#there were a few other things; like the similar conclusion about his canonical height from the measurements the manga gave us when he

[miraclespin]

Perusing Twitter is always a very... interesting experience, for me. But the other day, after not having looked for a while and deciding to give it a go, aside from the usual psychic harm and another person’s AU that is somehow niggling my brain in spite of knowing very little about it (other than it’s very much a Bad Things Happen sort of scenario), I found a few neat headcanons posted by a Korean account that I sadly don’t remember the name of (and it was translated anyways, so I never saw its original form).

The Korean side of the fandom can be... very hit or miss, for me, personally (a lot of the time it’s where all the psychic damage posts come from, though whether they’re actually horrible or just give off those vibes because I can’t properly understand the posts and therefore lack appropriate context for them is anybody’s guess). These headcanons were kind of lovely, though.

For example, they shared my headcanon of Shadow Joker not actually liking the taste of black coffee, but drinking it anyway in order to help wake himself up because of his low blood pressure in the mornings; with the excellent addition of him adding sugar to it if he’s sure nobody is around.

Another one was that when it comes to the doctor’s office, Joker is afraid of needles, and can’t look whenever he’s receiving an injection- or I think that was what they were trying to say; also that Shadow is in a similar way, but King and Queen are unbothered, or at least a bit braver about it.

A considerably more angsty headcanon posited that Shadow’s scars on his face were put there deliberately by Clover as a mark of his leadership/”ownership” of another of his soldiers, which kind of checks out at least a tiny bit- I did notice that a lot of his soldiers have that mark on their faces, as well, mirroring his own marks.

In the anime, Cyan had those on his face before he even awoke and found himself in Clover’s clutches, suggesting that they were implied to have happened sometime after he fell into the river; though, one could take this as Clover having done it while he was still unconscious and recovering. He would have no idea about it, most likely...

In the manga, though, assuming that it’s not merely face paint, like Hachi assumed Joker’s own scar was, he would have had to have been conscious while receiving them. Interestingly, though, it’s implied that his relationship with Clover, while not great, is slightly less antagonistic, at least on Clover’s end; Shadow had no idea he sent the soldiers to the village that took his sister, after all, and they didn’t nearly kill him in this version of events. So, it may or may not be an actual scar; given that Clover decided that he might be useful, he might not have had as heavy a hand on Cyan like he did in the anime. So it could just be decals or face paint; I don’t know if the manga ever clarifies whether they’re really scars or not. He might’ve even just did it to mirror Joker; we have no indication that Clover put him up to that bit in this version of events, so we have to assume he did that on his own.

It’s all kind of interesting to spring off of; there were more headcanons posted by that account but I cannot remember all of them; and what I can remember, I’m not sure I interpreted correctly based on their translations. I’m hesitant to go too deep onto the account, though, because again, the Korean side of things is usually where I find the worst mentally scarring content (like general thirsting over these very much minor-coded characters, and a certain age-gap ship that is strangely popular nowadays, much to my poor mental sanctity; I’m sure plenty of them are mostly fine, but even the more decent-seeming ones give off some weird vibes), and I haven’t properly vetted them yet- which, to do so puts me at risk of acquiring psychic damage in the first place. Alas.

[jinxthejubilee]

Random Thoughts

Come on! Their big and little brother interactions are so cute. You know, when they aren't wanting to slap each other. Today's Topic: Comparing and Contrasting Mammon and Luke.

Warning: Spoilers for Obey Me (A bit from Season 4), mostly theorizing.

These two are so much alike and they don't even realize it!

Both are hyper and chipper little buggers.

They're very stubborn.

Tsundere's #1 and 3.

They're both are loyal to their designated big brothers (ahem Simeon, Michael, and Lucifer).

Luke revealed to MC that he used to admire Lucifer before Michael.

They both deem MC as their best friend.

Not to mention the subject that's been brought up A LOT, their eyes colors are very similar.

Yep! The sunset over the ocean eyes!

I think their biggest differences stem from the fact that Mammon is just a friendly dude overall despite how he can act up at times. He doesn't really judge people for what they are or what rank they are.

I mean sure, he was wary of Simeon and Luke when they first arrived, but can you really blame him? They were the people who threw him and his brothers out of the Celestial Realm after all.

Mammon mostly judges people based on their personality and attitude (and how much money you got).

Luke by contrast, has and will judge people for anything he or the Celestial Realm deems as wrong.

Though I can't really fault him for that either. Yes, Luke can come off as brash or rude sometimes, but so were the demon bros back then. Lucifer, especially, thought angels were vastly superior to demons.

I can only imagine what horrible things he was told or heard about the Celestial War. However, we know Luke well enough that if he ever found out the truth, especially now that he's bonded with MC, Mammon, and the others, he would feel more conflicted than perhaps Simeon was.

But he's changed so much in comparison to how closed minded he used to be!

Just look at him now!

Speaking of the others, Luke comes across to me as someone who doesn't have many friends, friends his age specifically.

As much as he probably wants to connect with kids his age, he can't help but hold himself back from trying to appear professional since he's almost never taken seriously.

As such, besides Simeon, he probably doesn't have brothers or sisters he can grow up with like Mammon did.

I think Mammon challenges Luke.

He teases him about his height, his loyalty towards Michael, and how he constantly yaps about how "demons are pure evil." But he's not being as mean spirited as Luke thinks he is.

I agree that Mammon can take things too far when he's teasing, but it does give the little angel something to think about. He teases him exactly like an older brother would.

And when he knows he's taken things too far, Mammon goes to check and see if Luke's okay.

Plus, none of the others, save for Simeon or Beel have saved or have gotten Luke out of danger like Mammon has. I can't remember what lesson it was, but one time Mammon picked Luke up and ran with MC out of danger.

Going back to the Celestial Realm, as most of us know, Mammon was looked after by Michael, but he couldn't handle him so he was given to Lucifer.

I think Luke might be what Mammon wasn't.

Luke is opinionated like Mammon is, yes, but his loyalty is also is greatest fault.

He doesn't question Michael or the Celestial Realm and their decisions.

Mammon might be afraid of Lucifer at times, but he does stand up to him for the sake of his brothers, MC, and a few other people.

Mammon doesn't hesitate to question differing opinions or world views.

We don't know what their relationship was like back when Mammon was an angel, but considering Mammon canonically likes kids, it's possible that he babysat or looked after Luke in some way like he did with Beel, Belphie, and Lilith.

I'm sure he had some influence on him, even if Luke was too young to remember.

In conclusion, yeah, these two are brats, but they're our cute little brats. Thank you! 💗

[victory-red]

why tōya being the oldest todoroki sibling makes no (or very little) sense.

Warning: Manga spoilers. Long post ahead - big paragraphs, lots of reading, and at least one (1) rabbit trail.

So I know this is old news, but I’ve been meaning to make a post about it for a little while now. I know a lot of people already headcanoned that Tōya was the oldest Todoroki sibling even before it was officially confirmed, but it just never really made sense to me, particularly in regard to Enji’s timeline. And then, after Chapter 291 came out, it made even less sense.

(A couple of quick disclaimers, before I continue: I’m not trying to pass anything off as fact. My conclusions are simply opinions based on observations I’ve made. I’ll also note that there are definitely gaps in what information we do officially have, so there is still a chance that what seems to me like a fairly significant plothole will eventually be explained.)

I’ll start with Enji - more specifically, his current confirmed age in relation to Fuyumi’s, who is the oldest Todoroki sibling whose age we do officially know. As of the current manga arc, Enji is 46 years old, and Fuyumi is 23. Since Enji’s birthday is in early August and Fuyumi’s in early December, that means that Enji was a little over 23 years old when he and Rei had Fuyumi.

From what we know of Enji’s history and personality, that seems like a reasonable age for him to have started having kids. He said in Ch. 165 that he became Number Two at age 20, at which point he immediately realized that he wasn’t ever going to be able to surpass All Might on his own. He said that it was because of this realization that he passed the torch (no pun intended) to Shōto. But, Shōto wouldn’t be born until a decade later. So, it makes sense to me that this would be the point that Enji decided it would be best to instead try having a child that could surpass All Might. In other words, it makes sense that this would be the catalyst that led to Shōto’s birth.

The most recent information we got regarding Enji and Rei’s relationship in Ch. 291 seems to be just a bit conflicting with how Shōto had described things back in Ch. 31 - unlike Shōto’s account, Ch. 291 sort of implied that Enji did care for Rei to some capacity, at least early in their marriage. (How he’s been portrayed in flashbacks recently is actually very conflicting with flashbacks from earlier chapters, and even with his entire personality in earlier chapters. But I won’t get into that - we’ll just make the assumption that Shōto’s story was biased, because it probably was.)

Since he essentially bought Rei’s family off, it only makes sense that he would have to grow to care for her over a period of time - you know, maybe like a year or two. I’m not sure how long the entire Quirk Marriage process took, but factoring in the 9 or so months Rei had to carry Fuyumi before she was born, it makes sense that after Enji’s realization upon attaining the Number Two title, the entire process of creating the plan of having hyper-powerful children, finding a suitable partner, buying her family off, marrying her, and having their first child would take anywhere between two to three years. That would mean that he was 20 when the process started, 22 when Rei got pregnant, and 23 when Fuyumi was born. Boom.

(Frankly, even that timeframe seems a bit compressed to me, but since Enji’s and Fuyumi’s ages are both canonically set in stone, I have no choice but to work with it.)

Tōya canonically being older than Fuyumi begins to screw a lot with the timeline - especially taking into consideration what the implied age gap between them is. I unfortunately can’t find where (or if) this is explicitly stated in the manga, but the wiki says that most Quirks develop around the age of 4. Now, it’s entirely possible that Tōya was born with his Quirk, but given Rei’s constitution, I highly suspect that there would have been severe complications with both her pregnancy and Tōya’s birth. It also makes sense that if he had developed his Quirk at an exceptionally young age, there would have been some note made of it. But since neither of those things are mentioned to have happened, we’ll just assume he was between 3 and 4½ years old when his Quirk manifested.

I don’t know how long afterward it took for Enji and Rei to decide to have another baby, but I can’t imagine that the decision took any longer than several months. I’ll be conservative and say that they decided no longer than a few months after Tōya’s Quirk developed, because remember - Enji literally, canonically cannot be any older than 23 when Fuyumi was born. Jumping 9 months forward from that time, Tōya would most likely have been between 4 and 5 years old when Fuyumi was born.

Now I will note that in the top panel, Tōya looks to me to be between 4 and 6 years old, which was presented as being before Fuyumi’s birth. But in the lower one, where he’s crawling over to look at baby Fuyumi (or at least I think that’s what’s happening? It’s a bit dark to tell for certain), he looks a lot younger - in fact, he doesn’t even look to have the white streak in his hair yet. But given how it’s explained that Enji and Rei even came to the decision to have Fuyumi at all, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense contextually. But, I’ll let it be and just assume that the manga didn’t present those panels chronologically. It could also be the zoomed-out view that makes Tōya seem smaller. Either way, I’m overanalyzing, and that’s sort of off-topic, anyway.

Okay, I think that’s all the setup I need to finally get to the meat of my argument, which I will start with this: If Tōya is anywhere between 4 and 5 years older than Fuyumi, that means that Enji was anywhere between 18 and 19 years old when Tōya was born.

In any other situation, that might make sense, but here’s the thing: it’s already been established, or at least very heavily implied, that Enji didn’t even consider the possibility of having children to surpass All Might until he attained his Number Two status, which as I’ve already mentioned happened when he was 20. Even if Tōya was only 3 years older than Fuyumi, which doesn’t make much sense because he would then have had to develop his Quirk at age 2 or younger, that still would mean that he was conceived before Enji even became Number Two.

If that doesn’t make sense to you, think of it this way: If Enji was between 18 and 20 years old when Tōya was born, that would mean that Tōya would have been conceived when Enji was 17 at the youngest - still a student, unless he graduated early. Regardless, that also implies he would have had to create his elaborate plan to beat All Might, as well as find and marry Rei, before he even graduated secondary school. Given what information we have from canon, that just does not make any semblance of sense.

As compelling that argument alone may or may not be, there are others to support it as well. Let’s consider what that implies for the age gaps between Tōya and the other Todoroki siblings. If he’s 3-5 years older than Fuyumi, that means he’s roughly 7-9 years older than Natsuo and 10-12 years older than Shōto. That would mean, if Shōto were between 5 and 6 years old in the following panels, Tōya would be anywhere between 15 and 18 years old. Fuyumi would be between 10 and 13, and Natsuo would be between 8 and 11.

While I understand that Tōya inherited Rei’s slight constitution, puberty usually begins for boys around 12 or 13 years old (although to my understanding it often starts later in Asian boys), so Tōya would likely have already begun to go through his growth spurt by this age. Even assuming that Natsuo had started going through his own growth spurt, Tōya still has 7-9 years on him - so the chances that Natsuo had this much height and mass on him are pretty slim. I might be able to buy Tōya being 15 years old in those panels, but I find even that a bit of a stretch.

And finally, let’s talk about how old Tōya was when he “died.”

Assuming that the second panel is the most recent (halfway decent) photo the Todorokis have of Tōya before his “death,” I’m inclined to agree with the people who have pointed out that his clothes resembled a junior high school uniform, similar to what Midoriya and Bakugō were seen wearing in the story’s earliest chapters and episodes. Junior high school in Japan is attended by students between the ages of 12 and 15, roughly - so it’s safe to assume that Tōya was no older than 15 years old when he “died.” However, I will note that given how Horikoshi draws most of the 15-year-old male characters in the story, he does look younger than that to me. I am keeping in mind that Tōya was mentioned to have had a slight build - even as Dabi, he still does - so there is the possibility that my conclusions there aren’t accurate.

If Tōya was 12 when he “died,” Shōto would probably not have any memories of him at all - at the time of his “death,” he would have been anywhere between 2 years old and a newborn. It’s implied in the manga and the anime that Tōya disappeared sometime after Rei burned Shōto’s face, which undoubtedly happened after Enji had begun to train him - so, likely well after he had turned 5. In the somewhat unlikely event that his face was burned while he was still 5 years old, Tōya would have been between 15 and 18 years old, as mentioned above. If it had happened when Shōto was 7, he would have been between 17 and 20, and so on. Going with the junior high school uniform theory, which honestly seems rather plausible, he essentially cannot have “died” after age 15 - so, more than likely, he would have been gone before Shōto even began his training. Obviously, this is disproven by the soccer panel in Ch. 39.

Honestly, I don’t know how else to say it - no matter how I angle it, it just does not make sense to me, canonically, that Tōya is the eldest Todoroki sibling. There’s a lot of information stacked up against it, and though I’ve mulled over it for a bit now, I can’t actually think of a scenario in which it actually is a logical conclusion.

TL;DR: Tōya being the oldest Todoroki doesn’t make sense in light of information we have regarding Enji’s timeline as well as previous images we’ve seen in the manga and anime.

[hextiger]

More Research Excerpts

This time it's Der Alptraum in Beziehung zu gewissen Formen mittelalterlichen Aberglaubens. (English: The Nightmare in Relation to Certain Forms of Medieval Superstition).

You can find the PDF here via Project Gutenberg, but it's in German.

For context though: this appeared in 1902 in a magazine published by Sigmund Freud. That fact is very much apparent throughout.

Introduction

"My focus is not on the historical side but the deepest psychological meaning" phrases that clue you in that there's a lot of nonsense coming

Nowadays the word "Weib" really just reads as "woman (derogatory)"

Dream and Belief

"the breath soul and the shadow soul" I'm sorry what. What! Shadow soul?????

"Freud's discovery of psychoanalysis" I don't know that I'd call it a discovery rather than "wholesale invention" or maybe "ass-pull" but sure

You can at times REALLY tell this is influenced by Freud. Example: "The more people have a certain type of dream the more likely it is that its' subliminal content is of a sexual nature" good (?) news for all the people who dream about their teeth falling out

Something something dreaming of your dead mother or father something something oedipus complex repressed in childhood

You can really tell this was written in the early 20th century. Take me back to the 18th/19th century weirdness please

"In a court in 1516 the jury of Trojes admonished the caterpillars who had devastated some distracts on punishment of curse and excommunication to leave within a certain number of days" I have SO MANY questions

The source for the above is "Cesaresco. Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs, P. 183" which I now have to read

Nightmares

"It is generally known that nightmares have a greater influence on the fantasy of waking life than any other dream" my dude you JUST went on for a whole chapter abt sex dreams so like are you sure

"I have added that the repression of female masochistic sexual urges is more suited to the creation of the typical nightmare than that of the male one, a view that Adler agrees with" I just wanna read abt weird hairy creatures sitting on people's chests, not this nonsense

Ok HERE'S something interesting. Dude's talking about how nightmares express deeply repressed wishes like yes. This I can vibe with

"Digestive problems do not explain the appearance of beautiful women from keyholes" sure but if that were a thing I'd sure as hell take the digestive problems

Incubus and Incubation

"In the middle ages the belief was generally that there were evil spirits whose sole function was to have [...] intercourse with sleeping people" HE JUST SAYS THIS. WITHOUT A SOURCE

"A favorite form that incubi took was that of clergy. Hieronmyus reports the story of a young lady who called for help against an incubus which her friends found under their beds in the form of the bishop Sylvanus. The reputation of the bishop would have suffered if he had been unable to convince them that the incubus had taken his form"

People at the time reacted by saying "Oh an excellent example for the wizardry of Sylvanus" so I don't think this bishop was believed

Anyway I WISH that had been an incubus but it really sounds like it was just a creepy old dude

Sir why do you keep randomly throwing untranslated French quotes in this German text

Oh hey another mention of people who were supposedly children of incubi. This time it's Alexander the Great, Caesar, Martin Luther, Plato, all of the Huns and everyone who lived on Cyprus

You're right, it would be unnecessary to linger on how snakes are phallic symbols thank you for not doing that

"The belief that the soul leaves the sleeper in the form of a snake which escapes through the mouth" UM HOLD ON

I checked the source and yeah, that sure is a thing

This one's from Thorpe. Northern Mythology, 1851, Vol I. P. 289f https://archive.org/details/northernmytholog01thoruoft/page/n309/mode/2up

The Vampire

"The wish for reunion, which has its origin in the living person, is here partially projected on the dead" FINALLY some good content

"Widows can get pregnant by their vampiric husbands visiting" uhuh sure

"After the transformation into a vampire is complete it can be discovered by finding the unburied body with red cheeks, tightskin, full blood vessels, warm blood, grown hair and nails and open left eye"

May have found another source on alps here. Features slut-shaming of sphinxes as far as I can tell

"The Wallachian myth wherein dead redheaded men appear in the form of frogs, bugs etc. and drink the blood of pretty girls"

So depending on which church you were a part of before committing heresy you'd either become a werewolf (roman-catholic) or a vampire (greek)

"Like the vampire the Alp can be the soul of a dead person and suck the blood of sleeping people" whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy do I only read this now

The Werwolf

Apollo's apparently associated with wolves, which I did not know

Oh yeah I forgot about the part of werewolf lore that's like "Yeah they turn their human skin inside-out cause the other side is a wolf pelt"

If you're born on christmas day you're apparently destined to become a werewolf as punishment for your parent daring to deliver on the same day as Mary

"The seventh son is destined to become a werewolf, the seventh daughter a mare" mmmmmmmmm there's Something here I may be able to use

Quick gallows, wow what's that? Oh. Oh it's a gallows where the person has their hands bound behind their back, is pulled up by their bound hands on a pulley and then dropped from great height??????? That's uh. That doesn't sound like a good experience

Armenian werewolves are women who sinned and were thus punished by having to live for seven years as a werewolf.

There's also a creature that's somewhat between werewolf and vampire which, apparently sucks blood from the soles of the feet of people walking by

Very rough translation but "One has to burn the werewolf because otherwise he will rise from his grave a few days later. In ravenous hunger he will eat the flesh from his own hands and feet and when he has nothing else on his body to consume he will burrow out from his grave at midnight, fall into the herds and steal the animals or even go into houses, lay down by the sleeping and suck their blood from them" this is good, actually

I cannot stress enough how openly freudian this thing is

Werewolves can apparently also leave behind their bodies and wander about at night

Devilworship

"Belief in devils can be traced back to an oedipus complex" ok. sure

Apparently the devil used to be a close parallel to jesus. The whole deal: twelve apostles, went to hell and was reborn, hot bod

The devil had his own bible which was written down in Bohemia and is now in a library in Stockholm k so who's down for a trip to Stockholm after [waves hands] all this is done

"One of the later bynames of the devil was Grendel (english Grant)"

The devil is canonically bisexual and bigender

He can only impregnate folks if he previously acts as a succubus

....Merlin was a son of the devil? He was born because the devil was imitating God? His purpose was to defeat Jesus? Is this what Fate Grand Order is about

"if a woman sleeps alone the devil sleeps with her" well good for her

The devil has a second face on his butt that looks like a beautiful woman's face. He sits the wrong way around in chairs. His genitals are on his back

The Witch Epidemic

Witches like to eat babies, especially unbaptized ones

Witches apparently sometimes turned men into horses to ride to sabbath??? rad

Or they rode the devil himself in form of a horse or goat. sure

Why would witches have stigmata. I want to know, but not enough to check the source that's cited for this

The roman-catholic church is at fault for witchcraft

Apparently 40 year old witches turn into Drude which are also similar to alps

In Conclusion

This entire thing was a trip but I cannot recommend reading it or a translation. It's far too Freudian for my tastes. At least there's a little bit here that I can use for A Pale Imitation and its potential sequels.

[shrinkthisviolet]

Author Interview Tag!

Tagged by @maipreciation, thanks for thinking of me! This looks really fun :D

(Note: I’m keeping this as a running list, so if you’re ever wondering what fics im working on/brainstorming, make sure to check here! Last update was on 12/12/2020)

Name: Lavi! As of 12/5, I’m no longer going by my real name (see this post)

Fandoms: so many 😂 check my bio, I think I have them all listed. I’ve posted fic for Hamilton and ATLA, and then there was a huge Inktober compilation I posted last year with a whole host of fandoms. Currently, my major fandom is ATLA, and probably Kipo as I’m starting to move through S1

Where you post: I have an AO3 (lavi0123)! I used to have an FFN and a Wattpad, but I don’t use either of those anymore :/ tbh, I’m embarrassed of anything I still have up there 😂

Most popular one-shot: Most definitely we’ll give the world to you (and you’ll blow us all away), one of my contributions to Maiko Week! I’m not surprised it’s an ATLA fic, but I find it interesting that a fic with Izumi in it blew up so quickly. But hey, if y’all want more Izumi content, you won’t be disappointed 😉

Most popular multi-chapter fic: ...I’m really embarrassed to say because I don’t think I’ll ever finish it...but En Hamilton Heights is the only multichap fic I’ve published so it’s gotta be that one 😂 hopefully soon I’ll have another fic to add to that, since I’m working on one (sorry EHH fans but it’s been too long and tbh I don’t remember where I was going with it :/ I’m thinking I might orphan it)

Favorite story you’ve written so far: you think this world is a dream come true (but you’re wrong) for sure! It’s super niche but it’s something I wrote out of love for a movie I discovered this Halloween and absolutely love. Though all you’ve got to do is want something (and then let yourself have it) is a close second. Basically, anything I write that sounds absolutely bonkers as a concept is one that I love 😂 (and it’s no coincidence that both fics are Mai-centric! I love all my Mai-centric fics nearly equally)

Fic you were nervous to post: Is there an “all of the above” option? 😂 I’m always nervous to post. But in particular, I was nervous for if you ran away (come back home), because it was Mai-centric and longer than any one-shot I’d written thus far, and also you think this world is a dream come true (but you’re wrong), because it’s Mai-centric and a Coraline AU, which makes it BONKERS as an idea

Why was I nervous to post Mai-centric fics, you ask? Two reasons: 1) Mai is very different from who I am as a person (I vibe a lot more with Aang and Ty Lee, sometimes Katara and Sokka), so I didn’t want to upset the Mai stans by writing her incorrectly. 2) Mai is generally not well-liked in the fandom at large, so I especially didn’t want to attract antis who would accuse me of writing Mai as too emotional and loving (which is why I tried to justify that in my tags). Luckily, my comments have all been lovely, and I’m far less afraid to post fics about her now that I’ve written three fics with her as the focus! And the shoutout from @nonbinary-crafter-aang praising my portrayal of her?? I was touched 🥺 still am

How you choose your titles: Song lyrics or movie/book lines that speak to me, occasionally a pun. Remember that post I rb’d about how authors title their works? My tags pretty much say it all 😂

Do you outline: Ehh...define outlining 😂 for my one-shots, nope. But for my upcoming multichap works (see below) and Nanowrimo work (original fiction, so I won’t talk about it on here, but send an ask if you’re curious), YES ABSOLUTELY!

For my Nanowrimo work and one of my upcoming AUs (a Soulmate AU), the worldbuilding is so complex that it’s an absolute necessity. For the other upcoming AU (a time travel AU), there are just too many things that need to happen at certain times so as not to interfere with canon events, and things I want to change from canon and things I want to keep...I think you get the idea 😂

Complete: Basically my entire maiko halloweek series! Check it out if you want some fics about the most underrated canon ATLA couple :)

In-progress: ...En Hamilton Heights again...but not for long, sadly. Still trying to decide between a quick conclusion and just flat-out orphaning it. Still haven’t made up my mind, but either way, it won’t be what I originally planned, unfortunately.

I’m also counting my ATLA Soulmate AU on the basis of forever in my mind (only you), which has the worldbuilding and fits into the AU without much problem (the AU is going to be a series of one-shots, not a multichap fic, because there won’t be enough deviations from canon imo to justify multiple chapters. And one-shots are just less pressure for me 😂)

[EDIT 12/12/2020: added another fic because I’m an idiot and forgot about this too 🤦‍♀️😂 it’s a year-old idea that I started writing but I’m picking it back up thanks to the Heist banter in MatPat’s St Jude stream!]

-A fic series combining Escape the Night and Who Killed Markiplier (Heist and Date are part of it too, but only tangentially at the moment. Depends on how involved I want DA Y/N to be). Tentatively titled A Heavy Cost, and definitely won’t happen in any of Mark’s projects, but in a way that’s actually for the best 😂 the canonicity for me stops at ETN S3 (with some S4), then it’s canon divergence

Coming soon/not yet started: OOOH YESSS HERE WE GO

Okay okay sooo we’ve got two main things:

–An ATLA Soulmate AU, featuring platonic and romantic soulmates! I know I called it in-progress, and I stand by that even though I haven’t actually set up the series on AO3 yet, but this AU is about to be SO MUCH MORE than just a few Maiko moments. Because...drum roll...it’s gonna be entirely Aang-centric (with maybe one or two exceptions)! Like Mai, Aang is a character that doesn’t get as many -centric fics as he should (and being an Aang stan also isn’t unanimous for some reason??), so I’m gonna fix that. Plus I want to dive further into his mind, and I think I’m more equipped to do that than I was with Mai, since Aang and I are very similar in attitude.

–Bumizumi time travel AU, which can be read as platonic until the last couple chapters (it’ll be multichap) but definitely has a romantic agenda throughout. So just. Be warned if you don’t ship them. It’s gonna be chock full of comedy and antics! Also A LOT of platonic affection between Izumi and teen Zuko (and just between Izumi, Bumi, and the Gaang in general), because platonic affection is underrated and also I can :D I’m also probably gonna make fun of how some elements of affection have become solely romantic territory, because...um, no, hugging and holding hands and cuddling can be done between friends, thanks! (Maybe it’s the ace in me talking. But regardless)

There are also vague concepts I’m spitballing, like:

-Zukaang telepathy AU (Platonic Zukaang, the only romance I’ll ever write in ATLA is for the canon ships, prompted by a dream because apparently ATLA lives in my head rent-free forever now 😂)

-Evil Zuko AU (Azula doesn’t exist, mostly prompted after watching Aang make fun of Zhao and realizing that if Zuko had been in any position of power during the War...the Gaang would have stood no chance at all)

-Bumizumi Arranged Marriage AU (Bumi and Izumi both think the other is hotheaded/reckless (Izumi @ Bumi) or uptight (Bumi @ Izumi). So Kataang and Maiko (along with Sukka, Ty Lee, and Toph because...duh) set them up in an arranged marriage, with the presented reasoning being that they already know each other’s families, it’ll be a great symbol of unity, and this way Izumi doesn’t have to worry about suitors. They both agree to it (it’s arranged, not forced), and over time, they warm up to each other...and maybe even...fall in love?? Prompted because we need more arranged marriage fics! On that note, I’m gonna plug shadows and steel by @dearestpartnerofgreatness because arranged marriage needs more rep and this fic does it and with Maiko to boot!)

-Zukaang as Brothers AU (I saw a fic about this, but it wasn’t complete. If it’s not done by the time I get to this concept, I’m gonna write it, because just...imagine the possibilities! Zuko and Aang are already basically brothers in canon anyway, this is just making them brothers in blood as well as in their hearts. This is especially vague because I have no concept of how this is gonna work 🤷‍♀️ I’ll get to it eventually)

(Can you tell I’m obsessed with Zuko and Aang’s friendship? Because I am!)

[EDIT 11/25/2020: I’m adding two more because I forgot these have been swirling around in my head too 😂]

-A fix-it fic based on May You Always Be Satisfied, a backstory fic for Who Killed Markiplier by @blackaquokat! I recently reread it and remembered that I was gonna write a fix-it for that fic. Not because the fic sucks, it’s actually amazing! I’m just a sucker for the main (requited unrequited) pairing, and there’s at least five ways to make that pairing canon and avoid the mess of Who Killed Markiplier. And THEY ALL DESERVE TO BE HAPPY OKAY

-A Finnrey fix-it for the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy (this one is especially vague, and I probably won’t write it since a bunch of these already exist, but it’s fun to think about. Maybe if I ever run out of WIPs 🤷‍♀️)

Upcoming story that you’re most excited to write: I’m equally excited for the Soulmate AU and the Bumizumi Time Travel AU! I’m also excited for my Nanowrimo work to be finished, but that’s more so in-progress than upcoming

Tagging:

@nonbinary-crafter-aang @dearestpartnerofgreatness @ohsalamanders @blackaquokat (no pressure ofc, only if you want to! But please tag me if you do, I’d love to see it!)

[nappe-plays-the-sims]

The Ideal Sims Game

Had some thoughts and have to put them somewhere.

I’ve thought about what I like about different sims games and reached the conclusion that it would be... Mostly a mix between The Sims 2 and The Sims 3.

Hear me out.

“The Sims 6″ or whatever we should call this hypothetical game, would be generally similar to The Sims 2, with some notable differences

CAS

CAS customization options closer to the The Sims 3 level. Color sliders!

Traits, aspirations, lifetime wants, and personality points. Obviously some traits would be removed since personality points cover some of those (mean, outgoing etc), and plenty of traits should be featured later in expansion packs/DLCs so EA can milk their dear cash cow, but as said, DLCs should not be for gameplay essentials, it should be for gameplay enhancement.

Turn ons and turn offs. Should include things such as personality traits, approximate hair color, work type, work level, clothing, glasses, yadda yadda. The hair color would check based on what’s in close proximity by using hexadecimals, that way sims can also be attracted to custom hair colors such as purple hair.

Age options, because sims shouldn’t have to start at the beginning of the adult stage every time.

Height sliders!

Disabilities. Yes, this would include a Simlish sign language. Disabilities should also be able to overlap, and occur because of events and chance cards.

Worldbuilding

The ability to create your own town like in The Sims 2, but the ability to edit the map itself such as adding/removing roads and more.

No townies or NPCs should spawn unless you approve of it. This means you’d be able to create your own NPCs for the town. Your sims shouldn’t be able to go to the hospital if no one is employed in the Medical career, or call a fireman unless no one is in that career, etc. (unless you have chosen yourself in settings that should be created by the game automatically).

Open world and story progression like in The Sims 3 if the player enables it in settings, university shouldn’t be separate. The university system shouldn’t be as complex as in previous The Sims games, just a school essentially but requires more homework and similar. This experience can be elaborated on in expansion packs and DLCs.

More control over economics and politics in the world. Should taxes exist? You decide. Monarchy? Democracy? Dictatorship? All of this should be something the player can fix. Alternatively include this part in a DLC since it’s very specific.

Gameplay

Wants and fears, affected by traits, aspirations, and personality points. A family sim with commitment issues will still fear marriage. A “Gold Digger” lifetime want family sim will want their relatives to marry rich sims.

Aging settings- let players decide for themselves how many days a sim should be a baby, toddler, child, teen, young adult, adult, and elder. The default days should match number of years IRL, because no one is a teenager until they’re 30.

Jealousy changes. Being in love and being in a relationship needs to be a separate thing, because Don Lothario getting slapped for “cheating” on Nina Caliente with his fiancé makes very little sense. Open relationships should be a possibility, perhaps require certain traits for this to happen?

Sims who hate each other shouldn’t necessarily get into violent fights constantly. Traits and personality points etc. should change how the sims act around the people they dislike.

I love chance cards, keep those in please. If anything, add more of them. Also, if chance card choices go against the sim’s personality, possibly have a small % risk that they will lose that trait or gain/lose certain personality points (with the % increasing per time the sim acts out of character)? And of course, chance cards that give you the ability to gain traits. You could also have extra options arise depending on skills, personality points, traits etc. (For example, a charismatic sim should be able to talk themselves out of a situation, or have a greater % chance of success doing so.)

Pre-made sims

The “alternate universe” idea was cool but poorly executed. Feel free to try again, and do so with the old Sims 2 premades. That way, you can take the storylines everyone thought were so cool and give it a new spin, without ruining current canon.

Stop making their skintones lighter...

By following these we essentially have a mix between The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 base games with a few enhancements.

What can be added in expansion packs and DLCs?

How can you milk the cash cow without taking away essentials from gameplay that make players feel forced to buy everything or they can’t play? Well, ideally everything should just be included in the first game, but we know EA doesn’t operate that way.

The key to “expansion packs” is that functions in it should add more to gameplay but not be a requirement to enjoy the game. To quote someone on the Steam review page who bought African portraits for Crusader Kings II: “I have to pay money to be black.” That’s not how it should work.

Things you can leave out from the OG game and include in Expansion packs or DLCs:

CAS

Various clothes and hairstyles. With the color changing tool there’s a lot of room to change things already. Cut down on the number of hairstyles and outfits so more energy can be focused on improving the gameplay aspects. Cosmetics are always best reserved for DLCs.

Tattoos.

Secondary aspirations. They’re good to have in the game to give your sim more depth, but they are not a neccesity and are thus good to save as optional content.

More aspirations and lifetime wants. Goes together with more careers of course, and pet-related lifetime wants for pets expansion pack etc.

Stuff packs that focus on certain time periods, cultures, and more.

Worldbuilding

Alternate start years. A medieval expansion pack, for example, that allows you to create a medieval world specifically, where technological advances aren’t available etc. You could use “into the future” ideas for this too. You would be able to choose whether technological progression should be flat or improve over time. (Imagine the Legacy Challenge done in this!)

On that note, a “Castaway” type of thing would be cool.

Gameplay

Aspiration rewards. Not essential for a base game.

More careers! Can easily be included in a work expansion pack. With this expansion you could include career rewards, more chance cards for all careers (including chance cards that make you gain/lose traits, personality points). Businesses go here too IMO but knowing greedy EA they’d put it in separate expansion packs.

Expansion packs with chance cards and special events for different life stages. A mid-life crisis? Teenagers going through hormone hell? All that doesn’t need to be in the original game but can be included in expansion packs.

While we’re talking about that, a pregnancy DLC sounds like a mess, but this is an opportunity to add triplets and quadruplets, pregnancy tests (although obviously sim-ified), the ability to lie about the father of the child, paternity tests, and more.

Pets! Not much to add here other than that it’s a perfect opportunity to add a unicorn and, idk, the ability for horses to get jobs if your sim has particular traits that lead to nonsense behavior á la Caligula.

Weather and season holidays.

Vacations, because every sims game needs it.

The Sims 3 Supernatural was incredible with the complexity to each supernatural creature. Something similar again, however, it should also acknowledge hybrids (we know this is possible to some degree, because aliens in The Sims 3 had a hidden “alien DNA percentage” value), and no random assignment of supernaturals. They should be rare unless the player changes it to not be so in settings.

[eatprayworm]

without fox demons, no village is complete: an essay on tsomd’s li zilong and fox spirits

The big bad of The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty live action series, Li Zilong, is in many ways a mystery. We never learn his real motivations for wanting to take down the emperor, and there’s so many odd details about him that don’t add up (how did he disappear in thin air from Wang Zhi?). I propose a theory that provides an explanation for this antagonist: he is a fox spirit. I use a combination of sources to come to this conclusion. Let’s read.

The Real Li Zilong

A good place to start is the history of the real life Li Zilong. According to “The Eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty” by Shih-shan Henry Tsai, the Chenghua emperor established the Western Depot in 1477, with Wang Zhi at the helm. What made the emperor create the Western Depot? Well! The original mission of the Depot was to investigate the case of Li Zilong, a “transvestite” (the book’s words, not mine) who allegedly practiced witchcraft and had magical abilities. Li Zilong worked with a court eunuch to sneak into the imperial harem and mingle with superstitious women. And so, the Chenghua emperor created the Western Depot and had Wang Zhi search for any other witches or strange people. Wang Zhi went on to become a terror in the lives of many common folk.

So, the real Li Zilong was tied to mystical practices.

The Book Li Zilong

What about Li Zilong in the novel? Well! I haven’t read the novel so I can’t fully speak to it, but I’ve read some passages that describe Li Zilong. In chapter 3, Tang Fan discusses the Demon Fox Case, about a golden fox demon who was sent in to kill the emperor. This demon fox was said to be killed by the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor. There was also a Taoist named Li Zilong who appeared around the same time, and for whatever reason, the court associated Li Zilong with the fox, and he was executed. After Li Zilong was executed, the emperor established the Western Depot so he’d have a more reliable source of information.

Since I haven’t read the novel, I can’t say if Li Zilong is really dead or if there’s more information on this case. I’d love to hear if there is! Otherwise, what we can infer here is that Li Zilong was, most likely, a fox demon spirit out to kill the emperor.

The book is not the show, though, so this could be dismissed. However, I propose that the show version of Li Zilong is indeed a fox spirit. To better explain why I believe this, we need to understand a few things about Chinese fox spirits.

What are fox spirits?

There is a very long history of fox spirits in Chinese lore. I’ve done a few hours of research, but I am by no means an expert, so take all of this with a grain of salt. Likewise, fox spirits are called many terms (huxian, humei, huli jing, to name just a few) and they have various roles within ancient lore. For the purposes of this essay, I’ll focus on some general fox spirit information.

There are some generally accepted lore about fox spirits. According to old records, fox spirits have long lives and can take different forms depending on their age. When they reach 500 years, they can take the form of a beautiful woman, a handsome man, or an old wise scholar. When they reach 1,000 years, they may enter the heavens and become a celestial fox.

In some stories, foxes are seen as good omens who bring wealth and fortune to humans. In other stories, foxes take human form and seduce men or women. In others still, foxes are seen as signs of misfortune, sorcery, and rebellion.

Powers

Fox spirits are noted to have particular traits and powers, including:

strike their tail on the ground to cause fire

the ability to possess humans

ability to see into the future

can see events up to 1,000 li away

invisibility

pass through walls

a cunning and trickster disposition

Motives

The motives of foxes vary. Some have no moral alignment. Others seek to play mischief and tricks on humans; others steal the spirits of men so they may increase their own.

There are also tales of fox spirits taking revenge, either for themself or a deceased individual. To quote one source, “Typically in folklore the Chinese fox had two basic motives, to show its powerful shape-shifting ability by assuming the form of a person or demon to achieve the second motive: that of revenge for some crime it perceived, real or imagined.”

Interestingly, this is not the only source to discuss fox spirits and revenge. One tale speaks to a fox who cursed three generations because it was harmed by the family. Another source states, “...the Chinese revenge-fox stories: the killed fox is able to punish his murderer, being almost as clever as he is.”

Li Zilong? A Fox?

Now, why do I think the show!Li Zilong could be one of these crafty fox spirits? It’s a combination of canon clues and some inferences on my part. Let’s begin!

Age & Revenge

Li Zilong tells Princess Gu’an that he is a descendant of the Li family, who ruled during the Tang dynasty. The Tang Dynasty. What’s interesting to note is that the Tang Dynasty ended in the beginning of the 900’s - over 550 years before the present day in the show. Why would a descendant from this very old royal family have it out for the emperor? And what does this have to do with foxes?

The Tang Dynasty was the height of fox and fox spirit worship. The Tang Scholar Zhang Zuo noted: “From the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, many of the commoners worshipped fox deities. They offer sacrifices to them in their bedchambers, and food and drink offered are the same as those consumed by humans. At the time there was proverb saying ‘without fox demons, no village is complete.’”

There are other mentions of fox demons and their roles as gods. In one instance, dozens of “fox demons” appeared at a temple honor Li Jing, a Tang Dynasty general who was revered as a god. In another instance, a temple was erected for the “fox kings” in the land. In the year 1110, the Grand Councilor ordered that 1,000 fox-king shrines should be destroyed. (Li Jing? Some demon foxes being called huli jing? interesting coincidences.)

So. We have Li Zilong, who was a descendant of the royal family that ruled during the height of fox worship. What’s more, Li Zilong wears the same type of headpiece that the Chenghua emperor wears.

Was Li Zilong truly the descendant of royalty? Or, is he perhaps royalty from the era itself, a remnant of the fox kings of old? After all,  why would a descendant of the Tang Dynasty care about an emperor who lived hundreds of years later, unless he’s been around long enough to have a reason to care? Could he, like his book counterpart, have been slighted by the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor?

When he finally confronts the emperor, he stares and says he’s waited a long time for this day. Maybe he’s waited over a hundred years.

Photos for reference:

Powers & Omens

Li Zilong exhibits traditional powers of fox spirits.

Invisibility. When Wang Zhi and he are walking out of the brothel, he tells Wang Zhi to look away. Wang Zhi looks away for a few seconds, turns back, and Li Zilong is gone. There’s no hint that he leaped away; he seemed to disappear out of thin air.  Or, perhaps, he simply turned invisible. He pulls a similar trick when Tang Fan sees him across the street, but he disappears after a carriage goes by. Naturally, he probably hopped on the carriage. But….what if he didn’t. Additionally, how did Li Zilong get into the brothel when he was holding the meeting with the Oirats? Why was he so unafraid to be in public when he was literally public enemy number one? Only someone who could disappear quickly could have such confidence.

Precognition/knowledge. Li Zilong knew everything about everyone, even when it didn’t make sense for him to know these things. How did he know so much about the chicken cup? How could he predict the moves of the heroes again and again and again? How did he know the history of individuals so well? Sure, he had men that kept him informed. He had Qing Ge. But his ability to not only know so many past and current events, and keep a thumb on so many individuals and schemes (like the Yunhe silver situation) for years is very, very impressive. Almost inhumanly impressive.

Fire. Now, Li Zilong himself does not have the power of fire, but he sure is attracted to it. Ding Rong describes the explosions of the bolang as a sea of fire - and wouldn’t that appeal to a fox who can strike fire with his tail? Imagine being able to amplify this natural ability. Li Zilong seemed to grow particularly protective and fond of the bolangs; his eyes would light up, he asked for far more than he ever needed. A fox with a penchant for fire indeed.

Wealth & Rebellion. Li Zilong fits the archetype of the fox being both a benefactor and an ill omen. He says time and time again that he’s a businessman, and indeed he is: he fills the pockets of men (and himself) with gold, so long as they follow him. Sounds almost like worship? And wouldn’t an old fox king just love that? Additionally, Li Zilong is considered a rascal, an outsider, a rebel; Shang Ming, Wan An, and Wan Tong will collude with him, but they still deem him an “other”, an outside force. Fox spirits were typically seen as the other, as a sign of chaos.

Miscellaneous

Here’s some additional details I picked up while rewatching that lend some credence to my fox theory.

Fox Rings. On one of his hands, Li Zilong wears orange and black rings, side by side. These colors are typically associated with foxes.

2. Actual fox reference. In episode 47, Li Zilong warns Qing Ge that you cannot run from the eyes of the “three old foxes.” These mean the corrupt officials, of course. But what’s even more curious is what Dong’er tells the emperor: don’t run from Li Zilong, because he will always find you. So who is really the old fox here?

3. Qing Ge. One of the most common tales of fox spirits is them taking on the form of beautiful women to enchant men. Li Zilong adopting a skilled courtesan who canonically has men falling at her feet? Could this old fox king see a potential fox spirit in this adoptive daughter?

4. Tang Fan. In the Encyclopedia of Demons in World Religions and Cultures, the author states that “huli jing are especially fond of attacking virtuous scholars, as reasonable and virtuous people enrage them.” Li Zilong focused on Tang Fan as his real enemy. Not Sui Zhou. Not Wang Zhi. And why, when all three would eventually lead to his downfall? Because I think Tang Fan was the exact kind of scholar who Li Zilong couldn’t outsmart and beat, and he hated it.

5. Eyes. When Li Zilong falls down and dies, his eyes briefly change color. They flash from grey to silver; in the next scene, they’re brown again. What happened here? What spirit has left him? Could it be the death of a very old fox?

Conclusion

Fox or human? Descendant or royalty? Who knows what a Li Zilong is, but I think we can certainly assume he isn’t human - and may be the trickster from old. Ultimately, this is just my headcanon. At the end of the day, he may just be an old man who wanted to cause havoc for the hell of it. But I think this is a fun theory to entertain, and it gives him far more depth and intrigue than canon gave him otherwise.

Again, I am no expert in Chinese lore or Chinese fox spirits. Any mistakes are mine, and I’m certainly open to corrections!

[gallantgautier]

Pokemon AU notes

So, this has been a long time coming. I’ve had Sylvain’s team set out for quite some time, but never really got around to writing out anything cohesive. (Sometimes life just be like that.) But over the last few days and their conversations, it was high time I got this out onto the dash. Thank you to Rai for letting me look to her wonderful post about Yuri’s life in the Pokemon world to serve as a template for me!

 Under a cut because oh jeez this ended up over 2.5k

Sylvain’s life notes.

Surrounded by snowy hills and woods, Sylvain grew up in Circhester. Used to such a cold climate, he still very much has an aversion to hot temperatures, poor guy just can’t handle them.

Life at home is similar to canon but has its differences in terms of why things happen. He’s slightly better adjusted in terms of his mental health due to the fact that expectations placed upon him from his family didn’t fall upon him as early as they do in canon. More on that in a bit.

The Gautier family has been full of successful Trainers, some even having travelled to other regions to hold positions within the Elite Four in previous generations. While none alive hold such positions now, they are nevertheless still a respected name when it comes to dark-type specialists.

Speaking of dark-type specialisation, this comes from the Guatier Crest’s link with Death in the Major Arcana. An often-misunderstood card, Death symbolises an end, such an end can pave the way for a new beginning, but it is not Death’s purpose to usher in that beginning, only to make the space for it. On its own, Death could also easily be attributed to ghost type Pokemon, but I feel Dark is a better fit on the grounds of dark often being attributed to evil when such is not the case, and Death often being seen as, well, death and general bad stuff.

Miklan was expected to have a successful career as a Trainer much like everyone before him. He had been gifted a Larvitar as his first Pokemon from his father. He was not ignored upon Sylvain’s birth like he had been in canon, however, in this ‘verse, as Sylvain was second born and thus not expected to climb the ranks of greatness, the younger brother was often coddled where Miklan was always pushed to train. That lack of affection and jealousy over the freedoms Sylvain was allowed became the source of his resentment.

With a brilliant mind for strategy and a ruthlessness born from a lack of compassion, Miklan could have been a Trainer that would become legendary in later years. But the absence of a kind bone within his body is also his greatest flaw, and it creates a barrier between him and success. He and his team are more like co-workers than friends, and it inhibits him from reaching his full potential. He would later fall into disgrace after a certain incident, and all the expectation that was once his would fall to his younger brother.

Sylvain, for his part, was content with never having to become a proper Trainer, preferring to watch Glenn and Felix train, or being able to just play with his Pokemon rather than battle. But after Miklan’s disgrace, his family would then push him towards becoming a brilliant Trainer worthy of the Gautier name. Luckily, he doesn’t have to undertake his journey alone, as it comes at a time when his best friend is preparing for his own.

Being out on the road and without his brother’s torment and his parents breathing down his neck, Sylvain slowly begins to discover the joy of simply learning about all the wonderful creatures that inhabit the wider world outside his snowy home. He comes into his own when it comes to creating recipes that are both nutritious and enjoyed by his and Felix’s companions, studying and coming to an understanding on how different kinds of Pokemon communicate with each other, and discovering ways to help improve the quality of life between a Trainer and their Pokemon. He’ll eventually go on to becomes something like a Pokemon Breeder – think animal husbandry rather than an actual breeder or even a Pokemon Centre staff member.

Yes, I’m aware that he’s almost literally Brock in this ‘verse! And I swear that’s just a happy accident! I thought long and hard before Rai pointed out the similarity to me and had come to the conclusion that this is a life he would lead to reflect canon. In the majority of his endings, Sylvain goes on to open communications with Sreng and brings peace at the border via diplomacy rather than with force like his ancestors had long employed. And it feels fitting that he would initially set out to become a Trainer who is expected to rise up to challenge the League (sent to the Officer’s Academy to learn battle strategy and train to eventually wield the Lance of Ruin and fight at the border) but instead finds his calling in communication and understanding.

But, add that he’s a ridiculous fun-loving flirt, he ends up as Brock. And honestly? I love it.

Sylvain’s team

Sylvain doesn’t really have an overarching theme for his team. Granted, when he set out, he was expected to become a dark-type specialist too. But at his core, Sylvain’s growth is always about subverting expectations. There were plenty of choices that I threw out simply on the grounds of too obvious, they’d be Pokemon he would have on his team that would – much like the face he presents the majority of time in canon – not really be him. Instead, I tried to think about how he would feel when meeting various Pokemon, how he would interact with them, and what role they would play in each other’s lives, rather than simply looking for reflections of aspects of his personality.

In order of acquisition:

♂/ Illusion

Sylvain’s very first Pokemon and his other best friend, Zorua was gifted to him at a young age as a pet rather than a partner. The reality of it is that Miklan had been given his Larvitar to begin his training, but since Sylvain was somewhat spoiled and coddled, he had to be given a Pokemon too. To fit with family traditions, it also had to be a dark type, but since his parents were more concerned with giving him a cute little playmate than a Pokemon that would eventually become a powerful battler, they picked fluffy little Zorua.

Zorua would be ever present at Sylvain’s side, weaving between his feet as he’d run down the road to visit Felix, climbing up the furniture to give it enough height to leap up and then curl over Sylvain’s shoulders, laying over his arm while he reads and looking at the pages with him. He would often disguise itself as some of Miklan’s Pokemon and act in a ridiculous manner in an attempt to cheer Sylvain up when his brother’s bullying caused him to withdraw and hide in his room, curling up on his chest while his Trainer slept to keep a watchful eye on the door.

Much like Sylvain in canon, Zoroark is a master of illusion, masking its true self in favour of showing a different face. It’s also fiercely protective of its pack, tricking its opponents to ensure their safety. Zoroark considers Sylvain, and by extension, Felix and his team, as members of his pack. And while Sylvain doesn’t train as hard as his friend, Zoroark pushes himself to become ever stronger to defend them on their journey.

 ♀/ Bulletproof

Applin was also something of a pet for Sylvain initially, found during his childhood before setting out on his journey with Felix, Sylvain found her during a trip to Turffield with his parents. Out for a walk one day with his mother, they were picking apples to bring home with them, and, of course, he had to grab the biggest, shiniest red apple he could find. Imagine his surprise when, after returning home and deciding to indulge in the delicious looking fruit, something green poked out of it! Sylvain immediately ran to his mother, who laughed, ruffled his hair, and told him “that’s a little dragon Pokemon, sunshine.”

 Amazing.

Sylvain could wait to show his friends, charging down the road to the Fraldarius home, proclaiming in a voice full of wonder and awe “It’s a dragon, Felix!” His friend, understandably, didn’t believe him until Glenn told them all about it. Sylvain kept her, wanting to learn all he could about the tiniest dragon he’d ever heard of, amusing both himself and his new apple-like friend by gently rolling her back and forth on the table between his hands.

Miklan made fun of her, called her a ‘pathetic excuse for a dragon,’ but really, that only cemented Sylvain’s resolve to keep her.

This is one of my picks that isn’t attributed to Sylvain’s personality, and is entirely down to how his reaction would be to discovering a creature like Applin. There’s no way he wouldn’t be utterly delighted over its very existence. It’s a dragon. He can’t get over it.

♂/Overcoat

The first Pokemon Sylvain caught after he left home, at first, Sylvain wasn’t really sure what to think of Karrablast. He’s not really the biggest fan of bugs, they’re kind of creepy, and they’ll always remind him of the betrayal he felt when he learned that sweet little Joltik evolved into the terrifying monstrosity that is Galvantula. (Look, he just really does not like spiders.)

Still, he caught it anyway, mostly out of curiosity. It was kind of weird and kind of funny, and he wouldn’t mind learning a bit about it for a while before setting it free. As it turned out, Karrablast had a fierce competitive streak, often wanting to challenge Pokemon much bigger than himself. His sheer determination to prove himself is what caused it to eventually evolve (look, I know it’s a specific trade in game, but this is a far better narrative) and cemented himself in a permanent spot as one of Sylvain’s companions as it defended him and the others during a run-in with Miklan.

Escavalier also doesn’t at all mind using his lance as a makeshift skewer to help Sylvain cook their meals, so that’s a nice bonus.

This one is the only surface level pick for Sylvain’s team, he has to have the cavalier Pokemon. In a sense though, it does fit with Sylvain’s theming of subverting expectations. He doesn’t like bugs, Escavalier is a bug, he has one anyway.

 ♂/Rock head

Abandoned and all alone, Cubone joined Sylvain’s team mostly because of his bleeding heart. Who wouldn’t want to help such a sad looking creature? There was also, though he would never say it out loud, a sense of being a kindred spirit. Cubone had been horribly mistreated by his previous trained before being left behind, but despite it, Cubone still missed them.

Sylvain knew all too well how it feels to wish someone loved them back, especially in the face of such an impossibility. He initially took Cubone in to treat his wounds and keep him safe until they could find a sanctuary to leave him in. But as is natural when encountered with shared experiences, Sylvain grew attached, and Cubone came to slowly consider Sylvain as a safe person to be around, hiding behind his legs and sitting close to him around the campfire.

Through plenty of attention, love and patience, Cubone would grow from timid and tearful into a proud Marrowak as he slowly but surely tried to emulate the strength and confidence shown by Felix’s Corviknight.

 ♂/Defiant

We’re gunna do this one in reverse to the previous entries, where I talk about ooc reasoning first instead of the in-universe acquisition. Simply put, this started as an off-hand comment made not by me, nor by Rai, but by Rai’s muse. The story goes something like this.

 Rai: “Me: looks at Falinks.”

Rai: “My Felix muse: Oh, it’s Sylvain.”

We both laughed. Made jokes about the red plume. But then I thought about it a lot. Falinks is a soldier. Falinks is all about teamwork which lends to strategy which Sylvain is good at. The first individual that makes up the team that is Falinks is the only one that can be seen using its shields, ready to take the brunt of an attack for its teammates much like Sylvain. Falinks has the unique move No Retreat, which raises all of its stats but prevents it from fleeing, much like Sylvain charging into danger to help his friends with no regard to his own safety.

Wouldn’t you know it, Felix really does know Sylvain best.

As a reflection of this half-joking but actually on-point discovery, Sylvain encounters Falinks on the road and finds him to be utterly hilarious. Just look at the way it marches! It’s love at first sight, he’s just so charmed and he absolutely has to catch it.

While Zoroark might be Sylvain’s partner, slowly but surely, Falinks becomes his ace. Their ability to perform complex manoeuvres seamlessly with their unparalleled teamwork is a perfect compliment to Sylvain’s talents in tactical mind.

Falinks are also the only Pokemon on Sylvain’s team to have nicknames! Allow me to hand you over to the man himself to tell you them.

With a smile bright enough to light a Gym Stadium, Sylvain radiates joyful energy as he makes a small gesture to the six round little creatures at his feet. “Alright guys, form up!” In unison, the Falinks line up and stand at attention.

“Let me introduce you to the squad. Cufflinks!” The largest of the six steps forward, jumping up just an inch and waving one of his shield’s in a manner that could be considered a salute, “Hoodwinks!” The first steps back and the second takes his place, performing the exact same salute, “Tiddlywinks!” As does the third, “Slowblinks!” And the fourth, “Fourtywinks!” The fifth, “and Hotdrinks!” and finally the sixth.

As Hotdrinks takes his place back in line, Sylvain beams at him, and they all beam back.

 ♀/Flashfire

A rare sight in the Galar region, this Ponyta hails all the way from Kanto. Much like Cubone, she joins Sylvain’s team after he rescues her from mistreatment, but this time it was at the hands of those seeking to make some money from the black market due to her rarity.

Unlike Cubone, shy or timid are the last words that could ever be attributed to this Ponyta. With a spirit burning as hot as the fire of her mane, she was not broken by her confinement. She was, however, injured and malnourished. Due to her nature, she gave Sylvain no end of grief as he tried to nurse her back to health.

But while slow to trust, once that trust is earned, it’s unbreakable. Her evolution into Rapidash came as a display of her undying loyalty, even allowing Sylvain to ride upon her back without burning him. Unfortunately, that trust doesn’t extend to Felix. She holds an almost-respect for him, but as close to Sylvain as she grows, she doesn’t like how much of her Trainer’s attention he gives his best friend instead of her.

In any universe, Sylvain just isn’t Sylvain without a horse, he loves those big dumb yet loyal animals. There were plenty of options to choose from, but considering his story and goals in this universe, rescuing one seemed the best course, and a Kantonian Ponyta/Rapidash felt like the best candidate for the region his story takes place in.

Also, yes, she’s Chastity.

 Bonus!

I’m not going to go into the story details, but here’s Miklan’s team, also in order of acquisition:

♀/Unnerve

♂/Infiltrator

♂/Moxie

♀/Defiant

♀/Levitate

♂/Pickpocket

[browniesnivy]

My Long Essay on Bonz (+his relationship with Bandit Keith and treatment by the author)

This is going to seem really random, but I’ve been thinking a lot about Bonz and Bandit Keith lately. More specifically, I’ve been thinking about how fucked up their relationship is.

Bonz doesn’t have any canon metrics relating to age or height, but information from both the Japanese and American voice actors state that he is somewhere in between the age of 13 and 15 and is about 3′0 tall (or 91 cm) in height. The source I found also states that he “looks 40″ and I don’t know which voice actor said that and I want to call bullcrap, but I suppose it is information nonetheless. We also know from Duel Links that people are terrified of him based solely on his ghastly appearance, as seen when he tries to return Bella’s lost card and she runs away from him because she mistakes him for a genuine ghost. If I recall correctly, Joey made a similar mistake at the beginning of their graveyard duel. Additionally, when Bonz appears in the Duel World for the first time he is very nervous at the sight of all the duelists. This social anxiousness makes a lot of sense considering nobody is willing to give the poor boy a chance, even mistaking him for something unhuman, on what appears to be a regular basis. Even though he has incorporated his ghoulish physique into his interests and personality, it doesn’t seem to be something he can control as he gets very upset when Bella and Joey gang up on him in Duel Links based solely on how spooky he looks and infer thusly that he must be up to no good. This event even makes Bonz consider leaving the Duel World for good to save everyone (including himself) the grief of dealing with his appearance. What I’m trying to say is that Bonz has every reason in the world to be shy and have low self confidence. 

This is when Bandit Keith comes into the picture. Bonz, alongside Sid and Zygor, are accepted into Duelist Kingdom based on their dueling prowess, but nonetheless it seems their confidence is lacking as they are quick to accept Bandit Keith’s offer to take the younger duelists under his wing. Keith is a highly seeded duelist, so of course the three jump on the opportunity to learn a thing or two from him. Now let’s walk in Bonz’s shoes for a moment. Nobody has ever even given this kid the time of day, and suddenly a respected older man sees something in him and offers to help him finally do something spectacular. This could be the big break he’s been looking for: he could finally accomplish something despite his appearance and show the whole world his own worth. It isn’t surprising that Bonz agrees to this arrangement. Additionally, Bonz refers to Bandit Keith as “aniki” or “older brother” in the Japanese version. Keep in mind that this is the same title that Syrus uses to refer to Jaden in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Bonz puts Keith up on a pedestal and expects him to take care of him.

 As you all know, that doesn’t happen. Bandit Keith only intends to use his understudies as pawns and rob them of their star chips, and even before he does that he takes every opportunity to yell at and boss around the younger trio. The way Keith treats these three is obviously horrible, but the fact that they are at the same time to scared of his wrath and naively hopeful of getting their reward makes it all the more so. Through the entirety of Joey and Bonz’s graveyard duel, Keith makes sure Bonz knows he can’t make a single decent move on his own and that the only way for the boy to win is by taking his orders without question. He forces him to comply and doesn’t even take responsibility when the very moves he ordered fail, instead blaming Bonz for screwing up despite him following instructions to a tee. He beats down this poor child and makes him feel worthless so he can get his way, and when his plans ultimately fails and Bonz is defeated he wastes no time making sure he can still squeeze some usefulness out of him. Along with Sid and Zygor, Keith beats up and takes the Star Chips of the people he promised to help before entering the tournament finals himself. He leaves them alone in the forest with no help, throwing the chips in the air tauntingly while laughing at their ignorance. Bandit Keith took advantage of a weird-looking young boy with low self-esteem and used a message of hopefulness and his older and more experienced status to manipulate the kid for his own personal gain. 

After Duelist Kingdom, the dejected trio strike it out on their own. Unlike Bandit Keith, Sid and Zygor are older people who seem to actually have respect for Bonz’s above-average dueling ability. The three use some sneaky tactic to snatch themselves some locator cards, which is of course not honorable, but I can’t say I fault them to much. After all, Bonz at least is just a kid and their last experience with someone being successful involved fear-tactics and trickery, so I’d say if anything this is Bandit Keith’s lingering bad influence. Whatever the case, they certainly don’t deserve the treatment they get from Bakura when he comes slinking around their base of operations. Bakura challenges Bonz to a winner takes all duel, which Bonz accepts. In a terrifying shadow game, Bonz and his companions get their mortal souls sent to literal Hell (or the Shadow Realm depending on who you ask) after they lose to the Spirit of the Ring, and that’s the last we ever see of them in the show.

Up until the release of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, I’m pretty sure a fair number of the fanbase had presumed the trio dead, which I believe was the impression you were supposed to get before the change of plans nearly twenty years later. With this in mind, think of how fucked up this narrative would have been. The story of a child who gets lied to by a person in a position of authority before losing everything and then disappearing without a trace, doomed to wander the eternal depths of the underworld for basically no reason... just thinking about it is seriously bumming me out and is honestly burning my biscuits a bit. Sometimes I think Kazuki Takahashi just really hated kids, considering how many children are either treated as irredeemable pieces of shit despite being perfect young candidates for a life lesson and redemption arc like Weevil or are killed of and/or tortured for a few childlike mistakes like Bonz or Imori. When you look at a lot of Yugi’s classmates who are only seen in the manga, we see a list of frankly disgusting people who try to assault women and bully the weak and set people on fire. The list of horrible things that Yugi’s classmates have done goes on and on, and their mere existence proves to me that Kazuki Takahashi showed a severe lack of understanding or empathy for children. I’m not at all saying that those characters I just mentioned were worthy of redemption, I’m merely stating that the fact he would include characters like that who are so young in age is telling to the author’s character in my opinion. In relation to Bonz’s character, I feel like Takahashi’s treatment of the character was frankly disgraceful. Takahashi has a tendency to make character’s slimy looking and use that as an excuse to think bad things about them, so I doubt any nuance was spent on his characterization aside from being a whipped bitch for Keith to walk all over and a sneaky gremlin for Bakura to murder. It makes my blood boil a bit to be honest. 

Thank Ra for Duel Links, which allows Bonz the opportunity to get revenge on Bandit Keith as well as providing us with some more personality for the boy. He might still be scared of Yami Bakura (and rightfully so), but he’s learning to stand up for himself and preparing to show the world all he’s got! This ending makes me a lot happier then the frankly depressing one we received in canon, and it’s inclusion makes me equal parts warm and fuzzy inside and incredibly relieved. I’m glad Takahashi’s badly treated character was given an opportunity to be explored when put in the hands of the right people. 

I don’t really know what I’m trying to say by bringing all this up, but it’s been taking a toll on my mind for days now and I just really had to get it all off my chest. Bonz is such an underrated character, which really sucks because he has an such interesting dilemma and has so much room to grow as a character if he was featured in more fan-works. Duel Links shows us that he’s very well-intentioned, as shown when he tries to return Bella’s card and even throws in one of his favorite monsters for seemingly no reason other then being nice, while at the same time being really shy and doubtful of himself. Despite that, he is trying to build his confidence by toppling some old enemies, and I feel like that message is both universal and inspiring. Let’s show this boy a little bit more love!

In conclusion, Bonz is a good boy and Bandit Keith and Kazuki Takahashi are dicks.

[natsubeatsrock]

Eleven Chapters That Should Have Stopped You from Wishing for Nalu to be Canon, Including the One Chapter that Stopped Me (Special Two Extra Chapters to Get My Point Across Edition)

Finally, I change up the unfunny light novel title joke with an even less funny fanfic title joke. Fun fact: this was just supposed to be nine chapters, including the bonus chapters.

There were a lot of people upset that Nalu wasn’t confirmed canon. I even saw people who don’t ship Nalu saying that they feel bad for the Nalu fandom being led along by Mashima. Someone even made a post about when Lucy may have fallen in love with Natsu. (Yes I looked for it. Are you proud of me?)

I wasn’t one of those people. In fact, I’m one of the few people I know that expected Nalu not to happen, even from the anti crowd. That might sound shocking to a lot of people, even if you’ve been following me for a while. So I figured now is as good a time as ever to make a post I’ve wanted to do for a while, as a rebuttal to the aforementioned post. 

Here are the things I talked about in the title.

Keep in mind, I’m talking about just the manga. The bonuses are special chapters.The other post dealt with both and moments from the anime. As a side note, that’s an understandably tricky thing that shouldn’t be done/encouraged if you’re going to do analysis period unless it’s to compare the handling of the two. 

#1. Chapter 4 - The Celestial Spirit of Canis Minor

Yes. That early. The instant we saw Natsu and Happy breaking into Lucy’s apartment and trick her into a partnership for a deal we should have stopped liking the possibility of this as a romantic couple. The fact that people going into Lucy’s house uninvited would end up being a running joke, involving multiple characters of varying degrees of importance, is disturbing. The fact that it, more often than not, involves two characters that would involve the fandom’s biggest ship makes it worse.

#2. Chapter 183 - Monster Academy

I’ve made it known that Edolas is the arc where I chose Nali over Nalu. However, that’s not my reason for giving up on Nalu. My reason is Natsu’s plan to use Lucy to seduce their enemies failing. In his complaints about the plan, he figured that someone would find Lucy attractive enough to stop. Now, aside from being a dig at Lucy’s sex appeal (or lack thereof), this could have been used as a springboard for Natsu’s feelings about Lucy. All it would have taken was an explanation that he went with this plan because he finds Lucy attractive and thinks that other people would. Here, it comes off like he doesn’t care about Lucy’s appeal but figured that someone else probably will. It doesn’t help that this happens not too long after not caring about seeing two Lucy’s in undress, aside from it being two Lucy’s. Spoilers: it doesn’t get any better.

#3. Chapter 200 - He Who Snuffs Out Life

I considered adding the moment in the Nirvana arc where Virgo implies that Natsu and Lucy are a couple to this list. That moment barely meant anything in the long run aside from being a joke brought up a few times later. However, I figured that moment makes one of the first moments of Tenrou worse for Nalu. When Lucy is seeing how peaceful Natsu is when he’s sleeping, the joke is that he ends up still being capable of causing pain and destruction. However, this could have easily been handled in a way that helps Nalu. Instead of getting punched out the guild, she remembers Virgo’s comment and leaves the guild because she’s too embarrassed to stay in. 

#4. Chapter 331 - Natsu’s Plan

I don’t think I should have added much of an explanation for this chapter’s inclusion beyond the fact that this chapter was when Natsu groped Lucy and got mad at her for it. However, I do feel that it’s worth mentioning that this and the arc before are considered to be the height of Nalu’s development by a large portion of the fandom. I’ve even said that if Nalu was going to happen, it would have made sense to ride that wave of “development” into Sun Village and start making it clear that they like each other. This is the kind of moment that causes people to want to root against a ship happening. It’s disturbing to think that so many people think of this as a positive development for the ship.

#5. Chapter 355 - Song of the Fairies

Considering what I just said about Sun Village arc, I don’t think that it should come as such a shock that I bring it up as a part of the list. However, the main point I have an issue with is that in this chapter, we get outright confirmation that Natsu isn’t interested in Lucy. Now, I’m not of the belief that the only thing, or even the primary thing, that matters in a romantic relationship. However, lines that flat out say that the appeal of naked Lucy is wasted on Natsu (and Gray, but this is about Nalu) kind of make the idea of them having any enjoyment from groping Lucy, a la the previous moment, seem ridiculous. And this doesn’t help the near equally ridiculous claim that Natsu is somehow “Lucy-sexual”.

#6. Chapter 379 - Tartaros Arc, Part 3: Underworld King.

A while back I got an ask from someone marveling at the fact that fans went from shipping Haru and Elie in Rave Master to Natsu and Lucy. To be fair, there are a few moments that I’ve seen in canon as parallels to the two. While comparing the meaning behind those parallels would be interesting, (another rant for another day) there was this one moment in Rave that was similar to this chapter. Without spoiling too much, Haru realizes that Elie is the reason he fights. In this chapter, Natsu, Lucy and Happy have to search for the thing that they want the most. I have no issue with Natsu’s wish to see Lucy. However, if Lucy is supposed to be in love with Natsu, her desire should have been more directly linked to being with Natsu than to be with her friends and spirits. Especially considering that many Rave fans say that she’s the real parallel to Haru, instead of Natsu.

#7. Chapter 416 - Tartaros Arc, Final Part

Wow. A post citing Natsu leaving Lucy as a reason not to ship Nalu? How original of me. Jokes aside, this was the moment that killed Nalu for me, personally. Look, I totally understand why Natsu decided to leave. However, if Mashima wanted to show the strength of Nalu’s bond, the thing he should have had trouble with was telling Lucy that he had to leave and train, even if it meant telling her he could only do it on his own. Doing it through a letter was a terrible thing for him to do and I’m still pissed off that there was no apology for it. But it’s not like it could get worse, right?

#8. Chapter 424 - Avatar

Oh, not only could it get worse. It actually did. Because not only does the issue of Natsu not apologizing just barely come up. Not only is a reason people still excuse him leaving as romantic delegitimized. Natsu derides Gray for putting Juvia in a similar situation he put Lucy in. Looking back, this is when it should sink in that Mashima wasn’t going to make Natsu the bad guy over this situation. This was going to remain a serious and unresolved issue for the rest of the series.

#9. Chapter 478 - Stealth

As you might expect, I don’t think Alvarez Empire wasn’t a good arc for a lot of people both in and out of the series. But according to some people, this was a good arc for Nalu. This was the arc that I started doing chapter reactions and I’m shocked that sentiment exists.I found the fact that Natsu is unimpressed by an undressed Lucy to be hilarious. Almost as hilarious as the fact that people still liked Nalu after seeing that happen. The thing that kills it for me is that the difference in reaction between Natsu and Loke is like night and day. The fact that someone even cited this as proof that Natsu is a “normal” human being and not asexual makes me want to trade my inability to read Gruvia posts for a similar ability with Nalu. (Of course, then I probably wouldn’t make this post, so…)

#10. Chapter 491 - Fairy Tail ZERØ

I remember when this chapter came out and people were happy that Lucy had become used to being sexually assaulted by Natsu. Even if Lucy being jaded about her current state is the correct interpretation of that moment, consider how embarrassing that statement is for the prospect of Nalu. There is so much sexual harassment involved in the ship, that one character can be reasonably jaded over the prospect of it happening again. At the same time, it’s been established multiple times that Natsu doesn’t find Lucy physically interesting. What is the reason for this happening? More importantly, why are fans happy over this happening?

#11. Chapter 545 - Friends You Can’t Do Without

Yeah, the last chance to quit liking Nalu was at the very end of the series. And I don’t just mean because of the way the series ended. The best thing going for Nalu could be that they’re going to go on the Century Quest and will have time to work on their issues. Frankly speaking, this chapter has many of the issues I’ve had with Nalu up to this point. The entire guild rains on Lucy’s celebration with their crazy antics. When she asks them to calm down,  Natsu dismissed the criticism almost entirely. When Natsu (and Happy) end up at Lucy’s house, they show little to no change in behavior from the time that they first met Lucy. And when Lucy pours her heart out to Natsu, he doesn’t acknowledge it as relevant to the time. I understand that he’s more focused on the present, but the way that manifests itself tells me that if their child was canon, which it isn’t, it would take a good amount of time before happens.

And the bonus moments.

Bonus #1. Special Mission: Beware of Guys Who Show a Keen Interest!

This is one of my favorite chapters and its anime counterpart is one of my favorite episodes. Of course, I was going to add it here. I find it hilarious that Mashima made an entire chapter devoted to the possibility that Natsu likes Lucy being a joke. Even more when you consider that Lucy comes to the conclusion that she’s crazy for fantasizing about a relationship between them. But despite that, this got people interested in the prospect of Nalu. Mashima even admitted that he didn’t plan to have them get together, but people thought otherwise.

Bonus #2. Fairy Tail Stone Age

Look, I get the desire to see interactions between your ships as a reason to celebrate. But this is the absolute worst thing to celebrate if you want to show that Nalu actually is a good idea to happen. Fandom fights over whether or not the events are actually in character for the characters involved in this chapter. However, even if they aren’t. Nothing about the chapter ought to make Nalu shippers feel good about the prospect of canon Nalu. Especially when, of all things, Zervis has the best male-female relationship in the chapter.

There are a few I know I didn’t add but were there any specific chapters you were expecting to see?

[the-colony-roleplay]

COL22EVENT: REBRANDED ➳ PHASE IV: THE FALLOUT

The Rebranding went on without a hitch. Shockingly, even to those three elusive little Messers, the plan went as planned, as well as undetected. Cloths and bandanas were passed out to those brave little deviants who participated, the branding gun was dumped to the bottom of the ocean in the waning hours of the morning (thanks to a certain Trade Merchant and much to the dismay of another certain Black Market hustler), and by the end of night, no one knew quite who had started the whole thing, who exactly they’d heard the rumours from—since everything had gone around in bits and pieces, from here and there—or who those masked, voiceless individuals were that had done the tattooing in the dark shadows of the quarry. 

No one, except those unnamed three, of course, and their few trusted allies sworn to secrecy. 

By morning, a couple dozen renegades braced themselves for the consequences that were sure to come, only no one knew when, or how. It was a disquieting time, a both thrilling and harrowing waiting game, everyone on bated breath, waiting ready at the defence for the other shoe to drop. 

And drop it did—but not for two and a half days. 

For two and a half full days, participants in the rebranding movement managed to go about their business, keeping their tattoos hidden under long sleeves, or wrist bands, when necessary. Some people even wore the cloth wrapped around both wrists, so as to draw less attention to the offending arm in question. 

Really, it was something of a miracle the evidence of the rebellion snuck under the radar as long as it did. But it’s being said that Elites who may have noticed a couple of arm bands, didn’t think much of it. At least—not at first. 

But all it took was one guard, and one suspicious moment, for everything to topple like dominos. When a patrolling security officer noticed his third black wrist wrap in a row, he grabbed passing Calyset civilian, Roy Walters, calmly but firmly by the forearm. The guard scrutinized Roy with a slow-burn, dubious look, before shifting his attention to the bandana itself, turning over the hand in his grip and pushing aside the cloth. 

It took three solid seconds of blank confusion and then a dawning, crawling frown, for the guard to piece together what he was looking at. A double check of Roy’s stats in his PDD confirmed it. 

Two minutes later, Roy was squirming under the seething gazes of the Chancellor and his representatives, and the entire security team was being ordered to round up each and every citizen and herd them back to their dorms, where a middle of the day roll-call would be executed and every wrist would be checked for similar signs of infraction.

And so a crackling, urgent message rang out over the P.A. system, bringing every active schedule and rotation, all over Colony grounds, to a screeching halt: 

“Attention civilians of Colony 22. Due to a severe breach of Colony Mandate, all personnel are to report to their corresponding houses immediately for roll call. No exceptions. Your cooperation is appreciated. Anyone who resists this order will be detained. Thank you.” 

The very same message flashed on the screens of hundreds of PDDs, all of which were now vibrating and blinking red and orange lights. 

With that, the waiting game was over. There would be no running, no avoiding this. The moment had been well anticipated, anyhow. Civilians went as they were told—some more quietly than others. Some with adrenaline pumping through their veins, some with shaking fingers. 

Each Head of House (or Elite House Representative) was instructed to check every wrist, of every man, woman, human and child. Every civilian discovered to have an illegal tattoo was dragged off to the correctional wing by a security officer and thrown into a cell to join the others of their ‘kind’. With not enough cells to go around for a violation of this scope, there were three or four civilians per cell, by the time the roll call was complete. 

To say that Clove Modius and other NWRF Reps were positively fuming, blindsided, and fuming because they felt blindsided, would be an understatement. 

Clove strode from the security office (and makeshift interrogation room), and didn’t slam the door—no matter how much she felt like she had the right to. This was mayhem. No one seemed able to provide much more than a bare minimal description of the tattoo artist—though some had given the names of individuals who had spread the information to them at the party, those individuals gave other names, and so on, ad nauseum.

So they were left hunting for a phantom in a black cloak and a gas mask, with no identifying features—not even a proper eye colour, or height for God’s sake, since they’d reportedly been seated. And all of it, this whole investigation, was still operating under some useless restrictions. Her suspicions (and she had a few) couldn’t be confirmed or denied, at least not like this, in the bright glare of day and under scrutiny from the whole colony on how the NWRF was dealing with it.

There had to be some way to make them crack, to make one of them reveal something more helpful. Clove just didn’t know what it was, yet.

She steeled herself, and marched over to the guard. “Next prisoner, please.”

Lined up like convicts in cages, the Rebranded Delinquents were berated, questioned, and threatened for any information they might have on who did this to them, and how. But results were frustratingly non-lucrative and interrogators spent hours going around in circles, getting no closer to answers. 

And so, by the end of a very long day, with lots of arguing in offices between Elite and NWRF, the conclusion that eventually rolled out was firstly that all fraudulent brands would be changed back immediately the next morning. Which also meant that all detained citizens spent the night of November 3rd in correctional.

Following that, all citizens directly involved in the rebranding would be put on a ‘probationary period’ of sorts, wherein they undergo four weeks of constant surveillance. Citizens on probation are to be escorted everywhere, from their dorms to their classes, to their training, and to meals. They will not be permitted to go anywhere on their own, and even their free hours will be monitored. 

Furthermore, the only way to see an early end to this surveillance, is if someone reveals the identity of those responsible for the rebranding. In other words, all those who stay silent will suffer. But since this particular plan of action had been executed with the consequences in mind, precautions had been taken. There were very few people who even had the answers the NWRF were looking for. And three of five of them were the Messers themselves, who would have nothing to gain from giving themselves up, except for perhaps relieving their friends from the constant watchful eye of the Reformists. 

But the consequences, in a way, were all a part of the success of the movement, of the point being made. Could all those in the know keep their mouths shut long enough for the NWRF to give up looking and accept the loss of this particular battle? Could this be the first battle won on the side of the Rebels, Radicals and everything in between? Withstanding a month of scrutiny would be taxing, certainly—but the Infected and Deluded weren’t the only ones being watched. Now all eyes in the Colony were on the NWRF, and how this supposedly ‘fair’ government would respond to these acts of insurgence. For as a dominating faction which was still claiming to have everyone’s best interests in mind, the NWRF had a reputation to uphold and had to play their cards right. 

The funny thing was, this move by those opposed the new government would appear to be something like a pawn putting a King in check. The players knew it—and so did the NWRF. And the players knew the NWRF knew it. 

And so, that in and of itself had ensured that a message had been sent: 

We’re here, we see you, and we will not go down without a fight. 

Well, there it is folks! 

As I’m sure you guessed it: 

THIS POST MARKS THE CLOSE OF THE OFFICIAL REBRANDED EVENT, AND THE LAUNCH OF THE AFTERMATH, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “PHASE IV: THE FALLOUT.”

With the ‘event’ status of the dash now over, you will now all be permitted to post non-event starters and threads. Here are some things to note about moving forward: 

You may of course continue your event threads, but please make sure they are tagged and titled as event threads. (At this point they are likely already all titled, so that should be fine). 

You may not post any new event threads unless they are specifically backdated plot explorations, in which case they should be titled and tagged clearly:

These should only be for extensions of plots that were already in action. So you may not add any plots to the event timeline, as it would not have been accounted for. For example, if your character did not go to get a tattoo, and you did not send in a message about it, it is too late to do so. If you plan on doing any backdated plot extensions, they must be run by the mods first just so we can help make sure it’s canon-safe.

You may start rp threads starting the morning after the party (November 1st) and beyond. Due to the extended duration of this event, we wanted to allow things to move forward and to give you all lots of flexibility in exploring your post-event storylines: 

For example, you may want to have a thread exploring your characters’ interactions the very first day after the party. Or you might want to have threads in the tense ‘waiting period’ of those two and a half days where the rebellions went undetected by the authorities. Were other civilians finding out about it? Were whispers and rumours being spread? What were the reactions of those who didn’t hear about it the night of? Alternatively, you may want to explore plots with your character getting interrogated by the NWRF, or those long hours they were detained in their cells. Were they excited? Scared? Regretting their decision? 

To help facilitate the flexible exploration of this over arcing aftermath time period, we have established three aftermath categories. ‘Rebel’s Window’, ‘Exile’ and ‘Inquisition’. Please use them as follows: 

For RP threads in the time span of the 2 and a half days before the discovery, please use the tag #col22fallout. Please also include ‘Rebel’s Window’ somewhere in your title. 

For RP threads involving the the mid-day roll call (on that 3rd day after the event, and the first day of discovery, so November 3rd) and interrogations, please use the tag #col22fallout. Please also include ‘Inquisition’ somewhere in the title of the thread.

For threads involving the cell detainment, either when they are first put there, or while they are staying there overnight, please use the tag #col22fallout. Please also include “Exile” somewhere in the title. 

Anything beyond these first three days, when probation has begun for those characters who were punished, does not to be tagged or titled any special way, as it will be an ongoing issue and will be outside the official aftermath of the event. These will just be standard procedure timeline and tagging. 

We will notify you when the probation has been lifted—or if there are any other plot-development related hiccups on the way! ;) 

Remember that self-paras are also acceptable ways to explore event aftermath, as are gif chats and paras. (You may even chose to do multi-character threads—3 or more muses—in some cases.)

As promised, below is a list of all tattooed characters who would have been detained by the NWRF on November 3rd. 

Lake Valentine

Corbin Ealy

Orson Hurst

Mason Quinley

Benji Imes

Clayton Boyd

Roy Walters

And here are some open bios selected to also be NPC participants, due to currently being considered canon colony citizens. We have linked to their bios for your convenience!

Issoria Feinberg

Madison Vega

Caelan Kip Whitmer

Minka Vane

Finally, here is a list of the cell groups during the detainment period! You are encouraged to roleplay with characters you haven’t had a chance to yet, or you don’t get to frequently! These characters spend the better part of 24 hours locked in a small cell together—explore this however you might like!

CELL1: Lake Valentine, Clayton Boyd, Jelka Dreher

CELL 2: Corbin Ealy, Roy Walters, Madison Vega, Issoria Feinberg

CELL 3: Benji Imes, Orson Hurst, Mason Quinley, Minka Vane

And for all those characters who were not tattooed or detained—we highly encourage you to explore the many other plot opportunities! They were subject to the roll-call just like everyone else. They may have noticed or been told about their friend’s tattoos before the NWRF found out. They may have heard whispers, or rumours. How did they react to the sudden Colony lock down? Did Elites try to interfere? Did Uninfected try to visit or help the detained civilians? We definitely encourage any Elite characters who might have been involved in the madness of the authorities trying to figure out what to do  about the delinquents, to rp out some of that juicy drama! And there are definitely options for Uninfected civilians as well!

Remember, here at the Colony, we encourage your own creative input and plot development, because it’s your RP too, so as always, feel free to hit us with any idea you have! We will help you navigate through any plots you want to explore with your character—we can also help you brainstorm if you know you want to participate someway, but are unsure how! Never be afraid to reach out :)

Now, Godspeed, have fun, and ask as many questions as you need!

Love all ya nerds!!

xxMods

[grandemasterpyrokitsune]

Happy 10th!

The time has finally come to talk about why PaF is so important. Really, anyone could do this anytime, but this date alone has a significance to it. To any of my followers who don’t know(and will sit through this brick wall of text to find out), today is the 10th anniversary of the sneak peek premiere of Phineas and Ferb; technically, February 2008 is when it officially premiered around the world, but I’m sure that everyone else in the fandom is eager to kick off the celebration today. I’m sure this will turn out to be a multi paged thesis, so I’ll try to split this up into parts.

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

PART 1: Best Day Ever

Anyway, ten years ago today marks the 10th anniversary of Phineas and Ferb. This show is considered an old soul of sorts, enjoying a long lifespan of 8 years, tons of merchandising and entertainment opportunities, the admiration and respect of many celebrities, and a very long summer. As formulaic as it appears, this show has more history to it than it appears to have.

PART 2:Busted

(This part details history of Disney’s TV animation ventures and basically life before PaF. Feel free to skip if you’re clued in to its history.)

The 2000s were considered a lousy time for TV animation . While many say it's the "worst" decade for it(whether worldwide or just in North America), I'd call it a transitional period. The 90s was an exciting a refreshing time for TV animation where the stories were driven by the creators, not toy designers. I would generally consider it more of the same from the Golden Age of Animation but more modern. The 2000s had newer technologies to work with and perfect while the ‘90s mainly just worked w/ cel animation and did it so well. Flash and CG were in their infancy, so I assume the software got a bit more attention than the stories. Primarily, companies were just looking to work with more cost effective options to make their shows with. It was a rough period,but far from the worst. Anyway, this kind of TV animation is still a relatively new type of animation. Disney were the first ones to spearhead this movement and they made three or four blocks of new cartoon for different generations of kids. 

The first block(formally known as Disney Afternoon)was ushered in with three pilots; Fluppy Dogs, Wuzzles and Ducktales. While the former two merely tested the waters and the latter was the only one successful, all three were made with stellar animation and complex storytelling for what everyone knew as entertainment for kids. After the success of Ducktales, Disney was brimming with pride and made seven years worth of cartoons for this block. Even if some cartoons didn't strike people the right way, they were still wildly memorable. While their D.C. original programming generally doesn't get more than short compilation discs, the DA 'toons get full series releases digitally and through DVD. This prompted to launch One Saturday Morning on ABC. 

With the acquisition of Nicktoon Doug, Disney paired it up with Recess and Pepper Ann, chasing after the success they had a few years before. The aforementioned series were the highest rated on the block while other series are more obscure and buried by Disney. They are acknowledged as good but were overshadowed by 24/7 network like Nick and Cartoon Network bringing a lot more cartoons to a lot more times of the day. 

Disney started to notice how much of an animated surplus they had and that they air their cartoons for weeks on end. Thus, Toon Disney was founded,which became a more visible hub for the cartoon blocks of the 90s and all other ages of Disney. At one point,they started airing Sonic the Hedgehog and making their own co-productions under their most popular TV cartoon brand, Jetix. As extensive as these programs got, they were being seen by fewer and fewer people. 

To overlap slightly with the end of OSM, Disney started making more cartoons for the Channel’s demographic. Shows like Kim Possible, Lilo and Stitch, and American Dragon:Jake Long began airing and netting extraordinary ratings. In fact, Disney Channel was probably most successful in the early 2000s. It found its new groove if you will with its signature style of tween/teen sitcom and animated series. The former seem to have more clout on the network after the premiere of Lizzie McGuire,solidifying the formula. Similar to OSM, many cartoons were more or less not acknowledged the way they were 10 years before. Since sitcoms dominated because they were faster and cheaper to make, it seemed that the outcome was better. Over the course of the period (c. 2002-2008) they released the smallest selection of DC cartoons ever while the sitcoms got more and more press. It’s unclear what Disney was going to do next, but soon summer of 2007 came along...

PART 3: Gotta Make Summer Last

Disney Channel aired the premiere of High School Musical 2 and decided to air the first episode of PaF afterwards. As a result HSM 2 netted 17.6 million views and PaF 10.8 million views. We could easily deduce that eager HSM fans made up the clout of viewers, but that’s not to say the show couldn’t prove interesting to viewers anyway. In fact, Disney delayed its original 2007 release in the US to release it in February in multiple countries. Places such as Latin America, Brazil, Japan, France and Portugal got to experience the show right along with us. International promotion was rolled out which only netted PaF even more press. It became one of Japan’s most popular Western cartoons, it got wild promotion in Latin America and most of Europe(all around) made excellent dubs and gave it the lion’s share of time slots. This was a pretty good outcome all things considered.

Thus the cycle began. First came DVDs and games, then came interviews and guest spots, than movies, Disney park attractions, live events and then omnipresence.... scratch that last one, but you get the idea. The TV Movie itself was more or less the peak of the show. It remains the 10th most watched DCOM premiere of all time and the show remains one of the longest running animated series of the main Disney networks(DC, XD, and Junior). I think the last time Disney mass merchandised a TV cartoon this much was Lilo and Stitch(last one not already a franchise was Doug or Recess). The show is even part of the Marvel and Star Wars universes(non canonically of course)Even then, Disney elevated the show to new heights. It had everything Disney wanted; likeable protagonists, innocent motifs, enough songs to last for days, episodic adventures, and tons of mass marketing appeal. This simple show connected people across the world(if the Tumblr/DA fandoms for PaF were any indicator)through its mult-faceted music and rudimentary themes. While this show raised the bar, it also left the bar to be raised another notch by...

PART 4: Meet the Man of Mystery

In 2012, Gravity Falls premiered as a sneak peek behind DCOM Let it Shine. While not an instant ratings hit, it quickly became one of the most critically acclaimed Disney TV cartoons of all time. The spotlight quickly began to fade on the smartest stepbrothers around as new episodes were coming infrequently. While the numbers were still big enough to make Teen Titans Go mutter in awed jealousy, it still was becoming less of a force on the main network. However on Disney XD, it was still Adored by the Network. I remember how I felt watching day long marathons several times a month, sometimes without reason. Despite its mass appeal, Phineas and Ferb could be classified easily as a boy targeted program due to the protagonists and the subject matter. Until XD found its groove, they would continue to spam PaF for what felt like eons. To this day, they still occasionally air it in primetime slots.

The way I wrote this last part may sound cynical,jaded, and/or pessimistic. However, it’s written that way to emphasize another point. After the success of this series, Disney went from relying on a few filler shows to releasing a new show basically every year and truly giving them all the promotion they could. While not all series got the treatment we all wanted them to have, a lot more of them have come and gone to try to re-innovate and reinvigorate the brand. Phineas and Ferb (more or less) singlehandedly convinced Disney TV to put more stock in their animation division. Don’t know how many Fallers know this but Disney actually asked Alex Hirsch to make his pilot for them after seeing his work. They were actively seeking out new talent and new stories. Honestly, while Kick Buttowski and Pickle and Peanut got a lot of flac in the day, they were(to an extent) a sign that the House of mouse was trying to experiment and make something they liked to see. The latter especially seemed like a personal pet project of XD’s off sense of humor. 

I’m sure the networks would have reinvented their cartoons eventually, but PAF brought it out in the best way.  In a way the boys were kind of dc celebrities in their heyday. When you can summon a bunch of popular characters from the live action sitcoms to dance for possibly hours for a two minute music video in the name of a teal platypus made out of digital ink and pixels, that’s pretty special indeed.

CONCLUSION

Phineas and Ferb is my favorite animated series,explaining why I can info dump mostly from memory as I have in this post. While many have told me that it’s nothing special, to me it stands out as the brightest diamond in the rough and a shining testament to the duality of animation in general. Ten years from now, I hope that I can write better when I must wax sentimentality about my favorite cartoon show. Thanks to the cast, crew, creators, and fans for making summer last. See you at the 20th!

[scifi4wifi]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is like no other film before it.

I think that is the only statement I can make about the eighth episode in the Skywalker saga upon which everyone will be able to agree. Writer/director Rian Johnson, of 2012’s Looper, has crafted an expedition into mysteries of the Force and the fate of the galaxy that will leave fans debating for years to come, about both the questions it raises and the way it tells its story.

Personally, I loved it. Where does it fall on my ranking of Star Wars films? At the moment, I’d say that’s a bit like asking me to rank a cupcake on a list of favorite fruits; although delicious, it’s so different as to defy comparison. But this film is no dessert; this bittersweet epic has more substance than its 2015 predecessor, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, leaving my appetite more than whetted.

Okay, enough food metaphors…you’re hungry for details (sorry, last one). The Last Jedi delivers on Johnson’s promises of a character piece, which casts each member of its pantheon of protagonists (with legacy characters returning alongside the stars of The Force Awakens while three key new faces enter the fray) into a crucible of moral trial in ways we haven’t quite seen from Star Wars before. Where The Force Awakens was a fun romp but somewhat predictable, The Last Jedi  takes risks. The punchy dialogue, even more humorous and plentiful than The Force Awakens, pervades even the tensest scenes, but that’s not to say The Last Jedi lacks appropriate gravitas when necessary. Just ask the Disney security guard who had to ask the sobbing mess that was this writer if he was okay at the end of the screening. This film hurts, and it hurts so good.

NEW ADVENTURES ON STAR TOURS — In a new adventure inspired by the upcoming film, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi,’ guests on Star Tours Ð The Adventures Continue at Disneyland Park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will discover a thrilling new journey to the farthest reaches of space and find themselves in the middle of an epic battle on Crait. (Illustration: Disney Enterprises, Inc./Lucasfilm Ltd.)

Scene from Star Tours as the Star Speeder follows an Alliance Ski Speeder on an attack run against First Order forces.

Alliance speeders race across the mineral flats of Crait to attack First Order forces in this still from the Last Jedi trailer

Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Mark Hamill (Luke) in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” – {image via Lucasfilm}

{image via Lucasfilm}

While the film is certainly well-written, it is the acting by the core cast that takes The Last Jedi to new heights. With heightened stakes for each of these characters, we get into their heads more and more. Supporting roles in the previous film, like Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron and Domhnall Gleeson’s General Hux, play more pivotal roles this time around, while our beloved late princess Carrie Fisher gives perhaps her strongest performance yet as a significantly more prominent General Leia Organa, at the helm of a Resistance not sure how to proceed without its Republic backing following the destruction of its capital during The Force Awakens. Equally responsible for the emotional weight of the film is Mark Hamill, returning as Luke Skywalker (visually and verbally this time). As the titular character, Hamill portrays a broken, troubled Luke Skywalker with beautiful nuance along every inch of his complex character arc.

Let me answer the ubiquitous question now: it is not a rehash of The Empire Strikes Back. Sure, trailers showed us Jedi training, speeders racing towards walkers, and other familiar visuals, but apart from scattered, momentary story beats, the similarities end there. Where it was said that The Force Awakens needed to revisit the 1977 original Star Wars: A New Hope’s Campbellian hero’s journey structure as a springboard from which to dive into a new story, we are now in the freefall, with all its flips and twists. The Last Jedi is as careful to preserve its mythic foundations as it is to break new ground, with characters taking unexpected but ultimately logical progressive steps towards the story’s stunning conclusion, upon which I can’t wait to see Episode IX, to be helmed by J.J. Abrams for a 2019 release, build.

I can, however, think of one area in which The Last Jedi fell short. As was the case with the Jakku wildlife in The Force Awakens, some creatures, including the porgs, are occasionally accomplished with practical effects where CGI might actually be more believable. I’m not sure if this is for nostalgia’s sake or to continue setting the film apart from Lucas’s prequel trilogy (I’m inclined to believe the former, as this film acknowledges its predecessors in dialogue more overtly than the last), but a questionable alien creature, accomplished via a practical effect, it would seem, actually broke my immersion during what, as written, should have been my favorite scene of the film, but could have passed for a high-end fan film were it not for the human cast. Regarding the porgs, the issues are infrequent, and I am still firmly #TeamPorg. The vulptices, crystal foxes featured in promotional material, are stunning nonetheless, perhaps the best creature effect of the entire film.

Where visuals may be lacking in terms of the animatronics, the stunning worlds of the film more than compensate, while keeping smooth the journeys between them. From the salt wastes of Crait, rich in whites and reds, to the verdant island temple of Ahch-To, to the warm corridors of the Resistance fleet and the stark halls of the First Order’s war machine, The Last Jedi makes certain we know exactly where we are at any point in the action, despite a steady flow of creative transitions and smash-cuts. This is, of course, underscored masterfully by an eighth virtuosic score by John Williams. While new themes are understandably less abundant than in The Force Awakens, it is new arrangements and experimentation with the most familiar themes that perhaps best represent The Last Jedi’s fusion of old and new.

I think it is safe to say that I adored The Last Jedi, despite a few flaws. I think it is also safe to say that the film will provoke much debate, including as to whether or not it broadens or shatters the definition of a Star Wars Episode, whether that’s a good thing or not, and whether Rian Johnson deserves the helm of a new Star Wars trilogy, such as he’s been granted. Not everyone will love such a strange, bold, risk-taking, new kind of Star Wars story. But I believe this discussion is to the credit of The Last Jedi, as while it would have been impossible to deliver the sequel to please everyone, it certainly delivers a fast-paced and engaging adventure that is, in the opinion of this writer, worthy of the Star Wars canon. Just go in with a mind as open as the maw of a sarlacc (pre-Special-Edition-beak), and heed the words of the last Jedi: “This is not going to go the way you think!”

Star Wars: The Last Jedi releases in theaters across the United States on Friday, December 15.

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At Long Last, Our Review of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” Star Wars: The Last Jedi is like no other film before it. I think that is the only statement I can make about the eighth episode in the Skywalker saga upon which everyone will be able to agree.