#they basically confirmed what the OG implied

[pilvimarja]

[ganondoodle]

botw2 (totk rewritten) ganondorf design post 2.0

(the better, less rambly one, bc i shouldnt be allowed to write when its past midnight- not deleting the other one bc i am a little whimp and am getting so bad decision paralysis over it its made me cry, this one is more heavy on design and the basic plot of the game)

Basic plot summary (shorter version- longer version at the end):

sheikah in service of the ancient queen discover remnants of the past while excavating for luminous stones, these remnants were being defended/kept safe by the sonau (engl. zonai) little shy cave dwellers who have kept these last ruins save but secret bc they thought it could lead to disaster seemingly aware of the ever repeating cycle and believing it to be not divine but a self perpetuated one built on the one sided history of the past, which is a threat to hyrule and its golden legacy; these ruins speak of a world threatening evil being born as the king of the gerudo, the ancient queen thus plans to lure him into a trap to seal him away before he can realize his destiny, he learns of it however and is forced to confront the queen through breaking into the castle, she sees that as a confirmation of her fears and it escalates into a battle between them that kills everyone that was in the throne room except the young princess- the queen sealing ganondorf as the room and parts of the castle is destroyed and buried beneath the ground. (the game largely revolves around finding clues about it, especially in sealed off caves of the now long extinct sonau)

except for the scene in the throne room nothing is clearly shown of the past, but it is the background behind everything

(zeldas main struggle in this game will be having to come to terms with her families legacy, what she thought and was taught not being true, the dark secrets buried everywhere, and perhaps trying to be better, now that all of hyrules been destroyed and the lands and people yet survived)

Mummy version:

what you discover beneath hyrule castle after going to investigate the failing of shiekah tech all around, it is a clearly shiekah made system all around, though the chamber you find him in was built around him after the sealing, it being implied they used his spiritual power as the main energy source for all future tech, once disturbed the seal breaks and fuses to zelda (similar to the og trailer with link) he wakes up, the shock of suddendly being back in this broken body leading him to rather viciously attack them, the mastersword breaks and link loses his arm, the cave crumbles and zelda flees as she drags link behind her- the cataclysm happens and links gets his shiekah tech arm.

(in the little sketch there is a very roughly approximation to where ganondorf is located at the start and mid game fight, the arena you fought calamity ganon in is in reality a sphere with the lower half being an energy reserve for the royal family and further down the mechanism for the rising pillars from botw, its located between the castle and ganondorfs chamber, to quickly react when the malice build up has reached a critical point to detect immediately and start the defense programm- its all broken but still explorable after the mid point)

ganondorfs body is very damanged, the hole in his chest from the seal leads into an empty cavity, the ribs broken and bent in a swirling pattern like a gravitational pull, his right arm was desolved over time as he defensively grabbed the queens arm in his last moments; the face is more bone and there are no eyes, he does not move his jaw to speak, his hair is more like smoke after a certain amount of progression in the game the castle that fell into the underground (current hyrule castle) bc of the cataclysm is made accessible, as you venture in link is grabbed and pulled further in, seperated from zelda, she later rejoins you in the dungeon, acting all normal unless you are observant and see her using her left arm only and walking past things she normally wouldnt- at a certain point once the camera is not watching her, she suddendly starts to attack you viciously, as it was ganondorf in disguise- after the second half the real zelda breaks into the room with your friends in tow (yunobo, teba+tulin, riju, sidon) and he drops the disguise, the rest of the fight is against his mummy form, at the end of which is the cutscene of the confrontation with the queen, it is the only time you are given a direct window into the past. (plus its shown in that cutscene he has the ability to disguise himself as others, but only AFTER you have encountered it as to not ruin that moment..)

post revival/restored: this is how he appears at the end of the game, the last dungeon is within the forgotten plateau, there is a longer cutscene of zelda and him talking while tension builds until the fight begins once your friends arrive (sidenote, this is also only unlocked with more progression, including the koga and deku dungeon and the master sword restoration quest)

this design isnt fully how he was in the past but fit to the circumstances now, but restored to the best of his abilities; he is older (50+) with greying hair; i wanted to make him look both strong and a little worn out, but with a vibe of incredible power he is well aware of as well as warmth the outfit is elaborate but mostly aimed to be practical, its easy to see he used to be a proud king, and still is, even if no one remembers him anymore; he wears a little armguard on the left to for deflecting purposes, his belt is also switched around to how it was originally to make drawing his sword easier with the left arm; a little wooden boar figurine carved from the wood of long extinct trees hangs on his belt, a gift from one of his daughters perhaps he wields magic with ease and his moveset makes it clear just how good of a fighter he is, even after thousands and thousands of years without motion, his moves are controlled and practiced- the magic is also NOT just based on malice, malice might be what keeps him alive now but its not all he is, he wields lightning and simpler moves with other elements, perhaps implying that magic was more widely spread back in his day .. or he has learned to wield it in part to the repeated interactions with the other races (both in the past, and as calamity ganon- it is made clear that whatever the malice eyes saw he saw as well, (also explaining how he can speak their languages) though it is also implied that the calamity as such is not fully his own making, but something familiar reaching out to try and help him break free -NOT anythign demise related, leave the guy alone- but going with the idea of the calamity having been what remained of oot ganondorf after degrading over all this time- a kindred spirit reaching out to take revenge together in a way

Beast Ganon(dorf), normal

Beast Ganon(dorf), charging magic

phase 3 of the end fight, after phase two he takes out all your friends and tranforms, chasing you (link and zelda) through the ground until breaking through to the surface of the plateau where this battle takes place.

his design is loosely inspired by the smoke version of calamity ganon and twilight princess beast ganon, his face and teeth mostly from the calamity- his back is split open with a shiekah tech spine, given his connection to it via being its power source as well as overtaking it in botw, reddish smoke eminating from it, hes has 5 limbs as he is still missing his right arm, the big dark arms are made of malice and in phase 2 he takes one of those big arms to 'rebuild' his missing one, though it is not as well usable like a real one, his braids carry over thoguh now dark black, when charging magic it lights up in waves; the tail is flat and he moves not all that beast like, more draconic really, able to float for short periods of time and 'swim' through the ground reminiscent of moldoras his attack pattern is changed to fit this appearance, but he still uses magic in varying ways, thouhg swiping and biting after you as well, he will sometimes go for zelda directly but she will usually protect herself in a bubble of light- typical weak point is within the mouth though he makes sure to not give you alot of opportunities, typical staggers migth include destroying a front leg (since those are all made of goo)

my aim with this was to create a beast version both familiar and very different, with the vibe of, this is still him, just another appearance, though angered and more agressive he has not lost himself, perhaps even enjoying it a little, feeling a little more alive again, though he does not care for this world, he is a stranger here, this isnt his time and all that ever mattered to him is long gone, destroyed or forgotten, now all that matters to him is to end zeldas rotten family

Phase 2 and Phase 4 (out of order bc big boar lad wouldnt fit on here)

in phase 2 he 'rebuilds' his missing arm with one taken from the boar form, as it appears afterwards, he changes his sword into a larger one during the second half and can change its hilt length on the fly, making it both a big sword and a spear- the malice arm will be used to mimic some of links abilities, like the hookshot, grabbing onto you from afar, pulling you closer or flinging you around, while still being largely a swordfight with magic- he can aim lightning directly at you just as you can via the shiekah arm and rijus ability, if you are quick enough you can activate it at the same time as he does and catch the charge instead, either refilling your magic meter or deflecting it back at him (like the god ol back and forth)

phase 4 is the final phase after beast (phase 3) his design is a mix of all forms, he is larger than in 1 and 2, furry all over and although much more human again his hair is all smoke like, the armguard fused to his arm like golden scales and the wound in the chest now broken open again with malice eyes staring from within

after phase 3 it seems like the battle is over and zelda steps up to do just as she did at botw end, but before she can finish it a swordslash cuts off half her right hand, as ganondorf isnt done yet and changed from phase 3 to 4; zelda is then disabled for this last fight (no fighting support and repairing weapons), shes been taken to safety by your friends, who finally managed to follow you up here, and you, link, are now the last one standing- his moveset is a mix of it all, quickly changing between swordplay and swipes, magical abilities and grab attacks, it is faster than the previous ones and he dodges much more as well, its meant to really be a challenge

(also heres a sketch of his swords?)

Long plot summary: the shiekah in the service of the ancient queen of hyrule discovered ancient remnants of times long past (aka the old titles, long forgotten) while excavating for luminous stones (as they were developing their tech and needed something to fuel it) that speak of a world threatening evil born as the king of the gerudo, which the queen takes as a warning of the past, and as there currently is a ganondorf as the gerudos king who refuse to unite under her banner but are otherwise on neutral terms she plans to imprison him in a stasis between life and death before he can become that world threatening evil she now believes he is destined to be in order to save everyone and delay it from returning as long as possible (assuming there will be no other male gerudo born while the current one is technically still alive)

(the discovery of said remnants of the past also involves the shiekah persecuting the sonau (zonai), little shy cave dwellers who keep their distance from everyone and have kept these last ruins save but secret bc they thought it could lead to disaster seemingly aware of the ever repeating cycle and believing it to be not divine but a self perpetuated one built on the one sided history of the past, self fullfilling prophecies, which is a threat to hyrule and its golden legacy)

its a plan enacted over years, including secretly manipulating things to make the gerudo farmlands wield bad harvests (NOT in a 'desert was green and lush uwu' way, but they have had their techniques to thrive), forcing them to trade with hyrule and starting to depend on it- the goal being to put ganondorf under so much pressure until he is willing to let go of their sovereignity for the sake of his people or otherwise willing to talk, the meeting with the queen however would be to lure him into a trap and enact the seal

ganondorf here is a new one, he is named so in honor of old myths and legends, he is older (50+) and has two daughters, a proud king and firm in his stance to not bow to anyone yet wanting to avoid conflict for the sake of his people and family; he learns of the scheme before its fully realized, including that the many years of failing crops and dying animals might not be a play of nature after all (through hyrule soldiers talking too much after a having a few too many drinks? something something about their view of the gerudo, since thats always in the games, lets make use of it no?) he sends messengers and messages to the queen, requesting an audience, but she rejects all of it and refuses to talk with him, as the plan isnt fully prepared yet and she has become fearful of him over the years of obsessing over the warnings of the past and the worlds fate, as she sees it, depending on her and the success of it

at some point he has had enough of it and disguises himself and his two most trusted advisors/warriors (potentially his mothers?) as the shiekahs leader and two underlings to finally get to the queen, aiming to confront her about everything- it works and they are let into the castle, overwhelm the guards locking the doors so its only him, his advisors and the royal family with a few taken out guards etc. the queen sees this as a confirmation of his true nature coming through though- he can see there is nothing he could do to convince her he is not what she thinks he is, he attempts to be diplomatic but she is unwavering in her faith

she gives him a choice, to be sealed willingly so he can be remembered as a noble king who gave his life for the world before he became the beast that would threaten to destroy it all, or refuse and risk war and defamation. he refuses of course and a fight ensues, escalating to the point of the throne room itself being send below the earth and the death of everyone within it, with the exception of the young princess of hyrule (who will go on to keep this secret safe and spin the story her way)

it is implied that ganondorf had not told alot of people about hyrules schemes, wanting to deescalate the situation and it ending in a way no one anticipated, but theres remnants of old gerudo villages hidden away as some stayed loyal to him, likely of one of his daughters, as the world turned his legacy into a frightful tale and the gerudo falling under hyrules rule, one chose to resist as the other chose to bow

( .. i hoped to strike a balance between what i like and what zelda stories usually amount to while leaning much more clearly into a hyrule critical lense .. without, hopefully, being too overtly so)

(i thought about making the mid game cutscene into a rough comic or storyboard but im honestly very unsure about it all again q-q)

(i hope this version is better, i will never post these drawing again i swear im done with this part ..)

[bubbleddisasters]

Guess whos back on their Che’nya theory shit again. Me.

Also some of this is just me going on about random and absolute far stretched shit, but hopefully the majority makes sense to y’all.

I’m about to sound batshit insane and this is going to be some MatPat sounding shit but here we go anyway.

WARNING‼️⚠️ MAJOR BOOK 7 SPOILERS AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

———————

I just made the realization that Che’nyas UM and already natural abilities we’ve seen puts him in a position to be deadass playing the Floor is Lava with Malleus as the lava rn.

They wouldn’t have told us his UM in the main story if it didn’t matter somehow. They had the opportunity to show us Neiges in Rooks dream, yet didn’t, so it isn’t a heres RSA UMs for for shits and giggles thing, and we don’t know ANY of the teachers UMs, so it isn’t a “filling npc” thing either.

In EVENTS, we learn the UMs of only the very important and/or dangerous characters. Rollo, Skully, and Fellow. (Geez, Halloween trio now that I think of it).

Do we know Dylia Spades? No. Do we know Eric Schronheits? No. Do we know Ambrose the 3rds? No. Do we know Elizas? No, we get slapped. Do we know Najima Vipers? No. (She might not have one yet tho but still).

These characters are all confirmed as mages, or not directly said to be magicless, so it’s fair to assume they are mages.

So they told us Che’nyas UM for a reason. Why?

Like if his UM makes him invulnerable to magic/attack and invisible, and straight up on ANOTHER PLANE OF EXISTENCE, then if he’s not technically “all there”, Malleus wouldn’t be able to sense him.

Plus, this would explain how Orthos body was floating on the water when STYX found it, as when we know Orthos HEAVY AF, and would more than likely sink, since I doubt they had the time to build in something inflatable enough to balance that weight.

To boot, Ortho was at the docks, which from the map, is super close to RSA.

For reference:

(Both normally and under Mals spell)

The Cheshire Cat is the one who gets Alice out of Wonderland (In the movie, the tunnel Alice runs through matches the Cheshire cats color and stripes + He’s the only one not chasing her+ in the OG book, the Cheshire Cat is more of a Guide and the only one who really sticks with and helps Alice for the whole shabang), and if he’s in RSA, then I think the writers know that.

Aswell as the fact Che’nya appears in both Books with “Tyrant” in the name, and the Cheshire Cat is the only person completely immune to the Queen of Hearts control, as the second most powerful being in wonderland next to LITERALLY TIME ITSELF.

Look in most Disney Villain Line-Ups, and you’ll find the Cheshire Cat. Why? Marketing, the Cheshire Cats a popular character that isn’t directly portrayed as a hero, and more as a mysterious reoccurring character that isn’t necessarily seen as a helper unless you squint.

Additionally, we’ve seen Che’nya use flight, self gravity control, teleportation(unconfirmed but implied on that one) and use his UM for extremely long periods of time, and now that I think of it, we’ve never seen it wear him down, even without the lack of a magestone on his design.

And anyway, in the manga, he’s been doing such things since before we meet him for the first time at age 8-9 from Rids perspective.

Which means long enough that he basically has full control over it at that age, so probably either since birth or very, very young.

Which gives us the know that unlocked his UM way before meeting Riddle and mastered it, which means likely as a literal toddler woke up one day and went “Hey what if I just fucked off to another plane of existence and became both invisible and invulnerable, while capable of movement and communication on this plane the whole time.”

Now back to Book 7.

So heres what caught my attention, Silver mentions the only people he can pop into the dreams of are people he has connections with.

Seeing as we get Sebek first crack out of the box, and then Lilia, this makes sense.

However, it falls off when the next people start to be people Silver either doesn’t know, or very loosely knows.

Yes, I understand the commercial and writing point is meant to be a dorm countdown, but it would make far more sense to be a Russian Roulette, kind of upping the anticipation of whos next.

But to me, with what we know of Silvers connections, it would make far more sense to have the second years be first after Dia, then maybe the third years that he knows because of Lilia, and finally the first years, still leaving room for Ace to get his UM towards the very end.

Now if we drive this back to my Che’nya playing Yuu’s guardian angel theory, it would make more sense to start with Pomfieore after Igi, because not only is it recent connections, so probably easier to bring to the forefront of Silvers UM, it gives him time to get up to NRC right after pushing Ortho or simply getting him out safely.

Before you mention malleus’s barrier, Che’nya gets past NRCs barrier that took STYX heavy power shots to break like its every other tuesday, without Crowleys notice aswell, he stands a viable chance of slipping past Malleus’s.

If he can jump to another plane of existence in which he is invulnerable to magic, theres nothing stopping him from sliding past to get Ortho out and slipping back in under Malleus’s nose.

It also gives him a good “oh shit” moment and an idea of the root of whats happening.

And if I’m wrong and he can’t teleport, he can latch on to Malleus (possibly referencing the Cheshire Cat latching onto the Queens back after she gets a card solider executed I think) to teleport with him back to NRC.

With that, he could be preventing Silver OBing by basically shattering the shade/phantom before it can even do anything, while also hiding Idia being awake. That, or basically lending Silver magic enough to keep going while praying to god Mal doesn’t notice.

Lilia playing the worlds most dangerous game of tag with Mal in dreamland gives him the distraction he needs for this aswell, and it could be that everything went to shit around Trey-Riddles Dreams, and Che’nya popped in to speed up the process and or Dream Che’nyas revealing his UM kinda got his ass caught by Mal, or caused Mal to finally detect a disturbance in the force.

So if I’m right with the previously theorized Guardian Angel thing, Che’nya could be hotwiring Silvers UM to send Silver and co to the people he remembers helped Yuu and the rest recently without risking Malleus putting two and two together on who could be fucking with the dreams other than Silver, depending on how he was portrayed in Trey and Rids Dreams.

Though it would be hilarious if with the Floor is Lavaing it he was also Night at the Musueming it and just repeatedly moved each dreamer closer to Silver physically so they’d have a physical connection (like pinky to pinky or head to head) and basically had Malleus doing a eyebrow raise everytime he turned around trying to figure out if that person had been moved or he was seeing things until he realized there was an exponentially large group around Silver that definitely wasn’t there before.

Another thing: We know the Three Good Fairies weren’t affected by Maleficent’s curse and are the ones to untie Philip when he’s caught and give him the Sword and Shield, which his has, and loses all but the sword in the fight against Maleficent, the Sword and Shield which in the Og twst Trailer that scene is likely referenced by Silver as the Sword (duh) and Sebek as the Shield, with Lilia where Philip would be, although his arm is raised higher.

You kinda have to flip Sebek and Silvers positions but yea.

Sebek being Virtue is self explanatory. He strives to have the virtue of a knight worth of Malleus, and shows this in many ways, but his faults are his rudeness, arrogance, biased or generally rude assumptions, and overexaggertion, stemming from his own internilzed racism (or speciesism? I guess?) , which lead many others to not want to be around him, deflecting the truth of his heritage as to not focus on his own insecurities like a shield to an attack, no matter who its from, in a way.

Now that he has begun to bond and not be as rude to the rest of the non fae cast however, he ends up passing out? Like how a shield seemingly has no use if its not defending, unless you get real creative with it (Its Reyn time I mean who said that)

Silver balances this out as truth, as he is someone we see is honest to almost no fault. His UM also shows truth, in its own way, by showing the truth of the desires of those around him. However, a truth has also been held directly from him, aka the truth of his birth, and the undeniable truth that to break the curse upon him, Lilia did have to truly love him, even as the child of his friends killer.

So he is both benefited and harmed by truth, just like how the same sword can both protect and kill, it just depends on who wields it.

Anyway, back to the point at hand, Now that Malleus seemingly has the time to go and pull a FNAF 4 at Idias door, the odds are Lilia may have somehow gotten caught or restrained (like Phillip is) for enough time to have Malleus notice the Shrouds are pulling shenanigans on his private dream servers and feel the need to go confirm this.

The way in the movie the Three Good Fairies are caught hiding Aurora by Maleficent in the first place is by getting too cocky on the day before Aurora’s B-day and using magic like crazy, fixing up and making their “gifts” much better, as they didn’t know how to create them without magic.

These gifts? A Cake by the GREEN fairy, the calmest and most mature of the three: Fauna, and a Dress, which the RED AND BLUE FAIRIES Merryweather (the most rebellious yet sensical) and Flora (the leader, most work focused and overconfident) keep fighting over which color it should be, Pink or Blue.

(I rewatched their scenes and I forgot how much of a fucking MVP Merryweather was, everyone else turning things into rainbows, bubbles and flowers while my girl was out here burning chains, hunting down snitches, turning her mfking ops to stone and had to be physically held back from throwing hands with Maleficent by herself, god bless this tiny blue diva)

Fauna can obviously be placed as Trey here. Calmest, a Cake, Green. Done.

You can combine Flora and Merryweather into the two sides of Riddles Dream, the first being very punk yet sensical lifestyle, the blue, bringing in the sadness of what he desired yet cannot have, and the second half being Flora, the extremes of overconfident and tyrannical leadership, the red of rage, to say.

Red and Blue obv equal Purple, Che’nyas signature color, probably because purple isn’t actually a fucking color. I’m not going to explain the history of purple, but there is not such thing as purple in science, only shades of violet.

Speaking of Pomfieore, the first non dia dreamer group we see, is VIOLET. I said it. (Octavielle is Lavender, so no, not directly purple) Bright Red is Heartstabyl. (Scarabia is Maroon, which is a shade of red, but again, not directly bright red)

Now what I’m going on about here is this: If In the dreams, each dreamers NPC versions of their friends strictly abides by what the dreamer desires them to, how did dream Che’nya not only transfer to both parts of Riddles dream, but also go directly AGAINST the dream and the dreamer?

The dream versions of the others cannot, under any circumstances, break the character the dreamer creates without breaking the dream itself.

We see this in Lilias dream, in Treys, and Deuces. The Senate, Cater and Ace respectively breach the line of what is and isn’t in character for them in the dreamers memory to hold the dreamer within the dream, causing their respective dreamer to wake up sheerly due to the stark contrast.

These characters will go to lengths to keep the dreamer asleep, so how is it that this dream version of Che’nya can do the exact opposite?

And in Treys dream, Che’nya is the only one not practically turned into Eric Cartman variants, which given the fact Cater, certified sweets hater, has too, means that Che’nya, certified sweets stealer, somehow dodged that bullet in Treys subconscious, which breaks the rules set by the dream.

These rules are delicate, seemingly. It takes one too out of character word, one too out of character action to knock the dreamer awake.

So either Trey sees Che’nya as having the self control of a monk (a small scene in manga implies Che’nya steals from the Clovers fridge so often Treys own damn siblings hear the fridge open and assume its him and not their own damn brother, so I doubt that he’d think that) or Che’nya can bypass these rules.

Many of the dreams would have been so much easier if they could conveniently convince the dreamers friends to go up against them for their sake or just to simply help wake them up.

Of all people, the dream version of Ace fucking Trappola actually listening to and abiding by Riddles tyranny and not jumping at the opportunity to S.O.S to Leona, Yuu and co says enough about this as is.

Anyway, what I’m saying here is that Che’nya either got his ass caught, or finally managed to hotwire himself into Silvers UM conga line, which unfortunately left Idia now in Mals notice and Silver becoming more weary from excess UM use.

Just like how the good fairies thought they’d succeeded and jumped the gun with using magic a day early, Chen could have thought that since they made it this far, their clean until further notice, and is gonna feel the hit of it later.

As my phone is dying and I want a fucking nap, this has been Blues randomass rant about Che’nya again.

More at ???? Folks.

[inhuman-obey-me]

Celestials and Saltiness: Lessons 48/49

HAHAHAHA of course while we had irl stuff going on and couldn't go through the lessons for a couple weeks, was when the Big Stuff drops. But we have caught up, and hoo boy, there is plenty to discuss. So let's discuss! Strap in, it's a long one.

(MAJOR spoilers for NB lesson 48/49 below the cut)

The Situation

Let's start with what's actually happening. Hey, remember when the devs decided Simeon is a human now as punishment over the whole stealing the Ring of Light situation? SURPRISE, they've decided he's becoming a demon after all! You know, like all of us fucking expected of what happens to angels when they are punished and fall? Yeah, that.

As it turns out, despite the whole "I'm human now" gradual reveal across two whole fucking seasons, they've now decided this has been going on since basically all the way back to his human world cafe days in OG Season 3 to say he was starting to become a demon even back then, or at least so Solomon theorizes. So...basically the entire length of his "human" punishment thus far. Cool, cool, we're sure that's totally not a retcon due to the devs realizing they wrote themselves into a corner. Definitely had a plan all along, that's why they bought themselves 2 seasons of Nightbringer time travel shenanigans of time before getting into this. Totally.

Anyway, setting aside the salt (for now), we are told that this demonic aura has been starting to appear whenever he feels deep emotions, somewhat similar to how power manifests for the brothers. Solomon tells us that it's because Simeon has a unique ability to access his latent power - which is an interesting little tidbit to note, as it implies that they took away his angel powers but he has his own inherent powers which he was just never able to access until now. We have long held the headcanon that God artificially limits angels' power, so it's very interesting to us to see that it may be suggesting something similar here.

On a related minor worldbuilding note, this does confirm the detail that celestial power has a distinctly opposite feeling than demonic power, meaning that their magic and powers are not neutral. And we also get an in-game reminder that demons do not like angels, so in this situation, it would be expected that an average demon might think an angel deserves to fall and want to torture/kill them if given the chance.

By the way, all of this is going on during the Science Fair Chemistry competition specifically, which is...an interesting parallel to say the least. Chemistry is the science concerned with matter -- including its composition, structure, and how it changes down to the molecular level. We've always been of the opinion that Simeon just turning into a human was odd as it's been established that demons and angels have different physiology in comparison to humans (like how Demonus can get both demons and angels drunk, but doesn't affect humans). Simeon turning into a demon with the absence of his angel powers makes sense.

Celestial Realm Reactions

Now, the consequences.

First, let's look at the political implications. Diavolo, Barbatos, and Lucifer know that this does not bode well for relations between the Realms. After all, what will the Celestial Realm think, having one of their own turning into a demon after they sent them to the Devildom for the exchange program? Especially considering everything that happened with Lucifer and the Great Celestial War, it would be very easy to point a finger at Diavolo and the Devildom for being a corrupting influence.

Lucifer also mentions that Simeon is currently not allowed through the gates into the Celestial Realm without first obtaining forgiveness. However, that status as a human is an ongoing punishment (think of a kid being grounded by parents), not a one-and-done thing, opening up an implication that this transformation is not necessarily intended to be permanent. That's also totally not a retcon, we're sure! If he turns into a demon, that challenges the supposed punishment and calls into question which realm actually has a claim to him -- in a situation where both answers would have precarious implications for Diavolo's peace plan.

So, that's the Celestial Realm as a whole, on a political level. But let's take a look at the individual angels we know too, shall we?

First, there's the big question mark of Michael. We know that he's the one who called Simeon back to the Celestial Realm about the Ring of Light, and we also know that he is in fact the one Simeon stole it from. However, Lucifer assumes Michael is planning to bring Simeon back to the Celestial Realm when he gets the chance, so it seems like he was not actually the one to decide on this punishment and may actually be working to end it. And interestingly, this would not be the first time Michael has acted on his own to seemingly try to cancel out a punishment from God -- as a reminder, he also went off to the Devildom disguised himself as Raphael to try to invite the brothers back at the end of NB Season 1!

Considering Lucifer's insistence that Father would never forgive him, plus his Cocytus punishment at the end of NB Season 2, it does seem like Michael probably didn't have permission from God to go inviting them back. If he's also looking to reverse Simeon's punishment, that would show a surprising rebelliousness from the top angel of the Celestial Realm! So it will be interesting to see how Michael's role in this whole situation unfolds.

Then, we have our sweet baby angel Luke -- who ends up crying himself to the point of passing out when he finds out. He's grown a lot since he first arrived to the Devildom, no longer thinking that all demons are inherently evil monsters -- but he's still very proud to be an angel. He loves Simeon dearly, as the one who has acted as a parental figure of sorts for him this entire time. Luke is adamant about protecting and helping Simeon in any way he can, even if he's not sure what can really be done.

However, this sets up quite the conflict for the poor boy. He was too young to know Lucifer and the other brothers at the time of the Great Celestial War, so this is his first time reckoning with an angel he's known personally becoming a demon. And on top of that, this began with the Celestial Realm's decision to punish Simeon for taking the Ring of Light -- saving MC and Lucifer, and stabilizing MC's "ring" to essentially save all of the Three Realms.

In other words, Simeon is becoming a demon now for saving everyone. So it begs the question -- will Luke, who has unquestioningly believed in the Celestial Realm until now, start seeing his home in a different light after all of this?

Then there's the next-youngest angel, and the newest in the cast -- Raphael. We didn't see too much of him, but we get enough that it's clear he's not taking this news well either. It's assumed he was suddenly called to the Celestial Realm because of this development, though we don't know exactly what they say to him about it, and when he returns, he's in a daze. We see Mephistopheles being the one to actually first run into him and try to talk to him, but he is mainly met with a very out-of-it angel, and he then takes him out to have his family's special Demonus because it's clear Raphael is distressed. In another scene, we see Thirteen run into a now spaced-out Mephisto and he asks her a "hypothetical" -- what happens when an angel reaches their limit? Also, Solmare, are y'all setting up RaphaelxMephisto as a ship?

And then, of course, we have the angel of the hour -- or rather, ex-angel. And Simeon's reaction to this change is...not so bad, actually. It's one of understandable confusion but also a kind of near acceptance. We've always been convinced that the reason Simeon was demoted after the Celestial War was because he stayed neutral and refused to fight. And how Simeon discusses the past in Lesson 49 suggests similarly -- he has always had regrets over not joining Lucifer, because he couldn't. Now that it seems he is possibly turning into a demon, he can't help but wonder how things could have been different if he had.

He mentions how he feels less unsure about this than turning into a human, as he always did want to be closer to the brothers, and didn't like that he was different from them. In that sense, turning into a demon doesn't seem so bad to him -- though he also doesn't have control over these powers yet, so he needs to be careful. And, if you choose the "are you a bad boy at heart" option, he mentions that maybe his loyalty to the Celestial Realm is lacking -- pretty understandable, after all he's seen from them and all they've put him through...!

And Then There's the Shady Sorcerer...

Now, that's all complicated enough for that delicate, delicate balance between the Celestial Realm and the Devildom, but let's not forget there's one more realm in the "Three" Realms, with one very conspicuously powerful representative here in our cast.

And so, where is Solomon in all of this? Well, we know he placed a protection charm on Simeon to protect him when it was thought that he was a "defenseless" human, so that even if a lesser demon messed with him, they'd be in for a world of pain. He was also, it seems, the first one to notice Simeon starting to transform into a demon, but kept that information to himself until confronted about it. Lucifer opens up to us that he can't help but wonder if there's some kind of connection between the sorcerer's activities back in the human realm and Simeon's predicament, feeling some doubts even if it seems everyone relies on Solomon and trusts him. And after all, Lucifer would be a demon with a good reason to distrust Solomon, since the sorcerer has long been after a pact with him, even on top of all the many powerful pacts he already holds with others.

Lucifer brings up some of his concerns to Solomon by asking him why he's been going back and forth to the human world so much -- to which Solomon answers that's making some preparations for unlikely scenarios. He insists it's not important, but we wonder...

Back in OG Season 2, Solomon knew about MC's "ring" which was putting the Three Realms at risk, and he secretly swiped the Night Dagger from the Reaper's Cave as a potential solution. His top priority, as we've seen, has always been protecting humanity from the battling influences of the other two realms. We know that's also part of his mysterious deal with Nightbringer.

So what possible plans and preparations could Solomon be making, and for what unlikely scenarios? Another war? Another imbalance of power? We'll see what awaits with this whole new situation...

[altocat]

I feel like Rufus doesn’t get enough credit. I mean everyone views Sephiroth as the master manipulator in FF7 but let’s be honest… without his powers he wouldn’t be able to manipulate a rabbit. This man was horribly socially awkward and the only way he can get to Cloud is by using Jenova’s influence to make Cloud hallucinate.

Rufus on the other hand- being a completely normal yet wealthy person- managed to control basically every player on the board by the time his father died. It’s strongly implied he controls the main AVALANCHE sector and is now confirmed to be the head of the Wutai resistance. Not to mention that whole stunt he pulled with the Turks to secure their loyalty, the Turks who are basically the CIA of the FF7 verse.

I think this man should get a smidgen more credit for his manipulation. He is the true queen of girlboss, gaslight, gatekeep.

I really love how he was portrayed in Rebirth...honestly one of the MVPs for me. He's not an idiot. He's VERY competent and figures things out faster than most. He even saw through Sephiroth's bullshit while he was pretending to be Glenn. He's very clever and knows what he wants. Honestly, I love this Rufus a lot more than how he was in OG, where he's comically evil only to have a change at heart at the very end. This version feels more in line with how he was portrayed in Advent Children. He's crafty. He's got his hands in a LOT of things. And it doesn't always work out in his favor but he's always got another ace in the hole somewhere else.

Honestly, good for him.

[dishbug]

totally reasonable lenght for a ramble that stemmed from a singular screenshot (repost)

this was on my old blog thats no longer available so im reposting it here so its actually findable, its completely unchanged (other than name capitalization) og date : September 28th, 2024, 4:02 AM

happy wandysong 6th anniversary!!!!!!!!! to commemorate the moment the rot is in strong this 3 am, also yeah here is my ramble im gonna copy paste and add onto from my discord dms ty

thinking abt this dialogue in act 5 when Kiwi told Audrey that their whole thing literally is just singing and nothing else which yknow she is reasonably surprised by but it gets much better when you consider that not much later you can ask Miriam a few questions before entering moonscape where she basically just figures out in that moment and explains to you that the space in the spirit world and thereby all the -scapes are "shaped by your mind, and by the Overseers" basically meaning that different people see different things in it, with the castle staying as the only constant "anchor" point. with this info you can reasonably assume that most of Audreys experiences are very much slash pow zap focused so it is absolutely fair for her to go "how the fuck" when the bard tells her theyve just been singing their way through the spirit world this whole time.

(also yeah i know in intermission she's already at the overseer castle but!!! hey!!! just think about it.... thats what this is for...)

also im so glad Miriam is so smart and is the one giving us this random loredump bc i love thinking abt things too deeply and this definetly scratches that itch especially w it almost giving an extra layer to an interraction between two already pretty complex characters i enjoy very much

like ok i just love how this interaction you have w Audrey is optional and this optional interaction you have w her is given extra thinkability with MORE OPTIONAL DIALOGUE

and its not like a "oh Miriam explain to me how the fabric of the universe works" type of thing its just the "why do we land far apart?" question right before you enter solarscape together. and she just. figures that out on the spot. i love how its a question the bard would ask and isnt really directed from the "players perspective". i mean yeah duh its there bc youre curious too but its phrased in a very reasonable and incharacter "yeah ofcourse they'd worry about that" way

theres really nothing implying it would be like. an important bit of lore just by how its presented and tbh my little peabrain can only confirm is important is bc you have the option to ask her to repeat it. ......or maybe Greg was just proud abt that bit of worldbuilding

this also makes me wonder how she "experiences" the -scapes. since like, first time she entered it was chaoscape AFTER queen chaos was killed so there was like... literally nothing... she herself describing it as "dark and empty" since the -scapes kind of collapse without their respective overseers.

so in act 4 when she asked what it even was like in the -scapes im wondering if kiwis response altered her expectations or EXPERIENCES (ooooo)... anyways le sigh this is probably where she was starting to figure out that it like. works this way. reading and paying attention to dialogue is so rewarding in this game bc my previously UNEDUCATED!! mind was thinking that she just failed to get in w kiwi but this is so much more interesting !!!! wow my brain is just way too quick to just accept that things work like my first assumption without thinking too deeply abt it....

also something something about being able to go back into dreamscape after you exited without singing the overseer song again. maybe dream king got lazy idk.

wow what a lovely ramble that basically went back to the very start of the game for no apparent reason <3 i hope this was atleast some part entertaining or atleast readable

[ghouldtime]

Hiii it's me again lol

Okayokay, so I just finished reading your rant on the COD fandom's unique choice of pet names, and I'm gonna be straight up and say I'm going completely off topic and INSTEAD veer off to a side thing you pointed out to give my own opinion! This is a kinda hot take so I'm just screaming into the void hoping someone shares my thoughts 🖤

Sooo we all know the Ghost comics released alongside the OG MW2. I personally haven't read it due to the TWs but I've seen enough screenshots and summaries to get the gist of what happens. HOWEVER I believe those comics are only canon to 09 Ghost and doesn't apply to reboot Ghost, and this is what I meant about it being a hot take cuz almost everyone in the fandom agrees the comics happens for both. And I can definitely see why! I mean, we didn't exactly get any concrete backstory regarding reboot Ghost, so anything goes.

Where I stand on the line, I'm a firm believer of reboot Ghost being Just A Guy™️like he had a (relatively) chill childhood but there are some things that stay the same with the comics. Like Tommy scaring him with the skeleton mask when they were children, and Simon enlisting after the 9/11 attack (not sure if those are canon, it's just what I've heard so please correct me if I'm wrong). No abusive father, no Roba, no Christmas trauma. Sure it makes him less interesting but I find it pretty amusing how the person wearing a skull print balaclava has no real reason behind wearing it other than it looking cool lmao

Anyway, yap fest over! Hope you have a wonderful day/night and remember to hydrate! 🖤

- Biscuits 🌺

SALUTATIONS it's good to see you again, I hope you're doing swell as well :D 💚💚💚

Technically, what you're saying is true!

The '09 comics pair with the '09 character and are indeed cannon for only him as far as I'm aware (someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). The reboot lacks a true significant backstory. As in, if you search it up, you basically get "he joined the SAS and is super cool and is great at doing cool soldier things and probably can do a sick backflip". What we know about the reboot is basically what we experience in game. And until we get either another game focusing on his earlier life or have confirmed scenes of it, we really don't know.

Personally, how I distinguish "Ghost" as a being is as three versions.

You have '09 Ghost. '09 Ghost is the one we experienced in the OG games and the comics. He's the dead one - and the one with the actual official backstory. Those are both cannon and are tied to him as a character.

You then have Reboot Ghost. Reboot Ghost is, as the name entails, the reboot alone. Basically, what we have of him and know of him is what we experience in game. Technically, we don't know his backstory and the full extent of his life. Is it similar to his '09 counterpart? We don't know. He's kinda the "What you see is what you get". There's some things implied with his dialog but most of his story is up for debate.

And then we have what I'm calling Fandom Ghost who is the most common variant. Fandom Ghost is neither the reboot nor the '09 version - he's a middle ground. He's what everyone is thinking of when you hear 'Ghost'. Usually how I've seen him portrayed is the reboot with the '09 backstory or some semblance of that.

(Side note: I know it's quite typical to specify when you're referring to '09 Ghost specifically because he does, of course, have a very different history and outcome. Not to mention, the dynamics with him and Soap are very different than in the reboot which is another reason why people usually clarify and go "This is who I mean")

I've never actually seen a TRUE reboot Ghost that wasn't fandom based or fanon in writing, now that I think about it. Probably because it's not that easy to write about a character in a limited sense where you don't know much about them and you have to stick to the limited material you're given.

A lot of COD operators lack a significant backstory outside of their military history. That's mainly done because they're videogame characters of a military, shooting focused game and they don't usually have the time to go into depth as to why that character is the way they are. They're primarily soldiers who are saving the world and playing their role. You might see snippets here and there but the focus isn't on their background or the inner workings of their character in a very personal way, aside from what is revealed on missions to add a natural perspective and make them see more human

Because it's not like in the middle of a life or death situation you're going to sit down and explain that you had a dog growing up, you had three sisters, your favorite drink is Baja Blast, and you have a lifelong fear of Burger King.

'09 Ghost, however, we GOT a backstory. We were given something to work with. Clinging to that or melding it with the reboot, who lacks a backstory, is what a lot do because it's trying to make use of the best source material we got until we can maybe get something else too. Personally I was a fan of that backstory because it DID add depth to him, significantly so. I liked it.

Additionally, I think a LOT of people go that route too because it's something that's quite easy to look up so they don't need to make something themselves

(This is an entire theory and me putting on my tinfoil hat: There's a lot of people in the COD fandom who are just here for the big beefy men and don't do their research, haven't played the games - they're just assuming things. And when they see the fandom Ghost, they just assume it's true, and it spreads when they write their own stories. I hope this doesn't read like I'm trying to gatekeep or 'HOW DARE YOU NOT KNOW EVERYTHING' or 'you're not a true fan unless-', cause I really really really do not care. Do what makes you happy, but I'm going to avoid reading what I feel mischaracterizes him for sexual purposes alone hardcore)

I also like to imagine that maybe the team doing the reboots has enough common sense too to not entirely scrap such a backstory as hey, it IS interesting, so there's a strong possibility that reboot might share some origins. Kidding, I'm being fully delusional here and know they won't do that and will likely just ruin it and I'm hoping they don't have a chance. I know any new one they come up with -like the writing in the last campaign -would be utter carbonated hot dog water and I do not trust them at alllllll. I'm refusing to accept reboot Soap's death but that's a rant for another time

That being said though, there's technically no correct backstory yet for Reboot! Ghost aside from what we already know. Anything that adds backstory or melds anything else to him is making him fanon/fandom!Ghost (which is by far the most common iteration and the one people default too)

I love when people give him, and other COD characters, happy or somewhat not dramatic backstories. They already have enough going on with the wars they're thrown in, I live for them having a scrap of happiness and normality. I can't blame people for not wanting to write or deal with heavy backstories and it's nice to see variety and is SO super valid.

But at the same time, I also do like his OG backstory, I love seeing when people dig deeper into the gritty stuff too, exploring that side of characters because not everyone has the best life growing up. And joining the military and when they join can be telling too about their home life

Variety is the variety of life and when there's not exactly a cannon, then I love seeing people make their own reasonings and conclusions and write fanfics with their own theories. It's SO fun to explore what other people think and it really results in some of the sweetest fics that dive more into depth than the official writing team ever could hope to

The Ghost that I write are usually AU Ghosts anyhow so it allows me more flexibility in what I write. BUT if I'm writing for Ghost, I do the blend where it has more of the '09's backstory but his reboot vibes. THAT BEING SAID

I love making him just, A Dude©, still despite that. Having a bad past doesn't make him any less of a person - nor does it make him this ultra mega tough dominant edgy sigma bad boy. He's literally just a GUY. Sure, he has extensive SAS experience and training to boot. Sure, he's easily one of their top soldiers. He's a stone cold killer when he's Ghost. He's there to do the job.

But Simon? Simon's just a dude, like everyone else - they all are at the end of the day. Sure, they have their own personal struggles and do have to go through a lot, but they're still people. He goes to the grocery store and is genuinely confused about all the options of milk now (how the hell did they milk HEMP). He still makes his bed and has to fight the fitted sheet to stay on, using his size and strength to force it in place before it can do 'the thing' that all fitted sheets somehow do. He bought a bird feeder so he could watch the wildlife as he drinks his tea for breakfast. Speaking of tea, he has a whole collection! And the good shit, you know he won't settle for any less.

He's just A DUDE© at the end of the day and I love those mundane things because hell, he needs them to still feel human and to be reminded exactly what he's fighting for

I just find it so silly and ridiculous when he's consistently like "I'M Batman: I AM THE NIGHT" sheer dramatic levels of broody in stories or when he's put in as this mega dommy bad boy who is 6'5", growling constantly, and is like the posterchild for a wattpad biketok fanfic.

Lmaooo be for real, he's out here doing arts and crafts to make his masks. He has a whole paint collection and everything. He went into the craft store for paint and came out with two new hobbies and no, I'm not listening to anyone who says otherwise

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #25

Fairy For a Day

FAIRY CON!!! Third appearance SWEEP!

Okay, now THIS is more useful to me in setting up a timeline. Definitely saving that.

"Cosmo and I look forward to this convention all year!" -> Yeah, you've gone 3 times since meeting Timmy; I bet you do.

I actually own a Cosmo Con button IRL and it's precious to me <3

?? So... "Cosmo Con" and this episode both went with godkids not being at Fairy Con, but we know from the Season 10 "Fairy Con" episode, Timmy's gone every year. Hmm.

If we see the same tents that appeared in both "Cosmo Con" and "Fairy Con," I'm gonna lose it.

Fairy Con is at the CASTLE?? Are they allowed to do that?? We never get to go inside the castle!! I wonder if the Fairy King is still implied to be either dead or abandoned his throne, or...?

Hey wtf, Jorgen put his office on top of the Castle?? I missed that, if that's come up before.

oh my gosh, I can't believe even in the spin-off, King Northiae and Prince Eastkal are still out of the picture... Lmao??

"Eastkal appear onscreen when he's not dying" challenge (Impossible)

Disclaimer, they don't have canon names. These names come from my 'fics where I've written them alive and interacting with people until the war, so these random background characters have significance to me <3

We did see the title Fairy King in "Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour 1," but he was mysteriously absent then and any other episode about Fairy World, and "Balance of Flour" (the episode this screenshot is from) confirms the people I'm talking about were important in Fairy society even if we didn't have their names.

slkdfjskdljf, they're still getting their tickets scanned. And everything goes off without a hitch?? Somewhere out there, Chloe - who lost her ticket and was banned - is staring into the void.

Hazel looking at her cosplay options: Hmm, what's my fairy vibe? :)

She's so cute.

I'm glad Cosmo and Wanda's friends just... have accepted their goofiness and it doesn't damage their friendship.

Hmm. Godkids were able to attend in previous years, but not this time. I have suspicions Hazel will run into another godkid even though she snuck in.

Presumably Dev, but this would be a fun place to reveal a new kid (or see nods to OG characters)

OMFG, I know these are probably meant to be candles, but I said in Post #5 that I've always used these interior decorations in worldbuilding as memorials and/or representations of the soul:

- and they're so important in Fairy culture that in Frayed Knots Chapter 27, Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Sanderson used their presence or absence to check which Fairy homes had been evacuated from the fire. So... I just find this very funny :'D For incredibly specific reasons.

(Hazel's little hand gripping the pole)

SDLKFJSDF. Memorial for people lost to magical back-up this year.

I mean... I didn't think it was that serious considering Cosmo and Wanda have survived exploding from magical back-up multiple times, but... Good to know sometimes you don't survive?

Holy flip, this makes the Fairies dropping H.P. and Sanderson on earth and forcing them to drive / bike home without using magic so much darker. hey wtf.

Technically I did headcanon Pixies as getting inspiration back-up if they didn't inspire people to innovate rather than the magical back-up route, but... basically the same thing.

I just saw the Musical ending to get this screenshot and ?? I'm so glad Flappy stayed long enough to see Gary and Betty take over and make changes to the Learnatorium? In my memory, he ditched them instantly, but I'm glad he was there to make sure they'd be okay without him <3

F in the chat for Betty toppling over from a heart attack and Gary freaking out in the background while Flappy is partying onstage. lol.

I wonder if this is how Fairies pass when they're old as well, like if whatever magic they have at that age becomes too much for their physical forms.

Hm. Okay, so is the canon we're going with for New Wish that Fairies leave confetti when they die? In the OG series, it's heavily implied Fairies turn to dust and that's why Jorgen freaks out when he finds glittery dust on Cosmo and Wanda's beds in "Fairy Idol," but I'll take it! That's clever, and it's close.

Interesting move considering one of the Season 1 episodes depicts Cosmo exploding from magical back-up, because it's not like it was buried randomly in Season 7 or something- It's one of the things that people are first likely to encounter.

But I'm not really picky; just noting it down as a reminder to myself that this show is a spin-off and AU and I shouldn't try to jump through hoops to see if it will fit in my canon-compliant-with-OG-series Cloudlands AU. It's still fun to watch and this is a creative spin on the OG magical back-up!

I'm glad we're still playing into "Fairies don't leave skeletons and all the skeletons we keep leaving in jails are fake." lmao. Iirc, the canon from "Wishology" was "Halloween party that never got cleaned up."

I think bones are just really freakin' scary to people who are elastic and turn to dust. Like, what the heck is a skeleton? A dead human?? omg. doin' me a frighten.

Oh, maybe confetti is for this death specifically and other deaths can still be dust. Yeah, I'm good with that.

I was totally prepared for some kind of familiar face to show up on the board, like Mama Cosma or Big Daddy or Juandissimo, but I'm glad it didn't. But Cosmo and Wanda are going to be in trouble, probably later this episode...

Presto, old manager from the diner? Gonna make a note.

I like this tent dedicated to sleight of hand.

skdjf, you get a close-up on this tent in a moment and this guy also has the Shakespeare for Mimes book that kids always have at school. Reused assets...

?? There was one tent in the background I saw that made me say "Huh, they didn't put any detail inside this one except some boxes that haven't been unpacked," but I like how we get a new angle on it and it's just called Mystery Crates. That's fantastic.

I am OBSESSED with the fact that we are in the Pink Castle courtyard, so of COURSE there are still crossed wand symbol tapestries hanging on the walls. I love how much thought was put into the location.

I like the tent that says [word]-Free Books. I wish I could see what that first word was. I hope it's something like Curse-Free Books.

I'm LOSING IT at Hazel once again reminding us she likes paperwork.

Oh, and Wanda backed me up on that! ... PLEASE let her meet the Pixies, I am begging.

Surely they're setting us up for that someday. There's an established species that does paperwork and writes contracts. It's right there... We even have the cube head model already in play! My favorite boys are so close, I can taste it... and yet, so far.

I will actually have a meltdown if I get to see H.P. again. It's such a foreign concept, I can't even imagine. I just really miss him... I watched "Oddlympics" recently and it made me sad.

I wonder if Hazel likes official documents because she likes researching rocks :) Girls only want one thing and it's wonderful

Wow. I can't believe it's that easy? You can just sign a paper and be a fairy? Lol.

???? This feels like such a dangerous plot thread to play with. There's a million ways you could swing this. Are some Fairies former humans who chose the magical life?

Where is Timmy. Did he find out about this? I'm stressin' out...

Actually, wait... Godkids aren't supposed to be here. It's probably fine.

Now that Hazel's made herself a fairy, she's gonna experience magical back-up if she's not careful.

Oh, I love her dark, sparkly purple hair.

Holy flip, batgirl-

That's not the direction I thought this episode was going??

Oh no... And right after Dev's gone looking for Anti-Fairy info? He's gonna flip... This spells trouble...

I'm delighted Lezah was born in a gray smoke cloud like Foop :>

?? I like that she has a snaggletooth. I personally gave Teen & Adult Foop a snaggletooth in my design for him, but I think I like Lezah's blatant "the rest of her teeth are flat and she only has this one fang" vibe better than what I went with for him.

I think I already said this in Irep's debut, but... If Anti-Cosmo shows up, is he going to debut with the name Osmoc; is that legit the direction we're going? Lol.

At this point, seeing as Irep's griping implies he didn't have a choice in changing his name, and Lezah is the 2nd Anti-Fairy to have a backwards name (With Hazel and us as audience only knowing these guys in New Wish), I feel like they HAVE to commit to Osmoc and Adnaw.

I feel like they're trying to make it easier to distinguish them or at least so they can have cool names or something, but I feel like that's actually harder on the audience?? At least without subtitles.

A lot of people headcanon Nega-Timmy as Timmy’s anti when they do fairy designs of him, so… Ymmit??

Anxiety girl...

Lezah: You're not cool and it's about time you knew. Hazel: If anyone already knew I wasn't cool, it was me.

oh no <3

Huh. That's a lot of blue structure. I like it.

I appreciate how Lezah, in traditional Anti-Fairy fashion, got bored in 2 seconds. I think that's the best part of Fairy-Pixie-Anti-Fairy dynamics to me:

- Fairies are nervous and jumpy, but they calm down when they have structure and rules. So the Pixies always take over by giving them new rules to follow and no one makes a fuss; Timmy always has to step in and rescue them because the Fairies (except Binky) just go along with it. - Anti-Fairies are super restless and bad at sitting still. They can't handle boredom, which means they can't focus on rules or plans. Even when they make plans, we know Anti-Cosmo gets so distracted that he switches pen colors throughout his notes, implying he leaves and comes back 4 or 5 times before completing one sheet of paper... which is probably why Anti-Cosmo defers to the Head Pixie, who gives off "knows what he's doing" vibes. lol. - Luckily for everyone, H.P., is always down to relinquish everything he took over for raves and soda <3

Shout-out to the totally real upcoming plot of Lezah kicking every rock she sees into the void because Hazel loves rocks

Saving Hazel's signature for my collection:

I like how Timmy and Hazel both sign fae contracts with only their first name. I hope this means H.P. would also call her Hazel at least sometimes... He used to call Timmy "Turner" most of the time, but he called him "Timmy" when he was prank-calling him <3

Holy flip, I can't believe Cosmo and Wanda touched butterfly nets so they could catch balloons. I think it would've been funny if they caught each other on accident.

Purple road gives me the same energy as Fairy World's purple grass in "Odd Squad."

Okay, so... the Big Wand is now inside the castle? Interesting.

??? I'm curious about what the logic is in designing Irep with a cube head. Lezah doesn't have one.

Me, who has an established square mutation in my 'fics, but it's for Pixies and not transferrable to Anti-Fairies :'D

Hm. Well, it is a kids' show. Maybe they weren't sure kids would recognize him without the cube head.

I'm sorry, I hate to be the one to say it, but... Since Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda were alone when Foop was born, do you think anyone ever thinks Foop has a Pixie parent? At this point, I'd be shocked if the Pixies didn't have square heads in this show, so ??

If A.C. and A.W. show up without cube heads when cube heads are established in this universe, I just feel like there would be questions of legitimacy??

Does Irep just look like that on purpose because he likes it? He WAS a cube for (implied) way longer than other anti-fairy babies, and the only other anti-fairy baby we've seen wasn't a cube but was of ambiguous age, so... Hmm. Is it just HIS biology? Does it run in his family? Huh. Well. Okay.

You want to give us pixies; you wanna reuse your cube head model for pixies so bad...

Them...

Those eyelash designs are super clever. Also, I like how the lightest parts of Hazel's sweater match the darkest parts of Lezah's shirt.

I'm really glad Fairy-Hazel is not immune to getting upset by her counterpart. I'm glad she's not trying to befriend Lezah; I'm not the biggest fan of counterparts getting along well. It's great. Give me weird complexity and bullied children <3

I was going to make a joke about how I couldn't believe Lezah had better magic when she was just born, but then she screwed up her magic and that's hilarious.

Hazel: I don't want more of me! I want less of you!

Brutal.

I like how we've been going the direction of "Hazel is a person who overthinks things." I'll definitely keep that in mind, because I didn't see that in the early episodes, but it seems to be a thing recently.

Lezah is 3 seconds away from dying. oh no.

She GONE!

..... I'm really uneasy about where the magical backup lore is going since it wasn't relevant in this episode. We've got a storm on the horizon, I'm sure. :'D Also that chip powering the Big Wand is definitely coming back.

I assume Lezah is a one-off character. I really like how much thought and detail was put into her design in spite of that.

Fingers crossed for Anti-Wanda to get a mild redesign (Ex: new clothes) if she ever shows up.

Me staring into the void: Hey, why were we shown the Hocus Poconos earlier in the season, and should I be worried that we're making new, detailed characters and ditching them?

slkdjf ?? Literally on the floor that King Northiae and Prince Eastkal have a second chance to indicate to me they're not totally dead, but we're not taking it. SKLDFJSDF.

I mean ?? I don't know what I expected since it's heavily implied the Fairies and Anti-Fairies called a truce to end the war after Eastkal's death, but...

Nobody cares about these background characters who appeared only once in a flashback in Season 7, but I care!! Eastkal, my baby!! D:

Stuck In My Head

For some reason, it's funny to me that Dev eats cafeteria food despite being rich and lactose intolerant.

I was going to make a joke about Winn being allowed to wear a hat in school, but I don't think I can when we had Timmy Turner.

I really enjoy these characters with new hair styles, especially after 3 notable characters with the same hair for so long (Timmy, Cosmo, Vicky, Anti-Cosmo). I always struggle drawing their hair and I'd like to draw some new guys :)

Dev has had some bad times lately, but he's SO ready for lunch.

Hazel, on the heels of the overthinking episode: I am once again overthinking myself into oblivion.

I love Hazel's parents. I love how Cosmo and Wanda are totally down to dance. They used to love dancing <3

I like how the Hazel museum has Hazel's drawings from past episodes.

Oh, I'm sad we can't treat everything here seriously. The fact she wants to be a comic book artist is likely true, but her inventing the sun... I don't think so.

I wonder if Hazel's going to learn something she doesn't even know about herself.

Oh no... Hazel's anxiety led her to try getting rid of stuff that embarrassed her by throwing it down the trapdoor she was warned to never, ever open... That’s so funny… She is 10.

The mind worm concept is funny and engaging. Nothing much to say except I enjoyed the bit with the bird and all of Hazel's negative thoughts.

Mind Worm: wow, what a loser thought you are. can't even exist outside a child's mind. lmao. cringefail.

Hazel loves and trusts her mom so much <3 She's saying things her mom's surely taught her.

Another good moral, and more fun Hazel lore. Hazel's got a good home life and we still get to see some messy parts of her, so I really enjoy that.

Winn and Jasmine adore Hazel and her creativity so much.

Mind the Gap

Uh-oh, Hazel's friends just made it clear they notice Hazel's tooth gap all the time...

Geez, Hazel was doing (mostly) fine in the early episodes of the season, and ever since her fight(s) with Dev, she's gone from 0 to 300 in the anxiety department. Girl, are you ok?

Crying, I love how Hazel's hiding spot is the janitor's closet. She's been going there ever since Episode 1. I'm so glad we get to see her struggle.

Tooth Fairy!!! I knew she'd be here for a tooth episode, and after Cupid's redesign, I was wondering if she'd change much. She looks the same and tbh, I enjoy that.

??? I was going to make a joke during Lezah's ep, I think, about how the DMV keeps coming up and it's always different. I should've made that joke. It clearly wasn't just me.

I'm disappointed they made a "Seal the deal" joke with the tooth exchange program and did not seal Hazel's tooth into her mouth with dentistry.

Jasmine: Did you get your gap filled? How'd you get a new tooth so fast? Hazel: Uh... the Internet?

slkdfj, oh no.

omg, H.P. and Sanderson would think Guzman is the coolest. I miss them so much...

I like how Hazel's mom was disappointed with her (Hazel's tooth) for booing her dad, but instead of snapping at her, she just gently suggested Hazel spend some time alone in her room. She's so good. I love her <3

I'm glad Cosmo and Wanda went to get their mail in human form again. They love mail so much.

skldfj, oh... They actually DO love mail.

If there's candy and soda at the tooth party, I'm going to lose it.

I am SO GLAD Jorgen is at the Tooth Fairy's gala! He supports his WIFE!!!!!!

SLKDFJSDLKF, there's soda at the party! Cosmo and Wanda are gonna get so drunk... They won't onscreen, but I'll know.

This is the final episode before season finale. I hope they get some good rest or they're gonna be hungover at a very bad time. oh no.

AAAH, it wasn't just coincidence! I was unsure since the gala was full of familiar models, but Jorgen IS here on purpose! He even dressed up nice for it!!

He loves his wife!!

[notimeliketoday]

Northern Crater Illusion (Tifa version)

I know people's been saying something about this part in like forever especially in the OG but I finally get the courage and spite to write my own take. That's what I get staying on twitter I guess.

(You best believe I will post this there but on concentrated amount - character limit is only the blue checkmark's friend on that island.)

Most specifically I want to have a closer look on how Sephiroth pulled his attack using this *truth* that he and Tifa share and how this translates to Tifa's own personal conflict with Sephiroth himself.

Yeah, got so tired in that Sephiroth hates Tifa because of her interference to his plans for Cloud and the only one who can fix him takes.

No, fam. That's what the Rebirth seem to imply to y'all but Sephiroth already hates Tifa in OG separate from Cloud. (Or does he?). Heck, him leaving his Masamune beside her father's corpse is a literal taunt daring her to go after him and use his weapon to inflict damage to his person. This is before Cloud made himself known by stabbing him due to his own grief by the way.

Even with all this, we see he doesn't really seem to care to remember the name of who killed him until Cloud had to point it out in Junon.

CLOUD had to point it out. His KILLER has to tell him his name just to make him remember.

Tifa though?

Getting talked to so intimately with faux kindness - the very same treatment he now shows Cloud in Rebirth, imagine that.

Now let's also remember that this is the OG and therefore any trappings of Rebirth's new plot doesn't exist here because this is the beginning of it all.

Anyway, I revisited this scene because of an itch urging me (it's the spite) and a thought suddenly occurred to me.

If we remove Cloud's side and trappings in that part of the illusion (basically all things Cloud) and look at this from Tifa's perspective as a standalone thing for her own character, it paints a very clear picture of Sephiroth attacking her.

People always miss this because Cloud once again overshadowed Tifa's own trauma and unresolved conflict with Sephiroth as the one more openly attacked in this scene.

Let's look at Sephiroth's lines:

The lie has been set. Obviously Tifa won't let this unanswered if she could help it. So this is her response:

With Sephiroth's response to this being the first images I posted above.

It's been made clear how extremely pressured Tifa was at this scene especially when Cloud reveals he hinges all his faith in her while suffering her own trauma again AND attacked by their enemy.

It wasn't just Cloud Sephiroth gaslighted in this scene.

That's what this part is trying to show us and regardless of who gets attacked here the outcome is the same: Cloud is just an illusion created by Jenova using memories of people, most especially Tifa.

Sephiroth doesn't hide his attacks to her at all and it astounds me how everyone who played this game back then believed only Cloud was dealt a great mental blow. (Most of y'all are kiddies I guess that also tracks.)

Tifa actually had it much worse!

She was so overwhelmed from it all she accidentally made the wrong move of answering Cloud in the negative:

When I said she's under tremendous pressure it isn't just because of reliving her trauma and carrying the burden of Cloud's mental state alongside her own increasingly damaged psych.

It is the fact that Cloud wasn't the only one relying on her affirmation - or lack thereof - to validate which one was speaking the "truth". Sephiroth was also using her to confirm his claims and he knew very well he's got the upper hand to the "truth" she has known, all the while gaslighting her that it IS the only truth. There's even a picture to prove it!

This is not the picture but this is also that picture.

Of course, Sephiroth made sure to include her into the story. She's not part of it simply because she was there but because according to his statement..... her memories are part of Jenova's knowledge used to make *Cloud* - the failed clone.

The Cloud who by Seph's own words is just a construct of Hojo after Nibelheim's burning. A clean slate born from collective memories thanks to Jenova.

The sheer implications behind these statements are our clue to the underlying conflict that exist between Tifa and Sephiroth outside of Cloud. That the hatred is not a one-sided thing, and just because it isn't readily understood why it exist doesn't mean it isn't present.

Sephiroth drives the knife further to twist the mental wounds even more. Tifa being the one to carry the most burden of all:

Now here's a pretty interesting thought: a girl who is just plain ordinary is important enough to have Jenova's effort in molding a clone after her own desires - her childhood friend. Sephiroth is basically admitting he's got one special clone just for her. (He even gave her one in Remake but that's a slightly different story).

Ignoring the fact that Cloud is not a construct it still makes you wonder: why use her for that lie? Why her in particular?

(We are using Tifa as our center focus for this so I'm going to exclude the "she's Cloud's childhood friend reasoning. This is not about him.)

Then it can be answered if you look at it as his own way of tormenting Tifa - using a clone imbued with her memories.

A mutual on twit said that maybe because she's the one who the group trusts the most, however more than half the party wasn't there yet when *Cloud* (who Sephiroth consistently claims is just his clone) appears in front of her on that bench.

AVALANCHE as it was at that point doesn't have anyone else with a connection to Cloud.

So it goes to show she is the target of said clone's manifestation.

That is, if we believe the lie Sephiroth weaved and take it as he said it at face value, which definitely is what his claim would be to Tifa who can't refute it, especially because apparently *Cloud* really did show signs of "clone behavior" when they first met but the tech limit back then doesn't show us how it should be like to its fullest extent.

(As someone points out here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/hartofhearts.tumblr.com/post/665525778591694848/the-implications-of-tifas-familiarity-with-marco/amp) My phone isn't cooperating 😭

How could she when his "truth" matches exactly everything she knew five years ago? How could she say he's wrong when Cloud's behavior was suspect when they met for the first time in years after Nibelheim (and for her part after he left for SOLDIER)?

She tried refuting but it's clear she has her own doubts about him as well, as she couldn't continuously defend Cloud from Sephiroth's persistent claim about his current identity.

By gaslighting Cloud he doesn't exist, he also gaslights Tifa into thinking her real childhood friend is gone and it's all just in her head now.

Sephiroth KNEW so well she wanted to see Cloud five years ago but didn't see him and use that to his own advantage. It's why this is so effective a gaslight to both.

As far as Tifa knew, the last time she saw Cloud was when he left to join Soldier. This Cloud's fate is unknown to her, maybe he died or maybe he forgot about her and all such insecurities Sephiroth could use with that solidify his claims that he was all " Aw, poor Tifa. Waiting for someone who never came. Here, Jenova's made you a clone with your memories of that boy to play with you."

That's what it looks like if we only see this scene through Tifa's eyes.

Again, taunting her in the same vein as when he first did leaving Masamune besides her father's body.

Why would he do so if Tifa didn't caught his attention in the first place?

Sephiroth is clearly playing around with her and toys with her emotions just as clearly as he attacked Cloud.

He just couldn't break her like he could him no matter how hard he tried because Tifa's mental fortitude is so strong.

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

"There isn't enough of two guys just being friends!" Is such a weird take to me cuz like...

Yugi and Joey, Tristan and Joey, Judai and Manjome, Judai and Sho, Judai and Edo, Yusei and Jack and Crow, Yusei and Bruno (yeah I ship it but it's not canon), Yuma and Shark, Yuma and Bronk, Yuma and Kaito, Yuya and Sora, Yuya and Sawatari, Yuya and Gong, Yuto and Shun/Shay, Yusaku and Takeru, Yusaku and Kusanagi, Takeru and Flame (again I ship it but there's nothing canonical about it), Yuga and Luke, Yuga and Gakuto, Yuga and Roa, Yuga and Nail

And that's just within Yugioh. There are so fucking many. Even outside of Yugioh, I can name just tons and tons of male characters who are just friends and don't end up romantic.

Meanwhile, every single male/female relationship either has one of them (usually the girl) have a crush (Judai and Asuka, Yuma and Tori, Tristan and Miho) or they end up romantically involved in the end (this latter option is admittedly more of a problem in western media since most anime I watch don't like confirming relationships but I could still name so many).

So often I'll watch a movie or show that's not even a romance and they still manage to squeeze in some romantic subplot no matter how forced or pointless it seems. Edge of Tomorrow comes to mind immediately for me, what even was the point of pairing those two outside of "the lead two characters are a man and a woman"? Do we really want to set a precedent that men and women can never be friends? Because this happens. All the time. Indy gets a new girl in every single Indiana Jones movie. Leia was the only woman of the group in the OG Star Wars trilogy so she had to get paired with one of the guys and one of them was her brother so that can't happen. But it was happening romantically (even if only slightly) before they knew. What even was the point of the romantic sideplots in the Equestria Girls movies? Oh and Fox and the Hound introducing a female love interest just so she can be the female love interest. The boy and girl in Mr Peabody and Sherman are both like nine and the movie still insists on pushing a romantic angle between them when one of them tried to choke out the other. Nearly every Disney princess movie gives their lead a prince, with some being more pointless than others. Doppler and Amelia are implied like twice then randomly have children at the end of Treasure Planet. Don't even get me started on Warrior Cats. I could go on but I'll stop for now.

Male/female friendships who stay purely platonic and aren't siblings (Luke and Leia) or different species (Nick and Judy from Zootopia) are so so much rarer than male/male or female/female friendships, which are basically everywhere. And what kind of message does that send? That a man and woman can never just be friends? I'd rather not go into how much this exact mindset ruined or just confused so many of my past friendships so just know that my frustration with this is partially personal.

I'm so tired of the most obligatory milk toast straight couples being shoved into every movie or show I watch, especially if it's said female character's only trait or purpose to the narrative. Meanwhile, LGBT pairings are still fighting for representation in media. Steven Universe and The Owl House were revolutionary in terms of representation and they both got canceled early.

It's one thing if the movie is about romance (ie: WALL-E and Elemental are two of my favourite Pixar movies) but it's another when the romance or one sided crush is just shoved in because "that's what men and women have to be doing." It's a stupid mindset and it needs to stop.

This is why Judai & Asuka, Yusaku & Aoi, and Yuga & Romin being purely platonic matter so much to me.

[sapphire-weapon]

In RE4 OG leon even knows that ada is working for wesker and by that point in the series and with leon being in the government how could he not know what kind of person wesker is, how could anyone not know what kind of person wesker is? It's so hard to believe even if we dont consider leon a smart guy (tho ada described him "practically a genius" very generous of her) and I knowww that line is such a throwaway one but it still exists in OG verse😮‍💨😮‍💨

The fandom's understanding of how the world in general works is fucked so I'm just basing this off of what leon knows, says and does. The only way I can see this is he knows, he ALWAYS knows she isn't good but he voluntarily lets her actions slide. He lets her go not bc he really thinks she's a good person, and and it's not bc he's pro BOWs either, he's just weak with love(?).

Then there's the question if he knowingly let himself be weak with love by always letting her leave despite fully knowing she isnt good and it will hurt the world does that mean he prioritizes ada and his personal love over the world's safety, meaning he still is not a really good guy?? Ughh it's just so hard to believe leon genuinely thinks ada is good when he knows who wesker is and he always sees her showing up wanting to take a sample of something really bad. Like no one is THAT oblivious for that long and this is a gov agent we're talking about.

no i disagree, just because he knows she's working with wesker doesn't mean that he thinks she's on his side. he's suspicious of her and is constantly questioning her throughout RE4, but he ultimately lets her go at the end BECAUSE

krauser tells leon that he's gone full villain "all for umbrella's sake" -- which says to leon that he's also working with wesker

and then ada shoots the knife from krauser's hand and says "looks like we have the upper hand here" -- "we" meaning "leon and i" -- which implies that ada is now on leon's team, not krauser and wesker's anymore

then, later, krauser says to leon: "so you two are all hooked up now, is that it?"

cementing the fact that krauser and ada were on the same team, but ada's gone rogue.

so, at that point, leon has every reason to believe that ada only took jobs from wesker with the intention of fucking him over in the end -- which is true, and he was right, which does speak to his intelligence. and it's why we never see him hardcore question her again like he did throughout RE4. he's still suspicious, sure, but he ultimately trusts that she'll do the right thing in the end.

like the issue is that he makes the critical logical mistake of thinking that ada's betrayal of wesker applies to everyone that she works with/for, which isn't true. ada fucked over wesker, but she never fucked over other guys like simmons. she backed the fuck off when she found out what a scumbag simmons was, but she never screwed him over like she did with wesker.

but leon spends most of RE6 believing that she did, because that's what he believes she does to all of the bad guys, because that's what she did with wesker. but then, during the final boss fight, simmons basically confirms that that's not true, which is what leads leon to stand there at the end asking "why [is ada] helping us?" -- because he realizes that he doesn't know her nearly as well as he thought.

[agonycrossbow]

Genuinely curious to know when did re4r producer confirm that og and remakes are separate when all he said was that OJ plays out differently in the remake and that was about DSC as a game yet he never implied anything of the sorts for the movies whom he also produced like degeneration, damnation and ID

while yes it would make alot of sense for them to be a different continuity due to the lack of profound writing and consistency it really doesn't say anything about them at all. it's no difference from someone trying to argue so hard that both remakes and ogs exist together without any proof and source that confirmed this other than a wiki that's ran by fans and only say so because the majority of them agree on it lol

>Genuinely curious to know when did re4r producer confirm that og and remakes are separate

>he said that OJ plays out differently in the remake and that was about DSC as a game

You just answered your own question.

Something that was canon originally is not canon in the remake.

That's what was said -- unless you really want to sit there and try to make the case that DSC's Operation Javier was never canon to begin with.

The very most basic of human logic would tell you, from that statement, that the remake team does not feel bound to the original canon storyline when they're writing their stories. Nothing is set in stone, and anything from the original storyline is subject to change at any time.

Needing him to say the exact words or to specify every single title individually is pedantry.

If you really want to say that Hirabayashi's words are no more valid than fabrications by fans on the wiki, you are either trolling or stupid.

[oddlylongtelephonecord]

setting aside the definitions of queerbaiting and queer-coding (bcuz i dont rly agree w the way u use those terms and i think discussions of them should start with definitions bcuz ppl keep using them differently) I think you might be overlooking the real polygamous undertones in VNC! Vani's relationship to Jeanne starts out forced for thematic reasons beyond orientation, and its settled into something very sincere atm. This does not discount the stuff going on w vanoé. That scene in s2 for example-- it's doesn't just cut to Noé. It's INTERCUT between Vani's developing feelings for Jeanne and Noé's support and presence in his life! The stuff going on between Jeanne and Domi seems real too, so we are looking at WAY more than Vani.

OKAY OKAY so this person actually brings up some fantastic points!

(side note: I literally had to hunt through the manga volumes on my shelf to confirm the stuff about the scene being references in s2/chapter 42)

First, I want to clarify the definition of queerbaiting that I understand. The definition I have been using is the oxford dictionaries one [the incorporation of apparently gay characters or same-sex relationships into a film, television show, etc. as a means of appealing to gay and bisexual audiences while maintaining ambiguity about the characters' sexuality.] I have adjusted the original post to more accurately explain this!

But more importantly, I think that your point about the polygamous undertones is actually really fascinating, because I think you're right.

I think it would be really interesting to see the author explore the relationship between Jeanne and Dominique too, BUT BACK TO THE POINT! You brought up something that I actually forgot about! Now we just have to dissect what exactly the scene in s2 cuts to both Jeanne and Noe. There's a ton of nuance in this, and unfortunately I look too deep into things and tend to get lost in my own thoughts, so the author's intention is lost on me LMAO, but here's my thoughts on it:

I believe that it was because Vanitas is split. I think it would def be even more interesting if the author were to explore the polygamous undertones, (because I actually totally believe that Vanitas is in love w both of them, again, ch 42 implies this heavily) but I will be so honest, I think that these themes ever becoming more overt is unlikely just because of the general opinions surrounding polygamy.

ANYWAY, I think that it was likely split with the intention of showing that Vanitas is having split thoughts between the two. While I'm not quite positive that this was the author's intention, (primarily because of what anon brings up, actually; it's very possible the intention was to subtly pull in polygamous themes) I do believe that it is very likely that it was intended to show that Vanitas' feelings towards Noe are developing into something he never anticipated. Now, he is trapped in this weird limbo in which he has feelings for two different people.

I also want to add that there is like a shit ton of other stuff going on in this series right now. I chose to focus on Vanitas in the og post because it's just something that I personally find incredibly interesting. I don't intend to take away from anything else going on, I just chose to zero in on that in particular.

Basically, I actually agree with everything in this ask, so I really appreciate this stuff being brought up because it gives me a chance to go in depth on more stuff that I didn't explain as well in the first post!

[narwhalandchill]

(4.7 TCG leaks but Big Lore Implications? Maybe)

Well. This is (was) certainly an interesting Moment.

See. narwhal coming in TCG right? i obviously lost it we are all aware. so i was checking that shit out Instantly the second it was uploaded onto hakushin to see the kind of playstyle theyd given my beloved

but there was something else. see. tldr the narwhal starts at only 5hp but it basically eats all your discarded cards to increase its own max hp and dmg dealt (also takes into account the dice cost of the discarded cards). which i Love its so on brand and lore accurate. but anyway. its ult is to summon the electro dude whose dmg and duration is also affected by the cards eaten and their dice cost. such a cool kit right?

But then i saw what they Call the knight summon guy in the first uploaded version of the card kit in ENG

...SHADOW OF THE ANCIENT WHAT NOW????

and like. okay. okay. thats pretty fucking insane this is why i was looking so forward to the narwhal getting a card bc . sometimes tidbits like these just. Happen thru TCG. just casually like that (like parsifals Curiously Familiar Appearance for another relevant one).

bc like. an ancient nemesis huh. on one hand could reference surtalogi since the descriptor for the phantom in 4.2 patch previews in several languages (not sure what the in game stuff says these days) did have some similar wording to surtalogis CN title. also obviously fuels my personal foil hat agenda of surtalogis whole "keeping this very much sentient cosmic being as a Pet TM" being something that from the narwhals POV is very much like. a demeaning act of imprisonment and being used against its will as a pawn (im such a surtalogi hater dude. i Dont trust him). so like thats one option for the. whos the nemesis whose shadow is summoned. its surtalogi. but also ancient is a funny wording for when the guy is very well around to this day so

then theres the other option. bc the narwhal 4.6 namecard speaks of ajax intent on challenging the narwhal again and references hunting for the same whale the "third time" which like. most simple route u could just be seen as. okay despite just freezing up during their 1st encounter at 14 and doing jack shit to "challenge" it he still considered that the "first" hunt, fontaine was 2nd and next is 3rd.

but theres also the. what if the first hunt was the historical ajax of the myth? whose reincarnation our ajax may be? bc if His destiny was also to oppose the narwhal back then in celestias grand plan and possibly had the same constellation tying him to it too. would THAT be the ancient nemesis the knight in the narwhals stomach is the afterimage and shadow of? hmmmmm.

like dude i was. Actually losing my fucking mind bc this might be THE closest thing to a direct confirmation that If ajax has reincarnated over the samsara/cycles whatever . if That is the case. then this "ancient nemesis" being og ajax would then Very Much Imply that both his and Our Ajax' destiny in all incarnations has Always been tied to the narwhal in some way and that his "role" and "duty" in celestias decreed fate is to be its counterpart and opponent (read: tragic soulmate) . of Some sort. like yes inconclusive still but this couldve been such a massive fucking deal dude

Anyway .

then they removed that descriptor in the next update to the beta info on the new TCG cards 😭😭😭😭

so now its just called a dark shadow whatever 😔😔 this is So Sad. but. i have Witnessed the original so its not getting out of my head. what does it meannnnn

why would the narwhal be emulating its nemesis as the force that protects the source of its power that lies within it (like. we Had to be eaten in order to get close to that source in the AQ fight)??? did it eat that doomed soulmate nemesis (og ajax moment Surely) in the past and is now carrying its remnants and constructed shadowy afterimage within itself?? or does it represent some sort of control/power source surtalogi (if hes the nemesis) has inflicted upon the narwhal in order to keep it weakened and/or sufficiently subservient to be kept as a "pet"???? MANNN

obviously. since this was a clearly incomplete beta version text (like the narwhals kit was unfinished in ENG during this part) that was Very swiftly deleted (whacking myself over the head for not checking what CN said while this version was still up) its not like. something that can be referenced as legit confirmed canon lore for the narwhal since its not making it to live. but im just. Curious. like. even if its outdated text that was removed. Surely there HAS to be a Reason that description was originally written to describe the dark shadow summon.

so is this a case of. its no longer meant to represent an ancient nemesis, that was old ass lore for the phantom knight dude thats never going to happen and thats why they cut it. like fair enough it happens. old pre launch beta genshin stuff was directly a honkai sequel/spinoff but they changed that. it could always just be that

ORRRRR then. hear me out. that its STILL true but that the writers simply realized they dont want to reveal their cards (ha ha) on the subject just yet??? they dont want to leak this potentially Massive lore drop through a random TCG update?????? we arent meant to know the meaning behind the shadow just yet????????? 🤨🤨🤨 Surely

anyway. forever mourning shadow of the ancient nemesis as a descriptor . but i Have to post it here so that yall can at least know. this existed. this WAS a thing. so whats it mean...

(also if this turns out to be all legitimate and og ajax Was the ancient nemesis. Possibly the funniest way my original "who the fuck even thought the purple dude in the whales stomach was going to be childe" take from way back could be Technically proven wrong JSJAISJSJSISKD . if it was ajax. but just not. this one)

[akirakirxaa]

personal really cool HC of anon: every shard has a WOL. OG Golbez or Zero (depends) for the 13th, Ardbert for the First....

OG Sphene for the 9th? Would make endgame DT fascinating.

and, ofc, 11th shard has XI player character as the WOL there.

I really love Zero as Akira's shard specifically. I know that the MSQ really leans hard into implying it's Golbez, but with the 13th and the source being so close, and Zero being so similar in several ways to Akira, and then they're both reapers to boot, I can't help but believe it.

I'm not super wild about Sphene in general, but based on what little we know about the real Sphene I could see her being an Azem shard, what with the caring little for her own safety and putting the needs of her people first which are both things that are extremely AzemShard canon features. But since she did die the question does become what happened to the Azem soul for that shard. And while I don't need to have every shard confirmed to me, I do hope we meet some new NPCs in the patches from there that might make me wonder...

I never played XI, but I think that's a really cool idea! I thiiiiink Vanadiel has been confirmed as connected to Eorzea in some way, but I'm not super familiar with XI's lore so I can't say for sure. Could be something interesting in the 24 man when it drops!

My personal hc for a very long time (and there's really nothing saying this could be wrong) is that the 13th is the ruined future of XV's world. It gets a little complicated but basically, the way that XV ends, there is nothing stopping the starscourge from coming back and enshrouding the star in darkness, since there's no ring and no oracle to cleanse it anymore. And so, eventually, it falls to darkness again (if you haven't played XV, the last part of the game is literally permanight so I'm not being dramatic lol). And so, of course, that means that Noctis was an Azem shard, and thus a shard of Akira, that she got to meet because of time shenanigans through the XV crossover quest. It's also part of my headcanon that he's one of the heroes summoned to help her fight Hades in ShB. Now that we've been to the 13th it's hard to maintain but I like it enough to do it anyways lol.

[violettathepiratequeen]

This is generally the viewpoint I have on this for my own personal enjoyment of it. It is not difficult for me to cherrypick what I like about fandom and leave the rest of it behind, or write a story to fix it.

I think my main fear is how it will infiltrate the community; when talking about or writing for Buffy in the future, will it be confusing which Buffy we're talking about? Will the OG slowly fade into obscurity because of this new shiny thing? Will Buffy's continuing canon journey in this bleed into how we've been imagining the rest of her story went?

Given the fact that most reboots nowadays die horrible deaths and fade into obscurity or exile themselves, I'm comforted that this likely won't be the case. And I'm actually encouraged by all the hatred and head-shaking I'm seeing about this reboot, haha, because I love that, for all its flaws, we as a fandom still love the original. We ask for nothing more. We don't want something new, we're happy with what we've got, and we won't let it pierce our sacred little bubble that has stood for almost three decades.

So, basically I'm planning to boycott the hell out of this and crawl under my Hellmouth rock, no matter what it does or how great it is.

With one exception. Because IF the stars align and Spuffy is in any way implied as endgame I will throw all reservations out the window and embrace this reboot wholeheartedly as canon, haha. I don't need an appearance, I just wanna hear that Spuffy are happily together. That was all I wanted from the audiobook. That was all I wanted from AtS S5. I don't need to see them, and I don't need deets, I just want it to be confirmed.

A miracle that likely won't happen, but then again, Spuffy does seem to be written in the stars, no matter how often in-canon and out people try to sqaush it.

A Spuffy Fan's Perspective on the Reboot

So, as most Buffy fandom knows (unless they’ve been living under a rock in a crater on the Hellmouth), it was announced yesterday that SMG is involved in a Buffy reboot sequel series, one in which she will be a recurring but not central character.

As a lifelong Buffy fan, I’m expected to be overjoyed at this news, and I’m, well, not. Nor are a good number of people deeply entrenched in fandom. I’m super happy for the people who are excited. As a Spuffy fan, though, it’s hard to be jazzed for a number of reasons, among these being that SMG is most definitely a Bangel shipper, and despite being overwhelmingly more popular than Bangel in current times, Spuffy is often overlooked in a lot of key areas of the “official” Buffy promotions, the comics being a notable and welcome exception.

One thing I’ve noticed is a lot of people in Spuffy fandom are more than just “not normal” about Spuffy. I’ve struggled for 20+ years to both identify and articulate why the ship resonates with me so much to the point that news like this can make my anxiety spiral. I understand it’s not an ideal reaction media, but I have lived inside a neurodivergent brain my entire life and that ain’t about to change. And I’m not the only one—I’ve met and interacted with many, many people who feel as intensely as I do and also struggle to articulate why news like this distresses them.

So for everyone who is like me, slightly more than just “not normal” about Spuffy (or any aspect of Buffy!) and distressed about the news, here are some things I keep reminding myself.

Buffy is an Established Multi-Universe Property

We know that there are multiple universes in Buffy; it’s explored in The Wish and then confirmed by Anya later in the series. Not just multiple dimensions, but divergent/adjacent worlds to the one we saw in the show. This has been later explored in the comics, such as The Lost Summer, the Boom reboot, and The Last Vampire Slayer, never mind the plethora of authorized novels and the recent audio play. These were all officially sanctioned, licensed productions that exist outside the official canon.

All of these stories matter, regardless of whether or not they’re considered “official.” For my Spuffy people, some are Spuffy friendly and some are not. We acknowledge what we want to acknowledge and leave the rest behind. Me? If I find the sequel reboot upsetting, I’ll mentally shove it into one of those other worlds, the same as I’ve done with the comics for years (yes, even if they got Spuffy friendly).

One of the points that was brought up yesterday when I suggested just giving the sequel reboot the comics treatment was it’s harder to ignore if SMG is involved. And I get that; I felt the same way about the Slayers audioplay, because significant OG cast members were involved so it felt more official. But upon reflection, I do still think it’s the same as the comics, which were spearheaded and overseen by JW and still considered (until this sequel reboot happens) the official post-series canon. If the involvement of original artists is what makes or breaks something’s authority, then the medium shouldn’t really matter.

And on that note…

Star Wars Legends, Halloween, Terminator, & Other Reboots

For years—decades—following Return of the Jedi, the official Star Wars canon was continued in novels, the same as Buffy was. There was a rich tapestry of intergalactic politics, Leia and Han’s Force family, Luke and Mara Jade, and characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn that proved so popular he’s been recanonized.

These books existed and still exist. The new movies, the reset of canon, all things involving Rey Palpatine Skywalker and Kylo Ben Ren exist alongside established, official property. I know plenty of people who were upset that their investment in the extended Star Wars family was essentially nixed with the sequel series 10 years ago, and others who chose not to acknowledge the sequel series but maintain their post-Jedi canon.

In an era of reboots and sequel series, canon can become a bit diluted. You can’t just erase everything that came before you decided to hit the “start over” button. The recent Halloween trilogy flat-out ignored multiple movies to tell the story it wanted to tell. Terminator has done the same thing, multiple times, with the Sarah Connor Chronicles being officially licensed and more or less officially scrapped, and the last Terminator movie retconning like, what, four or five that came out after Judgment Day. That is to say, established canon doesn’t really matter in this era, because the people making these decisions are doing what fan artists have done for decades; keeping what they want, tossing all else aside, and focusing on the story they want to tell.

If what came before and what has been long established doesn’t matter (and I actually do love this; it opens up worlds and essentially gives us licensed what-if fics), then canon itself is kind of nebulous. It doesn’t matter what is or isn’t established, because established canon is a moving target, subject to personal interpretation. Don’t like the Halloween reboot? Ignore it. There are other movies out there. Don’t like the clusterfuck Disney has made of Star Wars? There is a fully developed alternative. Don’t like any of the options? Come up with your own. Comics do it all the time with superhero stories, and Buffy is nothing if not a superhero.

It’s All Fiction

This is what drives my husband crazy when I try to explain my beyond not normal feelings about Spuffy. It’s all fiction. We’re not talking about historical events here. All fiction lives in exactly one place, ultimately, and that’s between your ears. If you don’t like the way a fictional story went, you can do what fanartists have been doing for years and create your own fix-it. Or find a ready-made fix-it; I promise it exists. And the more I think about it, the less stock I put into “official” stories that are told primarily to make money. The people who are here telling these stories because they love the characters and know the characters on levels that frankly outperform most licensed stuff.

In Summary

So I’ve rambled a lot, but here are the key points to take away:

Buffy is canonically a multi-universe property so the world we’re shown by official licensed sources see isn’t the only one that exists. I didn’t say this in the section, but in this way, all fanfic is canon, because each exists in a different universe

If canon is not sacred in the world of reboots, then what they try to sell us as canon is debatable, negligible, and ultimately fine to just not acknowledge

Official canon doesn’t really matter all that much when you can pick your own, which you can and should

I hope this helps my fellow Spuffys and anyone else who is struggling with the news. My siblings in beyond just not normal. Your feelings, even if you have trouble explaining or understanding them, are valid. You’re not silly. It’s never silly to be upset about news that impacts something important to you. And there’s still so much we don’t know, so speculation abounds, but whatever comes of this, I hope you find some comfort in the freedom of being able to do exactly what the for-profit storytellers do all the time and just fucking ignore what doesn’t suit them.

In the meantime, Elysian Fields Archive will remain a Spuffy exclusive safe space, and I imagine will be home to a shitload of fix-its if the pilot gets picked up, so you’re free to join us there.

Until then, be good to yourself, and to somebody else.