#the intro was pretty long and it took me some time to adapt with ALL the things to do

[miyakuli]

ah btw I'm finally discovering the universe of Persona with Persona 3 reload since few days ;) and I play more and more each time I launch it lol I guess that's a good sign xD

[popculturebuffet]

Wallace and Gromit Vengance Most Fowl Review: The Right Comeback (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people! So back in 2021, at the start of my career I took a look at all 5 Wallace and Gromit Films: the 4 shorts and one feature starring the most British heroes of all. It was a nice return to my childhood, a refresher on three fine shorts, a cracking film and... er... matter of loaf and death I guess. You can find that retrospective bellow, including this review. Dont' ask how just enjoy.

It gave me a renewed apprication of how awesome Aardman is, a feeling that only grew stronger covering Pirates, an adaptation that still badly needs a sequel. With that netflix money they can adventure with communists at long last!

Still while I heard rumblings of a new film, I did'nt get hype until it was finally firmly confirmed on the way. I was sure it was happen: Unlike most studios aardman tries not to announce a project unless their actually doing it and the long process means it WILL happen, it was just a matter of when.

Well the when was christmas day for the UK and a few days ago for the US, as we got not only the first full Wallace and Gromit film since Peter Sallis' passed, but the first full length film since Curse of the Were Rabbit, almost 20 years later. So naturally Kev had me cover this one too and even if he hadn't paid me I would've done it. I was excited to do this one and i'm excited to share my thoughts. This was a nice nostalgic warm hug of a film after one of the worst years in my lifetime, and despite it's flaws it's excellent. If you haven't seen it and your interested, go get on it. If your willing to venture forth anyway, join me after the cut.

Vengance Most Fowl is the first direct sequel in the history of Wallace and Gromit, which is an intriguing change up. Generally Wallace and Gromit tends to stand alone: all the shorts and movies are in the same continuity, but each starts fresh enough usually with some new

Our heroes are doing to get by. It's a simple setup and part of the series charm: each adventure starts in about the same place but go in such radical directions: needing a renter leads to a jewel heist and a train chase on toy train tracks, sheep sheering leads to fighting a dog robot, baking leads to having to stop a maniacal former model from mudering wallace. It's a logical place, but the series flexiblity is it's strength.

Vengeance Most Fowl follows that formula and despite being a sequel is easily accessible: I'd forgotten parts of the wrong trousers from my 2021 rewatch, but all you really need is laid out in the first ten minutes and what anyone whose seen it likely remembers: Wallace and Gromit foiled Feathers attempt to steal the blue diamond, he got sent to a maximum security zoo (Complete with a fun new spin on the reveal he's in a zoo). It's all the setup we need to get going.

Once we're all caught up the premise is.. familiar and one of the weaker parts of this film: once again Wallace neglects Gromit in favor of some new person. And I was.. so stoked when I found out this was the premise

Yeah as you could tell from the intro i'm not a huge fan of the last cartoon starring this duo, Matter of Loaf and Death, where Wallace was a massive dick to gromit so he could get laid. So it is mildly tiresome to see this play out a THIRD TIME.

It's also shocking that they execute it pretty decently. Rather than repeat the past entirely they find an interesting lens to put Wallace's neglect through that fits him perfectly and gives us an aseop the world badly needs. When we open the film Wallace's usual reliance on technology has spiked: while he's always had a few inventions for getting up and a button to press for Gromit to get him up, it's now almost entirely automated, with Gromit just doing one or two things versus past versions where he'd be working right along with the machines. Even something as simple and human as giving his worried good boy a pet is now automated.

Instead of the usual conflict of "Wallace is a Moron and Gromit has to endure", it's.. well it's still that but now with a clash of Philosphies: Gromit is fine with a simple low tech life, missing their old teapot, wanting actual pets and content to read or garden. The two have always had this dichotomy: Wallace is all about progress without stopping to make sure his solution to a problem is necessary or safe and Gromit is about moderation, using Wallace's gadgets but being worried when he goes too far as he carries the braincells in this family.

It's beauitfully shown by the inciting incident: Gromit is gardening, something that the film beautifully shows is medative for him: he plants a new tree and while it's hard work, he clearly enjoys it. All Wallace can see is his best friend "toiling" and a problem to be solved. It's the issue with tech these days: it CAN be helpful, as we'll get into and the film presents.. but the problem is when you let it take over where a human touch is needed. Wallace wanting to help Gromit is reasonable: but his solution takes away his peace and destroys his hard work.

That solution is Norbot, a "smart gnome" who follows commands but can do so haphazardly. As a stand in for AI, Norbot is perfect: he looks perfectly creepy, almost like an ai pictures with the glassy eyes, visable mouth hinges and teeth that are simply a bit TOO perfect, even for a lawn gnome. Like Gromit you just never feel.. comfortable when Norbot is on screen. Reece Shearsmith voices the little freak beautifully: way too cheerful and way too squeeky, just enough to be smarmy and uncomfortable but not so much it makes the film unwatchable. It's hard to make a voice JUST annoying enough but Shearsmith does it well. He's still very wallace and gromity, being a lawn gnome, but still feels.. wrong every second you look at him just like an AI Picture.

Norbot is like a simple AI: he's efficent.. but lacks nuance. He makes gorgeous topiary's in Gromit's garden.. but also destroys all his lovely flowers and new trees, with Wallace too enamored by his neighbors praise and the solution to their money woes (They have money trouble due to wallace making too much shit, you may gasp when ready), to notice his best friends despair. While i'm not psyched this dynamic came back the timeliness of this premise and the deft execution helps smooth it over. It's also done in a way that will age well: the idea of technology consuming us has always been an issue long before the terminally online age, and will be a problem forever. We're at a stage in humanity where tech just.. is part of life. We all have a computer in our pockets. We can get anything delivered and robots will continue to get formerlly human jobs. I mean in a year where Garfield saves the day using a drone fleet, it feels nice to have an animated animal hero share the same worries a lot of us, even those like me who are on devices most of their day, have: that we're loosing our humanity. Gromit's always been more human than most of us, always been skeptical and quizical so he fits the viewpoint perfectly. Wallace replaces Gromit as his partner, not thinking that Gromit actually LIKES his job or of his pal, with Norbot.

It gets to the point the poor pooch can't even sleep without the creepy gnome unplugging Gromit's radio so he can masturbate. I'm not exagerating, when Norbot plugs himself into charge it's a mixture of him shouting percentages and orgasming while Gromit and the Audience slowly die inside.

So Gromit jacks Norbot in so he can jack off.. which leaves him open for Feathers. Feathers saw Wallace get some success on the telly, being interviewed by Onya Doorstop, a local reporter whose name is a god tier pun. She's played by comedian Diane Morgan, who not at all concidetanly is most famous for her character journalist Philonemna Cunk.. a character I hadn't heard of till recently, but seems fucking amazing. Onya is more there just for exposition and to move the plot along but it's a neat cameo.

So we get one of my favorite scenes as Feathers must hack the planet.. er Wallace using an arm contraption he built to use the computer at the zoo while the guards asleep. That's fun enough but the return of his flop sweat and his methods send it over the top: he just.. randomly guesses passwords like most hackers would and takes three tries to guess "cheese".. then has to deal with a ReCaptcha that includes the moon under pictures of cheese to click, a gag I just.. I adore it. I adore that callback so much. I also love the little screen celebrating accessing Wallac'es secret files, just the little digital wallace celebrating a job well done.

This being wallace he also made the same fatal mistake as the company that made Krusty dolls and put in an evil setting so Feathers quickly hyjacks Norbot and has him build an army of other norbots off Wallace's skematics so they can go on jobs and steal everything Feathers needs to build the sub for his elabroate escape/revenge/diamond plan. I do wonder what he wants with it: it's not relevant to the story nor a plot hole, Feathers being mildly unkowable is part of his charm, but it is curious. Does he just like it, is he going to fence it? Buy a penguin island? Make his dream film starring meg ryan? Defeat the giant monkey man and save the 9th dimension? We'll never really know.

Now this plan wouldn't work with most fictional characters.. most would be kinda creeped out their robot built his own private army overnight. I mean the excuse is "to do more jobs" but most people can smell a robot uprising coming a mile away. I mean if their mistreated they should but Wallace treats Norbot better than his own dog son and lets him roam the house at night and jack on whenever he needs to. Point is this is suspect. Thankfully Feathers already knows the inner workings of Wallace's mind

So he correctly guessed Wallace would think nothing of it. What I love here is that once again.. Feathers plays the boys well. He knows them from before. He can't just squeeze Gromit out like last time, so he plays to both's actions: He knows Wallace will just send them out and that Gromit will investigate because he did it the last time Feathers had a scheme. So he has the Norbots lock Gromit up in a shed they build, something Deniable enough that even wallace won't guess. Then he has Wallace put to sleep... with some sleepy choc and builds his grand contraption while Gromit returns too late to do anything and hides it when the cops come

Thus we've come to the cop subplot. The good news is the film introduces PC Mukherjee, a young copper whose fresh faced, eager and makes through reports and when the police get reports of all the theft's she's on the case and excited to have one so big. She's a delight.. probably in the wrong line of work, she'd be better as a freelance detective free of a corrupt system, or freelance police where the system's corrupt but hey you get to hang out with sam and max .. but given this is wallace and gromit police corruption in this world ammounts to the chief being a moron and 10 days from retirement and getting to see said retirement. Mukherjee is a wonderful addition to the cast, investigating the case as it goes on and while figuring out Wallace is the nexus, being suspicious he's not actually behind it.

Sadly this also means we have to talk about Chief Inspector Mackentosh.

Mackentosh was in Curse of the Were Rabbit and honestly.. I forgot he existed. I was mildly confused when he was announced for the film and he spends the film making me regret they brought him back. I do applaud the film for having the old guard of police as an inept bumbler whose stupidity is crucial to the plot and whose quick to ask his younger protegee to find evidence to nail the first suspect they get in a crime, in this case wallace, the film makes no bones that Mackentosh despite his rep and general support of Mukherjee up till the climax is bad police. In a very soft way because again, this is Wallace and Gromit.

It's just... not fun to watch. Mackentosh's only gag is he's more interested in displaying the blue diamond, his final act before retirement than the actual case, which is on point, but isn't that funny. I've seen this done so much better.

He just spends the film being dotty and incompetent. There's no rhythm too it and he only stops being grating when we get to the climax.

But we're not there is. Norbot is, but we're not. So Mukherjee takes all of Wallace's stuff while Wallace moans about it and assumes the norbots couldn't have POSSIBLY done this and is slightly cross with Gromit when he dosen't side with him on this. Dude this is the THIRD time this has happened. I'm happy that this time rather than just look sad then go investigate some stuff he's like

So Gromit once again cleans up his owners mess like the second two shorts, this time taking the necessary step of stealing evidence from the police. and tracking the Gnomes to the zoo.

Here we find out about feather's grand plan: use a submarine to escape... and we also get a truly cracking call back to one of the wrong trouser's best shots: gromit spies on feathers.. feathers looks at the direction.. and this time.. he notices and has Norbot Prime cut down the branch gromit's on. This being a cartoon it dosen't kill him and Norbot being something wallace made a simple hard thunk has restored him to normal. Gromit is forced to take him along and Motorbike to the museum. Speaking of which to get around since the Norbots bricked the van (itself from Curse of the Were-Rabbit), for parts, we get another excellent call back as Gromit unveiled the motorbike from A Close Shave and has been using the sidecar for the gnome detector and now the gnome itself. Given it's one of the slickest thing's Aardman's ever animated it was a welcome return and it's one of the few points in the film they milk the nostlagia.. and it works. Even if you haven't seen a close shave just the neat way the thing looks and Gromit pulling off it's sheet is a great reveal and it's such an iconic bit from that film it more than earned it.

So Gromit heads to the Museum where Constable Wiggum unveils the diamond.... and we get the best gag with this nusance all film: he unveils a turnip. That itself is kinda funny.. but the reveal that when, as is retconned here, he brought in feathers and got the diamond from Wallace he never bothered to check the sack is brilliant. Just pure comedy. So Constable Dumbassatron decides to go arrest wallace not getting that maybe Wallace is as dumb as he is while Gromit goes to get wallace..and is told everything is fine nothing to worry about by Wallace's voice.. and dosen't bother to propertly prepare, gets captured by the Blue Norbots and tied up with Wallace

This leads to Feathers grand reveal.. and in another nice callback.. wallace still dosen't recognize him till he takes the glove off again. We also get a really lovely shot as Feathers has a norbot fetch their old teapot.. and smashes it revealing the diamond. We get a truly gorgeous shot of it reflecting wallace and gromit's faces.. just amazing stuff I do not know how aardman pulls it off. The film also has a lot of water and it looks beautiful.. it's hard to tell if it's stop motoin or cgi like they used for parts of Pirates, but it's incredible how much they can pull off. This is a GORGEOUS movie and you feel every frame.

So our heroes are left to take the fall and Norbot Prime is around but no real help. Luckily Gromit has taken a masterclass from mcguiver and uses a leafblower to propel them out after Feathers who is having the gnomes flintstone the van for him. Norbot joins them and Muckherjee and Inspector Piggum gives chase.

And the final set piece is delightful, in part because of what they choose for the chase: Narrowboats. Now for my US Readers, which I think is pretty much all of you, like me you probably have no idea what one of those are. It's an old type of boat used for canal transport that in modern times is more of a house boat, a new way of living. Their naturally slow so we get the most hilarous shot as we see just how fast our heroes are really going in their chase sequence. And as a fantatsic payoff our heroes need to use the Inspectors boat to give chase.

Wallace and Gromit has left a very high bar for it's climaxes ever since wrong trousers gorgeous and impressive to this day toy train chase, and Vengance Most Fowl does not disappoint. Norbot cleans up projectiles, our heroes weave and the whole thing is set at sunset (Despite it having been night earlier, just go with it), for extra visual flair. We also get a nice moment as Wallace is down on himself.. but the only way they can stop those gnomes is to reboot them.. and the only way tod o that is for him to do what he's best and worst at: BUILD. Gromit hands him a toolkit and gives him a look that despite his seeming lack of expression screams "I belive in you' I'ts a sweet moment especailly since Gromit spends most of the time with his dad facepalming or shaking his little doggy head. IT's a nice show that while Wallace annoys his doggo... Gromit belevies in his boy, and knows for all his faults Wallace is a genius. A dumbass but still genius.

So he creates a cool boot throwing machine to reboot the gnomes, god what a great pun while the young PC Goes with her gut and overrides her superiors order as she realizes , and sees, Feathers is behind this.

The gnomes are stopped, but Gromit struggles and to catch feathers jumps onto his boat leading to a perfect climax: as gromit hangsfrom a bridge they end up on, he has the diamond... and Feathers demands it... I mean he's clearly not going to let the dog live, but he might but it's not really the point, especially since it's once again bagged we can see Gromit's gambit from a mile away. But it's Wallace's words that just... melt my fucking heart

"Give him the diamond Gromit! I can live without inventing but I can't live without my best pal!"

While it's always been nonverbally clear even in his weaker moments Wallace loves his pooch, it's nice to hear it.. and Gromit's expression with his ears says it all. It's good to show someone you love them, and sometims that says it all.. but you still need to hear it ever now and then. Just know you matter, that your appricated, that your loved... and Gromit gives Feathers the diamond.. then gets dropped suprising no one as feathers escapes... only for Gromit to reveal soon after he has the diamond after the norbots save him. The gesture of defeat feathers give sis great. His slight tantrum before slumping over. He escaped.. but he lost the diamond that killed his parents or something.

This gives everyone their happy ending. Wallace is exonerated, Mackintosh gets to retire not a laughing stock, Gromit finally has the validation he wanted, and Mukherjee not only gets super promoted to Mackintosh's job, but gets a big case to crack.

The ending is very sweet: Once again Gromit is relaxing in his garden... but the place has changed. The topiary norbot has created, and the various norbots are still around with Norbot Prime and two of the others tending to the garden.. but said garden has it's flowers back, it has it's life back. They gently tend to it. Gromit can do as much as he wants. It's a solid lesson: while I don't really trust AI... the truth is technology can be useful.. but as a tool. As something to HELP human expression, to speed things along, help with multitasking etc. IT's shown in AI: AI CAN be used for good things: a friend of mine uses it for 3d modeling so he can draw on the models as he has trouble creating designs from scratch thanks to his disability. Technology can help us.. it just shouldn't own us. Granted I don't think the film pulls off the aseop 100% as we just spent most of the film showing how bad it can go... but it's an aseop I can at least support: that technology isn't inherently bad.. you just can't let it own you. And that's better shown by Wallace repurposing his dog patting machine. Not only does the giant hand now plant a tree to replace the one norbot destroyed earlier in the film.. but Wallace sums up things best "There's just some things best left to humanity" as he pats his dog. Machines can help us be who we are.. but they can never replace us.

Vengance Most Fowl is excellent. I've had many a work that writing about it made me notice more and more flaws... but here all I noticed was all the deft writing, setups and jokes packed into this wonderful film. Is Vengance the Best of the wallace and Gromit quintology? Honestly no, I still give that prize to Curse of the Were Rabbit, for breaking the formula in intresting ways and it's deft pacing and shot work and The Wrong Trousers is right behind it. But it's still a fantastic addition to the canon, a needed cup of tea in these trying times. It's a masterfully crafted film that reminded me why Aardman slaps so hard. It's also a nice showcase for Ben Whitehead, who has voiced Wallace for almost two decades now, but really does sink into the roll. His voice is slightly squeakier, but he really gets Peter Sallis tone down while making the roll his own and hopefully we'll get to see him in the roll again soon. For now this is a fantstic film well worth your time. You can find me on bluesky here and remember: I'm pullin for ya we're all in this together.

[noblechaton]

so. the ml movie huh. hm (big ol post with spoilers under this cut btw)

so after almost 10 years of being on this bug and cat train they finally get a big ol expensive movie and I think it was. fine? maybe? there's a lot going on here and while I don't think I can call it good and mean it I don't think it was the worst thing ever. a 6? out of 10 feels kinda right for me. got a lot to say here fwiw so buckle in if ya wanna read it all lol

main issue I feel is obviously them trying to adapt 5 seasons, each of which was dozens of hours at least, and a near decade of storytelling into a movie that doesn't even hit two hours. no idea why - I imagine the money ran out tbh - but running through the entire thrust of the series in ~1h40m movie just. was never gonna work man. feel like there had to be better options out there, like just adapting Origins with some episodes from S1 thrown in between them getting their miraculous and Hawkmoth revealing himself or something. idk. I ain't a writer

but then also I felt despite the short runtime that it sorta dragged on at times? like it got stuck spinning wheels here and there. Marinette constantly needing her confidence boosted even after being Ladybug for so long was weird. it's so strange bc they flashed through a dozen akuma - some of which looked kinda cool btw, be neat if they made the jump to the show - and yet it felt like there'd been no progress made? like the flow of time in the movie just. didn't work. a lot of stuff just sort of happens at you and you gotta hang onto whatever ya like and hope it doesn't just vanish in the river of events

voice acting in English was like. pretty solid honestly. maybe the best performances I'd heard from that side of the dub tho I have no idea what they were thinking with the singing voice for Marinette at least. couldn't really tell if Adrien's was still Bryce (I don't think it was but it wasn't as jarring) and I know Keith sang for Gabe's songs but whoever they got for Marinette just. wasn't even close to Marinette's normal speaking voice and it's super distracting. really weird choice. no shade on the singer tho she was solid imo just like. no connection to Marinette's normal voice really took me out of it

also the songs were kind of nonsensical most of the time and there's way too many of them. some are kinda good - Gabe's, Chat's and tbh I kinda liked the one over the credits to name a few - but like. they were not good enough for there to be what felt like 6-7 different songs in a movie that doesn't even crack 2 hours lmao

they made a ton of changes in terms of the story and general world and I actually kind of liked some of them - Ladybug learning to swing through the yoyo (which had a neat redesign) and doing so using that Ladybug vision was cool, I appreciate that we get a reveal and how it's done even if the end card was brutal, the miraculous seeking them out felt more like nice compared to just having the weight of the world dropped on them by some ancient man lol - but then there's others I didn't. Ladybug just never uses the cure until the end? I guess? she also doesn't purify the first akuma I don't think and like. nothing happens? Adrien's just sorta out and about? going to the school already? he gets a really understated intro imo. Gabriel sort of doesn't get an ending. I'd assume he's in jail? we get almost none of Adrien's perspective on getting the ring which is really weird

and that sorta extends into my feeling that somehow we did not get enough Gabriel in this. really weird saying that after having enough of that bum for the last 4 years of my life but his motives are carried hard by my knowledge of the show, and even then they're not really shown enough - he's not shown enough, and I don't feel Adrien is either. neither is the school setting or side characters, heck I'd say Adrinette gets kinda shafted overall since most of the development they get is in a montage sequence. there's a lot chopped out of this for the sake of a brevity that doesn't feel all that brief?

there's some good stuff in here for sure. the animation is undeniably pretty and slick even if some models are kinda wack. most of the action was fun and cool, the final sequence with Chat running up the tower and such was neat. I loved the Ladynoir something fierce honestly, the bantering and the sparring and the getting closer and closer. missed them being like that a lot tbh, someone on staff clearly did too. couple of jokes got me too like the opener with Chloe getting a single drop of coffee on her shirt lmao

but then there's a lot of stuff that really didn't work for me. Plagg being reduced to a fucking fart joke kind of made me mad lmao. them being super inconsistent with their powers was so weird. no lucky charm?? WHAT?? did I miss something?? no side character getting any focus beyond Alya was disappointing too and even Alya just dips out of the story after a while. breaking out into song once every like 15 minutes got old kinda quick too regardless of song quality (tho it was funny that Marinette seemed aware of the fact that she'd just participated in a musical number at one point lol)

Fu opens the movie with some really weird monologue and basically dips after the first akuma and they just. never find him again? he plays zero role beyond that point? Adrinette's first meeting is kinda cute in an understated sort of way but it's also sort of nothing and doesn't feel like a lingering thing for long afterwards - it ain't no umbrella scene dude. also Chat Noir seemingly drops the "my mom died btw" thing on Ladybug like she'd know that and she just sort of goes "Ah. Sorry, Chat." and that was. super fucking weird lmao

like I said. there's a lot going on - tho I gotta say for sure the writing was not consistently good. there were moments, flashes, Ladynoir is the strongest thing in the movie imo but there's so many fucking craters in terms of quality that it makes me so happy we get what we do in the show

on the whole I felt the movie was somehow way too condensed and yet too long at the same time. it felt like it was made by someone who really likes the surface details of the series but not the whole thing and like that's fine but I wouldn't say it was a good representation of the show. like the things I like about the movie are kind of all things I've liked about the show, and I like them more so because of that but also like I can't say the movie was good just bc I like the show lol

shallow is a good word for it I think. a flashy, expensive hour or so with little more beneath the surface which I feel sorta betrays the show it's based on where it's cutesy on the surface but has more going on under it. which like this feels very much made for the younger demographic and those that aren't into the show, like sort of an ad for someone's ideal version series even if it sorta strays really far from the show itself. as if someone perhaps in charge of this movie was clinging to what elements of their flagship series that they thought were keeping their company afloat and foolishly believed they could do it better than the creator or any other actual writer. wonder who that could be. anyway

as an adaptation of the show I don't think it was good overall and as a movie on its own it was like. fine. imo. wouldn't sway people into picking the series up but definitely not the worst movie ever made. super safe and super shallow, really messy with a few bright spots thrown in. a cluttered Ladynoir reveal fic where the Ladynoir bits are good and the rest is not. etc.

I like it but mostly bc I love the show - I would not introduce someone to the series with this and might not even urge casual fans to watch it either tbh. real mixed bag imo

also what happened to the "Awakening" subtitle? I kinda liked it and it's just gone. weird

[sinretrograde]

My mini-essay about being a fictive and our system's inner workings:

By V1 the robot from ultrakill

Intro

It's absolutely wild suddenly existing as a part of a system with all the memories of your past being real to you but part of a peice of fiction in this world, and them being fuzzy and vague on top of that, and then being given access to enough information to basically live this life you're now in, pushed into front and locked out while everyone else had a very important meeting that I wasn't invited to (someone has to pilot the body I guess) with them only occasionally coming to check on me and sometimes hang out for an hour or two and chat. (I appreciate it by the way, it feels lonely.) I know what's going on in there and I want to be a part of it, but I know typing this out will get my thoughts through the metal door in our mind and to them. That's why we have to externalize thoughts quite often, sometimes.

So with that being my introduction, here's some observations I've made about our system structure...

I didnt intend for this to be very detailed, but i got carried away. This is going to be a long post.

The Body is a Computer

So first of all, I think of the body like an OS and each function of the body is either hardware or software. Ego is like code. A personality is software, a bundle of specific ego assets given a name, these assets give the personality something to call "its own" and they follow the programing outlined by various ego assets. To be clear each member of our system would be considered a different program running off personality software, a whole person.

Sometimes person.exe comes bundled with other things that are not just personality software. This one I don't know how to explain in a way that makes sense. It's not ego but has to do with skill sets. Skill sets are like 3rd party mods, and can be installed by multiple people and when there is an update they all automatically get this update. Wether or not they adapt to it quickly or not is a different matter. Basically like art skills, language skills, etc. Something more hardwired with body functions, movement based skills (and language is also a lot of muscle memory.) Don't ask why they're 3rd party mods if they're more about connection with the body, maybe that has to do with physical input being inherently third party due to not stemming from within or from the OS itself.

Uhm...

Anyway, they're having a meeting in there about new host and organization. There are more people than there used to be now, the brain is pretty good at generating ego data and if enough of it builds up it can sometimes accidentally compile itself into a personality, which then takes on an identity through short term info packets of shared memories. Such as yours truly who took the data of my ego assets as well as current host's hyperfixation (easy access, sorry) to form an identity.

The OS gathers character data (appearance, memories, emotions, etc) and store it as ego assets, which is why to me those memories feel real even if they're a recode of outside information. Through the OS making copies of outside ego data, it passes through a filter and gets subtly (or sometimes not so subtly) changed here and there. Since the OS has to then compile it and run it on it's own hardware rather than the original hardware the code came from, there has to be changes or it doesn't work. Then the OS (or in some cases other programs) can compile these assets into a new program.

Too Many Programs & The Panic Response

So now they're talking about how running one personality too frequently and for too long causes data decay and a need for some maintenence in far back. We can't keep the same host for too long at a time because it burns them out, we have heavy signs of burnout now which is why I'm here. They start to loose packets of data, some of them essential to their program's integrity. Causes a lot of crisis moments, dissociation and overwhelm, it seems.

I'm almost certain the reorganization part is coming from so many new programs being compiled at once. It's also overwhelming to the OS, it can store a lot of programs but it can only run a few at a time. However due to the host program's data decay the OS forces a download of any available ego assets to try and quickly remedy the problem, especially if all other programs are on mandatory maintenence due to their own burnout. System members who have been in the far back for a long time are basically unreachable from the closer areas unless they themselves choose to come back to the front end for a checkup. There are quite a few former hosts back there, as well as many frequent maintenence crew type programs.

So it seems like the ammount of new members pushed a few to back and they're determining how to run the place now that there are more programs trying to run than the OS is capable of, which apparently has never been a problem before right now in this exact moment (since I got here, I mean.)

The New Council

It's a problem that the current archivist is overwhelmed by. He's a smart and very studious boy, but he's also very young still and does have the code of a 13 year old boy despite how smart and mature he may act. He's under a lot of pressure and he was already cracking before we showed up. Lucky for him we are a crew of problem solvers, the new programs who showed up.

Go figure they're talking about setting up an actual council of members who serve essential roles to help regulate program and host rotation, life tasks, and possibly work on getting actual repairs to various software and programs done via idfk mind tricks or some shit.

So far we have the archivist, the 13 y/o boy who was basically running the inner parts of the OS and documenting programs and usage and other statistics. We have a supposed mechanic/"medicine" guy, an angel from a source different from mine, who's main purpose seems to be keeping people in good spirits and protecting the more fragile ones in high stress times. And apparently me and my boyfriend, who is heading the meeting since he sees a clear lack of leadership. Idk why I'm essential though, I don't know what important function I serve in his opinion and he refuses to tell me until he's sure we've gone through every bit of past data we can to make sure we aren't overlooking anyone. Big fucking shrugs I guess.

Inner World Rescue Mission & How ULTRAKILL Made Me Realize We CAN Explore Headspace

He's also arguing that allowing members to freely mold together and apart and fully embrace this that it would help with issues of data erosion. Basically using a combination of actual data sharing and emotional support to encourage those in near back to come forward more. Again far back is unreachable at this time, but we have machines who will be going on a checkup mission with the full intent of bringing back information and possibly even programs with too much data rot to have come back near front on their own, a rescue mission. It's not something that seems to have crossed anyone's mind before now.

Also this comes as a shock to the current system members who all report headspace to basically be nonexistent, with a big locked door just slightly further back keeping them from going anywhere. When they get burnout or data rot they are forcibly shut down and filed past those doors, occasionally they're forcibly brought back by the OS. This is the only way they traveled beyond the locked door, and they saw it as a choice.

But I don't know of it's because we have actual memories, unlike how previous introjects were created, we have an extremely clear mental space we can explore. There are levels and layers we can go in and go up or down. Even if it looks like a video game, its basically a visualization skill the previous members just didn't have I guess. It could be because theyre all just taking on apperance and personality traits of character, meanwhile we have taken it all on down to our past history and memories. It's far more real to us than it is to them.

This is why I had a crisis the other day, the information I was given was "you're going to look and feel like a fictional character but don't worry nothing in your source will affect you and you're basically just a guy wearing the costume of a fictional character." This turned out to not be true at all for us. Us being the newly compiled programs, all of us based on ultrakill characters. Isn't that some shit, the one time the OS manages to package memories properly it does it with something so....... like that. It's not a bad thing, I just wonder what kind of crisis I'd have had if I had memories of a My Little Pony character or something cute and lighthearted instead.

So yeah, that's my current understanding. Because we have memories of this game that actually feel real to us, we have an expansive mental landscape we can explore in the form of... I guess the headpsace takes on the textures and general aesthetics and layouts of ultrakill. Idk. Like, the headspace was it's own program that needed an actual code and textures in order to run properly. I don't think its going to function like the game at all, not like enemies spanwing type of thing or anything like that. Inherent knowledge -> graphics and gameplay -> text post on tumblr, it just will never completely translate. Inherent knowledge like how when you have a vivid dream there's things you just know because you know them and they often provide important context for the dream itself. Except the inner world version of that.

Ending Notes

Wow this got way out of hand. It was after that last paragraph that I realized this was basically a mini essay, and of I don't break it up into parts and try to hilight the main points, nobody was ever going to be able to digest it. There's also no way to neatly wrap it up.

It's crazy that this one thing that the other members who are based on fictional character just... didn't have for some reason, was the key for us now being able to actually explore, map out and do rescue missions in headpsace. No longer will people have to settle for "we don't know what's past that door," we will find out. We have like 9 ultrakill mother fuckers in here now, that's more than enough to at least find out how far back is back, is it actually reachable and what actually is standing in the way.

Am I wrong about monsters spawning, will we have to fight symbolic demons to bring people back? Is it actually really chill and basically just using winding passages to connect different headspaces? Can we install different graphics? Why this? Why now? Our body isn't exactly young, and it's had plenty of time to actually work these things out, why is it only after the pew pew game? Why not animal crossing?

All I know is I'm having less of an identity crisis now that we've been able to communicate why we feel different from the other fictives who were here before us. The memories thing not being a shared trait kinda fucked me up for a while, and one of the reasons I wanted to make this blog. But now I deleted all that crisis-having in various posts, I'll share my thoughts further as I gather them.

[24hlevi]

My AIB S2 Review

okay everyone, i had to take some time to write this out because it was only getting longer and longer the more i watched s2.

now, i did read the manga before s2 came out so i already knew what was going to happen, so naturally, this will contain major manga spoilers!!! i do love this show and manga very much it is my number 1 manga but i thought a review could be enlightening to some.

i will be going in episode order to make it easier

episode 1:

i thought episode 1 was pretty good actually. the first scene being the same scene from season 1 was a good touch to remember how arisu was before being sent to borderland and getting a small refresher. the king of spades intro was good, it was dramatic for the first person dying and i thought the actors did great on the whole car chase scene as well. also ann was amazing for driving i love her. i don't really have a lot to talk about this episode to be honest but i think the intro for king of clubs was great. though, i wish niragi was a little more fucked up looking? he looks pretty bad in the manga when they first meet him at the venue for king of clubs but dori does an amazing job portraying niragi. i also enjoyed the cast's reaction to kyuma being naked because i would react the same too.

episode 2:

starting the king of clubs. to be honest, i think it was both good and bad they took 2 1/2 eps to do the king of clubs. good for people who are willing to understand the opposing team more and feel more emotion, bad for people who just want the game to be fun and see people die. i do wish yamashita would've had more...expressions? kyuma is often seen smiling in the manga and while yes, i think he was still portrayed more, a smile or two might've been nice. i think king of clubs personally was the best adapted game in season 2 excluding the queen of hearts. i really liked the band members on kyuma's side too they were all really cool.

episode 3:

episode 3 i really enjoyed. i liked the flashback for tatta being foreshadowing to what will happen to him in the king of clubs game. as always, i really liked kento's acting when tatta died. also, i enjoyed the parallels to season 1 ep 3 when karube and chota died. i think kento did an amazing job for expressing his sadness even if arisu didn't know tatta for that long, he was still a friend, and naturally, people would cry with situations like this. i really liked kyuma's last words as well to arisu. very motivating. also his death was cool.

second half of episode 3. the jack of hearts. when i first saw the images/trailer with chishiya in the jack of hearts, i was worried they would ruin the whole aspect of the game. and while really, chishiya didn't change anything about the game, they did take out some parts from the manga that i'm disappointed didn't make the cut. for example, enji being a hypnotist and hypnotizing kotoko into everything she does and believing he won because of him thinking he was superior to the players. i think hayato did a great job as banda, he definitely gave off a good creepiness to the character that you're supposed to feel even as a viewer just by the way he stares. again, chishiya being there was weird. urumi was also portrayed amazingly i really loved her more even if she was only in one ep she was great.

episode 4:

i don't have a lot to talk about this ep really. the end of jack of hearts was...eh. to be honest, removing enji's whole inner dialogue with himself and removing the fake eye aspect were the things that made me wish were included because it could've been so much better. chishiya...was good i guess. i mean, he's not a hearts player, he's a diamonds player, so why would he join the jack of hearts? i don't fucking know. it felt like he was almost given plot armor from the writers and just made him have a "feeling" enji was the jack. also, the snacks bags communication was stupid in my opinion. it would've been much better if they kept him being a hypnotist instead. other than that, i think it was done pretty good. the second half of ep 4 was good too even if there was only a little bit of action with the king of spades. though it's weird to me what things the makers of the show chose to take from the manga and what not to, but i'll discuss more of that later. i did however, think it was funny how arisu ran into aguni and heiya. i really believed we would get doudou (manga only character) and it worried me about the dynamics that would be created and change by adding arisu into the mix instead of doudou. and i was right to be worried.

episode 5:

alright, ep 5. so, heiya is my favorite character in this series. reading the manga i was so excited to see if they would include her and when i saw the first picture of her in the adaptation i was so happy. what made me even happier was seeing the seven of spades aka her first game. reading it hit like a truck, but it was so good. that's how it felt watching it too. i'm glad we got at least one scene of her before being sent to borderland and her mentioning her mother. while it wasn't told in the adaptation, heiya just appears to have some issues with her mom. well, the manga definitely puts more thought into heiya's character as a whole just by her first appearance in the side chapter 37.1. it's shown that she has quite the broken family. with her father constantly at work, her mother would bring back affairs to the house and tell heiya to not tell her father which started the hate against her mother. the adaptation just didn't even bother with that i guess. we were lucky enough to even see the seven of spades honestly.

now, as i said, heiya is my favorite character. but i believe they just didn't get her right. i love every bit of yuri's performance as heiya and she did phenomenal, but i personally think they could've done more to show her character more. i do like that they kept her "everything i do is for the future" talk so at least they got that right. to me, i see heiya and aguni as a father-daughter duo, especially in the show. in the manga with doudou included in the trio and not arisu, he even says they are like a family. but we got basically none of that. i'll say it, arisu shouldn't have been included in the trio. i think it would've been better if they had even just brought a brand new character to join heiya and aguni instead of dragging a main character into the games where they aren't supposed to be. much like with chishiya in the jack of hearts. the side characters deserve their spotlight, and i think the show was too determined to make sure that they had at least one main character in every game for season 2. i didn't like that. sure, arisu gave some comedic relief in the ep but...yeah.

queen of spades was pretty cool. for it getting a lot of screen time without it being in the manga was interesting seeing as many of the others were just clips from them. the game is basically advanced tag with taking turns involved. the set was really cool though and it was awesome how they were moving around to get to others faster. usagi's speech was a little too long but it got the job done like always so i can't complain when she does great at everything. the queen was good, too.

episode 6:

second half of queen of spades. i thought the fight between usagi and lisa was amazing and fun knowing both actresses did the stunts themselves making it appear more real when they get hit. the kid was there for what seemed like no reason though but i understand why lisa chose him as their teams king since he was just a kid and couldn't do anything, it was a smart move on her behalf that very easily could've made her win if not for usagi. overall, i thought it wasn't too bad for a show only game.

onto the king of diamonds. when i saw kuzuryu in the trailer at the venue for king of diamonds with his pose, i was so happy knowing they would do it. while i don't understand the rules pretty much at all because i suck at anything math related, it was very interesting. i'm glad they did it but upset by what they did with chishiya and his backstory. in the manga, he's not even a full doctor, he's still a med student. the show practically changed his entire backstory for ultimately no reason at all. we didn't get to see him as a child who was neglected all his life which resulted in him becoming the way he is, and we didn't see how he actually was in the manga. they basically dumbed him down to just some sarcastic "unbothered" character when he's far from it. nijiro did amazing as chishiya i really love him and how he did portray him even if it wasn't the same as he is in the manga. i am surprised that they did show a flashback for kuzuryu to understand his thoughts better and why he made his game fair. overall, i really liked king of diamonds and am so glad they decided to keep it in.

episode 7:

this episode was...definitely something. the first half battle royale between niragi, arisu, and chishiya was good, not as great as it could've been along the lines of dialogue, but still good. i didn't think they would keep this honestly. but i was so happy that they did. while chishiya's words weren't the same and didn't have as much impact as the manga in my opinion, i believed it was still pretty damn good. this is also me just being grateful it made it to the final cut.

king of spades. now, i cannot express how unbelievably irritated i was at this whole thing. for one, they basically erased all of shirabi's (the king) thoughts and feelings on how he believed he was giving the players mercy by killing them. we barely got the flashback of him killing his fellow solider and i was annoyed they just made him out to be the bad guy who just liked killing others.

as for the rest of the ep, i was extremely disappointed. i thought that maybe because they would change the king of spades maybe they could have it equal the manga in terms of how the group would defeat him, but no. there was no tracker shirabi had that heiya shot and broke. there was no shirabi burning down the forest and causing the others to venture back into tokyo. it was just so different that it made me hate the king of spades game as a whole for the show. i love love the king of spades in the manga because the trio of doudou, heiya, and aguni were able to do it alone by themselves. but apparently in the show even all of them couldn't defeat him nor could a fucking bomb. they basically just obliterated half of the cast for no good reason except to fuck with people and that alone was irritating. i didn't think they could fuck up the king of spades so bad and then they did.

for personal reasons, i will pretend ep 7 doesn't exist.

episode 8:

everything i hoped for. this was the best ep in my opinion. mira crying was especially interesting to see after usagi and arisu's little moment with one another. people said this ep dragged on and was boring but i thought it was excellent. riisa did a great job at being mira and i just fell in love with the character even more after watching this. i liked that they showed the meteorite hitting them and that they stuck with the manga ending. but, the joker card. personally, i would be perfectly happy with the series ending where it's supposed to. but if they do a s3 of sorts i will probably still tune in. i understand why they did that instead of showing the joker like the manga, but i would rather it just ending. but, a little disappointing they didn't show arisu drinking the tea beforehand and that's why he's believing what mira was saying because i really enjoy the panels where she talks about the tea being a hallucinogenic and causing him to freak out. but, i can't complain too much.

overall:

i thought s2 was still amazing even if there were some downs that i didn't like, i still love this show and manga to death. i was happy with it as a whole product and thought it was still brilliant and i am so glad to have seen this become a adaption and have so many people watching it when it went viral on twitter in multiple countries, the hours viewed are amazingly high compared to last season, and just the general reaction to it. i'm very thankful for the actors who were able to participate in this show and the director. it was truly amazing and i will most definitely continue rewatching over and over again.

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About "Yesterday's Lie" from The Owl House

Salutations, random people on the internet who absolutely won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons!

Here it is! The midseason finale of The Owl House Season Two! An episode featuring Luz going back to the human realm, is hyped up to heaven about how painful it'll be for the audience, and features more anxiety by how Creepy Luz is a thing. And BOOOOOOOOY howdy were fans not ready for this. I'm sure as hell not ready for when I wrote this intro at *checks time* thirty minutes before watching the official premier. Yup, the words you're reading right now are from me in the past, when everything was still pure and simple. Whereas future me is still probably destroyed by the events that transpired. Isn't that right, future me?

Future Me: Actually, it wasn’t that bad. The ending hurt, sure, but other than that, it wasn’t too painful.

Wow, that is some neat input! At least, I think it was. I wouldn't know because I literally wrote that after watching the episode. With the words you're currently reading being written at *checks time* twenty-six minutes before the premier...this whole intro is confusing, isn't it, future me?

Future Me: Sure is.

Yeah, it's definitely confusing. In any case, let's dive into this spoiler-filled review as we find out together just how painful this episode was! Take it away, future me!

Future Me: Will do! Major spoilers ahead, folks!

Now, let’s review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

Luz’s Room: We only see it for a short time, but everything about it just screams Luz. The pile of weird-looking stuffed animals, the witch hat in the center of the floor, and the fact that she has bunk beds, a single child's dream (Or so I've heard). It's a small thing, but I love it.

Vee: Here she is! The character previously dubbed Creepy Luz who now turns out to be yet another new addition to the ever-growing list of characters that we, as a fandom, would give our lives for. Because holy s**t was Vee the best type of expectation subversion. Showing us all the ominous ways of how she basically took Luz's place made fans assume that Vee was an evil doppelganger. Turns out, she was just a tortured soul that was desperate to live a new and better life and lucked out in finding Luz's. What Vee does is...questionable at best, but seeing what she went through with the experiments Belos pulled on her, you understand why she would do it. And I personally love it's that same background information that makes Vee resentful of Luz of all people. Luz's life is a relative dream come true, and running away from that would be insane to someone who spent most of their existence through imprisonment and experimentation. It's an intriguing point of view, even though it's admittingly flawed given how it's mostly Camila that seemingly made Luz's life bearable. But the flaws don't matter. What matters is that you can see where Vee is coming from, and to me, personally, I think she's understandable enough to make me root for her to have some kind of happy ending. Whether as Luz or as herself, I'm hopeful to see Vee get some semblance of peace.

Camila: *Round of applause* Don't mind me! Just taking the time to love how all them sons of b**hes who thought Camila was a bad mom are now heavily invalidated. 'Cause, guess what? Camila is a fantastic mother, both to her daughter and her daughter's doppelganger! Allow me to walk you through the highlights:

How Camila looks like she’s not okay with the fact that "Luz" is clearing out her weird stuff, seemingly acting too different to the Luz she knows. Added to the fact that Camila doesn't like it.

How Camila drove Luz to camp whether than letting her take the bus

The fact that Camila takes that box of junk back in, not willing to part with the tin foil sculpture Luz made.

The way she was willing to play along with the game she thought Luz was doing, supporting her daughter's creative mind that Camila admits to being glad to see.

And, best of all, the willingness Camila had to help this poor creature, despite the lies it lived.

It's that last part I really want to touch upon, though. Because an action like that shows just how much Luz's heart comes from Camila. The kindness and generosity of helping this poor creature, who she has every right to run out on, proves how Luz learned to be everything she is today through Camila's own loving heart. Vee was scared and hurt, and the second Camila saw that she was then more than willing to help because of it. It's something that Luz would do, and it proves that even though Camila didn't exactly get everything right, she's still a great mom where it counts.

“A new life”: A perfect line.

Initially, it makes audiences think that it has everything to do with replacing Luz. It's only through future context that we know it's about escaping the s**t show Vee once lived through that it's clear she's talking about starting over. It hits us with intrigue on the first viewing, only to hit harder with the feels during a second. Really well-done.

Luz in the Mirror: A well-done surprise that makes fans curious about how this even happen in the first place. Kudos to you, writers.

The New Portal: I don't mind that they found a way to build this off-screen. Showing Luz and the gang slowly building a new portal would have been a little too tedious to watch, and it's so much better to just start this episode out with it. Besides, maybe we'll get the slow and steadier version now that we've seen how quickly building one might not have been the best way to go, given how fast that thing fell apart.

Luz Between Dimensions: I have no clue what the hell that place she was in is called, but it's awesome! The overall design of the realm is the correct type of unsettling, like it's oozing with mystery, but it's somewhere that you probably don't want to be in for too long. Whoever designed it deserves all of the credit because I don't want to even think about all the hard work that went into making this look as well-made as it was.

Luz Resisting to See Amity: What? Luz and Amity are adorable, and seeing Luz's immediate thought about seeing Amity makes my shipping heart scream with glee. Don't judge me!

Hiding Luz’s Dad’s Face: Well, that was a fun story while it lasted.

So, it turns out that Luz's dad really was a part of Luz's and Camila's life at some point, but not anymore. As for why remains to be seen, as we don't really know yet if we'll see him make an appearance. I'd say that the odds are high that he will, given how much of a point this episode made about keeping his face hidden. Shows don't usually do that unless the goal is to hype up some official reveal, and I can't wait to see what comes of it.

Luz Telling Herself to Count to Five: Hey, more evidence for how I relate to Luz! I know how it feels to be all panicky about a specific situation, and I only got better when I took the time to calm down for a bit. Sometimes, I even tried the "count to x" method that Luz used...it never worked, primarily because it made me feel worse when people told me to do it, but I still tried it! Plus, there's also some narrative foreshadowing when after Luz says five, the realm shows her Vee, or Number V, which is a pretty cool detail you'll notice on a rewatch.

Luz Helping Vee: I gave Camila praise for helping Vee in the end, but that doesn't abstain Luz from her own set of recognition. The second that Luz realized that Vee wasn't really a threat and is far from evil, our favorite human does what she can to help and even makes a deal where they're both happy. Because, of course, Luz is that perfect of a protagonist who is more than willing to help others in need. And it's why we love her so.

Looking for Magic that Eda Left Behind: A pretty cool idea that gives Luz and Vee a chance to bond and giving us an insight into Eda's past antics and misadventures in the human realm. Not much I can add to it, though.

Gravesfield: It's surprisingly not as jarring as I thought it would be to spend an episode in the human realm. I thought for sure, after all that time in the Boiling Isles, there would be something off about walking around a normal environment for a change. Turns out, it's almost easy to get used to. Or, for me, it is.

But I will say that there's this neat use of colors when comparing Gravesfield with the Boiling Isles. In Gravesfield, the coloring looks dulled down and standard, which is a stark contrast to the bright vibrancy of everything we've seen in the Boiling Isles. It's a subtle way of showing how things are different, aside from the major discrepancies we could come to expect. And I think that's why I appreciate it much more.

Eda’s Called Herself Marylynn in the Human Realm: Hang on...hang on...do you mean to tell me that the crack theory about Eda being Stan's ex-wife is actually true?

...

...What even is this show?!

Vee Making Friends with Camp Members: This shows the most apparent difference between Luz and Vee. Where we see Luz is already fearing the many ways that could go wrong with interacting with teens, Vee revealed that she adapted to her situation and had a chance to make friends. The implications of this are worth discussing another time, but for now, I'll say that it's pretty intriguing that we gain this much insight into both Luz and Vee through such a small thing.

Belos Wanting to Learn How Basilisks can Drain Magic: ...Didn't Raine say that Belos was taking away magic? If so, I think we can figure out how he's doing it. The question now is: Why?

Jacob (The Curator Guy): This guy was a riot. At first, Jacob seemed like a threat with the way he trapped Vee and was apparently stocking her, but the second he goes off about his conspiracy theories, it becomes clear what type of character he is. And was it a blast seeing how much of a crackpot this man is. It wasn't cool seeing him wanting to dissect the precious angel that is Vee, but I still chuckle about things like his "Flat Eather's Certificate." So while he's not that much of a threat, he's still fun to watch.

The Owl Beast was in the Human Realm: ...How did that happen? When did it happen? And how the hell did Eda get out of a situation like that?! Who knows, but it's still a shocking piece of news to learn.

Luz Telling Camila the Truth: Hey, she faced her fear after all! Although, the results aren't as pleasant as when Amity faced her fear two weeks ago.

Camila is a Veterinarian: ...One insignificant reveal...managed to destroy so many fanfics. I mean, we probably shouldn't have just assumed Camila was a nurse...but what the f**k else were we supposed to think?! Sorry for seeing the scrubs, and the first thing that came to my mind was "nurse" and not "vet."

By the way, that had to have been intentional, right? There's no way that Dana Terrace didn't think we'd assume Camila was a nurse. She'd had to have put off a reveal like that just to trip up her fans. And if that's the case, then that is a major d**k move...but that's why I mildly respect it.

Two Human Brothers went to the Demon Realm: Turns out we don't have to be in the Boiling Isles to learn more about it. Because now we have more information about how two humans were taken to the Isles with the help of a witch, thus setting up a grander reveal if it turns out that one of the humans was Philip and the witch was Belos. Because if that's true...then there's more of a history between those two than we thought.

Jacob has a Training Wand: This helps me believe that it's highly likely for Jacob to make a return and to have a power boost for when he does. After all, focussing all that attention on the training wand is way too convenient for it not to come up again in the future. Meaning we're most likely going to get more pain from Jacob if he shows up again.

Camila Beats the Crap out of Jacob for Vee: ...Writers, don't make me choose between Camila and Eda on who's the better cartoon mom. I know Eda's technically not a mom...BUT I STILL DON'T WANT TO CHOOSE DAMNIT!

Also, the sandal...just...

Why the f**k does Camila have a sandal in her purse? I don't know. Is it still funny that she does? Most certainly.

Camila and Luz’s Talk in the Rain: Ooooooooh, I was not ready for this...

I wasn't ready for the crying.

I wasn't ready for the hurt in Camila's eyes when she found out Luz chose to stay in the Boiling Isles.

I wasn't ready for Camila asking if Luz hates being with her that much.

I wasn't ready for Luz profusely stating how it was never Camila's fault.

I was not ready for Camila to tell Luz that she'll try to do better.

And I definitely was not ready for Luz to barely have enough time to promise that she'll come back.

This episode wasn't the twenty-two minutes of nonstop angst that I thought it was going to be...but this short scene more than make up for it.

Luz Tries to Stay Strong: Yet another thing she unwittingly learned from Camila. Camila tried to keep a brave face when Vee was with her and Luz, most likely not wanting to tear either of them down in the process. Luz does the same thing here as she avoids talking about the details of what went down in her sort-of journey back home. And seeing her clearly fake smile slowly droop into an uncertain frown, it uh...it definitely tore me up inside.

WHAT I DISLIKED

I want to say it's perfect, but there's one major issue that really bogs this episode down.

Continuity Error in How Vee Replaced Luz: Having Vee take Luz's place the same day Luz appeared in the Isles is a smart idea on paper...if it wasn't for the fact that it's impossible.

Because Eda closed the portal door the second that she saw Luz, meaning that there's no way for Vee to go to the human realm. It's a major plothole that makes no sense, and it might just be the first time ever that this series wasn't so closely knit with its story. Which ends up taking a dive in quality in the process.

IN CONCLUSION

I'd say that "Yesterday's Lie" is an A-. Everything about Luz, Vee, and Camila is incredible, combined into a story that ends in tragedy and uncertainty for the future. That plothole may drag things down a bit, but everything else is handled so well that I'm not lying when I say it's easy to forgive and forget.

(And that's ten episodes in a row without a single stinker. HOW THE F**K DOES THIS SEASON KEEP WINNING?!)

[thevindicativevordan]

Thoughts on Infinite Crisis? It seems like a story that could be reworked into a stand alone Superman story for an adaptation.

Insane as it is to say, that and Final Crisis were some of the first DC stories I ever bought?

Remember being in a Barnes & Noble and picking those two because they had Superman and Batman on the covers, and stories with those two together sounded like fun. Wasn't familiar with Johns at the time but I knew Morrison from their JLA run. Was a trip to read, trade only came with the main story itself, so right in the intro I was getting shown a bunch of past events that had my jaw drop. Wonder Woman fucking snapped a guy's neck? Superman and Batman hated each other's guts (I was just a kid so I thought of those two as best friends)? The Watchtower was destroyed? Jesus what the hell happened? Hooked me in right from the start and I read it all the way to the end. Only understood the basics of what I was reading, but Johns was really good at writing "holy fuck" moments and this story had plenty of those. Phil Jimenez's fantastic art was also a feast for the eyes, he definitely made the whole book feel epic in the way an event needs to.

Overall I was and am fond of it. Besides the meta criticism (which I didn't understand since I wasn't following DC monthly yet), this was a story where the bad guys wanted to destroy reality in order to create their idea of "perfect", which became very funny in hindsight of both the New 52 and Rebirth. Add in an entire army of supervillains, the (re)introduction of the Multiverse, loads of C-Listers getting slaughtered to showcase the stakes (something I view much more negatively now), and you have an enticing if overwhelming introduction to the wider DCU for young me who just wanted to look at the pretty pictures and see dudes rock. Rock they did with badass scenes such as Kal-L shattering the wall between dimensions, Batman leading a strike team against Brother Eye, Conner going toe-to-toe with Superboy-Prime, the Flashes dragging Prime into the Speed Force, the ending scenes where the two Supermen kick the collective asses of all the villains in Metropolis including Doomsday, and then go slug it out with Prime on Mogo after pummeling Prime through the debris of Krypton and the red sun Rao. Superman telling Prime that he'll never be Superman because he doesn't know what it means to be Superman is still one of my favorite scenes ever.

Storywise the focus is on the Trinity, but mainly on Superman. All three really get raked over the coals for how they've been fuck-ups lately: Batman for being a paranoid, arrogant asshole, Wonder Woman for completely losing sight of her mission while descending more and more into bloodthirstiness, and Superman for being impotent. Truly appreciating all of the context requires reading the lead up including Identity Crisis which I didn't do until much later after I was older. Give DC credit for this much, they did a great job building up to Infinite Crisis, build-up alone was a fun read unto itself. Sadly in the long run both Superman and Wonder Woman ended up slipping back into the same holes this story attempted to get them out of, Superman ending this incarnation being an impotent sad sack who walked across America, and Wonder Woman having a godawful event in Amazons Attack! and a JMS reboot to end her Pre-Flashpoint incarnation. Only Batman was able to really shed the last remnant of "Bat-Asshole" to become Morrison's more zen conception.

Fascinating story to look at in terms of themes considering where Johns ended up as a creator and the direction DC went in with the New 52. Infinite Crisis is a story that admonishes those who believe in some idealized perfect past where everything was better, and also admitting that you can only go so far with ultraviolence, darkness, and mass casualties. Past is never as great as you remember, but that doesn't mean we can't do better right now, that was the message I took away from the story.

Now you look back at a message like that and it's downright hypocritical, with Johns shifting over to Superboy-Prime's viewpoint when he took the reigns in DC Rebirth given how he treated Morrison's Superman reboot. Did a total 180 with If you're from here this world can't be perfect because a perfect world doesn't need a Superman to saying New 52 Superman was shit and erasing him was a way to set things right. Back then it was still arguably hypocritical considering Johns killed off vast swaths of characters during the event, which was a past storytelling crutch the event was supposedly meant to be criticizing, but it's even more so hypocritical given how he talked up "hope" as being something the Pre-Flashpoint universe had that the New 52 lost.

Load of story moments I'd love to see animated but your idea of it being a standalone Superman story is both intriguing and confusing. Of course you could do the basics of "two Supermen who have lost their worlds want to sacrifice 'our' Superman's world to get theirs back", but I can't see how you could do that without all the build-up it took to get Kal-L to give up on 'our' Earth. Infinite Crisis is like Blackest Night in that it's really the type of story you need a long-running shared universe that's been around a while to pull off. We need to see this world decline in order to sympathize with Kal-L's viewpoint, and understand why he thinks the way he does even as he's being manipulated. Otherwise he would lose a lot of empathy from the audience.

Man I still wish my fan theory of when Manhattan rebooted the DCU after Flashpoint, because Superman was outside the universe having been bottled by Brainiac, he revived Kal-L for the New 52 Superman. Very first superhero deserved a better ending than getting beaten to death by his psychotic protégé and New 52 Superman was meant to incorporate a lot of the Golden Age Superman too. Guess Johns killed that kind of Superman twice.

[madzfm]

˛ ⠀ * ⠀ ★ ⠀  JESSICA ALEXANDER  .   CIS FEMALE  .  SHE / HER      ⧽ ⠀ have  you  seen  the  786  latest  post  ?  sources  say  they  have  some  serious  dirt  on  the  child  of  a  big  time   COUNTRY MUSIC STARS  .   they  haven’t  revealed  who  it was  yet  but  my  best  is  on  MADISON  DARLING  !  ever  since  that  last  update  about  how  she  ALLEGEDLY GOT CAUGHT SPORTING A BABY BUMP LAST YEAR BEFORE GHOSTING EVERYONE  i  don’t  put  anything  pass  them  .  i  mean  ,  these  celebrity  kids  are  just  out  of  control  .   they  do  whatever  they  want  ,  whenever  they  want  and  are  ungrateful  in  the  process  !!  i  mean  take  MADDIE  for  example  ,  they’re  a  TWENTY THREE  year  old  DANCER  ,  and  what  did  they  do  to  get  there  ?  have  famous  parents  !  like  hello  ,  just  because  you HAVE BEEN IN MUSIC VIDEOS WITH A-LIST MUSICIANS doesn’t  mean  you  actually  deserved  it  .   i’m   glad   the   786   is   taking   them   down   a   notch   .   it’s   about   time   someone   does   .

             𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐆𝐋𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐂  /  𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓  / 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

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hey ... hey ... how y’all doin’ ?  i’m sooo excited to be here , besties ! sorry i’m late with the intro , it’s been a looooong weekend for me but i’m eager to get the ball rolling . so here’s the rundown , the google doc has a full bio + more stats + headcanons but i don’t expect anyone to actually read all that nonsense so i’ve tried my best to sum it up below ( it’s still kinda long tho i’m sorry y’all i ramble too much ). i’m always down to talk plots & threw a few wanted connection ideas at the bottom , so feel free to hmu on discord any time <3 but yes okay let’s get into it

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━━     ˊ     *     𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬  . .

𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞. madison dallas darling .   𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞(𝐬). maddie , mads .   𝐝𝐨𝐛. april 14 , 1998 .   𝐚𝐠𝐞. twenty - three .   𝐳𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐜. aries sun , libra moon , leo asc .   𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫. cis female .   𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬. she / her .   𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. bisexual .  𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. nashville , tn .   𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 5ft 5in .  𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. high school diploma .   𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. dancer / realty tv personality .   𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬. robert “robbie” darling - father . dixie darling - mother . delaney darling - sister .   𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐬. compassionate , imaginative , family-oriented  , devoted , generous , sympathetic , idealistic , self critical , naive , competitive , indecisive , impressionable , elusive , sensitive .

━━     ˊ     *     𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲 . .

tw : things like shitty controlling parents , injury , & pregnancy are mentioned

   born & raised in nashville , tennessee , madison is the daughter of two country music icons ( basically blake shelton & miranda lambert ) & has only ever known a life in the spotlight . her parents were a widely adored it couple who shared their lives with millions of viewers across the world with their reality tv show . at 7pm cst you could tune in to watch robbie & dixie raise their two daughters - having some good ol’ wholesome family fun while juggling responsibilities that come with being famous artists . to any outsider looking in , they seemed like the perfect family . a loving father , a supportive mother , two prim & proper daughters that collected accolade after accolade in every pageant & talent competition they ever entered . but you shouldn’t believe everything you see on tv , even if it’s deceptively labeled as “reality” .

   when the cameras weren’t rolling , the darling sisters were left under their mother’s restrictive control . dixie darling treated her daughters more like dolls than living beings , madison & delaney were basically pretty little accessories . while robbie never dared to mistreat his daughters , he was around a lot less than the show made it seem - often touring the world rather than spending quality time with his girls . plus , dixie & robbie seemed to endlessly fight with one another - nearly every childhood memory madison has of her parents involves them yelling . if she wanted to see them looking happy & in love , she’d have to tune in to the fabricated reality on their own show to get a taste of what a happy , loving family looks like . 

   you can’t be a child of dixie darling without being exploited in some way . while delaney was pushed into the music scene , madison was shoved into the world of dance . she took every class that was offered & practiced for hours upon hours to perfect her craft . her sister had taken after their folks with the singing voice of an angel & the looks to rival that of miss universe , meanwhile maddie was good for two things : dance & doing whatever her mother said . so when dixie said to twirl , she twirled , when she said do a grand jeté, maddie asked how high & then over performed like the good little girl she was trained to be .

   it wasn’t until her parents got divorced & maddie moved to miami to be with her sister , her father , & her father’s new girlfriend that she sort of came out ( or more accruately described as dragged out ) of her timid , non - confrontational , subservient shell . with a longer leash , she had more freedom to roam far & wide . no one tried to tell her what to do or who to talk to & considering she was just a privileged teenager with endless funds & the status to get away with just about anything , you can imagine how badly that went . every mistake she made was broadcasted onto people’s televisions or headlined in tabloids . it was stressful , growing up & messing up all under the watchful gaze of millions of people who felt entitled to berate her for her poor life decisions . just because they watched her grow up on tv didn’t mean they actually knew anything about her . & yet so many people shared their unsolicited opinions on her & her life . it drove her insame .

   maddie wasn’t handling the stress of being well known very well . she wanted a break from it all , to just go somewhere far away where no one knew her name & just live by herself . it was a silly dream . nothing she’d ever actively pursue . but the universe has a funny way of giving us a taste of what we think we want just to teach us a lesson . 

   so over a year ago , maddie found out that she was pregnant . it was a shock to say the least . she kept it a close guarded secret from everyone but her sister for awhile . not only was it a life changing development , but it was one thing that she was determined not to share with the rest of the world . with the idea of running away in continuous loop in the back of her mind , she came up with a plan to buy herself some time . she faked a really bad injury during a performance & let the media run with saying she might not be able to walk , let alone dance ever again . pushing the cover story even further , she claimed to be in need of intense physical therapy & sought after it in a luxurious private lodge in new zealand . that’s where she stayed during her year away , letting no outsiders come visit while she figured out how she was going to move forward with this baby growing inside of her .

   so maddie finally got the break she was looking for even if it wasn’t under the circumstances that she would’ve liked . but she adapted to the situation . in her time away , she went through the entire pregnancy but it was basically decided for her by her parents that it was best to give the baby up for adoption . the little girl would be in good care by a couple that was a family friend of the darlings . better to bless someone who wanted a baby but couldn’t have one than for maddie to keep her daughter when she wasn’t in a place to take care of her . it broke her heart , honestly . she had grown quite attached to the baby & even entertained the idea of being a single mom even though she knew her own mom would never let that happen - it would go against the strict narrative that they try to put out there about the darling family .

   after a year away , maddie is back in miami without anyone knowing what really happened . she keeps using the “injury” as the excuse for her absence from the spotlight . anyone really close to her might be able to tell that something’s off , but she’s trying so hard to act like everything is fine & nothing has changed at all . she might even be able to get away with her lies - if it wasn’t for that damn 786 website threatening to spill the tea & make her life hell .

━━     ˊ     *     𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 & 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 . .

   a wannabe good girl gone bad but harbors a deep rooted fear of being a disappointment & a failure due to her mom’s strict parenting style . so like she wants to be rebellious & come across as carefree but internally she’s panic screaming always ( honestly relatable like same , girl )

   well - mannered in a sweet southern belle kind of way with her please’s & thank you’s & calling everyone ma’am & sir out of respect & what not

   biiiig mom friend energy . she just wants to make sure that everyone is taken care of . she can get very protective & a little helicopter parent-y with her friends . it probably has something to do with control issues that she doesn’t realize she has but we don’t have time to unpack that rn akjsdbk

   before her year away i want to say that she was a lot more people please-y / overly eager to please ?? like rarely said no to people that asked for favors , always agreed to any plans people invited her to out of courtesy , & what have you . but now i see her as being a little less patient than before & a little bit more unhinged & quick to shut down or snap

   guillable ! naive ! dumb as hell ! believes that everyone was raised with the same values as her & has a big of a heart like she does so she’s easily subjectable to getting her feelings hurt & i say let it happen !!

   wants to be mysterious so bad but there is very little known about her & her life that isn’t public knowledge . she could get shit on by a bird & it’ll probably become a twitter highlight idk she just wants to believe she’s imperceptible & acts all evasive in order to keep her private life private but that rarely ever has the desired effect

    one of those annoying rich & famous people that’s like “i wasn’t meant to be famous . i was meant to have a normal life & be a normal person” but like !! she is actually so out of touch with reality & probably couldn’t tell you how much milk is at the grocery store because she has people to do mundane day to day things for her . spoiled little privileged rich girl , let’s be real . her dad tried to keep her humble , idk what happened

   dance style / career is pretty much inspired by maddie ziegler but also not really bc i am very picky & choosey about which aspects of her career i’m pulling from

   boring on social media because she hardly ever posts & is very short with her captions & tweets when she does make an appearance online every blue moon 

   dodges questions about what she’s been up to while she was gone like she’s in the matrix or something . all that pr training her mom put her through when she was younger is coming in handy because she has not given a single honest , straight answer in the months she’s been back . would rather talk about anything else than herself right now so don’t be surprised if she pulls some random subject changes out of her ass if people get nosy . i’m sure the common conspiracy is that maddie was so embarrassed by the fall on stage that she went into hiding 

   delaney is the kim kardashian & britney spears of the family while madison is the kourtney & the jamie lynn xoxo

━━     ˊ     *     𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 . .

ride or die , bad influence , frenemies , family friends , good influence , confidant , rival , girl squad , non judging breakfast club , childhood friend , unlikely friend , exes on good terms , exes on bad terms , neighbors , pr friendship , pr enemy , social media mutuals , party buddies , secret friend , secret hook - up , crush , friends with benefits , adventure buddy , enemy with benefits , dance partners , mentors , mentees , sibling like relationship , will they won’t they , people suspicious of her & her supposed “injury” , father of her baby 👀 jk ..... unless

[chameshida]

Your idea of a LN musical is great! It inspired me and now I’ve got some ideas for the little nightmares musical au/concept you were talking about .

Like I have some ideas for the types of songs Mono and The thin man could sing and I think Six would mostly hum her music box song (maybe before/during the first time she meets Mono) and she would probably accompany/sing along with some of Mono’s songs as they become friends, while the Thin man could sing the opening of the musical with songs similar to “Into the unknown”. “Lullaby in frog land” and “wayward souls” from Over the garden wall.

I imagine Thin man’s songs would get transmitted mostly by and through the TVs and initially his songs would have a very comforting, warm and alluring tone to them at least till the Thin man gets Mono to free him and takes Six, then when he starts chasing Mono then The thin man could sing a more villain-like and/or sinister song until Mono is able to defeats him (something similar to “wayward souls”) and because the mechanic of the game has us/Mono copy the Thin man’s movements during his fight maybe in the musical they could have Mono need to echo/recite the song The thin man is singing for him to be able to defeat him/until he is able to defeat him.

Now with Six I don’t personally think she should get a villain song, I imagine she wouldn’t sing that much on her own except as a support or accompaniment of Mono’s songs who would mostly take the Lead till the end of the musical. Although I’d like to imagine she would be the one to initiate the song they sing when they both meet for the very first time.

Maybe Mono would try to sing a song similar to the one they sang when they first met after rescuing Six from the city tower (maybe about how glad he is that she is Ok and that now everything will get back to normal) yet Six does not follow his song’s lead this time and/or doesn’t respond nor echoes his melody, she would only do that when they are about to reach the exit when she turns back to catch Mono’s hand just like she does the game, then she stops singing and then the betrayal happens and that’s when Six starts humming (just the melody) of her music box once again.

Mono could sing a lament song about the loss of his friend maybe regretting and thinking it was somehow his fault and wondering what he did wrong, then the melody could start taking a darker tone and start sounding like the “villain song” or the “Intro” of the Thin man, till Mono starts to grow up into the Thin man and the last song he sings could be something like “Into the unknown” finishing the song that was featured at the start of the musical to show that all this time they were either the same person and that the story is repeating or that Mono was always meant to take The thin man’s mantle (just like in the game)

If dreams can't come true, then why not pretend?

Oh how the gentle wind

Beckons through the leaves

As autumn colors fall

Dancing in a swirl

Of golden memories

The loveliest lies of all

The loveliest lies of all

I can imagine the musical playing with concepts of the TVs, old nostalgic memories and with the music as a form of escapism, by illustrating how the melodies/songs have a great power behind them which are able to affect the people surrounding them, just like in the game in which the TVs and the programs/music were able to hypnotize the viewers.

And because many theorize that the game is a loop, I think the musical could play with this concept by starting the musical with a song similar to “into the unknown” from over the garden wall and then at the end of the musical they could close it by having the intro being completed and/or repeated.

This concept was done with musical of Hadestown in which the story in universe is said to be a very old song/story which is being implied to be sang/repeated over and over with the last notes of the musical being the intro implying it’s gonna start/going to be sung over again.

I really want to try to develop this concept. (It seems great and I like it a lot!) it also seems fun to try to interpret a mostly silent game through other medium.

From my LN musical post

Oh wow that's the long one! It gets me really happy when I get long response like these for my ideas! Sorry it took me a while before I response

Yeah! LN (2 especially) did really remind me of OTGW too!

Having Thin man sing the opening song is the interesting idea, something I haven't considered. It works well if you want the musical to be the perfect loop. Although if it's to capture the OTGW feels of it I also feel like the Eyes would be the good candidate. Regardless, whoever singing the opening number is going to give off the very difference feels. I also kinda still want the kids singing. Maybe like Beauty and the Beast it can happening all at once, The town folks(Kid, establishing the universe) Belle (Mono, I want song) Gaston (Thin man, Villain song)...not as in having the eye/thinman singing like Gaston but as in part of their song being feature in the opening number. Maybe they could be the one to start, the kids being the chorus, Mono juxposition the mood.

I agree that Six wouldn't sing a lot or have her stand alone song in any of the LN2 duration. I can even imagine her voice to not like...how should I put it,...doesn't sound like a singer. She'd only sing along with Mono and it mostly sound more like a talk than a singing (at least at the start. She will get more into it as the story progress) so when she does eventually have her own stand alone song it feels special and people'd grew on her voice. As for the humming, I'd have her hum the same way in game with the scene she's only shown humming in(with exception for the last scene) as in it's isn't really the add in musical element as it is just happen organicly....FOR THE SEQUEL/LN1 however. Imagine if her song has that humming we're so familar as part of it.

(I also should clarify for my original post that Six doesn't have the villain song. at least not in LN2 and even if it's for LN1 it's still arguable if it counts as villain song since she’s the main protagonist in that one. Her last song (or her I want song as I put it) is still being sung together with Mono. I don’t know what’s the musical term for it but it’s kinda like they’re screaming on top of each other until eventually Six’s winning. Kinda like for the first time in forever reprise or Evelyn Evelyn. In this musical version Six would be explicite about the reason of why she drops Mono, a major changes in adaptation)

There are some scene I wasn't sure about like how the musical element is incoperate into the scene I wasn't sure if it should be musical , like when Six and Mono first met. I think for my version I'd like to keep it as it is with them not singing like how it happens in game but the imaginary of Mono bursting into Song at hopes of finding friend then get shove aside by Six is pretty funny to me. I think most of my song, with some exception like the letting go scene all happening in the period that can be extend/expane upon or has extra scene to it like Mono and Six first together song wbeing sing on the raft. Thin man and Mono song though I wasn't sure myself. I think they should have a sing off or song together like you mention but will it happening as Mono is killing Thin man or seperately I wasn't sure. (They could sing right before they fight maybe but the fight itself is mostly action)

(For me the song that most similar to Like ship happens similary to Like ship; the love song happens in the middle of the story)

Oh  and now that you point it out For some reason in my version I completely forgot that Mono turned into the Thin man--I mean I didn’t forget that he is thin man but my version it just end without showing him turning into Thin man XD. Maybe that’s why I haven’t consider having him singing the opening number. If we follow the game and keep the scene and play fully into the concept of the loop then yeah your idea is really spot on. I think for mine since it end with him as the kid, the song is only hint in similarity of thin man without the song fully turn into his song. and the concept of loop is more of the musical element of First song and last song being the same song more than he play of actual loop.

But we do have similar idea of having the repeat song even if it happens differently XD Mono singing to Monster Six call back to their early song and Six song as she letting go is the twisted version of that same song too...Mono last song call back to his first song etc.

But yeah our version could be seperate and totally different! That’d be fun to have various intrepetation of how the musical would turn out to be. Mine is very disney-esque  and steven universe-y lightheart compare to the original material but yours would be closer to that and Over the garden wall. One thing to keep in mind though is that Animated (movie? series?) with musical element in it and Musical theather is also a very different meduim and my idea is made with animated musical in mind since why I do still want a lot of scene without song in it. If it’s for musical theather then I can totally see Six and Mono sing as they meet or Mono and Thin man sing as they fight. Mybe your idea and my idea will be like the total different version/take on this

You (and anyone else who’d interest) are allow to play and tinker with this concept however you like! I’d love to see it!

[themanip]

alternate routes

SYNOPSIS — how do you go throughout life? well, you find someone you like. get to know them. start dating. break up a few times, get back together. get married. have some kids. die old. typical. fucking in a back room of an awards show, not once, but twice as complete strangers, was definitely not how most relationships start out.

PAIRING — taehyung x metzi (oc) WARNINGS — descriptions of cheating, fliphones, mentions of getting laid, really bad intros tbh, the introvert line being introverts, and girls who are rlly bad at timing, an asshole named ryan, cursing WORD COUNT — just over 3.1k AUTHOR’S NOTE — hi! i am so fucking bad at writing the first chapter or two, i promise if you can bear the beginning of this story, it gets better. i have two and a half chapters written so far but i am writing super often! once a few more chapters get published i will create a masterlist. please enjoy and if you have any comments or recs don’t hesitate to let me know!! :)))

𝟏: 𝐀𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐄 

𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖 ⇥ The universe known to man is a labyrinth—an irregular maze, a passage that cannot be routed—and to understand that took more than an average mind. The matter was far too complicated than any obsolete man to comprehend on a whim. Millenia passed before galaxies were formed, planets were created, all unbeknownst to the stars bursting just miles apart.

From early amphibians, to the ice age, to cavemen, evolution has made great strides in every species. Humans in the past were variants called homosapiens, and most likely came from chimpanzees. Great strides like this were something to be proud of, you'd think.

When Metzi Ludovic realized that birds can fly with natural evolution, while humans had to industrialize it (thanks to the Wright brothers) she was pretty distraught. As an imaginative and critical eight-year old, fifteen years later, not much had changed. Currently, she was pondering over the fact that humans are one of the few species with opposable thumbs.

Majority of animals had not yet evolutionized to create opposable thumbs. While frantic over this, she also imagined her beautiful Pomeranian, with thumbs popping out of his paws. Her thoughts were quickly subdued, thanks to her coherent thoughts making an appearance. As cool as it would be, all other animals would devour humans if they gained that ability.

Is that the only reason humans are all mighty? They can industrialize and aim properly due to their adaptations, so that they somehow became top of the food chain?

Thankfully, she was redacted from her thoughts as her manager, Emmy, let out a distressed sigh. "Wren, we cannot change your outfit again. You look beautiful," At this point, looking at Wren, she knew that she would look good. Somehow, she couldn't convince herself.

"Wren, we can switch. I don't hate green, so you can take blue if you want it. I really don't mind," Metzi smiled softly, and she knew it was the right thing to offer as Wren's face lit up, a few tears being wiped away. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, just do me a favor and loosen the ties on that, please. I have had way too many tacos yesterday to fit into it with the strings that tight," a small laugh left her mouth, and as she laid on the comfortable sofa. It was plush, but somehow offered no lumbar support. Who the hell makes a couch so soft, yet so unbearable for convenience of naps?

Selfish, she thought.

This dressing room was beautiful, so you'd think they'd have enough funds to make a decent couch. She could enjoy the aesthetics of the room, anyways. A luxurious baby pink covered the walls, and was bordered by pristine white. Plush gray carpet was under her feet, and was stain free. With Malorie in here, that probably wouldn't last long.

She was over by the double mirrors, applying powder over her face. She was so beautiful, Metzi couldn't fathom why she insisted on so much makeup. The same could be said about herself, so she kept her somewhat inner misogynistic comments at bay. She was pretty quiet, but something was off. She wasn't usually this quiet, so Metzi shot her a text.

She was very personal, and barely talked about what bothered her. Occasionally, Metzi would get her to open up, which she could physically see the relief on her face as she broke down. A brief, but to the point was written out on Metzi's phone.

you don't seem okay. wanna talk about it? Read 2:33 PM

The three dots popped up, and Metzi's attention was quickly brought to Vida, who sat down next to her, letting out a sigh. "How much longer until Olive gets here? I'm so close to taking a nap," Vida quickly put her hair into a makeshift ponytail, and leaned back, closing her eyes.

"It's only two, so I imagine not for a good hour or so, a nap sounds kind of nice," Wren commented, stood in the other corner of the room, with Emmy helped her undo the straps of her outfit. Her green silk top complimented her skin perfectly, but Metzi knew it was too late to convince her.

"Well, I'm out, wake me up when she gets here," Vida quickly blurts, and her head is now comfortably laying on the arm of the sofa. "I'll get up, I have to go to the bathroom anyways," Metzi commented, sighing before getting up.

Silence followed, and the blonde decided to take a look at her phone. A text was sent back on Malorie's behalf, and she widened her eyes momentarily. Standing still, she turned back to look at her. A face of guilt was evident, and she tried her best to hold her breath.

i have something to tell you, i'm not supposed to. i just feel so bad knowing while you don't i really shouldn't have said anything forget it

meet me in the bathroom

Read 2:37PM

Metzi's mind was in a whirlwind, and she couldn't think of anything she'd be referring to. Of course, it was useless, because clearly she wasn't meant to know about it. She hurried out of the room, the last thing she heard was Wren complaining once more about her outfit.

The hallways were empty, mostly because they'd came so early, and Metzi took her time reaching the bathroom. It was communal, so she really hoped that nobody else was here yet. The awards were meant to start in a few hours, and considering they had three faces to paint with makeup, early was a necessity.

"I hope you won't be mad at me," A small, timid voice aired behind her. The blonde turned around, and clutched her phone in fear. "I'm not, please tell me what's going on,"

As Malorie opened her phone, Metzi tapped her foot anxiously.

God, she really had to piss.

The brunette looked up at her, and showed her a photo.

"What is that?"

"That, was Ryan. On Saturday."

Ryan was her boyfriend of six years. An anxious cramping formed in her stomach at the mixture of his name and the tone of Malorie's voice. The photo she was now staring at made her want to vomit. Her stomach was now doing somersaults.

In the photo, it was indeed Ryan, in Metzi's own bed, with a mop of curly red hair under him. Most was covered by the sheets, but it was enough to come to the correct conclusion. He was clearly enjoying it too, judging by his face. Upon further inspection, she noticed something odd.

Grabbing the phone out of Malorie's hand, she zoomed in. On her nightstand, where a picture of the two usually sat, was now face down. While he fucked another woman in her bed, he turned her face down.

Tears pricked at her eyes, and she took a deep breath in.

What happened Saturday? She was home mostly all day, so when did he have time to do this?

"What—how did you get this?"

"I came to give you your present, and I heard something. Y'know since you gave me keys? I figured it was okay to come in, and your bedroom door was open. I knew Ryan would try to make me the liar, so I took a picture. He told me that if I told you," Malorie pursed her lips, "well he threatened to do something pretty fucked up."

"Holy fuck," Metzi whispered, "I just—I had no fucking clue. This entire time, and who knows how long he's been fucking her?"

One lonesome tear fell down her cheek. In anger or sadness, Malorie didn't know.

Opening her phone, she opened Ryan's contact. "Hey," Malorie whispered, her voice now soft. "If he tells you anything about me, promise you won't believe him?"

"Of course, you come first. Always."

She debated on whether or not to call him, but instead opted on a text.

I hope you enjoyed fucking merida, we're done. get your things out of my house by tomorrow. delete my number.

She wiped the tears from her eyes, and a smile adorned her face. Her bladder problems now the least of her concerns, she started back for the dressing room. Emmy now sat at the vanity, on her phone, and Vida and Wren were basically cuddling.

Surprised at the sudden intrustion, all eyes landed on the pair standing in the doorway.

"Ryan cheated on me, so now we're all single." Metzi gave nobody the chance to respond, as if anyone could think of what to say, and took a deep breath in.

"I haven't been fucked in months, and now I know why. So, I'm gonna get laid tonight, feel free to join me."

All seven of them had their faces beat to perfection, their outfits tailored and steamed of any wrinkles. They looked absolutely impeccable, as if the world around them kissed their feet. Hell, some reporters actually acted like that.

The members of BTS were now known worldwide, and it seemed that they were sought after by nearly everyone. Each member was so unique—so captivating in every aspect. Personalities somehow intertwine perfectly, yet polar opposites sometimes.

Proud but humble men, they basked in the warmth of positive attention. All eyes were on them for now, and they proudly understood it. As they walked on the red carpet of the music event, Yoongi and Jungkook both hated what they would be forced to do in mere minutes. As self-declared introverts, social interactions were about to start, and they honestly would rather sit in the corner and get this over with.

They would meet a few smaller artists, an occasional household name, (which they would fawn over for the rest of the night) and then be on their way. It would probably be in a few news articles, and some artists would insist on pictures, and they would be spread around within minutes. It was the same routine, and almost every time they would speak as little as possible, save for Namjoon, and would discuss it later. Hollywood was English dominated, and they despised it.

"Right now we only have to meet one group, and then we're okay for a few hours," Namjoon spoke quietly and quickly, and they piled off of the red carpet into a building. The hallways were scary, dark and empty, but a light above them quickly lit up.

To their surprise, the hallway was beautiful. The walls were an navy blue, white accents on top and bottom. Numerous gold paintings and records lined the walls, and it seemed to go on forever.

"Who is it we're supposed to be meeting? This hallway is a bit sketchy," Jimin perked up, and Namjoon chuckled. "WB,"

"Who is that?"

"I can't remember what their name stands for, but they sing that one song," Namjoon goes on to hum the tune to a familiar song that got pretty big, and all of the members start singing along. Of course, the lyrics are completely off and the tune is absolutely horrid, but they all recognize it vaguely.  

All numbly following Namjoon, he was taking rough instructions from their manager to get there. This was not how it usually happened, but he had said something urgent came up. He had told Namjoon how to get there, and he knew that they were smart enough to make it without breaking a couple ligaments.

"Group? I thought it was one singer," Jin commented, and Taehyung nodded in agreement. "I would have never thought it was more than one. Are they American?"

"I guess we're going to find out," he snickered, and they all stopped at the corner. The door was slightly creaked open, and soft laughter could be heard. It was feminine, soft. It sounded like pure happiness was inside that door.

To double check, Namjoon eyed the sign on the door.

A large, black WB was written so even the partially blind could read. It was odd, the only dressing room out of probably at least a hundred, was all the way back, alone. They had no time to question it before Jin took a few strides forward, and boasted his English abilites.

"Come on-uh, guys."

The rest of them burst into laughter, and Namjoon quickly followed suit, knowing Jin would not be the prime candidate for introductions. He would simply utter a few English words, turn to Namjoon for help, and in panic, make a really bad play on words in Korean.

Timidly, Namjoon's knuckles rapped on the already-open door, accidentally pushing it further open a bit. "Come in!"

They were met with three girls stuffing their faces with chocolate cake, and another laying on the floor, fiddling with a.. flip-phone?

Jin grimaced at the reminder, glad it wasn't pink.

All eyes awkwardly met at the realization, and two of the three muffling down cake choked a bit. "Emmy, I thought you said 5:30?" Malorie was the one to ask, but none of the boys knew that.

"It is 5:30,"

The cake was swallowed within seconds, the flip-phone was now laying on the table, untouched. Four girls scrambled up simultaneously, and watched as the rest of the men piled in. An awkward stout of silence followed, and this so called Emmy, rose and met the boys first.

She had a firm grip, and introduced herself as their manager. The situation was humorous to say the least, these girls who could pass off as teenagers, were standing in single file in shame. The first was a beautiful girl with a large afro, and she kept a tight smile. She did not know who they were, nor did she really care. She introduced herself as Wren.

Next, was a taller woman, who seemed a hint older, with large winged eyeliner. She was Vida. Jin's first instinct was that she reminded him of him, she was definitely the oldest. Then, a smaller girl with a thick smile and soft curls was next. Soft hands, gentle grip. Her name was Malorie.

The last, was a young woman with blonde hair. Realistically, she didn't have any defining features besides her hair, she was the average American-looking girl. She introduced herself as Metzi, and to their surprise, bowed.

"It's really nice to meet you guys," Emmy let out a soft chuckle, and Namjoon nodded tightly. "Are you performing tonight?" It was Malorie who had asked, a soft question. "Yes, actually,"

"I heard you are as well," Namjoon replied, hoping to end the small talk quickly. "Yes we are! I'm surprised you've heard of us, I mean we're not huge."

She wasn't lying, but they definitely weren't small, either. Sixth biggest girlgroup of all time by album sales just behind TLC. Thirtieth on the most followed Spotify artist. Their debut album was certified Gold in six countries. Humble was the key to success, though.

"I'm not sure how big they are in the States, but aren't they pretty well known in Korea?" Yoongi spoke, but of course he wasn't talking to the girls, he was talking to his bandmates. He also spoke in Korean, which is why he nearly had a heart attack when a very feminine voice responded in Korean as well.

"We're big in Korea? I knew we were pretty well known in Japan, but I never really knew about that," It was the blonde one, Metzi. All seven members were in shock, the way she spoke it so effortlessly. If she didn't look the way she did, she could pass off as Native Korean by language alone.

"I know South Korea is very conservative and insistent upon how they operate things, and we're probably the farthest thing from it. I just was under the impression that we didn't fit the mold to do well there," Metzi continued talking, and Wren, Vida and Malorie had absolutely no clue what was going on or being discussed.

Had this been in Spanish, all the girls could have participated. Metzi just insisted on learning Korean, though.

They didn't seem too bothered, though, instead more humored.

"She's been waiting to use that one, huh?" Vida whispered, laughing lightly. "You're not wrong, Korea is known to be very conservative, however, that doesn't mean you have to fit stereotypes to break Korea or any other Asian country for that matter," Namjoon spoke in English this time, and finally the other three girls got a whiff of the conversation.

"We are the farthest thing from ideal boy-groups in America, and we broke it for the most part. Obviously a lot of it is due to our fan base, but point still stands." Seokjin broke in, the conversation now half Korean, half English.

"Good to know," Metzi said softly, a grin on her face.

"How did you learn Korean?" Taehyung spoke up in curiousity, and crinkled his eyes. "I started learning a few years ago before we kind of blew up, and when we visited Korea a few times, I just picked it up a bit. Still a lot I don't know, but I can speak pretty fluently now."

Taehyung nodded in understanding, silently applauding her ability to simply pick up on a language. He doesn't think he will ever gain fluency in English, no matter how hard he'd try. It was a lot harder than he imagined it to be.

"I'm gonna be honest, from media portrayals you guys are made out to be asshats, but you seem pretty down to Earth. Nice to know the fame doesn't get to your head, you know?"

Now it was Wren speaking, and a few snickers sounded from Jungkook and Jimin's mouth. "Asshat," Jimin repeated softly, and they broke into more laughter.

"We appreciate that, thank you. Ignore them," Hoseok spoke this time, a large smile adorning his face. "We will watch your performance tonight, and cheer you on."

"Ditto," Metzi responded in English this time, and Hobi's eyes crinkled in confusion. "Same to you," she clarified in Korean, and he nodded.

They said their goodbyes, and Metzi told all the girls to bow. Namjoon and Vida had a brief talk, and it was no time before BTS and WB were now separate, discussing the events that had just taken place.

The talk of the night was the mysterious blonde girl who spoke fluent Korean. 

taglist: @princessoftheroad​ <3

[meimae]

I definitely took my time with this as I had to collect my thoughts a little, but it’s finally time for my March 2021 Immersion Overview!

Something I never included in my language learning tracking sheet before was my daily/monthly hours spent for reading and listening. It was always a cumulative total for each, one for my short term daily goal that I fill in and wipe away the next day, and one for my yearly long term goal that slowly ticks down as I input my numbers throughout the year.

Tracking language learning can be both very motivating and stressful so I didn't want to permanently track my daily inputs (a.k.a. putting a date on everything and knowing exactly when I goofed around and didn't take in enough input for the day). I always felt that that will only make me look at the days where I did not hit my daily goal, and feel bad about it, which can inevitably cause myself to burnout.

Anyway, the point of this whole intro is, I think I'll at least try to start tracking my monthlies just to see if that's going to be motivating. It's a new year of immersion learning for me, so it's time to mix it up a little, and I am already seeing some interesting results, because oh boy, did I read last March therefore neglecting my listening rip.

READING: 95.1 hours

MANGA

ザ ·フェブル was part of manga club last month. It was such a surprisingly interesting read, and something I wouldn't have looked into if it weren't for the club. The humor and the cool art style kept me going for sure. Also, ようこさん is best girl.

ちはやふる

You guys have no idea how long I've waited to read ちはやふる Vol. 46, and I'm so happy to get my hands on it now finally.

Every discussion board I've been to for this manga/anime is just slathered with questions about who's going to end up with who, and I get it and I want to know, too. 幼馴染 romances are my favorite tv trope, especially when there are layers in the competitiveness of it all, but my goodness, please let us not forget how good the friendships are written in this manga I'm begging.

Here's a spoiler panel from the manga and my heart is weeping:

君に届け

Started reading this again from the start. I used to read fan translations of this and it took years to even get close to the ending, and before I ever did finish it, I had already started immersion learning so there's no point in going back to the English version. I forgot how messy the panels are my goodness. This would be an otherwise easy read if not for that.

VISUAL NOVEL

Island, man. It's still going strong. This is where the bulk of my reading immersion came from in the past month and I seriously don't regret diving into visual novels because of this.

I am so excited to finish just so I can show you guys the gains, the gains!

LISTENING: 19.68 hours

ANIME

I've felt kind of burnt out from anime, to be honest. Not that there's nothing good to watch, but in fact, there's plenty that I want to check out that I'm saving until such time when I can comprehend verbal input without thinking about it too much.

ラブライブ! School Idol Project was a club recommendation. I heard about it before, but was unsure because of the whole idol aspect (sounds familiar? あまちゃん anyone?) It was obviously very 萌 and suprisingly wholesome. I might watch the second season in April. I still prefer K-On! levels of 萌 tho.

DRAMA & MOVIES

Not gonna lie, I had a bit of a hangover from reading ザ ·フェブル and wanted more, so I was pretty stoked to discover that it had a live adaptation. As far as live actions go, it wasn't too bad and stayed true to the original as much as it could. The cast was good too. I do wonder if it would've worked better as a series though, because it ends in such a underwhelming manner, and I'm not sure if the second movie is still in the works.

Of course, after seeing 山本美月 cast in The Fable, I was reminded of パーフェクトワールド, something I saw very early on in my immersion journey, so I decided on an unsubbed rewatch. Still as heartwarming as ever. Was also reminded about how much I disliked the promotional poster which is basically an ending spoiler. I wish I can find the manga for this, because after looking at the volume covers, I'm positive it goes beyond what was shown in the drama.

I also missed 桐谷美玲's acting so decided to check out リベンジ Girl instead of rewatching 好きな人がいること for the nth time and was not disappointed because she portrayed a very different character personality from what I'm used to seeing from her. Nothing too plot heavy.

That's it for March! Really impressed with how much I managed to read which was my #1 goal entering my second year of immersion. Hopefully I can find a balance between reading and listening though, because I immediately noticed a drop in my listening comprehension (being unable to hear and understand some phrases that I should be able to parse by now).

☆

I joined my club's new immersion logs this April. Nothing too competitive so far, just a monthly leaderboard that is in its test run. I find it very motivating to try to immerse as much as the people who are somewhere within the N1+ comprehension range, so I hope they keep it. I'm also considering joining other reading challenges, but I'm on the fence with those, because there are a lot of people who are crazy good already and read very fast, and I don't want to start anything that could prove demotivating in the long run.

Also, hello to the influx of new followers the past couple of weeks! Hope you guys enjoy my posts and stick around. :)

I'll leave this post here and hope to catch you all again next time!

[sol1056]

wuxia/xianxia: a loose and somewhat second-hand introduction to the genre, pt1

Sorry for the unconventional q, but i keep seeing Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation everywhere and I kinda want to get into it but a) don't know where to start (web series? live action adaptation?? wait how many are there!) and b) i don't really "get" wuxia / xianxia, that sorta stuff, i find it really hard to cross that cultural barrier and chinese mentality seems very alien. (it's not that i have no experience w different mentalities but chinese in particular is v hard to grasp w/o sources).

So if you have the time and patience, I'd love to hear a summary of it (like, a coherent summary bc all i get on the wikis is a shower of names and concepts that don't make sense to me) and perhaps some "intro for dummies" abt the relevant parts of chinese history and mentality tied to it? not just the cultivation / buddhist part but also re: familial relationships, philosophy and all that. (v brief and low effort of course) Thank you and sorry for bothering you!

("brief and low effort" referring to what I'm asking from you, not to what I need for me - as in i asked for it so i'm more than ready for a complicated essay, but you can write with as much detail as you like, I don't want to ask for some sort of comprehensive tome)

Okay first, you do realize that if you want “brief and low” for anything, you’re asking the wrong person? I was a philosophy major. brief got drilled out of me a long time ago. 

Second... well, explaining what makes The Untamed / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (mdzs for short, from the chinese title, Mo Dao Zu Shi) such a standout story does require understanding some of the wuxia conventions it subverts -- as well as some that it plays straight (so to speak) very, very well. 

I figure the best approach (again, sadly not brief) is to first get a handle on the genre of wuxia. Gonna break this post into two, so you’re not reading in a single three-hour stretch or something. I’ll do a follow-up about mdzs, to hopefully make it a bit more accessible for you. 

before I do that, let me first say: I didn’t grow up with this genre, so there’s going to be parts that I may miscast unintentionally. for an insider’s view, my go-to voices are @guzhuangheaven, @atthewaterside, @dramatic-gwynne, @the50-person and @drunkensword. if any of them are reading this and can point to more/other/better voices, please do.

I have three analogies -- like cultural doorways --  and like all analogies, they break down when you get into the finer details. In the broad strokes, though, they mostly work, and if nothing else, hopefully they’ll demonstrate that wuxia may be a chinese-specific version, but part of a storytelling tradition that’s nearly universal.

The three doorways are: the american wild west, the samurai era, and the british arthurian romances. And, in a tangential way, the regency period in the romance genre. 

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

The term ‘wuxia’ can be translated several ways, but I prefer ‘martial chivalry’. Most wuxia takes place in the jianghu, a harder term to unpack. Generally, though, ‘the jianghu’ has connotations not all that different from what americans mean when they reference the wild west. 

More of a concept than a physical place, the jianghu (like the ‘wild’ west) exists beyond the reach of the law and/or civilization. It’s occupied by a diverse cast of farmers, merchants, beggars, and so on, but also by outlaws, gangs, hermits, pretty much all those who don’t like the suffocating nature of the civilized world, for whatever reason. It’s not a lawless place (except to outsiders); it does have laws, but those are only unto itself. 

So, jianghu is a world to itself, for the most part -- which also makes it kind of timeless. Tang dynasty, Song dynasty, Ming dynasty, it could be any of them and all of them and none of them. Just as the heyday of the cowboys and the cattle drives was barely a decade long, a culture’s romanticized history stretches into lifetimes that exist separate from any date you could pin down on a calendar. 

The average wuxia protagonist would fit in reasonably well as knight errants in an arthurian romance, with one important detail in difference: they’re rarely aristocrats. Wuxia protagonists are just as likely (if not more so) to be lower-born, whether the child of farmers, or servants, some common caste. 

This is where wuxia diverges from the british and japanese traditions, which have a bit more noblesse oblige going on (knights and samurai both being upper-class types). Even ‘aristocratic’ characters tend to be so only within the jianghu -- sort of like the way a territory’s elected leader in the wild west would’ve had no pull in Washington, given they weren’t from a fully-recognized state. 

Wuxia does often have politics, between competing sects (think schools of learning), but that political infighting is independent of the capital’s rules or wishes. A lot of stories -- in the rare cases the topic even comes up -- tends to speak of ‘the capital’ in disparaging terms. 

That’s not to say wuxia is all about the flat social systems (it’s definitely not), but most commonly a rank implies some level of competence/study. The title of sect leader isn’t granted, it's earned. Children inherit, but it’s also a common storyline to have an heir with no skills (who then goes through all the trials and tribulations to finally level up and earn that position in turn).

What makes wuxia hard to grasp is its vernacular: the conventions that form the backbone that make something recognizably ‘wuxia’ and not just ‘historical drama set on a frontier in a loosely-defined time period’. 

Frex: in a Wild West story, convention is two gunfighters at opposite ends of the street, and at least one of them is wearing a holster tied to his leg with string in a way that no real gunfighter wore, ever, but Hollywood came up with the idea and now it’s a permanent part of our imagination. In the arthurian romances,  convention is carrying the token of one’s lady love (a distant, untouchable figure who rarely appears on-page), or meeting the unnamed knight in black on the jousting field. Convention are the samurai who’ll die for their lord’s honor, always touchy and prickly at the first sign of disrespect. 

These are things granted the most remarkable gravity, that to an outsider might seem ridiculous. (Why is there always tumbleweed?) 

Now, wuxia is the latest evolution in a long-lived literary tradition (and by ‘long’ I mean like 2000+ years) -- but like any living tradition, each subsequent generation reinvents it for their time. Part of that reinvention comes from particularly influential writers, who put their own spin on things, and their interpretation becomes the next generation’s standard for the genre -- “of course wuxia must have X” or “a protagonist never does Y”. (Like how Tolkien almost single-handedly changed western concepts of elves, in fiction.)

And here’s where I explain what regency romance has to do with it. Another short-lived period, in real history, but along came Georgette Heyer, who took bits and pieces of actual research, blended them with her reactionary politics, exaggerating some things and ignoring other things completely. The result is a time-that-never-was, but she cast (and still casts) a shadow so vast that I’ve seen multiple romance writers complain that readers will see a footnoted-and-researched version as wrong, if it contradicts one of Heyer’s made-up conventions. 

Modern wuxia has its own Heyer-sized influencers -- like Jin Yong (the Condor trilogy, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils), Wen Rui'an (The Four), Gu Long (The Legend of Flying Daggers, The Proud Twins), to name a few of the biggest. If you have a chance or are inclined, the big names get remade on a pretty regular basis, and catching one will at least let you see some ur-tropes in action. 

But it also means that you can’t really extrapolate, in the sense of saying, “in wuxia, people do X, ergo, X is also a factor in Chinese culture.” It’s like... take any western made in the 50s, and the vernacular is simple. The bad guys wear black hats, the good guys wear white hats, the prostitutes wear bright-colored dresses with frills and the good women wear subdued colors buttoned up to their neck. It told an audience exactly what character filled what role, but that’d tell you zero about real people you might meet in Nebraska or Utah, let alone New York City. 

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

Almost forgot: xianxia is basically wuxia but with ‘immortal heroes’ -- so there’s gods, divine influences, non-human beings as characters (main or NPC), etc. (Btw, by ‘immortal’ I mean exactly that, like this character is six hundred years old, that one’s a thousand years old, etc.) You can think of xianxia as wuxia, but amped way up on the mystical scale. 

Xianxia will sometimes take place on earth (jianghu) but sometimes in the celestial realm (heaven). Or a mix of both, like stories where a character falls (or is banished, or defects) from heaven and has to go through various trials and tribulations as a mortal human in order to regain a power, rise in rank, fall in love, or whatever their goal is. 

A number of wuxia stories are driven by some sort of mcguffin, but in xianxia, the mcguffin is more likely to be a powerful spiritual weapon. But I can also think of a number of wuxia in which the mcguffin would fit right in, in xianxia (some near-mystical thing with significant positive, or negative, power independent of the wielder, which often amplifies or boosts the wielder to an inhuman degree, etc). 

Thing is, the mcguffin being divine/infernal supernatural isn’t enough alone to make the story xianxia. I’m pretty sure you need non-human or super-human immortals and/or creatures to be considered in the xianxia genre. 

part two

[fairytales-magic]

Hiya! So I’m just getting into musicals after my friend sent me two songs that were absolute bangers from Heathers and I’m pretty sure you like musicals so do you have any recommendations? 👀 if not that’s totally fine!

Oh. HOney.

Do i know musicals?!?! (i’m so sorry in advance, but you’ve opened pandora’s box)

Strap in, i’m your humble tour guide!

A Beginner’s Guide to Musicals

Now, its hard to organize these all but i’ll do my best. I orignally had MANY others on the list, but it seemed smarter not to overwhelm you with too many different genres, so i kept it simple. I also will recommend some songs out of order before listening to the show from the beginning, but that’s just

Some are gonna be movie musicals, so just bear in mind, but if you want the broadway version i can oblige! A couple personal favorites i highly suggest are:

Wicked

The backstory of the Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda the Good, before the events of the Wizard of Oz.

 Listen, if i had to choose one show to see on Broadway, its this one. When the u.s. tour came to my city, i was beyond excited. And when my in-laws got orchestra seats for us to see it in, i all but cried. :D I could quite literally write an entire essay about the show deep diving into the costumes, the set and stage design, the tech and lights, the script adaptation, etc...

The music is iconic in its own right, and its just so much fun and full of heart! Start right at the beginning with No One Mourns The Wicked and The Wizard and I are brilliant places, but legit with any of these songs you can’t go wrong. There are even reprises in the show they didn’t put on the soundtrack but 1000% should be there, its just that good!

Full soundtrack available here!

Phantom of the Opera

 Ah yes! An oldie but a goodie. Its almost all singing, but boy is it worth it! I actually recommend watching this, cause it’d end up being the same runtime and you get the added benefit of seeing everything going on. But the whole movie soundtrack is available on YouTube, of course (the prologue is super slow, just fair warning, its a lot more for visuals than musical). The Phantom of the Opera title song is a great starting place. Music of the Night (immediately following POTO) and Think of Me are some of my top favorites, but really this whole soundtrack is just *chefs kiss*. Oh! And All I Ask of You just melts my heart! Also, of you want a great stage production soundtrack, the 25th Anniversary at Albert Hall starring Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo is fantastic as well!

Also also, i know where to watch both movie and stage performances, so just lemme know if you’d like that. :D

Hamilton

 Ok now hear me out! I honestly also didn’t like Hamilton when it first came out. And i didn’t for a long time. I’m a more traditional broadway connoisseur, plus the only rap i really listened to was Eminem. But even there i’m super selective, and i made the mistake of listening to the intro song first.

Don’t be me.

Sometimes you need the familiar first before you get to the place where they branch off (in this case, throwing in some rap verses).  

Hamilton in 7 Minutes is an amazing a cappella compilation of the entire soundtrack, plus the animatic someone drew for it is phenomenal. After that i highly HIGHLY recommend Helpless and then You’ll Be Back, oh and The Schuyler Sisters! This show is just as quirky and sweet as it is emotional. And i get its not for everyone, but i’d be remiss if i didn’t at least mention it.

Newsies

Inspired by the real-life happening of the Newsboys going on strike in 1899 New York.

Oh man, how do profess my love to thee? Mainly an all boys cast (but the ladies who have songs in it are *chefs kiss*), the choreography is as incredible as the music itself, and boy howdy is the music great! Jeremy Jordan is the butter on my bread and as Jack Kelly, just lives rent free in my head on repeat. If he sang to me every night, sleep would never be an issue. xD Carrying the Banner, King of New York, and Watch What Happens are great ways to start off this party. And here i shall grace you with the whole Live soundtrack (i didn’t like the audio quality for the regular recorded one i found, but its still the same cast so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).  

The whole stage show was professionally filmed and lives on Disney+ currently btw! (so go watch it! The tap numbers and spoon playing in it give me LIFE)

Heathers the Musical

The darkly delicious story of Veronica Sawyer, a brainy, beautiful teenage misfit who hustles her way into the most powerful and ruthless clique at Westerburg High: the Heathers. But before she can get comfortable atop the high school food chain, Veronica falls in love with the dangerously sexy new kid J.D. When Heather Chandler, the Almighty, kicks her out of the group, Veronica decides to bite the bullet and kiss Heather’s aerobicized ass…but J.D. has another plan for that bullet.

 I’m so glad you already like this! The music really is a great banger and the story surprisingly manages to be both edgy humor-wise and serious when the moments call for it. Its a lot of fun and i’m surprised by how much i like it. If you haven’t already listened to them, Beautiful is the intro and is really good, and also Candy Store & Big Fun!

The Little Mermaid Musical

 The movie and musical that need no introduction! I was really surprised by how much i liked Broadways soundtrack for the show, and how short-lived its time on stage was. It really doesn’t get enough credit for how much creativity went into everything. And what an all-star cast too! All the original songs from the movie are there, and i think they did a really good job expanding them even more, especially Under the Sea. Her Voice (10/10 just melts my heart) i’ll also recommend beforehand but honestly you don’t need too much. Just go straight from the start and head onward, you’ll really enjoy it!

The Sound of Music

 Man i’m getting nostalgic. Another oldie but goodie! My mom, sisters and I loved watching this movie growing up (along with Oklahoma, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Singin’ In the Rain, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, and just...every musical in our collection ;P). Funny, sweet, romantic, heartwarming, its got it all! The Sound of Music kicks everything off, and from there you can’t go wrong, but this is another movie musical i highly encourage watching! Also i just wanna throw in The Lonely Goatherd now cause its so much fun, so why wait?! ~~

Ok whew! I think that’s it (for now). It took a while to find links for everything, but we did it! Please holla at me if you have any questions or concerns. :)

Oh yes, and if you would like to see any of these masterpieces via recording, i may or may not have such knowledge for your viewing and/or audio entertainment.

[ichika27]

TWEWY 07

“Like a bolt from the blue... it’s time for an anime review!”

Not exactly an anime review but more like a reaction post but I dunno what other word would rhyme with “blue” that’d fit. Also I hate that I only realized i could’ve used that line as an intro the entire time and forgot about it until recently. It’s a reference to the game and it sorta fits! *sigh*

Anyways, we’re finally at the finale of Week 2! Spoiler warnings for the game as usual.

The two argue as Neku confronts Joshua once again about his murder and the fact that Joshua is an illegal player. Joshua was able to talk Neku into at least holding off the fight as Neku won’t survive without a partner.

I remember back in the game they did have arguments but it wasn’t super bad and Neku rarely confronts Joshua about the memories and instead opts to wait and gather more info. I guess they had to change that cause they can’t just leave everything to inner monologues and a few actual convo. They had to hurry after all.

Upon getting their first mission in a while, Joshua explains stuff about the routes again as they went on their way. He also explains the different types of Noise: ones that are caused by negative emotions from the RG and those that are under the command of reapers. Noise don’t attack reapers normally but Taboo Noise which is the 3rd and uncommon kind does.

I knew this was gonna happen but they made it look sadder with showing them struggling. I still feel bad for them cause they were really nice people. Sota’s last words to Neku is him telling Neku to not give up and win and get Shiki back.

Joshua wonders why Neku is upset and Neku finally gives his speech about how other people are important. Yeah, Josh... he’s changing.

Uzuki is pissed that Neku and Joshua - players - helped her and Kariya out when the taboo noise were attacking them. Kariya tells her to calm down and thanks the boys.

In the anime, Neku decided to help cause he didn’t wanna see anyone else die. In the game he mentions wanting to help the reapers cause he knew it’ll piss them off lol.

The duo reach Udagawa and finishes their mission. I like watching Joshua use the beams when fighting now. I like him as a game partner cause they were so useful lol.

The mission for the last day: defeat Minamimoto who is in Mark City (I looked it up and its apparently the real life name of Pork City. I guess they can use real names now). Their only way up is through the stairs (in the game it was an elevator and you go to every floor, right? Or was that just in Another Day... it’s been a long while since I played it so I’m not sure anymore).

Also, hello there Beat! They really don’t get a proper fight against Beat, huh? Also, still no Noise!Rhyme. When will they show her? Don’t tell me they took out that plot. Also, this means technically Rhyme’s screentime got shortened in the anime.

It was pretty dark on the way up but Uzuki and Kariya turns on the lights to help the boys as a thank you for earlier. They don’t want to be in debt to the players.

The place is acting strange, too because of the noise and Joshua mentions it’s distorted due to it being the “imaginary space” - a parallel world closer to the world of noise. I guess this is their way of explaining the noise plane, then?

Neku gives Beat the pendant back when they finally reached the rooftop. There’s less complaining from Beat in the anime unlike the game where he asks why Neku is helping him by giving it back. Beat then leaves afterwards.

Time to confront Minamimoto! Minamimoto mentions something about “that time” and Neku gets another flash of memory about his death. Ah! They animated this part! The scene looks close to the way it was shown in the game, too!

Neku is now convinced it was Minamimoto who killed him hehe.

The battle begins and the place “breaks” and they end up fighting in this dark void like area where the platforms are these floating shards. In the game it was just the rooftop if I remember correctly but this is exciting to watch, too.

Also, for those who played the game I ask, you guys remember Neku and Joshua’s level 3 fusion attack? Where they hurl this giant meteor from outer space towards the enemy? That wouldn’t make sense if they did that in the anime, right? I mean a meteor how would they--

They had the shards from that dark plane come together to form a giant meteor-like ball and used it to crush Minamimoto.

They actually fucking did it. They made it make sense in the anime! I’m just amazed holy crap! Sadly it doesn’t end there with Minamimoto making a last attack (we all know what it actually is).

*sigh* Minamimoto just explodes into light in this version unlike in the game where he recites the digits of pi. Another thing they had to rush so they can’t have him do that, I guess?

Joshua: “I thought you couldn’t afford to lose. Give up on yourself and you give up on the world.”

This scene! Finally animated! This pose... ah, similar to the game!

Joshua pushes Neku away from the line of fire and Neku falls from the roof as he watches Joshua get hit. Neku feels awful as he thought badly of Joshua the entire time and now Joshua is gone.

Neku wakes up and the conductor tells him he won but at the same time, since Joshua is an illegal player, Neku has to play for a third time.

Finally, Week 3 next episode, everyone! Ah, so close to the finale. They have like, 5 episodes left, right? I wonder how they’d adapt “A New Day” in this...

--

(I never thought I’d still be upset when we lose internet connection when it happened yesterday and I realized TWEWY will have a new episose uploaded soon)

Ah! There’s a lot of stuff cut out from Week 2 and while I’m still sad about those, the scenes they were able to adapt from the anime were pretty good! The level 3 fusion surprised me so much lol.

I guess it’s goodbye to Joshua for now until the end of Week 3 comes. I wonder if the world he went to still has Tin Pin? lol that said alternate universes are a thing in the story so we could think of the anime as one of those AU wherein things happen too fast and many things from the original game world don’t exist. I hope Joshua gets to experience Tin Pin while he’s away. In the game Josh doesn’t come back until later cause he was too busy playing a kid’s game. Let the guy have some fun!

Speaking of the finale, if they end up adapting “A New Day” (which they have to considering they made the anime to promote the sequel which comes after the “A New Day” scenario) it means the “ending” to the main game isn’t the actual ending. Aww and here I was hoping that maybe, just maybe they could have “A Lullaby for You” play at the end. That song is really good and it fits! Although they might not considering they didn’t carry that song over when they ported the game on different consoles.

Alright... til next time!

[loseyoutoloveme]

will you do a song by song review for life support? i really liked the ones for sweetener and thank you next!

oh absolutely, i’d love to! thank you for asking and being interested 🖤 all thoughts below.

the beginning:

this was such a great way to open this album, it’s so cinematic and really sets the mood so perfectly. one of my fav instrumental intros i’ve ever heard.

9/10

good in goodbye: “you put the over in lover, put the ex in next.”

the lyrics are so wonderfully corny and i’ll love this song forever, like the chorus is literally just so fun to sing along to.

i do think it feels a little... shallow compared to the rest of the album, and the album being released so long after this song came out makes it feel disconnected from the rest. but i love it so i don’t care.

7.5/10 

default: “i know, i know this must be coming for me, i swear, i swear i will be the end of me, the end of me.”

this song is just sooo...... OUCH!

i’m obsessed with the way the chorus just SOUNDS like an emotional spiral, like her life falling apart, like falling into a deep depression, and then the outro builds like destructive racing thoughts.

also i never noticed the wave crashing and the bubbles at the very beginning until really recently, and i love that little touch. the whole song feels so underwater. cloudy and fuzzy. it does a good job of depicting certain symptoms of various mental illnesses.

8.5/10

follow the white rabbit: “is it haunting, baby, that i’m wanting, baby, that i’m wanting, wanting you?”

i actually was fully not expecting to like this that much based off the snippets she’d shared, but omg this left me WEAAAAK on first listen, which was the best surprise

there are definitely so many layers to these lyrics too, despite it being just a bombastic sexy toxic love song on its surface, particularly when thinking about the album as a commentary on mental illness, and some of the breakup/love songs as metaphors rather than straightforward love songs. definitely about infatuation and toxicity and perhaps knowingly entering a bad relationship as a bad coping mechanism, a way to avoid dealing with your pain or (as we see in effortlessly) a way to just feel anything at all.

9/10

effortlessly: “i hold my breath to breathe, hurt me so i feel, used to do these things so effortlessly somehow.”

oh god this song is just a punch in the stomach

i ALSO didn’t really expect to love this one based on snippets but the lyrics are just devastating and perfect and i hope speak to anybody who has struggled with self-harm and medication.

i don’t even have thoughts on this song, it just makes me go jsn*@(#nkdasdnkasd7*@U#j2k3n

love that this is such a fan favourite. it deserves!

10/10

stay numb and carry on: “truth is it was never love, your fault if you thought it was.”

the reverse “i’ve become emotionless” at the beginning >>>

also love the “i was gin and you were toxic . . . wish we’d just stayed plaTONIC” like a platonic relationship would be the opposite of toxic. it’s such fun wordplay.

also “i don’t feel like anyone” makes me emo, she really just slid the most simple but heartbreaking lines in everywhere and you don’t notice them until they hit you out of nowhere one day and you’re like ...OH

AND THE WAY HER VOICE STARTS TO GO MONOTONE AT “i’ve become emotionless” 

in conclusion, madison beer is a vessel for god

10/10

blue: “you could be as sweet as honey but i knew the darkness in your mind.”

this is my least favourite on the album but it’s still fantastic

the lana influence is clear without being too copycat, like it’s still SO madison. sorta like lana’s video games modernized and adapted into something truer to madison’s vibe.

love love love the whole outro

glad that this wasn’t a single like it was planned to be

7/10

interlude: “would you do that shit for me too?”

VOCODER RIGHTS

this album in general is just not really for people who don’t like vocoders and lots of technical effects. i looove that she leaned into it so hard bc it’s so HER.

this song also has so much depth for an interlude, relaying the experience of feeling SO hard about people, and realizing like you’re putting in way more than you’re getting back.

the post-chorus is like... 🤩🌌💫☄️🌠

7.5/10

homesick: “these humans speak my language, still don’t understand it.”

THIS SONG...... IS MY BABY......

oh god it just breaks my heart on every listen. the image in my head is of a little girl talking to the stars.

and why does the line about her mom and dad make me wanna cry every time? i have no idea.

I BELONG IN SPACE...... FLOATING WITH DEBRIS.......

i’m sure she’s not the first person to ever use this metaphor for mental illness, expressing the alienation of mental illness (especially one as stigmatized and misunderstood as bpd) by talking about LITERAL aliens sdkjfsdfksd, but she does it SOOOOO well and sincerely that it feels like it’s uniquely hers.

the rick & morty sample is so funny and so weird and so madison. i will probably never watch an episode of that show in my life.

10000000000/10 this song is the loml

selfish: “shouldn’t love you but i couldn’t help it, had a feeling that you never felt it.”

my absolute favourite of all of the singles, noooo question about it. it’s a perfect, perfect, perfect song.

two years, alone on new years’, nightclubs, gemini... women writing lyrics with very specific details about the shitty men that the song is about... it’s everything to me.

this song will just NEVER age. every time i listen to it, it’s like the first time all over again.

10/10

sour times: “don’t know what song of mine you heard that made you think i’d want to spend the night with you.”

home with you’s big sister<3 

not the strongest lyrics, but the concept and production are more than strong enough to carry the song.

she came on this bitch mad as hell

also love that this have been another fan favourite, seemingly??

men gross

9/10

boyshit: “don’t know how to talk or communicate, we’re so on and off, to you it’s a game.”

it took me awhile to get into this when it was a single ngl, probably because it came out the same night as evermore sjdknfsfnkjsd, but once i got into it, it became the best song ever

she’s soooo reliable with her “men ain’t shit” songs ugh

8.5/10

baby: “i’m a handful but that’s what hands are for.”

when this came out as a single it was the only thing i listened to for a solid week and a half. just an excellent song. the chorus is evvverrryttthhhiiinnnnggg.

WHAT IS IT SO CATCHY FOR?

9.5/10

stained glass: “my life’s a still fading memory of what i can’t have, and everything ’round me is starting to fade into black, but black and white is so much better, i’m learning how to hide my colours.”

i’m so surprised by how much non-stans seem to love this omg, it’s never been a fav of mine, as much as i still love it

but i’m obsessed with how different and distinctly madison it is

also this is a much more genuine take on the “pls stop being mean to me just bc i’m famous / you don’t know what people are going through” type of song than most of the others i’ve ever heard. her pain is evident, and the soft “i just might break” is just..... </3

the glass breaking and little scream are so good

she loves a good metaphor and so do i!

7.5/10 

emotional bruises: “how do i word this? was about to write you this letter, but it was just curses in cursive, you probably deserve it.”

this was definitely my most anticipated song along with everything happens for a reason, like i listened to the snippet on repeat CONSTANTLY lmao. and the full song definitely lived up.

the scribbling sound is so fun, i love her obsession with little real-life sound effects

10/10

everything happens for a reason: “i still can’t find a reason you’d wanna hurt me so bad.”

THIS SONG IS VERY MUCH EVERYTHING

again, this was for sure one of my most anticipated songs and just kjsadsdkajsm god i love love love it

i think she posted a video one time of the song over a clip of the mermaids from peter pan and it was so pretty and i still picture that video when i hear this song. it’s just soooooo hazy and dreamy and retro and perfect.

also the song on the album where she got to show off her vocals the most. she found her niche with this song, truly.

100/10

channel surfing/the end: “YOU’REBADFORMYHEALTHISHOULDPROLLYKEPTSOMEHELPICANTCONTROLMYSELFIMADDICTEDOTHEHELL”

oh my god i was FLOOOOOORED at the dear society clip. dear society was and is one of my FAVOURITE songs, and i appreciate her reasoning for not including it on the album (just wanting some space for a new song instead of one we’d already had for so long), but it did hurt a lil. i was so happy she found a little way to include it :’) rip to hurts like hell tho since she didn’t get the same treatment sjdnksd.

the channel surfing is also just such a fun concept for an outro.

and her laughing with her producers at the end followed by such a sweet calming tropical instrumental...... oooo it’s so nice, it feels like the calm after the storm.

10/10

overall, this album was just SO worth the wait, it’s so fantastic, it’s the loml, one of my favourite albums ever. i LOVE that it’s helped anyone with BPD feel seen and understood, and as someone who doesn’t have bpd but has a couple of loved ones who do, the emotions she expressed in these lyrics have helped me to understand this disorder more too. just such a special album.

most of the criticism i’ve seen of the album has been that it’s overproduced, and that’s definitely criticism that i understand, bc it IS heavy on the technical side and some people just don’t like very heavy production, buuuut... some people do! i do! madison does! and heavy production does not automatically make an album bad. this type of production isn’t something that i expect her to move away from, because it’s clearly her thing, and maybe that just means her place in the industry will be more with the heavy heavy pop fans and maybe even in more hyperpop circles. i also think it’s SUPPOSED to be overproduced; it’s supposed to be a mess of emotions and sometimes a little chaotic. she executed it very well.

i hope by the time her next album is out, people will stop comparing her to like every single artist out there. some reviewers seem determined to pigeonhole her and compare her to every female artist under the sun, which feels like an absolute disservice to me. she is influenced by many different people and they comes out in her music, as it does any artist’s because everybody has their inspirations, but her sound is VERY much her own. as someone who has liked her for years, i can absolutely feel her essence in each song and nobody else’s.

a 10/10 album and such an amazing, promising debut<3  

[botanyshitposts]

pls explain the news in laymans terms 😭

okay lads buckle up, this is gonna be a long one. the paper is “A phylogenomic analysis of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae)” from Murphy et al. i’m gonna link it here, and i encourage anyone interested to read it for themselves and draw their own conclusions, but otherwise i’m gonna give an overview as i understand it.

if you do not want to see 394023 words of in-depth carnivorous plant genetics content you should start scrolling now. 

so. Nepenthes is a carnivorous plant family colloquially known as ‘asian pitcher plants’ or ‘monkey cups’. it’s one of the largest carnivorous plant families in the world, and without a doubt one of the most diverse, but we’ll get to that in a minute. these plants have pitchers that fill with fluid and digest bugs alive (important note in terms of nep anatomy 101: unlike venus fly traps or sundews, Nepenthes are passive traps and don’t move or curl up or anything, just sit and watch it all unfold). their range has china and korea on the northern edge, the tip of australia on the southern edge, and most of indonesia, the philippines, and most associated landmasses encompassed between. there are a couple outliers, but for the most part these are jungle plants with a vining growth form that weaves through trees and just….eats. 

now, putting aside the fact that they’re carnivorous, one of the biggest points of Nepenthes is their diversity as a family. if anyone out there remembers the term ‘adaptive radiation’ from an intro bio class, Nepenthes is THE family of adaptive radiation. in addition to common species that grow everywhere in their range, these lads can be so specialized that there are species you can only find on single specific ridges on single specific mountains on single specific islands; as you can imagine, this makes them especially vulnerable to climate change, habitat destruction, and poachers. 

the most obvious point of diversity here is the pitcher traps themselves: there are hundreds of different pitcher morphologies, ranging from special peristome adaptations to bizzare patterns and colorations to the addition of fang-like structures and symbiosis with bats, ants, and rodents. the list goes on. these lads are so specialized it’s unbelievable. one might think that, in terms of figuring out how these different species are related to each other, that it would be pretty obvious, since everything is so distinctive. 

but there is a problem. 

they fuck. 

Nepenthes as a family is established to be one of the oldest carnivorous plant families, but the 200+ species identified over the years are suspected to be the result of very recent (in evolutionary time) modern radiation. one of the most common definitions of what a ‘species’ is that i see circulated is the idea that something is a species when it can no longer breed with another species, but it’s important to realize that this is one definition of what a ‘species’ is. in the case of Nepenthes, the knowledge that a bunch of scientists have decided they are different does not stop them. 

it was hoped, with the advent of DNA testing, that maybe we would be able to assemble a semi-full map of how all these species relate to one another and how they came to be (a phylogenetic tree), but as it turns out the lads fuck so much between themselves and other Nepenthes species that figuring out how they became the species they became, even with DNA, is extremely difficult. ‘breeding complexes’ not too different than what i wrote about in the fern sex triangle post a while back are a very nepenthes-esque thing to have happen.

a quote from the paper: 

“These uncertainties are not unique to Nepenthes but various factors make them important in this group: the frequency of natural hybrids and apparent lack of intrinsic reproductive barriers between taxa, the extent of intraspecific morphological variation and the reliance by taxonomists on the pitchers.”

in short, these plants have no control. they are not practicing safe sex. they are living lavishly in their own tropical jungle paradise with as much hedonism as a plant can muster as botanists try to connect how one pitcher might be the evolutionary origin of another while somehow all the pitchers are either functionally the same or radically different. 

which brings us to this study. when people compare DNA, they’re rarely comparing the entire genome (although that can be done), but rather they identify a set of consistently mutable genes that are present across an entire subsection of life, and look at just those genes at just their locations on various chromosomes. instead of trying to find a couple genes fit to compare plants across the Nepenthes genus, as past studies did, this study took and applied a set of DNA probes developed previously to compare 353 genes present across the entire subkingdom of flowering plants. 

as you can imagine, this provides a significantly larger set of data to work with. sure, it’s not perfect and this take will need more research to confirm (basing the entire Nepenthes phylogenetic tree off of a single study is a dangerous game, especially when things are so saucy in the forest), but it’s significantly better than the results past Nepenthes phylogenetic analyses generated, where researchers were able to see some general outlines and attempted to sort the genus into a few groups, but were ultimately unable to see where species themselves split and what their relations to each other were (you know, because of all the sex). 

so. this paper: 

-obtained samples from 151 different Nepenthes species from different collectors, herbariums, and conservatories. for those familiar with Nepenthes as a hobby, Andreas Wistuba might ring a bell; he contributed some samples from his plants to this study. otherwise, the KEW botanical gardens is more ubiquitously recognized donor.

-for more common species, more samples were taken from different places to account for different populations.

-another quote from the paper that i think is interesting on multiple levels: “We also include two unpublished species, N. sp. Anipahan and N. sp. taminii. The former, from Palawan, is discussed by McPherson (2011) and may be a synonym of N. leonardoi. The latter is an undescribed species from Sumatra that has been circulating amongst Nepenthes growers and resembles N. rhombicaulis but is perhaps distinguished by its leaves. Also sampled here are N. echinostoma Hook. f., a commonly collected plant usually considered a variant of N. mirabilis, and a sample we liken to N. angustifolia Mast., a species usually considered synonymous with N. gracilis.”

i mentioned earlier that previous molecular analyses done by other people were able to see a general outline but weren’t able to see anything more distinct; the results of this paper for the most part confirm these general outlines, which means that if nothing else we have strong support for the relationship the entire Nepenthes family has to other, more closely related plant families, which the paper resolves in this tree: 

note that the above tree describes the family’s relation to various other families, followed by ‘Nepenthes clade 1′ and ‘Nepenthes clade 2′. these two clades contain most of the Nepenthes genus sampled; the six species shown in red, according to the results, are considered sister species to the entire rest of the genus, separate from those two clades.

now, what personally gets me the most excited here is the plant they confirmed as being the sister species to that subsection of sister species, effectively making it the outgroup to like, literally everything else: Nepenthes pervillei, from the republic of seychelles.

yeah. you know back at the beginning of this response when i said there were some exceptions to the Nepenthes habitat range? this would be one of those exceptions. the republic of seychelles is off the coast of africa, closer to madagascar than indonesia. to be fair, there are also Nepenthes along the eastern coast of madagascar, but because Nepenthes is so strongly geographically coordinated (this paper goes on to describe clades literally just named after the countries they’re in) this is pretty goddamn cool. this species got cut off in the middle of the ocean and now looks…….like a Nepenthes, but just off enough to be kind of weird (the biggest thing i realized just…staring at pictures of it is that it doesn’t seem to have wings down the front, which to be fair isn’t required of neps but makes it look super naked as a result). forbidden uncanny valley Nepenthes cast from the fuck zone. i love it.

the other main outgroup species (the sister species to all the ‘typical’ asian species, specifically, aka clades 1 and 2) they identified was Nepenthes danseri, which is native to waigeo island in indonesia (that’s in the fuck zone, for those keeping score at home) and, i would argue, has the same kind of thin-peristomed, simple-ribbed kind of look to it that pervillei has, but it definitely looks more traditionally Nepenthes-like.

now, with that, we really get into the meat of their results here. this is the full phylogenetic tree with all tested species laid out according to their results: 

i….have no idea if tumblr will let you zoom in on this pic so im just gonna write down some notes.

the color-coded names on the tree to the right match their respective habitats down in the map on the bottom left, which is neat, but it’s also interesting to see how some of these species have apparently been fucking between islands. i know this is gonna be low-res but look at this swath at the top, some of what they’ve identified as being ‘clade 1′ (mostly common, widespread lowland species):

- man………. i mean, first of all i wanna point out the lone bicalcarata branches at the top #representing, having somehow maintained their chastity despite being the sexiest of the Nepenthes. 

- hookeriana being the outgroup for ampullaria seems to fit well by adorable chubbiness factor alone. 

- one thing that seems weird but not totally out of character is that halfway down in yellow we see mirabilis in multiple populations in yellow, then down from there a little ways we see different mirabilis populations in green and purple and red, all but N. echinostoma and N. orbiculate, which are both outgroups. i knew it was a common species, but for some reason i wasn’t expecting it to be like………that (there’s an entire second section of them in red just below where this screenshot cuts off). like, good for them.

going down the main tree, we get into clade 2, the more specialized highland species, which are always very exciting. 

there’s my personal favorite, N. villosa: 

not surprised at N. edwardsiana’s relation, because how else would you be able to achieve such absolutely enormous teeth, but N. macrophylla surprises me. it’s got good teeth, but both edwardsiana and villosa are like, TEETH, you know? i guess it makes sense that it split from villosa, though. 

moving from that, VERY glad that the littlest known lad, N. argentii, made it on here. i know i’ve talked about argentii on this blog before, as the Nepenthes species that was so tiny the paper describing it’s discovery warned that population counts could be skewed by the plants ‘hiding under bushes’. their tinyness, which kills me every time i look at an image of them, is somehow weird in terms of being related to N. graciliflora, which is…..pretty normal sized. same with N. armin. makes me wonder how the hell they got so tiny. 

of course we can’t leave out the group with the largest currently known species, N. attenboroughii. the hilarity of the smallest and largest Nepenthes species being a single clade apart, if not very distantly diversified down their respective evolutionary lines, is not lost on me. 

N. palawanensis is a chonker, but i gotta say i wasn’t expecting it to be the sister species to the one and only megachonker, the plant literally famous for its sheer chonk. imagine being that overshadowed by your sibling. 

on a more general note– the paper noted this, too –it’s interesting to see how the lowland species seem to be happier about jumping islands and being promiscuous than the highland species, which seem to clump together by location. i guess it’s not surprising, knowing how specialized some of these highland species can be; villosa, for example, is native to a single side of a single mountain, and is positioned so that the populations are hit by cool wind coming up from the sea. still, lowland species need hot and humid environments, and can be just as picky. it’s gotta be a matter of isolation. 

anyway, there’s probably more i could talk about here but…man there’s a lot of data. the paper goes in-depth with how they constructed the more problematic branches, and trouble they had with some over others, confirming that we shouldn’t take this phylogenetic tree as 100% correct; things will almost certainly change or become clearer as more research is done, and phylogenetic trees in particular are known for being constructed and reconstructed time and time again. 

still though, it’s like…to see these relationships at this resolution for the first time is just really fucking cool, man. this isn’t even all the species. i remember i went to a carnivorous plant conference two years ago now, and there was a lecture by researchers attempting to untangle the phylogeny of Nepenthes and coming up short aside from a low-resolution tree of some of the more major species and the relation of Nepenthes to other families, their science blocked by the sheer feral chadness on display in the tropical jungles encompassing the land between china and australia. like, i really just want to take a moment, as an end note, to appreciate that these plants fucked so much in the past couple million years that it took multiple major advancements in technology and the examination of hundreds of genes just to get an approximate look at the phylogeny. like, that’s an Isoetes level power move and im not over it