#this is just a little speculation so take it with a grain of salt

[oh-sturg]

TADC is about suicide and here’s why

TW : Suicide

CW : Spoilers

Okay so. First of all, this might be a cold take. Someone else might’ve done this already or come up with this theory, I haven’t watched any videos EXCEPT for the actual show. So maybe I’m late to this

Additionally, we’re only on episode 4 of season 1 I could be COMPLETELY wrong on this. I might be looking too deep, so give me a grain of salt

The circus itself is giving very. Place after death vibes. Not purgatory, or heaven, or hell. But just… somewhere people go after they die. Yes I know in the first episode Pomni says she can’t get this stupid headset off so hey, maybe she’s still alive?? I DONT KNOW FOR SURE but maybe the headset is giving her a glimpse into the afterlife?

That, or it’s some kind of therapy program

IGNORING THAT

All of the main cast act like stereotypes of suicide victims, maybe it’s just me

Jax is an asshole, that much is obvious. We haven’t been given many inclinations into whether or not he has a softer side, but he seems to be compensating for something. It could be insecurity

Gangle is assumed to have been a shift manager at either a fast food restaurant or some other similar chain job, and it’s implied she wanted artist only to be told her dreams were unrealistic. Something that some people don’t know about people who are suicidal is that they can become extremely happy before going through with it, which we see with Gangle in episode 4 before she’s hit by a truck. Now the truck thing could be an accident, but she literally leans into the road. She looks surprised to see the truck, and maybe she was unaware of her surroundings at the time, but it could be that she also was surprised to go through the same experience again. She literally says that she snapped under the pressure of the job and responsibility. Could be headcanon. There’s also the whole masking emotions thing which is quite literal in its presentation

Ragatha is obviously toxicly positive. She tries to make things better and look on the bright side of things. She’s courteous and compassionate, but there’s no way she can be like that constantly. It’s just not humanly possible. Gangle says in episode 4 it’s hard to tell when she’s being genuine after you spend a lot of time with her, so perhaps it’s a coping method? Or a habit? In the pilot episode/episode 1, she literally tells Pomni she understands if she leaves her behind while she’s in pain. Maybe I’m misremembering, but she values others over herself. After a certain point that becomes exhausting. You can’t do it anymore

Zooble clearly goes through body dysmorphia as seen in episode 3. They don’t like their body, no matter how many times they can change it. This could also be a gender dysphoria thing, but we don’t see a lot of their relationship with their gender other than their pronouns being non-binary

Kinger is one I struggle with a little bit. We know he had a relationship with Queenie, and now she’s gone, but we don’t know if that relationship started in the circus or before either of them were brought into it. What we do know for sure is that he’s paranoid. In his first appearance the cast literally speculates that he will be the one to abstract next, with abstraction being the product of heavy dissociation. Sure, he’s not all paranoia and fear, but he’s wary. He’s a kind soul who broke under everything

Caine’s influence in all this is that he’s someone who isn’t depressed or suicidal. He’s the person who tries to fix those people, but goes about it in the wrong way. He’s trying to take their mind off of what makes them suicidal by shifting their attention. When they try to open up to him, he doesn’t understand their issues because he just isn’t suicidal like they are/were. Like Ragatha, he’s toxicly positive and tries to change the topic when things like that come up. Think of someone who doesn’t want you to show symptoms of mental illness around them because they “don’t like it” or “are offput” by it

That’s really all I’ve got on this. Again, I could be wrong or I might be totally late to the party but I can’t get this out of my head so

[newwavesylviaplath]

you think hugh is gay? why? he could be bi but there’s no way his marriage to Deb was fake

OKAY STARTING OFF WITH THIS DISCLAIMER!!! i know hugh has denied all gay rumours + it's generally frowned upon to speculate on the sex lives of celebrities HOWEVER i'm nothing if not a little morally ambiguous

so for the sake of me not wanting to get cancelled - this is all jokes!! i'm just being silly take everything i say with a grain of salt

i don't think his marriage to deb was fake or just a cover up because 27 years is a long ass time to spend in a loveless marriage, and from what ik about deb she seems like she wouldn't put up with that - ESPECIALLY because when they first got together she was the more famous one so it's not like she married him for his money

in all honesty hugh gives me very much bisexual vibes and some of the 'theories' on why he might be into men lowkey make sense to me so i wouldn't be surprised if he's screwed dudes before. i'm not gonna lie to u guys i think most people in hollywood are swingers and tend to fuck around with one another which is why i'm not taking these cheating rumours very seriously (that along with the fact it's usually common for people to be separated for a significant amount of time before actually getting divorced, so we can't really tell if there was actually any overlap)

overall i don't actually know these people i have no idea what they're lives are really like - everything i say is speculation. again, when it comes to famous people being a gossipy bitch is something i take a lot of joy in and will happily do on here with all of u guys but at the same time i'm able to recognize these are real life people ill never meet and it's important that u guys recognize that too.

[dr-zeddy]

I also believe that Miquella was jealous of Mohg/saw him as competition regarding his original plans

and intentionally made the Mohgwyn Dynasty look like an awful alternative to what he tried to do with the Haligtree.

This is on my personal speculative side but with the in-game context of what the Formless Mother religion symbolized in the Land's of Shadow, we may assume Mohg and his followers celebrated her in a similar fashion before Miquella took over his mind.

The bloodfiends are literally just vibing until you attack them/invade their territory. Bloodshed isn't the only thing this Outer God represents, it's also a symbolism for maternal love/birth/rebirth for those shunned and cursed (Hence why she blessed Mohg and showed up to the "subjugated tribe" in the Land's of Shadow), which we know from the "Outer God Heirloom"

I believe this deity is still twisted and not to meddled around with, but I don't think the Formless Mother exclusively stands for murdering people. We also know that the bloodfiends resulted to SH occasionally to serve their "mother" (which is in itself a little problematic but it also indicates that they do not walk around and randomly kill everything in their path) (see "Bloodfiend's Fork")

So my take is that when Miquella brainwashed Mohg this entire cult got corrupted too, making it the center of (mercy) killings and death while Miquella is the only anchor of life, we see this in the "Lord of Blood Exultation Talisman":

Spilling blood to create a new life. Which is, naturally speaking, nonsense and as I said before, a lot of things point to the fact that the FM has natural roots, while giving hope to those who were shunned.

This indicates that Mohg had similar goals to Miquella with his Haligtree, offering outcasts a haven/place to be/belong to. Miquella always relied on enchanting/manipulating people to achieve his goals, I guess he was pissed that Mohg was able to do this, only by being naturally charismatic, since we know that he had to be quite the leader if he pulls actual reasonable people like Ansbach to his side. He was the perfect leader for outcasts and the oppressed (see additonally my post about Mohg's appearence being extremley devine in the Land's of Shadow) and therefore was a direct threat to the things Miquella wanted to achieve with his Haligtree. Because why follow Miquella when there already was a similar cult/religion with a charismatic leader like Mohg?

[nixotene]

Kind of in awe over how similar the actors for tua seem to be to their characters (in interviews at least) so take this with a grain of salt. I just think it’s cool how the casting directors seemed to find the perfect actors to play the roles, both looks and personality wise.

Master list of details I’ve found they share with their characters ig lol

Luther/Tom: loves working out and apparently does his learning while working out (cut to scene of Luther doing push-ups while reading). He’s a big softy and loves bringing the group together. He’s always there to boost his fellow actors self esteem.

Diego/David: Acts big and boisterous but is actually very invested in how others perceive him. Wants to be seen as the cool macho one but (not so) secretly has a heart of gold. He also seems to be the one they’re most likely to lovingly bully. Also dated Ritu (Lila’s actress) but kept the relationship as hidden as possible.

Ritu/Lila: she laughs to hide her true emotions. She overall tries hard to hide her true emotions. Again, secretly dated David and were only found out by fans through their families. Hate to say this one but seemed to break up due to events of s4 (just speculation as they stopped following each other/deleted photos off their socials a little before the season came out which likely means issues while filming it).

Allison/Emmy: cares a lot about her self image. Is a famous actor. I mean, they all are but like she really holds herself as one in interviews. She has a very refined actor way of answering questions while still allowing herself to be fun. Honestly hard to tell if she’s like Allison because I can’t tell how she’s like off screen, which is a good thing. She does often refer to the others in sibling/family terms which is so sweet.

Klaus/Robert: always saying the most unhinged and out there things. Constantly barefoot. He’s the glue that seems to hold them together and always knows how to make light of a situation through use of his quirky humour. I don’t know how watching the final scene together would have gone without him. Also appears to be a drug connoisseur.

Five/Aidan: very quiet until he needs to say something. He seems to very much be an old soul in a kids body. I remember in an interview on how they handled shooting the final scene and he mentioned he didn’t cry until he was alone in his trailer because he takes awhile to process things like that. He just seems like a very thoughtful person.

Ben/Justin: kinda sassy but in the way that you just love him more. The others (especially David) seem to love to bug him constantly. I love this bc Ben and Diego do seem to have been close before Ben died. He enjoys his alone time and solitude. He is soft spoken yet sassy. Honestly feels like he acts like a mix between umbrella Ben and sparrow Ben which I love.

Viktor/Elliot: he’s pretty introverted and doesn’t speak much unless prompted. Just overall a sweetheart that doesn’t want any trouble. He’s also a writer. Also tramsgemder

[setevulpo]

leander the... saint?

on this wonderful day i bring a theory about leander's name, or who he's named after. this is vastly speculation because leander is a mystery and a half in the body of a man, so take it with a grain of salt.

we know very few things about leander's life before canon: he grew up with a hightown family, was considered a prodigy, and left his home because he didn't want to join the senobium.

and then, as per norm at this point, i found a connection with a saint.

meet saint leander of seville, the only one known by that name:

now this is a man with some muscle on the tiddy department

this man is one of four siblings born to an elite family in what is now cartagena, spain. now, all four of them are in the religious area of life, and all four are considered saints.

however, saint leander was exiled by the king liuvigild for protecting his son, who was also canonised as saint hermenegild, and sent away to byzantium. there, it's said he attempted to get the emperor to fight against liuvigild, but failed.

and i gotta point out this dude's staff.

those are both from artistic depictions, obviously, but those decorations are... pretty similar to lilies, in my opinion. or, if i were to talk about a flower looking like that, i'd talk about lilies.

also, the way is bends into a swirl/spiral is quite interesting when you remember leander's (the character, not the saint) connection with immortality, and this little detail in his cg:

you see the swirl?

anyway, i am out of words to talk about them, but i just wanted to talk about how similar leander the character and leander the saint are, and how the character might have been named after the saint.

[herefortheships]

About that ending scene + Lydia and Betelgeuse's connection

I've been thinking about BJBJ's ending dream/nightmare scene, and I thought I'd give my two cents as to what the purpose and meaning of this scene could be.

I have only watched the movie once, but that ending sequence stuck with me as one of the most memorable moments in the movie, if only for how disturbing it was (to me).

That said, what I interpret as the purpose of this scene is really simple:

This scene serves to show the audience that Betelgeuse is not only not gone, but that he is indeed psychically connected to Lydia as he mentions early in the film. They have both woken up from the same fucked-up nightmare, thus showing that their connection remains intact.

This is what I think the scene itself means:

The birth of the Beetlebaby was Lydia's rude awakening. She can't simply banish Betelgeuse by saying his name three times anymore, because they are psychically connected (I'll talk more on this below). Sure, he will go away, but not permanently. Never permanently anymore.

Why does the baby come out of Astrid? Because that is the element of horror that turns the dream into the nightmare that shakes Lydia (or both Lydia and Betelgeuse) awake. It doesn't matter if Lydia decides to go and live her life with Astrid, ignoring the events prior, Betelgeuse is not gone.

Betelgeuse is not only still hanging around Lydia, exactly as he was at the beginning of the film, his connection to Lydia runs so deep that they can even share dreams/nightmares now (or he can at least enter or manipulate her dreams, and if they go with this one, then that means the terrifying Beetlebaby birth might have been placed in her dream as a little revenge for banishing him. Does Betelgeuse even sleep? I digress).

I think this is the very thread Tim Burton could use to start preparing Beetlejuice 3. Lydia and Betelgeuse's psychic connection. I do not think this was a throwaway line, or like Betelgeuse deluding himself, thinking that he and Lydia are connected. As I've said, I've only seen the movie once (bummer I was going again this week but something came up), but I'm sure there is enough solid evidence to support this. Beetlejuice is able to project images of himself around Lydia, without being summoned. Lydia is able to see glimpses of him because of this connection. The final dream sequence calls back to that line earlier in the movie and supports it/proves it to be true: they are indeed connected.

Now, here's the thing (and we're entering head-canon territory here), this isn't something he did alone; this can only happen because of Lydia herself.

We now know Astrid inherited Lydia's ability to see ghosts, what if there is more to it? What if they have psychic abilities that go beyond just being able to see the dead? I know the first movie made it seem like Lydia could see the ghosts because she was "strange and unusual", but I feel that this movie established that this is an ability that runs in her blood, as Astrid inherited it from Lydia. What if it's something that runs in her family? The answers could lie with Lydia's mother, who we now know is still alive.

As I said above, Lydia cannot just say Betelgeuse's name three times to get rid of him now; if she truly wants him gone, she is going to have to do something different. She will have to figure out a way how, and that's the story thread that could lead us to her finding her mother in the next movie.

Now, the keyword here is if Lydia wants to get rid of Betelgeuse.

This might be the reason she can't fully get rid of him just saying his name; it might even be the reason they're connected in the first place: She doesn't truly want him gone. It might even be her psychic abilities that are keeping Betelgeuse's presence from leaving her alone.

Take it with a massive grain of salt, obviously, as this is all speculation. But the movie sort of implied that all of Lydia's relationships have failed. Even her relationship with Richard, which seems to have been great. For what little we were given about it, it looked like he was someone she really connected to and loved. But something didn't work out there, despite this. Could it be that whatever connection Betelgeuse feels with Lydia that has led him to single her out as the love of his life, in his own words, Lydia has felt herself about him, albeit subconsciously (and perhaps much to her horror)? Lydia might have been intrigued by him for years, pushing it down due to her fear of seeing him again. She could be simultaneously fascinated and terrified by him. He is a very powerful demon and she wouldn't want to do something to cross him again, especially since their final interaction saw him betrayed from a contract he didn't stray from. She might have been fearful of Betelgeuse being vengeful.

But he wasn't vengeful. In fact, much to her surprise, he'd been longing to see her again for over thirty years.

Lydia now will have to grapple with her conflicted feelings for Betelgeuse and figure them out in the next film, if we're lucky to get it (and I have no doubt we will).

She could say his name three times, banish him away, but then her heart would summon him right back to her, and thus whatever psychic ability she has which also enables her to see the dead pulls him right back into her life and keeps their connection alive. It would be interesting to see if it turns out that it was her own feelings about Betelgeuse that have always kept him around "just out of reach" all this time, giving him a way in and keeping their souls connected. Like she subconsciously has known all this time they are meant to be together (soulmate storyline, if you will ✨).

[ammuusseedd]

My roman empire is all the clues in 02x07 (and a little of 02x06) that Lestat was mostly mind-controlled during the trial so here we go

We start with the introduction of Lestat in 02x06:

He's smoking... In front of a mirror. Film language and all that jazz.

At the beginning of episode 7, you can see his hands look like they're bruised. Why would that be?

When describing first seeing Lestat, Louis says: "It (Lestat being there) had all the hallmarks of a hallucination."

When saying about Nicki "Fragile mind prone to corruption", you can see Lestat minutely shake his head as if he's disagreeing with what he's saying. It could be grief but then seconds later he kind of blames Armand for his death because he looks at him in the audience.

Next there is a moment that is supported by a rumour so take it with a grain of salt, but the first time Madeleine "wakes up" she starts mumbling French (there is another moment later on). The rumour (from an extra on set, allegedly) stated that Lestat was trying to speak through her, because he couldn't talk telepathically with Louis or Claudia. Of course she was the easiest to control by the coven so it didn't work.

Next we have Lestat holding this pose for several seconds (can't gif, you need to trust me his leg just stays like that, like a puppet).

At one point Lestat is literally napping in the chair while Santiago is making excuses for The Drop. Then he goes off script.

While Lestat is apologising to Louis about The Drop, we have Santiago panicking and looking at Celeste (Madame Justice), who's representing the coven controlling Louis and Claudia... Because she's supposed to keep him under control too! But she's like, idk, love conquers all or something.

So this is kind of important because Armand also admits here Lestat is going off script, you can't script a hurricane etc. Louis is also wondering why Lestat is such a weirdo, going to Paris to sentence him to death, but then apologising and Armand goes, omg you can never know with this guy, he makes you wonder what's real... Sure Jan.

A bit later we have Louis asking Lestat if that's what he wanted/ this is working for him and Lestat is uncharacteristically quiet, almost as if someone is keeping him that way... We could speculate he looks angry about it, even.

Also Madeleine stands up and tries to reach Claudia - but she was controlled by the coven, right? So maybe whoever was controlling her at that moment is busy subduing someone else.

And this is not related to Lestat, but to Armand. He's talking about how the audience is hypnotized by the performance of Lestat & Santiago but when he says, "Piranhas looking up through the tank water, waiting for the chum to be dumped.", we get a shot of Armand looking up at the stage.

I'm sure there's lots of stuff I've missed, because tbh I'm not that observant and a lot of these had to be pointed out to me, but overall does it make sense that Lestat would also ask to be sentenced the same as Louis and Claudia? During the whole trial, he is very inconsistent in his acting - at times sounding robotic, at time gesturing with lots of artifice, as shown above, at times napping. We know Sam's not a bad actor, so it's logical to conclude those were choices.

If you have more examples, please add them so I can deepen my obsession with this topic even further.

[sleepyminty]

Dante’s origin theory

Take this as a grain of salt, this one cover Dante’s origin but not his past

This theory was based on a mixture of the divine comedy, the bible and alittle bit of le petit prince. Now, star is the most consistent concept around the story, all start from the little prince himself, Damien. The nature of this guy is unknown aside from the fact that he had the mark of Cain and he seems incorporeal. I wouldnt be surprise if he’s actually a star and what his form really just a projection

Not counting his relationship with sinclair, one of the most consistent thing of damien is him requesting dante to draw him a sheep (which is no doubt a reference to le petit prince) because in the past, dante promise him, meaning that pre-amnesia dante knew damien.

The aftercredit of canto 7 fascinate me because what damien saying at the end. ‘The sheep who fell from the skies’ could be referred to past dante, which bring me to this speculation:

In the divine comedy, paradiso was depicted as space consisted of nine spheres of Heaven: Moon, Mecury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars ( there’s an final layer called the Empyrean where god resides but that’s beside the point). What’s interesting here is that in the divine comedy, dante asked is cain here - a subtle nod to god punished cain by walking on the moon and how the crater of the moon was known as the mark of Cain (From that i deduce this is why Damien introduce first in the story). Anyway, what sanson said and damien said in the end of canto 7 suggested that Dante’s origin was among the star, the heaven. Supported by the fact that, Sanson acted as the lamplighter in le petit prince.

So what’s Sanson trying to do here is he will try to guide Dante away from the City, to the Ruins (where Stephanette and her companion ventured and wished upon a star, turning her comapnion into an eyeball singularity) or perhaps guiding him to the stars. Additionally, at the end of Paradiso, Dante lost all his memories upon seeing the face of god whereas in limbus Dante lost all his memories at the start of his journey ( in the divine comedy his journey started in the dark forest as well). So i think from the narrative perspective, the seems to looked like Dante was fallen from heaven and landed on the mortal plane figuratively speaking. Project Moon loves to use Jesus and his 12 disciples so Dante symbolised the role of Jesus isnt something new to the fandom. But that remain inconsistent since from the dialogue from the beginning of the story and little hints of how Dante was a big wig suggesting that they are a resident of the City, how can be reside on heaven if the cantos heavily suggesting that he was perchance someone important to the company?

Well this post covered their origin but not of their past but i speculate this: Dante was a star descend down onto earth, ‘the sheep who fell from the skies’ to live as such-just like how god make jesus come down onto earth to redeem humanity idk i havent read the bible yet. But somewhere along the lines, shits happened and past Dante become jaded and nihilistic, the city itself are unforgiving and uncaring so even they cant escape the gear of the city. And because their importance stand or perhaps their bad luck, Dante was chased down to the forest and in the process lost their memories, so the heaven, in pity of their star, want to usher them back to his home, just like in the divine comedy, "God tends the garden of Eden to be just as it was before the fall just in case humanity abandons their sins and want to come home"( this could ast as a parallel of how after Christ crucifiction, Jesus was welcome back to heaven but that seems a little too far-fetched, Dante hasnt gotten to his ‘cruxifiction’ yet)

Which brings us to Damien’s group: while N corp group act as the antagonistic force against limbus, Damien’s group goal was to bring Dante back home.

[liketwoswansinbalance]

What if Rafal couldn't save Rhian in time? Like Vulcan successfully stabbed him with the pen before Rafal could prevent it?

The comedic answer is that I have one word for you: gibbeting.

That's the more "fun" answer, a form of medieval execution/torture, which was specifically intended to make an example of someone, publicly, to deter further criminal acts, and if Vulcan murdered Rhian, well, he deserves the worst death possible! And why not make it a creative one? However, I think, to an extent, that gibbeting could be too extreme, and that Rafal would recognize that if Rhian were alive, he'd view it as an eyesore, tasteless, or simply too brutal, so it's probably unlikely to happen. But, Rafal might not be above it, considering that the Doom Room exists, so it could go either way, potentially.

Plus, there's some added, bonus "fun" here, in how a certain canon moment would come full circle. Vulcan put Rafal in a birdcage (while he was a black sparrow), and now, Rafal would get the pleasure of hanging Vulcan (or rather, his slowly dying and later, decomposing body) up in a cage, a pretty neat form of revenge, if I do say so myself, haha! Besides, Vulcan was a bit exhibitionistic, wasn't he? So, this would also make for an ironical fate.

⸻

Now for the serious answer. I hope you don't mind it if I get a little more subjective/personal with this one at some point. It's not quite as much an overblown, narrative-style post, and may be more understated than usual.

I took this "what if" ask to essentially mean: how would Rafal react to Rhian's death and how would he mourn Rhian over time? If I misinterpreted your ask, and this wasn't the kind of response you were expecting, please let me know. Also, everything is speculative, of course, so take my interpretations with a grain of salt. I'm open to hearing other opinions!

I think Rafal's immediate, knee-jerk reaction would probably be to murder Vulcan as revenge, but also it would serve the more practical reason of disposing of the tyrant usurper, ousting him from the School permanently. However, I don't think Rafal would find catharsis in it, not this time at least, considering why he is doing it.

He'd have to act on his feet, and quickly, because, Vulcan would still pose a threat to his own life, which would force Rafal to delay any kind of visceral, emotional reaction.

That is why I think the murder would be done instantaneously because speed is more important, and so is getting the task done right. And, having Vulcan dead sooner for everyone's safety is more important than the potential brutality of any kind of gruesome catharsis Rafal could derive from the act. That's why I think Rafal would go about performing this particular murder in a less sadistic fashion, for once, like how Vulcan died in canon by a stab wound, versus the time when Rafal turned Rufius to gold and shattered him, or did worse to others, generally. If Vulcan had simply been a foe who was already incapacitated, that could've given Rafal the opportunity to go for a worse form of murder, but Vulcan isn't harmless.

Thus, employing a "kinder" form of murder in this instance wouldn't be out of sympathy for Vulcan, but more so, to fulfill an urgent need. And, in some sense, the act of murder would be done out of a kind of duty to Rhian, for Rhian's sake and nothing more. I think Rafal deriving pleasure/catharsis out of this murder could possibly be a bit of a slight to Rhian's memory because this is somber business.

Then, after that adrenaline or rage-fueled clarity and the action taken, I think Rafal would next probably feel some kind of uncomprehending fog next because Rhian was suddenly ripped away from him with little warning. His supposedly immortal brother, who was supposed to be with him forever, just died. To an extent, that has to feel surreal.

The surreal feeling could start out as a detached, dissociated feeling, like the kind of out-of-body experience where you're like a third-person observer, (probably a similar feeling as a panic attack?) Like, what? What has my life become? Rhian is suddenly gone, for good.

(The revelation of Rhian's death being real could also prompt a lot of thought as to why their bond wasn't able to save or revive Rhian, and could evoke guilt.)

Once Rafal processes the implications of Rhian's death, his initial outburst could be the most, actual, unbridled emotion he lets out, at all, if ever—maybe, one raw, primal scream of agony into the ether and that’s it. (Yet, I'm also tempted to say, that's too dramatic of a reaction, even for him. As interesting as it is to go to extremes in other cases, I'm attempting to go for something closer to realism here, so bear with me.)

While there is probably a narrow chance, that under the exact, right conditions, he could be driven insane or become an extremist in some way, out of guilt or by how ridiculously unjust the whole situation would be, I think it's a little more plausible that Rafal would just bury himself in his work. He could devote his life to Evil, and still keep it in balance with Good, without Rhian there to keep him in check, even if he was more often the one to keep Rhian in check, from what we saw. (He could also become disillusioned with the world and the Pen.)

Given how I view Rafal, I think he would shut down emotionally but not functionally. He wouldn't let himself dwell on the grief for long, and he might even (irrationally) resent Rhian for dying, at first, on the surface, because he's now got twice the work. And yet, the work would be a welcome distraction from his actual grief.

Additionally, I think Rafal would become numb and immune to all emotional appeals from other people. Not even a trick like Hook reminding him of Rhian would work to convince him to change his mind that he's already made up in any future instance. He's never, never investing himself in the fate of another person again. Not when he could lose them. He just... does his job. Someone has to do it after all.

That said, I think his paranoia level would absolutely skyrocket, too, as a result of the whole Vulcan incident, and that he'd isolate himself more than he already did before.

Now comes the part where this may or may not take a weird turn, and I could be projecting with what I'm about to say, but I think I have actual reason to apply it to Rafal, purely out of thinking it could make sense for him, (as just one of the many possible ways he could take Rhian's death. Again, this is all just my speculation. I could easily be wrong, so keep that in mind.)

Ok, I'm not sure if this is a common or a weird thing to think and I had a feeling it could be controversial. Thus, I'm going to preface it with this: my intention is not to sound callous, but...

I (usually) do not miss people when they are gone. (Death is different from just absence though.)

I doubt that I "miss" people in what is the typical way, from what I have heard from others? Though, I have an explanation. Obviously, it depends, but missing others doesn't occupy my every waking thought. (And thoughts about fictional characters are a different type of thought to arise.)

I feel others' presence when they’re around, and when they’re not around, unless I'm concerned for them, I don’t exactly think about them. It's kind of "out of sight, out of mind," except for the cases in which I actually am holding something to say to them in mind for our next encounter.

I’m sorry if this is strange, but I think that’s how I operate most of the time. I don't "wait around" for people to return because I always have some thing to occupy myself with. Can anyone relate?

I suspect that the reason why is because, to me, missing someone is what I would classify as an active feeling. When someone I love is apart from me, I'm usually busy, regardless of whether they're present or not (that doesn't change), and I know that when you're busy, you don't have the time to feel, at least not active emotions. They just... don't occur to you? Or maybe they are not conscious?

Now, from my view of things, if something you feel becomes a problem, and interferes with your daily functioning or general contentment with everyday life, that could very well surface as a real reaction or outburst. But, that's an entirely different matter. I also think that I am reminded of people at times, but that I usually don't "miss" them without there being some kind of (internal or external) stimuli that causes me to think about them.

Maybe, I'm just projecting onto Rafal too much because I relate to him over other characters, and this is silly, or junk psychoanalysis, but it seemed to fit his character also???

Sometimes, I just want recognition more than I want actual companionship since I don't get lonely. I wonder what that says about me? That I'm an introvert, or lazy because relationships require regular maintenance to sustain them? I promise I'm not a misanthrope!

Ok, back to Rafal. He's sunken himself into his work and as such, he wouldn't actively miss Rhian. (If anyone would like more clarification, I'm not saying he wouldn't grieve Rhian at all. It's not that.)

And, if we're going down a more realistic than dramatic route, he wouldn’t lose his sense of self, or his mind over Rhian. Yes, not even Rhian. I think the only thing keeping him running and tethered to his life would be his commitment to the School/keeping himself alive.

What this makes me think of is how people romanticize grief or unrequited love, how they may end up looking wan and eventually wasting away (well, if we're talking about being heartsick in literary/symbolic contexts...). And, I just don't think Rafal would be the type of person to fall into some kind of "madness" or melancholic malady. Grief just wouldn’t be so debilitating or all-consuming to him because he wouldn’t let it do that to him. He wouldn’t stop eating or sleeping as I would expect these behaviors more from someone like Rhian, not him.

Similarly, he might not indulge in pleasurable things, but he’s a bit of an ascetic already anyway, so that’s that. He could potentially renounce pleasurable things in life out of mourning, in a traditional way, but I doubt that would happen either, to be honest. It probably wouldn't cross his mind. At least, it wouldn't happen on a formal, conscious level, even if he could very well deprive himself without realizing it.

I just don't think Rafal would be engulfed by grief, simply because he isn’t that much of an emotionally driven person or that vulnerable to being swept up by personal tragedy, when compared to Rhian, who's more "wild." He’d only let his grief manifest so far, assuming his emotions do still remained locked down and under his control.

So, while he may think about Rhian regularly, he might just accept the fact of Rhian's death, carry on, and not miss him because Rafal missing Rhian could (implicitly) mean becoming non-functional due to grief (or guilt) and that would be too great of a risk for Rafal to take, considering his current reality alone. Basically, to let himself wallow in those emotions would be an unnecessary "risk," from his viewpoint. That's why he might repress that reflective type of thought.

Such feelings would be too much mess or potential disorder for someone like him, especially if he realized he couldn't keep them contained, and they, as a consequence, actually jeopardized his fate or the School's, assuming the grief made him unable to perform his job properly.

(He'd probably subtly resent the Storian as well, for not preserving Rhian's life.)

Also, one small point: in canon, was his bond with Rhian really, truly all-consuming? Let's stop and ask ourselves that for a moment.

Yes, for a time, their bond may have seemed like it was priority no. 1, but Rafal was apart from Rhian for six months, and might not have consciously missed him, if it took him that long to return after getting an external reminder from his interactions with Hook. It might have taken something outside of himself (like the prophecy) for him to come to the realization that he had to return and reestablish his loyalty to Rhian (which was arguably never gone, just dormant for a while). And this would mean that if left alone to his own devices, had he never been moved by James, or "awakened" and been made aware by Adela Sader, he could have taken longer than even six months to return... if he ever decided to at all, if the thought ever arose in the first place.

So, overall, it would only be rarely, when he has nothing to occupy himself with, that Rafal would grieve in some quiet way, and over time, the grief would fade. It wouldn't leave him entirely, but it would diminish, I think, the more and more he distances himself from everything else.

Also, in canon, I suspect that he lies to himself about how much he cares for Rhian. He never shows Rhian much affection, but he sacrifices his life for him, on instinct, which probably means a grieving Rafal would also lie to himself about how “little” he mourns Rhian. In reality, he’d probably mourn Rhian a great deal more than he could know, but wouldn’t have enough self-awareness to realize it.

Perhaps, at night, he would be haunted by Rhian's memory, and take on Rhian's insomniac trait on occasion. Also, to credit @cursed-daydreamer, I think it would be plausible for Rafal to take on a few of Rhian's traits, unconsciously, to compensate for the loss, and fill his void; it could be a way of keeping Rhian's presence in his life.

Lastly, I doubt that Rafal would publicly erect monuments or dedicate anything to Rhian. He wouldn’t want a painful, visual reminder around. His rituals, if we were to call them that, any form of remembrance, I mean, would likely be private, away from prying eyes and students. Rafal wouldn't want to come across as weak or sentimental. That’s the last thing he needs at the moment, a ruined reputation, another so-called threat to his own life/power. Because, increased paranoia could lead him to believe that if he were to show any sign of vulnerability, more "Vulcans" could prey on him and the School.

He could maintain the cherry blossom trees though, but it'd always be a sobering occasion, and he'd never take the credit.

Besides that, he probably wouldn’t go eulogizing his brother or canonizing him. He can still recognize Rhian's flaws, and to praise Rhian so completely would be "too much," too public, and the performative (or contrived) nature of certain mourning customs like those would probably strike him as "wrong" because they just seem... insincere. I don't think Nevers (if we're assuming Rafal remains Evil) put as much much stock in praise anyway, according to their value system.

The exception to the rule would probably be if he recognized that it would be Rhian's wish, to receive some recognition or a dedication. Then, he would do it, out of reverence, I think. He'd have reason to "excuse" it (Rhian's dying wishes), unlike visible emotions, which don't have an excuse to be felt.

⸻

Also, I was wondering: does anyone agree or disagree? I'm really curious because this ask provoked a train of thought I'd never considered before!

[dnalt-d2]

So we've got a new update on the Admin Situation, and this one's…A little complicated, to say the least.

Basically, Quackity has stated that he is opening the server tomorrow to welcome the new Korean Creators, but for the time being, there will be no NPCs, including the Eggs. He's also temporarily laid off nearly, if not all the workers he has, including the people doing the Twitter Updates.

And apparently many of them found this out through the stream, much like we did. This seems to be the biggest point of contention for many people, and I'll admit I'm not happy about it either. The only justification I can think of for this is that he didn't want people to find this all out second-hand from people who potentially don't have the all the information. But even with that, I think they should have been made aware before us, even if it was just by a few minutes. That wouldn't have been ideal either, but it would've been better than not knowing at all

The person who brought this forward initially, Lea, has stated that she knows for sure that "Jay" (The person who made the unauthorized update before) was fired, but to her knowledge, some of the other Admins who caused the problems are still employed. I think this might be one of those things that she doesn't have the full scope of information on, since we were also just informed that pretty much all the Admins aren't currently employed. We do have to keep in mind that she's getting this information from someone else who is apparently still in contact with the team. However, it's obvious that even some of the Admins who weren't initially fired aren't entirely in the loop, which means she wouldn't have been getting all the information either. So I think we need to take some of the things she says moving forward with a grain of salt

I'm not saying she's lying by any means, but when you have limited information to work with, playing a game of telephone to get that information isn't always gonna be that reliable

On top of all that, a lot of people seem to be in agreement that Quackity may have implied that money was being embezzled from him and Quackity Studios. I'm not going to say much on that, since it's TECHNICALLY speculation. However I will at least say that it doesn't seem entirely out of the question, and I wouldn't be even slightly surprised to learn that this was the case

Regardless of how it happened, there was a loss of funds, and this loss of funds means that the server has to start slower than before. Hence the absence of the NPCs on the server, and the current stop on Twitter Updates. It sounded to me like he's planning on bringing people back slowly, making sure they're paid for their roles from here on out. And as the financial situation stabilizes, we'll likely see more Admins return to their roles

I want to believe as of now that things are improving. If they weren't, I believe we would have heard about it by now, from the other Admins. We've already seen an Admins in charge of one of the Twitter Accounts say something, and I'm sure we'll get more news like that soon. But we would have DEFINITELY heard if absolutely nothing was going on. I don't think it's fair for the Admins to have not been notified beforehand, and I think that should be the next problem to fix for sure. But the way I see it, what's happening now is a step in the right direction. It's only the first of many, and not even necessarily a big step, but it's a step nonetheless

Once again, I want to remind people that we aren't going to see these changes being made until we're shown them. People can try to tell us what they know as they find it out themselves, but for all we know, they're only showing the bad parts of what's going on. We should really take any future information, good or bad, with a grain of salt as well. It's easy to say things are getting better or worse, but I think we should wait until we see the changes for ourselves and go from there

(I also wanna say that I've seen speculation from a few people, mostly on Twitter, that "Jay" is probably just Quackity trying to cover his tracks and make a scapegoat for what's happening. But with the information we have, that seems incredibly unlikely. Lea didn't know who he was when he first made his unofficial statement, but her recent tweets imply that she knows who he is now. And considering that she's the one who brought all this up to begin with, I HIGHLY doubt she'd keep quiet if he was actually Quackity)

So now, again, all we can do is wait, and continue giving our support to the people who need it. I want to believe that things can get better. I want to believe that Quackity is trying his best to improve things

Try and stay positive, everyone. Even if the server isn't the same as before, we'll be fine. Even if QSMP shuts down entirely, we'll be fine. At the end of the day, people's health and mental health is more important than a Minecraft Server, and if you feel like your mental health is being impacted by what's going on, please take some time for yourself. Worrying constantly over something we have zero control in isn't going to help anyone. If you need to take a step back, please do so. And when you're ready to come back, we'll still be here, even if the QSMP isn't. We've built a great community, and it's been incredibly fun being a part of it. And I sincerely doubt it's going away, regardless of what happens next

So make sure you take care of yourselves

[feuillesss]

Requesting for enhypen's jake personality reading :) is't possible to compare jake most recent habit/personality with/vs from his previous habitor personality he just change from). If its too complicated. A personality reading is okay 🥺 however ur ireading works. Thnkyouu

Enhypen Jake Personality

***DISCLAIMER***

I do not know these idols personally! This is just my interpretation of the cards that I pulled, please take this reading with a grain of salt. For entertainment purposes only.

( day/month/year - 8/11/24 )

Jake's Personality

Personality: ( Queenofcups/Pgpent/8wands/8cups/7pent/Justice | 2sw/5pnt/Hierophant)

I felt very good energy from these cards! Jake seems to have gone through a lot of growth in his life, especially during the last few years. He's more compassionate and sensitive than people might assume, he values honesty, fairness and justice. He seems like quite an empathetic person, most likely in touch with his feminine, nurturing side. Page of pentacles flew out of the deck so I can assume he's someone that diligently plans things. He's very responsible and ambitious, someone that commits to whatever task he's doing. His life seems to be very fast paced, and he most likely has come out of a dark or difficult time in his life and is moving on to bigger and better things. Jake seems to struggle with lack of emotional fulfilment, whether that's in his job or personal life, or both. There's a lot of stagnation, lack of motivation and frustration here with where he's going in life. He might focus too much on what he doesn't have, and not recognise the things that are right in front of him. Jake invests a lot into his future and is very hardworking when it comes to his career. I asked for some negative aspects as I think it's important to remember that these idols are also human and are very multidimensional. It seems like Jake might have a habit of ignoring red flags and seeing what he wants to see. I'm getting indecisiveness and some detachment, maybe in emotional or romantic relationships/situations. He's prone to isolating himself, and with the hierophant, I interpret that as someone who holds traditional beliefs and values.

Past Habits: ( 3cups/Thehangedman/8pent )

I had a little bit of difficulty interpreting these cards tbh. I asked for current habits but couldn't get through, so I can assume that it's not something he wants to share.

When I was researching the 3 of cups, many people have different interpretations of what it means. Some people think infidelity and some people don't, but I'm not going to confirm or speculate on that. The way that I interpret this card is him possibly going back to previous lovers in his life/returning to the same people, and maybe some partying. With the hanged man, it could possibly mean that he was pushing through even when it wasn't best for his health/happiness, to the detriment of himself. For the 8 of pentacles, he worked very hard at bettering himself and his skills.

[entropyvoid]

3.X Speculation and maybe some wishful thinking based on a buncha leaks from the r/honkaistarail_leaks subreddit. So take it with a grain of salt, or maybe a whole shaker, because leaks are by nature questionable, subject to change, and at times simply bullshit. My speculations kind of assume many of the leaks I’ve seen (and linked) to be accurate. If you don’t wanna see Amphoreus leaks or spoilers, scroll on past.

Anyway with that being said I think we might be getting Abundance Dan Heng

So, first off, we’ve been getting some leaks about Dan Heng getting a new form on Amphoreus in 3.X, and that the Chrysos Heir with the Earth coreflame at the very least looks a lot like our boy Daniel. It’s Dan Heng dude, we’re getting earth Dan Heng. Off the bat, it feels a little out of left field, especially since he’s kinda got established powers that are way different from any earth-based abilities, but this sorta lead me down a path of trying to piece together or guess more details.

So like, each Chrysos Heir is essentially a hero that holds the power of a corresponding titan, (full chart of what we know about all of them here,) and though there have been some name changes and tweaks for our brand new shiny space fantasy setting, each one is more of less based off of a titan from Greek mythology. So Georios, the Earth titan, from whom Dan Heng is (probably) getting these cool new powers, is more or less a version of Gaia. A.k.a Mother Earth.

In the silhouette that likely represents DH’s new form, all we can really make out is what looks to be an armored/scaled/clawed(?) hand and an orange glow from the flame he’s holding - probably his coreflame. Each of these mystery silhouettes has a particular color, and earth/geo in hoyo games in the past has always been orange, so to many fans that alone kind of suggests that Earth DH is gonna represent rocks more than plant life, especially since hoyo in the past has drawn a pretty hard separation between the two for characters, with geo and dendro in Genshin, and a lotta people are drawing comparisons between Dan Heng and Zhongli, because like. Something something pretty Chinese earth-flavored dragon man. But I think people forget that Star Rail isn’t Genshin, it doesn’t operate on the same elemental system or play by the same rules, and since Gaia represents both the land itself and all the nature that grows on it, I’d like to throw out the possibility that Georios will be the same way and that Dan Heng’s rocking both rocks and plants. It would also fit in really nicely with his other forms - in his regular 4 star form he’s got wind and maple leaves, and Imbibitor Lunae’s got water and lotuses. He’s kind of got a very nature-y pattern going on already, so that would fit him a lot better than just “oh he’s rock flavored now” would by itself.

To take it a lil further, my speculations on what his path might end up being is based on this count of how many characters we’re getting for each path and what we already know about upcoming characters and their paths:

We can probably safely cross off Destruction and Hunt, since Dan Heng already has versions for each of those, and I highly doubt we’re getting any repeat paths for the same characters, barring an upgrade from 4 to 5 star like Herta, which could technically happen with Hunt, but again, kinda doubt that’s the direction Dan Heng’s being taken since Erudition is very much Herta’s whole entire deal, being an emanator and all, and Dan Heng just ain’t like that. Harmony as well, because Tribbie has already spent that one singular slot (wild after there were so many in Penacony,) and Remembrance, since our roster for that seems to be filled up with Harmony Trailblazer, Aglaea, Castorice, and very likely March. Erudition has one slot taken up by Herta right off the bat, with whisperings of Screwllum possibly finally coming out in later 3.X versions, who was leaked to be Imaginary Erudition long ago, and though it could have been changed in that time, I’m just gonna assume he’ll be that until stated otherwise.

That leaves Nihility, Abundance, Preservation as possible paths for our shiny new Dan Heng. And if I’m placing my bets on one it particular, it’s gotta be Abundance, because:

There’s the whole situation with his previous incarnation/predecessor, Dan Feng’s memories still floating vaguely around in Dan Heng’s head due to the preceptors messing with his reincarnation.

Dan Feng knew healing magic, but Dan Heng doesn’t presently have that ability/know how to pull that off

He’s getting these powers on a planet heavily influenced by the Path of Remembrance, so there’s a strong possibility that something or someone there could more easily draw forth Dan Feng’s memories, and Dan Heng talk about facing his predecessor’s actions head on and not running from them, right around that time he stabbed that one guy. If given the chance to regain Dan Feng’s memories more clearly, I could easily see Dan Heng taking it if it means unraveling what exactly his actions and motives, which would make moving forward and possibly trying to right the aftermath of them a lot easier and more doable.

Doing so could very possibly bring back that healing ability in the process

Abundance would fit with the possible “mother nature”-esque theme in general, and the potential mother nature theme also kinda ties into that whole quest Dan Feng was secretly on to try and find ways to make new Vidyadhara since they can’t reproduce and have a dwindling population.

Maybe help from whatever the hell Georios is + memory recovery will actually give Dan Heng the tools he needs to not just try to make up for Dan Feng’s fuck-ups but also figure out a solution to his species’ infertility without accidentally causing a massacre this time? Idk man it kinda depends on what Dan Heng decides to do, exactly.

It would be neat

[dollsanddandy]

Okay I know everyone is freaking out and I don’t want to add fuel to the fire or anything but this is not red or pink or blue, it’s purple. More magenta but purple nonetheless. I am going to repeat one more time, nobody freak out, this is only speculation and the fact this leak was so out in the open seems like a red herring so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

Eleven likes purple. Purple is Eleven’s color. Now, I see four possibilities for this:

Eleven did, in fact, die and while in mourning or with her on his mind, Mike is wearing her color, purple. Doesn’t necessarily mean Mileven canon, but maybe Mike feels guilty that he wasn’t truly in love with her due to his love for Will if Byler canon. Maybe the scene with Hopper is him learning to accept it wasn’t his fault and he’s okay to move on with his life and be with Will. This would be a believable ending for Byler. They finally get together after this talk and Mike lets go of the guilt and trauma from feeling like whatever happened to Eleven was due to his dishonesty. He is free and he loves Will and he can’t waste the rest of his life feeling sorry about this. He has to love the boy he loves instead of pushing him away. Avoiding your love for someone hurts those around you and he just has to love.

Mileven endgame. There has been a rumor that she likely survived Season 5. I am unsure how true this is, but from a narrative standpoint, Eleven should not be forced to die for the plot. It would be so so unfair for her to die before she got to explore who she is and what she wants for her life. I would hate that for her, but even so with Mileven canon I see two other possibilities:

We unfortunately receive a comphet storyline, which would make sense for the era, but would be so heart-wrenchingly tragic. Mike looks very down in the pictures they’ve taken. He looks unhappy and he has admitted defeat to heteronormativity and conformity. Now, I want you to walk with me through this thought and line of thinking and I promise I have a point. Today I showed my boyfriend the “I know what Mike said to Eleven” joke video. His first response was Karen does not have a girlfriend. He then jokingly added that if Ted had a boyfriend it’d be way funnier and we’d like him more. However, as I’m typing this at nearly 2 AM, Ted is character who has been around since the beginning of the series and has had no real significance, so what is his purpose? What if Ted’s character is a comphet story? Nancy states in Season 1 that Karen and Ted ended up conforming by merely marrying to create their nuclear family. Ted seems to show zero interest in his wife sexually or in any way at all in any of the seasons. He also is the one who makes homophobic allusions and remarks in Season 1 & 2. Now, I know that homophobia doesn’t mean that a character is internalizing it and they are gay, but what I am saying is that Mike “looks” (Tyler, the Creator reference) like Ted. There has been a recurring theme of breaking the cycle especially when it comes to fathers or father figures. Mike is gay, but what if he continues the cycle? What if Mike is the one character that doesn’t break the cycle? He becomes a repeat of his father, unhappy with his marriage, but he does it to conform like Ted. This is a norm in the 80s, unfortunate but true. The scene with Hopper is him telling Mike he has his blessing and he knows Mike is a good kid and will take care of Eleven. We see Will end up happily married to another man and Mike is torn about what could have been. A tragic ending, but believable.

Mileven is just endgame. They survive Season 5 and without supernatural crap they are able to actually grow as a couple. Mike is wearing purple and somewhere Eleven is wearing blue. Byler doesn’t happen, who knows where that leaves Will?

The third possibility I see is a continuation of the first possibility of Mileven endgame except it’s not endgame. Instead, let’s take this idea and drag it a little further. Through the lens of Byler, this would be a nightmare for Mike. His greatest fear is being unable to confess to Will he loves him, being unable to live the life he actually wants. His fear is becoming his comphet father. I believe this could be an illusion of Vecna’s doing. Vecna taunts Mike with what will be if he isn’t truthful. He becomes Ted and that horrifies him. Maybe both Will and Mike are in this Vecna nightmare and the only way they make it out alive is through admitting their feelings for one another and not conforming to societal norms. This would make sense to me as the epilogue being a time jump to graduation just feels wrong. This has to be an illusion.

My final theory? It’s just a purple shirt.

[sapphiresaphics]

So these are screenshots in the Bridging the Rift documentary about the creation of Arcane. This is from episode 3 which debuted in August 2022. The episodes are all up on YouTube for free btw.

You can see them working on designing Lest.

Viktors metal hands.

And a very close to completion shot of Caitlyn in S2E1 handing tea to her grieving father.

Season 1 was released on November 2021. This documentary came out almost a year after the first season aired and they were already deep enough into season 2 that shots and characters from Act 1 were already nearing completion.

Amanda Overton has said in interviews online that season 2’s story was finished being written before season 1 even aired. The voice actors for Maddie and Sky both have said they recorded their lines for season 2 right around when covid hit in 2020. And these glimpses behind the scenes seem to confirm that. You can’t be working on near completed shots if you don’t have a script and dialogue already written and recorded.

This is why I really hate the speculation that the season was “rushed” or that the issues people have with this season are the result of Netflix or some corporate overlord cancelling future seasons or forcing them to add stuff they didn’t want. From all the evidence I can see and from all the information we’ve gotten from the writers themselves, both seasons of Arcane were written back to back and completed before season 1 even finished airing.

I know that if you had issues with season 2 it’s easier to blame some sort of external force for what’s wrong, but so far all of the evidence just points to this is how the season was written for good or bad.

Also we neee to clear some things up. Christian Linke may be going around giving interviews, but that’s mostly because he’s the show runner and producer. That’s a technical term for the guy who funds the project and makes sure it’s on budget and gets done. He doesn’t really have a lot of story credit, he’s a music producer. So take whatever he says with a grain of salt.

The REAL people you should be listening to are people like Amanda Overton who have not been shy about taking about their process in writing the series. She’s answered a lot of questions about the series in YouTube videos like this.

Additionally, you need to understand that Netflix is mostly just the distributor. Riot funded and produced the whole show on their own. And while they had some Netflix censorship guidelines they had to follow (for scenes where the lesbian sex got a little too spicy), Netflix has no control over the series. They did not cancel the show early. They do not promise them 5 seasons and suddenly cut it back to 2. Netflix is in it for the viewership only. If they actually DID cancel the series, Riot could easily just keep producing more shows and release them on any other streaming platform instead. Netflix holds nothing over them.

I guess all I want to do is show how LONG of a process all of this was and to give some insight into the making of the show. I want people to understand these things so they’re not out here coming up with conspiracy theories and out what they THINK went wrong. Uninformed speculation is not useful or productive.

Personally, I loved season 2 and the “rushed” feeling has been dwindling the more I rewatch the show and appreciate what they were doing. I strongly recommend that if you have issues with the show, go back and rewatch the entire show from start to finish. I’m finding stuff in season 1 that only makes more sense now that season 2 is out.

[rbr4c1ng]

Hii! I was wondering if you could maybe explain the bus bros fallout or p2p gate or pretty much all of the McLaughlin-Newgarden lore to me since I'm only getting in to IndyCar now and I want to be caught up before the 500. I understand this is a big ask but I've seen that youve posted about it and I just NEED to know. Any links to other pieces of lore would also be much apreciated. Completely understand if you don't want to write anything though so thank you so much I advance!! <3

YES ABSOLUTELY I WILL EXPLAIN! this is my special interest dw i could write an 18 page essay about their lore.

SO basically scott came into indycar from supercars in 2020-2021 ish and him a josef started getting along like super well, which is honestly a bit odd bc josef is known to not really let people get so close to him, so scotty is a bit of an outlier in that respect.

eventually! they make bus bros!!! wooooo everyone loves it etc etc they have fun making it…. until they don’t! leading up to their breakup there were QUITE a few clues that they knew it was gonna end in flames like scott talked about it on off track (see audio excerpt below) and on hot seats with hinch if i remember correctly?

there’s also a fair share of articles that mention it. they basically knew it was inevitable but i don’t think anyone thought it was gonna happen so quickly??

so then the winter break leading into the 2024 szn happened! this is about when i started getting really into bus bros and was honestly pretty present for some of this shit (i was at the daytona 24 and st pete so i’ve got some first hand evidence but we will get to that later)… anyways so the rumors start going around that bus bros is over around?? st pete time i think??? a little bit earlier. which is odd given that they seemed okay with each other at the daytona 24, even though i thought it was strange that they weren’t both on tower motorsports anymore cause josef switched to penske porsche but GENERALLY it seemed okay (although based on this pic idk their relationship seems a little charged atp but it’s all speculation really)

then after the rumors come out i think it was jenna fryer’s article that did it in? (idk it has a paywall on it for me right now and i don’t care enough to find it here but there’s definitely excerpts floating around) now i do recommend to take anything jenna fryer says with a grain of salt bc she is essentially a gossip columnist for all intents and purposes. but the article basically said that josef and scotty were done and scott wouldn’t answer any questions about it and was only saying that they’re fine or to ask josef about it (tea from todays 100 days to indy episode actually…). they promptly took down the bus bros merch site and have been relatively quiet since then. at st pete they talked on the podium and didn’t seem too bad but i’ve seen other clips where they won’t even sit next to each other or speak to each other so take that as you will. podiums are pretty much just publicity, cameras everywhere, you’d probably want to seem at least cordial with your teammate.

(pic 1 is mine, pic 2 is a pic of my tv from todays episode LMFAO)

so heres where most of the speculative stuff comes in. Josef dissolved his media company, unfollowed everyone, and cancelled bus bros leading into the 2024 season because he wanted to “get rid of distractions”, and really we could leave it at that, but i find it hard to believe that that’s the only thing that happened.

Josef is the dictionary definition of Penske Perfect, you won’t get any closer to it than him. he’s fucking OBSESSED with this idea of being perfect. perfect season, perfect body, perfect car, perfect team. obviously this isn’t feasible, but scotty seemed to have broken through that block in his little Penske Perfect brain and got him to LIGHTEN UP A BIT. and then the 2023 season happened. sure, josef won the indy 500 but it was one of his worst season finishes in a while and, to make matters worse, scott BEAT him. little scotty mac, supercars champion transplant from 2021 beat josef newgarden at his own fucking game after breaking down his walls and making him soft. i can see how that scared josef honestly. so he ended it. Scott doesn’t see things on a plane of winning/losing imo, everything is just experience for him. hell, he didn’t even know if he would end up in indycar and he sure as hell didn’t think he’d win races so soon AND beat his teammate. to josef, it’s JUST winning/losing. if he’s losing, he needs to be better. and he lost sight of that for the 2023 season. that’s why he had to come back and put an end to the shenanigans bc he knows scott makes him soft.

but that’s just my speculation!!!!! literally could just be nothing. maybe it is to josef, but i know for a FACT it isn’t to scott.

OH and with the p2pgate stuff! basically they had a component in their car that. was not supposed to be there! that prevented race control from turning off their push to pass like normal. (marshall pruitt has a rlly good article explaining it all here) and they were caught in long beach when race control forgot to turn on the push to pass during the sunday warm up and HMMMMM why do the penske cars still have it???? when has this happened before??? oh ok st pete! now they’re disqualified. josef used 9 seconds of p2p when it was not enabled and scotty only used 1.9 and will used none. so i’m led to believe that it was a josef-centered choice IF it was intentional to use the p2p when it was supposed to be inactive.

now josef really laid down the water works for that press conference at barber to the point that i was having a VERY hard time watching it. i felt bad for the guy. he seemed really fucking upset and i almost believe that it WASNT on purpose but. it’s just too good to be true right?

honestly i think this all could tie back to the downfall of bus bros in that scott maybe didn’t want to do the p2p thing but josef was willing to? and maybe that caused some sort of divide between them bc then again for josef it’s about Winning No Matter What, and yes scott wants to win but cheating isn’t the way for him. idk.

for more of their lore when they WERE friends, watch bus bros (duh), admit one, 100 days to indy, scott learns america: nashville, hot seats with hinch, and listen to scott’s episode on off track with hinch and rossi! also there are some very brief interactions between them on some older penske games videos before bus bros was even a thing but it’s not much. there are more but i can’t think of them rn…

sorry for rambling, if you have any more qs feel free to ask!!! i’m always available for brain picking :)

[companion-of-the-dragonmark]

Is the Light Fury Based on a Book Character(s)? (HTTYD 3)

Warning: Spoilers for those who either haven't read the books or having read books 10-12.

Greetings and well met, my fellow Dragonmarkers!

Today is the start of ONE of my new article series that I promised to start working on for you guys!

Today's first topic will be diving into the possibility on whether or not the Light Fury is based loosely on a book character as well.

Now, as you guys know, my opinion of the Light Fury is a little on the low side since the trailer. Not only because I've seen Light Furies since the first film came out (thank you, fanfiction and fanart 2010 and up), but also because of the obvious sexual dimorphism that they've created between Toothless and the Light Fury that you never see in other dragon species — which, in my opinion, is a bit of an insult. And her feminine-like physicality and seemingly OP skills.

DreamWorks, be honest, you took this character from the fanbase, didn't you? 😒😑

Would it have killed them to give us another Night Fury? 😭

But, to save time and to prevent you from listening to old rants and explanations from previous articles, I'm moving on.

There's been several theories and headcanons that I've been voicing as to explain her appearance physically and canonly-speaking in the past, but most of them have been shot down by metaphorical bola-launchers manned by Hiccups in the form of Dreamworks. Thank you, Dreamworks! (Notice the sarcasm)

However, recently, I've been re-reading the books and I've noticed something peculiar that never struck me before.

What if the Light Fury isn't as random as I had thought? That she isn't just something that Dreamworks implemented from the fandom in order to please the fans or created for the sole purpose of being Toothless's mate? What if she was inspired — as many HTTYD characters are — from the books?

The reason why I suddenly was struck by this though was by what Dean DeBlois stated: "That we will be basing a lot of the third part of Hiccup's story on the last book of the series: Book 12," to paraphrase heavily here.

He said that they'll be basing the third film to be loyal to the twelfth and final book of the series: How to Fight a Dragon's Fury. (Which, by the way, wasn't really the case.)

So, if this is true, then is the Light Fury a possible nod to the books? That's what we're here to hopefully find out. 

Two Possible Influences:

There are two dragon characters that the Light Fury could possibly be inspired by: 

The Silver Phantom — a powerful dragon species that shows up in books 10-12 (as well as the Complete Book of Dragons)

And Luna, a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus who's Furious's second-in-command and eventually Ruler of the dragons when a dying Furious names her as his successor and leaves for the Great Ocean (the author left it open-ended for the reader to decide whether he lives or not).

These two are not only female dragons, but dragons that are closest to what could've inspired the Light Fury that I could find.

I'm going to begin by discussing the Silver Phantom and the Light Fury and their similarities and differences. Then I'll do Luna and the Light Fury.

Now, please keep in mind that these upcoming reasons of the possibilities of the Light Fury sharing inspiration from one or both of these dragons are pure speculation, hypotheses, guesswork, and assumptions. So please take these words with a grain of salt.

If you think that I am wrong at any points or to improve any points, please let me know. I don't claim to have or know all the answers or that everything that comes out of my mouth is 110% accurate. I'm just making speculative reasonings and theories to try to better understand certain characters out of my love for this fandom.

So on to the Silver Phantom!

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Similarities Between the Light Fury and the Silver Phantom:

The Silver Phantom is first mentioned in Book 10: "How to Seize a Dragon's Jewel", where it's waiting for Hiccup and his dragons in ambush. We find out later that it's the Riding Dragon of Valhallarama, Hiccup's questing mother. It's nameless and doesn't talk (similar to Humungous Hotshot's dragon in book 5: "How to Twist a Dragon's Tale"), unlike other Riding Dragons. Though, I'm sure that's because of irrelevance to the plot of the story.

The stats on the picture say 7 for Size and 8 for Disobedience, though in the stats in the 10th book for the Silver Phantom, it says that all of its categories are a 10. I'm not sure how to account for this, on whether or not if this is a mistake. Or if it's dependent on gender. However, the 10th book was published in 2012, while The Complete Book of Dragons was published somewhere between 2013-2014, so I'm guessing that Cressida changed the stats a bit?

So here are some possible reasons as to why the Silver Phantom and the Light Fury might be similar and why the latter could be loosely-inspired by the former.

1) Both dragons seem to have similar colored scales.

Both dragons seem to have scales of a silvery-white hue, as both of them are sparkly and glowing. 

In page 23 of Chapter 1 in Book 10, it says: 

"Even though it was in the dead of night, every silver scale was lit up and shone brighter than was strictly possible in real life. The Silver Phantom seemed to give off its own light, like the moon.  "Its scream was so high and so loud that Hiccup felt as if it were setting fire to his ears. And as the dragon screamed, it poured out a jet of bright blue flames that blasted the trees in front of it, burning the leaves as bright as green stars before they dropped to the ground in powdery black smithereens."

The Light Fury seems to glow in a similar way, though her scales seem to be nonexistent and more reflective than the Silver Phantom's. Now, the Light Fury doesn't breathe blue/purple flame (the film seems to show that she breathes a regular plasma blast with the normal color of fire, not a bluish-white color), but Toothless does. So I believe that the Fury family could easily be based on this particular dragon, as they can fly in high altitudes, and (the Night Furies, at least) can breathe blue/purple flame, and are the fastest in the dragon world in the movie franchise.

2) Both dragons seem to be rare.

It's described in page 1 of Chapter 1 as being "an Air Dragon of the purest silver — very, very rare and very, very dangerous."  

In Book 10 and in The Complete Book of Dragons, Hiccup says that the Silver Phantom is a very rare dragon. However, in the latter book, it shows Hiccup the First, the second and third Hiccups' ancestor, riding on the back of a female Silver Phantom—which according to Hiccup the Third is very rare. So I'm not sure if Cressida is saying that the Silver Phantom as a species is very rare, or just the females. Or maybe because there are few females, that the Phantoms as a species can't reproduce as quickly and so their numbers were dwindling.

Or maybe during the previous two Hiccups' times, they weren't so rare, but they're rare now in Hiccup the Third's time?

Regardless of the reason, they're a rare species of dragon, and a Viking who has this dragon as its Riding Dragon would definitely be getting a big rise in social status. Valhallarama is the only known Viking in the series to ride a Silver Phantom as their riding dragon. There's also Hiccup the First, but it's not known whether the female Silver Phantom he's riding was allowing him to ride her for a temporary period, or if she was another riding dragon for him. There's no mention in the series of anyone having more than one Riding Dragon. Many Vikings are known to have more than one Hunting Dragon—or just more than one dragon in general—but there's no evidence of any Vikings having more than one Riding Dragon. Wodensfang said in Book 9 that he was Hiccup the First's blood brother and Riding Dragon. So, because of the lack of evidence of Vikings having more than one Riding Dragon, I'm assuming that's because you can only have one at a time, while you can have multiple Hunting Dragons.

Now, concerning the Light Fury, Dean DeBlois has said that "she is not the last of her kind," when talking about the Light Fury. However, you can take that with a grain of salt. For one thing, he says, "not the last of her kind." It doesn't say that they're not rare or endangered, nor does it say that female Light Furies aren't rare. However, I can't say with 110% certainty because neither the movie nor the behind-the-scenes vids have come out to prove this, nor is there any certainty of there being any concrete information in the film even if it does come out. Informative, and quite possibly visual, evidence on Light Furies and Night Furies will probably be scant if at all existent.  

3) Both dragons seem to be super fast.

In pages 32-33, it speaks of the Silver Phantom's speed: 

"Over the past year they had often eluded dragon pursuers by climbing up into the higher air, too high for the other dragons to follow. Most dragons prefer shallow air, the air nearest the ground. Very few can operate in the higher atmosphere. "Apart from the Silver Phantom. ". . . The Phantom was an Air Dragon. They were among the best flyers in the dragon world, and they flew the fastest and the highest."

In Page 307 of Chapter 27, the Phantom's speed is confirmed and the dragon is said to be "the fastest riding dragon in open skies."  

Now, since she's part of the Fury family of Dragons, I'm assuming that she's really fast—as fast as Toothless if not more so (which might be the latter since he's encumbered with flight equipment, while she doesn't have such encumberments). 

The Fury family of Dragons seem to be the fastest dragons in the dragon world, as Hiccup and Dreamworks have stated several times, and is mentioned in the book of dragons. Which makes me not help but wonder if the Night Furies weren't somewhat inspired by the Silver Phantom species.

Now, again, these are just speculative hypotheses at the moment, and probably won't ever be proven.

Now, on to Luna!

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Similarities Between the Light Fury and Luna the Sea-Dragon:

(Second_Only_To_The_Dragon_Furious_by_Grim1978)

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Luna, Second-in-Command of Furious, King of the Dragons:

Now, this latter character is who I personally believe that the Light Fury is based on, in my opinion. I'll explain as I go along.

1) Both dragons are of the same species as their respective Toothlesses.

In the 12th Book: "How to Fight a Dragon's Fury", Luna is described in Page 76 of Chapter 4 as "a luminously beautiful Sea-Dragon slightly smaller than himself (Furious), known as Luna." 

In the books, "Sea-Dragon" is a term often used to describe the Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus (due to the first part of their species' scientific name, I think), a massive Sea-Dragon species that are arguably the most dangerous dragons known in the dragon world. That, and they're also quite possibly the largest dragons in the dragon world—hence why Furious is King of the Dragons. Size and ferocity are very important for an Alpha, in a similar aspect to lions and wolves, etc. 

Anyway, it's been revealed in Book 11: "How to Betray a Dragon's Hero", that Toothless is a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus, and NOT a Common or Garden Dragon, making him akin to other SGMs such as Wodensfang, Furious, Luna, Merciless/Green Death, and Purple Death (Book 1).

Meanwhile, the Light Fury, while not a Night Fury, is of the same family as the latter and are very close cousins. And since both the Light Fury and Toothless are Furies, and Toothless is loosely inspired from the Book!Toothless, who is a Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus (or a Sea-Dragon) like Luna, it makes sense that the Light Fury might be based on Luna, however slightly. 

2) Both dragons have glowing white scales.

In the same page and the same chapter, the narrator (Hiccup) further describes Luna as such: "She was so-called because she glowed with light like the moon. She lit up the dark storm clouds all around, and waves of heat pulsed out of her, so that the rain smoked and hissed when it landed on her shining body."

Now the Light Fury doesn't have glowing scales; her scales are more sparkly or glittery than anything. But in certain environments under certain exposure of light in a particular angle, it does look like that her scales are glowing in a sense. Unlike Luna, the Light Fury seems to copy the Deadly Shadow's and the Changewing's cloaking abilities, though in a smaller and more temporary sense, and having to use her plasma blasts to activate it.

3) Both dragons become rulers.

In Pages 415 and 421 on Chapter 26, Furious gives his Alpha-ship to Luna before he swims away into the Great Ocean, either awaiting death or even surviving the venomous injury he acquired from the Witch. And Luna then becomes the new Alpha of the Dragons and rules the Dragons for the rest of her days (which are very long indeed, even well past the end of the series.)

Now, here's my theory and headcanon for the third film concerning the Light Fury: That the Light Fury either 1) is Alpha of her own thunder (term for flock of dragons) as Toothless is when they find her and somehow got separated, 2) she'll become co-Alpha when she becomes Toothless's mate, or 3) Toothless, like Furious, ends up giving his Alpha-ship to another—namely the Light Fury—so that he can stay with Hiccup.

What do you guys think? Which do you think is plausible?

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Conclusion:

So that's my thoughts about the Light Fury. What do you guys think? Think that any of this is plausible? Do you think that she might be inspired by the Silver Phantom or Luna or a little bit of both? Anything that I got wrong and needs correcting? What are your thoughts on this?

(Personally, I still think that the Light Fury is a fanbase add-on by DreamWorks.)

Again, this is just a theory since I can't prove any of this. So if you have any thoughts you'd like to give me to prove or disprove this or to add to this that I didn't think of, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks again for your time and for reading this, as well as any comments that you might post. I appreciate the feedback and support!

If you guys have anyone specific you'd like me to write an article about in this comparison series, let me know.

Long Live the Wilderwest!

— Companion of the Dragonmark