#that which he has been forced to kill. that which he cant save. the destruction and helplessness

[getyinyusedtoit]

crying over that man again, they can't keep getting away with this.

[crybabysunflower]

Similarities between Mikey-Takemichi (Tokyo Revengers) and Achilles-Patroclus (The song of Achilles)

I think before I start with the post I should specify that this is solely based on Madeline Miller's book The Song of Achilles which while staying close to the original source (The Illiad) has made a lot of divergence from it most particularly in an aspect of the portrayal of Patroclus. So this post is not for those who dislike this particular aspect of the book

Mikey and Achilles

"He is a weapon, a killer. Do not forget it. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that will not change its nature"

Mikey and Achilles being this glorious fighters who are undefeatable (The Invincible Mikey and Aristos Achaeon). Both are also charismatic leaders who are able to easily change the opinions of their respective teams and motivate them, like Mikey in Tenjiku arc when Toman was losing hope and Achilles did something similar in the fourth year of the Trojan war when the soldiers were losing interest and went against Agammenon. They both are also fated to be doomed by the narrative. Because of Shinchiro timeleaping to save Mikey he was cursed with Dark Impulse which in every timeline destroyed his own and the lives of others around him. Not quite different from Achilles' rage which claimed the lives of others and eventually himself.

Despite their glory both takemichi and patroclus is everything to them. everytime they both are separated these two glorious fighters loses his humanity and becomes a monster, once again as we see Achilles' rage and Mikey killing his own gang members after Black Dragon arc for keeping him away from Takemichi.

The Song of Achilles portrays its titular hero as an easily gulliable man which also stands true for Mikey, something which is evident from how easily he had been manipulated by Kisaki in multiple timelines.

Takemichi and Patroclus

"You do not give things up so easily now as you once did,”

While Mikey and Achilles were destined to destroy ane kill, Takemichi and Patroclus being pacifists were destined to save lives.

Takemichi and Patroclus are not famed as fighters (as Chiron says he is not destined to gain glory from his fighting) but they both are still glorious in their own ways. Their glory lies in their kindness and their selfless desire to protect and save their loved ones even if it leads to their own demise or them getting hurt in some way. They both are actually more stronger than the glorious warriors because of their emotional resilience kindness and will power. They both grow from ones who easily quit to someone who do not give up quite as easily Both Michi and Patroclus also have low self esteem because of their traumatic upbringing and see themselves as "lower" beings. Even then, when they both die, everybody mourns their deaths such impactful were they in people's lives.

Both Takemichi and Patroclus followed Mikey and Achilles respectively everywhere despite how dangerous it had been (Takemichi following Mikey to Manilla, to the Bowling alley where he nearly died and back in time after being stabbed. Similarly how Patroclus followed Achilles to Mount Pelion, to Skyros and finally to the Trojan War where he meets his fate).

While Takemichi is younger than Mikey (in contrast to Patroclus being older than Achilles) they both played a role as a guiding force in the lives of their other halves putting them in the right track. Without their existence both Mikey and Achilles end up in the path of destruction.

In the last arc Takemichi dies similarly as patroclus did (being stabbed in the stomach) i dont remember if Michi was wearing mikey's Toman uniform in the last arc if so then that adds another parallel (Patroclus dying in Achilles' armour). The reason they die is also because of their other half (directly from mikey indirectly from achilles).

(While this post mainly compares the takemichi and mikey to the characterisation of the greek mythology characters from TSOA specifically, I cant help but realise that Takemichi is also quite similar to the Iliad characterisation of Patroclus

Although unlike him Takemichi is not physically strong when it comes to fighting, he matches Patroclus' sheer determination and boldness especially during the Tenjiku Arc. Takemichi's constant attempt to defy fate despite the number of times he fails is reminiscent of Patroclus climbing the walls of Troy over and over despite being pushed down by Apollo.

Patroclus mocking Hector and prophesizing the latter's death after being stabbed reminds me of two specific occasions- First, when Kisaki pointed the gun at Takemichi and the latter taunted Kisaki to shoot him and when Kisaki shot his foot Takemichi taunts him further that he is not going to die from a bullet to his foot and chases him after that. Second when Kakucho punches Takemichi and he mocks the former saying how he punched like a second grader punk)

[jackienautism]

The most horrifying thing in the Quarry to me, aside from the Hackett family ignoring Kaylee and Caleb’s trauma, is the fact that a child of unspecified age was forced to survive in the woods for six whole years after getting displaced + having his once safe haven destroyed by strangers who wanted to “save” him then having to not get caught by said strangers’ family who want him dead for something he has no control over only to be killed while in a state of dissociation/deep sleep. Like, it’s not even mentioned explicitly but just…fuck. I’d the hell out of a book like that

you always realize the most fucked up things about this godforsaken game dfgkjdg still reeling over your most recent post btw i just want them all to be happy is that too much to ask

before i add anything on i just want to say even though ive said it plenty of times before: fuck the hacketts. like for real. kaylee and caleb deserved better

but GOSH i never realized just how fucked that is actually... if only they specified his age, i think that definitely would've made it hit harder yk? bc no matter how "young" it turns out silas is, it's still gonna be way too young to be thrust into his situation. having that like be solidified would've made it that much more. i dont know. real? bc the chances of him being like my age or yours is so.. likely

assuming silas also considered the rest of the harum scarum crew his family, he really like. lost everyone he cared about in one night and that's so so sad. all while he couldnt do ANYTHING consciously about it either. imagine you wake up just to see that everyone you've ever loved is dead and the place you call home is also gone? and, if silas even came to find out what exactly happened that night (which is doubtful? due to his lack of contact with literally anyone), imagine having to come to terms that you're technically the reason all that destruction took place?

long story short. fucking hell jkdfnjs i cant even imagine living on my own in good conditions so how the hell was silas able to do it in the middle of the woods! all while being hunted by these strange people! not only does he have to worry about food and shelter but now also the HACKETTS????? it's so. its not fair man

and the hacketts ARE able to accomplish their goal aftger killing several strangers and getting 9 unsuspecting kids involved and possibly killed. alongside their other family members potentially. what the fuck. if you couldnt tell i hate thisf amily

its nice they talk more about silas and harum scarum in the podcast but like... it being in game / not being extra would've been nice. would've been nicER. actually. since th whole game pretty much revolves around silas so. surprised they didnt talk more about him. actually no im not

[thefunnyone]

leo trauma this, cjj trauma that. and youre absolutely right, but what about literally everyone else trauma! 

you cant tell me raph isnt traumatized after getting his shell pierced and his plastron cracked and sacrifcing himself in order to save leo, after getting his mind invaded by the krang with the sole goal of hurting his family and then subsequently getting possessed by krang (both of which looked extremely painful) and forced to attack his family and then nearly kill leo, after ripping krang bits off his eye

you cant tell me donnie isnt traumatized after being much more than others painfully aware of just how dire the situation with the krang was because theyve never had to use the escape pods before, after getting his battle shell destroyed and nearly getting killed without it before getting swooped into the death trap that has become of the turtle tank where he along with mikey was seconds away from being crushed before april came in to save the day; after fusing with an alien spaceship which might not have been painful, but looked very disturbing to him personally nonetheless (at least before he rejoiced at the fact of becoming one with a cool piece of tech)

you cant tell me mikey isnt traumatized after trying time and time again to channel his mystic powers to save his family, after his repeated failures to do so endangering his family, after, first, being the reason for the destruction of donnie’s battle shell and, second, being the one to take it off at the krang ship, which does not make him responsible for any damage donnie may have suffered, but he could very well end up feeling like he let those things happen, like it was his fault

you cant tell me april isnt traumatized after nearly getting killed by the krang (and what if she hadnt found the herbicide prior to the apocalypse? im sure thats something she considered in the aftermath), after getting attacked by possessed raph, her brother, and getting majorly knocked out (you’ll notice, donnie immediately checks on her looking extremely concerned when she lands on the ground, and she doesnt get up for a good while)

not to mention leo’s sacrifice. raph was Convinced hes gone. remember the “Mikey, it’s over”? hes literally hopeless and putting on a brave face in an attempt to help his brothers cope with this massive loss. you ever notice that donnie hasnt said a single word since leo announced his plan and until the epilogue scene? much to think about! and what about mikey finally managing to channel his mystic powers and pulling leo out? might seem like a good thing, but do you have any idea what a feat like that does to your psyche? what if this attempt failed like all the ones before it and leo stayed in the prison dimension to die? what if it killed mikey, just like it did in the future? which, of course, present mikey could not have known about but the yellow cracks in his arms were very well visible, so it wouldnt be a reach to assume he at least considered the possibility of it killing him. and what about april and splinter, watching helplessly from the ground as their brother and son disappears? and we dont know how long it took for the whole gang to reunite, so they also spent a much longer time convinced leo was gone

to reiterate, obviously leo and cjj have gone through a LOT and are severely traumatized as a result. but lets not forget the rest of the family just because they didnt break every bone in their bodies, but broke only a few instead.

[familyparadox]

What are your opinions on the wider Gallifrey/Time War and Who/FP lore/timeline?

The War in Heaven and the the Last Great Time war are two wars but the Last Great Time War and the War in Heaven are both just a tiny part of the True War which has both been happening and is yet to start. And from the Doctor’s perspective they come after each other due to to the Doctor plunging them back into the Pre War era when he tried to restore gallifrey sometime after the Gallifrey Chronicles, instead of remaking Gallifrey in the Post War universe he just shifted around one of the pre War Homeworlds so that it dodged the War. And the Homeworld which was actually restored in the Post War Universe by the Doctor became the one in Cwej the series. this world did not have the Doctor on it as the Doctor was back in the Pre/no War Universe,

Also each Homeworld enters the war at a diffident point so The Ancestor Cell Homeworld (the one restored in the pre war universe) never entered the War due to its destruction and modification, it involvement in the War was stoped first by its destruction in the Ancestor Cell by Eight yet it was restored with Romana Three still in power only for that to latter be averted by Irving Braxiatel in Enemy Lines, leaving use with the the Time War in its stead and thus avoid the horror of the War in heaven. I like to call this the No-War Timeline. This is the Homeworld in new who. Meanwhile most of the other Homeworlds are either destroyed or still fighting the War in Heaven.

The Homeworld in Cwej is slowly sliding back from the Post War Universe into the Pre War Universe, this Homeworld will eventually play host to the infinity Doctor.

The War in Heaven is the major war with the last great Time War being only a minor skirmish before/after (both from the Daleks perspective but before from the time lords) the Dalek/Great House alliance.

One day the True War will happen in which the Troubleshooters will have save the day (or fail) due to their recurring enemy having gained so much power thanks to never existing, and thus allowing them to control the Palladin Hordes and conquer a Human Colony world in the 49th Century, and force professor Who of world. And thus stop the troubleshooters ever forming. And as a way to introduce an emotional bond to force Who of world created Suzzana (letter renamed Susan for convenience) as Who’s Granddaughter, she was only created to threaten so that Who would be forced to flee with her to save her life. And Gallifrey itself is just enough little scheme of theirs to distract Who (now the Doctor) into forgetting their true past, even though The Master (their protégé who was forced into the trap due to bonding with Who, and would have betrayed them so they forced the person who would become the Master into the trap as well) several times has almost discovered the Doctor true past, as has the seventh Doctor, they have always been forced to improvise their way out such as with the timeless child and the Other. Of course the Troubleshooters will one day form and they may stop them. Of course their have been other clues such as from Gryffen in Unnatural History and Omega in the Infinity Doctors (one Leading to eight forgetting their entire past and the other being killed of in the War in Heaven). In the true War Doctor (they lost their professorships, but you cant take their doctorate from their cold dead hands) Who will not be fighting for the Great House/that Time Lords, but against them as they fight with the Palladin Hoards even though once they waged war aginst each other.

There is no one true time line as it is constantly being altered by the True War.

[magic-missle-blog]

Ghost division 2 – The belly of the beast

2nd story in what will hopefully be a series. Roughly 6k words. Hope you enjoy

:readmore:

Four missiles streaked through the darkness of space from the canadation destroyer as it smashed through the human battle group.

The warship TDF Glasgow rocked as a missile impacted the hull. Point defence had taken out three others but the fourth slammed into the starboard side.

“Damage report!” the captain shouted as he swivelled his command chair to face the tactical officer.

“The hull plating is scorched and buckled, but no internal damage. We were lucky.” The tactical officer replied, shouting to be heard over the various alarms and beeps in the small bridge.

“We cant rely on luck. If we get hit again its your head!” The captain growled. His hair was cut close to his scalp and a sheen of sweat reflected in the bright yellow light on his dark skin.

Tactical officer Rotchford nodded. Her brow furrowed as she quickly typed into her console. “don’t worry I’m on it, I’ve analysed the firing pattern and I can probably take out most of the missiles, its those fucking fighters and energy weapons I cant do a thing about.”

Just as she finished speaking a swarm of small locust shaped fighters buzzed passed the ship, pelting the armour with energy weapons.

Turrets tracked the fighters, spitting hypersonic tungsten shells. One of the Canidation fighters exploded, the rest of the group took evasive action and continued on the attack run through the human fleet.

The ship rocked again and various alarms clamoured for attention. Lights on the bridge flickered.

Captain Conroy nodded and straightened his uniform. He brought up a tactical display on the console built into his chair.

Five Canidation warships had engaged the fleet of seven Terran defence force destroyers and the humans were loosing badly. The Canidations had the firepower and faster ships. Fighters swarmed over the fleet firing kinetic weapons and lasers, some with great effect.

He watched as another of the fleet exploded. That was the second ship they had lost. The battle had been raging for what felt like hours but in reality it was only 30 minutes. The Canidations had dropped out of hyperspace in this remote system to ambush a Human supply run. The freighters had escaped unharmed but the escort fleet couldn’t leave, not without leaving this Canidation battle group free reign to attack other convoys.

“Shit. That was the Newcastle!” the first officer said “Fleet captain Broadie…he was a good man”

The computer screamed out a proximity warning as another salvo of missiles streaked towards them, but true to her word the tactical officers new point defence programme took them all out. She returned fire with the main cannon as the destroyer elegantly swung around, scoring a direct hit to the Canidations engines. The insectoid ship vented atmosphere and appeared to lose power as running lights flickered out and the ship drifted

The other enemy ships moved towards the remaining fleet.

“Scan that ship, is it dead?” Conroy commanded the science officer as the warship rocked under more impacts

“yeah it appears… Fuck” the science officer said as his console went dark and the lights cut out.

A few moments later the ships emergency power kicked in and the lights came back on, but dull red colour. His console lit up. “ yeah its dead. I think. Scans are all over the place.”

Conroy nodded, as the most senior officer left in the tattered fleet he assumed command.. “signal the fleet. Lets get the fuck out of here...but slowly, I want to draw them away from that damaged ship.” He plotted a course that would take them deep into the Oort cloud of this system.

The remaining ships of the Terran defence force broke off the engagement and retreated. Caught by surprise at the sudden change in tactics, The Canidations stopped dead, recalled the fighters then followed, slowly gaining ground on the slower terran warships.

Glancing at his command console captain Conroy opened fleet wide comms. Signalling the other commanders he said “Listen up people. Once we are in that cloud drop sensor decoys try to buy me some time . I’m going to double back and capture that ship.”

The crew looked at him in astonishment

“Damn” said the first officer. “And I thought today was going to be a quiet day.”

************************************

The war against the Canidations had been raging for 3 months, and the Terran empire was losing.

The Canidations ships were more advanced, and they had the numbers. The only saving grace is that the Canidations were fighting two other larger empires. Humanity, as a relatively new race to the galactic stage, hadn’t been seen as a concern. Almost an afterthought.

No one knew why the war started. Canidations were a reclusive species. They had no trade with the wider galactic community, no embassies, no contact at all. No one really even knew if “Canidation” was their species name. They stayed in their home systems, A group of a dozen or so stars a few light years around the Canadathon, their home world.

A decade ago the Canidations has blasted out of their home system with an over powering military force and attacked a neighbouring world without warning. Everything was a viable target to them and they didn’t take prisoners…or at least they didn’t keep them alive for long.

For ten long years they attacked and destroyed any neighbouring species, expanding their empire. The first races, unused to galactic warfare on such a scale had fallen quickly. Other species had tried to build up their own military force but simply didn’t have the infrastructure in place and couldn’t come close to the Canidations speed of production. It seemed like for every Canidation ship that fell two more would take its place.

The Canidations were an insectoid race, they looked like an unholy amalgamation of a spiders body with a praying mantis torso, like an insect centaur. They didn’t seem to capture any world they won, they destroyed it. Left it a lifeless husk, took any easily accessible resources then moved on like locusts. Maybe they would be back to terraform it later, maybe not. No one knew.

The destruction on such a scale seemed senseless, and completely alien. Not even the best human generals, phycologists or philosophers could come up with a reason for this carnage.

What was known was they had a lot of ships. More than every other military in this region of space combined. They had been building up for decades and it seemed like now was the time to unleash their might.

******************************

The Glasgow had ducked behind a dwarf planet in the Oort cloud and waiting while the remaining fleet had drawn the Canidations away, then used a risky in system jump to get back quickly to the battlefield. They had scanned for survivors of the destroyed Terran ships but unfortunately found plenty of debris but no life signs.

TDF Glasgow slowly drew up alongside the crippled Canidation vessel, comms jammers at full power blocking any communication from the hulk. It had been few hours since the shot had crippled the Bug ship, but it was still drifting without any main power, its engines dark and cooling.

It looked like reserve power had kicked in and there was several Canidations on the main hull close to the breach in what looked like dark space suits, although it could have been their flesh. Conroy didn’t know enough about the species to tell. It was obvious the Canidations were trying to repair the damage.

The insectoid ship was large, at least half again as big as the Glasgow and followed an unorthodox design. It was nothing like the sleek Terran ships, whose lines were reminiscent of the war planes that fought in earth’s skies in the 20th century. Human ships were long and sleek, with swept back retractable wings protruding from the mid section to allow atmosphere flight when fully extended. Canidation was bulky, and looked like a flattened pinecone and close range scans showed it be highly modular.

The bridge appeared to be at on top of the bulky front section. Conroy guessed below this would be weapons, crew quarters and the like. Engineering and the ships drive core, and sub light engines must be located in the tapering end. Cannons clustered around the front with turrets in two rows along the top and bottom of the ship.

Conroy assumed there would be about 60 or so crew on board. Terran destroyers had a crew of 30 plus 10 marines. Not good odds Conroy thought.

“Easy to build, quick to swap different sections out if needed” Science officer McCallum said as he looked over the data.

Conroy nodded to Commander Paulson, the first office. “Pauly, get a boarding party ready. Find any intel you can get your hands on but don’t take any stupid risks. Focus on engineering, medical, ship deployments, shit we can find to kill these things.” Looking at McCallum “what do they need?”

McCallum brought up all the information he had on Canidations, which wasn’t a lot.

“Scans show gravity and life support is still active and the ship has atmosphere, although I use the term loosely. Their air is made up of 30% oxygen, 15% Co2, 10% Hydrogen sulphide, the rest is nitrogen, water vapour and trace gasses. Average temperature is roughly 30 degrees Celsius and humidity is close to 70%. Gravity is low, roughly 0.6G. So basically your walking into a hot sweaty hellhole that’ll smell like Satan’s ass. Enjoy” he finished with a laugh.

Paulson looked at the captain “Gee thanks Boss, you give me all the best jobs. Breathing units all round then.” He saluted as he left the bridge.

“Mac…what killed this ship? Did we get a lucky shot?”

McCallum looked over his reading for a few moments. “Yeah, very lucky. Looks like there is a weakness around the main engine core on this ship. Plasma exhaust has weakened the hull armour in a small area right above the main power linkage, its little better than paper. Must be a design flaw…if that shot had hit even a few meters on either side it wouldn’t have made a dent.”

Rotchford laughed. “luck had nothing to do with it. It’s pure skill.”

She grinned

Conroy rolled his eyes.

“Yeah yeah if you say so” he said grinning. Conroy didn’t mind a bit of banter with the bridge crew. He felt it build camaraderie and they all worked better as a result.

Turning to Macallum he said

“Deep scan this bitch, I see what else you can find, anything that’ll give us an edge.”

From over the other side of the bridge the tactical offer said “Captain, I think I’ve found something too. The missiles on the ship are armed.”

Conroy looked over “So?”

Rotchford brushing her brown bangs that had escaped from the severe bun on her head said “Our missiles auto arm a second after launch to prevent any accidents, these appear to pre arm before launch, Probably as soon as they find a hostile ship. Once direct hit could detonate the entire missile battery. The armour is thick but the launch tubes are vulnerable . “

“Comms” Conroy said excitedly “Tight beam the rest of the fleet and let them know what we’ve found…might give them an edge.”

Turning back to tactical

“Why would they do that?”

Rotchford shrugged. “not sure. It does mean the missiles can be fired much closer then we can shoot. Out missiles travel so fast that by the time they arm they’re a couple of hundred kilometres away, makes them useless for close engagements. By pre-arming them they get around that problem. Makes it almost impossible to shoot them down when the bugs get in close.”

Minutes passed slowly. Soon the boarding party was on board a small ship to ship shuttle and on route to dock with the crippled ship.

The shuttle did a quick fly over the damaged section and fired small arms at the Canidations working on the damaged hull, Killing the repair team. The aliens magnetic grips kept the bodies stuck to the hull like bugs splattered by a windscreen.

McCallum looked up “I’ve found something else captain, it wont help us now but I think we can take advantage of it.”

He put his display on the main screen, All eyes turned to it.

“I thought about using some kind of plasma weapon to weaken the armour of the whole ship, and that’ll probably work, we don’t use plasma tech, but I’m sure the weapons experts back home can build something.” He took a breath “Anyway, that got me thinking, Plasma is basically really hot ionized gas. Its expelled as exhausts right away as too much heat inside the ship it bad. As you know its almost impossible to loose heat in space, so we use active cooling systems to…”

Conroy interrupted before McCallum could go into a lecture on the finer points of starship heat management. “Get to the point”

Mccallum looked sheepish “Sorry sir, anyway, the Canidations seem to use radiator panels, they’re well armoured but vulnerable to excessive heat. A focussed laser beam could overload them. If they cant loose heat they’ll cook inside the ships.”

“Well done Mac, get everything we’ve found so far and bundle the data ready for transmission back to HQ”

Minutes dragged as Mccallum compiled the data.

Everyone was on eggshells, watching the boarding shuttle latch on to the Canidation hull and begin cutting through. Tactical constantly scanning for any Canidation ships that might be inbound. Conroy wondered how the rest of the fleet was fairing. The TDF ships were more manoeuvrable than the larger Canidation warships, so as long as they kept in a dense part of the Oort cloud, dodging comets and dwarf planets then the TDF ships should have an advantage.

*****************************

Inside the shuttle the atmosphere was tense. Paulson looked over the assembled combat team. All had breathing units over their lower faces. The units would filter out the harmful gasses and reduce the oxygen pressure to something breathable, but as they weren’t full space suits or fully sealed Paulson knew the stench would get through, he grinned inwardly he hadn’t told the team what the Canidation air was like, he wanted to see the reactions.

The ten member boarding team all had dark grey combat armour, and each carried a small side arm and a combat knife. Eight also carried an assault rifle with enough ammo to take on a small army, the other two combat engineers carried various tools and computer equipment. Their mission was to hack into any systems they could find and mine it for data.

The shuttle bumped into the hull and latched on. A magnetic tube made an air tight seal around the hatch. It opened to show a sold hull. The engineers immediately started cutting to gain access. It was slow going. Armour that can withstand heavy ship weapons wont easily fail to small plasma torches.

Sargent Waltham stepped up next to Paulson. “We’re ready to go” She said coolly.

Paulson nodded. “Get in and secure the area. Set up fire lines kill anything that’s got more than two legs.” He said to Waltham.

She was tall, blonde, very pretty in hard way. People, especially men, tended to underestimate her due to her looks, thinking she was just a made up barbie doll. Paulson had thought the same thing once, until she kicked his ass in hand to hand training. The first round he went easy on her and he was flat on his back in 5 seconds. The second round he went all out, and to his credit, he managed to last a full 7 seconds before she had him pined, face pressed against the floor and his left arm twisted up his back. Waltham, like all the other,s had earned her place in the combat team, but unlike the men she had to continually prove she deserved to be there. This constant striving for perfection had made her one of the best solders Paulson had ever worked with.

The thick hull armour fell inwards with a heavy thunk. The sound echoed around the shuttle. The stench of rotten eggs filler the small enclosed space and everyone wrinkled their noses.

“For fucks sake… is this ship full of farts?” Jones, the lead combat engineer said.

Paulson grinned. “Ok move out. Slow and steady, I don’t want any fuck ups.”

The team moved slowly into the alien vessel. The interior was dark, smelly and hot, lighting was a deep red that cast odd shadows. Paulson didn’t know if this was normal or if it was due to low power.

Waltham took her place first in line as the engineers cleared the hull and opened a portal to the interior of the ship. She directed one of her team , Ramerez, a young marine on his first away mission , hang back and guard the shuttle just encase they needed to make a quick exit.

Ramerez took position just inside the the shuttle door, he pulled a couple of boxes containing emergency supplies across the entrance and dug in.

The rest of the team followed her lead, with Paulson acting as rear guard, scanning the corridor behind him with a quick practiced eye.

One of the marines whispered in a low voice “damn, this is weird.”

“what is? Looks like a normal ship corridor to me” Paulson said

“sir...that’s what I mean. I expected...well dirt..or tunnels like that old movie ‘Aliens’. You know, the one where the dildo bursts out of some guys chest and all these Marines hunt it down? I mean they’re bugs for Christ’s sake..but this just looks normal.”

Paulson shook his head.“Lay off the old horror flicks. Keep it together”.

Looking at a handheld scanner Jones said “looks like there might be a room down the corridor to the right, I’m reading power spikes, it could be a place I can hack into there systems.”

The team crept inward, the low gravity giving them a bounce to their steps. They were searching for a room with a computer access, but all the could see were long featureless corridors. The came to a junction and as they passed a blast of plasma energy almost took Walthams head off. She Pulled back just in time, lightning quick reflexes saving her life. As it was the plasma shot singed her combat helmet.

Risking another blast, Waltham popped her head around then quickly pulled it back. Three Canidations waited around the corner, plasma rifles at the ready for another shot.

Pulling a flashbang from her belt she leaned out and expertly tossed he weapon into the centre of the group, a second later a loud BANG and a FLASH of bright light lit up the corridor. She could hear a smattering of legs as the Canidations fell back. Her and two of her team ran around keeping low and opened fire. The sound of the assault rifles sounded odd in the dense air. the Canidations tried to return fire but there shots went wide, scorching the metal bulkheads, obviously still blinded by the light. The skirmish was over quickly.

The team crept up slowly to the dead aliens. One in the was headless. Its body twitched, a dark yellow fluid pumping from its neck. The other two were still. Red faceted eyes that took up most of the head were dull and lifeless. Mandibles closed tighter than a vice.

Bullets had ripped the skinny top part of one in half, and the others larger thorax between the spiders-like legs was riddled and leaking the same yellow fluid.

The team looked at the corpses, they were…creepy. They unnerved the humans just looking at them. Jones knelt down and pointed something out. “Look, this one has a couple of cybernetic legs. That one has a cybernetic head…That’s so weird. Gives me the creeps.”

Paulson looked. “Why weird?”

“Think of what this means. They use medical tech to repair wounds. Replace missing limbs like we do. You don’t think of bugs caring for individuals I guess. I assumed they would be like a hive, like ants or termites just mindless soldier’s, disposable and replaceable. Maybe they’re more than that.“

One of the other marines, Patel a tall solid build man with a cold gaze said in a whisper “They’re like spiders, I fucking hate spiders. Normal spiders are bad enough but these are super sized fuckers with guns. “

He shivered as a cold chill ran down his spine. Taking one last place at the dead Canadation he walked slowly past, rifle ready for another attack.

As the team moved on one of the corpses stood up with a clatter. It swiped at a passing trooper with its upper limbs, razor sharp claws sliced across his face and chest, cutting flesh and the scoring deep cuts on his combat armour. He fell back shocked. The headless alien thrashed about, seemingly attracted to the noise the shocked humans made. It tried to reach for another one but a burst of fire from Waltham’s rifle tore through its thorax . the alien twitched again then fell back. She crept up, gun ready and kicked the corpse. No reaction. It was truly dead.

Patel looked a mess, his face had been cut to the bone, but he’d live. Two others helped bandage him up.

“fucking fuckitty fucking spiders! “ he shouted and kicked the corpse, holding his wounded face and blood soaked bandages.

“get back to the shuttle” Waltham commanded him.

He nodded, his face screwed up in pain, The bandages soaking with blood. He got to his feet and headed back the way he came.

Paulson looked at jones “What the fuck?”

Jones shrugged “I’m no medical expert, but I guess a head shot wont kill them. Maybe they keep their brains in there ass or something, I guess the head is just for eating and seeing.” Pointing to the Canidation with the cybernetic head “Maybe loosing the head for them is just like loosing an eye for us? Or maybe they’re like cockroaches. We should drag these things back to the shuttle. Medical back at HQ would have a field day.”

Paulson nodded “team, forget headshots, aim for the centre mass.” He directed a couple of team member to take the most intact body back to the shuttle “Keep it under guard…just in case”

The diminished team made there way deeper into the ship. Paulson was aware of the time he was taking, he knew The Glasgow couldn’t wait forever, but he wanted more than a few dead bugs. Soon they came across an empty room. The door was closed but a kick and a shove and it slid back into the wall. The team entered. Looking around, there was a lot of electronics that Paulson couldn’t guess the function off. Jones quickly set up his scanner. Pulling open a panel he found circuit boards. After quick scan he attached a lead from his scanner to one of the chips.

“If i can hack this, this should give me access” he worked quickly The rest of the team took up positions around the door. Paulson moved to the back of the room and signalled Waltham.

“thoughts? He said after she walked over

Waltham shrugged “they don’t seem too tough. Decent weapons though.“ she pointed to the plasma rifle she’d captured.

“hows things between you two?” he nodded to Jones

Relationships were against regulations but as long as it was discreet no one really minded. It could be lonely in deep space.

Waltham smiled. “he’s sweet, like a puppy. Always eager to please. But utterly fearless too. He could be a great soilder, but likes his gizmos too much.”

“Yeah jones is a good one.” Paulson agreed. He’s been friends with jones for years. They grew up in the same town went to the same high school, and went through training together.

Minutes ticked by. Jones had attached a large data cube to his scanner. He came over to the pair while the data downloaded “. I can copy the full ships hard drive. Shouldn’t take long. There’s not a lot of data, mainly seems to be the ships opperating system. Seems pretty basic. I did find something interesting though, I found ship schematic. We’re not far from a path to fire control. Its down the end of that corridor out there. “

Paulson thought for a second. “no, we have enough we need to get back”

Just as he said that his communicator beeped. It was the shuttle “Sir, get back here we need to go! A Canidation warship is on approach, ETA 7 minutes!”

“Ok people pack your shit up, we need to get out of here! Double time!”

The team grabbed there gear and quickly made there way back into the corridor. Several canidations ran down the steel hallway, the hack had triggered some kind of security protocol. These Canidations didn t have weapons but they moved so fast in the lower gravity that the quickly closed the distance, soon it was a melee, claw against fist.

****************

Alarms cried out for attention on the bridge of the Glasgow. A Canidation warship was closing in.

“eta?” asked Conroy. His calm voice a counterpoint to the frantic activity on the bridge.

“roughly 7 minutes until weapons range. I’ve contacted the shuttle”. maccalum replied.

Conroy nodded. Looking at the helmsman her said “keep that bug ship in between us. We’re smaller and so keep us in its shadow and hopefully they won’t get a weapons lock.”

Nodding, through helmsman fired up the thrusters.

“’ll try time get a target lock on the missile batteries.” Rotchford reported as she programmed the ships turrets.

Captain Conroy starred at the main screen, his fingers tapping a rhythm on the arm of his command seat.

Paulson tried to get a clear shot as a canidaton reared up on its four rear legs. It brought its full weight down on Waltham. Its mandibles opened and snapped closed right over her head. Only her quick thinking and combat helmet saved her from decapitation. She ducked her head and trusting the hardened carbon nanotube and ceramic construction she head-butted the bug right in its open mouth. Mandibles crunched against the helm. The force of through blow and the weight of the bug staggered her for a second, but years of hand to hand training came to her and with a twist and a flick she grabbed the alien and slammed it against the bulkhead. The lower gravity and adrenaline giving her almost superhuman strength.

Her combat knife flashed on the low light as she stabbed the mantis like torso. There was resistance then with a crunch she forced the blade through the carapace. The bug shuddered and wrenched. Flailing its limbs then it was still.

The skirmish was over as quickly as it started. Looking around Paulson shouted “sound off”

A chorus of voices said “here” or “i’m good”

A few troopers took minor injuries but no fatalities.

They sprinted down the corridor. The sound of gunfire brought them up short. The bugs were trying to capture the shuttle. Paulson knew if they lost that they were dead.

A scream echoed down the steel corridor. One of his men had fallen. Canidations pressed on.

“We need a distraction” Paulson shouted to Waltham over the blaring alarms.

“i have an idea. Hold here for a few seconds”

With that she sprinted back the way she came. Moments later an explosion rocked the ship. The lights and gravity cut out, then seconds later they came back on. The unprepared soilders hit the ground but were quickly back on there feet, the Canidations were not as lucky, they were a tangle of legs and claws further down the corridor.

Seizing his chance, Paulson shouting a battle cry and his boarding party fell in the bugs from behind. The battle was short and brutal but they pushed through just as Waltham returned. Her hair was burned and armour scorched.

“What the fuck did you do?” shouted Paulson

“I overloaded that plasma rifle and tossed it in the fire control room. I think we need to get out of here, that room is burning and it’s right next to the missiles”

Once everyone was on board the hatch slammed shut and the shuttle detached then raced back to the Glasgow, just as another explosion ripped through the Canidation warship. A series of smaller explosion’s rocked the ship them with a blast like a supernova the power core blew up. The shuttle was caught in the fireball but escaped with minor damage.

Paulson looked at his and bruised team as the shuttle pilot plotted a course back to the Glasgow.

Paulson pushed one of the Canidation corpses to the side, making down room in the small shuttle. He sat next to the body of a young man, almost a boy. Ramerez. It was his first tour, he was 18 and fresh out of boot camp. Ramerez had taken a plasma blast to the chest. His armour was burned through. Mercifully he had been killed instantly.

************

Conroy watched as the Canidation ship exploded. The shuttle streaked towards the hanger.

“well... shit” he said “get the shuttle on board and get ready to bug out”

calls of “aye” and “yessir” Echoed around the bridge..

The Canidation warship closed in, spitting fire and death at the Glasgow. Point defence destroyed the incoming missiles but the ship rocked from impacts

The Glasgow returned fire, turrets pounded the underside of the Canidation ship as it passed overhead passing through the expanding could of gas and debris.

The helmsman kept a steady course until the shuttle was back in then started evasive manoeuvres, he would have to hold the ship steady for a few moments to allow the hyperdrive to spin up, but the Canidation ship was not making it easy.

“Shuttle is on board. Prepare for Jump in 3...2...1...”

The ship lurched to the side and spun almost 90 degrees, crew members were thrown around the bridge like sticks caught in a hurricane. Alarms blared.

The main lights were down, red emergency lamps cast an eerie glow. Groans came from the crew

Rochford pulled herself back into her seat. Blood running from a head wound. She checked her console “sir..the hyperdrive core has been hit. We’re venting plasma and atmosphere...main power is down. Weapons down....the Canidations are coming around for another pass...”

Before Conroy could respond an explosion tore through the bridge as a missile impacted the armour surrounding the command center.

A ceiling panel that had been knocked loose earlier in the fight fell with a resounding crash pinning Conroy to his command chair and knocking him unconscious. Bones snapped under the force of the impact.

Rochford as the most senior officer left standing opened ship wide Comms “all hands. This is commander rochford. The captain is incapacitated abandon ship. I repeat abandon ship”

She moved as quickly as she could to try to help Conroy, Macallum was at his side trying to move the panel. “mac..leave him. We need to go...” she grabbed his arm “come on...move it soldier” macallum looked at the damaged viewscreen. The Canidation ship was baring down. Any second now it’s main cannons would finish the job. They were out of time.

White hot plasma blasts leaped from the Canidation vessel tearing across the cold black darkness. Promising death to the Glasgow.

A flash and a massive lurch pulled maccalum and Rotchford off their feet, but it wasn’t a weapon impact. It was the lurch of a gravity field forming a few miles away as a ship dropped out of hyperdrive.

A dangerous and potentially fatal move – a single miscalculation could have dropped the new ship right on top of them - but it saved the Glasgow. The rest of the fleet, the few ships that remained had jumped back to help. The TDF New York had jumped In front of the plasma blasts. Taking the hit that would have finished the Glasgow off. It opened up with its main cannons, rail guns blasting the armour above the Canidations missile batteries. Another Terran defence force ship TDF Cardiff jumped in behind and opened up on the bugs with everything it had. The Canidation vessel was powerful, but it couldn’t withstand the combined firepower of the vengeful human warships.

Explosion and explosion, hit after hit. The Canidations withered under the combined firepower and with a final flash it vanished as it’s fusion plant exploded.

The TDF Glasgows communication system beeped for attention. Maccalum moved slowly across

“This is captain Yoshimoyo on the New York. Prepare to receive medic and engineering teams. Your information won us the day Glasgow. All Canidation vessels have been destroyed. This is the first human victory in this war...”

“This is science officer McCallum. “thanks for the help. That was a risky move I owe your helmsman a beer. Captain Conroy has been injured. We don’t know how bad, the ship has taken heavy damage.

*****************

Weeks later Captain Conroy stood in front of admiral Wong.

Conroy had spent most of the time unconscious. His injuries sever, but with advanced medical skill, talented doctors and a dash of luck he had made a full recovery.

“Captain” the admiral began “I’m glad to see you’re back on your feet. I’ve out an official commendation for yourself and your entire crew. The information you fought so hard for will prove invaluable in this conflict”

Wong continued “The data contained ship specifications, technical manuals, training documents and recent fleet movements. With that information we’ve managed to push the Canidations back in a number of theatres , you and your crew have saved thousands of human lives. We all owe you a debt captain.”

“Thank you sir...i'm eager to get back to the Glasgow sir, to get back in the fight.”

The admiral shook his head

“I’m afraid not Conroy. The Glasgow was heavily damaged and will require months of repairs and refit. We can’t have a seasoned crew out of action for so long. You and your crew are being reassigned.”

Wong passed a pad to the captain

“Our newest, most powerful warship. The TDF Lucifer. You’ll be part of a task force – the ghost division. The Canidations are throwing more and more ships against us, and while we’ve slowed the advance to a crawl we are still loosing. You’ll go behind enemy lines and fight a guerrilla war. Do everything you can to bring the bugs down. Everything is a viable target, including the Canidation homeworld. Teach them to fear the wraith of Earth.”

End

[sporksaber]

Ok, I love the role swap concept with zuko and azula, but I feel like they switch their abilities and personalities a bit too and I think itd be more fun without that. Where Azula is an antisocial and unstable genius who wants to gain power and zuko still struggles with being the less powerful and extremely empathetic sibling. So here's how I'd do it.

(Note, this is just for fun. I'm not saying anyone else's version is bad. But I've though about this so much and need it out of my head before I go off cuz make a whole comic and I do not have the time, i need to work.)

First off, Azula wouldn't call out in concern for the men like how zuko did. In my version she's allowed into the meeting because of the aptitude for strategy shes shown. She speaks up because it's an inefficient plan that uses up too many resources when there are other options. This enrages her father and leads to the agni kai. Azula is terrified and feels betrayed but has no idea how to handle any of it. She fights back during the agni kai, but in her panic she sets off a bolt of lightning. Ozai finishes the match and severely burns on her lower back. Azula is banished for her use of lightning on the fire lord (bc ozai fears she will no longer be easy to manipulate and might plot his death) and is forced to leave the next morning.

Some things to note: azula is eleven at this point. I changed the placement of the scar bc I think zuko's is very symbolic in a way that doesnt suit azula. Zuko's scar being over his eye and close to the light chakra shows the way his view of the fire nation and honour obscures his vision and how he is unaware of the truth of the world under fire nation rule. I set azula's over her spine because that chakra is based on survival and blocked by fear. It also represents trust which will fit into her arc with the gaang. Finally, she doesnt have Iroh to guide her. One of the things that bothered me was Iroh writing her off as evil despite her being a mentally unstable child. She did have to be defeated, but the way he talked about it was too dismissive. (Personally I think he was projecting his views of his brother and his perceived failures with him onto her.) Azula isnt sent to capture the avatar so she isnt given soldiers. She's completely alone without an advisor to look to or keep her calm.

Azula is given a manned ship with a disgraced soldier and an attendant when she leaves. The way I see it the soldiers zuko had were probably more irohs than his. The soldier is relieved to not be executed but hates being demoted to playing babysitter to a child at sea. The attendant views it as a punishment and hates Azula for it. Eventually the attendant will betray her and be killed for it. Azula never trusted the soldier and he eventually leaves to start a family in an earth kingdom colony. Azula doesnt miss him, he was no longer useful. The loneliness does get to her though.

Azula is obsessed with getting the underhand, so she had been successfully building connections and planting spies where needed.

(Zuko has been acting as a respectable crowned prince. He holds a zealous loyalty to his nation and father. He still faulters as Iroh tries to steer him from tyranny, but his sights are set on his father's approval and that alone. Afterall, if his prodigy could be discarded who's to say what would happen to him if he failed?)

This brings us to the start of the series. Like Zuko Azula witnesses the trap on the old fire nation battle ship go off. She investigates and finds that an air bending avatar is living at the south pole village. She decides she wants to speak with him.

Azula didn't believe the avatar existed before this point. Hiding didnt add up to her knowledge of the morality of airbenders, so she assumed the air nation avatar from the start of the war would be dead. She would know if one had appeared in the water tribe, as the south had all its benders killed and the north was compacted so close together it would be impossible to hide. Earth would be harder, but they were most likely to fight back and out act. And if in ba sing se they'd be used as a weapon or gotten rid of to preserve the peace of the city. Once the culcle progressed to the fire nation it would either be used to take over the other nations or enf the cycle for good. After all, there hasn't been an air bender for a hundred years even if the rumors of some acolytes surviving were truthful.

Azula kidnaps aang with far more ease than she should of been able to. Once he stops struggling she calmly offers him tea and promises to release him once their discussion is finished. He takes the tea and drinks it without question and besides a wary glare shows no more hostility. She thought him a fool, the tea could have easily been poisoned and promised are nothing but words. His naivete makes her job easier though.

She finds out that he was suspended frozen in the avatar state the last 100 years. And so, Azula informs him of the war and the fire nations crimes, advising him to master the elements if he wants to prevent all his new friends and the avatar cycle from certain destruction. Aang is conflicted, he never asked for any of this. Azula just gives a bitter smile. "The hands of fate were never designed to take requests, they move without regard to any life dependent on it. Dont waste your breath when there is nothing you can do."

Azula wants to see Ozai fail. If helping the avatar is what it takes then so be it. When his friends appear to save him she let's them leave without a fight. Theyll be useful in the future.

As the gaang's travels kick off she sets out to find out if the rumours about the acolytes are true. In this she finds a traveling circus. The youngest daughter and an old friend of hers was eager to escape and found Azula's life exciting. She didn't hesitate after being invited along, insisting that traveling would be easy for her and that she'd pull her own weight.

She encounters the gaang a few times as time goes by. The relationship is reluctant on the water tribe siblings part, they dont trust her and hold a decent amount of fear towards her. Her cold and calculating demeanor was unsettling, but the unhinged way she fought was terrifying. Her form was perfect and her attacks were precise, but the bigger the fight the more lost she became as she laughed and shrieked and occasionally snapped at someone who didnt seem to be there. The only worse reaction was when she zeroed in on one opponent, picking them apart both mentally and physically as she drove them to the ground. )

Things that'll happen as I move through an episode list:

Azula doesn't have her ship attacked do she diesnt run into zhao while doing repairs, instead going straight to ty lee.

Azula learns that the gaang is on kyoshi island and heads ther after them. She has been keeping track of the avatar as they move. Ty lee gets along well with the kyoshi warriors while azula buts heads with them. They dont want her there and azula hates it when people get in the way. Zhao appears to try to capture aang and Azula dips at the same time as the gaang. She tells ty lee she can stay but she insists on sticking with azula. This puts her on edge.

Ty lee gets captured by earth benders, when she escapes on her own she cements her usefulness to Azula.

They run into zhao trying to capture the avatar and azula tells him she'll capture him first. They both attack aang during the solstice, though azula's attacks are all purposefully set to miss and trip up zhao as much as possible. Aang is the best way to prove her father wrong and she's not going to lose that.

They rob the pirates that try to capture the avatar. Azula needs the resources and it gives her leverage over the gaang.

After almost killing ty lee for scaring her by popping up behind her Azula tells her why she was banished. (In more of a "my own mother thought I was a monster" way than an opening up about trauma way.)

Azula learns that zhao has captured aang and frees him. She then sets to reworking her information network as not all of them are scared enough of her to not fail her. She remedies it quickly.

Azula learns that zhao is plotting her assassination and decides it's the perfect moment to fake her death.

Azula enters the north pole to defeat zhao and gain any information she can. Ty lee rades a library during the confrontation. Zhao is surprised and infuriated to see her alive, Azula smiles as she sends him to his death knowing that she is not only helping the avatar but also that he gave her a perfect way to hide from the fire nation. (When news of his sisters death reaches hum, Zuko doesnt know what to think. She was always cruel to him, but she was still his little sister.)

The crown prince of the fire nation is sent to capture the avatar. Azula follows him as he begins his search. (Zuko begins to think he's going insane as he keeps catching glimpses of his recently deceased sister out of the corner of his eye.)

Ty lee keeps running into a girl she slowly befriends. She's gloomy and sarcastic and ty lee thinks Azula would like her. (Zuko's fiance Mai tells him that she thinks his sister is still alive.)

As Azula notices ty lee become more and more distracted as she absorbed herself into the cultures that surround them she decides it's best for them to split up. Ty lee diesnt agree, but Azula leaves anyway. She has work to do.

While traveling alone Azula cant escape the thoughts of her mother. Of her fathers betrayal. Of the life she lost because the idiot elders had no grip on proper strategy that even a child could create. She meets a boy that reminds her far too much of zuko with a mother far to similar to theirs. When she sends the bandits controlling the town running she knows it's more than just controlling a territory that compelled her. But at the same time she doubts not following through on the whim would have bothered her.

Ty lee meets toph and chat for a bit. Ty lee tells her about azula and how she left. When toph tells her she should forget her she insists that azula didnt really ditch her and that they're still friends. They talk about their friends and childhood.

Ty lee finds Azula and immidiently jumps at her, which she does not enjoy. Ty lee insists that she still wants to travel with her and Axula sighs as she let's her tag along to the next location, ba sing se.

Azula slips through guards and protocols as she tries to gain any information she can to help her once they reach the city. Ty lee befriends a guy named jet and his group, the freedom fighters. When he tries to get more than friendship she turns him down and it becomes much more awkward.

Ty lee becomes a street performer and chames everyone she meets as Azula researches the dai lee and how they keep control. After lashing out in frustration ty lee drags her out to enjoy the city's night life.

Azula learns of the presence of the avatar and location of appa. She frees him and sets to work taking control of the dai lee. She let's herself be briefly captured but her plan shifts when katara is thrown in with her. Katara is pissed just being around her and azula plays up a cool kind of annoyance. Katara briefly catches sight of the burns on Azula's back and offers to heal her, only for Azula to freak out and yell at her to stay away, backing against a far wall in a fighting stance. They are saved by the rest if the gaang and ty lee shortly after.

Azula goes back to try and salvage her plan only to be caught off guard by the appearance of her brother and his offer to return to the fire nation. Not willing to lose all possible advantages, she agrees. They battle the gaang, and when they are almost captured azula sends a bolt of lightning at aang, causing them to retreat. Katara can heal him more easily than she can maneuver them out of an execution.

Azula returns to the fire nation with her brother, mai and ty lee, starting the beginning of a large power play between her and her father. They are sent to lo and li beach house. The relationship between the siblings is tense, zuko has always been the child born with nothing who gained everything when his blessed at birth sister lost it all. Azula has always been cruel, but he cant help but let his heart catch on the moments when she's not. ("My own mother thought I was a monster, My father thought i was too difficult to keep around" "Don't let their words blind you, you need to be more careful, zuzu." "I learned the hard way to never turn your back to anyone, and the scars will always be there as a reminder if I need it." )

Azula runs into iroh, who is very disapproving of her presence. He warns her to stay away from zuko and to watch herself while at the palace. Later, zuko comes to her asking about their great grandfather. Upon being pressed he admits that he was sent a mysterious letter. He thought she was going to burn it when he handed it to her but instead the heat from the fire revealed a hidden ink. "Honestly brother, did you ever pay attention at all during lessons?" They find a autobiographical scroll of their great grandfathers life and the secret that their other great grandfather was roku. Azula scoffed at the idea of bloodlines deciding fate and quickly left. But Zuko remained conflicted.

During the day of the black sun Azula confronts Ozai. As iroh and Zuko fight the avatar. She learns that her mother left for zuko's sake and that she was never going to be fire lord. Azula tells him she'll be somthing even better and leaves the palace.

Azula and ty lee follow the gaang to the western air temple. Katara immidprntly attacks but is quickly rendered unable to bend by ty lee. Azula tells them that the only way for them to of gotten out was for Aang to be incapacitated, and she knew katara could heal him. Aang decides they can stay but have to stay distanced from everyone else.

Azula tries to teach aang fire bending but is slowly growing sick while aang is barely able to produce a puff of smoke. Unable to sleep and constantly on edge, it soon affects her bending, sending her spiraling as she loses control on the only consistent power she's ever had. Her and aang journey to find the true source of fire bending to try to help their conditions.

Still sick, Azula is itching to do anything away from the temple. Finding sokka trying to reach the boiling rock to find his father, she decides to go with him as she knows the prison well. Sokka declines but she goes anyway. They dont find his father, but they do find suki. Azula formulates a plan but they postpone when sokka's father arrives.

Azula comes up with a new plan, now reluctant to include sokka. He tells her to trust him but she insists she has no reason to. Her sickness has been getting worse and he tells her she needs to trust him, making her angry. Only when he catches her while they're escaping dies she finally begin to accept trusting him, if only slightly.

(While they're away ty lee tries to convince

Azula goes with Katara to find the man who killed her mother. Azula has no concept of why katara is so upset, which causes her to get angry. But azula tracks the man anyway.

Ember island players- azulas character has the scar across her chest. She's absolutely insane and "not entirely inaccurate, but I'd never come up with such a dumb plan." Shes also heavily implied to be more than close to ty lee, which azula has no reaction to even as the others freak out.

I havent decided the ending, zuko will probably turn to the gaang's side. I'll add more later and maybe write or illustrate a bit.

[songofclarity]

In one of your metas you wrote something that left me thinking and now i cant stop thinking about it. What if madam lan was a wen and thats why CR was burnt? there is the little datail of timing and why nothing was made before that but... i kinda like this idea? Now i need madam lan as former lady wen.

Madam Lan as a former Lady Wen is so good! It pains me that the puzzle piece doesn't quite fit in canon but like, maybe if we skim off some of the heel it would fit into this beautiful shoe LOL

That Madam Lan was subjected to Lan "justice" after murdering the Lan Elder by having to marry QingHeng-jun, and then put under house arrest, and then the Lan told everyone that she had some "unspeakable disease and could not see others" (ch 64), would suggest that either the Wen were not all that powerful twenty years ago or she sacrificed herself to the Lan on purpose.

Considering how the the number one rule of the Qishan Wen Clan is basically to uphold the Qishan Wen Clan, I do have trouble imagining the Wen handing a Lady Wen over the Lan Sect and washing their hands of the whole affair. But the Wen Clan we get to know is one ruled by Wen RuoHan, who obviously takes measures to uphold, promote, and protect his family. Wen RuoHan appears to have inherited a powerful sect, but what sacrifices might have been made by his parents, relatives, and past generations to get there?

No one knows what went down between Lady Wen and the Lan Elder. Maybe she had a justifiable reason to kill the Lan Elder, or maybe she didn't. The Lan Elder is dead and all the other Lans are upset and want justice. Will they pick a fight with the whole Wen Sect over it? QingHeng-jun, who is in love with her, thus thinks he is saving her from his own people by marrying her, and perhaps she, in turn, saves his people from the Wen Sect by going along with it. She only wanted to kill the Lan Elder, or maybe the whole thing was an accident she regrets. What is done is done. It's not a bad union and thus neither Wen nor Lan can complain.

Just because she never complained about her situation to her young children, however, doesn't mean she didn't complain to QingHeng-jun, Lan QiRen, or any other adult around. The Lan Sect get their vengeance on her by isolating her from her family, both old and new. If she speaks up or fights back and the Wen Sect hear about it, of course the whole Lan Sect will be put in danger, and soon that will include her children, too. Children she can only see once a month as if to taunt her. They prevent her from teaching them herself or running off with them.

That she never asked about their education shows she had no interest in what the Gusu Lan were teaching.

Although maybe she did have an unspeakable disease that killed her after ten years. Or maybe she died of loneliness and grief and misery. Maybe she killed herself when she had had enough. Maybe she was killed by some Lan who had had enough of them all playing house (we see Lan rules broken all the time). Regardless, her ending is an incredibly unhappy one, which seems to be the fate of all Wens...

Since the Lan tried to hide Madam Lan's death from her own children, they might very well have hidden it from the Wen Sect. Maybe they pretended she was still alive all that time!? When the Wen find out what truly happened to her and that she has been dead for years, they are not pleased!

Wen Xu takes on the task of going to Cloud Recesses to confront QingHeng-jun about Lady Wen. A discussion they hold in private, and thus all the rumors account it as just "something," which so many people consider it being over nothing. And then Wen Xu forces the Lan to burn Cloud Recesses to the ground. The whole place can be burned in her honor, with all the buildings and wealth of the Gusu Lan going to her in the afterlife. And since she gave herself up to the Lan willingly, the Wen won't destroy them outright. Instead the Wen will be there to help guide the Lan once they are reborn from the ashes~

Make her Lady Wen and suddenly Cloud Recesses being burned down, the Wen indoctrination camp to replace the Lan indoctrination camp, and the supervisory offices become a little more personal in motive.

Although I will conclude this by saying that other than her being Lady Wen, I think her being related to Wen (Zhao) ZhuLiu fits quite well with canon. The destruction of Cloud Recesses and the death of QingHeng-jun would surely make him feel much gratitude to the Wens and to Wen RuoHan, and that he joined the Wen by name would make her a Wen by proxy~

But then Wen RuoHan and Madam Lan being related? Maybe even siblings?? Wen RuoHan does strike me as a younger sibling so the loss of his older sister would go right in step with our several other sibling stories in MDZS.

[maskedjoker]

We are getting really close to the scene in lost fragment of snow that was genuinely confusing in the book, and it's the scene were everyone in the circus is killed. I think what we will probably get is a scene were mana finally ends up giving into despair after he is hit and then allen is fed to a lion.

I think that with more current info, i can say for sure that sleeve earl and mana are a hybird. This will likely cause a resurgence of sleeve earl into taking over the body and becoming whole. This only lasts for a short time however and when cross confronts him after the rest of the circus has died from the audience turning into akuma(which i suppose are implied to be constantly just around the earl and is probably one of the many reasons cross warned Allen to stay away) some exchange of words or damage causes a lots of control. This damage however also hurts mana(or potentially just being forced out off control) causing him to loose even more memories as seen when mana and Allen reunite the next day.

Now i think we can agree that sleeve earl exists as a third entity, especially since her recent art exhibit interview, as she talked about the suit being a super sophisticated golem. I think in this case as with tim and lero yhat "golem" refers to AI. Id argue with the weird phrasing like helix of life and all the biotech style that magic is more often than not just more advanced technology, and wherever the noahs came from likely was, hence why they say they only seem strong because we have become so weak. This is only further shown with innocences resemblance to machines like its gear like parts and percentage resonance.

The noah memories in general i think are some kind of AI that passes through generation lines, carrying significant portions of its past forward and then fusing with a similar person in their lineage. For example early on road would have been just road, then through some means either became an AI(or was given a piece of someone that counts as one under golem, its unclear). Regardless once connected to the noah memory, it acts like a save file and becomes more sophisticated with time. It carries each life and gives all those memories, feelings and drives to a new body. So new road would remember being road, her life and everything, but also the life they had been living up until the two combined. Over time the noah memory keeps getting larger and larger to the point new experiences are so small, relatively speaking, that it overrides much more than normal. Since they are fuzed as one being they likely cant be separated without mutually assured destruction, were the current entity will die and any remains will not be the origionals, if anything remains at all. An example of this is that tyki could not be made human by Allen I their fight i the arc, despite having a blade that should destroy only part of him. Admittedly tyki is a special case though, and more tyki backstory is needed.

Changes from body to body become more subtle, but the base, which likely has a distinct core function as seen by its response to certain tasks and ideas, remains a strong aspect. This creates an almost reincarnation like effect for them, needing to only find a new body to continue.

The suit is like this, but different. I don't know how the original earl split, but i do think that some aspect of him was placed on the suit. I would like to say its the original version of the noah memories of the earl and nea got like a brand new copy, but i actually have no idea what memories he has of being past earl so its mostly a guess. Regardless the noah actually all seem to transform in some way when they get mega pissed. Im looking at you skinn, jasdevi, and tyki/joyd. So the suit is likely that kind of thing, but way more distinct and capable of acting autonomously. Since they all have different forms it makes sense that his would also be unique. They all probably represent some inner desire related to their memory. Skinn is just rage so big angry man works fine. Jasdero and devit are bonds so they want most to be one. Tyki got all fucked up before he changed so i got nothing, but it had a heavy does of sadism, which I guess is pleasure? Taking into account that killing in horrible graphic ways is his guilty pleasure it kinda makes sense.

So because of that, this sentient AI is constantly trying to pair with half a fucking brain because nea and mana only share one brain cell. Some kind of resistance from mana or strain causes him to constantly fall ill or comatose. Now to be clear on naming, sleeve earl does not refer to themselves as adam in the mirror scene nor does he refer to mana as adam, and only uses "we" when talking to mana about being the earl. Oddly enough the earls self pronouns are we, using wagashi which is kind of like the japanese equivalent of the royal we used in europe for the entirety of the series. For the record, mana in the flashbacks uses male or single they pronouns, i don't remember if he uses boku or watashi, but he uses at least one if not both.

So from this it seems millennium earl is a title, used by whatever is paired with the suit. Adam is the original name of the noah, and is the preferred name of the current earl aside from the title.

This circumstance was likely caused by the rest of the noah, who are using the earl for something related by the pillar. His separation either by accident or by intent was likely by the hands of his family trying to keep control for their ends. This is why the current earl is called a broken puppet and has so many things around him related to acting and stage plays. He is playing a role, the red clown to allens white clown as stated in the ark arc. He even wears a mask. His memories and mind have been damaged though, therefore broken. However broken puppet for both allen and the earl could also refer to a puppet that doesnt work as a double meaning, implying they can no longer be controlled or puppeted.

It is also implied that he is still unaware of this betrayal, but it is likely nea does to some degree as it would explain why he became a traitor and killed his own family. To be clear, i dont think all of the noah know everything, and i dont think they dont actually care for the earl. It seems they still genuinely follow him to their death and see him as one of their own, especially in cases like road, tyki and wisely.

Now early i said that different generations of noah would cope woth reincarnating differently. Since the earl only died once before 7000 years ago, id say resetting to a new body with only 17 years would be just smashed flat by any algorithm with that much data. However manas feelings are still the newest, and so still have an impact even on the current earl.

Now we come to resurrecting mana. How? Why? Well i dont know. But my guess is whatever part was the memories of mana for the 20 or so years he lived, or at least his memories at death, are in allen. His curse and weird hallucinations of mana seem to suggest it. Alternatively that part of his soul may have passed on, or it fuzed with the noah memory making the origional mana part of the hive and much like tyki and his noah memories cannot be seperated. Not good regardless.

As two additional things, i want to mention that hoshino is a twin and has always been obsessed with it, so having twins in her book was inevitable. What is extra weird is hoshino was actually going to be a triplet, but either her or her sister absorbed it before birth. She has mentioned it in dgm interviews and i cant PROVE it translates to anything in the plot but its suspicious. She also still list mana, nea and the earl as distinct in every book up to date in extra novels and at the start of her books. Oh and her favorite hat for the earl right now? The one featured on the most recent chapter? Has two faces on the front that are visible, and one in the back thats hidden, and the most recent art has the back face as the only one visible, angrily staring allen down. Great art foreshadowing if im right. Its also usually sleeve earl, if not exclusively, that wear it.

The second thing is mana talking about love and drive in the most recent chapter just brings up the earl having the noah memory of love or devotion or something for me. Ive written about it before but it just seems to fit. This character is all about that from the ability to fuze loved ones together to the hearts he talks with and his drives being based on grand acts of devotion, being by their side etc. Mana also loved and adopted both and dog and a homeless child and keeps talking about how the world is so beautiful despite all the bad. The earl literally acts like the whole noah clans mom by his own words and cooks for them, and both of them go out of their way to be cartoony to break tension. The earl literally goes and buys a single red rose from a poor girl while tyki pontificate on how he doesnt act like a villain. He doesnt take an umbrella because he wants to feel the rain. He talks about how what he does is in human nature and requires a connection between two people. He is even designed with his ideal colors as red and purple with white, as well as being designed after flowers. I know this probably doesnt make sense, but its stuck in my head.

[queenaryastark]

George RR Martin: dragons are weapons of mass destruction, they're symbols of destruction and not of rebuilding, it's why the targaryens lost their power because their rule was built on fear and when the dragons died it only took a small spark to cause a rebellion, daenerys should read fire and blood so she can learn how not to use dragons daenerys herself: dragons plant no trees, If they are monsters than so am I Yall: i cant read suddenly i dont know

LMAO! I can’t even call that paraphrasing since this jumble of out of context gibberish completely misinterprets GRRM’s words and intent. 

First off, no one said dragons weren’t weapons of mass destruction. Them being powerful weapons is pretty obvious. Them being weapons does not erase the violence and cruelty of characters who do not have them. The mass destruction the Starks and Lannisters have wrought against the Riverlands and Westerlands was done without the aid of dragons. So was the mass destruction the Greyjoys and Boltons wrought on the North. The Tyrells were able to commit mass murder by cutting off food supplies, which led to mass starvation, which was their specific intent. 

Dragons are dangerous. Obviously. So are people, as George R. R. Martin goes out of his way to tell us in every chapter of his work. The man literally depicts Robb, Stannis, Balon, and Joffrey as equally as violent toward the common people and the land of Westeros. He even gives Dany this metaphoric image of the four of them:

“In one room, a beautiful woman sprawled naked on the floor while four little men crawled over her. They had rattish pointed faces and tiny pink hands, like the servitor who had brought her the glass of shade. One was pumping between her thighs. Another savaged her breasts, worrying at the nipples with his wet red mouth, tearing and chewing.” -- A Clash Of Kings

And that is far from the only time he frames them in an equally negative light given their level of mass destruction.

when the dragons died it only took a small spark to cause a rebellion, daenerys should read fire and blood so she can learn how not to use dragons

You think Dany should read Fire and Blood? I agree. I hope she gets a copy once she arrives to save Westeros from the warlords, opportunistic politicians, and the Others. Though you should probably try to find someone who can read it to you and explain what all the big words mean. If you look in that book, you will see that the Targaryens became extremely popular and loved. They decreased the amount of war and destruction, they streamlined the laws, they established roads, and they removed a couple of the abuses that were the norm. They were far from perfect. But in that imperfection, Dany could learn from them too. 

As for a “small spark” causing a rebellion as soon as they didn’t have dragons... *sighs* If you don’t know about a topic, that’s fine. Not everyone can be an expert on every topic. But you Sansa stans (yes I know you’re a Sansa stan and you probably have that hideous image of ST with her trademark vacant expression and that ugly ferret crown as your icon) should actually fact check yourselves before trying and failing to present yourselves as an authority on anything. The last dragon died in 153 AC. The Targaryens were overthrown in 283 AC. Even before 153 AC, the dragons that lived either weren’t under their control, were pretty young, or were deformed. In other words, they continued to rule Westeros without dragons for a significant amount of time. In that time, not only did they rule, but they were able to bring Dorne into the realm peacefully. 

Even the wars they had were far fewer than the amount of constant wars that happened while the kingdoms were separate. The Blackfyre Rebellions were sparked by Westerosi racism and xenophobia against the Dornish, as well as the greed and opportunism from the Andal/First Men supporters of the Blackfyre claimant. Notice how in those rebellions the people of Westeros supported either the Targaryens or the Targaryen blooded Blackfyres? No matter which side the lords took, they were supporting a Targaryen because they support that family. Like in real life civil wars, they just supported different members of that same royal line. It wasn’t because they feared them. They wanted their rule. They just wanted the rule of a specific claimant over another based on their own values or what they thought they could gain from a change in Targaryen leadership.

Even with the Baratheon rebellions, they were still Targaryen blooded claimants. With Lyonel Baratheon, he felt his family was insulted when an engagement between the crown prince and his daughter was broken so the prince could marry a peasant. This might seem like a “small spark”, but this would have been considered hugely offensive by the classist nobility. Note how this rebellion was resolved incredibly easily to the point where I don’t even think it warrants being labeled an actual rebellion. It seems more like it was set up for the next Baratheon rebellion since it resulted in that House gaining even more Targaryen blood than it already had. That’s the thing, the nobility wanted their children to marry Targaryens. Doesn’t sound very fearful, does it?

Robert’s Rebellion wasn’t set off by a “small spark”. The kidnapping and rape of the Lord of Winterfell’s daughter and the betrothed of the Lord of Storm’s End is not insignificant. It also didn’t set off the rebellion. The murders of multiple lords and their heirs is also not a small thing. It didn’t set off the rebellion either. What set it off was the combination of those two events with the demand for the executions of the new Lord of Winterfell and the Lord of Storm’s End. Those events taken separately are not small sparks and they certainly aren’t small when put together. It took something HUGE to make a big part of the realm turn on the Targaryens. Even still, the rebels were in the minority since most of the other regions either stayed out of the conflict waiting to see how it played out or stayed loyal to the Targaryens. If Tywin had continued to stay out of the conflict, the Rebellion could have lasted indefinitely with either side winning since the Crown’s forces outnumbered them and occupied the Stormlands. 

You also seem to miss the fact that quite a few people in Westeros are still Targaryen Loyalists and want to restore them to the throne. You even miss the fact that Robert, Joffrey, and Tommen’s claim comes from their Targaryen blood. 

So no, the Targaryen rule was not based purely on fear. They clearly retained loyalty and love without the benefit of dragons as weapons.

daenerys herself: dragons plant no trees, If they are monsters than so am I

It’s funny how you can try to quote the book while having no understanding of the passage you’re quoting. Here’s the paragraph you’re referring to:

Mother of dragons, Daenerys thought.Mother of monsters. What have I unleashed upon the world? A queen I am, but my throne is made of burned bones, and it rests on quicksand. Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros?I am the blood of the dragon, she thought.If they are monsters, so am I. -- ADWD

This takes place in Dany’s second chapter of A Dance With Dragons after she has captured and chained two of her dragons and failed to capture the third. Why is she trying to chain them? Because Drogon killed one (1) child. That’s right. Not only is Dany compensating the people for the sheep her dragons were eating. She has no tolerance for them killing innocents. The quote above is not her glorying in the destructive power of the dragons. Nor is she going around without an ounce of guilt for terrorizing, maiming, and murdering innocents the way Robb, Balon, Stannis, Joffrey, Tyrion, Cersei, and every other leader in Westeros does. That is what this passage is PROVING. Seriously, using the “If they are monsters, so am I” quote is proving that Dany has guilt over the life her dragon has taken and that she has taken steps to prevent that from happening again. Compare that to Tyrion’s complete lack of care when it comes to the mass murder his family is causing:

"A lordling down from the Trident, says your father's men burned his keep, raped his wife, and killed all his peasants."

"I believe they call that war." -- Tyrion, ACOK

While Dany is trying to preserve lives, the mass murdering leaders of Westeros see murder and rape as the norm and completely acceptable. Even the noble Robb Stark tried to move the carnage that he and Tywin were inflicting on the Riverlands into the Westerlands and was upset that his plan to do so was partly thwarted by Edmure. His issue wasn’t with the common people suffering and dying. He just wanted the suffering and dying to happen to the common people of the Westerlands (the ones who hadn’t been forced into service as arrow fodder by the Lannisters yet) instead. Yet, you’re trying to use Dany’s guilt at one (1) child being killed by her dragon as proof of...something?

As for Dany not planting trees, yes, she fears that’s something Targaryens can’t do. But the text shows that her ancestors could and did. Dany is also planting trees in ADWD and was in the process of making Vaes Tolorro bloom in ACOK before she was invited to Qarth. The Golden Company (who wants to put her and Aegon on the Iron Throne as a pair) are even upset because they think she’s only interested in planting trees in Meereen.

When analyzing a literary work you have to understand that what the characters fear and the guilt they feel are not signs of their permanent situations. They’re signs of their internal obstacles that will be overcome in their arcs. Dany fears her dragons and fears herself and fears that she won’t be able to achieve peace and positive societal growth. Its good that she fears these things because this shows she acknowledges these issues so they can be overcome. The current Westeros leadership don’t see the issue in their mass murdering, which is an issue all on it’s own. 

Its alright if this series is above your comprehension level. There are books out there for you to read that are better suited for your capabilities, like Hop on Pop or Green Eggs and Ham. It’s probably best if you stick to those.

[jellyfishjuliet]

so when i think about patolli and william’s relationship from patolli’s perspective, i cant help but see patolli seducing william as a subconscious act of vengeance carried out against the humans. like william may have been the perfect body to possess, but patolli DIDN’T have to do half of what he did because william was already weak enough emotionally to give himself up to patolli willingly since he always had a feeling patolli was hibernating in his head. patolli could have taken advantage of his naivete and forcibly possessed william even earlier than intended, but he didn’t. patolli WILLINGLY fucked with william to the point where william was like “you have my heart, my body, AND my bussy” and patolli didn’t even have corporeal control until AFTER julius had ‘died.’ patolli played william until william was all his, body and soul, and he really ABSOLUTELY didnt have to go that hard, cuz william had already suffered enough abuse and neglect that he may have even WELCOMED death at one point just to make patolli happy. but patolli didn’t make it easy for william. if anything, he did everything to destroy william’s credibility and forced him onto the precipice of death and made him commit a soft suicide just so patolli could reign. it is SUCH a tragic chain of events bc william was both the victim and the aggressor and whereas patolli had a motive for his violence, william did not. he committed violence bc he was a coward, bc he couldnt choose between patolli who was his other half, and julius who was his father figure.

and the reason why i think patolli seduced him on purpose is because i think he knew, deep down, that licht WASN’T in the wrong for falling in love with tetia. bc at the end of the day, love between species IS possible, and tetia WAS genuine in her love, and patolli was just jealous, plain and simple. but where licht DID fuck up was trusting his love would lead him to salvation, which ended in nothing but death and destruction. and that’s what patolli DIDN’T do, bc even tho he genuinely grew to love and care about william, he chose NOT to let his love dictate his heart, and so he killed william (metaphorically).

because patolli didnt have to be kind. he didnt have to give william the warmth and love that he did, didnt have to make william feel like his purpose was more than just serving julius. patolli gave william something to devote himself to, and more than that, patolli gave william genuine, honest, unfiltered love and it’s the love william wanted the most because it was all-encompassing. and it was also the love that metaphorically killed him in the end when patolli took over his body for good, because william couldnt handle the guilt.

it’s so hauntingly ironic that patolli’s vessel ended up becoming the wizard king’s surrogate son, bc that means william was essentially wizard prince, and after reading about william’s state rn and knowing that he’s being offered up as a sacrifice, i cant help but believe william has now fully inherited tetia’s role.

patolli’s rage stems from the argument was that the elven genocide was a result of licht putting his guard down after falling in love with tetia and befriending lumiere. but didnt patolli end up doing the same shit in the end? loving and emotionally abusing a human who was willing to spiritually die for him in the end, sure patolli never had to trust humankind to get his shit done, but he fucked with william when he absolutely had no reason to. he gave william the love he so desperately desired when he could have subtly tortured him. instead of abusing him outright, he killed william with kindess and with love.

i hope that william survives this arc bc i want them to reunite and see each other after this separation. they know each other for what they really are now. i know that william doesnt hate patolli, but i hope PATOLLI has finally realized that the love of his life, his other half was always william because it was WILLIAM who willingly gave up his will and body to him, and out of all of his followers, it was the human who loved and devoted himself the most. bc as much as patolli hated tetia, even he knew that her love for licht was genuine.

hopefully william’s kidnapping will spark that realization in patolli that this time, it’s not just william going to sleep in his head, but that he’s about to be violently murdered to bring about the apocalypse. patolli doesnt have to care about the humans bc they dont matter. they still mirror licht and tetia bc i believe, in my heart, that patolli does truly and honestly love him. he didnt do the right things at first bc his mission came before his love, but now the mission is over but his love is still there. i think this is the moment where patolli has to come to terms with a decision not even licht had to face - to let the dark triad kill william and set off the humankind genocide as the ultimate revenge, or to fight back and save william not bc of the lil humans but bc he genuinely loves william. here’s to hoping that patolli will also make lots of emotional love to william after murdering zenon in cold blood ameen

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 64 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)

The poll closed with 60 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.

Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.

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RATE THE EPISODE 53 Responses

The poll closed with 54 responses. The overwhelmingly positive response to the season continues, with 97.9% of folks giving it a 4 or higher and not a single person giving a rating less than 3. 

10/10 acting, atmosphere and music

MAPPA couldn't have done a better job. Inhumanely impossible. 20/10.

Just pure hype

Amazing episode, one of the best in the entire series.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 53 Responses

The overwhelming majority of respondents enjoyed the last scene of the episode, with Eren transforming in the basement and assaulting just as Willy formally declares war on Paradis. Behind the climactic moment, the rest of the favored scenes were various moments throughout Eren and Reiner’s conversation prior.

WHICH INTERPRETATION (BY RBA) OF THE OLD MAN’S STORY DO YOU THINK IS CLOSEST TO WHAT THE MAN ACTUALLY THOUGHT? 54 Responses

The Old Man’s story and its motifs have been present all throughout this season, so it’s interesting to see how people see it. When it comes to understanding the Old Man’s thoughts specifically, the plurality (46.3%) agrees with Bertholdt’s interpretation. Others (35.2%) see more to Annie’s idea of the Old Man’s final thoughts. Only 18.5% believe that there’s little use in predicting what’ll never be known.

IN THE SAME VEIN, WHICH OF THE AFOREMENTIONED INTERPRETATION FITS REINER’S STATE OF MIND IN THE BASEMENT SCENE? 54 Responses

In that same vein, the plurality (42.6%) also believes that Reiner wanted to receive judgement, perhaps from Eren. Just a little under 26% believe that in addition to receiving judgement, Reiner also wants to receive forgiveness. Few believe Reiner solely wants forgiveness. Finally, a little under 15% simply aren’t sure what Reiner wants. 

He just cant take it anymore, he wanna die. If he stays alive he will become the reason of death of more people which he doesnt want

He wants it to be over 

He wants to be killed as an atonement because he can’t live with his contradictory feelings about what he’s done

He wants what happens after someone is judged- to be sentenced. Reiner already judged himself.

I dont care

WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET A HUG FROM PIECK? 54 Responses

An incredibly serious question with a lopsided result. Just under 69% would like to receive a hug from Pieck, in contrast to 13% who’d rather not. 18.5% don’t really care about stuff like this. 

DO YOU THINK HELOS ACTUALLY EXISTED? 53 Responses

The majority (little under 53%) believe Helos was a complete fabrication, down to his very existence. Some others (18.9%) think he existed, but wasn’t anybody special or (13.2%) think he existed and was actually involved with ending the Great Titan War. A bit over 15% just don’t care.

“I’M THE SAME AS YOU.” EREN SAID THIS TO REINER A FEW TIMES IN THE EPISODE. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? DO YOU THINK EITHER OF THEM HARBOR A GRUDGE AGAINST THE OTHER? 29 Responses

One of the episode’s focuses was the meeting between Eren and Reiner, in addition to their general relationship. Here’s what a few people thought about the central motif of the meeting: 

At this point Eren's attitude is all like "It's nothing personal." 

Eren is in the same state of mind like reiner, he wanted to become the hero, yet he became a villan in the enemy's eyes

I think Eren's right. They're the same, and S1 and S4 parallel their actions in multiple ways. I honestly don't think Eren has any kind of grudge against Reiner anymore. I think he's moved on from his hatred and is just doing what he thinks he has to. And Reiner just seems ready to die so he doesn't have any kind of grudge either.

I think Eren is definitely holding a grudge, it’s not like him not too. 

Hell no, Reiner is an irredeemable monster. Based on the preview for the next episode, whatever Eren does from here on out is justified.

If Eren kills someone dear to Reiner, maybe Reiner will hold a grudge against Eren, otherwise they understand each other reasons.

I think they recognise each other’s efforts to protect their homelands (even if it means destruction) and their determination to do so, and that they have the same motivations and values. i think they don’t have a grudge against each other because they are able to see they are similar people who have just been placed on opposing sides, and that it is nothing more than their duties to bring down the enemy, but at heart, they hold the same values and morals.

I think it mainly shows how Eren has matured over the last few years. He knows Reiner’s intentions now, and he can admit that the two of them are similar without lashing out at him immediately and labeling him as a completely evil man (like he used to). I think Eren might still have some harsh feelings towards Reiner, but it definitely doesn’t seem like it’s his priority right now. Reiner doesn’t clearly display that he has a huge grudge against Eren (though I bet he still isn’t very fond of Eren). More than anything, Reiner seems to be struggling with his thoughts about his time in Paradis. It seems like he can’t accept the fact that Paradis Eldians are not all devils; he may be struggling to suppress this new perspective, and he forces himself to commit to his “honorary Marleyan identity” instead. Thus, I don’t think Reiner hates Eren as much as he used to, as he seems to be showing slight signs of sympathy towards the Paradis Eldians.

No Eren is now a grown ass adult when je was making his decision. Reiner was a kid he was like 11? 12? He didn't know he was an indoctrinated child and he suffered all his life for that. Eren isn't at all the same as Reiner. 

I feel like that emphasizes that the people of Marley and Eldia are no different from each other, just that they are on different sides. I do not think Eren and Reiner harbor a grudge against each other.

They’re both pretty fucking broken. I don’t think Eren or Reiner hate each other because Eren said “if it’s to save the world, then you didn’t have much of a choice.” But I also think part of Reiner wants Eren to hate him because he hates himself so much.

i think the old eren would hate him but it’s been 4 years and now i think he has realized that they are in fact very similar. i feel it is very interesting what happened but i think there would still be a minor grudge against each other

They both have the same purpose but different paths, to protect their loved ones from a threat. Since it's not really a personal issue but a bigger picture I don't think they resent each other, it's just a coincidence how they both ended up against each other.

DO YOU THINK THAT EREN AND REINER ARE EFFECTIVE FOILS TO EACH OTHER? 52 Responses

The vast majority (88.4%) seem to agree with the notion of Reiner being a foil to Eren, be it a complete or partial foil. 9.6% dissent and argue that there’s no comparison.

LADY KIYOMI OF THE AZUMABITO CLAN SEEMED TO NOT STICK AROUND FOR TYBUR’S THEATER PRODUCTION. WHY? 52 Responses

An interesting development came in Episode 5 in the form of Lady Kiyomi of the Azumabito leaving Tybur’s Play before it started. The majority (just under 52%) thought it meant that she had ties to Eren and/or the SC. A large minority (34.6%) on the other believe that although she somehow found out about the attack beforehand, she has no ties to Eren. Some others were either already spoiled, believe she got lucky or think she had her own plans of assaulting Tybur during the play.

MR. LEONHART SEEMED ADAMANT THAT ANNIE IS STILL ALIVE AND WILL COME BACK HOME. WHAT DO YOU THINK? 53 Responses

When it comes to Mr. Leonhart’s appearance and his convictions, the vast majority (83%) believe that Annie is alive. The major division comes about whether Annie will be able to reunite with her father or not. Some others believe that Annie is neither dead nor alive and is more permanently stuck in her crystalline state. Only one person believes she is simply dead and that’s that.

REINER IS SHOCKED BY EREN’S PRESENCE ON THE MAINLAND. WHAT’S THE FUNNIEST WAY YOU COULD ENVISION EREN GETTING ACROSS THE SEA? 52 Responses

A bit of a less serious question came out here. How could Eren get across the sea in a less serious manner? Some thought him walking on water would be rather amusing, others believed piggy-backing on Armin’s Colossal Titan would be most humorous. Other options included free-styling across the sea or kayaking. 

A ship? Maybe one of those Marley sent to Paradis in the last four years?

bOAT

Had armin yeet him across 

He rode on David Hasselhoff

Used one of the Marleyan ships that was sent to Paradis to go to Marley

WHO IS THAT LANKY SOLDIER WHO TRAPPED PIECK AND PORCO IN THE HOLE? 53 Responses

A plurality (45.3%) believes the lanky soldier who trapped Pieck and Porco is someone we already know. Though a little under 23% think that it’s actually a new character only Pieck knows. In a similar vein, 13.2% think that it’s a new character from the SC. 17% appear to have been spoiled, however.

MAGATH ASKS, “HAS IT BEGUN?” WHEN HE LEARNS THE WARRIORS HAVE GONE MISSING. WHAT “IT” IS MAGATH TALKING ABOUT? 51 Responses

Just shy of 50% think that Magath was already aware of Eren and/or SC’s presence in Marley when noting that “it” has already begun. Others believe that he either had some other plan created in conjunction with Willy or was waiting on an attack from the nation of Hizuru. A little under 20% just aren’t sure. 

He was anticipating enemy attack

DO YOU THINK WILLY WAS TRUTHFUL WHEN REVEALING THE “TRUTH” TO THE WORLD? 51 Responses

When it comes to Willy revealing the “truth” to the world, the vast majority (72.5%) believe that Lord Tybur was largely truthful when it came to dropping bombshells, but also made sure to twist certain things to get a favorable narrative. Some others think that he was either completely or only partially truthful.

WILLY ACCUSES EREN OF WANTING TO UNLEASH THE COLOSSAL TITANS UPON THE WORLD. DO YOU THINK HE IS JUST DEMONIZING HIM TO GET THE WORLD TO ATTACK PARADIS, OR DO YOU THINK THIS IS SOMETHING EREN IS CAPABLE OF DOING? 51 Responses

A rather noted accusation from Willy rained down upon Eren in this episode. And as a result, we gained a rather colorful pie chart to boot. In it, a slight plurality (23.5%) seemed to believe Tybur’s accusation when it came to discerning Eren’s future plans. Slightly less (19.6%) thought that Tybur was making up BS about Yeagerboy. The same percentage (19.6%) took a middle group, arguing that although Tybur actually believes this is Eren’s plan, Eren actually wants something different. Some others simply note that Eren couldn’t do that dastardly act, even if he wanted to due to lack of royal blood. 21.6% were spoiled about the story’s future. 

Pretty sure Eren wants to kill every last person outside of Paradis and is going to use Zeke’s royal blood to do so, but I think Zeke will be tricked or forced into it sonehow

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW BADLY DO YOU FEEL FOR FALCO ABOUT THE WHOLE LETTER FIASCO? 52 Responses

When it comes to Falco and the whole letter fiasco, there is much sympathy for the boy. More than half gave a rating of either 4 or 5 and only 13.5% gave a rating of either 2 or 1. In conclusion, Eren is a mean poopy-head!

EREN TOLD FALCO LAST EPISODE THAT HE HOPED FALCO WOULD LIVE A LONG LIFE. YET HE TRANSFORMED ON TOP OF HIM IN THIS EPISODE. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? 52 Responses

Staying on the topic of Falco, and Eren’s actions being contradictory to his words, almost 56% believe that although Eren was honest with his words in regards to Falco’s future, he had no qualms about letting that get in the way of his plans. A noted minority (28.8%) think that Eren hoped Reiner would protect the young boy. A small percentage also thought that Eren was simply lying to Falco.

DID YOU EXPECT EREN TO TRANSFORM ON TOP OF REINER AFTER HIS SPEECH ABOUT THEIR SIMILARITIES? 51 Responses

When it came to the episode’s ending, the majority seemed to expect Eren’s transformation, be it because of spoilers or own predictions (58.8%). A noted minority (41.2%) did not expect it, however, predicting either a recruitment attempt from Eren or something else entirely.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

I loved the music. It made all so tense my heart was beating like crazy.

WILD AND AN EMOTIONAL ROLLARCOASTER

As an anime only, i think that the choice of ost in this episode was beyond good. I don't see why people are complaining about the ost. For me it was perfect because Eren's transformation was like a sudden turn and 2Volts is perfect for that just like when they reveal the owl as the Attack titan. Wayyy better that YSBG or any ost that these manga readers were hoping it to be. Mappa and the production crew doesn't deserve any of these hate. Done ranting fgs.

Grim Reminder 2.0, but with Marley and the Warriors finally getting what they deserve for what they've done? I'm DOWN for that!

I’m wondering whether Historia is still Queen and how much character development she had gone through as a monarch during war

The people who complain about the music choices of the directors are just pure titan idiots

Assuming he lives through this battle, I think Falco is going to be one of the main characters in season 4. He has been telling himself that he “does not want to fight anymore” and he was probably influenced by what Eren (Mr. Kruger) had said to him on the bench. I can see Falco maybe rebelling against Marley in the future, but for now he’s clearly still devoted to Marley. Overall, I loved this episode, and season 4 is finally picking up with the action. I was looking forward to seeing our protagonists (Eren and the Scouts) again, and I thought it was interesting how Eren seemed much more mature, yet still somewhat insane in this episode. I am very excited to see the next episode, particularly to see the rest of the Scouts and to see what happens in the “war” Eren starts. I am also curious to see if anyone from any other nations decide to side with the Eldians, or if all of them simply believe Willy and hate the Paradis Eldians too.

manga readers really need to shut up and put bigger spoiler warnings 😐 loved the episode despite getting spoiled.

It was one of the best episodes of AOT I have seen, I truly don’t understand why or how people could complain about it. I’ve seen the posts about the soundtrack not fitting the episode but I honestly do not agree. The whole episode was perfectly directed and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. 

Ost's totally fine, so is the CG. I think most are too invested in the episode to give a fuck except Manga readers. 

I wish the Paradisians would have found another way to achieve their objectives instead of killing innocent civilians, like maybe targeted attacks on key military targets, or demonstrations of strength or public information campaigns to dissuade Marleyans and other people from wanting to go to war against them.

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 48 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again next episode!

[mekatrio]

OK gonna force myself to put these thoughts into words. firstly insert disclaimer whenever i talk abt kuja that blah blah he is evil bla blah irredeemable, now w that clear... its still pretty fucked up and sad that kuja never got to deal w the basic fact that death comes for everyone and yes, that includes him. it something we all learn about and (most of us)come to terms with throughout our lives. i guess its been so long since i was a kid facing existential fear, but vivi's arc really goes to remind how scary it is to confront the fact of inevitable death. and this was something kuja was never taught to deal with, hell i dont even think he knew he was capable of dying. despite the fact that he killed thousands of people, its still really depressing and sad.

and u can see just how immature his view is, when he says among the lines of "why should the world exist without me? that isnt fair" which is honestly not such an unreasonable way to view it. obviously the world doesnt work like that, but it isnt some reasoning out of this world and unjustified.

he also says smth like "im not gonna die alone. youre all coming with me!", which is another existential fear that we all learn of, that the world goes on without you. it could also be seen as a fear of being left behind, another theme of kuja, seeing as he felt abandoned by garland when he created zidane.

its just... its so sad. its so much to take in, to not just know that u are capable of dying, expiring, of stopping, to essentially cease existing, but that it is coming very very soon. while not ok, kuja's attempts at destruction make sense considering his predicament.

and this is a more abstract way to think of it, but being dead is essentially being truly alone. you cannot have friends once youre dead, you cannot laugh or speak or cry. people cant hear you or see you anymore. you no longer exist. its such a lonely lonely thing, and not just being dead is lonely, but to die alone too is so sad. for your existence to just wink out, to end with no one around, with no one to hold your hand or be by your side, its a terrible thing. so its all the more meaningful that despite everything, all the crimes and atrocities kuja has done, zidane still does all that he can just to be by kujas side, so he doesnt die alone. because although its not expanded on very obviously, zidane also understands loneliness. the desire to do things by yourself, the desire to find a place you belong, where people understand you, he understands this. he went off for three years looking for his birthplace, despite the relationships he forms he hardly lets anyone properly know him, hell his whole arc in terra is about him learning that, lmao cue the fucking song title, You're Not Alone

and he extends it to kuja too, in spite of everything. not to mention only after destroying literally everything in the history of ever(only briefly tho), does kuja come to understand how precious life is. its precious because its fleeting, because it doesnt last forever. its because he understands this that he uses the last of his powers to save zidane and his friends. its because he understands this that he reasons he doesnt deserve to live, because he stole so many precious lives from all the wars he brought about.

its so sad that he only comes to understand this at the very end of his life. it goes to show just how he was raised and brought up, that not even the knowledge of inevitable death was taught to him. its fitting, that a planet of people that tried to evade death would raise him like this. had he known the proper nature of life and death, would he have acted differently? sadly its too late to ever know, all the hopes and wishes of terra die under the iifa tree.

[griff-man]

Okay, so this is just how I feel the 7th episode of Star Wars could be improved. If you all enjoy it I'll do the others in the Disney Trilogy. And I am open to constructive criticism and discussion, this is all in good fun.

So first of all, I want to say I think the actors did a decent job with what they were given, it was the writing that needed work and the cast shouldn't have been dogged like they were. Most of the Force Awakens can actually be salvaged with just a few scene changes, especially towards the end. And though it should be obvious by the title, and you probably already saw it let me say SPOILER WARNING.

So the beginning of the movie goes as is and the first change I would make is when Kylo Ren is informed of Finn, Rey, and BBs escape from Jakku. Instead of throwing a hissy fit and destroying that computer, he uses his light saber to cut off both of the officers arms after he was told that a girl helped Finn and BB escape. He then lifts the officer with the force and says "what girl", the officer replies "we don't know yet", and Kylo uses the force to snap his neck so that the officer's head is completely turned around. He then yells at another officer to find out what happened and to have this mess cleaned up. The scene then transitions to the Millennium Falcon as it did originally. This scene change makes Kylo Ren's character seem more like an actual threat rather then a whiney child, and I think it makes him much more intimidating. After all, he is supposed to be one of the big bad guys of this trilogy.

The next scene change takes place at Maz's bar, when Finn admits to Rey that he was a Storm trooper and then leaves to join those cargo pilots. Rey would still have those visions, and Maz would still give her speech, but toward the end of it Maz would then make a remark to Rey along the lines of "don't worry, he would return when she needed him, and he'll know when that is". A subtle remark, but important for later. Then we have all those planets destroyed, and the the first order invades like before. The only difference is that when Finn starts fighting the "Traitor" Storm trooper, he's not so easily beaten and actually is pretty decent with the light saber making the storm trooper stagger back and go on the defensive a time or two. So he's not an expert but someone who obviously has potential, as if holding the weapon felt natural. He still needs to get saved by Han and Chewy, but its not so one sided. The fight continues like in the movie, but instead of just seeing Kylo kidnapp Rey, Finn gets this look, like he can feel something is wrong, and looks around. That is when he see's Kylo leave with Rey, and we see him run after them and shout her name.

We then skip ahead to Rey's interrogation by Kylo Ren. The big change here is he doesn't remove his helmet. If we're expected to take him as a true Sith Lord, we cant have him so easily persuaded to show his face. That comes later. And everything sort of plays out the same with Rey resisting and escaping with the force (except she doesn't get the storm trooper's blaster) up until we get to Kylo discovering her escape. Instead of destroying the room with his light saber he uses the force while screaming in rage, like the whole room crumples up like like a wad of paper around him while all the computers short circuit and explode. The Storm Troopers turning the corner still see the destruction and turn right around. Once again everything plays like in the movie, with the exception of Finn giving Rey the Light Saber since he has a blaster and she's unarmed. Then we get to when Han is confronting Kylo Ren on that walkway. Han would still tell him to remove the helmet, and he does. This is when we finally see his face and it makes his face reveal much more dramatic. The scene plays out, but now when Kylo kills Han we see his eyes turn that yellowish red color of the Sith. This is to signify that he's no longer conflicted in his beliefs and fully devoted to the Dark Side. Rey still shouts no, and Chewy still shoots Kylo only he's more notably wounded when he's hit.

This time, when the confrontation with Kylo against Rey and Finn happens Rey is the one with the light saber. Finn would be the one force pushed into a tree by Kylo and Rey would activate the saber and charge into battle. Kylo's dialog about the light saber being his would be the same. So Rey and Kylo are dueling and Rey isn't as good as Finn was, but due to Kylo's injury she's holding her own for the most part but is still at a clear disadvantage. We then get to the part where Kylo has her pinned against the tree and is using his saber exhaust port to cut into her. She suddenly uses the force to push him away and make some distance, surprising herself in the process, while Finn starts waking up. Kylo gets right back into the battle and Rey gets that hit in on his arm, right before he's able to knock her saber out of her grasp by twirling thier sabers. This action knocks Rey to the ground, and Kylo approaches her with his Saber raised ready to end it. That's when Finn raises his arm and shouts out "NOOOO". You see, Rey and Finn's saber was knocked in the opposite direction of Finn, with Kylo and Rey in-between. We already saw the force awaken in Rey, well now we see it awaken in Finn as the saber flys towards him, activating as it passes Kylo. Only his training and reflexes keep him from loosing his head, instead it grazes his face cutting off part of his lower jaw and scarring up part of his face. The Saber goes in to Finn's hands, who looks at it amazed. Rey looks at him with a sort of surprised "you too" look. But now Kylo is really mad, and goes for Finn. The fight is back on, but Rey is backing him up with Finn's forgotten blaster. Despite the team up, and Kylo being injured the fight is still evenly matched with Kylo having a slight advantage. This is to show his obvious greater skill with the force given his years of training. Like, its obvious if you really look that if he was uninjured from Chewy in the start and then from Finn and Rey's attacks, he would be absolutely dominating the two of them.

Then Kylo gets an advantage over Finn, slicing his back and throwing him to the ground on his now injured back. He then has him on the ground with his light saber at his throat, boot holding down his hand with the saber in it. He looks at Rey and says the line about being her teacher in the ways of the force. Rey, like in the movie, realizes she could possibly use the force again, and uses it to push Kylo off of Finn and to bring the saber to her. We have the clash between the two of them. She manages to cut off his hand (instead of cutting his face like in the movie, since Finn already did), and pushes him back into a tree with the force. The big ravine opens between them again, only its much bigger so Kylo couldn't force jump it, even if he was still fighting fit. They look at each other, Kylo's face mangled and bleeding as his eyes burn with hatred. Rey with a look that's determined but just a bit nervous. She then runs back to Finn and grabs him, both getting off the planet just like in the movie, as everything else that was going on took place the same way. Kylo meanwhile looks at his bleeding nub, and though you can tell by the look on his face that he doesn't want to, we see him start to head back to base so he can escape.

We get back to the Rebel base, Finn is injured but awake, and R2D2 has revealed the location of Luke Skywalker with BB's help. Since Finn was shown to also be force sensitive he of course goes with Rey and Chewbacca to find Luke. They get to the planet that was on the map, and hike up the mountain where Luke is. Finn is using a crutch and Rey's helping him since he is still slightly injured, but on the mend. They get almost to the top of the mountain, on to a plateau but Luke isn't just staring off into the horizon. Instead they find him meditating with his legs crossed, floating 5 feet in the air with the force, his back to the mountain under a cliff and eyes closed. Finn and Rey slowly approach, as Luke slowly lowers until he is sitting on the ground. Then, he opens his eyes, and Rey pulls out the light saber and holds it out toward him. The camera zooms out. The classic star wars music plays the whole time like in the movie.

Finally, we transition to Hux seated behind a Storm trooper who is piloting a craft like the one Kylo had at the beginning of the movie toward where ever Snoke is. In the back, behind a closed door we see Kylo Ren being treated by a human doctor and a med droid while in some kind of healing pod. He seems unconscience, and the camera zooms onto his mutilated face. Suddenly, we hear the deep voice of Darth Vader say "you have much yet to learn" in side Kylo's head, and his fiery red eyes snap open. Then credits.

Whooa, that took a while to write. Especially since I was watching the Force Awakens again at the same time. So that is how I'd improve Episode 7, and I know that only a few scenes were changed, but that's because I still mostly liked the movie. It's the next two that needed MAJOR overhauling, but I needed to adjust this one for the changes in the Last Jedi to happen. And I know that Snoke and Kylo aren't exactly Sith in this trilogy, but instead another type of Dark Force users, but I used Sith for a reason. Sorry if you guys expected everything written out like a screen play or a story, but I'm just not that good a writer. I have these big general ideas, but am really not good at the small details and dialog. Nor am I good at art, which is too bad caused I'd love to see these scenes drawn out. So tell me what you think, did you enjoy it? What changes would you make? Should I go ahead and share my ideas for the Last Jedi?

[icharchivist]

...So Lucio can kill primals. Pandemonium would have regenerated otherwise. Why do I have the feeling that this is gonna be a complete fuck up in hindsight?

It would make sense that he can indeed do that yeah? After all he is not a being known to the Skyrealms, second hand to the Omnipotent all of that, it’s not unreasonable to think he can kill primals 

and yeah except if they go a road with the Pandemonium of it being spread across the skyrealms like weaker primal fragments, which i guess they could but i think i remind Shalam being a bit... surprised at least by Lucio’s action so it feels he went in another extreme. Besides if the Pandemonium was just spread in pieces it would raise the question of why Lucio even bothered doing what he did.  But yeah, as it is, as far as i know (i’ve only read screenshots and it’s possible i missed key infos tho) it seems like Lucio sure.... killed the Pandemonium by destroying it.

And yeah i actually kinda worry about that.... I mean the whole reason the Apocalypse all happened through the Pandemonium is because it was a gate from the Otherworld to... what would give enough power to go to the Tower of God (Eteremanki? I forgot the name) on top of being a prison of concentred Primals, whose suffering melting together creating a power too destructive in itself (with Avatar and the Chaos energy) 

The thing is that by the end of 000 nothing really says the way the Pandemonium is is solved. We know a few Primals escaped from the Avatar (Sariel, Az&Iz ect) but by all account they just *locked it*. And we don’t know how many Primals had been freed, we can just assume they keep trying to keep the Otherworldly creature at bay.

so Lucio destroying it... Either he mass killed all the primals who were inside the Pandemonium in the process, or he got them to spread accross the Skyrealms. And considering the level of madness we met Sariel and Iz&Az into until they are *deliberately saved by external forms* (Sariel losing his corrupted wings to Uriel and Belial, Az&Iz being saved by Cagsliestro), it is possible if the primals survived the destruction of the Pandemonium, they’ve spread around the world.

Hell also i am not advanced enough in main story to talk about how MC’s dad killed Primal but it’s also to consider that Lucifer’s “death” still happened by him managing to put his essence and memory into another vessel (Sandalphon) and he’s in a limbo between life and death ever since. Even our understanding of Primal death is a bit sketchy bc of this.  Even if Lucio killed the Pandemonium it is possible to wonder if the essence of the Primal itself may live on. Perhaps it could live on on surviving Primals. 

If Astaroth is to be trusted, the Pandemonium is a Primal Beast of “cycle of life, death, and rebirth”. If any primals could specifically take advantage of the cycle of life, death and rebirth, it’s the Pandemonium.

which imo makes it all the more worrisome. 

And all of that is just about Primal’s death and our understanding of death for a primal, but even going further than it, the Pandemonium acting like a gate to the Crimson Horizon, the Otherworldy creatures took advantage of this trying to get access into the Skyrealm. And we know it’s something the Otherworldy creatures are after. They have tried by others means to do it before.  But by all account we can believe that the Pandemonium was one of the best plan they had to get up there, and it seems they concentred their forces there.  while it’s possible Lucio killed most of them by destroying the pandemonium, it is also possible it means those remaining in the Crimson Horizon will try to find another way now that their most promising lead had been corrupted. And that’s gonna get messy.

So we either have: -Lucio killed the Pandemonium Dead with all the Primals in it, implying a possible total destruction to a Primal  -Lucio destroyed the Pandemonium’s body and the Primals may have spread around still corrupted by the energy keeping them in -Same thing + the Pandemonium may have spread around those Primals as well

all of which still with the implication: what will the Otherworldy Creatures Do Now.

We know Lucio wants to help and protect the Skyrealm especially knowing his Master won’t get involved on his own right but imo this seems to be also an ultimate act of deffiance against his (former?) master. Like a provocation. The one thing that kept chaos at bay (while boiling over itself to create more chaos) has been destroyed. The God has been silent ever through apocalypse and cataclysm and everything Lucilius pulled. It’s rightful from Lucio to be upset. I think i remember him questioning that esp in 000, asking why “despite everything Lucio did to keep the peace” and all, the God is still silent. 

EDIT BC I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT: Astaroth LITTERALY goes in length about how once they get out of the Pandemonium they will extract revenge on the Astrals and Lucifer and all that jazz. Astaroth is a hella powerful Primals who had been locked in here for their destructive habits, so if Lucio killed all the primals it would mean they died (unlikely for an antagonist that is being built up and tbh i feel bummed at the idea of the primals we met in the Pandemonium all being dead),  OR if the primals survived, Astaroth WILL be a problem.

 So yeah Lucio destroying the Pandemonium could bring... a hundred of different plotline and disaster their way. 

ofc nothing garentee the game would take it this far, i’m just overthinking it, but, yeah i doubt Lucio destroying the Pandemonium will go without causing some problems. If not only bc the Pandemonium is, lorewise, this important in term of what it represents both for the First Primals and the Otherworld lore, bc the Pandemonium has been an element of Gameplay for years, something that has loomed over the head of every players who had the unfortunate destiny to farm in the co-op missions for so long.  So i feel like it can’t just... go unacknowledged.

so long story short,

[terribluh]

i wrote this for me

ive got this zadr au in my head ill never do anything with and its not particularly special bc every iz fan comes to this inevitable zadr au lmao

this got very long and probably ooc lmao rip dont worry u dont have to read it in fact please dont read this i did not format this at all and i did not proofread 

basically dib and zim are dating and dibs home situation has deteriorated, and in light of irkens managing to escape the florpus hole, they kinda go, “lets be young and free and run away together” and so they go to space!!! i feel like these self serving jackasses probably wouldn’t join the resisty straight up?? theyre too dumb for that, like yea dib has a hero complex and zim would probably love to be incharge of people but alas, dibs actually an asshole and zim probably wont hurry to align himself with irken enemies despite kind of being one himself.

so they float through space. things r kinda bad kinda good, but theyre surviving. the irken armada isnt exactly after them, but i imagine they probably have a run in with irkens who just start trying to kill zim and realize avoiding irkens is something they should do. the idea that zim terrifies the tallest is hilarious bc then they operate on a, ill avoid u if u avoid me basis and thats such a concept bc im thinking dib and zim become space pirates. will be honest, got a lot of inspiration from ravagers in gotg bc thats an aesthetic and i was way into kragdu at some point in my life. also im a slut for space operas.

they r in space, kinda keeping to themselves and stealing things. they become space cryptids. i love the idea that they become space cryptids lmao. zim is just such a small irken and dib is this tall gangly human and no one knows what the fuck a human is. lots of humans are fucking weird to other aliens stuff. also i love the idea of them in a fight with space bounty hunters or something, and dib gets shot and just keeps going. this strange lanky figure in a dark coat with blood spilling from his injured shoulder just not going down. and zim as an irken is functionally immortal anyway so theyre like an unstoppable team. i love battle couples! 

i like the dynamic they could of had in canon, someone made a post once, where zim wouldve been the one to fight and dib wouldve been mission control, but i think in this au, it would be the other way around? or more equal idk. zim has to learn to do the talking bc dib dont speak alien, and dib has to protect zim a lot. and then over time they just pick up each others slack lol. i just like the idea of dib being kinda intimidating looking, which when paired with zims shit eating grin is such a combo. 

theres probably a scene where an alien is like ooh scary bounty hunter that even the fucking irken armada avoids and is scared shitless but its just dib. and dib, never having seen this kind of alien before, starts asking a million questions and is just kinda offputting/adorable lmao and then zim has to drag him out. 

anyway things keep like this, they hash out a living on stealing and trading. their number 1 priority is avoiding the massive and any irkens out there. maybe dib misses earth. maybe zim misses… something. the ship they have is kind of scrap and very much homebrewed, all stolen parts and mishmashed pieces and it was originally zims voot lmao, but zim is a genius and dib is a membrane and it still works. zims house computer is in the ship now and minimoose lives in the vents.

and then theres gir. i love gir but also i feel like theres a lot of untapped gir related angst like, gir is essentially scrap??? shit breaks 

they shut him down a lot for his own good bc he malfunctions sometimes and its awful bc zim loves gir. 

and then one day, zim and dib making a run for it, dib scooping zim up and hoofing it with the alien in his arms shooting over his shoulder and yelling at dib at the same time. and someone or something hits gir hard enough he shuts down, eyes dimming into black and collapsing mid giggle and zim loses it, destroying the attacker while dib grabs for gir and checks his internals and has no idea how to fix him because nothing seems wrong. 

and this is something like the breaking point. things were ok, but now things arent. maybe zims pak is broken, has never worked properly, is dying, and they get by with scraps and parts but its very borderline. and the ships basically scrap and supplies are always tight but they make do. 

but then gir shuts down, and suddenly they cant keep living on scraps and avoiding the armada. bc they need to fix gir no matter what  

maybe theyre like theres no parts enough to fix him oh no, but look theyre right around the corner from the massive and it just so happens the resisty are attacking so zim and dib are like. “were really doing this arent we” and the computers like sigh ok 

they really intend to grab a random sir unit and cannibalize it for gir and jet but zim cant keep his mouth shut and suddenly theyre arguing, fighting their way through some irkens that are really just doing their jobs and had the misfortune of running into zim and dib making their escape and its really strangely easy. zims kind of an op destructive force and dibs so used to fighting zim at this point these irkens are like ants and theyve been in space for like a decade at this point, and theyre always in danger anyway, and its easy to get into the swing of it. shoot shoot stab kick yell at zim blast an irken. 

and next thing they know theyve busted through the door to the bridge where a showdown is happening between the tallest and the resisty leader and everyone deer in the head lights. 

both parties yell “ZIM????” like the beyonce meme and zim instinctively goes “yes it is i ZIIIIM” and dib facepalms behind him the tallest are like panicking and the irkens milling around start gunning for zim and the resisty in equal amounts and theyre severely outnumbered and zim and dib start fighting for their lives foreal this time 

and zim yells, “computer! bring the ship around!!!” and dib is like “zim if i die like this-”, “you won’t zim guarantees it.” and its kind of romantic but theres plasma beams everywhere and a deactivated sir unit in zims arms and theyre both hurt but thats what its like, thats what its always like for them and honestly they wouldnt change it for anything. 

maybe dib gets zim to go on ahead and escape without him with the sir unit, or zim goes on ahead himself all i have a plan. and dib is mistaken for a resisty agent bc he obviously isn’t irken and unwittingly teams up with then and then all hope seems lost and dibs like “we’re screwed- “

and gir blast through the glass of the ships bridge all, “Maaaryyy i missed you!!!!”

“gir youre ok!”

and then gir barrels into dibs arms, dib jolting back from the impact with an oof 

“i died but im ok now!” gir screams as he cuddles into dibs neck  

and its v cute but dib is kinda preoccupied with not dying and hes just like “thank fucking god get us out of here” and girs eyes flash red and he salutes “yes sir!” and jets off by grabbing onto dibs back with his tiny hands and thats when the ship pulls up. zim is in the drivers seat and everyone fucking sees him because hes screaming, why is he screaming? hes zim, of course hes screaming. they get away all well and good but lmao their interference was enough that the resisty was able to escape with far less casualties than they wouldve had. 

bc they were losing, real bad lmao zim and dib saved them but they dont even care because that wasnt what they were going for but to the resisty theyre heroes and to the irken armada theyve declared war. and dib and zim are just like “our actions will not have any negative reprecussions no siree.” bc theyre idiots!! 

their actions have negative reprecussions. 

and then they join the resisty. 

and at some point dib goes home and reconciles with his family and gaz kicks his ass 

anyway i just love the idea that zim and dib dont do nothing on purpose but every damn thing they do affects something big. like some kinda cosmic karma, i amn jus standing herr kinda thing lmao a lot of coincidences and pure luck shenanigans. 

an overarching theme of “everything in zim and dibs lives suck except for how much they love each other”