#the foreshadowing was also pretty genius

[creature-once-removed]

.

[lemotmo]

I do get this. It was an incredibly frustrating episode for sure but I can see this.

Q. I guess I don't know what I was expecting because I have no idea what I just watched. It didn't feel like an actual episode, if that makes sense. Everyone felt slightly off and I just don't know what the reason for doing it that way was.

A. No this makes sense, anon. I said to a couple of people last night that the episode felt like the coma dream episode in terms of the way the scenes were shot and staged. It did feel slightly not reality based, which I do think was intentional. Before I go further I am going to say that for the most part I think I get what they were trying to do. I just think, as usual with Tim, he's not the virtuoso genius filmmaker he fancies himself as being, and so the execution of his grand ideas get lost in translation. Which is insanely frustrating as a viewer. The other thing I will say is making Tim and Kristen the writers for this episode specifically was the wrong choice. They each do certain things well, and other things incredibly poorly. I hoped writing together would benefit the script because what each of them struggle with the other one usually does pretty well. That was not the case here. The show is trying to pull off a long con for lack of a better way to say it. Lab Rats was the setup to the con, Bobby's death. The Last Alarm was the hidden in plain sight reveal of what the con is, Bobby's casket being empty and him being held somewhere else without the family's knowledge. Using the arson case of the dead child was a clever way to reveal the con but the success of pulling something like that off requires nuance and structure within the writing, and unfortunately that is the writing struggle Tim and Kristen have in common. Neither one of them can write nuance or stick to a proper writing structure. They can slam you over the head with foreshadowing, and they very much did in this episode, but foreshadowing cannot be the only writing tool and in this case they used it for everything. That doesn't work with an episode like this. Spending more than half the episode on a case, that on face value ended up serving as only a distraction for Athena, was an insane decision. Yes they had to establish the con in a way that wasn't obvious but a stronger writer could have done that in half the screen time, and this show has those writers on staff, but Tim and Kristen are not those writers.

Moving on, I did not hate this episode, I can see and appreciate what he's trying to do even if the execution is beyond frustrating. First I will say this is the Athena I love. She was amazing in this episode. This is how she's supposed to be written as a character. The RoboCop vigilante bullshit they usually saddle her with is not the way to go for her. The Athena of this episode is the sweet spot and Angela was unsurprisingly spectacular. Kenny was equally brilliant. I absolutely understand Chimney being the 118 character focus for this episode given what we saw in Lab Rats. Kenny is a wildly underappreciated actor and when he's given the room to shine he absolutely kills it. He's so good to watch. Letting Athena and Chimney take center stage was understandable, just not for the episode that was supposedly Bobby's farewell, again though I think that was intentional.

I also really liked the brief bits of Hen and Karen and Hen and Athena that we got in this episode. Hen and Karen's relationship is always nice to see because they're beautiful together and Hen and Athena's friendship should have more focus than it gets because their friendship is really layered and lovely. I enjoyed those moments. The brief May and Harry moments were nice to see as well. Hopefully we get more of them next season.

Which brings me to Buck and Eddie. First of all I love that Buck, even in the context of this episode, was so excited to reveal Eddie's return to Ravi, and the audience, as a surprise kind of thing. I like that they let that moment exist even though it didn't really fit the episode, but it absolutely would be something Buck would feel like was a good ta da surprise kind of thing. I'm glad they let that moment be. And Eddie looked amazing, dear god I knew it was him from the stills but I still squealed when I saw him. I missed him tremendously. The show using Ravi as a kind of barrier to prevent the audience from seeing Buck and Eddie alone was a really interesting choice as well given what Ravi has always represented on this show. I know we all live Ravi but since his introduction Ravi has always been and used as the physical manifestation of Buck's trauma. He pops up in episodes where Buck is feeling abandoned or left behind so Ravi being present in that scene as well as being the hug the audience saw Eddie give someone was a really interesting choice. The Buck and Eddie of it all was small but there was a lot within that one scene. The colors they were wearing. Buck's one line of dialogue to Eddie being 'but you're here now', Eddie eating one of Buck baked goods even though had no idea what it actually was, but it was Buck's so he ate it. Buck's entire game right now is avoidance. He's trying to do the one thing his captain asked of him, be there for his family, so Buck is purposely pushing his own feelings about everything to the side for now. Those feelings include everything that has come up about what he might really feel for Eddie. Placing Ravi in the middle of the scene was a good way to show that neither Buck nor Eddie are ready for that conversation yet. But it is inevitably coming. And when you try to avoid something the universe has a way of screaming at you until you obey. A long standing theme for Buck and Eddie. I do think episode 17 will see Eddie and Hen focus and I expect to see something from Eddie in that episode because I do think the Buck and Eddie moment of reckoning is coming in the season finale.

I think the episode felt not real for a reason. I don't think Bobby is really dead but I think Tim is trying to push most of this to the season finale given the criticism of last season's finale. I think we will have the Bobby reveal, Maddie going into labor, and the Buddie moment in that one episode. Hence the episode title being Sesmic Shifts.

Thank you Nonny! I really needed this post in my inbox today. 🤗

I'm going to let this speak for itself. I already talked about these topics in my other posts and I've got nothing new to add here.

Just this:

I'm already looking forward to the next episode. I can't help it. 🤷‍♀️ I love this show too much. I just NEED some more Eddie, preferably in some more speaking scenes this time. 🙄😋

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[drstonefangurl]

The next charater in my Dr. Stone Tarot Card series Senku Ishigami as The Magician. Senku, our main character and genius scientist determined to save all of humanity makes for a very lovely Magician imho. Here is The Magician card for reference:

The Magician Meaning

Upright: Manifestation, resourcefulness, power, inspired action

Reversed: Manipulation, poor planning, untapped talents

The Magician card is labeled as number 1 in the Major Arcana. The card is represented by a man using his tools of his trade, which represent the 4 elements, to work his magic and manifest his desires into reality. The Magician has one hand pointing to heaven and one to the Earth indicating he can take what he conceives in his mind he can make reality with the proper tools and enough time. The infinity symbol above his head and the ouroboros around his waist represent his infinite potential, the cyclical nature of life and existence, and his potential access to endless thoughts and resources.

The Senku Ishigami card we see Senku with a bunch of science apparatus working on his next big project, bringing his ideas into reality. We also see the Medusa device in the background, looking like the infinity device, and the belt with more items and tools Senku will need for his infinite drive for scientific discovery. In the background we also see the moon behind the Medusa device, which has been Senku's ever driving goal to get to the moon, even before the pertification event even happened.

Based off of the card descriptions alone I think it is pretty obvious as to why I think Senku Ishigami is clearly representing The Magician in Gen's tarot deck. The Magician and Senku are also extremely representative of taking action, making thoughts and ideas come into reality, and resourcefulness which is Senku's whole character in Dr. Stone. If it wasn't for Senku having the ability to make his ideas reality there would be no show. For the sake of anime only watchers, I will keep some if my reasonings quiet because it will mostly be foreshadowing of what is coming down the pipe in the anime.

Now, I would like to address why I don't think Senku's card is representing The Moon (because that seems to be a common one that lots of folks like to assign to his card on the internet). My major argument against this choice, besides the fact the the symbolism is highly indicating it's The Magician, is because The Moon is a card about hidden fears, illusions, anxiety, intuition, and the subconscious. None of that fits Senku's character even though going to the moon has been an important task for Senku since the beginning of the manga and anime. Overall this card felt like it was quite straightforward, but I would enjoy any evidence that contradicts my thought process. Stay tuned, my next card analysis is on Ryusui Nanami. Get excited.

Sources: biddytarot.com & @ChifuyuEmma on Pintrest

[vldunchartedregions]

Hello dear vldunchartedregions! First of all I wanted to thank you for all the hard work you've been doing to uncover all these info about s08, it's super interesting! I just finished rewatching all of vld and I've been reading both your posts and The Purple Lion's metas and it's just insane how much has been edited/cut in the end! I actually wanted to ask you a question regarding Pidge and Allurance. The Purple Lion's team, from what I've seen, is pro Plance and during my re-watch I noticed that Pidge seems to be rather involved with Allura and Lance's relationship: she's the only one who seems to be upset about Allura having a date with Lance, she sacrifices her video-game to get Allura a dress and even wants to bring her a gift during "Clear Day". I'm a multishipper and I remember, back in the day, that the Plance fandom was quite convinced that their ship could be canon (I also remember Bex liking Plance and writing about it on Twitter, but I could be mistaken). I know you ship Klance and that this meta is going to be Klance centric and I am convinced that there are WAY more hints for an eventual KL endgame, but I still wanted to hear your opinion on what is Pidge's role in all of this. I personally believe that she was supposed to be the one to realize that Allura and Lance aren't happy together and that she would eventually help them both to break up and to be with whom they truly love (and, on the other side, Hunk is the one who helps Keith to open up). Considering that you're using The Purple Lion's metas as reference, what is your position on this? I hope my ask won't anger any shipper, this is just a plot point that I'm curious about (and I'm open to all interpretations).

Thank you for your time and have a nice weekend ❤️💙

Hi! Thank you for your lovely question and I hope you're having a marvelous day.

Firstly, we wanted to iterate that going into this meta, we had no intention in accounting for and placing our bets on a particular ship. We just opened the doors and did some investigating after a source told us what they knew about the show.

When we were told that 1) Lotor & Allura were endgame, and 2) Keith & Lance were Korrasami implied, we did a first watch through without even touching ships as a whole, and then went into the second with the information we had about said ships.

I cannot express how many doors burst wide open when we watched with the above information.

Honestly? We weren't surprised by this information, to be honest. It was the same team who worked on Legend of Korra and Avatar: the Last Airbender, so we knew there would be similarities on many fronts.

Naturally, we rolled with the information we had and did a rewatch of season 8 alongside watching other seasons to find those parallels, thematics, foreshadowing, etc. etc. (and we're finding more and more everyday).

What we uncovered about Lotura was pretty like yup, this makes total sense! They were endgame.

It's been talked about before, but yes, he would've received a redemption arc, and yes, they would've been endgame.

@leakinghate and the team covered a lot of Lotura pretty well (shoutouts to them) but we'll also add our perspectives to this meta as it will be very relevant when doing our deep dive. It's not far off from what Team Purple Lion have discussed previously, but hopefully we can add some new nuggets of information on that front, too.

What we WEREN'T accounting for was Keith & Lance being way more than implied, plausible deniability, space ranger partners.

Oh no. They were also endgame (allegedly).

To the point that the season was completed, and then had to be edited to the nines at the final lap.

I mean, did you see how he ranted at the family dinner table during his date with Allura?

Listen to it here, it's great. [x] It's also great in other dubs too.

Secondly, this show was genius in paralleling many couples and platonic relationships and rolling those patterns into identifiable analytical points, thematics, and symbolism within character arcs and dynamics throughout the show.

We have one team member who's also working on a huge analysis on relationships in the show and how they all parallel. They've been cooking in the background, and it's pretty delicious if we do say so ourselves.

Now with all that out the way, let's answer your question!

"I personally believe that she was supposed to be the one to realize that Allura and Lance aren't happy together and that she would eventually help them both to break up and to be with whom they truly love."

And you'd be darn tootin' because guess what?

This quote becomes RELEVANT in Season 8.

LEAVE THE MATH TO PIDGE.

Yup.

She is one of the defining keys; a lighthouse so the ships can find their way.

In short, she's meddling. She's not personally involving herself in their relationship but man, is she trying to show them a big ol' sign that says,

'DO NOT DATE. YOU ARE NOT RIGHT FOR EACH OTHER.'

'WE ARE IN AN INTERGALACTIC WAR.'

She thinks it's weird, but most importantly, she's worried the team dynamic will be rocked by their budding romance.

She knows it will probably affect the original team dynamic, forming Voltron, and ultimately, she knows human relationships can be messssssy.

Question for you, fellow readers: What do you think she was speaking to Keith off-screen about here before the MFE pilots bumped into their conversation?

We have an answer on our position but we'd love to hear your thoughts, too.

As Bex mentioned once upon a time, Pidge is Batman. It's true!

All through the season and throughout most of the show, she seems to know everything that's going on.

She accounts for everything and typically has a plan B. Heck, she had a self destruct button for the Castleship on the off chance something went wrong.

What's the hardest thing to tackle that isn't technology? Well, navigating Interpersonal relationships.

In the original season, we allegedly see her struggle with the dynamic shifts as Allura and Lance enter their temporary relationship in the original season. They don't agree on a lot of things, and the team gets rocked and/or involved with these disturbances.

This season explores family and found family on a much deeper level, and this applies to everyone, especially the paladins.

Pidge loves Allura like a sister (hence why she trades the video game). Pidge loves Lance like a brother (hence why she 'helps' find something shiny for Allura).

Naturally, she wants to let them know (in an out of the loop way) that they're not right for each other.

Pidge wants them to be happy in the end, but trust and believe when we say she doesn't want to be involved directly.

That being said, that doesn't stop Pidge from having Beezer meddle on their date, therefore interrupting their kiss in the original season lmao.

Pidge wants to be that guiding light in the right direction, but they also know that it's messy territory that they don't want to touch with a ten feet pole.

It's uncharted territory for Pidge.

Dare I say, Uncharted Regions. Dun, dun, duuuuuun.

See why we chose it as our meta name? haha.

TL;DR: You're on the money, honey. 🍯

Thank you for the question! This was a fun subject to touch on.

[mikaykayrae]

Stranger Things Theories

(Byler Endgame pt. 2 👀)

Mike + Will: How will they get together?

Flicker gate? Lovers lake gate? Letter gate? Painting gate? Church gate? However shall one choose? Well I say we don’t choose, instead take the best and most realistic parts of each, and put them together.

Mike and Will agreed in season 4 that they were going to work as ‘friends’ in the future. (Similar to Joyce and Hopper saying they are going to work as a ‘team’) we also have lots of behind the scene photos supporting this. So we know they are going to be teamed up for season 5. The plot line that brings them together based on what we know, is the arc in which they look for Holly Wheeler. This season is going to be Will centric and Holly’s disappearance would be a direct parallel to Will’s Vanishing in season 1. What effect did Will’s disappearance cause his brother and his love interest? It brought them together. It brought Nancy (Mike) away from Steve (Eleven), her partner at the time who she couldn’t say she loved, not because she had a hard time saying it, or was nervous, but because she DIDN’T love him. In the end Jonathan and Nancy end up together. (Jancy is also endgame, but that will be next post!)

Besides that, here’s my series of events that lead to Byler goes like this:

Mileven break up very early in the season, I would imagine as a mutual thing. 5x01: The Crawl

Holy goes missing; this brings Mike and Will together to work as ‘friends.’ 5x02

Painting Gate: The painting is brought up, Will’s crush on Mike is at least partially revealed to Mike. Possible parts of letter gate are confirmed. 5x04: The Turnbow Trap

Lovers Lake Gate: something very important happens at lovers lake that’s Byler related. (There’s more in depth things about this look at the tag, you guys are so smart!) The quote by Eddie saying that ‘Wheeler’ jumping in to save Steve was a sign of unambiguous true love, is GENIUS foreshadowing. Along with all the water imagery surrounding Will and Mike, makes this pretty obvious. Either Mike or Will are going to save the other. (I think they both save each other; just in different ways) I personally DON’T think they will get together in this episode, but it’s definitely possible. 5x05: Shock Jock

Church gate will either be in this episode or the finally. Parts of flicker gate could easily be worked in. I believe this episode is where most of the Miwi flashbacks will be. (Praying for the deleted Mike bike scene🤞) I truly think this is the episode that they will get together. I believe Camazotz represents, not only the upside down, but social expectations and by extension heteronormativity. 5x06: Escape from Camazotz

The giant wall shown in the teaser is going to be important, and I think in the finale Will and Mike are going to be the key to turning everything “right side up” Another use of Heroes as the wall goes down and Mike and Will have a moment would be fantastic. 5x08: Rightside Up

Fin - Obviously not all of this is going to be right, this is just my most educated guess! Please look more into these Gates if you’re curious and feel free to add to or question my theories!

💌 Mikaykayrae

[cokoweee]

EHEHHEE Now I get to the DEEP STUFF~

Let's begin.

LOOK AT THIS LITTLE MANNNNNNNN EEEEEEEEE He's seriously so cute- he's like a flying metal kitten and I can't STAND IT- Also, I noticed that Shelldon's dialogue isn't the same either. Before, there would be numbers hidden between the letters- but it seems he's "grown" out of that with this mini upgrade!

Also seeing a genuine smile on Kendra's face is REALLY needed right now. She's just legitimately happy to see the lil robot again, safe and sound. (And NOT a kraangified creature bent on killing her.) These two's little interaction was quite nice to watch and I hope we get to see more of their dynamic. :) Note the fact that here, Kendra's dialogue is also becoming her signature pink again as well... <3

Okay back to the plot.

Now Kendra and Draxum have a... iiiiinteresting dynamic to say the least. It began a bit awkward with the care and medical treatment Draxum had to give her after she was stabbed- but then it began to mellow out by the time Kendra began to get sick. Even so, she never gave him permission to use her name. But here- she does. Here, she actually opens up a tiny bit, allowing this crazy weird old goat to actually call her by her first name. Kendra may be spiraling- but there are some healed pieces of her still shining through the broken shards. <3

Also- THE NECKLACE. Bro- WHY didn't I THINK OF THAT-

And here it is... what we've all been silently dreading~ the answer for Kendra's continued deteriorating health... When we get a peek at her expression here- man it's not a comforting one. She knows something's wrong with her. She knows it's not going away. And her face here is drowned in dismal acceptance.

Draxum goes on to explain as best he can where the problem must have originated from, and it confuses Kendra. (Me too, if I'm being honest. I always thought she got sick because of the knife stab. MAN WAS I WRONG.) Anyways, Draxum begins describing that the origin of the sickness must have infected Kendra at the farmhouse. Then he goes a step FURTHER and tells Kendra that what's attacking her body is the same that killed Raphael.

(I realize now how much her dream was really telling us... Coko you SNEAK.)

And then there's one more thing that I noticed about these panels: How the words referencing Cali the kraangified are highlighted BRIGHT PINK. (Just like Kendra's dream...) Which again, just proves that it was Cali who infected her all along.

I think we now see where that little scar on Kendra's shoulder came from. 0-0

...

EXCUSE ME HUH!?!??! C-Come again, Draxxy?? SIR???

THIS RIGHT HERE. This- haaaaiyyyaaaa this is foreshadowing at its finest. What's the cure? How will Kendra be saved?

Her shoulder... has to be... amputated. Her shoulder, as in her entire ARM???? Like- HELLO???? This is some really... heavy news. AND I LOVE IT. This kind of moment needs to be held with seriousness, and Coko, you aced it. :) Incredible work as always.

This series continues to impress me with your storytelling and foreshadowing. As well as the teeny tiny details that you need a magnifying glass to see. Then there's also the obvious details that are always so clean and beautifully illustrated. Your BG's. MANNN ALIVE THE BACKGROUNDS.

Seriously, Coko. Your work is extremely impressive, and I hope you know that at least by now, after so many like myself have loved it and looked forward to it. :) Thanks for giving me a new thing to look forward to and analyze the crap out of. ~^^~

That's all for now. :) See you after your next update!

~ Melissa

OKAY I had to hold onto this till after work just cause I barely had any time

SHELLDON’s new text!- I wanted to try something new and use the Genius Built font for him. It’s nice seeing ya interpret him as growing up a lil despite getting smaller lol

Kendra and Draxum have a bit of a weird relationship. They don’t chat it up often but they’re both pretty okay enough with eachother where they can have a meal together in peace. They’ve got some mutual respect for eachother

AND MAN YALL I WAS AUUGHHH every time someone blamed bishop, big mama NOPE IT WASNT THE HINT WAS ALWAYS THERE! Pink is not Kendra’s signature text color. I’m absolutely awful I make my hints at shit so stupid so subtle that it’s HORRENDOUS

Ok last lil thing cause im losing track of what im saying. Actually I’ve completely forgotten BUT I LOVE READING THESE RARARARARRARAAR

[annoyinglandmagazine]

First Time Reading Girl Genius Novels 2

I am not surprised Agatha thought Lilith’s reaction to being told her lack of uniformity made her like Judy so it was fine was a bit odd. That is a weird interaction for her on so many levels.

Agatha’s gradual realisation as a child of the way the world around her discriminates against people like her parents gives me emotions.

She has a much more vivid memory of Barry than I expected, ‘seemed worried about things he couldn’t talk about’ is spot on and also heartbreaking

Agatha’s joy at having a home and stability for the first time is a lovely thing to add, she misses Barry of course but it’s interesting that they clarified he wasn’t in a good place or position to be raising a child

The late night argument and Barry’s collapsing mental health and possible death told through three increasingly rambling letters also giving me many emotions

The Heterodynes as an almost religious presence, an ideal people aspire to, like, ‘we should live our lives as if they will return’ is such a spiritual way to put it which I kind of love worldbuilding wise.

Jägers and Boris having an intense rivalry is one of my favourite running jokes and the backstory of Klaus enforcing a time limit on their fights before he has to mediate really reminds me of the ‘it’s like running a kindergarten’ line.

An opportunistic doughnut seller seeing the Baron engaged in a total and hostile take over of his town with his heir, second in command and soldiers and deciding they might not have had time to grab breakfast is exactly the kind of batshit insanity I expect from this setting.

Gil and Klaus just running madly through the streets, dodging crates and jumping on to walls in sync while keeping up a conversation like this is just about Tuesday (which it is for them) must be a pretty weird sight even for bystanders in girl genius

The older jäger grinning at Adam is a nice bit of foreshadowing

Just generally loving the fact that the jägers saying weird shit and arguing over things that make no sense is so normalised that it allows them to get away with hiding basically anything even if most of them have no idea what subtlety is

Gil and Klaus taking a moment to discuss how best to cover the undressed girl in front of them before proceeding further is kind of hilarious to me

Also every iteration of this exchange ‘You don’t find the fact that the girl is running about in a machine shop in her underwear to be unusual? Red fire, boy, what sort of lab did you maintain in school?’ Plus Gil’s blushing and ‘Father! please!’ is comedic gold.

The jägers finding loopholes to secretly give Klaus a guard when he’s in one of his moods (which are apparently a known and regular thing) where he wants to do everything by himself just because, is both wholesome and funny

The tavern song. Oh my god.

I need more information about how Agatha wandering around in her underwear makes Sleipnir assume she’s English.

Interesting that she’s calling her the Von Pinn. I never noticed that happening in the comic.

Descriptions of the school are nice to have, especially the bulletin boards covered in drawings, letters and so on, really makes it feel like an actual primary school.

Extremely rare Klaus feminist moment on the trousers front, though it’s definitely more about practicality than anything else

Agatha was shocked at Sleipnir referring to Wooster as a codfish, Girl Genius characters’ weird idea of what counts as swearing is so much fun

Children cycling around the airship delivering messages is a nice touch as are all the other details about Castle Wulfenbach, it really drives home the whole nerve centre and capital city of the empire thing

Saying you refer to your boyfriend as Herr Nice to justify not recognising his name is certainly one approach

Mowgli. Agatha you are fooling nobody here

Them ripping a machine apart while they’re plummeting to the ground and grinning maniacally should not be as adorable as it is

Khrizan gently cradling Agatha, calling her sweetheart and checking that she’s alright should have been a clue to someone that there as something special about her

Morbid children’s songs my beloved

Theo’s little interactive bit where he chases the children around during the story is so absurdly endearing.

“He nodded to the girls as he passed ‘RHaah,’ he said conversationally.” Did I mention I love Theo?

PRT is a genius bit of worldbuilding and I love it. That whole section is amazing especially the fact that personality shifts going more insane is only a tricky hypothetical on a test paper because Sparks are already like that to start with

I love that the tables are designed to be constantly replaced because they let the kids try out their new gadgets at mealtimes for serving the food.

They all bring different dishes from wherever they’re from which is also nice

The school is a lot bigger than I thought if they’re implying what we see is only a tenth of its normal capacity.

Klaus insisting that they go and oversee or assist in the harvests themselves to try and curb the culture of elitism is great and the way the kids actually look forward to it as opposed to their parents who hate it shows its actually working

The fact that Lucifer Mongfish’s conflicts with the Heterodynes are considered the cause of Bill’s marriage to Lucrezia rather than an obstacle tells you a lot

The logistics of family gatherings where every family member wants to and has tried to kill each other

Agatha comparing an argument between two twelve year olds to one between two teachers at her university is very in character with sparks

The Large Dangerous Mechanical Lab being the real name is kind of funny

[quitealotofsodapop]

YELLOW1!!1 it's been a hot minute since I sent in an ask!

Since pokemon has really come to bite my butt, I wonder what kinda pokemon Mei and Macaque would have! (I'd guess Mei would have a gyrados for some reason, but it makes sense to me and that's good enough!)

the LMK storyboard director (Ashe Jacobson) actually made pokemon cards for the LMK gang based on her hcs of them! Although they were made during S1/2 and likely don't reflect current ideas or fanon (also too many legendaries for my taste). Also no Sandy card :(

Things I do love about each though:

He/They pronoun MK. MK having bunch of little monkey pokemon. Plus a Krabby for some reason. Also Age: Unknown foreshadowing... instead of the legendaries I could see him having a Ground type like a Gligar (cheeky bat pokemon based on a tyoe of Japanese yokai) or a Swinub (snow boar piglet).

Red Son out here with all the pronouns and a bunch of poor Bug/Steel types about to get melted XD. Honestly surprised that he doesn't have a Tauros. The Houndoom seems like an Erlang pokemon though, Red Son seems more of a Torchic kinda guy. I could also give him a legednary like Chi-Yu; a little piece of primordial fire based on the Chinese Great Peril of Hundun/Confusion.

Mei def deserves a Gyardos - no fault to Rayquaza but no legendaries allowed. Rapidash is perfect for her, but perhaps a shiny to fit her theme a little more + she def would be a Shiny hunter. Sceptile is a more subtle choice since it's a lizard pokemon with one of the highest base speed stats (450) and has sword-like leafy protrusions. I've seen ideas for her having a Blitzle (electric zebra pokemon) as well since it just seems like a Her pokemon to have.

I just love Tang having Shedinja (the cicada husk pokemon) partially because it falls into a little theory I have of him >:3 + Golden Cicada connection. Chimecho is also based on a type of shinto warding bell used to scare off spirits - a useful pokemon for a priest/superstitious nerd to have. The Hoothoot is adorable, he's just here cus of nerdiest. Spoink is based on a bible verse about casting wisdom to those who won't appriciate it (pearls before swine) so thats pretty Tang-coded. The Shuckle makes me think of Noodles and the infamous "don't fuckle with the Shuckle"-meme because of it's ability to become the most lethal attack pokemon under the right circumstances. Tang deserves another non-legendary tho so lets give him an artifact pokemon like a Golett or Baltoy for him to nerd about (and struggle to carry).

Pigsy has pigs. You know if Gen IX was out he'd have a LeChonk no question about it. The Munchlax is super adorable since is a hungry baby pokemon (reminds him of MK?), and the Clefable could be a hint at his amazing singing voice. Blipbug is a ladybird larva aka a "bookworm" pokemon - you know he got that one cus of Tang. The Ambipom is interesting tho - extra hands in the kitchen obvs, but maybe hinting at his incarnation's connection to SWK. I could def see him having "food"-type pokemon around too like Smoliv, Milcery, and/or Tatsugiri.

+Tang and Pigsy both have a pokemon that reminds them of eachother omg; Spoink and Blipbug. Perhaps the Spoink is (Pigsy's) Grumpig's baby?

Wukong using his flattering game art for his ID is very in-character of him XD. Most of his pokemon are really on the nose too - Infernape is legit based on him after all. I excuse the use of legendary pokemon (esp Landorus since it's a earth/cloud god pokemon) for him too since thats what he is. The most recent legendary pokemon is uber-Wukong coded tho - Pecharunt, based on the Peaches of Immortality combined with the japanese folktale of Momotaro + japanese death mythology. I could see Wukong also walking around with a bunch of horse (Mudsdale) and fruit pokemon (Boundsweet, Cherubi) as well. Maybe even having a team thats made of up pokemon that remind him of his old friends.

Macaque having a Zoroark and Zarude is super genius. Zoroark is a mimicry pokemon (based on kitsunes/huli-jings) and that checks out with what Macaque tried doing in the novel - also reminds me of my hc that Jiuweihuli took him under her wing. Zarude is a spooky legendary monkey pokemon obvs, but it's introduced in it's debut movie as "Dada" by the human it raised - sorta foreshadowing how the FFM baby monkeys really love Macaque. Gengar and Marshadow are great choices for his shadow powers ofc - with Marshow having a "lantern" kind vibe to it. Grimmsnarl I think was choosen based on it's Gigantamax form - it looks a lot like Macaque's Smoke Monster form. I could also see Macaque having a few Sneasels - little dark types based on a wind Yokai. I think that while he'd like sound/music-focused Pokemon, his ears are too sensitive to be around the moves - he'd start running the second he sees a Whimsur.

+Macaque and Wukong have Eevee-lutions that evolve based on high affection depending on time of day. Like the Sun and the Moon everybody. Oddly enough in the pokemon "I Choose You!" movie, Marshadow is considered a "guide" for those chosen by Ho-Oh (which Wukong has), early foreshadowing how Macaque becomes a legit mentor to MK.

Jin and Yin just have duo pokemon that work best together. These two def would buy both versions of a pokemon game so that they could play and trade together. The two NInetails is a cute reference to their mom - the OG Nine-Tailed Vixen. They need a Gourgeist for their Calabash tho.

This is the best i can do rn for poor Sandy; I used a mix of microsoft office word shapes, Imgflip, and the Pokecharms Trainer Id generator (I couldn't figure out how to change the trainer to a custom image).

I gave him Mantine and Lapras cus they're gentle "Ride" pokemon who like carrying people across water. Polteageist cus Tea and secrets. Smergle cus of art. Vivillion cus of the blue butterfly in "To Catch a Leaf" and the Dewpider cus Huntsman. Some more ideas include Dhelmise (the seaweed anchor pokemon), Misdreavus (cus of his necklace), and/or Machamp (wrestling theme in the Scroll of Memory). Lots of cat pokemon too - him and Nanu would get along. He's not a fighter at all - and neither are his pokemon. Don't underestimate them tho - they hit hard.

Additionally; Nezha has all snake pokemon + I can see him having a Charcadet. He's got a Phantump and a Dratini too but don't ask about them.

PIF has a swarm of Castform following her since they can't be blown away by her winds (she treats them like baby wind spirits). DBK has like fifty Tauros of different breeds' and a few Miltanks + a Scovillain who provides him with peppers.

Erlang has a Houndoom and nothing else... except maybe a Lotad who reminds him of his greatest regrets.

Chang'e owes a few bunny pokemon (Scorbunny, Buneary, Azumarill, Bunnelby etc) and an Alcremie, plus a bunch of stray Clefairy-line pokemon (moon origins) and Minior (meterorite/star candy pokemon). She also has a little Rowlet plush that she hugs tightly whenever she goes to sleep (Hou Yi's starter).

I feel like animal demons dont really "own" pokemon cus they see them as fellow demons/monster species. Wukong is an except since his are probably old friends/decended from pokemon he knew back on FFM.

this got a little away from me sorry - I love pokemon too <3

[ihavetoomany-fandoms]

Let's talk about the Warriors musical by Lin Manuel-Miranda and Eisa Devis

I know that this fandom is only active here, so here I go! (this is my first Tumblr post ever and English is not my first language, so I'm sorry if I gave you an aneurysm with my spelling or smth)

Fist question is about DJ Lynn Pen (y'know, ~hey boppers~). Can the Warriors hear her or is she just a narrator? Like, is she an actual DJ on radio (I heard that that's how it was in the movie but I haven't watched it yet). She explains stuff to us, so she's probably a narrator but it would be funny if the Warriors could hear her like in this tiktok (https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMB8B7TFm/) and be like "GoD???" What do y'all think?

Also OH MY GOD THE MOTIIIIFS. Every LMM fan knows he LOVES heartbreaking motifs and foreshadowing and goodness knows this musical is not an exemption. "Now every move that we make is a bit to survive", "It's all our turf", "Quiet girls don't make it home", "Folks go missin' in the park at night", "Warriors, come out to play-ay", "Survive the night" etc. Lin's a genius, what can I say.

Everyone's talking about Pippa's rap in Reunion Square, but can we talk about that part between Fox's interaction with the cop and her rapping? This is what I'm talking about btw: (Ignore my voice, I was just explaining to my family why it's so loud)

There's parts from Roll Call, Survive the Night, Leave The Bronx Alive, Sick Of Runnin'. IT'S JUST SO AAAAHHH. Also mentioning Ajax is now illegal because I said so (I'll go cry in the corner now)

Of course Fox's verse is PHENOMENAL. It was the thing that got me into this musical, it's so tragic and well-written, you can hear the pressure, fear and despair in Phillipa's voice. The parallels with Eliza, who had time and didn't rap, and Fox, who rapped because she was running out of time, are so heartbreaking (did I mention that Lin's a genius?) Mentioning Fox is also illegal now btw.

A lot of songs in this musical are similar to Lin's previous works. Call Me Mercy is similar to It Won't Be Long Now (Mercy is sooo Vanessa coded, you can't convince me otherwise) and First Burn (which makes cense since Julia was Eliza), Derailed reminds me of Blackout, If You Can Count is kinda similar to Laurens' verse in My Shot (when you're living on your knees, you rise up), but longer.

I know it sounds like I'm giving all the credit to Lin, I'm just more familiar with him, but I'm not forgetting our queen Eisa, I just don't have much to say about her.

It's interesting how Lin was familiar with most of the cast. Sasha, Phillipa and Jasmine were in the original cast of Hamilton, Julia was Eliza and Gizel was in Tick, Tick, Boom, which was directed by LMM. Joshua Henry (one of the Bizzies) was also in TTB and Marc Anthony made a cameo in In The Heights movie (this is a picture of me rn btw)

this album has so many celebrities. My dad and uncle are fans of rap (they didn't like Hamilton for some reason tho), so Nas and Ms. Lauren Hill being on this album was quite a big deal for them. Hopefully I'll get them into Warriors sooner or later :)

Now let's talk about the gender swap. I'm pretty sure everyone in this fandom (except for maybe grumpy misogynistic movie fans) agreed that it improved the story so much. I haven't watched the movie yet, so my sincerest apologies if I'm wrong, but it feels like a story about gangs and murder and violence and stuff. Not that these kinds of action movies are bad, there's just too many of 'em. The musical is about women supporting women, it proves that things we associate with masculinity (gangs and murder and violence and stuff) can be done by women and it DOESN'T FEEL LIKE AN AGENDA unlike, for example, Enola Holmes (I love Enola Holmes, it's one of my favorite movies, but the unsubtle feminist feminism makes it a bit hard to watch (I'm a woman and not a misogynist btw)). The Warriors are just SO FRICKING COOL AAAAAHHH. I completely understand why Mercy joined the gang, if I saw some badass chicks throwing a Molotov to defeat some sleazy guys from my block, I would follow them too. They defeated the Furies and Luthor without breaking a sweat. The characters are much more likeable, too, 'specially Ajax. Her beating up a creepy guy instead of being a creepy guy is so cool GOD.

You're probably getting tired of my yapping, but Tumblr has no symbols limit and I'm not done yet so sit down and listen. LISTEN TO THE VOCALS OH MY GOD I I WANNA SING LIKE THIS TOO (unfortunately, I sound like a dying cat inside of a broken washing machine. Yes I'm also a theater kid. Yes I sing anyway. A lot. Apologies to my family). I'm so glad Jasmine had enough screen time (can you call it screen time if it's a concept album?) in Warriors because she's so good. Also every time Julia, Gizel or Amber opened their mouths I felt like ascending to godhood. EVERY SINGLE EFFING MERCY SONG HAD ME IN A CHOKEHOLD I'M NOT KIDDING. Why are they so good? This should be illegal.

I started writing this post in March and I'll be DAMNED if I don't finish it so let's move on to the different genres this album has. Obviously, we have rap and hip-hop (it ain't a LMM musical if it doesn't have rap and hip-hop), also heavy metal and Latin (I think? Please tell me if I'm wrong). Also I'm convinced that A Light Or Somethin' is ONE OF THE BEST romantic songs in modern musicals. This album conveys so many different emotions, it's like an effing rollercoaster (get it? Cause they're from Coney Island haha). One minute I'm laughing my ass off at Outside Gray's Papaya and a few songs layer I'm crying because Same Train Home. Do not put this playlist on shuffle if you care about your mental health.

One thing I don't like about this musical? I don't know shit about NYC geography besides from stuff I learned from In The Heights, PJO and Spider-Man so it was confusing as hell. I didn't even know there were 5 boroughs (we only learned about 4 of them in our English class years ago so I legit thought they were Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island (because Percy Jackson)). I had to look up Van Cortland Park, Union Square and Coney Island on Google Maps to see how big the distance is. For some reason it showed the distance in miles so my European ass still has no idea how much that actually is lol. Thanks to this musical I know a lot more though! This was the first time I heard a NYC accent and y'all weren't kidding when you said it was distinctive lmao. I really hope I'll visit New York one day just so I can look at all these places I know from this musical. (WOODLAWN CEMETERY WAY UP THE HILL, RUN TO THE CEMETERY WAY UP THE HILL)

Anyways! W-wow, that's-um, that's a long post hahaha. Here's a potato I guess 🥔🥔🥔. Also if you got this far you deserve some kind of award. Hope y'all have a spectacular day. Bye👋 ❤️🖤❤️🖤

[plantyberry]

Cloudcuckoolander Tally Part 2: Chapter 1-2 and 1-2-2: The Polo Club, or, 'Carrots save lives, but have you tried the apples yet?'

Coming in hot with the second part of my.. Thing (I'm not sure it can be called a guide), here are the many CuckooPoint-granting options there, although with some caveats. Some fears will lock you out of some picks, and so will your relationship with Adrian (As I mentionned in the previous part)

Therefore, for the sake of maximum point granting, please take care to keep those in mind:

-Friends or more with Adrian -Gadgetry as a hobby -NOT have the following fears: Blood, Fear -Greed will help

And now, let us move on for The Points!

Adrian and your past relationship: (Already mentionned last segment, but a reminder doesn't hurt)

If friends (or more) with Adrian + Gadgetry as a hobby: -I just did what the Magic 8-Ball told me to do. +1 Cuckoo

After that, check your MAGICAL GRIMOIRE (You phone) and you will see a message from Adrian (need friends or more) about the horses being spooked. -Do you think its the werewolves? Its always the werewolves. I'll bring the wolfsbane. +1 Cuckoo

Adrian reacting to your clothes: (Already mentionned last segment, but a reminder doesn't hurt)

Red Cape + Frame = 3 or height = tall: -"Little?" I wonder if Adrian has suddenly gone blind. --"Aye, Aye, fairy godmother." +1 Cuckoo

Vampire Cape: +1 Cuckoo -Strike a stereorypical vampire pose. +1 Cuckoo --"No promises" +1 Cuckoo

Tuxedo: -"Actually, I was planning to wear these clothes during practice." --"It will totally be worth it to see everyone's reaction to me riding around in a tux." +1 Cuckoo

Spandex Tracksuit: -"It's a tracksuit, Adrian. Why would I change my clothes again?" I ask 'innocently'. -- I say nothing, I merely start dancing the Tango de la Muerte. +1 Cuckoo (and the Keikaku achievement)

And now, for the conversation topics…

I make some light chitchat to break the ice.

-"So, how has your day been?" I ask Foreshadow. +1 Cuckoo

I ask about something that's been bothering me.

None! It is woefully bereft of cloudcuckoolander points and therefore may as well not exist.

I launch right into the meat of the matter.

-"There was a murder during my last work shift…" --(if police)I begin to describe my brilliant werewolf culprit theory. +1 Cuckoo ---I'm not joking. +1 Cuckoo --(if reporter, paramedic)"All I have to say is… zombies." +1 Cuckoo ---I'm not joking. +1 Cuckoo --(if lab technician) In the end, this is the work of werewolves… +1 Cuckoo --(if wildlife biologist) I elucidate in great detail upon the nitty-gritty details regarding my genius mutant bear theory. +1 Cuckoo ---I'm not joking. +1 Cuckoo (Whenever applicable) I'm not joking but I pretend that I am in a brilliant double-blind maneuver. +2 Cuckoo

-"So I was recently mauled by an invisible poltergeist…" -- Show your bruised arm to Adrian ---"What? I find this situation perfectly normal." ----I'm not being sarcastic. +1 Cuckoo (Note: If your cuckoo score is under 5, you gain +1 Denial instead)

-"It seems that my apartment may be a little bit haunted…" --"I don't know, man, that bedroom ghost sounded pretty sexy." ---Obviously, I'm not joking. +1 Cuckoo

I launch into a long involved story regarding my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. -(follow the 'recently mauled by an invisible poltergeist' answer line) --"I blame the poltergeist. Also the werewolves, potential zombies, and I've got a sneaking suspicion that mutant fairies may be involved," you ramble. +1 Cuckoo

I believe actions speak louder than words

-I silently whip out my thirteen-page description of my past day including all details regarding my past work shift, my nightmare and strange injury, as well as the current haunted atmosphere of my apartment. --I wave my arms around in my best impression of a haunting ghost. +1 Cuckoo ---I reenact a scene from an earlier Knights of Our Lives episode that just so happened to appear in my dreams before. +1 Cuckoo (MC needs to know who Caleb is) ----I spin in a circle while twirling my arms. Surely Adrian will understand my meaning. +1 Cuckoo

Outside / Event prompts:

For a moment you think you see something dark and hulking lumbering behind the nearby red trailer, but the image vanishes within a single blink of your eyes. -Perhaps it was the werewolf that ate Caleb Degaré? +1 Cuckoo (You need to know who Caleb is)

If you deny foreshadow some treats twice (No treats for Foreshadow, those are meant for my own horse.), he will start chewing on your duffel bag. -I chew on the duffel bag myself. +1 Cuckoo

Not to mention part owner of the entire stable of polo ponies

-But the more rodeo clowns, the better. +1 Cuckoo

Post-Adrian Greetings

Talking about Arthur: "I just want to know if he's secretly a zombie/werewolf/mutant. He is, isn't he?" +1 Cuckoo I wonder if I accidentally left my apartment on fire this morning. +1 Cuckoo I wonder if an African swallow could really carry a coconut? +1 Cuckoo I hold up my phone with a Monty Python and the Holy Grail meme about coconuts on its screen. +1 Cuckoo I wonder if one of those sword swallower people could gulp down Excalibur? It'd be handy to be your own sheath. +1 Cuckoo (Requires Arthuriana fanatic)

Asking about the Apocalypse: "Pure unfiltered meta knowledge." +1 Cuckoo (Note: This one also gives +1 Corruption, be careful if you play some specific combos)

Ask how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood. +1 Cuckoo

Approaching the trailer

-"You ever wonder what the color red would taste like if you could eat things with your eyes?" +1 Cuckoo

After the trailer

-I tell everyone who'll listen about the strange sounds in the trailer. --(If vice = Greed) I wonder if I could learn to juggle the polo balls? +1 Cuckoo

The Polo Match begins

-I wonder if a polo mallet could be used to eat crabs? +1 Cuckoo

The runaway horse

Most of the options here are tied to having a good end to the incident (which relies on having a non-possessed MC), make of that what you will~

If you didn't try to rescue Pippa, but you fed a treat to Foreshadowing (Adrian does the rescue)

-"WHOOO!" I loudly cheer the arrival of the other riders. --(If cuckoo and silent > 7) At least I don't have a gaping maw. +1 Cuckoo

If you didn't try to rescue Pippa, but didn't feed a treat to Foreshadowing (Adrien gets injured)

-I hurriedly trot over to where Adrian lies prone in the middle of the polo field. --If we'd been riding Velociraptors, I bet this never would've happened. +1 Cuckoo

If you go Rescue Pippa (Need Greed or Fear level < 10, and fear must not be 'fear') -I start humming the theme song from the original Batman TV series. +1 Cuckoo

If you are unwillingly rescuing Pippa -I'm not screaming, I'm yodeling! +1 Cuckoo

To avoid faling off the saddle during the attempt if you ride Knight Rider or Midsummer Knight Dream, after the creature attacked the trailer, wait a few times until the narration says the poney exhales.

If you slip from the saddle (Knight Rider or Midsummer Knight Dream): -I wonder what I should have for dinner tonight? +1 Cuckoo

If you fail the second stat check to rescue Pippa: -GERONIMO! +1 Cuckoo

If you ride Knight Rider/Midsummer Knight Dream or (Queen of Knight/Fly by Knight fed at least once), and (Body>=30 / Charm + body >=50) and unlock the following option:

Once more… -"I AM THE TERROR THAT FLAPS IN THE NIGHT!" +1 Cuckoo

If you ride Queen of Knight/Fly by Knight or (Knight Rider/Midsummer Knight Dream fed at least once), and (Body>=20 / Charm + body >=40) and unlock the following option:

Whatever happens, don't let go. -Da da da da da… Batmaaaaaaan! +1 Cuckoo

If you successfully rescued Pippa: -Rodeo rider, hmm… I see the possibilities. +1 Cuckoo

Post Rescue:

(If not mindcontrolled) "Did anyone else see that strange thing on the hill?" --"…a zombie wolf?" +1 Cuckoo --"…a werewolf in wolf form." +1 Cuckoo --"…a mutant wolf-bear-shark hybrid?" +1 Cuckoo

If you slipped off the saddle with either Knight Rider or Midsummer Knight Dream: -"Come on! I believe in you, Willy! You can do it! You could be free! Come on! You can jump it!" +1 Cuckoo Negligence in equipment maintenance? Manufacturing error? Or… -Or the perfidious work of trailer gremlins? +1 Cuckoo

If helping Ash with the cleanup: -I wonder if we could train dung beetles to do this work instead? +1 Cuckoo

Going back to the trailer:

-I wonder if this horse ramp's good for skateboarding? +1 Cuckoo -If the trailer turned into gingerbread, would we still need to give hay to the horses? +1 Cuckoo (also gives you +1 Magic, the cloudcuckoolander MC does synergize well with magical shenanigans in general)

Go check with Amnay -"All I can say is…" (+Crazy theory) (You need to have thought about the same crazy theory at least 2 times) +1 Cuckoo --The proof is in the pudding! Which is wobbly and very delicious. +1 Cuckoo ---I know the truth. I know that I know the truth. And one day, I'll show them all! MuahahahahaHAHAHAâ-ahem. +1 Cuckoo

[gold-rhine]

Inazuma Rewrite Act Two

Please read part one before reading this. It will make no sense otherwise.

In part one I did setup for the vision hunt conflict, changed Raiden’s motivations, added Rebellion \ Resistance interaction and Teppei setup, added setups to the arcs to Ayaka and Yoimiya. And more!

In this installment:

Let’s Make Player Give A Fuck About Rebellion and Teppei

Kokomi Is Not An Idiot

Delusions Are Not The Aging Beach

Ayaka’s Arc Pay-off

and more!

All disclaimers from part one also apply, I’m not gonna copy paste them.

Raiden Shogun First Duel 

I think we can keep the duel itself mostly unchanged. The cutscenes are pretty good and very cinematic, I don’t see reason to fix things which are not broke when there are already so many broken things

so, Traveler comes to Thoma’s rescue, gets taken to raiden’s plane of euthemia

also mb let’s cut i hate all minorities dialogue and instead like. open disobedience of the traveler to raiden shogun is i think enough to be used as a cause for the duel

The dialogue with raiden changes, we add banter with Traveler where traveler is like but you were pro-change before! and like cites some Transience things we talked about in the part 1.

Raiden gets mad in response, yells “Don’t you dare to mention her against me!” and that’s when she throws Traveler out of  euthemia and prepares the boob nuke

yeah, it’s foreshadowing of Makoto reveal

then the cutscene is the same, Thoma chucks a spear in her face and escapes with the traveler

thoma goes into hiding, traveler goes to join rebellion. bc they’re already in contact with gorou, we skip meandering around and go straight to the goal

First battle

and we arrive directly to the battlefield

there are several problems with rebellion pacing and kokomi characterization, which i elaborated on before. Like, Kokomi in canon only has one battle, which she wins because she hired mercenaries with fatui money. which like! invalidates this whole thing and makes her naive enough to be duped by the bad guys. So we need a battle win which is decidedly due to Kokomi’s genius.

so like in canon, Kujou Sara demands rebellion give her the traveler. Teppei, whos also there, is like no, fuck off! he’s embarrassed to speak out of the order but determined.

Gorou of course gives a speech about not giving up comrades, the fight starts, we have cool battle animation blah blah, and then suddenly!! Kujou Sara has reinforcements coming from behind some cliffs, oh no!! Teppei yells there’s too much of them! We will be overrun! Close up of Gorou’s snarling face, eyes darting, ready to call retreat, close up of victoriously looking Sara, Tenryou reinforcements are running to the battle... 

The water bubbles start rising up and Kokomi appears. She smiles at Gorou reassuringly and does some cool water animation. The hidden spring\waterfall bursts up with water and crushes into the reinforcements, washing them away. Rebellion rejoices, Kujou Sara curses and calls retreat.

i’ve seen people demand kokomi to have like a cool battle transforming into a dragon or smth bc of her origins and draconae constellation, but like this is missing the narrative pacing. the vishap origins only make sense after enkanomya where we learn about watatsumi history AND on the subversion of “oh its pink pastel kokomi who is smart and sweet :3”. Like we need to know her like that first, and THEN the dragon reveal will be cool and interesting.

Rebellion and Teppei overall setup

so, the Rebellion act wanted to accomplish too many things and didn’t structure them efficiently:

make you feel comradery with rebellion

make you like teppei

make you feel like a leader of your own squad, but like you EARNEd it, bc at first soldiers are distrustful and make you prove yourself

establish delusions and that delusions are bad bc teppei died, which is sad bc p.2

 in canon it’s like - have one scene with teppei, do some useless fetch errands for rebels, have another scene with teppei, be assigned swordfish captain and have two quick scenes with two dudes you will not remember

so obviously no one gives a fuck with this kind of pacing

instead, we will combine all of this and more importantly, give it narrative throughline so it doesn’t feel so disconnected and erratic

traveler is already known to Gorou through resistance meet up, he vouches for them, and Kokomi immediately names Traveler as captain of swordfish 2

Teppei is here and he excitedly volunteers to join that squad too

Gorou is like hey its a high risk squad that’s deployed on front lines, and you don’t have combat experience like, at all

Paimon and Traveler step up to be like yeah its fine, we’ll look after him, teppei is like omg thanks you guys :3

turns out he has problems fitting in with the rebels. they are all great ppl, sure, but they are warriors bonded in fights for years and most of them are from watatsumi. 

and he’s like a merchant or a clerk from narukami island. he feels like an outsider and a burden

but now the Traveler is here! they are already buddies from that resistance meet up and Traveler is an outsider too. They can stick together!

Swordfish II

So you go to meet up with your swordfish squad. You are greeted by a buff butch woman who is v no-nonsense and skeptical about your ability to be leader and another woman who is more friendly, but still kinda keeps distance and is snarky

their code names are Xena and Gabrielle for no reason other that we need buff female models like blacksmihs, hoyo. The point is that we need some memorable NPCs to represent swordfish, bc these two dudes that give you shit in canon for 3 second? I couldn’t remember them if my life depended on it

anyway, you learn that the previous captain just died and everyone loved and was very loyal to them, and now they are hostile to anyone who tries to take command.

So we do couple of battle to prove we’re strong blah blah, teppei is useless during a fight and Xena makes fun of him for this, and he’s super embarrassed

after that we walk around with teppei. Swordfishes camp is kinda shabby, they just took a bad hit. So we help the wounded, repair some tents, etc, but most important, Teppei uses expertise he’s got from his civilian job to solve problems

like he knows how to make a great painkiller potion bc he used to sell them. Or he gets an idea to use empty bags from used supplies to cover holes in tents, etc. 

Point is, he contributes.

After all this, Xena and Gabrielle are walking around, and Gabrielle is like wow captain, did you do all these improvements, and Traveler is like yeah, but it was all Teppei’s solutions, and Xena doesn’t say anything, but you can see she’s surprised and appreciative that you’re not only strong in combat, but care for the squad

she nods over the campfire at teppei like “i guess you’re not so useless after all, narukami nerd”

he protests, everyone laughs, its Bonding Time

Kokomi is not an idiot\ Fatui

We’re summoned to go see Kokomi. She’s in deep thought. Rebellion is in dire situation, supplies are running out, she’s sure they will not be able to win another open confrontation, even with her strategic tricks

But there is a new development - she’s being offered a huge anonymous donation. With that money, she could hire mercs to help. But to accept money without knowing the source is too risky, it could be a trap or setup

so she asks us to investigate these mysterious benefactors. bc also there are some vague rumors about some way to get boost to power going around and thats very sus too

bc like no, I cannot get over supposed genius Kokomi just taking fatui’s help blindly and letting them spread delusions around

so we go to the quest to investigate clues, with the swordfishes, its our first srs mission as the captain.

its couple of fights, blah blah. we find some clues and then its the Leader Decision time.

like there are two camps and we need to strike both at the same time, or the other one will destroy evidence and run, but we don’t have enough manpower. traveler is like  can take one camp by myself, and Xena at first is skeptical, but we’ve proven ourselves yesterday so she’s like okay I trust you, boss

everything goes well, both camps are taken and we find evidence that these donations are in fact, from fatui! and they are trying to spread delusions, which are bad and can kill you!

Delusions

I’m not a fan of Delusions working like the aging beach from that movie Old. Like first of all, if that’s how it worked, Childe should at this point look like this

and Diluc. And Signora. Like I get that these are like low quality delusions, so effect is worse, but you can’t be like wow Teppei turned 90 in 2 days and Diluc stayed babyfaced after 4 years.

second, how is that no one noticed Teppei aging 20 years after each fight. Like it had to happen in front of other soldiers.

And like, why change the mechanics at all?? You use delusion, you get burst of power and take huge hit to the health, that’s it. Low quality delusions take more out of your health, so people using them die faster. They don’t need to age faster at the same time.So that’s mechanics I’m using here.

Anyway, while swordfishes discuss delusions finding (and Xena loudly condemns them), camera shows Teppei being quiet, kinda sus and looking away

Kokomi Mini-Arc\ Swordfish Bonding

we go back and report to kokomi. She’s distraught. The battle is so soon and she doesn’t know what to do!

from pure strategic, emotionless perspective to win the battle she needs to take fatui’s money and close her eyes at some soldiers using delusions. She can trade their lives for the voctory

But as a Watatsumi leader who cares about her people she cannot do that!

Traveler comforts her, but leaves without any obvious decision made and with a heavy heart. 

the night before battle, we gather at campfire with the swordfishes

everyone is kinda doom and gloom bc it’s obvious Rebellion doesn’t stand a chance

Traveler stands up and makes a motivational speech about fighting together, about how they’ve faced seemingly impossible odds before and prevailed, bc everyone worked together, like with Ossail fight

Xena suddenly stands up to support us, she’s like yeah, I didn’t believe in you before, but now I see you’re worth it, Captain!

everyone cheers, Xena punches Teppei into shoulder and he almost falls over like “Even this narukami nerd is not as bad as I thought haha!”

Final Rebellion Battle

So, cinematic cutscene. Sara on one side with obviously more soldiers. Kokomi and Gorou with rebellion on the other side. Traveler is with the Swordfishes and Teppei. Kokomi and Sara shjare some snappy banter. 

mb there’s a duel, but only if combat designers can figure out way to make it cool. Traveler whacking NPC in a row who can do nothing back with a sword 5 times in a row like in canon is fucking boring. Mb incorporate like challenge with Inazuma mechanics like the thunder zoomies or smth.

the battle begins. Rebellions fights fiercely, close ups of our swordfishes.

Teppei is fighting Surprisingly Good For Him. Xena comments on this and he beams up

but the difference in numbers is too much. Rebellions starts being overwhelmed, and then!

Suddenly Beidou and the mercs join the battle! Kazuha is here too. Traveler looks worriedly at Kokomi, does this mean that she’s accepted Fatui’s bloody money??

But Kokomi smiles back. No, she’s had another trump up her sleeve

trail of snowflakes runs through the ground and suddenly, Ayaka appears on the battlefield. 

animation cutscene plays, Ayaka is shown in the past, after Traveler leaves, feeling restless and trapped in the estate. She’s still reeling from Yoimiya’s words and the fact that she couldn’t even help Thoma herself. She feels powerless, a pretty helpless figurehead princess that she didn’t want to be

letter from Kokomi arrives, telling about Rebellion’s dire situation and asking if Ayaka can help

Ayaka is in turmoil, she wants to help so bad, but she can’t steal money from Yashiro commission, that’d be stealing from people of Inazuma! 

She glances at her dancing fan and suddenly, a solution comes to her.

Looking determined, she goes to the Kamisato estate treasury and opens the chest of her parents’ inheritance

She sells some of her family heritage jewels and silks to get the money, deciding to use the same privilege that kept her trapped to finally help people 

she also officially announces that she’ll be in religious solitude meditation ritual or smth and instead sneaks off and travels to Watatsumi

she’s wearing that carnival mask that hoyo puts on models when they want to do “disguise”. Listen, if Diluc doesn’t get recognized in this gay little mask, then it can work for Ayaka too

anyway, animation ends with Ayaka springing from the ground on the battlefield and starting her burst, which transitions to her in-game burst animation

Her burst shreds through Tenryou forces.

Ayaka freeze with Kokomi and Kazuha is one of the best meta teams. Sara realizes it’s fucking JOVER for this battle and calls retreat.

Teppei death \ Delusion factory

Rebellion overjoices, Traveler and the swordfishes hug or whatever our animation department can handle in celebration, when suddenly!

Teppei falls down! Everyone gathers around and see delusion roll over from his hand!

oh no! He says he secretly picked up delusion from the fatui camp we cleared during investigation. This is why he’s fought so well today.

We tell him that he shouldn’t have done it, the fool!

He says he wanted to be useful. He just wanted to finally be one of the rebels!

Xena sits down next to him and says “You were already one of us.”

He dies holding her hand, with all comrades all around, instead of alone behind a shed like a sick housecat

Gorou and Kokomi walk up.Kokomi says that this is exactly why she refused Fatui’s help, but this happening even to one of the soldiers is a tragedy

Traveler and Swordfishes of course demand revenge. But we don’t know where the delusions are coming from! we already cleared fatui camps we knew of, we just don’t have any new leads!

Kujou Sara who watched this scene from afar suddenly speaks up

She has intel about possible location of Fatui factory, that she didn’t have time to explore. It’s on Tenryuo territory, but she’s willing to let Traveler pass. Fatui betraying and harming Inazuma people like this is unacceptable to her, even if they are enemies for now.

We’re like but can we trust her?? What if she just captures us?

Kokomi has long eye contact with Sara. It’s very Yuri. 

She finally says “No, we can trust Kujou Sara’s honor”

Sara only lets Traveler pass, so we have a scene of swordfishes wishing us luck and then we leave

Delusion factory quest goes the same. It’s okay, again, not fixing what’s not broke.

We confront Scara, he rants about mortals being bubbles, blah blah

The only dialogue change is when he bullshits about like oh, these mortals are weak and useless, of course they have to pay for power, Traveler argues that Teppei was already useful, he helped with the camp in a way others couldn’t, and he didn’t have to die to prove anything or “pay” for power

Otherwise it goes the same, Traveler passes out, Yae shows up to trade the gnosis

we’re moving to the Act 3!

PART 3

[hostilemuppet]

Omg I haven't read more than humans in YEARS like talking +7 or something. I remember hating butch for being a pervert but I did not realize it was that bad. I don't think I liked any of the guys interpretations honestly. But like yeah definitely a early 2000s thing of VERY open and prominent sexism and even women constantly putting down other women.

The only thing I dont hate was Brick being smart. Like if you work it right it can just be a part of being blossoms counter part but like to have him be an edgy super genius who hates anything dumb/distructive and his brothers, with a secret "sensitive side". Is just butchering the character for the author's obvious favoritism and dream boy 🙄

yeah judging from how its not tagged in the fic, a Lot of people dont realise that "forcibly stripping someone and then groping them without consent" would read as sexual assault 😑 and YEAH... yeah its very. buttercup specifically seems like such a "im not like other girls" character, like her establishing character moment was dismissively saying "i dont want to be pretty like blossom bc pretty girls get raped" (which is. in hindsight. oda level foreshadowing)

i kind of do hate brick being book smart on principal. like theres no way to handle it thats not "he is blossoms counterpart, so he Has to be book smart, even though in canon hes dumber than a bag of rocks". this ties into something i keep saying, where blossom IS book smart but her main thing as The Smart One is being a great tactition, but people dont understand this and just make her Generic Nerd (looking at you ppg16). so when characterising brick, they figure "he also has to be a genius", even though brick doesnt even know what a silent letter is. brick is street smart, hes great at figuring out how to fight dirty (often literally!) bc its the best way to get one up on the girls and its playing to him and his brothers strengths; ie, not being book smart

i mean, the joke behind "the rowdyruff boys" name is that its spelled wrong. they spell "rough" phonetically because they arent smart. you could say "oh, its just bc theyre 5, brick can get smarter as he gets older!" but theyre also fictional and if youve got to make them pivot 180 for your fancontent then whats the point

[adhdtsukasa]

good morning everyone, rise and shine, have you thought about the world hasn't even started yet today? nope? then now you do! because with full emukasa and ruinene sekahaji alts finally releasing, it's time for me to (over)analyze my favorite and definitely one of the most underrated wonderlands x showtime's songs that is still haunting the narrative to this day. (haunting the narrative is actually a bit of a dramatic way to call it, but i like to be dramatic and so do wxs.)

in full seriousness, i just really, really like sekahaji's lyrics and it's such a shame it's not getting talked about that much anymore only because that's an old song, especially since pinocchiop is a lyrics genius. so if you're interested in my personal interpretation of sekahaji, including analyzing the foreshadowing of the future events included in the lyrics and analyzing the line distribution not only in the original ver, but in the alt vocals as well, then tune in! because i have a lot to say.

will be using the screenshots from vocaloid lyrics wiki, but i'm going to say who's singing the line anyways, so it's not that much of a problem. i think. (also the alts line distribution is not really that important, it's mostly ruikasa and emunene singing each other's lines with two exceptions. but some lines hurt more when it's the other who sings it, so who am i not to mention it?)

"sekahaji is such a fun song" and then the first lines of the song after the bunch of hey heys and it's showtimes are already giving me a bunch of an emotional damage. oh, man. being a wxs fan sureee is so fun.

while we're at the topic of the first lyrics, it's kinda interesting that rui's the one who says "let's go!" instead of tsukasa, as this is expected from the latter with his position as the troupe leader — but i'm not going to read too much into it, because i doubt it matters lol. if i have to somehow explain it, then i'd say it's because rui's a stage director, so he's in charge of being the one to start the show. sort of. it's not really important.

"with a cast who can use magic and monsters who are burdened with trauma" is such a tsukasa line, honestly. it may seem more rui-like at first, but it fits tsukasa a lot, too. personally, i always interpret it as a spark contrast between who wxs were and who wxs are now — their pasts weren't the most pleasant thing ever (with exception of maybe emu, but even she is still haunted by the grief from her grandpa's death), they indeed were pretty traumatized (especially rui, but you cannot just ignore the rest). they were monsters, because they weren't perfect. and tsukasa is the type of person who strives for perfection.

they're not monsters anymore, however. (they never were, but try to explain it to four traumatized teenagers) now, it's their turn to be the magic-using cast! and the mentioned magic is them putting on shows and spreading shows, obviously. if you read into it a bit more, you can even say that the former cast, the one from when wxs were still these so-called monsters, was their idols, the people who sparked the dream of performing in them — seiichi amami, rakunosuke otori, yuka kazamatsuri and tom gray. (such an insane april fools unit)

in the ruinene alt, rui's the one who sings this line. and this stings a bit, because obviously... he'd think of himself as a monster burdened with trauma. rui...

nene is the one who sings this line in original, and this makes sense. that's a rather logical line, and so is nene. "disappear" isn't meaning death here, as it often means in the proseka terms — "disappear" is just the another word of something passing, something ending. vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas, you can say. i'm sorry that was stronger than me.

the disband arc (i'm so sorry, i know we're way past it. but it is an important part of the wxs lore. i'm not going to shut up about it) had it very beginning in nene, after all. its first mentions appeared in mermaid admiration, which was just a mere start of both the second arc and the second rotation (wxs has only just started getting better, after all!), and then island panic started the domino that was curtain call, amidst a dream and so on, and so on. nene knew that everyone's destined to disappear — to part ways — someday. this was creeping up to her from behind almost from the very start.

in the emukasa anabo, it's emu who got this line. it makes it even worse, because it's what emu's perspective of the disband arc was about. she wanted to stay at wonder stage, nene, rui and tsukasa wanted to go further than it. everyone's destined to disappear someday, because her dream is just too simple for them to share it.

okay, i'm gonna be honest here — i have no clue what to do with this line. i didn't want to skip it, as it's rui's solo line and is surrounded by such impactful words, it surely makes sense, i just don't really see it at this moment. sorry rui. the best i can do is to say that "heartbeat fading over time" may symbolize rui's deteriorating mental state in middle school, but, like... that's an awful reaching.

it makes a bit more sense when you look at it from tsukasa's pov, both because he has this line in the emukasa alt and because it's a song formed from his feelings — the heartbeat here is his real ambition, his want to make everyone smile and the way he forgot it in the main story. still don't know what to do with the ticket that's long past expired. my thoughts are kinda going in the direction of it being wonderland sekai, but i don't have any argument to actually explain it.

finally coming to an end of this part, (not because it's bad, but because it hurts), at this point you can guess that it's a line sung by emu and oh god, it made me suffer so much when i was waiting for our happy ending to release. yep, it's the foreshadowing of the disband arc again, who would've think, right? looking back at it now where the disband arc is finally resolved (for now. it's going to come back one day, surely), it's one of my favorite lines in the song, as it touches emu's internal struggle during these days perfectly.

i'm assuming the "let's come" means "let's come here" as in: come to a certain place (in my interpretation, wonder stage) because i have no idea why the "here" isn't here, as i was pretty much convinced that it was. but whatever. the way i see this line is how emu was always happily inviting the rest of wxs to visit wonder stage, wanting to spend time with them and make everyone smile, yet deep down in herself still knowing that she shouldn't take it as granted. she would want to spend yet another year with wxs by her side, but, back then, it was not a promise. there was always this possibility that next year, she'll be alone once again — because wonder stage is their place to go, but it's not going to be this way for forever.

in the ruinene anabo, nene got this line. i'm not going to say a lot about it, as i've already covered this topic before — it's a mermaid admiration reference, once again. even more so in this very line, because when i think about associating this line with nene, the first thing i see is her mermaid admiration untrained.

i think it's also pretty interesting that while tsukasa and rui got the lines that are more similiar to main story/first arc, emu and nene got the lines about the second arc!

i don't have much to say about it, it's just that rui sings this line and it makes me think about main story — to the wxs fall-out, specifically. the troupe didn't even properly start yet, just like the world!, and yet there are already bad things happening — tsukasa screamed at nene for messing up the show, rui got mad at tsukasa and decided not to come here again, emu is blaming herself for everything, for being unable to make them smile. it's definitely already no-good... just like most of rui's experiences.

as you can probably guess by the way the line distribution is arranged in the alts, tsukasa got this line in emukasa anabo. and this makes a lot of sense after all too, because, well... it was him who messed up. maybe it's about the moment when he finally realizes his true feelings?

the only explanation for this line is that tsukasa's feelings are currently all over the place because he's experiencing overstimulation. the conclusion is that tenma tsukasa has ADHD, thank you, time to pack it up, analysis over, everyone go home

i'm just kidding, but this line has been permanently noted in my brain as "the ADHD tsukasa line" ("why not autism tsukasa line" take a good look at my url. the sole reason is that i'm a bit insane) so it's hard for me to see it as anything else. we're not discussing tsukasa's obvious neurodivergence today, though, so let's move on to me trying to actually make something out of it—

"there's too much noise" part belongs to nene, while the rest of the line is sung by emu. nene (more in the early game than nowadays, but still) is often seen complaining and flinching at loud noises, and this was my first thought, however! emu got this line as well, and she doesn't really have any issue with loud noises as she's a very energetic and cheerful person, right? (and so is tsukasa and yet for some reason he has this line in his very own song. but i'm not going to repeat myself) here comes my second thought — it's referencing the main story fight. it would make sense both for nene (she's the one who is screamed at) and emu (she thinks it's her fault for being "selfish") to have it. this is also one of the two exceptions where it's not just rks emnn singing each other lines — rui and tsukasa in their respective anabos got the "there's too much noise" part. if it was about the fight, it'd make sense for rui as well — after all, he's the one who has to look at his childhood friend getting blamed for something that is partially his fault.

on a slightly unrelated note, i'm a big fan of the way how in emukasa alt tsukasa sings "there's too much noise" in a voice that's close to breaking, while emu is happily going "so much noise! and it keeps getting worse!!" with sparkles and flowers all around her. i love her so much. never change emu.

besides "just as i always have" that's sung by nene, this whole line belongs completely to emu — and i think this says a lot. the "deteriorating, abandoned room" is yet another metaphor for wonder stage, because that's how wonder stage was like when tsukasa sees it for the first time; deteriorated and abandoned, with emu as its only visitor. but emu doesn't give up. emu keeps on dreaming, keeps on wishing for it to return to its former glory.

i didn't say anything about the first line, because, uh. despite being sung by emu, i think it correlates to tsukasa and his ambitions more, etc, etc... but i also don't have a clear enough thought to elaborate on it. sorry!

the deeper we are in the song, the more cheerful the melody and the vibe of it gets, while the lyrics are starting to go in a slightly... different direction. the lyrics are inviting you to a never-ending party, a way to cope with all the bad things that happen to you. it fits wxs a lot, doesn't it? they're the group that is sharing childlike wonder with everyone and wishes to make people smile, while themselves are being often paralleled with niigo and aren't really the happiest and healthiest people in the universe (and they have a habit of not talking about their feelings as well). it would make sense for them to want to cut the negativity in their lives off, not only for their own sake, but also for the sake of the others around them (after all, this was the whole point of smile of a dreamer). wonderland sekai is their place to go, a place where they can drown themselves in the never-ending fun and fight off the negativity. because... they still can do it, right? because the world hasn't even started yet.

at this point, they're much better, obviously. because we're almost four years in the game and now wxs isn't only their escapism anymore, it's the place filled with the people they all love so much. but when we were still at main story, it'd make sense for them to be just like that, as their bond still wasn't as strong as it is now back then.

this part came out a bit too angsty than i wanted and i'm not proud of it, but i don't really know how to express what i mean with it in words. if you actually understood my intention, then you deserve a gold star. i'll have to rewrite it a few months later probably eh

while a lot of people think of this line as of a really dark one, i don't think that's the case! actually, it's a rather positive and optimistic one. the mention of hell can make someone flinch, that's for sure, but it's the same case as the mentioned earlier "monsters burdened with trauma" — it's just wxs self-deprecating themselves because of their past. for most of them, their past experiences surely could be called "hell", because everyone experiences trauma differently. but they're not in this hell anymore. their past is over, they're not alone anymore, they have each other now — this is their happy ending that plays out... from their phones, in form of the untitled.

after all, rui was right! the ending for sure will be a happy one, as long as they are together!

i've noticed that a lot of the sekahaji lyrics are matching with the latter ones, and this is no expection: once again, the first line talks about the first arc events, while the second is leaning more onto the second arc, just like in the first verse.

i'm not a native english speaker, so i have to admit, i had to look up what does thick-skinned mean lol i'm a bit surprised that's actually a rather positive thing? with how tsukasa was acting in the main story, i was expecting it to be more on the negative side. i can't say that it doesn't fit, though. tsukasa's most famous (?) depiction as a king is his wonder magical showtime card, while wonder magical showtime itself is an event focusing on how tsukasa is not going to let go of emu's dream that easily, that even the criticism of the phenniland members that didn't want to help them at first is not going to stop him (although it's been a long time since i watched wms, so correct me if i'm wrong!) — and that's what i understood that thick-skinned means.

meanwhile, rui is the alchemist. he's often described as such and is even depicted as one in his revival my dream card (...but we don't talk about revival my dream). and while "full of desires" doesn't neccesarily mean greedy — it's normal to have wishes and desires, after all — rui is not only called that by himself, but by the game as well, since he, too, has his own desires. and... having too much desires is a dangerous thing. (it kind of sounds like i'm demonizing rui i'm going to cry. that is NOT my intention i swear.)

and as i said earlier, the second line is corresponding to disband arc again. presented as the happy, unbothered group on the surface, wxs is some kind of an utopia, a perfect world, and so is their sekai — but they're always being followed by this feeling of uncertainty, of impending goodbye. or rather, were followed. whether you think disband arc is going to come back one day or not, i think it's safe to assume that sekahaji's references are not going further than our happy ending. at the point of the wxs story where we are now, the disband arc is resolved. of course, one day their utopia will cease to exist and they'll truly be forced to leave their attachments behind, returning to the real world. but this day is not today. today, they can still be happy. because the world hasn't even started yet. (or has it, it's just more pleasant that they were expecting?)

i didn't mention who's singing these lines earlier, but... i've already covered this topic many times. tsukasa (rui in ruinene anabo) is singing the first, nene (emu in emukasa anabo) is singing the second. and my explanation for it is pretty much similiar to the verses from the very beginning, so... yeah, let's just move on to something more interesting, shall we?

this fragment is matching the fragment starting with "there is too much noise", so that's my yet another argument for it referencing the main story fight — and this part is way more transparent in doing so. "there's too much conflict" is sung only by nene, but the latter part is sung by both her and emu. and as we already know, nene was the one who suffered the most in it, while emu was the one blaming herself the most (interestingly though, nene sings the "i couldn't help but worry" in the full group version!). the boys got "there's too much conflict" in their respective alts as well, so rui singing this line applies to his reaction to the fight, too.

"it's like when our arms are all tangled together" could be the failed show, because that's what happens when you mess up. it's also emu who sings this, and it's a very emu-like way of describing things.

and even though tsukasa is not singing the last line (it's still either emu or nene, depending on the version) it's still his untitled, so i can boldly say that it's about him. he brushed off the dust of his memories and rebooted himself, remembering his true feelings and entering his path to become a better person. the fight has ended and we're nearing the end of the song, just like we're nearing the end of the main story.

you can also say that it's about rebooting robonene. that... would work as well, i guess.

haha, hey, do you know what's happening on nene's mermaid admiration untrained? wxs are playing with fireworks, together. and do you know what they also want to do together? stay like that for forever. it truly was out firework show that lasts a lifespan!

the motif of a firework show appears also in wonder magical showtime, where it's an ending for the show the phenniland cast put on to save phoenix wonderland from being turned into a place that doesn't resemble the old phoenix wonderland at all. it's no wonder wxs would want it to last a lifespan. after all, it's emu's dream for phenniland to never change and always be the place that she remembers from her childhood.

and this is just a description of wonderland sekai, honestly. it has roller coaster in it + they are often seen in the background of various wxs cards. the starry skies are often present as well. it's not like we got two (2) songs with "starry sky" in their name for nothing.

i feel like "the best of the worst of crappy plays" is the show that sparked the main story argument in the first place — it was messed up, so it was crappy and horrible, no doubt for that. but it's also the best — why? because if not its failure, tsukasa wouldn't find his true feelings and wxs wouldn't even form. when such a crappy play made you get closer to your best friends and turned your life for the better, how can you not feel at least slightly grateful for its existence?

the second line is included here as well, because i don't really have an idea what to do with it. it's such a great line, however, so it would be a shame to just leave it out. the only thing i'm going to mention is that it's interesting that the prospect of an ending was there with them from the very, very beginning.

this one i see as a nod to smile of a dreamer and wonder magical showtime — because emu's family already had their own plans about what to do with phoenix wonderland. these were the plans that'd make them a lot of money, so it was their "harmonius future", even though emu didn't agree with it.

emu alone wasn't able to do much, but then she met wxs... and then the entirety of phenniland stood by her side. together, they were able to break the plans for a harmonious future. together, they were able to made her dream come true.

and, finally, the last line i'm going to talk about today! the bell is a symbol for new beginnings, just like this lyric itself says, so the act of ringing it is a new era in tsukasa's, emu's, nene's and rui's lives beginning — the formation of wonderlands x showtime! especially since it's the last line in the song aside of the last the world hasn't even started yet (not counting the hey heys and it's showtimes once again).

this is not the only time the bell is referenced in a wxs song, though — because it made an appearance also in the 2DMV for sekai wo terasu tetrad, once again symbolizing a new beginning, a new era, although this time it's a sekai expansion. and because i mentioned sekai wo terasu tetrad, i can now swiftly go to the conclusion of this post:

sekahaji is such a great song, because despite being the first wxs comm, it's foreshadowing the events way up to the third anni and this is not talked about enough. is this still applying to the events after the third anni? nope! not because they cannot be easily altered so they could still fit the lyrics, but because sekahaji has simply fulfilled its purpose already. i haven't studied sekai wo terasu tetrad's lyrics that much in-depth yet and i don't think it has the same 100% lore value that sekahaji has, as i don't think there's anything that hints tetrad being a canon second untitled, but it's the song released by the occasion of a sekai expansion — and if there are going to be future events foreshadowed, then it's going to happen in tetrad. not going to think about it too much for now, as three events (world link not included) isn't enough to say it for sure imo (unless it's going to be as short as the first arc was), but that's definitely a possibility.

that would be all! there's too much of my rambling in here anyways. i haven't really checked it, so i'm sorry if i ended up saying nonsense — after all, as i always say, i'm a overthinker, not an analyst! everything i said here is just my personal interpretation either way. i hope that you at least enjoyed listening to me babbling about sekahaji for way too much words straight!

and i hope that my main goal has been accomplished and you've just went to listen to the world hasn't even started yet because now you, too, have thought about it. right? <3

[greenerteacups]

Good morning GT, and thank you for the new chapter! I have loved the Bill-Fleur interactions in the last two chapters. I haven’t seen a lot of Fleur in Dramione, which makes sense because there’s not a lot of Fleur in canon? I feel like in book 4 she’s basically just Girl Contestant, coming in last place, with some foreshadowing of her checking out Bill and then no mention of her until book 6, where she’s a plot device for an interaction between Harry and Ginny. And the Weasley women dislike her because she’s… there? It feels misogynistic towards Fleur, and shows Molly and Ginny as catty.

Anyways, I guess I don’t have a question besides “Fleur?? Thoughts?” Her readiness to duel in the latest chapter brought to mind the image of her with a broken nose, blood pouring down her face, and performing magic that impresses even Hermione. And Ron’s sarcastic line of “almost like she’s good at this or something”, highlighting the fact that even Hermione had overlooked Fleur as a person with any above-average magical skill.

My Fleur lives her life according to two very important principles: "talk shit => get hit," and "life is too short to pretend I'm not beautiful." This is a characterization admittedly spun from limited canonical evidence, drawing mostly on her iconic "I am beautiful enough for both of us, I think!" clapback to Molly in Half-Blood Prince, which instantly converted me to Team Fleur forever. These are my semi-organized ramblings/two trains of thought on Fleur in canon.

Part 1: Factual basis: Any coherent reading of the text requires Fleur to be intelligent and capable as a witch. I mean. Sorry. There is no other reading that makes sense. She's the Beauxbatons champion — when we're given no reason to suspect Beauxbatons is any less rigorous than Hogwarts or Durmstrang — and she gets a job at Gringotts straight out of school. Where she is working alongside Bill, someone nine years her senior, also very smart/accomplished dude in his own right. And yeah, maybe she's not a Hermione-level genius, but she's still gotta have serious chops to hack it working (1) in her second language (2) in a foreign country (3) in the field of banking, and especially (4) in the field of MAGICAL banking. She's smart! She's qualified. Is she a little snobby? Yeah. Does she boss Ginny around during the wedding prep and maybe go bridezilla? Okay, yeah. Sure. But she's not shallow, bro, she's just hot and French.

Part 2: My conspiracy theory about the Fleurdemption arc in HBP. So Fleur is pretty much the butt of the joke in Goblet of Fire, and when it comes to the Tournament, she has bad luck. She goes 1 for 3, and she has to get bailed out by a 14-year-old in the Second Task. Not Great. (Though my hot take is that isn't her fault actually! Because everybody and their mom is cheating at the Triwizard Tournament. Harry gets told about the dragons by Hagrid, then told by Moody!Crouch to use his broomstick, then told about the egg by Cedric, then given gillyweed by Neville. Karkaroff is implied to be scheming for Krum, like, 24/7. Cedric is told about the dragons by Harry and then... actually, Cedric is pretty much on his own besides that, never mind. A king with integrity.) My point is: Fleur gets written off as a witch because (1) she's hot and therefore assumed to be unserious, (2) she eats shit in the Tournament (which doesn't help the "unserious" thing), and (3) her involvement after that being limited to Molly's New Public Enemy No. 1. Which makes sense in the context of Molly being written as a sort of old-fashioned possessive/bossy mother, but was not my favorite part of the books, because I thought the Fleur/Bill thing was cute. So my conspiracy theory is that Rowling gave Fleur that (iconic) moment of grace in HBP to try and make up for the fact that she was done kind of dirty in Goblet of Fire.

[ralibo14]

TPN season I rewatch:

This post will contain many and I mean MANY SPOILERS from season 1. Please if you're new to Promised Neverland do not read this🥺🥰. (There might be multiple parts of this but I don't care😅)

Crazy how many things you can find to the fifth rewatch. Crazy how thrilled and emotional f-ed up I can still get after this. Not my first rodeo, but oh boy... Did I ugly cried. But that's not what we're here for... So let's get into the things what the rewatch made me realise. I paused like in every 3 minutes, there will be many screenshots.

Breaking down the episodes + the fricking foreshadowings:

Crazy how many things first watchers miss. I feel myself stupid just by thinking back that I was also this clueless. (past me would call me crazy if I told her what will happen 🤣🤣🤣)

Episode 1;

Starts idillic, then slowly you start to realise that something is off. What are these overcomplicated tests? Why is there numbers on the kids neck? What is going on? These are most likely the questions first watchers ask themselves (at least I did back then). Now I start to get it how Ray might felt as he began to realise the Houses's secret.

Through this episode you can feel that something is off, then everything goes south once Emma and Norman goes to the Gate.

Now as a rewatcher I saw Little Bunny left on the table and my mind immediately thought of the manga (chapter 180.1), which made it way sadder. Also Ray's reactions makes so much more sense like this.

Not to talk about the test scores.

First picture the older kids and the second is Norman's list about the younger kids. Of course Full Score Trio on the top of the list. Norman most likely never made a mistake, not even in his first test. My personal opinion that Ray had one 'bad' test and Emma had not more than two. I find it so unfair that Gilda and Don are rarely mentioned when we are talking about the scores like... Their scores are pretty good too. But the biggest suprise for me was Phil's archivments (2nd picture). Only spotted now, but damn... Make way for the next genius. No wonder Emma decided that she tells Phil about the escape. She knew what she was doing and who to thrust with the information. After all she was raised by Isabella and just like Norman's and Ray's case, she also developed similar mannerisms as Mom. In Emma's case that would be manipulating others, only difference the she uses it for good.

Episode 2;

Is full of foreshadowing if you know what you're looking for. The tone of the series is not as intense here than it will be around episode 9 or 10, so clues can easily fly under our radar. Take this scene as an example.

Purplish lightning? Isabella and Ray on the screen during that? I wanted to bang my head into the wall when I connected these together. Lots of things hidden in this episode from Ray's and Isabella's relationship to the clues of the season's ending.

Also the Full Score Trio already deserves an Oscar for their acting. Norman and Emma for being able to change their expressions in the matter of seconds and Ray for making them believe that he only discovered the truth now.

Emma being strong enough to hug Mom after discovering the truth and being a total girlboss with the "I wonder what Connie is doing right now" line. It will always be one of the MOST ICONIC lines in this series!

While Ray in this episode being like: “Act fool. Act fool. Act fool” 😂😂😂

Episode 3 - 10;

Why did I separated ep 1 and 2 like this? Because those episodes deserve their own spotlight. They give the base tone of the whole season. I don't say that ep3 to ep10 is not important. Heck no! All episodes deserve the spotlight but I don't want to bore anyone to death😅.

In episode 3 the arrival of Carol and Sister Krone. When I first saw this episode, I just froze into my spot. Now I realise how useful it was to the team. And since Isabella requested a helper, she unintentionally (or maybe intentionally) helped the Trio's plan and helped them, so they make it to the excape.

Sister Krone was a dangerous enemy but also a useful ally. Her motivation was a bit selfish (to become a mom) but I justify them because being a Sister or Mom means that your life is always on the line. [Please check out @fullscoreshenanigans page, her posts and reblogs can explain it better than mines] Also is it just me or does someone else think that Krone had a miscarriage? I don't know why this crossed my mind. Maybe it's the way she shares everything with her old doll somehow made me think of that.

Interesting how the Sister got threatened by both Isabella and Ray in the same episode.

Isabella using the Mom position as a bait for Krone was just perfect. She has years of practice in how to manipulate people's emotions so holding this bait out for the Sister was child play for her.

That Tag where the Trio was against Krone... Oh the memories... The Sister accuratly listing their strengths and weaknesses and also hinting that she knows about their plans. That gave me the thrills when I first watched. Then she lost the game when Ray told her that her time is up (One word; FORESHADOWING!) Actually double foreshadowing at that.

Firstly Ray's pocket watch; That was a gift from Isabella, (like Connie's Little Bunny). He got that gift so he can count the time until his shipment... or at least that's what Mom told him. I think we can all agree that deep down she didn't meant it. Isabella is a good actor but she just pretended to be their enemy.

[Side note: Is it just me or does anyone else thinks, that Ray's pocket watch and Isabella's tracking device looks awfully similar?]

Second foreshadowing? Krone's death. Oh how painful it is to know that it was Ray, who unintentionally, but sentenced her to death.

Why do I think that? Well, in the later episodes, when they have to get Krone out of the picture, Ray writes down something for her. It took me a couple of rewatches to realise that he wrote down his and Isabella's biggest secret... that they are related. Now that the secret got leaked Isabella had to permanently get rid off Krone.

I think Isabella told Grandma in advance that the Sister knows her secret and let Grandma do the dirty work. (But my logic is not flawless, since I only have the tpn artbook and not the mystic code book).

There's many think I could and should talk about... Like how underappreciated Gilda, Don, Anna, Nat and the others are in this season, but I will leave that to the Character Brainrots. However there's one thing which I must talk about regarding to season 1.

Saving Norman!

This two! They only had to exchange one look to let each other know that;

“Yeah, there's no way we let that smart, stupid idiot sacrifice himself”

Oh boy, they were desperate. Emma and Ray are soulmates and right now I don't mean romantical soulmates, because friends and family also can be someone's soulmate.

What I meant to say with this is, that they would try anything in their power to get Norman safely out of the House. They are focusing on the same goal and would do anything to archive it.

So when they plan out loud between the three of them and Emma says that;

“Ray, let's break your leg too”

(Btw, For me this is the third most iconic line from Emma XD. The reactions from the boys is hilarious too🤣)

The black haired boy immediately, without zero hesitation agrees. This is how desperate Ray was. He would have gladly broke his own leg or arm just to make his version of the escape plan succeed. Which plan of course fully crumbles when Norman comes back from the wall, telling them that there's a huge Cliff and it's impossible to go through.

Their last hug in the House is so bittersweet as I rewatcher, because I know it's not the last time they see each other but still... I bawled my eyes out again.

Emma being utterly shocked, refusing to let Norman go. Which causes her to almost ruin their plans at the final goodbye. Trying to deactivate Norman's tracker when Isabella was watching was a really risky idea. But that's what makes Emma, Emma. Just like Krone said, her weakness is caring too much for the others.

Norman on the other hand already accepted the fact that he will die (Spoiler: he won't). Although his calmness is just an act, deep down he wants to escape as desperately as his friends want it. Norman keeps his calm for Emma's and Ray's sake.

And at last but not least Ray. He is clearly on the verge of a mental breakdown. First thing I noticed was his eyes. Maybe it was a conscious action, maybe it was just because of the yellowish background, but his eyes look more purple here.

Ray tries to gatekeep his emotions and fake indifference but fails miserably. I think this was the moment he decided to truly give up the whole "I escape with them" part of the plan.

For our luck Emma and Norman didn't let Ray's suicide plan succeed.

[Side note: I totally forgot Ray cried during this hug. Poor boy. I wish I could tell him that everything will turn out just fine]

Okay that's all for now, mostly because I reached the picture and video limit. I hope it was interesting, even for something this long😅😅. See you soon everyone 🥰.

[vampiric-succulent]

OUAW EP 53:

Spoiler warning!!! I’m being so serious right now as this is a pretty lore heavy episode. This contains spoilers.

Also, I am losing my MIND.

When they are in the Beneath and giving their stories to the Oracle: will Torbek ever get that back???????? That’s so important, it’s the entire reason he’s here, I actually don’t think this story will go on if Torbek is unable to remember the inspiration for why he’s on this journey.

Plot-wise I am WORRIED.

Does this mean that the other is just gone??????

This is so consequential like there are so many consequences for these actions YOU GUYS

also Frost’s story was SO SAD to have lost like that was so cool

Other notes: Nikkie is ofc the biggest Coalecroux shipper I love it, also there’s so much good chaos

This episode is a great mix of chaos and LORE

THE WOOD ELF—-

I. Forgot about the Speech Bubble effect that Torbek has. Holy shiiiiiiit. Andy you genius.

Frost being a proud nudist and Gricko’s legs being fused together is hilarious

“I TRIP AND LAND IN FROSTY’S LAP”

THE DUKE????????? DUKE?????????

Good god this is crazy. They all forgot the the goddamn Torbek lore and now they have to catch up but they’re NOT catching up and it’s so ANNOYING

Wait how much do they still know/remember????? UGH THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING

Knowing Rich, Kremy is going to tell a really emotionally important story relating to Gideon and then Kremy’s gonna forget it. Goddamn.

Ouch. Gideon doesn’t remember his dad anymore. Yikes. Can the Feywild stop stealing memories??

A hesitation about taking this memory? What, the other ones weren’t enough to warrant hesitation?

“Get on it, fanfiction” WILD

Something coming to the Inn at the End of the Road? Or just a scene of comfort OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT HOLY FUCK OH MY GOD

TWIG IS BABA YAGA????? AND THE INN AT THE END OF THE ROAD IS BABA YAGA’S HUT???????? AND THE CAULDRON IS RIGHT THERE????????????????

WOAH. WOAH. WOAH. BABA YAGA STILLS THE HAND

Also does the fact that it’s a PUMPKIN tart mean anything????? Is the connection im making to the guy they took this quest from (Madrick Roslov, I think his name was) a valid one to make??????????

Twig is an agent of, or maybe is herself, Baba Yaga. This was foreshadowed? or shown? when they visited Morgana (the version of Zybilna that is stuck in time) and she “fixed” the Twig doll and told the party that it was made by her Grandmother, who was revealed to be Baba Yaga. I didn’t pick up on that.

Nikkie is SO GOOD at storytelling oh my LORD

Damn, Gricko. Damn.

OPERA TIME!!!!!! That’s where Burly is!!

Ohhhh. Opening Night. Mother of Puppets.

ONE MORE TO GO NO GUYS COME ON!!!!! ONE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Level 6 is death, you guys would only be at level 4!!!!

YEAH THERE WE GO MEET CUTE STORY TIME— oh. Oh no he’s. He’s gonna forget it isn’t he. Fuck. RICHIE STOP

“But yknow friends to lovers is also really good” 😏😏

Oh I thought this was gonna be Coalecroux, but wow this works too

REMI GAROU / BARON SAMEDI IS DESCRIBED MIGHTY SIMILAR TO MR GIDEON COAL

TWIN BRAIN COMING IN CLUTCH RN

That was perfect. Thank god that it’s not a Coalecroux thing he’s gonna forget.

They’re all so GOOD at STORYTELLING ffs I’m going to lose my MIND

THE RED AND WHITE WAR AND THE JABBERWOCK 😮🫵‼️‼️ OPE nvm I was wrong

PEGASUS???? THE BARN OWL??????? 13???????

HUH NO COME BACK WHAT DO YOU MEAN

Wait. Okay. So the Barn Owl is of the King of Hearts (if I remember right, that’s what he turned into after the party first met him). The unicorn became Pegasus became the barn owl. The lightning storm, which we now know was an illusion, was involved. Red and White are here again, and we know the Red and White War happened. This is probably larger Dungeons and Dragons lore that I don’t know. I am REELING.

Goddamnit I promised myself I would do things at the end of this episode!!!!! I can’t just go straight to the next one but oh god do I want to