#the great mysteries of the universe

[bookwyrm-art-stuff]

Just about finished scum villain, which means I'm letting myself take a look at the fandom. I thought I was prepared for this- "I've already experienced TGCF and MDZS, how much worse could this be?"

You fool.

[blue-likethebird]

The explanation for why totk’s story is so Not Great and how disconnected from its predecessor it feels being that the devs didn’t want to alienate new players who didn’t know anything about botw’s story just falls apart the more I think about it. Nothing from this stupid half a plot works unless the player is familiar with specific details from the better games that came before it.

The believability of Link and Zelda’s connection to each other hinges on you knowing about the nuance of their relationship in botw. The ancient sages fighting with the champions’ arms and divine beast helms will only be impactful to botw/aoc players because totk doesn’t bother to explain the significance of that callback at all. Fi’s cameo is meaningless unless you either got every memory in botw or finished the master trial dlc (and know about her from skyward sword). You’ll only get the full context of Teba being sidelined in favour of a 12-year old if you played a specific chapter of Age of Calamity’s second DLC. Like sorry but I think Nintendo just made a bad story tbh

[nabwastaken]

MAIA is the Peanuts of the Pulp fandom

[p2iimon]

idk if theres anything in fnaf that implies that william was a shitty abusive husband besides that if youre a shitty abusive father (and a murder) youre probably a shitty abusive husband. but i like to imagine he and his wife just have like a good normal relationship at least for a while. its kinda funny

[probablygayattorneys]

So I just heard someone say that some promotional material for Layton confirms that Unwound Future takes place in 1963. If this is the case, I’ve attempted to do some math (as someone who never learned to count, quite difficult, and please grant me some room for error) and I think I have some numbers that are interesting.

He’s 34 in Last Specter. If we add four years for the events of the trilogies and say he’s 37 in '63.

Then if we add thirteen years to get him to 50 (how I got fifty for that number is a sidebar that involves Luke’s ages so I’m not going to get into it now) when he goes missing and we’re up to '76

Add eleven to account for the time he’s [redacted for spoiler purposes] and then that’s when Kat’s game occurs, and for the sake of simplicity, say Alfendi’s is set either concurrently or right around the same time, then Mystery Journey and Mystery Room take place in 1987.

Which gives us birth years for the Layton’s as Kat was born in '66, Alfendi was born in '58, and the professor was born in '26.

We can also use this math to do a really interesting thing which is place the flashback sections in Miracle Mask as '43, meaning that all of that happened smack dab in the middle of World War II.

So….. do with that what you will, I guess.

[nervousbelieverstarfish]

[heavenlymusickcorporation]

I believe that God/Nature/etc intended for us to do pills, play video games, ride electric scooters, trans our genders, build sullen megaliths of concrete and steel, etc, because if He had not, then clearly He wouldn't have given us the laws of physics and the raw materials to make it possible.

[accidentallyadoptedbybatman]

Headcanon:

The Justice League sometimes have to take psych evals to make sure they won't go off the rails and that their mental health is doing good

Batman has successfully avoided every single one

[bmpmp3]

when people complain about getting like, a 98% grade on something because it was "so close to perfect" its like. i understand what you're saying on a technical level. but that is a line of thought so far away from my experiences and ways of thinking that i do feel like im from another planet. 100% isnt even a real number to me

[raayllum]

I FORGOT THEY SAID SECRET SPECIFICALLY LIKE

[sophieswundergarten]

Now thinking about some sort of magic AU where the karmic consequences of Curtain's choices are transposed onto Nicholas through a curse or magical deal or whatever

[arolesbianism]

Eternal gales isat au except Bloom is the one looping and she never fucking escapes due to the curse of being 9 years old. Oh and also the middle aged woman actively sabotaging her at every step of the way ig

[kvetchinglyneurotic]

Just popping in to say I read the new chapter of The Hedgehog’s dilemma and WOOH. WOOOOOOOOH. WOOOH BOY, I thought Roy was gonna kill Ted. Like woahh my god. That was so cathartically satisfying to have Roy completely read what was happening in the room and put his foot down like that. I am so very excited for the next chapter—even though my heart is just BREAKING for Jamie, gosh

Anyways- LOVING IT!

Thank you!! The difference between how Roy and Ted respond to Jamie's situation with his dad is so interesting to me and up until around mid-season 3, I was convinced it would be part of Ted's character arc — the idea that hurt people hurt people, and sometimes that hurt takes the form of giving well-meaning but ultimately deeply harmful advice because you're too mired in your own trauma to actually understand the reality of the other person's situation. So when I watched season 2, I interpreted Roy's complete lack of patience for Phoebe's dad ("he's a piece of shit") and him subsequently being the one to comfort Jamie at Wembley as the writers essentially signalling to the audience that he's able to approach the situation from a much more functional angle than Ted, and that Ted would eventually process his trauma enough to develop a more nuanced view of when his whole forgiveness and second chances thing is and is not useful. But then that didn't happen, so I figured if canon doesn't give you the character arc you want, homemade is fine.

[the-rogue-mockingjay]

cozy.....

sorry alphy, i don't think they're listening to you

[wellhalesbells]

LIAR YOU TOTALLY WATCHED ONE SEQUEL!!! 😉💜

https://www.tumblr.com/wellhalesbells/736050291745652736/friendraichu-jackironsides

HAHAHAHA, I should clarify that I just mean for super hero-y ones. I mostly watch the first one and rarely watch the second (or anything after...... or remakes, lol), I think the only Marvel one I've seen in recent history is Thor: Ragnarok. Actually, the Spider-man franchise pretty much encapsulates how I interact with Marvel properties: I saw the first trilogy because it was new and exciting at the time, then they remade it too fast and I refused to pay for something I just saw, that was so recent in my memory from the release date I could still remember exact scenes from it (THERE WERE ONLY FIVE YEARS BETWEEN SPIDER-MAN 3 AND THE REBOOT - THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TIME FOR ME TO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT AGAIN. HOW IS THAT ENOUGH TIME FOR ANYONE TO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT AGAIN???), then I watched the first Tom Holland one (fourteen years I can vibe with) and nothing that followed because that's generally when the gimmicks and cameos start in lieu of good story-telling, or they make it dark and gritty because that's the only way to ground this superhuman, right (I assume a random white guy: "Should we fridge a lady? Yeah, we should probably fridge a lady"). The first one generally at least tries to have a soul because they have to introduce the character and make you care about them but many of the ones that follow (the few I've seen from when the MCU was just starting out and I had hope *coughs*Iron Man 2, Thor 2, etc.*coughs*) are just cash grabs that don't try because you already love this character and there they are, right there, so money please!

Meg 2 however..... EPIC, NO NOTES. It knows if I was a shark girl, I was probably a dinosaur girl and it gambled correctly. That's what you're watching this for? Have three sharks and an unnecessary (probably stupid expensive) dinosaur intro that is nearly completely irrelevant to the story but that you will also not want to live without and for an extra special bonus: oblivious husbands and their brilliant daughter. Like. You got me nailed, my dude. Will watch every subsequent sequel, no questions asked.

[nobodysdaydreams]

Things I want out of redeemed Nathaniel Benedict/L.D. Curtain

I like TMBS’s redeemed Curtain/Nathaniel Benedict plot line and am excited to see where it goes. However, he has done some bad stuff he needs to make up for and there are dynamics between him and the society that I want explored. So I started a checklist for our potential redeemed Nathaniel:

A confrontation between Garrison, Milligan, and Curtain (possibly also Kate/SQ). Garrison invented the brain sweeper which means she was likely involved in what happened to Milligan. Furthermore, I have also speculated on why Garrison/Milligan/SQ's biological parents would work for Curtain, though a number of possibilities exists. People have pointed out that Kate/Milligan will probably have the most objections to Nathaniel joining the society (for good reason), but A) Garrison might be just as responsible for the brain sweeping as Nathaniel B) we don't know what answers Garrison or Nathaniel can provide for Milligan C) How were SQ's bio parents involved in their pasts? So while I think Kate/Milligan will have objections to Nathaniel joining the society, and might never fully forgive him, it's not going to play out as it would in the books, because this time Curtain is not the only character they’d be mad at about their separation (@ Garrison) and there is actually something Nathaniel can do to make up for what he did: he can fill in some of the gaps in Milligan’s memory. Would that earn him total redemption? Certainly not, but it's something.

Nathaniel apologizes to Garrison and clears her name. She was probably the closest thing to a friend Curtain had besides Nicholas. How did he repay her? Employee abuse, encouraging her to drink when she's a recovering alcoholic, mocking her ethical principles, using her device when she told him it was dangerous, stealing her ideas, and she’s still being framed for the emergency. I know I also talk about Garrison in the above point but he really did her wrong and needs to own up before she comes back to destroy everybody.

Nathaniel and Nicholas develop a sibling dynamic with their sister + Nathaniel possibly saving her (like a paying it forward type thing, also him suddenly experiencing what he's been putting the other characters through). I speculate over what their sister's relationship might be like, and I'm hoping they go for an older or younger sister rather than a triplet. We've gotten used to Nathaniel and Nicholas as twins. An older/younger sister leaves more room for possibilities (e.g., older sister would remember things about their past that the twins don't know which gives her an advantage that plays into Nathaniel's fear of not being the one in control. A younger sister would put the twins in a position of being the older sibling and might make them feel some level of responsibility, especially if she's had a difficult life and they weren't there to help her).

Nathaniel apologizes to Sticky for the waiting room and to Sticky and Reynie for grooming them to be his tools for world domination. More specifically, instead of using the fact that he relates to the boys to manipulate them, he actually uses it to help/mentor them this time. The season 1 scene where Sticky said his greatest fear was "not being wanted" and the camera focused on Curtain's reaction was good. Plus Nathaniel tries to hide it but anxiety and stress really break him down, we see that in season 1 and the end of season 2 when he realizes his plans aren't working and he's not the in-control leader he thought he was. The anxiety/trauma fuels his need for control. Redeemed Nathaniel might want to make sure the boy’s anxiety/trauma doesn’t lead them to the same mistakes he made. For some reason, my brain is giving me a scene of overwhelmed out-of-control desperate Sticky/Reynie feeling like they have to make a difficult choice to save everyone and being like "I know it’s wrong, but I have to do this. It’s the only way” and Nathaniel looking at these literal children like "no it's not. You don't have to do anything or make any decisions on your own, nor should you. Especially not this. There are always other ways. Trust me, you don't want this"

Nathaniel relating to/teaming up with Constance. I've pointed out the parallels between Curtain/Constance numerous times (e.g., the way they both insult people and jump to the most violent conclusions). I want Constance to write an insulting poem about him, I want them to slowly come around to each other, I want their insults to go from insult-insults to affectionate-insults, I want them to connect on the fact that they have unknowns about their families, I want Nathaniel to help her understand her psychic powers, and I want them to have an uncle/niece relationship.

Nathaniel awkwardly apologizes to Rhonda and Ms. Perumal, is surprised they forgive him, and feels like he doesn't deserve it. They don’t give him a free pass, but the fact that Ms. Perumal had that "maybe we need to save the bad guy" speech and Rhonda always tries to see the good in people makes me think they'll get him to open up. Like he guiltily asks why they forgave him, and Rhonda says something like "They say that the child not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth. And I see that you have been that hurting child for too long, eh? Have some tea" and next thing you know Nathaniel is sobbing and opening up to Ms. Perumal about adopting/parenting struggles, what a horrible father he was, and how he wants his son back. Nathaniel keeps falling asleep during the conversation, but Ms. Perumal and Rhonda just calmly enjoy their tea and wait for him to wake up again.

Number 2 never trusting Nathaniel but tolerating him because he makes her food. This would be funny and in character. She had to witness Mr. Benedict’s fake happiness more than anyone. Curtain tried to manipulate her and eventually brainwashed her. She’s also naturally suspicious and wouldn’t immediately trust him. The only thing un-brainwashed Number 2 enjoyed about the compound was the snacks (even when she told off Curtain, she still took the treat he made). I can just see her glaring at Nathaniel from across the dinner table like: "I’ll never trust you" *proceeds to eat four helpings of the meal he prepared especially for her*

This goes without saying but: SQ. Nathaniel needs to get his son back. He needs to make things right, apologize, and tell his son the truth about his adopted and biological families.

If Nathaniel runs into Jackson and Jillson's cult based on his philosophies, he should probably do something about it.

He should apologize to Martina too. Her college apps were screwed up because of his silly classes.

Bonus: If his redemption is fake or he has a ulterior motive (e.g., sister blackmailing him), or he morally relapses, the time Nathaniel does spend with the society causes him to emotionally struggle with himself and eventually leads him to the right path. The relief that fell over Nathaniel's face when Constance woke up + when he watched everyone hug and unconsciously took a step forward: once he’s around the society he desperately wants to be part of the family whether he admits it or not. That’s a long way from his earlier “treat them without mercy”. Would love to see how that progresses.

Feel free to add on.