but knew L was kind of in a relationship. I think N was under the impression though that it wasn't super serious, so I think she was hopeful she and L might be able to figure it out.

A lot of people have been commenting that the InStyle Stunt/article wouldn't have upset N because she would have already known about it because of the pictures A posted in early April. I disagree. Now, we obviously don't know 100% if N knew that L was going to add those polaroids to the article. Tbh, we also don't 100% know if she even knew about the pictures that A posted of the LA trip (because I don't get the sense N exerts a whole lot of energy and time following what A does). Yes, N commented and liked L's post on April 29 related to the InStyle article. However, that does not confirm that she had already read the article. And she wasn't going to unlike and remove her comment, because fans would have noticed and flipped out. I am more inclined to believe that she really wasn't aware that this was all going to go down, mainly because I think L didn't want N to know/was trying to be sneaky about it. I think once N figured it all out after the article came out, the thing she was most upset by was how this article proved L had coordinated with A to indirectly publicly announce that they were an item (while L was continually putting out to the press at that point that he was single). Therefore, I think N was pi**ed because she didn't want this to impact their tour/her (their) public image. And secondly, I think she was upset because of the feelings she was having for him, and how flirty he had been with her the last few months. I think it all caught N off gaurd, and her walls went WAY back up. And we have to remember that this all happened just a few days before the Milan event, so I think that energy between them just spilled over and resulted in their very disconnected nonverbal cues in Milan.

I talked a little bit more about my thoughts on Italy here, but I think after L/N got back on the same page emotionally, it was pretty much game over emotionally with A for L. His heart wasn't really in it anymore (and tbh, I don't think it ever really was). Also, I've said this multiple times, but Italy is when N starts posting the "boyfriend pics" of L (which L obviously agreed to). Personally, I think N (and indirectly L) were sending a message to a certain someone 🤔 But just a theory... I have also already talked about it here and here on my theories on why L was never going to be able to publicly untangle himself from A for a while, regardless of what was going on BTS with L/N.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Could be the Deeper Meaning Behind the Polaroid?

So, my point with everything is this. I think early April was a MAJOR turning point for N in terms of her feelings/emotions for L. Here are my thoughts (outside of PR) on why N put THAT Polaroid on her phone from the London Photcall event on April 12 (and for MONTHS):

First, we need to acknowledge that L obviously approved of this photo being on her phone (or at least was complicit to it), which I think speaks VOLUMES about where L was at emotionally with N at the time (and where L WASN'T at emotionally with A). This confirms to me that things just weren't that serious with A, even if he was TRYING to refocus his attention on A. L's heart was still with N.

N wanted people to know that they were a unit through this experience, and that N truly loves him and their friendship/connection. She wanted to share to the world how special he AND their experience on Bridgerton is to her.

I think she put that SPECIFIC picture on her phone because her feelings were STARTING to change for L around this event/that general time period. I think N was starting to see L in a bit of a new light (in a positive way), and was seeing some real potential between them.

Lastly, I think one of the reasons she kept the photo on her phone for so long (outside of the PR), is because her walls were starting to come down, things were getting more serious between her and L, and she was happy (and she wanted the public to know 😉). And L/N could kind of hide behind this unspoken public narrative that it was just for "PR" (which I NEVER bought).

Now yes, she has since changed the polaroid. However, we have NO idea what the photo is of now (or if she is consistently changing it out/or completely changed her phone case). She knows our obsession with the Polaroid though, so I think she likes to tease us about it. She knows what she is doing 😉 That OG polaroid though during the PR tour had a MUCH deeper meaning than just promoting the show, and was a significant public statement about her relationship with L. Just my theory though...

[lawofangie]

hello! I need some advice. I've seen numerous success stories and many blogs claiming that you can manifest seemingly illogical and unrealistic things. I want to manifest a completely different desired face, probably similar to looking like a celebrity. Although many people say it's possible and some even claim to have achieved it, I still have doubts that it's true and worry that I just might be wasting my time. I think part of this is from the lack of success stories with photos that show they changed there appearance and look like a whole different person. I really don’t want to have these doubts because they stop me from trying my hardest, but I can't help feeling this way. I’m really scared i’m just wasting my time and even if I continue to assume that i have my df in imagination nothing will change or i’ll just get very tiny differences but end up not looking exactly like my df or that it could just be a placebo and i’m just completely wasting my time. I hope i’m not bothering but thank you for taking the time to read this! ❤️

there's definitely a lot to unpack here. first off, i have seen many success stories on this app and twitter of people manifesting various things, including appearance changes (with and without photo evidence). i've done this myself with various things (i mention them in another post. i haven't touched my face though). the law works, appearance changes are real. if they weren't, nobody would have any reason to say they were. i think it is very obvious when people collectively disagree on something.

second, i think this doubt and lack of faith in the law is due to the fact that so many people are misinformed and misinform other people. the point of the law of assumption is to make assumptions. an assumption is believing something without proof. there is a quote that says "an assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact." manifesting is just assuming, people literally just have a way of rewording and misconstruing things like usual.

but anyways, you make assumptions on a daily basis, you believe things without proof on a daily basis. it's nothing new. you're just being informed that your assumptions affect your reality, and since they do, and you have the ability to assume absolutely whatever you want, you should just do so in your favor. not because you need to, or anyone's forcing you to, but simply because it's in your best interest to do so.

this is why you affirm "i have ___" or you visualize yourself having ___ or you script about having ___, because assuming you have it now is how you get it. you're literally just being told that you can use this ability to assume to obtain whatever you want, that's all.

third, there is no "trying". you either have your manifestation or you don't. i'm not sure exactly what you're doing, but if the point of the law is to assume, what do you think "trying" implies? obviously, it means you're working to get something, which means you don't have it yet. the point of making an assumption is to believe something without proof. in this context, you're being told to accept you have it now without waiting for proof. you're being told "if you accept this as true without proof, it will materialize in your reality."

i personally don't really care for the "imagination" stuff anymore, i understand what the concept means, but honestly all these concepts get unnecessary at some point. i feel like if you take it the wrong way, it implies some kind of separation between the 3d and 4d (your imagination), when there really isn't any. believing you have it "in imagination" just doesn't sound right to me. i would rather just accept my assumption as the reality and take whatever the 3d is showing me as false.. which is again, literally what assuming is.

like, i have it, no matter what i see, it's still there. i think about my desires the same way i remember i have a bed when i'm not home. you know it's there at home, even if you can't see it, even if you can't feel it. you know it's yours. you may even imagine yourself laying in it sometimes, tired from a long day and being excited to finally go home and sleep.

this is all that's required of you, believe you have it. you don't need to make something appear, you don't need to try and force something to happen. just decide it's yours, like you're being told to.

you have to literally treat your assumption as the proof, like how you would do with the 3d. you have to genuinely believe your assumption, then the 3d will follow. waiting to be validated by the 3d will never work. you will always fail.

also, i think your ability to stay true to your own beliefs about wasting your time and none of it being real perfectly shows how easy it is to accept something as true despite what you're being shown, how able you are to make an assumption. because honestly, why would anyone be preaching the law if it didn't work? there's no logical reason to not practice something you preach or just admit that the law of assumption is not real.

if the law happened to be some sort of scam, it would be obvious. people would clearly be asking you for money, leading you on with all sorts of rules and twists and turns, they would overprice the hell out of their services, etc. but people like me are literally running blogs to help people for free. (most) people literally run these blogs for fun, nothing more. the motivation behind my account at least, is entertainment. talking to and helping people is entertaining. i have no ulterior motive, hardly anyone does.

people have lives, they don't have time to waste hoping something happens. if the law didn't work, so many people wouldn't be telling you it did. it's irrational to think every single person in the community is simply making claims that may be true or false, someone's had to have done it before.

also, you shouldn't need your manifestation validated by the internet. i can understand maybe seeing if someone's manifested one or two more "challenging" things (things being difficult or easy to manifest is completely up to you. no manifestation is different from the others unless you decide it is or attach some meaning to it.) like, to me that would be some like grades or hair texture. but to you, that's an appearance change.

the point i'm making here is that your opinion is different than mine, we find different things difficult. if everybody can have differing opinions and find different things more challenging than others, then it is not up to the object or specific person, but ourselves. if everything can have different levels of difficulty to different people, then these objects and people are inherently neutral, until you add your own assumptions or meanings to them and the way they operate for you.

so, proof, while i understand you want to be validated, is useless. there is tons of it out there, if not on tumblr then on twitter, but i think having photo proof of something not specific works just fine as proof too. you're already told that you can manifest anything, that no manifestation is too big or small, everything is neutral, you are limitless.. so what's the point? everything inherently has an equal value until we as people decide to change that with our assumptions. if you truly need to believe, then prove it to yourself. obviously no amount of internet success stories will help you, they just make you anxious and paranoid.

often times, we think external things are the cause of our problems, so we try to achieve a goal or make a change without changing ourselves first. for instance, i used to think that certain things would make me happy. like finally getting good grades, having my desired body, my desired weight, my desired friends and whatnot. while all of that was nice, i still felt depressed, obviously my life quality changed, so it wasn't exactly as bad as it used to be, but i still felt the way i did because i still needed to do the internal work.

its your perception of things, the way you choose to react, your decisions, etc. that shape your reality. its all you. it will always be all you, because this is YOUR life. the cause of your doubts and worries is you.

getting partial results can't be a thing when manifesting if manifesting is literally just about making assumptions. if you're assuming something to be true, then it's going to be true.. if you think the law magically won't work for you, that's your belief. if you believe that to be true (also without proof because this is purely paranoia), you cannot be surprised that it happened. that's literally the singular rule of the law of assumption, make an assumption, no matter what you decide to assume, it will be true. WE are the ones suggesting you assume in your favor.

and honestly the more i read these asks (no offense to you), the more i wonder what you guys think manifestation is. do you just say a bunch of words, create a bunch of images in your head, etc, and wait for something to happen? i mean, who or what exactly do you think is "giving you" your manifestation in the first place? why are you receiving anything? is it a reward for affirming enough? for visualizing enough? for scripting enough?

your inability to answer this question correctly is most likely the reason why you have so many doubts. you clearly think someone or something outside of you dictates what you do or don't get.. which doesn't make any sense, neither do the questions i asked. the law of assumption does not work that way.

you aren't receiving anything for doing a good job. there isn't some god or higher being giving you anything or dictating anything regarding your manifestations. it's you. the point of making the assumption is that your assumptions create your reality. whatever you believe to be true materializes. you're just being shown a way to use your ability to assume to your advantage.

i would suggest you build faith, maybe put that manifestation aside for now and at least manifest something with less significance to you, but still specific. something that you can use to help prove manifestation to yourself. then maybe come back to this desire when you feel more confident in your manifestation abilities.

this is really all i can say because there is no way of getting around the way the law works. in order to have favorable things happen to you, you have to assume in your favor. that's really it. however you practice and get the hang of manifesting is up to you. still, this is the only rule and you have to use it to your advantage if you want manifesting to work for you.

[smilessssss]

𝕰𝖞𝖊𝖘 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖆 𝖋𝖆𝖈𝖊 𝕭𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖞 𝕷𝖔𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖘 𝖝 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗

Tw:Toxic relationships, cheater!Billy, Y!Billy, unhealthy obsession, possessive behavior.

You knew he was cheating on you. He had made it quite obvious. He always acted like the boyfriend of Sidney Prescott which he was. You couldn’t blame her she didn’t know that you were originally his partner.

You didn’t know how to tell her would she get mad? I bet she would, if she had knew he had slept with other women. You were definitely not over that.

You didn’t know if anyone would believe you. If the whole group would go against you then the whole school. Since many girls liked Billy and would probably believe anything that came out of his mouth.

So you didn’t say anything. For a little while Billy would taunt you in a way by bringing girls over at your place. Saying that you were nothing to him. Telling you that he only used you for your body (you never fucked) basically slut shaming you for sharing nude pictures of yourself.

You only sent him those because he had practically manipulated you into doing it. Saying how he’ll break up with you or it’ll make him sad if you don’t.

He also scared you back then. He had anger issues still has. But you were scared of him going into an anger outburst worrying that he would hurt you.

He would never in reality.

You could never understand him one day he would be all loving on you then the next go cheat on you. It also reminded you about the times you we’re together alone it was just silence with Billy ignoring you existence not even alone. When you were out in public at school he would act like you weren’t even there. In front of everyone. Even when you gave him a lot of attention. Fuck you had gave him small gifts you thought he’d like. You were there during his darkest time and this is want he fucking does. Of course you weren’t expecting anything of it but you wouldn’t think he would do this. Well you had enough, realizing that the relationship you were in was unhealthy and awful. you broke up with him. You had sadly wasted your life.

At first he could careless. You were nothing to him only something he could use for his own pleasure.

Soon he felt empty. He didn’t feel the same like he did with you. He tried his best to shake it off but he couldn’t. When he was with random girls or Sidney. He doesn’t feel anything. It doesn’t help that you stopped hanging out with the group. He couldn’t even see your face anymore. He didn’t know what came over him but he needed your affection. Once you left he felt like his whole world was gone. He never felt complete or comfortable. He knew you didn’t want to see him again. After everything he had done.

But his ego was stopping him from apologizing. So he tried his best to forget you. But he couldn’t. It didn’t help that he had some of your stuff those photos, the gifts that he dug up. Since he had carelessly thrown those to the side not caring about the thought you had put into them. He was just starting to realize that he undermined everything you had done for him. He missed it. It didn’t help that you we’re finding comfort in different friends. It made his made his blood boil when he saw you hanging out with other guys.

He didn’t care for the context he felt heart broken that you had moved on that easily. He wished that he could kill everyone one of those guys who dared to speak to you.

You felt more happier then you ever did. You questioned why you never broke up sooner. You felt more free. But you never would have thought the roles would be reversed.

It was soon Billy constantly calling you wanting to get back together. Leaving gifts in your locker. You didn’t know what could have gotten into him. Suddenly he was sweet with you. Was he just manipulating you? So he could do it all over again if you get back with him.

Billy is always cornering trying to get you to talk to him. You don’t say anything though but shove him away each time. He doesn’t get why you don’t want to be with him. He shown he’s sorry, and doing so much for you. Aren’t you able to forgive him a bit.

But he crossed the line a little. One day he hugged you from behind whispering sweet nothings to you in your ear. Venting his frustrations about you talking to other guys. Then telling you something you won’t forget.

“I won’t ever let you go”

*I’m sorry for not posting in a while. And sorry if the end seems rushed it was this was also a little test for something I want to know if you would want me to go more in depth for this.

[patheticmull3rr]

Teory📔📘; When Blue Meets Yellow In The West

I have been replaying the Third Season for a few days now, and the most iconic phrase within it; "when blue and yellow meet in the west" has made me very curious.

In ST these tones are used to symbolize how couples (both in a friendly and loving context) begin to know or "find" such tones we find in scenes such as

The photos of Eleven and Max;

and on the tiles of the bathrooms where Steve and Robin were;

Just as these tones are found in different scenes used in contexts with couples that were previously presented to us. But what matters here is that this phrase is present in moments prior to which two specific characters are about to share important moments between them.

And ow this symbolizes personal growth for both people.

In the case of Eleven and Max, Max makes Eleven learn that her individual life is much more than what Hopper or Mike tell her, and that there are more better things in the world than "stupid boys."

Teaches her to be herself, and at the same time Max becomes Eleven's first best friend, which is important for both of them even later in the S4. Max provokes in Eleven a feeling of independence and empowerment.

Which she later uses to end her relationship with Mike after he lied to her (I'll talk about that specific scene in another blog).

Also!!: I would like to honor the detail that Max has the green during this specific scene that shows Eleven the Wonder Woman comics, which in simpler words symbolizes the fact that Max already has the blue and yellow in she

Moving on to the Robin and Steve scene, specifically Robin is a character that is used to be related to Steve for the same reason as Eleven and Max.

Of course, each scene is different, but if we realize, in both contexts they have a similar problem, which is love problems.

In the bathroom scene where Robin and Steve talk, Steve begins to give Robin some hints that show that he is romantically attracted to her.

She ends up rejecting him by coming out to him as a lesbian woman, but even so she does not act offended by this, but rather a friendship arises directly between them. something that Steve also needs, realizing that there is more to the world than just wanting to get a girlfriend, and that he still has a lot of internal development ahead of him.

(I will also analyze this scene in another blog)

Taking into account the scenes that we have just rescued where yellow and blue are predominant in both couples, yellow and blue are not as such couple tones, as in the case of Mike and Eleven.

Something that is even somewhat difficult to find using these shades while the two are together, not counting the covers, and also the moments like this one that I have marked.

Taking the fact that explains that in the context of "when yellow meets blue in the west" symbolizing that they are important colors that are taken for important moments and where there is an individual advancement in both people being united.

Why then does the original couple, who are supposed to have yellow and blue predominating in them, not move forward together?

The answer is simple: They do not advance in the way that is expected when being together.

Let's take for example a dialogue that was supposed to be important for both of them, the scene in which they were trying to heal Eleven's injured leg after training against the MindFlayer.

During this scene we are presented with Mike trying to talk to Eleven, as Lucas had repeatedly told him earlier in the episodes after she finished him off.

We can see that during these dialogues, Mike tries to talk to Eleven more directly about how he feels about her, the simple act of apologizing, telling her that he was an idiot for lying to her, or perhaps a simple "I love you, forgive me for not telling you the truth" but while he tries he only manages to stumble over his words and confuse Eleven, not knowing what he was referring to, not understanding Mike's hints in his words and the way in which he himself was trying to tell them.

And can even take into account that before telling him something important he is interrupted by the walkie talkie.

So why didn't Mike just try to tell Eleven directly what he had screamed moments before she got hurt?

It's simple, both had already found their yellow and blue moments before, both realized different things, which later causes their development to begin to fall behind, because they both (specially Eleven) don't need that.

and that's why in this scene, after talking to Eleven about being in contact with her, he acts so confused after she brings up what he had said earlier, and Mike just says he doesn't remember.

That is why when she kisses him and tells him that she loves him, he acts confused, his simple gestures are as if he did not expect that to happen, because he was thinking of saying something very different to Eleven during the failed dialogue they had.

But now, let's see about the yellow one that Mike found when Eleven was not with him.

In which he even had the green with him during that specific scene that I would like to discuss.

Taking into account this specific scene we can realize that it is the complete opposite of how he is expected to behave with Mike, when Eleven tells him that they broke up, Mike does nothing but get upset and go home being angry as hell. same way, but when he has this argument with Will during the pressure of the moment, he simply makes the decision to go after him, knock on his door until he gets tired and tell him that he had been a complete idiot, that he wanted to talk things over with him and without letting him to shout his name and knock on his door.

At the same time, we can take into account that both scenes are totally different, in the scene where Eleven ends up with Mike, there is a big sun, a lot of people, a relaxed atmosphere, but when Mike argues with Will, everything becomes sad, there is no sun, it's raining.

And both end up with emotions twice as strong as they were before.

We can take this as the fact that Eleven had already found her blue, and she felt complete because of it, she didn't need Mike. But in Mike's case everything got even sadder because he still didn't get his yellow, and he felt like he was losing him.

In the case of Robin and Steve, they did not have yellow and blue in their clothes, but there was in their surroundings. I would like to use it in this context to show that although we already gave a more psychological meaning to yellow and blue, the phrase, taken literally can represents a sunset.

and we not only see this in the scene we took, but also in the scene from the season before this one, "crazy together."

and in another scene later, the scene after the fourth season ended

Specifically, I use this because it is an allegory to what I am trying to communicate with this, they are both sitting together, and the sun is touching them both.

At the same time, if I remember correctly, several of the most important scenes in the context of Mike and Will have been after "yellow and blue meet."

I know what you may be wondering, if I'm using the phrase for a more friendly context when putting friendly couples, why specifically Mike and Will don't I put them there too?.

It's simple, because they have already passed that phase, and their relationship has been growing over time, in a more personal and even deeper way even if they were not together, and because the phrase is not only used for friendly couples.

and, no, yellow and blue does not represent Mike and Eleven's relationship, because we can see that after several important moments during Eleven's individual development, she stops using yellow or blue, even during season four she begins to use the blue.

They make it clear to us that Eleven does not need a yellow or a blue to be able to move forward, because if the previous development she had with Max left her.

Is that she can be her own blue and yellow, even another different tone or the one that she wants to use.

For that same reason during the scene where Mike and Will meet after fighting, Mike wears green, hoping that Will could see that he would be both shades for both of them, but, at the end of the day, they would end up completely matching each other.

That's the same reason why, in previous seasons and even episodes within that season, they both continue to use them individually, and have so many important moments together.

Thanks so much for reading. 💛💙

[thesparkofrevolution]

AITA for not bringing my brother’s dead horse back to life immediately?

Some context, my brother is also my husband (and before you cancel me- I have no marital options other than family members or some naked guy with flasks on his butt, also I’m attaching a photo of my brother and you’ll understand) and he has a horse called Leonard who he loves (probably more than he loves me).

Seriously, he learnt gravity magic to keep this horse around. Gravity magic. He’s the strongest gravity sorcerer in the lands between for this horse.

So anyway we had a vow and I brought him back to life as part of that vow, and immediately he was like ‘where’s Leonard?’. Now he didn’t mention Leonard when we made the vow, but in fairness to him given he learnt gravity magic for this horse I should have realised he’d want the horse brought back to life too.

I don’t actually know how to bring a horse back to life- are the laws different for a horse versus a demigod? I already messed up bringing a demigod back to life once too, so I’m a bit worried.

Anyway, obviously I’m gunna bring the horse back to life. I just want some time to a, bring my sister back to life first and b, work out how to bring a horse back to life.

But my husband keeps saying that the horse is more important than my sister, I think he’s still mad that she beat his ass in a fight? (Im still mad that they were fighting at all but here we are).

Anyway, I’ve sent my followers to go find a horse corpse to give this a go, but they haven’t come back yet. Im starting to worry about them T H it’s been a while. Am I the asshole for not bringing Leonard back immediately?

Update 1: Followers still aren’t back with horse corpse, not sure what to do at this point.

Update 2: the naked guy with flasks on his butt is here and covered in blood, really concerned about my followers.

Update 3: this naked guy is saying he killed my sister and my husband is trying to start beef with him. Horse issue might be on hold for a while.

Update 4: we’ve beaten this naked guy like 60 times but he keeps coming back this is definitely going to delay finding a horse corpse.

Written by myself and @cereselcosplay

[prettysweetprettysweet]

while i understand why some viewers would be puzzled by Achi's quietness, reserved energy, and the way he nearly always lets Karan take the lead - which might make it seem like he isn't invested in the relationship - for me that is actually an element I really like because it makes certain moments hit a lot harder.

the way I've been interpreting it is that Achi's critical insecurity and lack of self-worth is still deeply rooted and trying to keep him stuck in his default closed off/blend into your environment behavior model. that is certainly not going to go away overnight, but the more he interacts with Karan in this new romantic relationship context, the more opportunity Karan has to start chipping away at the barrier that keeps Achi from letting himself feel comfortable in a state of being loved. and it seems like a challenge that Karan is more than happy to take on, because you can see how giddy he gets when he's able to get a full-bodied positive reaction out of Achi. like when Karan said, cheezily and with an air of ridiculousness, that he had opened the bottle for Achi so Achi wouldn't wear himself out.

like Karan is RELISHING having elicited this wide, full-faced smile out of Achi.

we also saw Achi being treated like an object of beauty as Karan poses him for photos. he's being handled preciously by Karan, and for me this read as 'aaaaaahhhhhh my heart is racing i cant breathe, i've never felt like this before, i love this feeling.' It's a quiet and inward-facing response, but it has a huge amount of significance in regards to Achi's self-image. He is realizing through all of Karan's careful and loving gestures and affectionate gazes that he is beautiful in Karan's eyes - and he's starting to believe it himself, helping him build the confidence to begin responding fully to Karan and extending himself in turn.

We can estimate that Achi has probably never been comfortable with photo taking because he is so self-conscious about his body, and it takes the first half of the date for him to loosen up. but later on when Karan asks Achi if he would be interested in being photographed even more to fill the time before dinner, Achi agrees readily and with a smile, because he has become that comfortable in Karan's company. and Karan, again, is delighted at this slow but steady change in Achi's receptiveness to being loved and adored.

It does seem like Achi isn't vocalizing his feelings nearly as much as Karan. But remember - most of Karan's deepest, most intense romantic pinings have occurred in his thoughts and not out loud, because he's very concerned with Achi's comfort and doesn't want to scare or overwhelm him. Karan is open with his body language and more than comfortable offering signs of his care and affection, a stark contrast to Achi.

Achi, on the other hand, hasn't quite let himself believe that he's worthy of Karan's love and instead seems to think that Karan has made a horrible mistake. This is changing, and we are starting to see how Achi is slowly letting himself believe that this is real and that Karan knows who he is and is in love with him, the real him - and this naturally leads Achi to start viewing himself as a lovable person.

But one side effect of Achi having spent so long doubting Karan's affection for him is that he seems to have tried to squash any hope he might have inside him that anything good could happen to him, that he could really have a claim to Karan and Karan a claim to him. This is an act of self-preservation, in case Karan 'comes to his senses' and realizes that Achi is actually boring, unremarkable, and unworthy of being cared for by anyone.

So when Achi starts to let hope seep in, it really is precious. in episode 7, he expresses genuine fear about revealing his mindreading to Karan - because the outcome could likely be that Karan will be put off and not want to be around Achi anymore. he and Karan had reached a point of promise and new beginnings (love! hope!), and Achi doesn't want to risk losing Karan as a lover.

Achi also had a moment of real vulnerability this episode, when he tells Tanaka that Karan's support has been a source of motivation for him to continue striving for self-growth. Achi's eyes are welling with emotion, and Karan definitely wasn't expecting an admission like this from Achi.

Achi is visibly having a rough time in the meeting with Tanaka, and reacts with a look of panic when Tanaka asks what would happen if he and Karan broke up, as well as when Karan offered to resign.

Achi had allowed himself to feel hope at the prospect of having Karan be a part of his life, and is starting to panic as complications threaten their ability to start laying a foundation for their relationship in earnest. He's racking his brain for ways to help Karan, covering his eyes as he builds himself up to look at Karan's sales number like its a horror film, and checking in with him/worrying about Karan non-stop.

Favorite moment of the episode: Karan being as explicit as he's ever been about his romantic aspirations ("No obstacles can come between our love now") and Achi looking like he feels like the most special boy in the universe, UNDENIABLY very excited to hear it but also embarrassed - and Karan is so tickled to have gotten that reaction from him.

The episode ends with Achi singing along with the song in Karan's head and being adorably playful when Karan brings him candy. I feel like Achi is a stray cat that Karan is trying to tame, except in this case Achi's feral quality is his insecurity hindering outward expression and Karan is 'taming' him by providing him the comfort and safety to be himself. Every time Karan wins a moment of Achi allowing his true feelings and personality to shine through, I think of someone being like 'mom, the cat I've been trying to win over - he's coming up to sniff my hand now!'

Something to be excited about in next week's episode based on the preview: they have clearly broken through the physical affection barrier. Ecstatic hugs, heads in laps, holding hands in bed, piggy back rides...Achi is going to further permit himself to feel and want things and indulge those wants, and also give Karan affection in return, showing that he is just as happy to be with Karan as Karan is to be with him, and just as invested in the future of their love story. While its been a journey mixed with slow and subtle growth, I really do love and appreciate how the narrative is allowing Achi the time and space to transform how he views himself and how that translates to his relationship with Karan.

more thoughts here

[kuschelkissen]

So uhm...

“需要的话，这份能力也可以为你所用”

Ok, so Google translates it to "If you need it, this ability can also be used by you", which feels different from the English "if you need, I can use this power for you" at first glance.

The English one sounds like he's offering to use his power for someone else's goal. "I can use it for you, so you can see what happened in this photo". Someone on twitter pointed out he said "this" and not "my" power, which imo doesn't deny this interpretation if the context is taking about his powers?

"I have a power, I can see what happened before and after a photo was taken. If you want, I can use this power for you on this photo you have."

The Chinese one... well, Twitter is going wild with speculations on Lu Guang giving Cheng Xiaoshi his power, "you can use this power", but tbh? It can still mean the same imo?

Keep in mind that I don't speak Chinese, please, so I have no idea how the Chinese language works and how convoluted it may be in its wordings.

But I've learnt Latin in school, and sometimes, the translation was a lot easier in words than what the original was. So "If you need it, this ability can also be used by you" in my opinion might just mean the same?

"I have this power, and if you need it, it can be used by you (for your goal, by me using it for you)"

What I'm trying to say is... unless the one responsible for the English translation did it wrong, it should at least have the same meaning overall?

So.... yeah.

Idek why I'm writing this, I guess I'm a bit overwhelmed right now, but I don't think Cheng Xiaoshi got his powers from Lu Guang (though I DO think that he does play a role in him understanding/ *getting his powers).

*getting in the sense of them awakening, or like in the live action version simply telling him he has them.

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 02x01 - The Inheritor of Courage / Enter Flamedramon

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Three years ago, eight children were kidnapped and trafficked into the weirdest summer vacation of their lives. An adventure filled with war, death, friendship, and a lot more poop than you might reasonably have expected.

Then they had to go home and just pick their lives back up like none of that happened.

We open on the photo that the children took on their last day in the Digital World. Takeru kicks us off with a very brief recap.

Takeru: It was a summer I'll never forget. Three years have passed since then....

Brief slides show us where they all are now. Three years means we're looking at an age range of 13 for Mimi and Koushiro, 14 for Taichi, Yamato, and Sora, and 15 for Jou. The three of them have entered middle school, with Jou once again in his final year and needing to start thinking about high school.

Taichi's slide just shows him in his school uniform, ready to go. Yamato's reveals that his musical interest with his harmonica has evolved into forming a band, which is already giving concerts. He's up on center stage as lead singer and guitarist.

While the original lets the slides speak for themselves, the dub has T.K. narrate them.

T.K.: We've sure grown up a lot since that summer in the Digital World! (Tai shot) T.K.: Tai's in high school. (Matt shot) T.K.: My brother Matt's trying to be a rock star!

I didn't have a lot to say about Taichi's shot and neither did the dub. He's there. He is. Also present. It's Taichi. You know Taichi. He's being Taichi.

You may notice that T.K. said Tai's in high school. So we need to talk about that for a moment.

There's a cultural difference here. American high school lasts four years, with students from ages 14 to 18 in attendance. It's also compulsory.

Japanese high school lasts three years, with students from ages 15 to 18 in attendance. However, it's optional. Compulsory education ends with 9th grade, which is the final year of middle school instead of the first year of high school. It's not unreasonable that a 14-year-old would be in 9th grade, as 14-15 is the age range for that grade. Therefore, middle school in Japan, high school in the U.S.

He is in Japan, so he should still be in middle school even so, but. Y'know. Localizing so American kids will understand.

The more glaring issue is that Tai is in 8th grade right now, not 9th. Taichi was in 5th grade three years ago. So this is just wrong? Tai being in high school is just factually wrong with no cultural context affecting it.

We haven't even hit the opening credits. We're six seconds in, and we're already off to a start, aren't we? T.K. had only one thing he could even think of to say about that shot of Tai and it was wrong. XD

Sora's still athletic, but it seems she's changed from soccer to tennis.

The reason for that shift is, to my understanding, only explained in a Drama CD for the series. It's kind of a compromise. Toshiko actually has a history with tennis, so it's an athletic activity that they can play together as mother and daughter.

Koushiro is in 7th grade right now, so he's entering middle school for the first time. That's why his shot shows him trying on his new school uniform for the very first time, while his parents look on with pride and joy in their eyes.

Mimi, I guess, had so much fun in Hawaii that she's taken up piracy on the high seas.

I don't. Actually. Know why she's reintroduced like this. That is not going to be the character design for her when she appears in the show proper.

In the dub:

(Sora shot) T.K.: Sora's become quite a tennis player. (Izzy shot) T.K.: Izzy's in high school too! (Mimi shot) T.K.: Mimi and her folks moved to New York!

SPOILERS, T.K.!!! FUCK!!!

Also, Izzy's in high school too!? I mean, I guess that's fair. If anybody skipped a few grades, it'd be Joe. But if a second person did it, Izzy's a solid bet.

Jou remains hard at work as ever. He's going to have a whole new set of entrance exams next spring to prepare for. Assuming he decides he wants to go to high school once compulsory education ends.

Which he will. Obviously. It's actually super rare for kids to skip out on high school. It's allowed, but rare. But even if it wasn't, Jou's in this for the long haul. He's aiming to become a doctor.

Hikari, I guess needing a new neck dangly to replace the whistle she gave Tailmon, has taken up photography.

Takeru doesn't get a "Where are they now?" slide. It's fine. We'll be seeing him in a moment. Instead, we move into the new OP, which is every bit as spoilery as the ones from the previous series. Not only are all of the Partner Digimon for the new protagonists we haven't even met yet shown, but so is all of their forms in the new evolution type that's going to be introduced.

The new main villain also appears, both masked and unmasked. So that's fun.

In the dub:

(Joe slide) T.K.: And Joe's still studying to be a doctor. (Kari slide) T.K.: But for Kari and I, it's just the beginning....

So that's where our kids are at right now! In other news, slavery.

Gazimon: RUN!!! IT'S THE DIGIMON KAISER!!!

The Digimon Kaiser, a child dressed in bad guy shades and a cape, stands in front of a huge blast obelisk. Cracking his whip, he sends out black rings levitating across the landscape, reminiscent of the Black Gears that Devimon used to distribute.

These rings blanket the region, seizing every Digimon they can find. We see various and Gazimon and Gotsumon taken by the Kaiser, as well as one Unimon.

One ring goes for Tailmon, who is also among the group. The Holy Ring on her tail glows, deflecting the ring and saving her. But before she has time to breathe, Unimon emerges from the bushes, now under the Kaiser's control, and fires a Holy Shot from their mouth.

In the dub:

Gazimon: Run for your lives! It's the evil Digimon Emperor!

Like many of the proper nouns, "Kaiser" is the actual word in the original and not a translation of a Japanese word. The word is borrowed from German, and means "emperor".

The dub opted to translate it to Digimon Emperor, which sounds more natural to say in English.

Gatomon gets an extra line here when her Holy Ring deflects the black ring.

Gatomon: That was close!

I'm sure she's fine. Meanwhile, in the human world, we find Takeru finishing breakfast in the kitchen of his mom's apartment.

Takeru: Gochisousama [Thank you for the delicious meal.]!

In Japan, it's customary to say いただきます Itadakimasu at the start of a meal and ごちそうさま Gochisousama at the end of a meal. If you've been listening to undubbed anime, you're probably more familiar with the former than the latter. It's much more common to write scenes with meals beginning than ending.

Once he's finished up, Takeru takes his dishes to the kitchen. Cutting to Natsuko's office where she's hard at work, we can hear the clink of him setting his dishes in the sink.

Natsuko: I'm sorry I can't go with you on your first day of school, but I have to get this manuscript turned in by the end of the day. Takeru: (walks by doorway) That's okay. I can go by myself. (Takeru steps out the front) Takeru: Ittekimasu [I am leaving but will return]!

Another customary phrase, said when leaving a place you spend time in regularly. Basically means "I am leaving this place but with intent to return again."

Takeru makes for the elevator, which opens to reveal two children from a higher floor also making their way down. A girl with purple hair and glasses and a short boy with brown hair. They were smiling a moment ago, but when the door suddenly opens, they both look surprised and confused.

Purple: Huh? Takeru: Good morning! Purple: (uncertain) ...good morning. Takeru: I just moved into these apartments. My name is Takaishi Takeru, fifth grade. It's nice to meet you!

An interesting note about these apartments: Takeru describes them as マンション manshon as opposed to アパート apaato. Both of these mean "apartments", but a manshon is much more upscale and high-quality than an apaato. For a single mother, Natsuko seems to be doing pretty well for herself.

Once Takeru introduces himself, the hesitancy subsides and the purple girl happily returns the gesture.

Purple: I'm Inoue Miyako, sixth grade. It's written like the "Kyo" from Kyoto but read "Miyako". This is Iori. Iori: I'm Hida Iori, third grade. I am very honored to meet you.

Iori bows politely to Takeru. It seems we have another little Koushiro here.

Takeru: Same to you.

Takeru joins them on the elevator, and together the three children set out for school.

Real quick, what Miyako's talking about: Because there are three different written languages in Japanese, knowing how someone spells their name can be just as important as what their name literally is. Miyako specifies how her name is spelled because it uses an uncommon reading of a particular kanji.

Her name is 井ノ上 Inoue 京 Miyako. The "spelled like Kyoto" is referencing the fact that 京都 Kyoto uses the same kanji, but pronounces it differently. Because... kanji have multiple readings and pronunciations. That's just how it is. Japanese is really hard.

In the dub, it's Nancy who kicks off T.K.'s departure.

Nancy: (offscreen) You're gonna be late for school, T.K.! Hurry up and finish your breakfast! T.K.: New school, new apartment... but the same old lumpy oatmeal. (calls out) I'm done, Mom! I'm leaving! Nancy: Sorry I can't drive you to school on your first day but I have to write this article before the deadline. It's all about the historical significance of toilet paper. Hmmm.... T.K.: It's okay. I'll walk. (T.K. steps out the front) T.K.: See you later! (T.K. runs into the other two on the elevator) Purple: Huh? T.K.: How's it going? Purple: Fine, thank you. T.K.: Great! My name's T.K. and my mom and I just moved into this building. I'm in seventh grade, class A. Nice to meet you! Purple: Oh, hi! My name is Yolei. Would you like to walk to school with us? It takes exactly 12.3 minutes and that's if there's no wind. It will be fun! Oh, and this is Cody. Cody: Welcome to the building, T.K. Come on! We don't want to be late on our first day. (Cody bows politely) T.K.: Let's do it!

No idea why Cody's bowing. Nothing he said warrants a bow.

So, we have our new character names. Miyako is Yolei, which is a pretty obscure Hebrew name. I've only ever heard it in connection with this show. Terri-Lei O'Malley, one of the key people who worked on the dub, wanted Miyako to have "lei" in her name like she does and so I guess they went looking for something that would fit that criteria.

O'Malley is the same person who named Salamon after her pet cat and was then disappointed that Salamon inexplicably turned out to be a puppy.

I'm guessing they picked "Cody" because the lip flaps for it are close enough to "Iori" to make sense.

With T.K. being in seventh grade all of a sudden, it seems the plan is to quietly add an extra two years to the timeskip and hope nobody notices. That explains "high school" for Tai and Izzy.

Takeru heads to school with his new friends.

Iori: Hey, Miyako-san? Could you please come over after school to fix our computer? Miyako: Sure. For your mom's ohagi. Iori: Okay! I'll email her later. Miyako: Ehehe, bingo!

Get used to hearing "Bingo!" from Miyako. It's her favorite word.

Ohagi is a Japanese dessert. They're sweet rice balls covered in a bean paste.

As the kids approach their elementary school, Takeru suddenly spots Taichi on the soccer field? What?

Takeru: Taichi-san?

But his eyes are playing tricks on him, as it's a different boy with spiky hair and goggles. The boy goes for the ball but just winds up eating dirt, leaving the ball sailing towards Takeru. Takeru snatches it out of the air easily enough.

Soccer Boy: Sorry, sorry. Takeru: ... Soccer Boy: Hm?

Takeru tosses him the ball.

Takeru: Cool goggles! Soccer Boy: ...eh...? Other Player: (offscreen) Hey, Daisuke! What are you doing!?

That seems to snap him out of it. Daisuke turns and kicks the ball, rejoining the soccer game.

Takeru: Daisuke, huh? Right, Taichi-san's in middle school now.

And interesting note about Daisuke's name is that Takeru was half-right. Daisuke's name is written 大輔 Daisuke. It means "Great Savior", foreshadowing his role in the series. But its first letter is also very close to that of 太一 Taichi, which means "Exceptional one". That or "Thick one".

Daisuke is also close in pronunciation to 大好き daisuki, who is how you tell someone that you have very strong feelings of affection for them. It basically means "I like you a lot", but in a way that can be used either romantically or platonically. Which... is also foreshadowing some things.

Motomiya Daisuke was very well named. Name-wise, he is to the 02 cast what "Light of the Eight Gods" Yagami Hikari was to the original cast.

In the dub:

Cody: Hey Yolei, can you come over after school and fix my computer again? Yolei: Only if your mom makes those brownies I love. Cody: I'll send an email and ask if she'll make a batch right away. Yolei: It's a deal. Perfecto! T.K.: Huh? (T.K. thinks he sees Tai) T.K.: Tai? ...I'm seeing things. Player: Here you go, Davis! (The ball goes T.K.'s way, which he catches) Players: (various shouting) Come on, man! / What are you doing!? Davis: Thanks! Great catch. T.K.: ... Davis: Huh? (T.K. suddenly tosses him the ball) T.K.: You look familiar! Must be the goggles. Davis: Whuh? Player: Hey, Davis! You're holding up the game! Davis: Huh!? (Davis kicks the ball and returns to the game) T.K.: What am I thinking!? That can't be Tai! He's a much better soccer player than that kid!

T.K. decides to end on a burn rather than reaffirming what grade Tai's in.

Changing ohagi to brownies is a pretty solid localization choice.

Moving right along, it's time to get to class. We find Daisuke entering classroom 5-A, where Hikari's unpacking her things.

Daisuke: Ehehe, I'm in the same class as Hikari-chan again! Hikari: It's good to see you again. Daisuke: Just now, some guy said my goggles looked cool. I have no idea who he was. Hikari: Hmm?

It's a quick snippet of dialogue to establish that Daisuke and Hikari have been classmates for a while.

Before that can continue, we quickly cut to the Digital World, which is still being menaced by those black rings. Agumon falls hard on the ground, crying out.

Agumon: Taichi! TAICHIIIIIIIIIII!!!

His cry seems to get through. A brief shot of Taichi in his school uniform shows his Digivice activating, sending out a distress message in red print.

Back in Hikari's class, the teacher has an announcement to make.

Teacher: Let me introduce you to a new classmate (nakama) for this semester. Come in. (Takeru enters; Davis looks up, surprised) Teacher: This is Takaishi Takeru-kun. Takeru: I'm Takaishi Takeru. Nice to meet you. Daisuke: Him...? Teacher: There's a seat next to Yagami.

Takeru obliges, sitting beside Hikari. They instantly hit it off for reasons that are obvious to the audience but perplexing for Daisuke.

Takeru: Long time, no see. Hikari: Heh. You sure grew up! Daisuke: (watching them chat, thinking) What's with this guy!? How can he just hit it off with Hikari-chan like that!? Takeru: (unintelligible due to Daisuke narrating over him) Hikari: (cracks up laughing)

Daisuke has no idea what these two have been through together.

In the dub:

Davis: Alright, what luck! You're in my class again, Kari! Kari: I wouldn't call that luck. Davis: Hey, the weirdest thing just happened. This new kid said I reminded him of someone. Probably thinks I'm a movie star. Kari: Hmm? (Meanwhile, in the DIgital World) Agumon: (falls) Tai, help! TAIIIIIIIIIIII!!! (Human world) Tai: Huh? (Back to Class 5-A) Teacher: I'm Mr. Hamasaki. I'll be your teacher and I'd like you all to welcome a new student. (T.K. enters. Davis looks up, surprised) Davis: Hm? Whoa! T.K.: It's nice to meet you. I'm T.K. Davis: It's that kid! Hamasaki: Please take a seat next to the girl with the... camera around her neck. (T.K. sits by Kari) T.K.: Together again! Kari: Just like old times! Davis: (watching them chat, thinking) That kid's trying to make a move on my girl! T.K.: Our teacher looks like Ogremon! Kari: (cracks up laughing)

A few things here. Davis's final line is a lot more possessive than Daisuke's. Daisuke is bewildered that this random boy can walk into the room and suddenly be best buddies with Hikari the instant he sits down. There's a hint of jealousy but he never goes beyond "What the hell am I watching?" Davis is going full jealous stalker, claiming ownership of Kari as if they were a couple.

It's not clear what Kari means by "I wouldn't call that luck" but it sounds like a passive-aggressive jab at Davis's expense. Which, given the creepy possessiveness he demonstrates in his final line, makes a lot of sense. Hikari is nothing but pleasant and happy to see Daisuke again.

I don't know why Mr. Hamasaki pauses suddenly before saying the word "camera".

I'm not sure that the dub lines really convey that T.K. and Kari haven't seen each other in years.

Back in the Digital World, Tentomon, Piyomon, and Patamon all flee from an attacking Snimon.

The Snimon has one of those black rings around their waist, so we know who they're working for. Also, New Series Who Dis.

Narrator: Snimon. A cruel and terrifying Adult-stage Digimon who resembles a praying mantis. Their special attack Shadow Sickle can slice anything to pieces with incredible speed.

Objectively better rundown than the one we got in the original series. It's the same, except the original rundown only said Snimon's attack was Shadow Sickle, without explaining anything about what the move does. So this is the same but more.

As soon as the narrator finishes explaining, Snimon's Shadow Sickle projectiles slash Piyomon and Tentomon out of the sky. Patamon takes cover on the branch of a tree, trying to hide.

Patamon: Piyomon! Tentomon!

They could really use their Partners about now.

In the dub, Tentomon takes up his usual role giving the diegetic rundown.

Tentomon: (rundown) Hurry! Don't let Snimon catch us! This praying mantis Digimon can cut through anything with his Twin Sickles attack! (Snimon slashes Biyomon and Tentomon out of the air) Patamon: Oh no! Biyomon! Tentomon!

Tentomon doesn't mention that Snimon is cruel and vicious, but that hardly matters when they're under control of one of those rings anyway.

He does a much better job with the diegetic rundown than Phantomon did way back when; That guy just made a punny quip about how the children will be the praying mantis's "prey".

Good news, their Partners are here! Well, one of them.

Taichi: Agumon!

Taichi sprints to Agumon's side, trying to help him.

Agumon: Taichi! Taichi: Evolve, Agumon!

Taichi holds out his Digivice. However, the device doesn't react.

Agumon: I can't... I can't evolve, Taichi. Taichi: Why!? Why can't you evolve!?

Watching from his control room, the Digimon Kaiser chuckles to himself.

Kaiser: Muhuhuhu... It's useless. That area is already mine. You will never be able to evolve.

In his hand, he's holding something that looks similar to a Digivice, yet is distinctly different.

With no other option, Taichi joins Patamon and Agumon in fleeing from Snimon. Tailmon emerges in their path.

Tailmon: This way!

Tailmon leads them to a cave. Once they're tucked inside, Taichi takes out another device we've never seen before, this one somewhat resembling a Nintendo DS, and uses it to send a message.

Taichi: Please, anyone, come and help us.

Already we're seeing how much has changed in the last three years. Not only is Taichi able to come and go from the Digital World, but the children also have portable devices of unclear origin that they can use to communicate with each other.

In the dub:

Tai: Agumon! Agumon: Tai! You're here! Tai: You've got to Digivolve! (Digivice won't react) Agumon: That's why I need your help, Tai. I can't Digivolve! Tai: Did you forget how!? It's just like riding a bicycle! Now start pedaling and Digivolve! (Cut to Emperor's control room) Emperor: Hmhmhmhmhmhm... It's no use. As long as I have the Black Digivice, there's no way they can Digivolve. Ahahahahahaha! (Tai joins the others in fleeing Snimon) Gatomon: Move your tails! (Everyone hides in a cave) Tai: (sending message) We're gonna need more help. I'd better contact the others.

Tai ignores the fact that his Digivice isn't activating and blames Agumon instead.

The Digimon Emperor name-drops the Black Digivice. The Kaiser just shows it to us. Also, it's Dark Digivice, not Black Digivice. They'll call it Dark Digivice at other points in the episode, so this is just a consistency error.

Back in the human world, Miyako's in the computer clubroom when an alert sounds on the PC.

Miyako: Oh no, an email for Izumi-senpai! But he's already graduated...

The message is from Yagami Taichi, addressed to "Everyone", with the subject line "Emergency!". The text reads, "Everyone come to the Digital World. Something is happening."

Miyako has no idea what to do with this.

Miyako: What is this? I'm pretty sure there's a Yagami in 5th grade....

Out front, Takeru is retrieving his outdoor shoes from the getabako while catching up with Hikari. These are special cupboards at the entrances to schools where you can swap between your outdoor shoes and your indoor shoes.

Hikari: Have you finished unpacking your luggage? Takeru: Well, yeah... Mostly.... Daisuke: (runs up) Hey, you! Hikari: It's not "Hey, you". It's "Takeru-kun". Daisuke: You, Takeru! What sort of relationship do you have with Hikari-chan!? Takeru: Huh? What's this all of a sudden? Ahaha! You're funny, Daisuke! Daisuke: (angrier) I'm not funny at all!

Daisuke is being very rude with his language. Not only does he blow off the honorific that Hikari tells him to use, but he keeps saying addressing Takeru as お前 omae.

It's not the worst second-person pronoun. It's pretty standard. But you should always use second-person pronouns with care, because in a lot of situations, they can come across rude or inappropriate. The verbal equivalent of pointing your finger at someone.

Daisuke wants to come off rude and inappropriate, so he's doing a lot of verbal finger-pointing on purpose right now.

Of course, for Takeru, Daisuke's outrage is water off a duck's back.

Before this can go any further, Miyako arrives.

Miyako: Ah, there! Takeru: Oh, Miyako-san!

She approaches Hikari with a printout of the questionable email.

Miyako: You're Yagami Hikari-san, right? Hikari: Yes, that's right. Miyako: (shows her the printout) Do you know a Yagami Taichi? Hikari: (reads; gasps) Onii-chan!

With Daisuke in two, Takeru and Hikari follow Miyako back to the computer club. On their way, they run into Koushiro coming up the stairs; An unexpected sight, seeing as he graduated last year.

Miyako: Ah! Izumi-senpai! Koushiro: Miyako-kun, may I please use the computer in the clubroom? Miyako: (ecstatic) Of course! Of course! I'm so glad you're visiting us, even after you graduated! Takeru: Koushiro-san! Hikari: We got an email from Onii-chan. Koushiro: (surprised) Takeru-kun! Hikari-san!

Strongly implied that Miyako looks up to Izumi-senpai because he was in charge of the computer club until his graduation. Also, on that note, gonna have to get used to the words "Izumi-senpai". My, how the kids have grown.

In the dub:

Yolei: Huh? "Come to the Digital World right away; The Digimon need our help!" Must be a link to an online game. Let's see who sent it. "Tai Kamiya". Hey! There's a girl in the seventh grade with the same last name! This email's probably hers.

The original specifically mentions that the email was sent to Koushiro. But apparently Tai's email had no intended recipient?

Kari: So, T.K., how does your mom like the new apartment? T.K.: She hasn't seen it yet. She's been on the computer the whole time! Davis: (runs up) Hey, buddy! Kari: His name is not "buddy". It's "T.K." Davis: Alright T.J. or J.V. or whatever it is! How do you know Kari!? T.K.: Huh? How do I know her? Ahahahaha! I get it, you're jealous of me! Davis: (angrier) I'm not jealous of anybody!

It's unclear in the original whether T.K. is actually oblivious to Daisuke's jealousy or is intentionally playing it off. Takeru, meanwhile, directly antagonizes Davis.

The "T.J. or J.V. or whatever" seems to be an attempt to capture the rudeness of Daisuke's verbal finger-pointing. Davis's unwillingness to say T.K.'s name properly will continue to be a thing.

Love the "Nancy hasn't actually seen the new apartment yet" crack. XD That got me.

Yolei: Hey! T.K.: Oh, hi, Yolei! (Yolei approaches Kari) Yolei: You're Kari Kamiya, aren't you? Kari: Yeah, that's right. Why do you ask? Yolei: (shows her the printout) Well, are you related to Tai? He sent this email. Kari: (reads it) My brother needs us! (They race to the computer club and run into Izzy) Yolei: Izzy! Izzy: Hey, Yolei. I'm glad I found you. I need to use the computer room right away. Yolei: (gasp) You mean the legendary former computer club president is actually looking for me!? I'm honored! T.K.: What's up, Izzy? Kari: Tai sent us an urgent email. Izzy: Yeah, I know! I got one too!

It's weird that Yolei acts like they're meeting each other for the first time. Was she not in computer club before this year?

The English dialogue also scrubs out both mentions of Koushiro having graduated.

The younger kids join Koushiro in the computer clubroom.

Takeru, Hikari, and Miyako are all neutral about Koushiro being here but Daisuke in the back is slack-jawed. He has no idea what's going on right now.

Koushiro: I got the email too, but when I tried to reply, my battery died. This place is closer to my middle school than going home would be.

A shot of Koushiro's bag shows a similar email device to the one Taichi was using. From the computer, Koushiro sends Taichi a return email:

"Message received. I'll find a Gate and head over there as soon as possible. Takeru-kun and Hikari-san are with me as well."

Taichi: A reply! It's Koushiro! Hikari and Takeru are there too! Agumon: (from offscreen) TAICHI!!! GET OVER HERE, TAICHI!!!

While Taichi goes to find out what that's all about, we return to computer club.

Miyako: Hey, so where is the Digital World? Is that a new theme park? Takeru & Hikari: .... Daisuke: I think I heard Taichi-senpai talking about some... Digimon thing? Takeru: You know Taichi-san? Hikari: They were senpai and kouhai in soccer club.

I think most of us understand what a senpai is. It's a senior mentor figure that you look up to and learn from. Kouhai is the opposite side of that coin; The junior who respects and learns from the senpai.

Also, the words "Taichi-senpai" are hitting me even harder than "Koushiro-senpai". Dear sweet Digital Jesusmon, Taichi has a kouhai.

In seriousness, there's some interesting subtleties about how well Daisuke and Hikari know each other. They've been classmates for at least one other school year before this one, clearly on friendly terms, and also Daisuke is her brother's kouhai. He's clearly working himself up to formally asking her out, and you can see why he'd already feel like this was a sure thing before Takeru suddenly and confusingly entered the picture.

Koushiro remains hard at work at the computer. As Hikari explains about soccer club, we can hear something activate at the computer. But then an alert siren starts playing in the background as the conversation continues.

Miyako: So what is it? What's a Digimon? Iori: Miyako-saaaaan! (appears in doorway) Are you going to fix my computer? Miyako: Oh, that's right.

Suddenly, the computer makes a more pleasant chime and the alert goes away.

Koushiro: Thought so. The Gate is open.

In the dub:

Izzy: I was just about to send Tai an answer when the battery ran out on my computer! I knew I should have recharged it after I played trigonometry trivia on the internet last night but boy, talk about fun! (Izzy sends email) Tai: It's from Izzy! He's got Kari and T.K. with him! Agumon: (from offscreen) TAI!!! COME QUICK!!! (Back to computer club) Yolei: What's the Digital World? Is that a new amusement park? I bet they have some great rides! Davis: I heard about it from Tai once. He said there were a lot of "Digimon" there. Whatever they are.... T.K.: You know Tai? Kari: They play on the same soccer team. Yolei: Hey, guys! I've got an idea! Let's all go to the Digital World! Cody: Yolei, weren't you coming over? (appears in doorway) Remember, you were gonna fix my computer. Yolei: Oh, sorry, I forgot. Izzy: If Tai's there, the Gate to the Digital World's open.

As usual, details buried in sound effects do not carry over to the dub. The alert siren doesn't sound in this version, nor do we hear the sudden chime of it activating.

Kari's kind of screwed with her explanation of Davis and Tai's relationship because Americans don't have an equivalent to the clear-cut social roles of senpai and kouhai. We're a much more informal society. She tries her best, but accidentally makes it sound like they're still playing soccer together.

Back in the cave, Taichi finds what Agumon was so startled about.

A mysterious egg-shaped object is sitting in the cave with a blade sticking out of it, as well as a familiar-looking symbol.

Taichi: This is.... Agumon: Is that the Crest of Courage? Tailmon: It seems like it's been here for a long time....

Taichi approaches the mystery object.

Taichi: That's definitely the Crest of Courage, but....

Taichi tries to pick up the object, causing it to suddenly glow with a bright orange light that fills the room. Then the glow recedes and three smaller orange lights levitate into the air in front of him.

Taichi: What the...!?

The orange lights offer no explanation. They simply fly off through a hole in the cave ceiling and vanish.

In the dub:

Agumon: Look at that! Tai: That's weird. It's got the Crest of Courage on it. Is it an egg? Agumon: I never saw an egg with a spike in it. Gatomon: It must have been rough on the chicken that laid that thing. Tai: Let's have a closer look at this thing. (Tai activates the egg and conjures the three lights) Tai: They look like fireflies! (The lights shoot off into the sky) Tai: Really fast ones!

The mystique's a bit lost in all this quipping. That said, goddammit, Gatomon. XD That got me.

Back in the human world, Miyako leaves computer club with Iori.

Miyako: (mutters) I'm still curious, though....

Back in computer club, Takeru, Hikari, and Koushiro have their Digivices out and are ready to jump across realities. Daisuke, however, is making a fuss over being left behind.

Daisuke: Let me come with you! Taichi-senpai's in a pinch, right? Takeru: That won't be possible. It's not an easy place for just anyone to go to.

Daisuke glowers at the Digivice in Takeru's hand.

Daisuke: Even if it's impossible, I'm going anyway! So--

Before he can finish, the three lights erupt from the computer screen. Though they're not longer all orange. One red light, one blue light, and one yellow light emerge. The blue one shoots into Daisuke's hands while the red and yellow travel down the hall, finding their way to Miyako and Iori.

Daisuke holds out the device that's appeared in his hands. It's similar to the one the Digimon Kaiser has, but blue instead of black.

Daisuke: W-What is this!? Takeru: A Digivice!? Hikari: (looks down at her Digivice) But it's different from ours....

That's because it's the latest model, COMING SOON TO A TOY STORE NEAR YOU!!! Sorry, kids, but Homeostasis is trying to run a business here. Wait 'til you find out about the planned obsolescence.

In the dub:

Cody: You did promise. Yolei: I know.... (Back in the clubroom) Izzy: We're going back to the Digital World! Prodigious! Davis: I'm going with you! T.K.: That's impossible. Not just anybody can go, you know. You need a Digivice. Davis: Rrrrgh... Listen, T.C., if you can go, so can I! (Digivices shoot out to Davis, Yolei, and Cody) Davis: What's this!? T.K.: A Digivice! Kari: It's a different model than the ones we have.

A subtle note for Davis. In the original, Daisuke exclaims that he's going to the Digital World even if it's impossible. This demonstrates how he's inherited Taichi's pigheaded stubbornness and determination.

Taichi needs help and Daisuke is chomping at the bit to come to his rescue. He's going to do this, even if the arbitrary metaphysical rules of Chosen Children and Digimon Partnerships say he can't.

It's exactly the sort of thing Taichi would say in his position. It's also. Kind of. What 02 is about, thematically. Like, this is setting the stage for 02's entire thesis.

Davis's line in the dub is just him again expressing his jealousy of T.K. He's mad that T.K. gets to go and he doesn't, and refuses to accept the implication that this means he's inferior to T.K.

So, Daisuke's new Digivice is weird. Koushiro returns his attention to the Gate on the computer screen.

Koushiro: The Gate opened on this monitor.... Takeru: Then let's get to the Digital World right away! Hikari: We need to hurry and help Onii-chan! Daisuke: (holds out Digivice) I'm going too. I can go with this? Koushiro: That should be right... That is, if that really is a Digivice.

Daisuke stares at his device, uncertain. Then, out of nowhere, Hikari thrusts her Digivice at the computer screen.

Hikari: I'm going!

The screen glows with light, pulling Hikari through the Gate.

Takeru: Me too!

Takeru does the same, vanishing through the computer to cross realities. Daisuke is left dumbstruck with Koushiro in the computer clubroom.

Koushiro: What are you going to do, Daisuke-kun? Daisuke: ... (Daisuke shakes off the shock) Daisuke: I can go too!

Daisuke repeats Takeru and Hikari's motions, thrusting his Digivice towards the computer screen. As before, it glows with light and absorbs him into the Digital World.

In the dub:

Izzy: Huh... We'd better go now while the Gate to the Digital World is still open. T.K.: Yeah, but how long will it stay open for? Izzy: Hm.... Kari: I don't care! I'm going to help my brother! Davis: (holds out Digivice) Hey, can I get Donkey Madness on this thing? Izzy: It's not a game! If the Digital World sent you a Digivice, then there's a reason and you should take it seriously! Kari: I'm not waiting any longer! (Kari crosses over) T.K.: I'm with you! (T.K. crosses over) Davis: (dumbstruck) ... Izzy: It's your turn. Unless you're scared. Davis: ... (Davis shakes off the shock) Davis: I'm there! (Davis crosses over)

And we need to talk about Daisuke again. Once again, he's made more... dipshit. He's made into more of a dipshit. For Daisuke, this scene sees him once again assert his determination and self-motivation to visit this new world and help Taichi. But in the dub, Izzy bullies him into enlistment.

"That Digivice means you're one of us now! Get the fuck in there, you coward!"

There are. Reasons. Why nobody likes Davis, but Daisuke doesn't get nearly as much flak.

But before Koushiro can make the jump, Miyako comes screeching to a stop in front of the door.

Miyako: IZUMI-SENPAI!!! Koushiro: (frantically hides his Digivice) Ehehehe.... Miyako: WHAT WAS THE LIGHT JUST NOW!?!? Koushiro: Oh, what ever could that have been, ahahaha....

Koushiro is no better at lying now than he was three years ago.

Without Koushiro, the three kids cross over. They land in a forest of the Digital World.

Daisuke: This is the Digital World?

He touches his arm, only to be startled when he feels the fabric of his jacket. It is not what he was wearing when he crossed over.

Daisuke: Ehh!? My clothes changed!?

Yep. A new feature of this Totally Not A Magical Girl show is that the new henshin artifacts cause magical costume changes. I guess Homeostasis was feeling spicy when designing them.

Oddly, neither Hikari nor Takeru comment on this. Takeru opens his mouth as if to say something, but he does not.

While the three kids begin their journey, the Digimon Kaiser watches them from his control room.

Kaiser: Coming into my garden without permission... These people don't have any manners, do they?

And cut to commercial. The Digimon Kaiser knows we're here, but we don't know he's even a thing that exists.

In the dub:

Yolei: WHOA!!! (Yolei screeches to a halt) Yolei: What's going on in here!? Izzy: (frantically hides his Digivice) Uhhhh, nothing! Yolei: Hey Izzy, what was that light!? Izzy: Uh, the computer must need a new screensaver, ehehe....

As utterly nonsensical as that retort is, it's still better than Koushiro's "Oh yeah, weird, huh?"

Davis: Whoa! My first time being downloaded... Pretty cool.... So, this is the Digital World, huh? (Davis discovers his new outfit) Davis: Whoa! This place comes with a new wardrobe! (Meanwhile, the Digimon Emperor is watching) Emperor: (menacing) Hmph! Looks like we have some visitors in my garden. And they weren't even on the guest list....

A little more bantery but basically the same.

Setting out into the Digital World, Hikari uses her Digivice's radar function to track Taichi's Digivice. She and Takeru lead the way, while Daisuke lags behind gawking at this strange new environment.

Daisuke: So this is the Digital World, huh? It's not that different from our wor-- Oh?

Daisuke stops in his tracks, staring at the bizarre sight of a vending machine sitting out in the woods in the middle of nowhere.

Daisuke: What is this doing he-- WAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!

Following in Mimi's footsteps, Daisuke approaches the vending machine only for Numemon to suddenly spill out of it and swarm him.

Takeru: Ahahahaha!!! Hikari: Ehehehe.... Daisuke: IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!

Fortunately for Daisuke, these Numemon seem to just be in a goofy mood and do not drown him in a poop flurry. They go on their merry way and leave him relatively unharassed.

Once Daisuke's back on his feet, the trio gets back on the trail.

Daisuke: So those things were Digimon? Hikari: There are all kinds. Some are cuter! Takeru: And some are scarier!

The way these two dingdongs are bouncing off of each other with wordplay doesn't translate perfectly. The Japanese words for cute and scary are 可愛い kawaii and 怖い kowai respectively. So their lines, Romanized, are:

Hikari: Motto kawaii no mo! Takeru: Motto kowai no mo ne!

Which is fun.

In the dub:

Kari: It's over this way. Davis: This place doesn't seem so scary. The way Tai put it, there were monsters everywhere. ...huh!? (Vending machine) Davis: Hey guys, check it out. There's a vending machine. I am a little thirsty. Huh. (Davis falls for the Numemon trap) Davis: AAAAAAAAAUGH!!! T.K.: Ahahahaha! Kari: Hehehe... Davis: (sarcastic) Ha ha. Very funny! (The Numemon depart) Davis: So were those things Digimon? Kari: Yep. There's tons of other ones too. A lot cuter than those. T.K.: And a lot scarier ones too! Davis: ...do they all come out of vending machines?

The dub adds quite a bit to Davis's lines but it's good stuff. I like the idea that Tai talks openly about his experiences in the Digital World. Like. Why wouldn't he? We all saw the other world appear in the sky and then a rift tear open in time and space, right? There are not enough Men in Black in the world to Flashy Thing that away.

Similarly, Davis's closing line is a valid question for someone with his limited experience to ask.

While the younger kids are tracking Taichi, Taichi is tracking them with Agumon, Patamon, and Tailmon in tow. The two groups meet in the middle.

Taichi: We're close-- Patamon: Ah! TAKERU!!! Takeru: Patamon!

Leaving Taichi behind, Patamon flies straight into Takeru's arms. Daisuke has a minor panic attack behind him, but Takeru and Hikari are thrilled to see their Digimon again.

Takeru: Long time no see! Hahahaha! Taichi: Guys! You came to help! Daisuke: Taichi-senpai! You're safe! Taichi: (stunned) Eh!? ...W...Why is Daisuke here!?

One of these people wasn't on the guest list. Though this did happen because Taichi fucked with that artifact so he really has no one to blame but himself.

Tailmon's turn! She leaps into Hikari's arms.

Tailmon: Hikari! Hikari: Tailmon!

Hugging her Partner, Hikari suddenly realizes that Tailmon's Holy Ring is now missing from her tail.

Hikari: What happened?

Flashing back to the start of the episode, Unimon's shot hits Tailmon dead-on and slams her against a tree. Unimon approaches, rearing up on their hind legs to stomp on her. Tailmon rolls away to safety, but her tail doesn't make it in time. The ring stops Unimon from crushing her tail and allows her to escape, but she loses the ring in the process.

When we return, we're now in the cave with the mysterious Courage artifact, where Tailmon finishes her story.

Tailmon: Somehow, I was able to escape. That human who calls himself Digimon Kaiser is brainwashing the Digimon.

In the dub:

Tai: They're real close by... There! Patamon: T.K.!!! T.K.: Patamon! (Patamon flies into T.K.'s arms) T.K.: Boy, am I glad to see you! Hahahaha!

Minor note: In the original, Taichi's looking down at his Digivice when Patamon suddenly senses Takeru nearby and flies off. Taichi then sprints off and follows Patamon to the others.

In the dub, Tai seems to be the first to spot them. This is despite the fact that he's looking down at his Digivice, and that he has to turn a corner in order to reach them in his next shot.

Tai: Hi, guys! I'm glad you all made it! Davis: Tai! I told those guys you'd be alright! Tai: Uh... Davis? What are you doing here!?

As with the departure scene, we really don't get the sense of how sincerely worried Daisuke was for Taichi-senpai from Davis's flippant dialogue.

Gatomon: KARI!!! Kari: Hahahaha! Gatomon! (Kari notices the missing accessory) Kari: Huh!? Your tail ring.... Tell me what happened.

The flashback proceeds with no dialogue, as in the original. Except for Unimon calling Horn Blaster when firing his shots.

Gatomon: One day, this bossy human appeared and began making Digimon into his slaves. He said, "I am the Digimon Emperor!" I heard we're all gonna have to punch a timeclock too.

Oh, shit. Quick, Gatomon! Unionize! It's your only hope now!

Gatomon neglects to mention that the Digimon being enslaved are under mind control. But we've seen the effects of those black rings for ourselves so we can make the connection.

As Tailmon finishes her story, the others have questions.

Takeru: A human? There's other humans here besides us? Tailmon: Yeah. He had a different kind of Digivice than the one Hikari has. Takeru: Is that....

Takeru and Hikari both look at Daisuke. It takes him a moment realize what they're waiting for, but then he fishes his alternate model of Digivice out of his pocket.

Daisuke: Like this? Tailmon: That's it! It was just like that! Daisuke: But this just flew out of the computer a couple minutes ago!

Daisuke, kinda panicking, backs up a few steps from the rest of the group. Implicitly, he seems to be worried that he just self-incriminated as the Digimon Kaiser.

Taichi, however, begins putting the pieces together.

Taichi: (thinking) That was one of the three lights that flew out of here. Daisuke has it... Does that mean... Daisuke is a new Chosen Child?

Meanwhile, back in the human world, Koushiro has to face the wrath of a Miyako who is not convinced by his poor lies.

Miyako: Where did everyone go? Koushiro: T-They all went home! Miyako: Liar! You're definitely hiding something, Izumi-senpai! What is the Digital World!? What is a Digimon!? Koushiro: Well, it's just-- Miyako: What is this!?

Miyako holds out her Digivice for Koushiro to see.

Koushiro: Why do you have this? Miyako: Iori has one too. Iori: (in the hall, on the phone) Yes, there's been a small change of plans. No, I'll come get the ohagi you worked so hard on.

So that makes four new Digivices that are now in play, but only three came out of the artifact. The Digimon Kaiser's came from somewhere else.

In the dub:

T.K.: Another human!? You mean that someone else comes here besides us!? There goes the neighborhood... Gatomon: Yeah. And he's got this strange new Dark Digivice that makes us unable to Digivolve. T.K.: (to Davis) Show her yours. Davis: Huh!? (Davis fishes his Digivice out of his pocket) Davis: Like this one? Gatomon: That's it! You work for the Digimon Emperor! Davis: WHAT!?!? I don't work for anybody! Besides, mine's not dark! I just got this thing when it came out of the computer! Tai: (thinking) So that's what came out of the egg when I picked it up: Three new Digivices! But why did Davis get one? What's his purpose in the Digital World? And more importantly, who got the other two Digivices?

Tailmon says nothing about a Dark Digivice or the Digivice making them unable to evolve. (Yet.) Only that there's a human menacing them with the same Digivice that Daisuke has.

The mention of the Dark Digivice makes it hard to buy that Davis could be the guy. He even points out that his Digivice is the wrong one, and the others seem to agree given that Gatomon only accuses him of "working for" the Emperor. The implied accusation is that Davis is him.

As a result, Gatomon's accusation comes out of left field. We already agree that Davis's Digivice is not the one that the Emperor has. So. What are we doing here, then?

Yolei: Where did everyone disappear to, Izzy!? Izzy: I-I told you already, Yolei! They went home! Yolei: I'm not letting you off the hook that easy! I know you're hiding something from me, Izzy! Now what is the Digital World and what exactly are Digimon!? Izzy: I-I don't know what you're talking about! Yolei: (holds up Digivice) Then what do you call this!? Izzy: (gasp) Where'd you get that? Yolei: Cody's got one as well. Cody: (in the hall, on the phone) No, Yolei's not coming over. We have to stay after school for computer club. But since you made the brownies, I'll come home and pick them up first.

Solid.

Back in the Digital World, discussion of the Kaiser continues.

Tailmon: That Digivice seems to be the reason that we can't evolve! Taichi: So that's what it is. Agumon: If only I could evolve, I'd mess him up!

Unbeknownst to the group, one of those black rings floats through the cave, making its way inside with them.

Tailmon: Because I lost my Holy Ring, my power's been cut in half. Patamon: And we got separated from Piyomon, Tentomon, and the others. Hikari: (furious) A human who's hunting Digimon!? Becoming king of Digimon!? That's ridiculous!

Tailmon losing half of her power is the in-universe justification for why she, a Digimon who is naturally Adult-stage, is now on the same level as Patamon, Agumon, and the rest. For story balance reasons, this is a nerf.

In the dub:

Gatomon: The Dark Digivice is draining our power and making us all as weak as newborn kittens! Tai: That's why you couldn't Digivolve! Agumon: Yeah! If I could Digivolve, he wouldn't stand a chance! Gatomon: The Digimon Emperor uses these powerful Dark Rings to control the Digimon. Patamon: Yeah, that's right! And once the ring captures you, you're enslaved for life! Gatomon: These collars do everything but get rid of fleas. Kari: (furious) Digimon Emperor! I'm gonna slap a Dark Ring on him!

They stay on-script until Gatomon's second line, then deviate to exposit about the Dark Rings. Fortunately, Izzy wasn't able to make the trip so the dub-exclusive exposition is, at least, fairly accurate.

Meanwhile, in his control room, the Digimon Kaiser is watching all of this unfold.

Kaiser: Hmhmhmhm! So you say. But this is just a game, and I can't stand rude trash who don't even know how to have fun.

He would get along well with Pinocchimon. The Digimon Kaiser is an antagonist who has aged very well, in this modern day of toxic gamers dunking on each other out of spite.

The Kaiser raises his finger and a set of buttons appears in the air in front of him.

Kaiser: I'll delete you.

He presses a button, pulling up an image of Monochromon.

Kaiser: Go, Monochromon!

Elsewhere in his base, he has a variety of captured Digimon crammed inside of tiny cells. A light shines inside Monochromon's cell and the ceiling opens. A platform raises Monochromon up into the world above, to carry out the Kaiser's wishes.

Every time I see the Digimon Kaiser's operation, I can't help but think he's a deliberate Shots Fired at monster-taming games like Pokemon, Dragon Warrior Monsters, or some of Digimon's own games. Our Chosen Children have raised their Virtual Pets with love and care, while this guy's out here playing Gotta Catch 'em All.

He wants to be the very best, like no one ever was.

In the dub, the Emperor responds to Kari saying she'll slap a Dark Ring on him.

Emperor: Hmhmhmhmhmhm... Oh, you think so, do you? Well, this is just a game to me. And I'm afraid that if you can't play by my rules, I'm just going to have to disqualify you. (Emperor brings up the console) Emperor: Hmm, who will destroy you. Eenie meenie miney mon! (beep) Attack, Monochromon!

This is an example of why foreknowledge of the series is useful during translation. When the Emperor says "This is all just a game to me," that's how the dub team interpreted the line "This is just a game". They're playing it for aloof condescension. Which, in a vacuum, is a reasonable interpretation. It sounds like evil banter. That is something a villain might say.

But no, he means that literally. The Kaiser thinks he's playing an immersive video game. He's not being dismissive of the situation; He's watching the kids talk about how mad they are at him and going, "What a bunch of salty tryhards! They're mad that I'm winning."

Back in the cave, the kids study the Courage artifact again.

Takeru: That... Isn't it the Crest of Courage? Taichi: Yeah, and it's really heavy.

Not taking Taichi's word for it, the others decide to try their luck picking it up. Takeru makes the first attempt but, despite his best efforts, he can't lift it.

Takeru: It's true! Hikari: Even though it's so small? (Hikari tries and fails as well.) Hikari: What is going on!? It doesn't even budge! Daisuke: I can handle a little thing like that!

Daisuke steps up to take his turn. He steels himself, squares his stance, and squats down to grip the artifact. Preparing himself for the ordeal, he musters his strength. Then he lifts.

It comes up so easily that he knocks himself over and falls on his ass.

Daisuke: WAUGH!!! Atatatat... Ugh, what the hell!? It's practically weightless! Taichi: (stunned) ...Daisuke....

Okay but Hikari loosened it up for him.

The dub slips a commercial break in here between the release of Monochromon and return to the cave. We return on quips.

T.K.: Looks like a deflated beach ball! No wonder; It's got a spike through it! Tai: Yeah. Plus, it's heavier than my mom's meatloaf! (T.K. tries to lift it and fails) T.K.: It won't budge! Kari: Move aside; This is a woman's job. (Kari tries and fails as well.) Kari: Urrrrrgh.... T.K.: Too bad we don't have a woman here to help! Davis: Guys, I pump iron all the time! Let me do it! (Davis pops it off, no problem, and falls on his ass) Davis: Whoa! ...what did I tell ya? Light as a feather. You guys need to work out a little more. Tai: There's a problem!

Dub T.K. in here delivering a "Sora will remember that"-worthy dig at Kari. Rude. Also, given that he has the same spindly little limbs as the rest of the cast, I find Davis's claims suspect.

I don't like that the dub cut the funny bit where Daisuke falling on his ass both hurt and pissed him off. I do, however, like the flippancy with which he dismisses the others' strength, blissfully unaware that this is a Thor's Hammer situation.

Taichi marveling at Daisuke's accomplishment is changed out to Tai noticing our next development.

Beneath where the artifact had been sitting is a hole in the ground. Orange light pours out of the hole and a figure slowly takes shape inside of it.

The figure is a Digimon, who throws himself at Daisuke with a familiar enthusiasm.

Digimon: Hooray! You did it! You did it! You moved the Digimental! I'm V-mon! What do they call you? Daisuke: D... Daisuke....

So already we see some differences between V-mon and a traditional Partner Digimon. He wasn't... programmed or what have you with Daisuke's personal metadata like the Partners were, and consequently isn't able to recognize Daisuke on sight.

Going into his rundown, V-mon is a Child-stage Free-attribute Small Dragon Digimon. The Free attribute means this Digimon does not fit into the Vaccine/Data/Virus triangle. It's something from outside that standard. Babies are typically Free attribute, but it's unusual for an older Digimon to be, and further hints that something's off about this Partnership.

V-mon debuted right here in the anime, but this isn't the first we've heard of such a creature. Nature Guardians featured the Adult Digimon V-dramon and Perfect evolution AeroV-dramon as Vaccine evolutionary paths for Piyomon, alongside Birdramon and Garudamon.

V-mon is clearly meant to be associated with those forms - Though, surprisingly, they will not be his evolutions in the series.

Narrator: V-mon! A naughty and mischievous Small Dragon-type Digimon, but with a strong sense of justice. He defeats his enemies with his special attack, a powerful headbutt called V-mon Head.

Really scraping the bottom of the barrel for things to name attacks.

V-mon: It's great to meet you, Daisuke! I've been waiting for you for a long time! Daisuke: Eh? Waiting for me? V-mon: Yeah! I've been waiting for the child who could move the Digimental of Courage! Taichi: (thinking) Digimental of Courage? If Daisuke moved it, then that means--

Taichi doesn't get to complete that thought, because suddenly the cave shakes. The Kaiser's fury has arrived.

Like most proper nouns, the word Digimental comes straight out of the Katakana デジメンタル Dejimentaru and is not a translation of anything. It's a composite of the brand's "Digi" with "elemental".

In the games and V-Pets they feature in, a Digimental can be used to imbue a Digimon with the power from the associated Crest. In theory, any Digimon that can use a Digimental could have a Courage form and a Purity form and a Hope form etc. etc. using one of these.

But the show character-locks them like the Crests which kinda defeats the purpose, and modern games have more or less done away with Digimental evolutions that don't feature in the show. Unfortunate, because they're one of the coolest ideas in the franchise.

The franchise didn't commit to them so now they're just a gimmick, adding extra steps to unlock a handful of Digimon that won't be very useful in late-game stuff anyway.

In the dub:

Digimon: Yahoo! Free at last! Free at last! You moved the Digi-Egg. My name is Veemon, but you can just call me Veemon! Davis: ...hi, I'm Davis.... Agumon: (rundown) I've heard of Veemon! Supposedly, he's a fun-loving adventure-seeking little Digimon that brings you good luck! But I thought he was just a legend! Veemon: Nope, I'm real, alright! And I've been waiting a very long time to meetcha, Davis! Davis: Uh, I think you've got the wrong guy. Veemon: Nope, you're the one alright! Because you're the only one who was able to move the Digi-Egg of Courage. Tai: (thinking) That's right! Even though I have the Crest of Courage, I couldn't move the Digi-Egg. But Davis could....

Hard to do a diegetic rundown for a Digimon that no one's ever met before, but Agumon throwing in "I thought he was a legend!" helps cover that. Though his explanation of V-mon being a mischievous prankster but with a strong moral fiber leaves much to be desired.

"Brings you good luck"? Agumon, what the fuck? In his defense, he's just reciting legends so maybe some details have shifted over eons of Telephone Game. XD

The more glaring issue is that they refer to Digimentals as Digi-Eggs. This is despite the fact that Digitama are already Digi-Eggs. Using the same terminology for both conflates things in a way that was very confusing to my childhood brain.

Uh-oh, out of time! The cave shakes violently.

Taichi: W-WAUGH!!! Daisuke: What the-- An earthquake!? Takeru: No! Up there!

Takeru points up through the little hole in the ceiling, where the Kaiser's Monochromon has arrived. It forces its way through, breaking the hole open further to grant it passage.

Monochromon: RRRRAAAAAAAAGH!!! Daisuke: WAHHHHHHHH!!! IT'S A MONSTER!!! Hikari: That's a Digimon too. Takeru: It's Monochromon!

As in the first series, Monochromon is an Adult-stage Data-attribute Ankylosaur Digimon. Fun fact, the Japanese word for ankylosaur is 鎧竜 gairyuu which translates literally to "Armored Dragon".

Narrator: Monochromon. An Adult-stage Digimon whose horn and shell are as hard as diamonds. Their special attack is an intensely hot fireball called Volcano Strike.

The original rundown mentioned that Monochromon is docile, but attacks relentlessly until their enemy is defeated if angered. This one foregoes that information in favor of explaining that they shoot fireballs.

Makes sense. Under the effects of the black ring, Monochromon's behavioral patterns aren't as important as they were on File Island. The fireball is more situationally relevant right now.

In the dub:

Tai: AUGH!!! Davis: What's that, an earthquake!? T.K.: No! Look up there! (Monochromon breaks through) Monochromon: RRRRAAAAAAAAGH!!! Davis: IT'S A MONSTEEEEEEEER!!! Kari: No, that's a Digimon! T.K.: Monochromon! T.K.: (rundown) Monochromon! His shell is harder than diamonds! His attack, Volcanic Strike, sends out millions of fireballs!

It does not. T.K. is embellishing to freak out Davis and that's very rude of him.

I do like using the veteran kids to deliver the diegetic rundowns, but I don't know why you would have him say this. We're going to see Monochromon use Volcanic Strike five seconds from now.

The Digimon give their best attempts at resisting Monochromon.

And by best attempt, I mean Patamon and Agumon fire off shots that glance harmlessly off Monochromon's diamond hide. Monochromon closes their eyes, braces themself, and tanks their shots without flinching. Meanwhile, Tailmon hangs back and provides moral support.

After weathering their attacks, Monochromon opens their mouth and prepares its Volcano Strike. Which would, y'know, be really bad in a confined space like this.

Takeru: That won't work! Run for it! (flees) Hikari: (flees) Taichi: DAISUKE!!! (flees)

Taichi's voice shakes Daisuke out of his shocked Freeze reaction and he joins the others in Flight. As the kids make it into the tunnel, Monochromon lets off Volcano Strike. The fire explodes at the entrance to the room, but the kids are already on their way down the tunnel.

V-mon: Daisuke, what are you doing!? Quick, you have to find your Courage! Daisuke: What are you on about!?

Monochromon races down the tunnel, nearly catching Daisuke and V-mon, but they emerge from the tunnel into daylight ahead.

As usual, the dub has Monochromon call Volcanic Strike as he shoots, even though this is a non-verbal Digimon.

Monochromon: VOLCANIC STRIKE!!! T.K.: Come on, let's go! (flees) Kari: Ah!!! (flees) Tai: Davis! (flees) (Davis shakes out of it and runs too) Veemon: Davis, hurry up and open the Digi-Egg! Davis: I don't know what you're talking about!

Neither of V-mon/Veemon's comments are super helpful.

Daisuke exits the cave, reaching the top of a hill, but Monochromon doesn't follow him out.

Daisuke: Huh? What happened? Taichi: (at the bottom) Daisuke! Over here!

Taichi tries to warn Daisuke to keep going, but only winds up distracting him. From inside the cave, Monochromon fires off another Volcano Strike.

V-mon: DAISUKE!!!

V-mon tackles Daisuke, shoving him down the hill as the fireball shoots past. Somehow, it then descends the hill so it can keep going at the lower ground level, and nearly hits Hikari too.

Daisuke survives the fall, just a bit roughed up, but his goggles shatter when he lands.

V-mon: Are you okay, Daisuke!? Daisuke: Yeah... Thanks.... V-mon: Daisuke, if you'd just find your courage... if you'd just say "Digimental Up"....

Yeah, the Not Magical Girls now have henshin phrases to go with their activation tools. It's definitely not Magical Girls though!

Taichi runs over to Daisuke.

Taichi: Daisuke! Are you okay? Daisuke: Y-Yes.... V-mon: Say "Digimental Up" and I'll be able to evolve! Taichi: What did you say!?

"Digimental Up" is English. Well, as English as the made-up nonsense word "Digimental" can be. But the "Up" is the English word.

Agumon emerges from the woods, along with Takeru and Patamon.

Agumon: TAICHIIIIII!!! Takeru: Hikari-chan's leg!

A short distance away, Hikari's seated on the ground, rubbing her ankle.

Tailmon: Hikari.... Hikari: It's just a little twisted.

Ah, the twisted ankle. A classic debilitating injury for female characters specifically in order to justify while they'll be helpless and vulnerable for a while. We see a lot of that one in media.

Suddenly, Monochromon lunges. Bounding off the cliff, they hurdle the boys and go straight for Hikari. Fortunately, I guess they leap straight into a time vortex left behind by Apocalymon 'cause it's gonna take them a full minute to land that jump.

Hikari: (terrified gasp) V-mon: Hurry! Taichi: Daisuke! Daisuke: Hikari-chan...!

Daisuke stands up, whips the broken goggles off his head, and throws them to the ground.

Daisuke: I'll try it. Taichi: ... Daisuke: DIGIMENTAL UP!!!

In the dub:

Davis: That was close! Tai: Davis! Get down here! (Fireball. Veemon says nothing and pushes Davis down the hill) Veemon: Davis, tell me: What hurts? Davis: Everything but my earlobes. Veemon: You control the Digi-Egg of Courage! You've got to use your courage to open it up! (Tai emerges from the woods) Tai: Davis, get up! It's not safe! Davis: Uggggh... Okay.... Veemon: I can Digivolve if you open the egg, but you have to have courage to do it! Tai: It's worth a try! (T.K., Agumon, and Patamon emerge from the woods) Agumon: TAIIIIIIII!!! T.K.: We've gotta get out of here! (Cut to Kari) Gatomon: Kari? Kari: I can't move my ankle! Tai: We're sitting ducks here! (Monochromon lunges) Kari: (gasp) Veemon: Davis! Tai: Have courage! Davis: Kari's in trouble! (Davis stands up and discards his goggles) Davis: You want courage!? I'll show you courage! Digi-Armor Energize!

"Digi-Armor Energize" is the dub's version of "Digimental Up", but it's a little awkward because nobody told Davis how to do this. All he's been told is to open the egg with his courage, with no practical instruction on the procedure.

V-mon, ARMOR SHINKAAAAAA!!!

Typically, a Digimon evolution only has them give their name at the finish, but Armor Evolutions get titles. This one is Blazing Courage Fladramon. Fladramon's evolution also gives us our first listen of "Break Up", the new "Show Me Your Brave Heart".

Fladramon introduces himself by bringing Monochromon down with a headbutt.

Taichi: He evolved!? Takeru: ... Hikari: ... Daisuke: Amazing!

Fladramon is an Armor-stage Free-attribute Dragon Man Digimon. The Armor stage exists outside the typical level-up hierarchy. Armor Digimon are typically treated as being on the same level as Adult Digimon, though some are far beyond.

Narrator: Fladramon. An Armor-stage Digimon who evolved from V-mon with the Digimental of Courage. Its special attack is Fire Rocket, which wraps its body in flames to pulverize its enemy. Kaiser: (control room) Armor Evolution, huh? The power from my Dark Digivice should have prevented him from evolving. Hm... They're pretty good, aren't they?

Demonstrating exactly how good they are, Fladramon stops Monochromon's charge and then hoists the colossal creature into a suplex.

The dub calls him Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage.

Tai: Armor Digivolve!? T.K.: ... Kari: Huh!? Davis: Whoa! What's that!? Flamedramon: (rundown) I am Flamedramon. As Veemon, I used the Digi-Egg of Courage to Armor Digivolve. My Fire Rocket attack will charbroil the enemy like a well-done steak. Emperor: Armor Digivolve, huh? Against the power of my Dark Digivice, they shouldn't be able to Digivolve at all. Hmm... They're more resourceful than I thought....

As Monochromon charges, the dub starts up Run Around, the replacement song for Hey Digimon which is honestly much better than Hey Digimon. Kind of a banger. They got the sound right for Badass Fuck 'em Up Song this time.

Monochromon may be down, but they're not defenseless.

As Fladramon tries to close distance, Monochromon lets off consecutive shots of Volcano Strike to keep him at bay. Fladramon stays on approach, punching the attacks out of his way.

Monochromon rises and charges, slamming their head into Fladramon and flipping him up into the air. Fladramon recovers in the air, powering up Fire Rocket and engulfing himself in flames.

Tailmon: Aim for that black ring!

As requested, Fladramon slams a blazing headbutt into the ring. It shatters, releasing Monochromon.

With the enemy defeated, Fladramon reverts. The energy from his armor goes into Daisuke's Digivice, then shoots over into a portable communication device in his pocket similar to the ones that Taichi and Koushiro have. Raising further questions about where these devices came from.

Daisuke takes it out of his pocket and flips it open, seeing the egg-shaped Digimental now stored on his screen. Meanwhile, V-mon returns to his base form and Hikari pets the previously rampaging Monochromon.

Hikari: You're okay now.

Now that the peril is over, her Convenient Damselizing Injury has recovered just fine.

In the dub:

Gatomon: Barbecue that Dark Ring, Flamedramon! (Flamedramon frees Monochromon and reverts, giving Davis his new gear) Kari: (petpet, cooing) That's a good Monochromon.

Small change: Tailmon directing Fladramon where to attack is now Gatomon cheering on the attack Flamedramon was already lining up. Remember that V-mon just got here and has zero context for why this Monochromon is attacking them. So far as he knows, this is just a brawl with some asshole who wants to fight.

Returning to the Digimon Kaiser's control room, a small caterpillar Digimon crawls in unnoticed.

Kaiser: It looks like I'll have to play seriously against you guys. Digimon: Ken-chan....

Takeru and Hikari see Monochromon off on their way. Hikari waves goodbye.

Takeru: To turn such a docile Digimon into a ferocious minion....

V-mon shakes hands with Daisuke.

V-mon: One more time, it's nice to meet you, Daisuke. Daisuke: Yeah! Taichi: (approaches) That was amazing! Armor Evolution! Agumon: We can't evolve, but your power could defeat the Digimon Kaiser! V-mon: Yeah! Leave it to me!

The dub puts its final commercial break here, and then we return to the Emperor's control room.

Digimon: You summoned me, oh evil emperor? Emperor: I believe that we've found ourselves a worthy foe at last. Digimon: Great! Just one question... What's a foe?

This is completely wrong. The Kaiser doesn't acknowledge the caterpillar's presence, and he certainly isn't going out of his way to interact with him. At the same time, the Digimon demonstrates a close connection by addressing the Kaiser by his real name, while in the dub he simply banters with the Emperor as an evil minion to an evil overlord.

Dub team has completely misjudged the relationship here.

Kari: Goodbye, Monochromon! Don't forget to write! T.K.: I can't believe the Digimon Emperor can turn such a nice Digimon into such a nasty creature!

This part's solid.

Veemon: Nice workin' with ya, Davis! Let's do it again sometime. Davis: Great! Tai: Hey guys! That Armor Digivolving was pretty cool! Agumon: Even though the rest of us can't Digivolve, I know that you new guys will be able to defeat the Digimon Emperor with no problem! Veemon: Yeah, leave it to me.

Also solid.

It's at this point that Taichi comes to a fateful decision.

Taichi: Daisuke, you really are a new Chosen Child. From now on, you will protect the Digital World.

He takes off his goggles and hands them over to Daisuke.

Taichi: Here. These are my goggles. Use them.

I mean, the mini telescope would probably be a lot more useful but sure. Thanks. Daisuke dons the goggles, accepting his role as Taichi's successor.

Hikari: They suit you, don't they? Daisuke: Eh? (smiling) You think so?

Once that's settled, they notice that the sun's going down.

Patamon: We should be safe now. Takeru: Eh? Why's that? Tailmon: The Digimon Kaiser doesn't come out at night.

It's almost like he has a bedtime schedule or something.

In the dub:

Tai: Davis, I think you were really brave back there in that battle but I noticed that you broke your goggles. And, as we all know, the leader of the DigiDestined just wouldn't look right without them. So here, I want you to have mine. (Davis puts on Tai's goggles) Davis: Wow... Kari: They look real cute! Davis: (embarrassed) Haha....

"The leader of the DigiDestined"? It's his first day, Tai. What the fuck.

In the original, he's just being inducted as "one of us now" but the dub goes full-on "Meet the new boss, everybody!"

Kari's line changes from a meta commentary on how Daisuke fits the role of the Taichi character to just. Flirting. I guess.

Patamon: Good! The sun's going down! Now we can relax. T.K.: Why's that? Gatomon: The Digimon Emperor never appears at night.

Straight translation.

Well, if it's getting late, we should probably get going too.

Agumon: Hey, Taichi, don't you have to be heading home soon? Taichi: Oh, that's right. I hope the Gate hasn't closed yet. (to Daisuke and the others) Where did you guys come from?

The kids lead the way back to their access point. Along the way, they can hear Iori and Miyako with Koushiro on the other side of the Gate.

Miyako: Aww... You're so late, Iori.... Iori: I couldn't help it. I had to go get the ohagi. Koushiro: This ohagi is delicious!

As the kids approach, we finally see what the Gate looks like on this side: It's a little TV displaying the human world from the connected monitor.

The trio back in the human world are taking their sweet time, enjoying their sugary confections from what appear to be takeout boxes.

Miyako: Ahhh, that was so good! So, should we get going? Koushiro: Eh? To where? Miyako: (points at the screen) Isn't that obvious? The Digital Wor--EUGH!?!?

Glancing at the screen, Miyako realizes that Daisuke, Takeru, Hikari, and Taichi are all visible in the Gate's little viewing window.

Daisuke: Hey! It's me! It's Daisuke!

The Gate activates. The children turn into light and are absorbed by the TV in the Digital World, making the return trip back to the human world. They explode out of the computer monitor, landing in a heap on top of Koushiro, Miyako, and Iori.

Agumon: @_@ It just sucked them in....

From here, we close out on the Digimon Kaiser, alone in his command center.

Narrator: And so Daisuke and the others returned to the real world. But who is this Digimon Kaiser who appeared all of a sudden? Now, a new adventure was about to begin.

Lot of unanswered questions hanging in the wake of these events.

In the dub:

Agumon: Excuse me, Tai, but it is getting late! Don't you guys need to go home soon? Tai: We sure do, but I'm not even sure if we can get home. (to Davis and the others) Be careful. Never stay too long. (They head back to the Gate) Yolei: Hey Izzy, Cody's back. Can we go to the Digital World now? Izzy: The Gate might close. It's not safe. Cody: But at least I got the brownies! Izzy: Mmmm, this is the best thing I've ever tasted! Yolei: Hey, what does it mean when the light on that thing goes on? Izzy: What thing? Yolei: That thing on the computer. I just saw the light go on--WAHHHHH!!!! (Yolei sees the others inside and freaks) Davis: HEY!!! Guys, let me in! It's Davis! (Davis and the others warp through the Gate) Agumon: ...you don't see that every day.... (dogpile in the human world) Izzy: GET OFF!!! YOU'RE CRUSHING MY BROWNIES!!! (Digimon Emperor) Emperor: Mhmhmhmhm.... Narrator: While Davis and the others have returned to the real world, the Digimon Emperor was planning his next attack. Can the DigiDestined stop him? A new adventure has just begun on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

Dub seems more interested in fighting the Emperor than figuring out his identity but this is pretty solid. Though Yolei gets an actual "No" from Izzy about going to the Digital World; It's funnier in the original, where Iori's ohagi errand has eaten up their entire window of opportunity and now it's just too late.

Assessment: We are off on a new adventure and you can already feel how different things are going to be this time around. We get to go home at night! We can just pop into the Digital World for a plot and then fuck right off.

Just from that alone, there's some "I had to fight Digimon uphill in the snow both ways! Kids these days!"

This episode is mainly an introduction to the new status quo. New villain, new circumstances, new protagonists. We'll be getting to know Miyako and Iori better in episodes to come, but Daisuke gets a lot of focus for this one.

[andy-wm]

When Love Reveals Itself

The intersection of public and private in life and art.

A few years ago I watched Her Private Life, a k-drama starring Park Min-young and Kim Jae-wook, both of whom I love seeing on-screen, and ONE (Jung Jae-won) who is adorably cute in this series.

If you haven't seen it, here's a synopsis...

It's ostensibly about an art gallery curator - Doekmi - and her relationship with Ryan, the newly appointed director of the gallery (a position she deserved but of course didn't get). That part of narrative is a highly satisfying but predictable rom-com.

Doekmi is also a secret fangirl, and tries desperately (hilariously) to hide this side of her life, but that doesn't work out. I love the way this is dealt with and the understanding of the complexities of fan culture shown by the writers and cast. It's very relatable.

But maybe most importantly, this was one of the first k-dramas I watched that had an overtly queer narrative strand. I wont spoil anything but Ryan (Kim Jae-wook) is an absolute fucking legend in his efforts to be an LGBTQIA+ ally, even if he gets EVERYTHING wrong.

So how does this relate to our photo of Jimin, knee deep in water and smiling like this?

Episode 5 of Her Private Life has one of the most poignant scenes I've ever watched in a k-drama.

The scene isn't part of a major plot point but there are SPOILERS here.

The scene centres on an unpublished self-portrait taken by (deceased) renowned photographer-Yoon who was famous for his landscape photography. The portrait was his final photograph, taken just before he died.

The portrait was gifted to a reclusive writer who was lifelong friends with photographer-Yoon. He owns the rights to the photo, and he won't release it for publication.

The portrait in question

Deokmi and Ryan are trying to convince the writer to allow the portrait to be displayed in an upcoming exhibition of work by photographer Yoon. The writer adamantly refuses.

Why?

Yoon is looking at someone he loves.

As Deokmi observes, the portrait shows Yoon smiling not at the camera, but at someone in front of the camera.

He is looking at someone he loves.

For the writer, the portrait reveals too much. It exposes photographer-Yoon's feelings for the person in front of the camera, who is of course the writer himself. The writer knew of Yoon's feelings for him but could never acknowledge them while his friend was alive.

Lets go back to the photo of Jimin.

Something that really struck me about this photo of Jimin is the context of it. It was during the LGO MV shooting. He was splashing Jin and laughing, creating a small, happy moment for the music video (for us).

But covid was rife and the world was at a standstill. Jimin was personally and privately devastated during this time*. It was part of the MV brief, I'm sure, to show that you could still find joy in simple things but we know he himself was not happy.

So the happiness we see in those images is not his personal happiness. Even though he does genuinely look like hes having fun, that happiness is manufactured for us.

And then he looks up at the photographer and this we get this poignant, beautiful smile. Open, unguarded, and holding nothing back, his expression is so soft, so genuinely glad to see the person behind the camera.

He is looking at someone he loves and who he knows loves him in return.

"I see you, and everything is better. The sun comes out because you’re here with me," It says.

There's a stillness in this image, as though Jimin -singled out - stopped what he was doing to look back at the photographer, shutting out all the activity surrounding the two of them and stealing a quiet moment with that person.

And that stolen moment would have remained secret and private forever, had the photographer not shared this photo.

But they did.

The photographer gave it to us.

Was this just for aesthetic reasons?

I don't believe so.

Of course, it is a beautiful portrait of Jimin. Aesthetically and emotively it's a striking photograph, but there must me HUNDREDS of beautiful photos of Jimin. The photographer could have chosen ANY of them. But they chose this one.

Now we have this moment on record.

We get to see Jimin feeling this love. We see him the way the photographer sees him. And yes, we know who he is looking at.

We know who was behind the camera.... because the photograher shared this with us too.

Jungkook makes sure we know who took that photograph.

His Private Life becomes Art

In the drama series, the writer relents and takes Doekmi and Ryan upstairs to show them a locked room. It is full of photographs of himself, taken by photographer-Yoon over many years. In all of the pictures, he looks happy. Deokmi describes it as 'a love letter to the writer, from Photographer Yoon'.

The writer admits that he is ashamed that he never acknowledged Yoon's feelings. He didn't dislike them but he didn't have the courage to respond to them, which is why he can't release the portrait now. He can't reveal to the world how Yoon felt, when its too late to tell him that he knew, and that he didn't reject that love.

Ryan looks around at all the photos and says "Did you really ignore his heart? This smile does not look like it. You did not know your own heart, but photographer Yoon could have known it. As a photographer, how could he not notice it. He knew."

Their Private Life becomes public

That photo of Jimin is everywhere. Jungkook made sure of that.

The reticence of the two men in Her Private Life is nowhere to be found here.

Jungkook took this photo of the man he loves and one look at Jimin's face tells us that love is returned.

Just like photographer Yoon, Jungkook saw it and he knew we would all see it too.

But instead of hiding the picture in a locked room for decades, Jungkook published it in the most public forum imaginable. He put it into the music video for Life Goes On.

He consciously chose for us to see that photo.

Don't forget, he was the director of that music video too...

That private stolen moment, full of love and fondness, shows Jimin at his softest and his most vulnerable.

And maybe that's a side of Jimin only Jungkook sees. Maybe Jungkook wants us to know the Jimin HE knows. The open, unguarded Jimin who wears his heart on his sleeve the way Jungkook does. The most authentic, unafraid, beautiful Jimin.

The Jimin he loves the most.

💛💜

°~☆~°

*He told us in his Vlives, he told us in his album, he told us in his interviews. It was a hard, hard time for him.