#tl;dr i'm doing great evidently

[lgbtmi]

i have more asks to answer, but alas, i am still injured from when i fell last week and due to that i am also incredibly tired.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

with the recent like self-analytical framework of [putting hand on own shoulder] "are you looking for the external validation of value in this which would never be guaranteed, and you don't even think it should be contingent on this anyways" it's like, that also speaks more to like "yeah i did really enjoy live performance / theatre-adjacent and -overlapping stuff"

like i have my sense of how much i loved things and none of that involves any memories of having enjoyed it b/c of any feedback i got, from peers or instructors or anything. memories of curtain calls don't stand out much. like fun Specific Feedback was a kind older (relative to me) performer with the central role telling me that my literal leaping onstage (dance performance. grande jete entrance) despite a technical difficulty that would have to be improvised around was Inspirational/Motivating lol. i stopped having any particular stage fright (although is that when you're onstage? more like, anxiety beforehand about messing up. being onstage was the easier, enjoyable part) thanks to just having to yolo through those technical difficulties lol....anyways and then that same show actually, some relative to me younger audience member's dad was like "she's your (role's) biggest fan" and we nervously take a pic together lol. these things were fun & standout but Not Even It; not at all like "this is what makes it all worth it" like this is largely beside the point but a fun little bonus outlier event or two

like there was also no "i loved it b/c of Being In A Cast" nor b/c of any particular like, hanging out having fun Social Element. i loved rehearsing, though. loved being backstage (or in green rooms, or dressing rooms) but not because of any particular company or goings on. loved waiting & practicing / warming up & getting things together like your own costuming & being summoned to backstage & whatall. loved all the technical elements of getting a show together, when things were being assembled / worked out, though i didn't get to have much of any active hand b/c i'm like this twelve year old just learning the part, but it was fun to witness. none of my sense of what contributed to having a great time entailed any particular praise or anything; there was some implicitness in how all at once i graduated from [ensemble performance, back row for tall people] to [roles with solos] and the like, but there was just like, being busy, doing things well enough that it just wasn't Impeding anything lol, and in other arenas where i might've gotten more comments about being like, an outlier per whatever measure of success, it was definitely like, it's all just [successfully avoided negative attention] and ofc people think good grades are good but i'm not particularly moved by the awareness that that in turn is what's good or impressive about me, or something. or that i have to have anything like that for [successfully avoided negative attention]

and i wouldn't have like, done a monologue to an empty room and been like wow magical. i'd do my thing for rehearsal, and then for an audience, but you can't really see the audience and you're like ten doing local ten year old recreational stuff so it's like, the curtain calls you don't remember much (by you i mean me) and then you're done, and for me it was the fun of just like Everything Before. no like classic memories montage of great times socializing, it was me sitting in the green room equivalent, me warming up in the hallway, enjoying being in an auditorium for like 7 hrs of rehearsal, etc, we didn't do any like social events like high school performance afterparties or anything; i wasn't like Friends w/even the occasional person i also knew from school, and that didn't matter or diminish things in the least. performing A Show and for whatever Audience and that abstract is completely good enough. any of my parents' involvement, unavoidable b/c i couldn't even get places without being driven, was a major downside; i didn't like any like post performance [congrats] from them b/c that stuff was just its own unconstructive Performance that you, by which i mean me, were required to be sufficiently like Oh Wow about when it's like, the focused attention from you here means i want to leave; being left all amongst other adults during rehearsals was the good shit, while it also wasn't the case i needed like support or hype from any of those adults either.

there was Some tradition of like, older students in some program who'd take a trip to nyc / do some performance or other, and that seemed exciting but it stopped existing before it could be relevant to me lol. also for the first like, show that was like "audition for parts" vs "class recitals" they gave us like a relevant keepsake for it, and that was a nice surprise, since i had a great experience and all. and one of my main [not dance, with lines and everything] experiences being this fourth grade english class scenes from julius caesar, auditioned again, i'm like hell yeah that this has to be nongendered b/c it's all a bunch of guys, so i play a guy, and an antagonist yippee who doesn't die midway through and sounds easy-peasy to be like [be the dictator assassin] lol. it's funny how already i Cared about like, wish we had Effects instead of awkward silence for the drama of that assassination. wish i like, knew fuckall about acting. but the teacher just focused on telling us all to talk louder b/c nobody could be individually mic'd, and in the end you really couldn't hear fuckall of other performances so that was a win. and we got to do it twice b/c some people's parents got stuck in traffic. all i remember of my parents' presence was being like "omg yes i get to stop being here talking to you b/c we get to do that Again hell yeah"

like it's social but in a Parallel way. i'm contributing my part, i know my role, you know yours, i'm fondly remembering sitting in some school lobby having mini muffins with hours to go before our performance, amongst other people but not at all hyped abt interactions with them or at all disappointed abt the absence of any. i enjoyed it all being in front of people, others involved in the show, or the audience, but i wasn't there for any specific feedback, just being Part of that group constructed experience there. truly this case of like....loved all of that exactly as it happened, was on my own shit, did not need any external validation, didn't need a specific kind of Socializing that's supposed to look like having individual interactions with personal friends, had this passion for it that i also was having a perfectly good time exploring on my own, whilest also enjoying working with / learning from whatever instruction i got. like sure wishing i knew fuckall about acting but that it turns out no not everyone necessarily all loves stage acting as The Peak like that, and this comfort and interest with it that comes from like, you have all the practice of Having to perform and mask and act in life against your supposed incorrect abnormalities, but here's this constructive and creative and expansive edition of that art and science. good enough for doing it all through like fourteen

[kamikazeworld]

Can we talk about how amazing Shen Qingqiu actually is?? He wakes up in an unfamiliar room to an unfamiliar person talking like he knows him, and his first instinct is to play along to buy himself time to figure out the situation without endangering himself. He quickly puts it together and manages to outwardly keep his cool and assess the situation. At multiple times in the story he's forced to think quickly on his feet and he's GOOD at it, he realizes things fast, memorizes things easily, he's extremely studious and read through the entire Qing Jing library as soon as he realized where and who he was. He's quick witted and flexible with his thinking, great at problem solving, a great actor... Sure, he couldn't fool people into thinking he was the exact same as someone they had known for years, but he's great at keeping his thoughts and feelings on the inside while showing a cool, controlled, *confident* face to everyone else. Actually he's really good at genuinely taking control of situations in general, even when he IS internally screaming. Fake it til you make it WORKS for him, because even when he feels like he's faking, he is doing amazing work and showing great competense. On top of that he's very compassionate even when he doesn't necessarily want to be, and while he was given a body that had already become an immortal cultivator, he still put in a LOT of work to practice, refine and master that cultivation until it was completely natural and second nature for him to use it. And that's fucking AMAZING.

The only times his abilities fail him, really, is when he believes he already knows how something is supposed to go and thinking it's set in stone. He believes Luo Binghe must hate him, must want a harem, and that he himself isn't that important or desirable, and he believes it SO STRONGLY that he can't see past it until it's shoved directly in his face. That's the only times he truly acts like an oblivious idiot, and honestly can you blame him? Like I said, he believes those are facts set in stone, no matter how much the evidence contradicts it. The pitfall of having detailed future information of an alternate timeline, I suppose.

TL;DR: SQQ is a brilliant, quick witted, creative, intelligent and hard working man and I fucking LOVE that for him. He was the perfect candidate for filling the role of the academic peak's leader and the sect's strategist, because he shares all those same qualities with his predecessor (I'm assuming, I haven't actually read the SJ extras yet oops). The main thing setting them apart, really, is just that SY was raised to be *kind* where SJ was unfortunately raised to be cruel.

Chef's kiss, truly.

[ayin-me-yesh]

I'm not going to reblog the post, but I am once again going to fight people who use the Roman period as the evidence that all Jews, in modern times, are colonised people and Indigenous to Palestine

like, ok... Jews established kingdoms in Palestine as far back as the Bronze Age. the kingdom of Judah was then crushed by the Neo-Babylonian Exile, and many Jews were brought eastward in the Babylonian exile.

the conquest of Alexander the Great allowed a new kingdom, of Judea, to be established with its capital in Jerusalem. but not all Jews returned from the east, and Jews under Hellenistic rule also spread westward into Hellenized Egypt and northward into the Balkans. this was the situation when Rome conquered the Judean kingdom.

during the Roman period, Jews spread further into North Africa and Europe, establishing communities throughout the Roman Empire. when Judea was eventually crushed by the Romans and its citizens expelled, there was already an extant international Jewish community. the eastern community I mentioned from the Babylonian captivity had already existed for 500 years.

when Jews were expelled from Judea, many also eventually returned. a major community was almost immediately established in Tiberias, for instance. Jews would even resettle in Jerusalem. the Jerusalem Talmud was compiled a couple hundred years after the Roman expulsion.

so we start seeing these unique and widespread Jewish communities with their own minhagim (customs) and centuries to eventually millennia-long histories in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Jews were part of established pan-ethnic groups in these regions, so, for instance, there are Amazigh Jews, Arab Jews, Persian Jews, Russian Jews, French Jews, etc.

some of these communities in Africa and Asia would also go on to be colonised by European powers, such as France and the UK. colonisers like the French made distinctions between French Jews and native North African Jews.

Jews largely share common origins from the Near East, and there were Jewish kingdoms in Palestine whose histories are part of our religious identities, but we do not belong exclusively or even generally in Palestine more than wherever we found ourselves in the world. some of us are the colonised, but generally the displaced colonised of other parts of West or Central Asia or North Africa. others of us have been colonisers in those very same regions or elsewhere.

TL;DR Jews are diverse. we have a long history and geographically vast history that encompasses but is also much more than the Biblical narrative.

"Indigenous" in a political sense is not just being from somewhere, but having a relationship with a colonising power. and with that being said, Palestinians, the people being colonised by Israel, are Indigenous to Palestine.

[leothil]

About deco my tree

If you, like me, used the decomytree-site to receive and send messages lately, you've probably also seen the post warning that the site might have nefarious intentions. This is likely correct. When I went to look at my messages today, it told me "Currently, only the app can open messages due to high usage." That is clearly complete bullshit. It's probably self-evident, but DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE APP. This is base level scam stuff: trick people into getting excited about a service, then lock it to only one platform where the user will have to give up some information in order to get what they want.

(Obviously, I can't say with 100% certainty that something sus is afoot, but my warning bells are ringing very loudly. I am leaning towards this being more of an attempt to lure money out of people than an information stealing attempt, but you can never know.)

I took a look at what the app requirements are:

This ain't great for something that allegedly only is for leaving cute messages for other people. I'm looking specifically at the "Data isn't encrypted" part. If you've taken a look at your tree today, you've probably noticed that ads for an AI app have appeared here and there in the UI; this is by the same company behind deco my tree.

Now. If you still want to see your messages, there is the option of running the app in a virtual environment that isolates it from the rest of the device, and thus from the data on it. I think iOS and Android both might have native sandbox environments, but I'm not familiar with them. What I did was download an android emulator to my computer and installed the app there. It's completely separated from the rest of my OS and will cease to exist when I nuke the session after reading and saving all my messages.

The emulator I used is called Bluestacks. It has ads and will take up ca 5GB of space, but it's a reputable emulator, and I've used it before to play android games on my desktop. Once you're in there, you can navigate to your tree in the already existing Chrome browser on the desktop (or home screen, I suppose), and find the link to their help center, where they have a download link for the apk file without needing to go through the Play Store (which you'd have to log in to using a google account). Also a bit suspicious, but handy in this case. I've also included the links above for you to use. Once you've downloaded the .apk the app will open and you'll be able to log in and see your messages.

Side note - if you used a generic password that you use in several other places for this tree, I highly recommend changing it in all other places, especially if you usually combine it with the same email you used for decomytree.

Another fun thing I noticed is that the app refuses to load the earliest three messages on my tree, for whatever reason. But when I navigate back to the website (inside the emulator), it now opens the messages just fine since it can tell I have the app installed. 🙃 The app also continuously displays ads for the same AI app mentioned above, trying to trick you into clicking on them when you're swiping through your messages. It also does this fun thing:

Yeah. Bypassable, but highly irritating, and guaranteed to catch at least some poor people that don't know what to click on to make it go away.

TL;DR: don't download the app directly to your phone, use a sandbox to isolate it to see your messages, and then ask it to delete your account (and hope that it works, because so far the so-called verification code has failed to appear in my inbox). And change your password if you've used the same one elsewhere on the internet.

[shuinami]

Jess and Hobie: their defining strengths + their weaknesses

I had a thought about Hobie while I was writing, have been thinking about Jess for a while and then this post about Miguel came out and it made me kind of want to yap. I'll only talk about Hobie and Jessica here because I'm biased + Peter & Gwen have been talked about a lot + I linked a post about Miguel + Miles & Pav have simpler, more obvious flaws that basically come down to youthful naivety.

I also find it really interesting that their flaws are basically opposites, Hobie's comes from "inconsistency" whilst Jessica's comes from stubbornness. And again, both these flaws come from their greatest strengths.

TL;dr

Jess' defining strength is her resolve when it comes to fighting for what's right and tussling with destiny but it causes her to have a one-track mind, even if it comes to dedicating herself to something wrong (from being misguided).

Hobie's defining strength is his optimism (e.g. anarcho-communism) but the extreme difficulty of pursuing those ideals and the struggle against systems can bring that optimism to a breaking point, causing him to be inconsistent or, more directly, to give up.

I think people forget that Jessica's pregnancy is by design and not just a 'feature' of Jessica Drew as a character. She was deliberately chosen to be represented in this stage of her life and I think it is so important to her character, even if it's not in the traditional way that pregnancy is typically portrayed as in media.

I think her pregnancy shows the kind of person she is: most obviously, it's cold, hard evidence that she's a bamf who takes care of spidey business even while pregnant.

More importantly to me, though, there's an implication that, as her universe's one and only spidey, she has been the one to save the day and been the change she wishes to seek, effectively enough that she feels comfortable bringing a baby into the world.

Unlike someone like Peter, she does not make the choice between bringing her child to work with her or leaving them behind. She just has to do what she needs to do to make sure her kid is safe, there's no failing for her. During her pregnancy, it's always going to be a matter of life and death. Jess is well aware and, instead of shying away from action, she's just committed to not making those kinds of mistakes. To get over her losses. She's going to take charge of her own world's destiny as she has always done and she's going to make sure it's good.

Her strong allegiance to Miguel's ideas is her most glaring flaw to us as an audience because A. we're seeing things through Miles' eyes, she's standing in the way of him saving his father and B. we know that Miguel can't be right about canon events - we know they wouldn't make the movies as bleak as that.

Of course, taking a step back from our perspective, it's also a flaw because she is being antagonistic to a teenager as a grown adult. It might make her seem cold and harsh.

However, Jess was the one to vouch for Gwen, to take her in, even though Miguel didn't want her to and they could have left things up to the web of destiny. Jess trusts her own capabilities but she doesn't trust the world to be kind. She doesn't assume Gwen can handle things just because she can, either. On top of being sympathetic, I think her dedication to being the change she wishes to see is why she accepts Gwen as a student; she trusts that a young girl can make the world a better place too, it's not a thing where she wants to micromanage everything. She just wants to know the multiverse is in safe hands. That's her "great responsibility".

The only reason she is following the anti-Miles agenda is because Miles, as far as she and anybody else in-movie knows, is jeopardising the existence of every universe (insidiously via the holes). Maybe, in another position, say, a bright-eyed teen who mainly worried about high school and puppy love, she would be more willing to risk things, to see how it goes.

She's not in that position though. Her world that she felt confident she had the power to keep safe has been made uncertain. One day, it could just go poof, along with her baby, and she wouldn't be able to stop it in the moment. If she makes the right decision now, if she doesn't make a mistake, she can prevent it. It's understandable that she's going to do whatever it takes to prevent anomalies.

What was the canon event chosen to represent her?

Her version of the moment from "The Final Chapter".

It comes from a story that largely focuses on Peter's personal life before spiralling into action to make up for a mistake that has made Aunt May fatally ill. In the panel, Spider-Man is trapped under machinery with the cure - the thing that will absolve the mistake - just out of reach. As the lair is flooded, drowning is imminent.

Against all odds, though, Spider-Man pushes past what should have killed him and rises to the occasion, with the thoughts of saving Aunt May and refusing to have a repeat of Uncle Ben.

"I won't fail you. No matter what - I won't fail."

Jess has had to handle her own fate as well as her world's. Now that the multiverse is involved, it's not going to stop at her own universe. She has to stop this. She won't fail. As per the dialogue between her and Gwen in ATSV, she's made a mistake before (by getting too close to someone) but she tells Gwen "I got over it". Sounds so savage in the moment but she still gives Gwen a chance to make her own situation right before letting her get kicked off the team. Helping Gwen in spite of the anomaly would be a mistake if she couldn't handle this.

And when the Spot gets away and Miles enters the picture? The gloves come off. It's tempting fate at that point. Jess' no mistakes mindset pushes her to even prepare to roll up on a teenager.*

Her greatest strength is her resolve - I mean, hell, she doesn't let even pregnancy slow her down when it comes to saving the world - but it causes her to be stubborn and leads her down a misguided path.

*By the end of the film, she seems to be questioning Miguel's method, though. On top of the fact that BTSV is obviously going to end on a good note, I think Jess' fight against destiny is going to have her come around in the end as Miles is doing the same thing.

Onto Hobie:

I luv luv luv Hobie as much as everyone else, he's definitely my favourite but I feel he has his flaws too (which tend to make me love my faves more lol).

In fact, I think he says what they are when we first meet him, though they are veiled as jokes.

I find that the audience tends to position him as a perfect distillation of anarcho-communism at its best. I think the teen spideys see him in a similar light; they see him as effortlessly cool & charismatic, a wise mentor figure ("use your palms" + his play fighting with Pavitr featured him taking on the stance of a boxing trainer as Pavitr tried to punch his palms) but he's not like the adult adults - he's relatable, he's cool, he's anarchist, he's not always on their case like Jess and Miguel.

He neither calls himself a hero nor a role model... but he is the perfect hero and role model, right? He's the best! He's the only one who's looking out for Miles and, when Miles is getting chased down by the entire society, what does he do?

He... quits.

Wouldn't that perfect hero we all believe him to be swoop in with his cape, know exactly what to do and save Miles, the underdog? He can't have possibly known Miles would manage against the society and, if he knew it was possible, then why wouldn't he lend a hand? He didn't drop off the watch in Miles' dimension, he gave one to his bestie, Gwen, likely in the scenario that she wanted to quit or got booted because 'it [didn't] work out'.**

I think Hobie's major flaw is his lack of consistency, as he famously said himself.

He has a strong moral code - he believes in the right things for the right reasons... but communism and anarchy are pretty much impossible to properly/entirely employ in a system that is consumerist, capitalist and authoritarian. He riots, he fights, but it's never over. London isn't free. In my experience, people with strong moral compasses tend to have issues with themselves because they hold others to higher standards than most and hold themselves to even higher and impossible standards (think Diane from Bojack Horseman).

One of the first comic panels I encountered of Hobie was him getting real with Captain Anarchy about losing morale because, despite killing President Ozzy Osborne, the face of fascism in his dystopia, nothing changes. He wasn't able to save the world like a hero in a movie or like a proper role model. He 'failed'. When you give your everything and nothing changes, no matter how optimistic, clever or read-up on theory you are, it can be hard to keep going.

And what is chosen as his defining canon event?

His version of Spider-Man quitting in "Spider-Man No More". Rather than being fed up with the world antagonising him as 616 is, Hobie is done with an antagonistic world.

The Hobie/Spider-Punk that has been built up externally, as far as I understand, would never give up. He'd keep raging forever and ever because that's the cool thing to do, because it's the heroic thing to do - because it's the right thing to do.

But under the mask, he's just a teenager, imperfect as any other.

He's still a Spider-Man too. Before the bite, he was another lanky black boy in racist-af, peak National Front, send-the-blacks-and-the-Asians-back, '70s England. He's a nerd, as evidenced by his ability to build such a high-tech watch, especially as a teenager who wouldn't have had access to anything like it until joining the society, meaning he had to pick it up quick. And I'm to think he didn't have any Flash-esque characters in his life? "Come out of it."

As Spider-Man with the mask on, he yells to the rooftops; as Hobie with the mask off, he mumbles and whispers. Sure he looks cool now but people don't tend to come out of the womb as Spider-Punk. On top of that, he's still so young and surely has plenty of room to grow.

I believe he joined the society in earnest, optimistic that he could help the multiverse but eventually reached his limits with actively facilitating death and trauma, with saving the multiverse not meaning freedom in his own universe, with being shackled to the web of destiny. I'm not convinced he made the watch in one day; I think he had been planning on quitting for some time and was waiting for the right moment (as he also wanted to support Gwen because friendship is important to him). That's why he tries to dissuade Miles from joining but, when he does leave, he doesn't go out in a riot, he doesn't even leave knowing that Miles has people on his side other than him. Hobie just quits.

I think his greatest strength is his optimism (his anarcho-communism & adamance about "love, joy and freedom" as per the un-permitted performance art pieces in his montage) but he's smart and he's been through shit - he isn't naive like Pavitr or Miles - the great heights of that optimism lead to intensely low lows.

**(I don't really see why or how he would have been able to predict everything that happened in the chase. I know that the watch is set to 1610 but if Hobie believed Miles would make it out of 928 and get back to 1610, would that not be things 'working out'? Or did he predict that he would get to the go-home machine but was the only one who considered that he would be sent to the place his spider came from. Why? And why wouldn't he set the watch to 42 if he knew Miles wouldn't be in 1610? I feel like the 1610 on the interface is just there to be there and that Hobie gave Gwen the watch so she could have the freedom to leave 65 if she wanted to, in the event that she quit the society because they captured Miles or because Miguel kicked her out as Jess kept warning.)

[ultraviolet-cello]

Yo what's up it's me, ya boi, [horrendous infection that knocked me down for a couple days]

Anyway I'll be catching up episodes 3 4 and 5 tomorrow/day after, but for now I just wanna do my thing with ep 6. 6&7 are possibly some of my favourite episodes in Tristamp, so I'm hyped to show off my theories/details about them.

Once again spoilers for Trimax [HEAVY spoilers in this case, we're talking about Legato and Razlo]

TL;DR there's something fucked up with Tristamp Livio and by extension Razlo, and I need more of them all the time.

@tristampparty I'm back in the game!

So a lot of these theories and details will link to episode 7 :]

So of note in this scene is (obviously) Wolfwood's weird red eyes which. Pretty cool ngl. But I do think there's something to be said about the way he pauses and carries the Punisher in this scene; there's a pretty popular theory that Wolfwood gets extremely overstimulated when he takes a vial and the way he pauses and wobbles with the Punisher here is, for me, more evidence for the list.

Also that they won't give this man a CAR. Give him a Thomas or something??? I think it speaks to the dehumanization of Wolfwood by EOM that he doesn't seem to get to use transport like a normal person - always set to wander the desert, because he can survive that! Not like a normal person, of course. Only the Punisher is inhuman enough to do that.

I'll have what he's having [I love that Nightow's wanted poster gets in the magazine despite being. Yknow, 30 $$]

I'll talk about this more when I actually get round to analyzing episode 5, but Roberto calling out Vash's not-being-human and then immediately going "well I'm not risking my life for that" is interesting because he's, well, a reporter. It speaks to his experience that he's not willing initially to chase down something that could be a big scoop. But also,,,, Vash looks like. 20. Roberto is probably about in his 30s-40s, which means he's probably heard of Vash since childhood [Since Tristamp Vash has a much longer reputation history than Trimax/98]. I really wonder what Roberto thinks of that; did the picture not come as a shock to him, or did he already know? Does part of the reason he keeps letting himself be talked into following Vash stem from a lifelong curiosity? Much to think about.

This plant HAUNTS me. Why does she have such a different tank? Used to power the Ion Cannon, maybe, but there's the possibility people adjusted it so she can better power the sandsteamer and that's,,,, There's a complicated relationship between humans and plants (obviously), but little implications like those adjustments make me go !!!! [My friend @millions-dykes has a Plant Engineer oc, Enigma, who focuses on that concept. She's very cool]

LIVIO SIGHTED. Let me get this out of the way quickly, but y'know that panel that is often cited as inspiration for Tristamp Livio's design? Yeah that's. That's Razlo.

Which is really fucking funny to me because it's foundational to Tristamp Livio - love that for him, but trimax Livio specifically does not wield Punishers, and the page that this appears on is when Razlo is getting Livio to tell him he's the strongest (Which then goes into this training flashback montage page which is Razlo-centric). Which again, extremely funny to me.

Not necessarily analysis, but something all iterations of Trigun do great at is a sense of Scale. The sandsteamer is massive, yes, but so is the desert. There's some great shots with the moons later on, which I love as well.

Wolfwood really doesn't try and keep it secret, huh? I mean, in every iteration Vash Knows[TM], but tristamp Wolfwood in particular just,,, doesn't keep the secret. I wonder what other conversations they've had, when Wolfwood realized Vash knew.

Being always able to see Wolfwood's eyes gives him a layer of emotion that I really like - Trimax Wolfwood is a little more reserved, because he's more developed, further layered into those coping mechanisms and repressions that make up his character. Tristamp Wolfwood hasn't quite had that yet, and it's reflected in his design. It's sick as hell

Time for me to be so normal about Livio and Razlo ^_^ so I've built up a bit of a study case on the differences in when Livio or Razlo are fronting [Trimax], and once you start looking into paneling and shit it's Very apparent! Which is cool! And I'm starting to build up one for Tristamp Livio, which,,, well, you'll see. Anyway take note of his movements here - slow, even footsteps and steady guns.

The mask here is. Also a red flag for something being Off. The eye moving independently suggests that either they have some Weirder Than Usual Body Stuff going on, that Trimax Livio and Razlo can do that and nobody comments on it because they're being polite or - My theory - the mask having those electrical components are embedded somewhat in Livio's face. I will explain in just a second.

Livio as a kid being so upset about his parents interests me - In Trimax, Razlo kills Livio's parents because Razlo was formed as a protective alter due to heavy childhood abuse, and Livio doesn't seem too upset by that specifically, more just being,,, alone. I wonder what happened with their parents in this specific timeline, or if Razlo just hasn't presented yet.

Now I've uh. Kinda semi-intentionally blocked out some stuff I've read in the Bible, but I do remember someone being crucified upside down. St Peter that was it! I don't remember anything else but I'm sure people more well-versed in the Bible will have some imagery to point out lol

Legato's outfit seems a touch inspired by that one July flashback in Trimax. Which, given that Tristamp is a leadup to July, is a nice touch!

Legato might be a bit protective of his hair. Can't imagine why.

On a more serious note, it makes sense for Legato to have such a protectiveness around his body and physical appearance, especially if Knives had an influence in it.

sands undertal

I really do wonder what Legato's ability is in this. Like unless they retrieved Vash's arm from the. Wherever it got sucked into when it was amuptated they can't go the 98 route. But the wire explanation of Trimax also doesn't quite seem to fit. Something new, maybe. Could be related to Plants!

I wonder if Vash here is thinking about Rollo. That Wolfwood was willing to kill Rollo out of mercy, and he's going to do it again to Livio. Except this time, Wolfwood knows Livio. Vash doesn't know Livio, but Wolfwood does and it's going to hurt Wolfwood if Vash lets him carry on with this. So he goes to save Livio, and save Wolfwood as well. Similar to Trimax, where Vash kills Legato to save Livio as a remnant of Wolfwood's memory, Vash here could be protecting Livio to protect Wolfwood.

Okay here's where my crack theories come in. So I do think that Razlo is elbowing his way into front about here, not even necessarily because Livio is getting his ass handed to him, but because of the mask. He's probably not fully There, because the progressing fighting style continues in Livio's movements, but the eye changes are. Well, it's Livio and Razlo you can never be too careful.

So Livio hits the mask here and is down for the count for. A Bit. What's important here to me is that the mask does of course have an electrical component. Now, what would that be for? Well, gathering that Livio seemingly has a bit of trouble after this (early episode 7, this is a two parter theory), that the mask is used by EOM to force a switch remotely. After the mask seemingly malfunctions, we get a lot more Razlo-esque movements and traits in episode 7 before Livio seems to come back in and have his little meltdown.

It links in with both dehumanization of neurodivergent people (In this case, a system) and the usage of Razlo and Livio by EOM. Razlo's very often portrayed as Big Scary Murder Alter by EOM for scare factor, whereas when we get a bit more into Razlo's head in the Elendira fight we see a bit more what he's actually like - protective alter groomed into assassinhood by Chapel - and lends more understanding to the character. EOM being able to force trigger a switch would be viscerally horrifying for that loss of autonomy theme in a way that speaks to many neurodivergent people. Thanks for coming to my ted talk????

[athena-theunicorn]

Okay, I don't usually make super long posts but I had to explain these out in detail and have people tell me I'm not crazy.

TL;DR: Why Tears of the Kingdom could be the end of the timeline (not necessarily a circle end, either), and why our theories saying Zelda was Hylia during the trailer era were right.

First order of buisness, I don't watch many theory videos. I haven't seen anyone talk about this here or on reddit, so I assume it's not a very well known thought, but I could be wrong. I could also just be spouting bullshit. The only three games I've completed have been SS, BotW, and TotK.

How is totk the end of the timeline?

Excellent question. Thus begins my tedtalk.

So, we know that Ganondorf was a Gerudo King, yes. He was esentially sealed away by Rauru because at the time they didn't have a working master sword to kill him with. Ganondorf lay in stasis in the depths of the first castle for probably many millennia. Zelda is able to tell them all of this because she's seen it all happen before, right in front of her eyes. So she is able to prepare them for war accordingly.

But since Ganondorf in this time was only sealed, it means he never died. And we don't know all exactly what Rauru's power is capable of. We don't know if, for example, bits of Ganondorf's power was able to escape and create figureheads to aid in the destruction of men named Link and Princesses named Zelda.

You heard that right. I think that Ganondorf was the first Evil Incarnate to grace the Kingdom of Hyrule. He was somehow able to reach bits of his magic and create weaker versions of himself to hopefully end or at the very least terrorize the future generations of the Kingdom he wanted so desperately. He created Demise to warn the generations of the terror he would cause. It was never a curse, but more like a promise.

It explains the (somewhat silly) health bar during the final battle. It explains why when he was disturbed for the first time in eons his was brittle, dehydrated, and weak to the Sword. Using his magic to make lesser versions of himself drained him, leaving him with a mummy. But when he finally awakened he was able to revive himself while Link was running around Hyrule looking for his Zelda.

But now that Ganondorf is vanquished once and for all with the Master Sword, I believe he is no longer able to send bits of himself out to terrorize people, thus ending the timeline for good.

Whooh. Okay.

Why is TotK Zelda actually Hylia?

This point is only slightly connected, so bare with me.

So, in Skyward Sword we know that it is explained that Hylia sent Hyrule to the sky to ward off a great evil and such. And in the Dragon Tear scenes on totk there are no sky islands, thus letting us believe this is before the islands were sent to the sky, if this is truly the first generation in a land called Hyrule.

In the final dragon tear scene ( I know, I'm sorry to bring it up, it still makes me cry too), Zelda - or the Light Dragon - is seen flying through the cloud barrier.

We aren't shown this part, but I think that hen Zelda flew above the cloud barrier, parts of the land broke off and went with her, ascending to the skys like how Skyward Sword described. Execpt Skyward Sword said that Hylia was the one to make Skyloft. But whos to say they're not one in the same?

Do you need more evidence? Well sure.

The other three known dragons (Farosh, Naydra, and Dinnral) are named after the three golden goddesses, the ones that left Hyrule in Hylia's care. Now, we don't know how these dragons came to be, if they were always there, if they're the goddesses spirits, or if they actually ate secret stones themselves. But you know who doesn't have a dragon? Hylia. And the Light Dragon has no name other than that. Because Hylia was the one to eat the secret stone, and Zelda didn't know she was Hylia herself.

Additionally, this explains why Zelda had such a hard time in Breath of the Wild reaching her powers. Because she was praying to nobody, and when she finally looked into herself for the answers she was able to finally reach that power. Hylia had nothing to do with it, and praying to her was all a lost cause anyway.

Dear god my brain hurts. But this was fun low key.

[stained-glass-idols]

Yo does anybody have any theories abt what the fuck is going on between Hylia and The Fae in LoZ????????

Like. I just. Stuff below the cut

1) fairy queen character only shows up disguised or in downfall timelines and sometimes both. In most of them she is a different person every time but

2) in wind waker the fairy queen shows up as a puppet that looks a LOT like Fi. She has an entire island as territory to herself and makes direct, almost Fae-esque comments abt Link*, which she straight up Doesn't Do in any other game (coincidentally the game that Hylia and the Golden Goddesses are the Least In lore-wise)

3) Skyward Sword, the game that Hylia is the Most in, doesn't have any fairies in it, and introduces Fi, Master Sword soul and Hylia's Hand In The World Who Looks A Fucking Lot Like The Fairy Queen's Puppets

4) Botw/Totk has Permanent Great Fairies, who can move around as they please. At this point in the timeline Hylia is clearly Present But Detatched, enough to the point where they don't overlap beyond Zelda's direct influence

5) late downfall timeline Link (original games), can turn Into a fairy, which I'm not sure specifically how this applies but considering how far into a timeline that Hylia has at least half abandoned at this point this bit is, it feels kind of significant

6) also slightly less??? Relevant but still notable in a weird way, Timeline Split happens with The Fairy Boy(OOT Link). He does all the time travelling song based things but. I just wonder if there was some Greater Fae influence. (Causing the split, opening up potential domain space in a time where your rival Isnt. A bit convenient, hm?)

TL;DR: Why is it that whenever Hylia has less influence, the Fae have more???? What's the power struggle here??????????

Idk exactly where I'm going with this, but the evidence so far points towards the Main Goddesses and The Fae having some MAJOR unspoken beef with eachother

(personally my question is who/what, lore-wise, came first; Fi or the puppet)

*romantic/flirting comments in a Fae light have some wild gd connotations you cannot convince me otherwise. She is going to steal his soul and keep it like a pet.

[blitz0hno]

Why I'm Voting Inno Mikoto even tho He Definitely Did It

or should I say DID i-*🏏smacked*

TL;DR like many I do not believe a word John says, but I also don't think he has the entire truth. Meanwhile Mikoto's amnesia is near undoubtable. With two unreliable narrators and solid evidence of self-defense, I think we need more before declaring him guilty.

I'm here to be Mikoto's lawyer cuz John ily but you suck at it 😭

Now onto why I'm voting Inno:

Mikoto isn't lying when he says he doesn't remember murdering those people, at least not entirely. The memory is in his subconscious, but he can't even remember the faces of his victims because they were both so out of it.

I believe what we see in MeMe is safe to assume to be his first. The first mannequin smashed onscreen is this one:

That looks like a damn FNAF jumpscare lmao this tells me that his baseball hobby probably saved him from getting jumped at that train station, but it came at a heavy price.

That's where John comes in. To handle the feelings that undoubtedly came with taking a life and having to hide the evidence.

Generally in DID alter's memories fall into one of 3 categories (my observations of myself and other systems):

That event happened. These are all the details. I feel nothing about it.

That event happened and I remember everything I felt like it was seconds ago, but I couldn't tell you specifics

That event happened??

The latter two can safely be assigned to John and Bokukoto. The first one is what we're missing.

I saw someone point out how the train could symbolize that he can never go back (credit urself in the tags if u see this it was a good one) to before he killed.

That brings me to our final scene.

Remember how John split to handle the feelings of that stressor? The feeling of unsafety, pure adrenaline, and righteous anger at the attacker is a horrific thing, but once you experience it you change. In order for an alter to handle the reality of something, it must be accepted somehow. John's way of accepting it is not remembering their faces, only his expressions and actions. That's probably why he's so aggressive; constant fight-or-flight mode.

Mikoto (Bokukoto), like with whatever happened to him in early childhood to cause DID, is unable to accept these realities because doing so would shatter his world (it turns out constant fight-or-flight isn't great for your social life).

So about John's statement that he didn't know any of the victims even though he totally did, at least a little;

John is reading the room and there it is: unsafety, pure adrenaline, and righteous anger at the attacker. That's all he needs to feel to know that it's time to protect Mikoto.

That's not the face and mannerisms of a man who bashes skulls in for kicks. This shit was personal.

I can't tell if it's one or two victims in the second clip here, but I strongly believe they had something to do with his work. His subconscious is really harping on how much his boss got on him and how stressed it made him. Something happened that pushed them over the edge. You don't call your mom after you kill for fun (or maybe you do idk). You call your mom when you know you're fucked.

John initiated the second killing but I don't think he was the only one making a conscious decision. That said, I don't have enough details to condemn Mikoto to another unforgiven verdict.

So, where will we find that info? Well remember RGB Mikoto/Trikoto theory (kudos to whoever coined those too)? Well when I broke down the compartmentalization earlier I hinted that there's a strong chance that SOMEONE remembers every detail, but feels nothing and lays dormant.

Good old green Mikoto, the only one we haven't seen speak yet the one who's given us the most detail so far (via MeMe).

Even if not and Bokukoto remembers more than he's letting on/gets in contact with John, the crime itself isn't unforgivable beyond a shadow of a doubt yet even with multiple victims. His reasons are still cloudy.

Also I like him

[phanchester]

just wanted to share info abt youtooz bc i've seen a lot of discourse lately. i'm actually not a youtooz fans because i don't like the eyes LMFAO but i see people accusing them of things that i'm pretty sure has been debunked

1) youtooz is a zionist company

there is no evidence for this right now!

this is the most proof that i can find. if anyone has more lmk, but a lot of people are saying on here, twitter and instagram (although admittedly less people on there) that this is a mostly baseless claim, and waters down the meaning of zionism.

2) youtooz steals art

read this thread from an independent artist who worked with them in the past!

tl;dr: youtooz creators ask for reference photos. content creators give them art without asking for permission + certain similarities. plus youtooz has apparently improved by working with other artists.

3) youtooz made nfts

no, they partnered with nft makers who commissioned them to make figurines of their stupid nft. which is not great but definitely not the same.

i actually dgaf abt youtooz i do not own any and i will never buy them simply bc they're ugly. but just wanted this to help ppl in navigating info online - if anyone provides evidence disclaiming this i will add it to this post

[howlingday]

So this may sound crazy, but do you think that Lancaster and BMBLB are parallel/foils to each other?

When I look at Lancaster, both Ruby and Jaune have a lot of character depth that romance was not their top priority or part of their character dynamic. He even treated her as a person and not a kid. And that over time, they naturally develop with one another that it doesn't seem forced, and they have a better understanding of each other, that they know what the other is thinking.

For Yang and Blake (I'm not going into full detail and rant as to why those two shouldn't be together), it seems more shallow. These two didn't have great chemistry for each other. Even after the end of vol 1, Yang (in my opinion) treated Blake more like a cat than a person. This could be evident in vol 5, Yang has been Blake's partner, yet she didn't know why Blake ran away until "Weiss" had to explain it. It wasn't til vol 6 that their characters devolved to being romantic interest to one another. And besides the trauma and RWBY, they have nothing in common or share any interest

What's your opinion?

Part of me wants to argue the "romance" bit simply for the fact that Ruby's favorite genre of reading material is romance, but I do see what you mean. Jaune and Ruby were definitely more focused on their own self-improvement, albeit for very different reasons, while attending Beacon. Ruby wanted to be a huntress like the stories she'd read about and like her mom. Jaune wanted to prove himself as a huntsman just like his father and grandfather and their fathers and grandfathers. And yes, every time Jaune and Ruby talk to each other, it's as equals, though Jaune will admit that Ruby is better than him in every way. If Lancaster were endgame, it would be a fantastic showing of true friendship blossoming into something more. Although it's more likely Rosegarden will be Ruby's endgame

I will also spare the rant since it's already been said to death about the significance of Blake and Yang being the endgame ship for their characters. Instead, I'll talk about BMBLB as a ship that was "set up" to be endgame. While I firmly believe that until Volume 5 and 6 that Black Sun would be endgame, I could honestly see them working out pre-Volume 3. Their heart-to-heart in the classroom after Blake was practically killing herself to find a lead on the White Fang was a very touching moment that showed me that Yang really does care about Blake not only as a partner and team-member, but as a friend.

"I'm not asking you to stop. I just want you to take a break."

This is such a beautiful scene and perfectly demonstrates their friendship. In fact, it's, in my opinion, THE BEST BMBLB SCENE EVER! Yes, yes, the forehead touch was very cute, but it felt so out of place for characters who "aren't sure about their relationship". Sure, the "I won't run away again, I promise!" scene is very touching, but it's soured by the fact that they just committed murder and don't acknowledge that fact at all, and it stands better as an acknowledgement of Blake staying with her partner and best friend, Yang. And teaching Blake to dance was a cringey moment that, sure, it could have been a BMBLB moment if we were shown MORE THAN JUST THAT! WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE US AN EPISODE TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT?!

Ahem! Excuse me.

tl;dr: Lancaster would have been a great ship if it weren't being torpedoed by Rosegarden, and BMBLB might have made more sense if more effort was put into it in the first place.

[emistations]

I know you're more passionate about JP Sonic, but I'm still curious: What are your thoughts on Ian Flynn's writing for English Sonic (from IDW comics, Sonic Frontiers (Ian was mostly writing the dialogue based on the premise that SEGA of America had given him for that game)) and other recent Sonic media?

For me, and many others, it may be the best writing for NA Sonic we've had in years. Yes, he isn't perfect and he's made some mistakes, but when you compare his work to the Pontac/Graff era, there's a massive improvement to be noticed. I've seen a lot of accusations being thrown at Ian when there's plenty of evidence to disprove them, and it kinda sucks to see a nice guy getting so much hate. Yes, people are allowed to not like Ian's work, but that doesn't mean they have to be jerks about it. It doesn't help that the mandates from SoA reistrict him from doing some incredible stuff.

This is just my personal thought anyway. What do you think of Ian's writing, and do you have any personal nitpicks with it? (sorry if that came off as accusatory, i'm just curious)

You're good, your question was not accusatory in the slightest! I'm personally a HUGGGGE fan of this question (and I'm glad I can answer it somewhere safe without getting dog pilled).

In full honesty, he's decent at best but that's it. He's leagues better than what we had before but if we had better options I wouldn't want him to write for the games. I can live with him writing IDW (although I have many criticism for that comic & do not consider it canon because of said criticism, even if it).

Ian's problem is that he has a good understanding of the characters, just a not good enough one. He convies their actions (in the comics) so well. But when it comes to dialogue it all falls apart. Sonic, for example, is supposed to be a static hero, the story changes around him & not the other way around. Ian has good story driven narrative, but not character driven. So characters getting philosophical out of nowhere seems unnecessary, especially when Sonic's straight to the point. And Ian has NOOOO idea how to write Amy, especially with that vague "sharing love with the world" arc she had in frontiers. It's clear there are characters he struggles with. Same goes to Eggman & how irrelevant he is.

Ian as a person is... Eh. He's kind & sweet, yes, but unprofessional. It's the fact that people don't know his role isn't that huge and start controversies because of what he makes up on the fly on his podcast, and then he asks "why did this thing happen?". He shouldn't be answering questions that will start a war and then wonder why it happened. He's a little careless in that departement.

All in all, I think he's ok at writing but has apparent flaws that people choose to ignore. I could go on in a longer post about what I didn't like in Frontiers' story to justify my point, but atm I'm too lazy haha.

Tl;dr, good writer, just not great. Would take Toyoda over him tbh.

[krokodilsredimudil]

I'm pulling @heroes-trash and @siderealtime tags from my recent post because I want to reply! Why did I place Elle in the 'mommy issues post'?

First, disclaimer: I'm still rewatching, I'm on episode 9 (s3). I don't remember all the plot points (I watched the show more than 10 years ago), so I might be wrong. But I'm interpreting things as I see them unfold on the screen.

Also, this is my excuse to write an essay on Sylar, bear with me.

So, Sylar ...

He's insecure and unloved by his parents, so he craves attention from other people. He wants to be Gabriel Gray, to be enough, to live his life knowing that someone will love him for who he is.

This issue stems from his emotionally abusive relationship with his mother, Virginia.

He said it, Virginia, he doesn't want to be a banker. She doesn't care, because all she cares about is keeping up appearances and making him do what she wants, not what HE wants. "You could be anything you want" my ass.

This further proves the idea that she doesn't care about what he wants. She wants him to be someone Of Great Importance in the eyes of other people. This formed his trauma and shaped how he views relationships with others.

Also, this foreshadows him being a president in the s1 alternative future. Nathan-shaped, he lost his identity and is now following his mama's wishes.

This shot shows how creepy that mother-son relationship is.

The idea of him being 'not enough' is evident to everyone, that's why he's so easily manipulated.

The scene that shows how Elle first met Gabriel proves that the Company has been watching him for some time now.

I believe that they might have been watching his mother's apartment as well, so they know all his triggers.

They send in a girl who can play him like a fiddle by showing him compassion and understanding – something that he couldn't get from his mother.

He calls Elle 'an angel', which is an interesting word choice since he's named Gabriel (archangel) and his mother is Virginia (pure).

Elle is able to manipulate him by resorting to 'mommy tactics'. (Angela did the same)

Let's compare two scenes: the scene in Virginia's apartment and the scene in Gabriel's apartment.

So, both scenes involve 'mother' figures (with updos, lol) and food. In the first scene, Gabriel is forced to eat the sandwich (or else he'll make mommy upset). In the second scene, he's finally presented with something that he actually prefers and he can share it with another person.

Now, the final blow:

Playing on his insecurities and his desire to connect with others, Elle breaks him. Just like his mother did with the whole 'president' speech.

TL;DR: Sylar's desire to be 'special' is based on his trauma and relationship with his mother. The Company (Elle) is able to manipulate him using that against him. Mommy issues prevail.

[glassbirdfeather]

Oh, no, I think I have a type……. and it's absolutely pathetic.

Thank you Elden Ring and Pokemon Reborn for helping me discover this.

(Even if you don't play one of these games feel free to skip to the bottom to laugh at me because someone ought to get something good out of this.)

--

So about Morgott…

I do like the bestial elements of him, but really, what appeals to me about him isn't the animal features… though my severe faceblindness is appreciative of any unique features that I can lock on to and use to recognize someone. I also really like old men. and body hair.

But I didn't really think much of him until "he loved not in return," you know the line. What really got me was the absolute blind loyalty. Just total unshakeable faith in something that you have no evidence of, that may not care about you at all, is an utterly foreign concept to me--I am not religious and if there is a god I don't think it's one deserving of my worship.

I also used to make fun of people for the whole "I can fix him" thing because I always saw it applied to emo brats like Sasuke, but now I have no right to do that. Because I like the fantasy of taking Morgott and leading him out of his blind loyalty to a cult to something better, whether it's out of religion completely or to a healthier relationship to faith. Whatever makes him use critical thought against the institutions he's been defending his whole life is fine by me.

… Or alternatively, redirect that blind faith to the new Elden Lord, because as uncomfy the idea of being uncritically worshipped is, it's also apparently something I'm into.

--

So about Elias…

Unlike Morgott, since Reborn is heavily story-driven and has the player interacting with other characters a lot more, I thought a lot about him. I HATED him. What a piece of shit. He's a slimy pastor who thinks his daughter is corrupted because she's a goth.

Then after reading his sermon in the locked room in the Sanctum it became pity, because while he's still a piece of shit, he has a sad backstory that explains his motivations. And you know what, if I was holding a rock I didn't realize was magic and prayed to god for sight, I too would think it was god that granted that wish.

Still delusional, but sympathetic, because he's is the a victim of a cult. By the time you face him at the E4 (on the route I played) all his friends are dead and his daughter has disappeared, and he's just a sad old man who has lost everything but his religion.

… Then in the post-game he's come to a 'revelation' about the player's true nature and. well. as uncomfy as that is he suddenly had my attention because apparently that's something I'm into.

--

tl;dr my type is:

scruffy ascetic Protestant grandpa who thinks I'm the second coming of Christ.

great.

[justastarholder]

Why did Lunar think that if he showed star holder the place where the first gods had convened then they would have changed their mind about Eclipse? Why didn't Lunar think that the SH would change their mind about him instead? That they would have stopped trusing him or even started fearing him. I mean, I get it that Lunar kinda vaguely answered SH's question of why was his ancestor banished (even blamed the other gods), but even so, it's still evident that the first god of thunder did something very horrible that even Star Mother herself banished him, and maybe it would have raised some questions in SH's head about their guard, and well, maybe even destroyed their friendship. In a privious ask you said that Lunar doesn't know what his ancestor did exactly, but he only knows that he was a traitor, does he question himself about what did the first god of storms did to deserve such a punishment? And if he did ever find out, what would be his reaction. (I hope you understand what i'm trying to say, cause I'm not really good at putting my thoughts in words)

This is a great question!

What you have to take into account is that Lunar is often driven by his emotions, and tends to get... too passionate.

BUT if you recall, this isn't the first time Lunar has shown SH proof of the gods doing something and then covering it up. He knows that they'll inevitably lean in his favor, even if his ancestor WAS the traitor. After all, in the months leading up to being taken to the palace, SH had learned:

-That Eclipse was a nice person, despite constantly being taught he was sadistic and had no mercy in his heart

-Only to turn around and find out that Eclipse had burned an ENTIRE VILLAGE to the ground (through Lunar)

-Pluto had been arrested after a mental break down (granted it was a violent one) and left to slowly die out of the eye of the public

-Lunar lost everything to a mistake Sun made that NO ONE has heard about. (The lead spill) Why? Because Sun is also the type of god to brush things under the rug.

I think with all SH had learned about Sun (and in part, Moon) during the story really tilted the odds in Lunar's favor. He knows that they are beginning to question everything. They are starting to see these terrible things the greater gods have done and they are beginning to wonder how far back this corruption goes.

To your second question:

Lunar DOES wonder. He is constantly wondering. But Lunar also already hates his lineage. As a kid, he may have loved his demon grandma but she has left him with a deep distaste for the entire line of Thunder Gods. Lunar believes ALL the greater gods are terrible and that there needs to be a significant change for the world to begin to heal. (Some of this ideology also bleeds over from being raised among and living among dragons. You may have noticed that the dragons refer to the greater gods as 'gods of man'. They don't recognize or worship those gods- but they do worship LUNAR. And what's more, they have other gods of their own-- but WHERE are those gods? Why aren't they among the dragons, like the Greater Gods living among the humans?)

This is kinda long-winded but I hope that it helps.

TL;DR: Lunar hates the greater gods and thinks if he gives SH all the info carefully they'll come to hate them, too.