#there’s obviously more but this post is already too long

[wasyago]

Please more Trail's gone cold au I'm begging you I need it just pour out every thought in your brain I want to hear it

hgdhhfbd i mean, sure why not

everything plot related is in the main post, there's nothing else really to tell. but i could share random details that didn't really fit into the lore drop. again tho, it's a small au and mostly an exploration of the concept, so there's not a lot.

❄️ gem and etho are siblings, i don't think it was mentioned anywhere? blood related and all that, they both have black hair, gem just dyes hers.

❄️ behind the scenes reasons for the order of deaths. generally i picked these three to be the main cast because i suddenly realized pet crew were just dungeon master and his two winners, and that was too crazy of a concept to not do anything with? so, tango as the main guy and actual master of the dungeon had to die first, seeing how he's the cave's favorite. pearl as the main explorer and as the one to unlock all the secrets had to die second, because she had to return to the dungeon / the cave to find out the truth, and she conquered it but never actually got out. and etho had to survive, because he's the "proper" winner and the one who actually escaped the dungeon with treasures.

❄️ lore reasons for the order of infection. tango you already know, but pearl and etho went in at the same time so in theory they had to start experiencing the effects together. but because etho was wearing a mask it did lessen the amount of sculk he inhaled, slowing down the process. wear masks kids!

and, well, you did say you wanted to hear every thought so. i really like the plot point of them leaving tango to die, so im gonna ramble a little about it. even just, the difference in their views on the situation is so satisfying to me. because tango had no idea something scary was happening to him! and for pearl and etho it was a life or death situation. and just-- they were talking about leaving tango and tango obviously, obviously, protested, because what the actual hell??? yes okay he's ill and a burden, but don't leave an ill guy to freeze to death in a cave, what is wrong with them????? or, okay, what is wrong with etho, pearl was against the idea. but, straight up tango did not plan for it to end this way, he had his whole life ahead of him and so many things ha still wanted to do! of course he cried when they left, what else was he supposed to do? thank etho for his awesome decision? be all cool and stoic and sacrifice himself? hell no, he didn't want to die, he never asked for this.

he did die tho, so. whomp whomp 🎺... i imagine he passed before pearl and etho even reached the stairs, so at least he didn't suffer for long. if he had a breakdown about being left alone he probably hyperventilated and inhaled like a ton more sculk, so that killed him even faster. must've sucked tho...

and then pearl, god, pearl.... she didn't encounter any dangers on the way back, since she wasn't trying to escape and the cave had no reason to be hostile towards her. but seeing how she was at the last stage before turning... she probably didn't get to tango before collapsing... not dying just yet, but too feverish and too weak to walk. but if tango was already back, he could very much go and find her. can you imagine the pure horror of drowning in your regrets as you slowly die and then having your supposedly already dead friend appear in front of you all cheery and oh so wrong. i dont know how much of tango is left in that thing, but the image of him sitting by pearl and holding her until she dies is so-- its haunting but it's sweet. and then there's still enough time to catch up with etho.

actually, gahhhh, all three pet povs are their own unique horror story and it's so good.

the horror of having to go through this terrifying experience, and then being the only survivor, knowing full well that the only reason you lived is because you left your friends to die, and there's no way of fixing it now.

the horror of everything falling apart around you because of miscommunication, and then the one time you decide to do it right you end up regretting every single decision and witnessing the direct result of your mistakes come for you.

the horror of being stupid... the horror of losing all control over your life and being betrayed in the moment of your most vulnerability, dying fully and utterly helpless.

this au is so sad but i love it so much...

okay wow that's enough for one post, ask more if you want tho!

[1moreff-creator]

What are some dynamics (in terms of like, foils/parallels) that you enjoy in DRDT?

you’re staring at a forest and asking me for every tree i like. do you want me to write another 28k word post /lh

I jest, of course, but not about the number of interesting foils in this series. It does a fantastic job tying everyone into several key themes in ways that make their dynamics endlessly enriching for my silly little character parallel-loving brain. So, uh, get ready for a long-ish post?

CW: One mention of self-harm, self-loathing

Teruko-David: I mean, you gotta start at the center, yeah? David’s the closest thing to a “main antag” we have, and it’s no wonder; the guy’s built like a standard DR protag, obviously he’s gonna have a cool dynamic with the actual protagonist. 

These two could breathe a bit weird and somehow parallel each other doing it, that’s how much this foil permeates both their characters. From their fatalistic outlooks on the world (“my luck will always be terrible, I’ll always be betrayed” vs “people can’t change, the world sucks���), the ways they hide their feelings (Teruko was more distrustful than she first presented herself as, but cares about people more than she shows during most of CH2; while David has an entire different persona up to 2-11 and then pretends to be worse than he actually is), the self-loathing (Teruko refuses to think she could be a good person, David has the whole “inhuman” thing going on), down to the oddball sibling figure (Terubro “I know nothing about you” Tawaki vs Diana “I’m not even sure you exist” Chiem).

There’s their feelings about Xander and Min, too, which are all over the place. Obviously we all saw in 2-12 how much the British twink fucked both of them up severely, with Teruko rejecting any positive or yearning feelings she may have had about Xander (you can’t hide the cactus scene from us girl) while David vehemently defended him from any criticism. On the other side, Min is less of a narrative poltergeist (for now; XF-Ture exists), but she still comes up with them, with David calling her pathetic eleven episodes after Min hugs Teruko and Teruko’s internal monologue gives away how much she cares about the Student. 

And these parallels play into their weird-ass dynamic very well, because their beefing is founded on their similarities and their differences, out of projecting their self-loathing to someone similar at the same time they hate each other because of their disagreements on things like Xander. Crazy stuff.

Xander-Min: Mentioning these two second because they’re also Eternal Parallels. There’s almost not a single thing about these two that isn’t somehow reflected on the other. If you projected them onto each other’s direction, you would get no perpendicular component. Get it, ‘cuz they’re completely parallel- That is, by far, the nerdiest joke I’ve ever made, I apologize.

But come on. Their attitudes towards fate (the Rebel fighting it and Min resigning herself to the XF-Ture thing), the whole “holding on to the past vs wanting to move on from the past” thing, the similarities between how they actually feel about the education system (they have issues with it) contrasted with the things they actually do in respects to that (Min is still the Ultimate Student, but Xander dislikes that), their already mentioned contrasting connections to Teruko and David… Just, absolutely everything about them is a meaningful contrast. And it comes into play a lot, with their eternal beef being born largely out of these parallels. They’re awesome.

Teruko-Ace: Pretty topical for post-CH2. Ace’s entire arc is sort of a reflection of Teruko’s, yet taken to the extreme because of one particular point of contrast; Ace feared death, Teruko doesn’t think she can die. But he still basically serves as a demonstration of all the flaws in Teruko’s all mindset; the feeling of unchangeable fate, the complete lack of trust, all the good stuff. It basically allows an exploration of Teruko’s mindset from an outside perspective, which makes it easier to see the flaws in it.

Ace-Nico: Also topical, these recap foils go kinda insane. Their motives for murder, their contrasting talents (love for animals on Nico's side and fear of horses on Ace's), the way they relate to the rest of the cast, Ace's persecution complex vs Nico actively disliking how much Hu defends them, etc., it’s all very fun to see play out. 

Ace-Levi: The one who doesn’t care but protects others and tries his best to be a good person so he can be accepted in society without having issues, vs the guy that acts like an asshole because he’s scared of caring too much and he thinks the only way he can get out alive is by being the only one to survive. This leads to a fundamental misunderstanding between them that causes some of the most doomed yaoi of all time, which is the whole “Levi getting frustrated at not understanding Ace.” 

Arei-David: You’ve presumably watched 2-13, so I don’t think I need to explain all the awesome stuff that’s come from their shared themes of “good people” and self-betterment and all that. Not to mention, David’s little breakdown over Arei trusting the letter of the only friend she had being presumably born from the way he saw Xander as the only friend he had. Shit goes crazy.

Arei-Eden: Recap foils… Good people… The choice to be kind… Etc… Woah :O

Teruko-Charles: Ah, Teru’s recap foil. This one’s basically opposite of Ace’s, where Charles used to be sort of like Teruko acted in CH2, but later became a bit friendlier, if still somewhat prickly. Basically, if Ace highlights Teruko’s character traits from CH2, Charles post CH1 serves as more or less the “end goal” in a way. It goes beyond that, too, with the whole memory issues (prosopagnosia vs childhood amnesia) and, again, mysterious siblings (Terubro and Elliot what are your deals), so it’s always neat to rotate these two in the brain.

Veronika-Levi: We really don’t know too much about Vero, which always makes it a bit harder when analyzing these dynamics, but they already got some interesting points of contrast. Neither of them are particularly concerned about the deaths of the others, at least post-CH2 (Levi doesn’t grieve and Vero actively laughs at Ace’s death), but it comes from almost opposite ends of perspective. Levi doesn’t understand others because he doesn’t feel much empathy (if any at all), while Vero seems to treat the others not as people, but almost as characters to be analyzed (that’s the impression I get, at least), which makes her come off as very good at reading people but also occasionally causes her to see them as sources of entertainment first and foremost. Not to mention there’s also the fact they’re both very different people than they were in the past (Levi was some form of delinquent and now is a good person, Vero used to be outdoorsy and then no longer was). Wow that’s… more than I thought there was- How am I finding more interesting foils just by writing more???

Hu-Levi: I kinda talked about this in my CH2 PT2 analysis so read that ig.

J-Rose: A pair of recap foils who haven’t had too much yet, but a lot of their themes, in particular about fate and privilege and stuff, are pretty noticeable with them, so this is always a fun dynamic to consider.

Levi-Arturo: More recap foils, this one’s fun because of the dead family member :) Also things like their talents being related to aesthetics and both doing the things they do for a better life.

Veronika-Hu: This one’s kinda more hypothetical, since Vero in particular hasn’t had as much direct focus as other characters yet, but that’s part of what makes them fun. Past history of self-harm (even if brought on by very different feelings) is just the first of many parallels they could have, and it’s fun to see the contrast between Hu defending Nico to the ends of the Earth and Vero talking about how much she likes Arturo because of how awful he is. They’re really silly.

David-Whit: All the recap foils are fun, but I've always struggled to see this one in particular. Partly because I feel like I know less about Whit than I know about Mai :v Still, certain things like Whit ignoring anything that upsets him which connects to David constantly lying about his real feelings for his fans, which is probably what leads to David's outburst at Whit in the second trial.

Teruko-MonoTV: Because fate. Really this is here plainly because it’s just a funny as hell dynamic to even consider lol.

Teruko-Mai: Have they interacted? Has Mai had enough screen time to truly determine that this parallel truly exists? Do we even know a single theme that Mai’s character touches on for certain? No and it doesn’t matter! Because these two are clearly connected somehow and the whole “someone dearly loved - someone dearly unloved” thing makes me ill. Mai is getting mentioned in this post and you're not stopping it.

Mai-Whit: Fuck it! “We tend to idolize the dead” dynamic!!! It's very speculative, but this one’s just fun to ponder even if we have even less idea of what could be going on between the two than with Mai-Teruko.

Anyways ready for a few themes that run through a lot of characters?

David-Levi-Nico-Rose: The “feeling disconnected from the rest of humanity’s experiences” gang!!!

Min-Rose-Hu-Veronika-Arturo: The “wants to move on from the past” gang!!!

Min-Arei-Teruko-Ace: The “trying to fix mistakes” gang!!!

Teruko-David-Eden-Arei-Levi-Xander: The “what makes a good person?” gang!!!

Teruko-David-Xander-Min-J-Whit-Ace-Rose-MonoTV-Probably everyone else: Fate!!!!

And there’s more than I’m probably forgetting because I can’t possibly check every conceivable connection between these guys. At least I hope I covered most of the major ones. Thanks for the ask, these dynamics are always fun to think about!

[hopelessdelusional]

matt sturniolo x influencer! reader

reader is grunge! a singer! and on social media (this is very niche i apologize) i will be building this AU more so stay tuned!

｡･:*˚:✧

hey so i’ve hyper fixated onto an CIS. STRAIGHT. WHITE. BOY. someone put me down i cannot do this anymore please this is a cry for help needs to euthanize me-

｡･:*˚:✧

enjoy ദ്ദി(｡•̀ ᗜ^)

join the taglist

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ homebase

to start, you have been close friends with jake for a long time, and thru him you met tara and johnny before meeting the triplets

jake pretty much always has you in his videos, so much so whenever you aren't in a video the fans have started to request for your presence on videos that don't have you in them

you're not all that active on social media, only posting random covers of your favorite songs on your youtube channel and random tiktoks

in jake's videos you are always making him laugh, and out of the two you're more calm with a dry sense of humor

'...do you like it?"

"yeah because me immediately spitting it out and chugging my drink after eating it obviously shows how much i love this fucking candy"

OR

"hey jake did you want to get dinner tonight-"

"..."

"why the fuck is johnny in a baby costume."

in tara's videos you and her literally talk for HOURS and the way tara could make four separate videos from one recorded hang out is ridiculous

with Carrington the two of you easily match each other's energy, always giggling in the back of videos

you've also done singing collabs with jake and johnny! there are a couple of songs that just have your background vocals and then others with actual verses

you haven't released any songs though due to stress and anxiety, feeling too pressured to write the

"perfect" song so you settle with being a feature

besides that you really just mind your business with college, your job, and hanging out with friends

tara was actually the one who introduced you to nick

and through nick….you met matt

.・。.・✭・.・✫・゜・。.

matt who was excited to meet nick’s new friend who he was talking abt nonstop

“hey guys! yn is here!”

nick swings the door wide open, smiling widely as he stomps in the house. you follow in quickly, nervous to meet nick’s brothers. your friendship with nick came naturally, having many things to connect with. that being said, you weren’t sure if you could create a relationship with his brothers as easily as you did with him.

fiddling with your clothes you wave politely at the boys, surprised to see both of them walk up to you and hug you. granted it was swift hugs, but it immediately created a softer environment, causing you to relax immensely.

matt who immediately noticed how you looked uncomfortable and took the first step to hug you

“i like your outfit,” matt said after chris broke away from you. he gave you a small smile, making you smile in return. before you could respond however, chris started talking to the group.

nick had already decided on having dinner at home, so you settled in leaning on the kitchen island watching nick and chris argue over what to make for dinner. matt walks over to you, putting his hands in his pockets.

“don’t worry i could never replace you guys,” you tease, when you see him across from you. he giggles in reaponse, his eyes never leaving your face.

“cool tattoos,” he points out which surprised you. looking down at your arm, you smiled admiring the work you’ve gotten done over the years.

“thank you! you also have some gnarly tats.”

matt smiled at you, flexing his arm a little bit to show off his whole sleeve.

“is that the only place you have tattoos?” you question, suddenly curious about his body art. matt nodded, then looked at you with a small smile.

“does that mean you have more?” the question made you laugh because he seemed almost shy asking you, so when you nodded enthusiastically and started to give him a quick tour all over your body. lifting your shirt up was funny for you, because you could tell matt wanted to be thoughtful and not look but when you reassured him he hesitated at first but eventually awed at them. his reactions were so lively, making you appreciate how focused and compassionate. he praised you for your own ideas and for the tattoos that meant something, and still thought your random and silly tattoos were interesting.

after you finished showing him you were practically gleaming, it had been a while since you had been able to speak so much of the tattoos that littered your body. every single one of them had meant so much to you and being able to share that with someone; especially someone as excited and appreciative as you are.

“you’re really cool, i can see why nick enjoys hanging out with you so much.”

you and matt were sitting down in the living room now, leaving chris and nick to prepare dinner for the evening. talking came easily after the tour of your tattoos, matt showing you his and the conversation flowed better than you dreamed it to be.

you chuckled at matt’s comment, finding his eye contact was making you squirmish in your seat.

“nick is so much cooler than me, but i don’t mind i really enjoy being friends with him. plus now i have two new friends so that’s a bonus.”

matt laughed at your response, running a hand through his hair now avoiding eye contact with you.

“yeah, i’m grateful nick brought you around.”

matt who couldn’t take his eyes off of you for the rest of the evening, which did not go unnoticed by his brothers

“don’t steal my new best friend from me matt!” nick yelled out dramatically after yn left, making matt shake his head.

“you should let matt have their number,” chris mumbled, still focused on the game he was playing. nick gasped dramatically before agreeing, making the boys laugh with how quickly he switched up his emotions.

“just don’t steal them!” nick threatened, but matt was already too excited to text you to listen.

matt who got your number and could not stop texting you, and he especially couldn’t stop smiling every time you texted him back

“matt i need backup,” chris said frantically, his eyes glued to the computer and fingers moving at the speed of light on the controllers. when matt doesn’t respond, chris huffs and repeats himself.

“matt seriously dude where the fuck are you?!”

matt finishes up typing and looks up, oblivious to the game that they were losing.

“oh shit,” he mumbled, putting his phone down and picking his controller back up.

“you weren’t even playing?” chris yelled out, frustrated with their status. nick pipes up from the bed, suddenly curious. he peaks his head over and sees matt’s phone light up, watching matt immediately lose his focus to look at his phone. matt straightens up, wanting to reach for his phone before chris cursed loudly, drawing his attention away from the text. nick squints, thankful that he was wearing his glasses and sees the name on his phone to his disbelief. yn sent a text, then another one, and then another one. his jaw dropped, and his gasp was so loud it startled his brothers.

“nick! oh my god,” chris started to laugh when his fear settled down. nick still had his mouth wide open, only causing chris to laugh harder.

“you’re gonna catch flies kid,” matt snickered. nick slowly turned his head to matt, mouth still open, in a very dramatic motion.

“yn? you stole my best friend?”

matt froze, a slow blush creeping up from his neck to his cheeks. chris eyed his brothers from his peripheral vision, jaw also dropping.

“that’s why you’ve been so preoccupied? damn my boy has a crush,” chris started to chuckle, causing nick to scream and matt to drop his controller covering his face in embarrassment.

matt who gets jealous whenever you and nick go out like he wants to hang out with u too :(

matt who finally gets the nerve to ask you to hang out with him, after nick decides he’s had enough of matt complaining about how “you never invite me-or chris!” (he has to add the chris part to not sound too obvious)

matt stood nervously at the door, fiddling with his keys in his hands. he finally knocked, immediately hearing rummaging around behind the door. matt couldn’t help but smile, wondering what you were doing right now. were you just as nervous to hang out with him one on one?

suddenly, the door swings wide open, and you’re in the doorway smilingly widely.

“hey! come in!”

matt who had so much fun hanging out with you.

the two of you went to antiques and thrift stores, grabbed some dinner and went back to your place to spend the rest of the evening together. the two of you got along so well he ended up staying until 12AM because you wanted to finish watching the show you started, not that matt was complaining. he was tempted to ask to stay over (and you were tempted to ask him to stay over) but he didn’t want things to be awkward. so he left late into the night, after you gave him a tackling hug, asking to hang out again soon

matt who started to call you every night, and although you two texted all day you never ran out of things to talk about.

matt who is really starting to fall for you

.・。.・✭・.・✫・゜・。.

k bye ily🩶

[woodswallow]

RammWear Part II

Thank you guys so much for appreciating my first RammWear fashion-post , I was so happy about your likes and comments :) So here comes the second part where I am showing my Rammstein-inspired clothing style, inspired by the stuff Paul, Richard and Schneider wear on and off stage:

The cardigan(s): All three of them at one point wore a very loosely fitting, longer knitted jacket (or pullover), I put it all in the category „cardigan“. I absolutely loooved that look of Schneider and Paul during the „Rammstein in Paris“- premiere!

Especially Schneiders look is so good here – I especially liked the asymmetric look of the shirt and the length of the cardigan, reaching down to his knees.

Paul loved that cardigan obviously very much, he wore it on several occasions throughout different years, also in this photoshoot (such a great pic, had to involve that!)

Richard also sported that look (kind of), although I think it's something like a scarf draped over his shoulder..? And the second picture is a shirt, but it conveys the same oversized, comfy look – his self-hugging pose adds to that, I think..

I never wore cardigans or this type of loose knitted jackets before, more like sweatshirt hoodies. But I really fell in love with these comfy, oversized, cuddly jackets in fall and winter, especially when combined with a black leggins or tight jeans. I was so happy when I found the perfect black „Schneider-Richard-Paul-cardigan“ secondhand:

Because I loved the look and feel so much, I later bought another incredibly comfortable cardigan via etsy. It has some more colour in it, which I like very much. It's draped over the body and hold in place with two hidden buttons, which gives it a very organic look. It's not that close to the ot3 look anymore, but I still had it in mind while buying – and it really formed my personal style, I adore this piece :)

In both occasions you already saw my Paul-scarf, Schneider wore one with a similar colour

Paul wore this scarf also on the „Paris“-premiere and on some other occasions. It once again looks so cosy and comfortable and good on him. It also appeared in one of my fanfics and at least one other I can now think of. This scarf somehow is so „Paul-like“ in my mind. I bought mine on a medieval market, without having his in my mind (at least not consciously), because I liked that fabric and colour – and later thought how similar it looked to Paul's and was so happy about it :) I like wearing it in fall and winter, I rarely go out without a scarf in these times of the year, so I wear it quite often.

My latest addition to my little Rammstein-inspired clothes collection is a Paul-pullover (man, I love alliterations :D)!

I think he wore this during a video shoot (was it the one for Ausländer?) and once again, I really liked the cosy look, slightly oversized, kind of organic looking and with these long sleeves covering the hands. Also I like that sandy-beige colour.

I searched for a matching piece all over Vinted (a german website for secondhand clothing) and found a (as I think) perfect match a few weeks later. As I have absolutely no white shirts in my closet I also bought a white shirt secondhand for 2€ to match the look perfectly :D This makes perfect sense as the pullover itself it quite loose, so to not get a cold stomach I had to wear something underneath – I'm pretty sure that was Paul's intention, too ^^; I'm so glad I found such a good match. When wearing it I think of these nice pictures and that he wore a similar one and can't help but feel happy about it :)

Last but not least – the omnipresent leather-jacket :D

Apart from the colour black, all three can agree on wearing these type of jackets. I found so many pictures with so many damn cool ones... this is just the perfect casual rockstar look! :)

I admit, when buying my jacket I didn't really think of RammWear, but it fits this series so nicely that I included it here. I had a gift card for that one shop and decided to treat myself with this, as I think it's a damn fine leather jacket – the hoody is part of the jacket and can be taken off, together with that sweatshirt-inlay. But I love this casual-cool-sporty look so much :)

I realized that overall, I probably like Pauls style the most, he likes comfortable, but still good looking clothes. Followed by Schneider, who seems to like a more sporty and casual style than Paul, with more sweatshirt-fabric-clothes, hoodies and jeans. Richard is often made fun of because of his personal style – but I like, how he's layering clothes and after all, that he doesn't give a fuck what others think about his red cap + pink hoodie :)

Thank you so much for reading/looking/liking, I had so much fun diving into RammWear and presenting my ot3-style :D

Here are some more pics of their fashion I like:

Or...just a simple black tank top - best frickin' look ever!

[nevertoomanyspiders]

it's a Wheeler!

for literally no goddamn reason, have an assortment of Wheelers from various adaptations and depictions ...that aren't John R. Neill's art or Return to Oz stuff, everyone already knows those, haha.

...well ok except this one from the endpaper of Ozma of Oz because it's new to me, at least, and the gutenberg.org copy doesn't have it.

what a dang dork, bless. glad he and Tik-Tok set aside their differences to watch the race.

Illustration

from 1976 Polish edition of Ozma of Oz with art by Zbigniew Rychlicki, via Reddit:

these lads are so stylish and their oversized heads are pretty freaky, dang.

a very 17th century Wheeler from 1970 Japanese edition of Ozma of Oz, art by Sonoko Arai, via Hungry Tiger Talk:

a dang goofy Wheeler by Vlada Stolikovich, 1976. also via Hungry Tiger Talk:

anyway, fuck, um, everything else is under a cut because this post ended up a bit too long oops.

something I have a hard time finding information on beyond that what I assume to be a Korean translation (?) of an Indonesian edition (???) of Ozma of Oz with 3D CGI illustrations. would be fun to see if there's more images within. not a damn clue who made these illustrations, either.

gosh those Wheelers. dunno what the artist was going for but there's a bit of a renaissance vibe. what if this was an animated thing? on that note...

Animated adaptations

the 1987 direct-to-video short Dorothy Meets Ozma of Oz has uh. these fuckers. seemingly there's only two. probably because of low animation budget, lol.

well, I say there's two, but it's just one design with a palette swap one has blonde hair and pink coat, the other has black hair and orange coat or something. also it's not evident from the screenshots but these dorks have long, pretty eyelashes and GAWD the voice acting is. well. hear for yourselves.

one of my favourite moments is Ozma turning up, saying "Enough." and bonking a Wheeler on the head with her scepter. here's the time stamp.

oh yeah I'm sure a bunch of folks have seen the Wheelers as seen in Oz Kids courtesy of this post. they appear in the episode Who Stole Santa. (and no it wasn't the Wheelers, obviously, they're just here to be annoying and trying to prevent the characters from taking a specific path.)

the guy in purple, who I'm calling Squeky Wheel, looks a lot like the Wheeler in this Ozma of Oz chapter art by John R. Neill. poor guy got walloped pretty hard.

anyway only Squeaky talks while his two buddies remain silent. these guys are such pushovers and the kids aren't scared of them at all.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (2017-2020) has these little bobble-headed goobers.

can't say I'm crazy about how they look but their characterization as reckless speedsters is a fun one. in one episode they even make friends with Tin Man after he replaces a busted wheel.

Ozu no Mahotsukai (オズの魔法使い, 1986-1987) has a... very strange interpretation of the Wheelers, but then, the series does play fast and loose with the source material as it is, which I don't mind! an adaptation doing something fun with the source material adds an element of unpredictability which I like... so, I'm not terribly surprised by how much they deviate from the book descriptions.

they wouldn't look too out of place in the B.C. comic strip.

and this segues perfectly to...

Comics

the Marvel comic adaptation of Ozma of Oz by Eric Shanower (writer) and Skottie Young (artist) probably has some of my fav depictions of the Wheelers, and I really like this variant cover (I believe it's by Eric Shanower?)

these guys are utterly freaky but also dang silly. watching these fucked up abominations bumble around defuses the terror.

there he go

so, there's the ones I've seen so far. if there's more that you know of, SEND THEM TO ME I NEED THEM SO BAD HELP

[ziploc849]

My final TMA post of season 2. I think in the future I might try and keep these posts a lot shorter, limit my word count or sentence amount or something like that. But in the meantime, enjoy my thoughts on Episode 79 and 80!! I’ll be making a separate posts about some of my thoughts specifically regarding some shit we learned in episode 80. This is a long one so buckle in yall. I hope my ramblings are at least semi coherent

Ep 79: So many fucking thoughts. Jon doesn’t remember what Sasha looked like. Martin and Tim saw Not-Sasha even if they don’t understand it. Martin and Tim ending up in Michael’s. Domain? That feels like a fitting word at this point, even the way Michael talks, the way he has to remember the word for “sport”, makes me think that he’s not even something that’s good at pretending to be human. Not-Them is so fucking scary, the idea of them “wearing” the people they kill not like wearing their skin, but like wearing their essence, taking their place in the world but not their likeness. Fucking terrifying. Not-Sasha saying the institute “has the biggest eyes you ever did see”. Saying that if they took Jon’s place and became the Archivist he’d “miss the Unknowing” whatever that means. She talks about “robbing the eye of its pupil”. Archivist is capitalized in the transcripts when she says it, like it’s a title or a name. So much weird eye imagery in this fucking show. Strange mystery man appearing from the shadows and. Killing Not-Sasha? I’m not entirely sure what that was. God this episode was a lot from like 20-100 so fast

Ep 80: one of the YouTube comments on this episode is from that one TikTok “day 23 in the chamber, they ain’t found me yet but when they do they gonna be surprised” and that gave me a good laugh after this HELL of a fucking episode. You’re telling me we meet JURGEN LEITNER and then witness his DEATH in the same fucking episode???? What the shit??!?? All of my answers and ideas from the last episode were immediately answered here lmao

The Not-Them is trapped, not dead, likely never able to die according to Leitner. The real Sasha is dead forever, and it’s not surprising but there is a deep injustice in that. She didn’t have an inkling of what was going on.

There’s a book that works on Smirke’s architecture and is related to the phobia of claustrophobia, another hint I think.

The amusement in Jon’s voice with “That’ll be our Gerard” makes me wonder if I’ve missed something about his character related to the others, or if it’s just Jon happy to recognize something familiar in all of this.

The evolution through the episode of “what do you mean you thought they were just books, they are right?” to “oh god. They are so much more than books.” Leitner says some of them must like the flame, that things would take a different form if the book was burned. Is that what some of the creatures are? The ones that aren’t even pretending to be something strange and terrifying? Beings released from books and allowed to be more overtly dangerous? Like unbinding Not-Sasha from the table?

The description of what happened when the house was attacked is chilling and brings back many, many memories. Stabbed through the throat by something with too many teeth and limbs like knives sounds like the bajillions of people-to-the-left we’ve seen. Similar to Not-Them I think? Or maybe there’s a different example I can’t remember. Pulled into a maw that opened up from the floor, which sounds identical to the hole in The Butchers Window. Ran into a door that didn’t exist, Michael obviously. A hand through the roof simply grabbing someone is reminiscent of the way the sky ate, or somehow took the man in Freefall. An assistant whose name isn’t memorable anymore (though all the others’ are) being pulled into a pile of meat, the former sounds similar to what we saw in Lost and Found, but the meat mentioned sounds more reminiscent to things we saw in The Man Upstairs. Rooms taken by darkness or fire, things we have already seen the power of overtly and know very well.

Gertrude had 3 assistants, all 3 “meeting an unpleasant end”. I do not like the foreshadowing that offers for Tim and Martin, with Sasha already gone.

And of course. The entities. The humans to us, the ants. I find the analogy Leitner uses to be particularly interesting, even if I don’t know if he meant it in this way. Fingernails digging, changing the world in a fraction of a second, changing reality in a way ants could never fully understand. Like a creature taking the entire idea of a person and warping it to meet their needs. Changing memories and photographs and nearly everything in its path. The sky moving, in ways it shouldn’t because it just doesn’t, to pluck a man from reality. Eyes watching, knowing and seeing and observing, filing information away in a horrifying and terribly understanding kind of way. Always there, it’s people of interest never far from view even as they’re driven mad. Shadows vast and unfathomable, darkness that seems to spread the way light does. Endless expanses entirely impossible and yet very, very real to the people who see it. Themes we’ve seen before all over this series.

Leitner says Michael is “The Distortion”, “The Spiral”. Illusions and hallucinations and insanity. I think some things are falling into place, and I might have to make a seperate post on it cause this one is already way too long, but I think my phobias theory wasn’t too far off.

Elias killed Gertrude. Gertrude and Leitner were going to destroy the archives. Elias took files, files on “The Stranger”. Another mention of the Unknowing. Another entity? An event to come?

[Brutal Pipe Murder] made me laugh far harder than it should’ve. Sorry Leitner. What is the dripping (I don’t want to know). I don’t know how long Tim and Martin were gone, but gods they came on an awful scene. And they think Jon did it. God season 3 is gonna be Fucked.

[weralika]

i would also love to hear your thoughts about kandreil being codependent and toxic please and thank you 🙏

SORRY I MISSED YOUR ASK SOMEHOW!!!

so lemme begin 🙂🙂

the most dependent one is kevin, obviously, because of raven's partner system and everything. when he transferred to psu, Andrew (whether he wanted that or not) became his partner and Kevin would be so broken when Andrew starts to spend time with Neil more than not.

Andrew is angry about that!! because yes, he wanted to save that stupid boy, but he didn't know Kevin would never learn to be by himself, Andrew would never treat him with that kind of caress (I dare say) if he knew Kevin would become addicted.

so yes, Kevin is addicted

there we can imagine Kevin leaving PSU and crying in his bed with dirty sheets because he misses them so much he can't even do the chores properly (same bro)

Neil is the smartest one 🙂 he quickly realised that they have a strange kind of friendship and he knows that their tension is mutual (somehow??? he was oblivious with Andrew I know, but he just knows they like each other)

he still feels some awe when talking to Kevin because wdym KEVIN DAY is training ME??? is that a dream? wtf

so he would never cross the line!! because of Andrew he learnt the concept of consent and now he's afraid to make a mistake (he is 99% sure that Kevin wants to kiss him but that 1%)

their relationship starts when Kevin gets so jealous he almost tells them to stop flirting and fuck already (bc he knows they do fuck. he has ears, unfortunately)

he only tells them to be quiet bc he has a lot of homework and Neil strikes with "I'm not your homework, but you can do me" like maaaan wtf is that (Kevin blushes, Andrew asks if they want him to go away and then long conversation about kevin not being gay and not being in love with them)

almost instantly they become a wreck!! because Kevin needs so much attention that sometimes he tries to ignore their boundaries!! he is stupid and wants to kiss!! he feels guilty as fuck after being scolded he almost cries (sorry is it too ooc???)

he learns how to be not that demanding (imagine having 2 boyfriends and still it's not enough) and Neil tries to help him (he hugs him actually)

when they are apart, Kevin is sad as fuck but when together he is a little nervous most of the time, because he is too afraid to ruin everything (like he checks if Neil really wants to kiss him)

also this post became just my rant about Kevin but he's really terrified of being a third wheel and tries to give them time alone even if he's so hungry for their attention he has to grit his teeth after saying "I'm going for a run alone because I don't want to interrupt your crazy chemistry"

Andrew is afraid of losing them!! he thinks he's not enough for Neil and Kevin, he's not even so interested in exy and they have so much in common and he is just stupid traumatized boy who can't show affection when Kevin needs it, he's so useless that they don't even ask him about going pro anymore, they do not imagine their future together like andrew does.

they do.

Neil is just a stray kitten in a warm house who thinks he would not spend another night there :D so he tries to make the most out of their relationship! he kisses Kevin 70% times he wants to be kissed, and other 30% is Andrew or no one because they're not in the mood

it turned out not toxic or even codependent I'm sorry ☠️☠️ but I tried to describe my vision or them close (as I can) to canon, not some ugly shit I have in my brain about andrew being (a little) abusive or Neil being a fucking cheater which I am guilty of thinking about!

[the-ferocious-kittyrose]

Stuff I wish we could’ve seen in HOTD

1. Alicent comforting Rhaenyra after her mother’s death

There’s a deleted scene that shows Rhaenyra returning to her room after her mother’s funeral, to find Alicent there waiting for her. As soon as she sees Alicent her strong facade breaks and she bursts into tears. She falls into Alicent's arms, and they sink to the floor together.

Rhaenyra has a tendency to mask her emotions when upset, and Alicent seems to be one of the few people she feels safe being vulnerable around.

2. Rhaenyra confronting Alicent about the engagement.

There’s a somewhat infamous deleted scene that shows Rhaenyra confronting Alicent about her engagement to Viserys.

She asks how long Alicent has been meeting with her father without her knowing. When Alicent says it’s been going on ever since the queen died, she is furious and calls her a whore, accusing her of seducing him.

A lot of people shit on Rhaenyra for this, saying she’s victim blaming, which, yeah, she is, but it’s also a very realistic reaction. She’s not only dealing with the fact that her father is remarrying, she’s now dealing with the fact that her best friend is gonna be her new step mom and their relationship will never be the same again. She’s probably also afraid of the possibility that her friendship with Alicent was never real and that Alicent was just using her to get power.

Alicent immediately denies it, saying they never talked about marriage, and Rhaenyra responds, saying she should’ve known it was leading to marriage since she was visiting him alone in his chambers. She asks what she expected to happen, and Alicent doesn’t answer.

Because she did know. From the moment her father told her to where her mother’s dress she knew. But their conversations were so casual and non sexual that she convinced herself that it was purely platonic, as a way of protecting herself from the horrible truth of the situation.

Instead of answering the question, she deflects, and says that she did it at her father’s command, and when Rhaenyra says she should’ve just refused him, she snaps back that not everyone can get away with doing whatever they want like she does.

This seems to be the moment Rhaenyra accepts that this isn’t Alicent’s fault and that she’s lashing out at the wrong person.

Rhaenyra says they (Otto and Visarys) can’t do this. That she is the princess and she will have it annulled.

Rhaenyra obviously doesn’t have the power to do that, and she knows it, but she’s not used to having problems that she can’t snap her fingers and have fixed. She’s also putting on a strong confident facade, saying, “don’t worry, I’ll fix it,” partly to comfort Alicent, and partly to comfort herself.

But when Alicent doesn’t seem comforted by this, Rhaenyra begins to realize that Alicent hasn’t protested the marriage. So she asks her if this is what she wants, and Alicent, who’s resigned to her role as a woman, says it doesn’t matter what she wants.

This is the key difference in their characters. Rhaenyra wants to fight against the restrictions imposed on her as a woman, while Alicent accepts them. Alicent has been groomed her entire life by a misogynistic society to view this unfair patriarchal system as the natural order of things, and to believe that her submission to it is a virtue.

3. Alicent and Viserys’s wedding

There is a deleted wedding scene that we don’t know a ton about, but it would’ve been nice to see. And by nice, I mean incredibly depressing and uncomfortable.

There are pictures of Rhaenyra helping dress Alicent for the wedding, mirroring Alicent dressing Rhaenyra for her heir announcement ceremony thing. It’s a reflection of their respective positions in the kingdom. Rhaenyra is destined to rule, while Alicent is destined to marry.

Also the sad finality of it. This is the last time they will get to be just friends. After this is done, they will be step mother and step daughter.

Also, disturbingly, in the book, Rhaenyra was at the bedding ceremony and was one of the ones who undressed Viserys. I can’t imagine how disgusting that would be. Not only having to undress your father so he can have sex with your best friend who clearly doesn’t want him, but also having to stand and watch him rape her, knowing that there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

4. Rhaenyra and Harwin Strong’s relationship

I’m not the only person devastated that we didn’t get to see Rhaenyra and Harwin’s relationship begin. We saw him eyeing her up when she was covered in blood, but that was about it.

Was they’re relationship a purely sexual fwb situation, or were they in love? I like to believe they fell in love, but the show doesn’t tell us. How did Harwin feel about not being allowed to openly claim his sons? That shit has to eat away at you after a while.

How many times did he want to tell them? When he was killed in the fire at Harrenhal, did he think of his boys? That he would never get the chance to tell them the truth? That he could never tell them he loved them?

Harwin’s sisters also become Rhaenyra’s ladies-in-waiting in the book. It would’ve been nice to see her befriending them and them being aunts to the boys.

5. Rhaenyra trying to have a good relationship with her half siblings

There is a deleted scene of Rhaenyra holding baby Aegon on her lap and trying to teach him to say her name.

Not only would Rhaenyra trying to bond with her siblings make what ends up happening even more tragic, but it also makes since politically. She doesn’t want her siblings to see her as an enemy and be tempted to usurp her in the future. So she tries to win their affection through gifts and teaching them how to ride their dragons. In the book, Aegon even says, “what kind of brother steals his sister’s throne?” But that could’ve just been sarcasm.

And Rhaenyra always wanted a sister, so you can’t convince me she didn’t try to have a relationship with Helaena. Even if she grew to be less than fond of Aegon and Aemond as they grew older, I believe she loved her sweet sister.

Of course on the opposite side you have Alicent who has Otto trying to convince her that Rhaenyra is untrustworthy and is a threat to her children. At first Alicent doesn’t buy it, but as time goes on she begins to believe it more and more, and her subtly mounting paranoia leads her to isolate her children from their half sister.

Then you have the whole thing with the fight at Driftmark, and I could go on and on about that. It was so needlessly cruel and stupid of Rhaenyra to order Aemond be interrogated about where he heard a rumor that everyone and their mother knows about. I know that’s what they say happened in the book, but I feel like it could’ve been done better.

Like, Alicent gives Rhaenyra grief about the pig incident, so she lectures the boys about how just because Aegon is allowed to bully Aemond, that doesn’t mean they can too. Aegon is not a person they should emulate. She may not be overly fond of Aemond herself, but it doesn’t matter if he’s mean and mopey, he is their uncle and they’ll treat him with respect because that’s what’s expected of them, and them acting out makes her look bad.

So at Driftmark tensions between the kids and Rhaenyra and Alicent are high, so she tries to do some damage control by going to Viserys and Alicent and suggesting that, because there are so many dragons and eggs here, they should try and get Aemond a dragon, and of course Visarys agrees.

But Aemond doesn’t want just any dragon or a lousy egg. He wants the biggest dragon in the world. He sneaks away to claim Vhagar in secret, but Rhaena (who wants to claim her mother’s dragon just like her dad wanted to claim Meleys) try’s to stop him only to be shoved by this much larger boy into a pile of dragon dung (like Joffrey in the book.) Aemond claims Vhegar, and Rhaena goes to get Baela and the boys. When Aemond lands, the fight happens like it did in the show.

When Rhaenyra finds out what happened, she’s not focused on the bastard thing, the kids care more about that stuff, instead she’s focused on the fact that Aemond, her half brother who she was just trying to help claim a dragon, threatened to kill her sons with dragonfire, and tried to bash their heads in with a rock.

Alicent demands Luke’s eye be cut out, and Rhaenyra and Viserys both refuse, with Rhaenyra angrily insisting that her sons will not be punished for defending themselves and their betrothed. Instead, she blames Aemond, saying, “Words of war become acts of war. Better he learns that now before he loses more than his eye.”

And that’s when Alicent grabs the dagger.

Idk, I’m not a writer, I’m just spitballing.

6. Laena and Rhaenyra’s friendship

In the book, after Baela and Rhaena are born, Daemon writes to Viserys and asks if he may bring them and Laena back to Kingslanding, and, of course, Viserys accepts them with open arms.

When Laena comes to Kingslanding, she and Rhaenyra become close friends. Laena and Daemon choose to live at Driftmark, but Laena and Rhaenyra still fly to visit eachother often, and would race their dragons from castle to castle.

When Rhaenyra heard Laena was in labor, she flew to Driftmark and stayed with her through her three day labor. In the show, when it becomes clear Laena won’t survive the birth, the maester overseeing the birth suggests a forced caesarean. The same thing done to Queen Aemma. I can only imagine the hell Rhaenyra would’ve raised to prevent her friend from suffering the same horrible fate her mother did.

After Laena’s death, Rhaenyra and Daemon mourn together. It’s not romantic, it’s not sexual, it’s just two people who just lost someone they both loved.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[iwoulddieforienzo]

Something really great about the persona 2 cast is that they all individually fucking SUCK to talk to casually. Every single one of them. They are all infuriating. We have:

Tatsuya, who will stare at you blankly if you try to initiate conversation (IS) and will dip without saying a word afterward (EP)

Batsuya, who will scoff and brush you off/otherwise act dismissive

Eikichi, who might honestly be the best to talk to in the IS crew and that is not saying much, who WILL talk extremely loudly over you (probably not on purpose?) and will not be paying particularly close attention to the conversation beyond whatever he wants to say (gets points for talking about his gf. gets points taken away for constantly talking about his gf)

Lisa, who will automatically assume bad faith and will be rude to you the entire conversation unless you manage to defuse her temper (good luck)

Jun, who is uncommunicative at BEST and requires an encyclopedic knowledge of flowers, metaphor and body language just to get a HINT on what he’s thinking, and who will be extremely polite but completely unhelpful. If you tried asking him what he wants for dinner I guarantee it will be the longest 30 minutes of your life as he goes “oh I have no opinion :) whatever you want. :))” EXCEPT HE DOES HAVE OPINIONS. He has SO MANY OPINIONS. He is Expecting you to be able to pick up on his “obvious” clues. He will be passive aggressive if you don’t. (Jun babygirl you suck so bad I love u)

Maya, who is a delight but will very quickly become grating if you try to talk to her about anything serious as she hits you with the white suburban mom's "how to live a happy, healthy life" lifecoach slogans. You can’t even mention, like, stepping in a puddle or something without her hitting you with the positivity beam.

Yukino is great actually. 10/10. She’s fabulous we love her. Incredible conversationalist, chill and fun and easy to get along with. But she’s from Persona One, she doesn’t Count.

Ulala, who WILL bring up her relationship problems in every conversation within 10 minutes at least once. Any longer and she will start talking about Maya.

Do I even need to explain Baofu. Have you seen him.

And finally, Katsuya, who is a cop and a kiss ass and Very Obvious about these things. Also he can't talk to women. He can barely talk to men. Help Him.

And yet they all work wonderfully as a group. They are so annoying I love them

[weezerlvr228]

rivers if he was absorbed by poisonous gas but didn’t care too much

[strawberryicemoon]

Digimon Adventure has consistently occupied a space in my brain for over a decade now, so I think it was only natural that I loved Amphibia and The Owl House too.

So there's definitely a baseline similarity Digimon Adventure has with the modern Disney Isekai. The shows are portal fantasy/isekai about a kid (or several) who have varying issues in their lives, mostly on the precipice of some major life change and/or figuring out who they are. Classic coming of age stuff. They meet people from the other world who they form deep personal connections with who change the course of their lives for the better. They grow to love the world they find as it is and of their own volition decide to risk their own lives to protect it, despite having the option to go home and stay safe.

I realize that this sounds very broad, but it's really in the details and the character drama where the similarities show for me: interpersonal conflict between friends and loved ones, growing up, understanding family members, being forced to separate from loved ones, parental death, adults taking advantage of kids. I could (and will) go on.

Spoilers for all three series obviously.

I mean right from the get go, Adventure starts with a group of 7 kids at a school sponsored summer camp, that gets struck by a freak storm. The kids take shelter inside a shrine, and when the weather abates find an aurora outside, which shoots small devices like meteors at them and sucks them into another world. (Technically Adventure starts with a short film taking place 4 years earlier but that's besides the point). The Owl House, also starts with Luz about to go to Summer Camp, as recommended by her school (though something she is dreading) when she runs into an old shack while chasing after a bird and ends up in another realm. Amphibia doesn't take place at Summer Camp, but towards the end of the school year, on what should have been a fun day for Anne, as a result she spends her summer in Amphibia. This is admittedly a rather petty connection, summer is a special time of year for kids, summer camp is already a unique experience for kids, birthday's are also good times for life changing events but it is still a notable similarity.

In the Digital World the kids each meet a Digimon. Throughout the show the kids Digimon reach higher forms upon reaching certain requirements, often involving personal development for their partnered child. The Digimon are like a Palisman in many ways. In fact, the Owl House's Digimon reference makes this connection for us.

When kids get their Palisman in The Owl House, it requires the kid to know what they want. Digimon grow in response to their human's growth, particularly as it relates to their associated crest. Each child in Digimon has an associated Crest. A trait that they exemplify. If they exemplify it well, their partner's get stronger, if they repress the trait their partner's won't evolve or will even devolve. I feel the concept is similar. Luz's palisman hatches when she realizes she "wants to be understood". Taichi's partner reaches Perfect when he had to be courageous enough to walk through an invisible gap in an electrified wall in order to rescue his friend. "Being Understood" is at the Core of Luz's character, and is reflected throughout the show. True Courage is at the Heart of Taichi's. Willow is "Be strong and wise to protect her friends", which is reflected in her arc about always trying to be reliable and not asking for help until it breaks her. Likewise being a good friend is at the Heart of Yamato's arc. Gus is to "go to the human world"… which maybe could be more reflective of a desire to learn and connect with others. Hikari's is "light", which is metaphorically life and growth (evolution). Of course, the girls in Amphibia have core concepts too, in the stones, Anne and Heart, Sasha and Strength, and Marcy and Wit. All traits they exemplify, but have to learn how to exemplify that trait well in temperance with the other two. In Digimon Adventure, if a character exemplifies their trait poorly, ie in a toxic way, they'll trigger a dark evolution, rampaging out of control power. When Taichi recklessly (suicidally) risks his life in hopes his partner will evolve further, his partner successfully pushes back their enemy as he hoped, but also turns on them. Sasha had to learn to use her strength to protect and lead people. Marcy had to learn to be strong enough to accept change. Anne had to get strong enough to stand up against Sasha and smart enough to keep the Plantar's safe in the human world and get back. In short the series both center a kid around an idea that facilitates their growth and gives them associated power.

Luz and Camila's goodbye in Yesterday's Lie is deeply reminiscent of Hikari and Taichi's goodbye in episode 21 of Digimon Adventure. Both feature a character (Luz and Taichi) returning home after being in another world for a long time, expecting their family to be worried only to find that they didn't even notice they were gone. However, the truth is revealed to their family member at home (Camila and Hikari) because of the presence of creature from another world, (Vee and Koromon), who the family member welcomes into the family with open arms. However, in the end of the episode Taichi and Luz must return to the other world, while promising to return home, while the Camila and Hikari try to get them to stay. Attempting to hold hands while their loved one drifts up and away in a beam of light. (And bonus! Luz and Hikari's names both literally mean light and are deeply associated with light thematically!).

Amphibia features a blue eyed blond haired girl of European descent in a human cast made up primarily of Asians, with issues stemming from her parents divorce. Digimon Adventure has a set of blue eyed blond haired brothers with some European heritage in a show with a primarily Asian human cast with issues stemming from their parents divorce. Sasha Waybright's parents divorce is potentially the cause of her control issues, controlling people so they don't leave and seeing relationships as transactional. The divorce left Yamato, a boy defined by friendship, lonely, and hesitant to connect to others and quick to resort to physical violence. It left Takeru with abandonment issues and a deep dislike of fighting, yet a blow up, lash out and cut off style of conflict resolution. Anyway all three of them lash out violently when they get upset.

The Plantar's parents died when Sprig and Polly were really young, killed tragically by a giant heron. Neither of them remember their parents well, but they still feel that grief, partially second hand from their grandfather. King's dad was unable to raise him, and dies before he can properly talk to him so he's raised by Eda under a misconception that he was a king of demon's and has an identity crisis when he discovers that was a lie. Koushiro's original parents were killed in a car crash when he was a baby. His current parents had recently lost a baby. So when Koushiro's current dad heard that his distant cousin had died leaving his son an orphan, his current parents saw it as a sign and adopted him. They weren't sure about when to tell him, but Koushiro overheard them talking about it one night and had an identity crisis. Though, I feel it's important to also include Adventure 02 in discussions of Adventure. That season features a kid whose father was killed when he was 6 who is still processing that during the events of the series. Not unlike Luz who lost her father as a young kid.

Digimon Adventure 02 also features a kid who feels irrational guilt for the death of his older brother was hit by a truck and died right in front of him. Speaking of the sequel season and Ken Ichijouji, he's got a lot of similarities to Marcy. He is a "genius" boy with chin length black hair who runs away from home into another world due to high expectations. His mental state is influenced by others, including an adult man who hopes to be able to travel to another world, for their own purposes and so takes it out on the digital world that he refuses to regard as real and subjugates it violently (Until he's broken out of his mental breakdown that is). He wished for his brother to disappear only to feel guilt when he did die. He also kind of has a green color motif when it's not black. Marcy is a "genius" girl with short black hair, and a green color motif who due to a conflict with her parents escapes into another world, befriending colonizers, and then is taken advantage of them by them them influencing her mind and controlling her body to direct a violent subjection of the inhabitants of a world. She wanted to stay together with her friends instead of going home, but that only separated from her friends, and then broke their trust when they found out about it.

Also speaking of kids manipulated into helping villains, Hunter reminds me of Tailmon. Naturally kindhearted people manipulated into loyally serving the main villain via abuse, where they are cocky and dismissive to others, coming into conflict with those that are theoretically their coworkers, until they find out the truth of who they are and are able to show their more playful, and kind side. Hunter was created by Belos to serve him, as his "nephew". He claims to have rescued Hunter when he was small, to be his family. Tailmon was separated as an egg from those she was meant to grow up with, and when she went looking for the place she belonged, found Vamdemon, ironically living in the place that her egg originated from. Vamdemon earned Tailmon's loyalty by abuse, under his rule, Tailmon grew from a "child" to an "adult". In other words both are the second in command so to speak of the person who on some level raised them, in a place that is meant to be safe. (As his Uncle/creator, Belos should be protecting him, Tailmon should have been safe in that castle). Both characters have scars caused by their abusers that they keep hidden (at least when we first meet them).

While they are being abused, they meet someone who is on their side, who knows a bit of the truth of their identity. Tailmon rescues Wizarmon, and tells her a bit about what she remembers about herself before Vamdemon beats it out of her and loyally keeps the secrets she keeps even from herself. Flapjack recognizes Hunter as a clone of Caleb. Wizarmon sacrifices his life to protect Tailmon from Vamdemon. Wizarmon's death unlocks the crest of light, and thus awakens Tailmon's evolved form, Angewomon who is able to avenge. Flapjack sacrifices himself to save Hunter from his possession from Belos. This gives him a magic of his own to use. When both characters realize the truth about their identity, that Hunter is a Grimmwalker, and Tailmon is the 8th Digimon, they are supported by a character with a name meaning "Light". Luz's interactions with Hunter lead him to finding out the truth behind Belos, before fleeing from him. She keeps Hunter's secret, and welcomes into her family. When Tailmon meets Hikari she realizes she senses something about the girl. But she's unable to directly confront her, unable to kill her like she feels she should. She rationalizes it away as not being sure while Hikari actively tries to befriend her, assuming she's a friend of her brother. This kind of character also exists to a certain extent in King Andrias, manipulated into being an evil dictator by his father, though his arc is somewhat reversed.

Luz's dad died of an illness that he was hospitalized for. Taichi has trauma regarding Hikari's illness as a child that left her hospitalized. Amity has high parental expectations, and two semi-rebellious older siblings who are a lost cause for those expectations. Joe also has high parental expectations and two older siblings who eschew the family expectations in favor of their own interests. Willow and Sora both feel obligated to shove down their own issues to try and look after others. Gus is a gifted kid who skipped grades and has issues related to being younger than his peers. One of the Digimon creatives was so horrified by kids skipping grades in America that she wrote Ken about it and has continued influence her digimon stories literal decades later.

Overall, the biggest difference between the shows premise wise (aside from the obvious inhabitants of each world) is the presence of Adults in Amphibia and The Owl House. Digimon takes the kids to a world where adults don't really exist. Sure there are more mature, adult-like (and adult level) monsters. But they're still not human adults. Digimon don't age or reproduce like humans, so they don't have a concept of parenting beyond babies. Or y'know. Have general concern for child safety. Which means that the kids have to depend on themselves and their partners to survive with no adult supervision during most of the show. While each kid has a decently fleshed out family life, primarily the threats are handled by the children alone since they mostly take place in a world that only the kids can access. But that doesn't mean the adults aren't supportive. When things do take place in the human world, the adults help out with food, transportation, keeping the media off their backs and emotional support. I think this sort of comes from Amphibia and The Owl House's perspective on child heroes, played straight with a bit of self awareness. While Amphibia DOES play it straight, even making Sprig and Polly orphan's it takes the time to involve Anne's parents and get their blessings, and features Grime and Hop Pop as adult figures. The adults aren't dumb, but they aren't obstacles for the kids either. And of course, The Owl House bumps up adult involvement, making Camila go WITH Luz back to the Demon Realm. Either way in all shows the adults are fully fledged characters for the most part with flaws, both as people and as parents. And the kids are recognized to be just kids at the end of the day, no matter how much they accomplish.

We get to see the parents help, worry and grieve over their kids, and of course have reunions both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

All series end with the main characters dying, via breaking into pieces during their final fight, and then getting revived. In Amphibia and TOH of course, Anne and Luz meet "God". After Anne uses the stones for one last ultimate attack, Anne meets what is actually a deity who gave the stones to mortals as a test which Anne passed. Luz meets what everyone worships as a god, who gives her his last bit of power to use as a final attack because he approved of her and has been subtly supporting her. Though the sequence of events differ, Anne and Luz are both chosen for their actions, rather than by destiny. The kids in Digimon met their "god" stand in about 15 episodes before the final fight. Their "god" stepped in when given the opportunity to explain why they were chosen, after they had already chosen out of their own volition to return to the fight: the "god" was desperate to fix the instability and the mysterious trait that these children were observed to have that caused a Digimon to rapidly evolve seemed like their only hope. More of a desperate hope than anything, but from it the prophecy of the chosen was born.

Amphibia's also got a prophecy that is really more of a plea for help. It refers to the wielders of the stones, which in this case was the girls. They weren't really chosen, but happenstanced into it, and it was clear that not even the creator of the stones really knew what would transpire. Digimon Adventure, the kids are the "Chosen Children" (Digidestined in the dub). They were actively chosen, for their mysterious potential, and so preparations were made that would hopefully aid them in saving the worlds. Even the choosers are in the dark about the details. TOH of course has no chosen one, except that in the kindness Luz gave King, King's father the titan gave back, bringing her back from the dead for one final stand. The titan didn't prepare per se, but definitely was helping guide Luz towards the skills that would help her save the world. Choosing her. A reoccurring idea in later Digimon Adventure media is that the Chosen Children, choose themselves. They choose to fight, even before they knew who chose them. They chose to continue fighting. The main villain in The Owl House, parades himself as a fake chosen one, using that status to manipulate people. The final arc of Digimon Adventure 02, features many people jealous of our main characters for their specialness, before they get their own Digimon. A sort of "prophecies, destiny, chosen heroes are something you make yourself, even if circumstances help facilitate it. No matter how people are guided towards it, ultimately destiny is about choices.

The Guardian: Look, I created the stones to see how mortals would handle unlimited power. Turns out.... not that well. Would you believe that after over 10,000 years, you're the only individual who used that power for good? Anne: Uh... This is a lot to take in right now. I mean, do I have a choice? The Guardian: Well, of course you do! I'm not a jerk. Anne: Well then... I'm gonna have to pass.

The Guardian: Wha?! No! I haven't even told you about Bagel Fridays!

Amphibia ends, of course, with the stones destroyed, save for three shards that is just enough to let the girls go home. The girls tearfully depart, with their final goodbyes to. Sasha isn't able to say goodbye to Percy and Braddock and asks Grime to greet them on her behalf. Then a flash-forward shows us how Amphibia is doing after the girls left, and then all the way 10 years in the future to show who the girls became. Digimon Adventure proper ends with the gate between worlds closing, and the restructuring digital world at risk of damaging the kids foreign bodies. So the kids must go home, and each take the time to tearfully bid farewell. However, as definitive as Adventure's ending may seem, it was always meant to be temporary, 02 beginning the very next week. The true intended ending being pushed to 02. In the true ending, right after the final battle and sacrifice, there were no goodbyes so it cuts to 25 years in the future, and shows the worlds at peace, a future where a Digimon partner exists or every person and people can freely travel between worlds. The Owl House also skips directly from the end of the final fight, no tearful goodbyes, to a few years in the future to show how everyone is doing. The group all regularly traveling between the worlds.

Overall I just have a soft spot for stories about real world kids with real world issues getting dealt with in the context of world changing life or death fantasy scenarios. The ability to represent the issues in unique ways while still talking about real issues straightforwardly is fun. And I'm glad to see that other stories in the genre got their time in the limelight for a while. But I hadn't really seen anyone talk, in depth about the similarities of the two shows to Digimon. It's not like Digimon Adventure invented the Portal Fantasy with Kids genre, but the inspiration is clearly there. There isn't any direct reference to Digimon in Amphibia, but Matt Braly has stated in an interview that he was partially inspired by Digimon. Though it is apparent he hadn't seen it in a while, the Myotismon arc and the way the show handled its parents seems to have stuck with him. As far as I can tell, there is only the one reference to Digimon in Owl House (Unless that really is the crest of knowledge on Titan Luz's chest), and I don't think Dana Terrace has ever said anything about Digimon so it's possible she's never seen it. But someone on her team must have seen it in order to reference it. I'm not saying all of these similarities were definitely pulled from Digimon, because a lot of them are very broad tropes seen in a lot of things, or could have been thought up independently. And a lot of these similar characters and plot points are very different in the details and execution. Just because characters are similar doesn't mean the same obviously. But it's still the same genre, and they all handle a lot of the same beats in different ways and its fun to see what's different and the same between three shows I enjoyed a lot.

[formal-frog-shoes]

Twiststuck stuff i just wanna get out

Im a huge Cater multi-shipper

Normally this wouldn't be a problem

BUT I CAN'T HAVE ALMOST EVERYONE IN THIS AU HAVE A FLUSH OR PALE CRUSH ON HIM THAT'S ABSURD!!!

[irregularbillcipher]

watched the musical demon show (don't wanna name it so this post isn't in the tags) at the behest of an IRL friend and i can already tell this is going to be a piece of media where i absolutely cannot stop thinking about it, not because i really love the show as-is, but because it has so many individual components i really like and find incredibly fun or compelling, and i'm so frustrated that it doesn't come together for me

i think the main thing i can say about it as a show, setting aside some of the insensitive choices that were made that i really don't feel qualified to tackle or talk about, is that the entire thing sort of gives off this vibe of someone really excited to show you every single oc they made in high school and college and i very genuinely mean that in both the best and worst ways possible

there are some good hooks for season two though so i will absolutely give them that

[lucalicatteart]

Poll adventure (paventure? lol) Day 6: read the small story tidbit below the poll for more details, OR just vote based on initial impression

(✦ see past poll results + further information HERE (link) ✦)

The winning option of yesterday's poll was that the adventurer should ask the Innkeeper about the suspicious egg he got from the Well Creature….

-

After finishing his food scraps, he awkwardly creeps back over to the main counter, pulling up a stool and just hoping the Innkeeper will eventually make eye contact with him... She finally looks to the side whilst cleaning a glass, his chance to blurt out whatever he can.

"SO!- uh,, I um... I found something weird, or uh.. I didn't find it actually, I guess, I..... s-someone, or something.. gave it to me, as maybe..? a reward, or.. oh, well i-it doesn't matter why.. but UH, but so, I was just wondering, d-do you think you might know anything about it? about like, uh... stuff? Objects.. perhaps.....?"

She stares with equal parts amusement and concern, crossing her arms and letting out a soft chuckle, "Well, I've seen quite a variety of things while working here, so - Yeah, I could try to help you identify an item, if that's what you're asking."

"G-good. Okay. Well.. It's, uh..... this." He's barely even placed the little wooden egg box up on the counter before she's already slamming the lid shut and reaching over to force it back into his bag. Suddenly serious, her eyes dart around the room, scanning to ensure no-one else happened to notice.

"Don't EVER let anyone see you with that, okay??". Abrupt tone shift making him even more nervous, he just stares blankly, muttering a few gibberish noises whilst nodding at her in confirmation.

"I mean, I'm not absolutely certain," her voice lowers as she speaks, "but to me it looks exactly like a Caiploras egg. Those animals have been nearly extinct for at least a hundred years. Only tiny groups of them still exist here and there, and even those eventually get wiped out as soon as they're discovered. Kings and nobles used to hunt them, especially for the eggs, 'cause of all the theories - unique magical properties, uses in enchanting, shit like that.. I don't really know, I'm not that experienced with magic.... But.."

She pauses for a few seconds to stare him down (this does not soothe his anxiety at all), examining intently, as if to determine whether he's actually trustworthy before continuing..

"...My brother is. He's a mage, and a scholar, and he specializes in stuff like this, all these rare animals and whatnot. He'll hate me just sending a complete stranger over there, but.. I think you should go see him. He'd definitely be able to identify it- hell, he'd probably even pay you for it, if it really is what I think it is. And, he'd know how to take care of it properly, raise it well, not just cut it up for fucking potions or whatever...", she scoffs bitterly.

Grasping at a nearby napkin to fan himself with, he shifts sweatily in his seat, "W-wh... but,.. How would I do that?"

"What do you mean? Do what?"

"F-find, him.. IHhh... I just.. I don't, know the area well.. is all, I uh...."

"I'll give you directions, obviously.. Are you okay? Do you like... need some water? You look-"

"NHnnnou, I'M FINE! I just, haha.. uh... Maybe, am.. not very good at....uh.. this.." He gestures around himself nonspecifically.

With a brief confused glance, she pours a cup of water anyway, then casually plucks a small notebook from her pocket to begin scribbling messily. "Well, look, I'll give you the information, and if you feel up to it, you can go. I really think you should, but, eh... your choice, y'know."

As he fights his shaky hands to maintain control of the water glass, she lays out the paper on the table, pointing at parts of her sketch. "He's over in Fargahel, which should be a few days travel from here. See? The roads kind of go like this, but it's mostly a straight path. Look for the ruins of an abandoned castle. He's holed himself up in there, the underground part, repurposed into some sort of 'sanctuary' for rehabilitating injured birds or whatever the hell he's up to now. He probably won't attack you or anything, but I signed a little note on the back of this so he knows I sent you.. just in case."

Neatly folding up the map, she slides it towards him as she leans closer to intensely meet his eyes. "Just remember, no matter what you do, do NOT let anyone know you have that egg. There are plenty of folks out here still hunting for them. You don't want someone recognizing it and coming after you. Especially with how, uh...", it feels like she might mention he doesn't seem he'd be very good at combat, but she simply lets the sentence trail off, shrugging with a smile and politely patting his hand as he takes the paper.

"Just get some sleep, yeah? Think about it. And talk to me in the morning if you have any more questions."

He slumps over to lean on the counter, resting for a moment after she walks back to the other end of the room, just trying to wrap his head around all the new information.. He only took the egg because it looked pretty! He just wanted it to hatch into a cool chicken or something! Why does it have to actually be some big stinky scary secret rare item?... With a heavy sigh, he resolves to never again trust mysterious creatures that pop out of abandoned wells....

Eventually trudging up to his room for the night, he flops onto the lumpy mattress that seems to just be hay stuffed into dusty old potato sacks. As he rustles around waiting to fall asleep, he considers all of his options... What should he do with the egg?

[todayisafridaynight]

Mutual on Twitter was talking about Daigo instinctively feeling the need to put the pieces of Mine's ruined life back together and make him feel at ease... Is That Not The Appeal Of AraSawa As Well... like they might not know the depth of what their lives were like before in full but surely there are some details safe to share and there's very little that wouldn't sound bleak... but it's also a MineDai But To The Left sort of moment because Mine has always felt he deserves basic human decency, even if he has to earn it, but that's never been the case for Jo... [SORRY I'LL GET TO PENDING RESPONSES I'VE JUST BEEN LOST IN THE SAUCE for better or worse it feels wrong not to write in every day at this point 😭😭😭]

i remember telling my twitter mutual that arasawa was minedai but with dads and the way a light bulb seemed to go off for her was just perfect LMAO

but on the real arasawa IS a lot like minedai when it comes to some themes, and moreover they still maintain their individuality (aside from the dad aspect LMAO) in the parties involved, ESPECIALLY mine and jo

it's weird to explain, but daigo, in a sense, was an 'end goal' for mine. maybe not in THAT way, but just having his comradery was a sample of the thing he'd been striving for his whole life. ergo, mine joins the yakuza specifically due to interest in daigo, and decides to stay and commit himself to it because of daigo- and as you said, mine understands his worth and wants his efforts to be reciprocated. the problem is that he's not exactly sociable..

inversely, arakawa was, on the contrary, an accident for jo: sure, he swore up in order to be closer to his son. but now By The Fate Of The Cruel Universe jo's found himself becoming attached to arakawa too, whether he wholly admits it or not. A Cruel Fate not only in that jo undoubtedly doesn't believe he'd be deserving of something special with arakawa, but that he also shouldn't pursue something special with arakawa considering their positions in the clan (also masato would probably throw a fit and he can't be upsetting his baby boy </3)

BUT THIS IS THE SIMILARITY OF DAIGO AND ARAKAWA RIGHT so often comparing mine and jo, i never touch on how the other two relate... but of course with them, daigo and arakawa try to become closer to mine and jo (evidently we see daigo have a little more success on account of rgg refusing to let arakawa and jo be in a room together for more than five minutes). its unfortunate that we don't get to hear much of arakawa's thoughts on jo, but if it's anything like daigo and his concern over mine (i.e. worrying that mine is only concerned with money/only sees value in himself through his wealth, wanting to be closer to him and get rid of the 'stiffness' between them) i imagine he harbors similar sentiment (and being a Bonafide Father instead of a proverbial one like daigo, i wouldn't be surprised if he could be more anxious/concerned over jo, especially considering the- albeit small- age gap absent in minedai).