#to bring the concept to life though in this case the project

[greatmuldini]

The original “substrate” - the bottom layer - provides the plane and the body of Rex Reason, which must be joined up with the head of Nelson Brenner as he would have looked “15 years ago” (i.e. in 1960). The picture chosen to represent the facial features of the younger Brenner (though not his hair) is a 1965 portrait of the actor Patrick McGoohan, as he appeared in an episode of Danger Man (Loyalty Always Pays). Aside from the incorrect age gap, the new head is too large for its adopted body and sits uncomfortably on Rex Reason’s shoulders at an anatomically impossible angle (with barely a neck to speak of).

The contortions do not end there, however, as the youthful image of Nelson Brenner must clearly display his receding hairline – the third layer to be added to the composition. For the “enlarged” close-up that Columbo presents as “evidence” in the final “gotcha” scene, the hairline was completely redrawn with a new left-sided parting, and the entire image inexplicably rasterized. No changes were made to the face itself, its size or its angle in relation to the rest of the body.

For the fifth and final transformation, Columbo’s “photo guys” went to work on the close-up and added features from the description that their witness gave them of the mysterious “operative” (code)named Steinmetz – and young Nelson Brenner, already follicly challenged, becomes an elderly gentleman, bearded and bespectacled, who is peering at the onlooker from underneath a set of bushy white eyebrows topped by the shiny expanse of his formidable forehead. (3/4)

[back2bluesidex]

Third Time is a Charm - KNJ (18+)

Patreon Membership Exclusive Drabble Series

Part of Bangtan Chaebol Universe

Pairing: Chaebol!Namjoon X Fem, lawyer!Reader

Theme: angst, pining, exes to strangers to lovers au.

Summary: You met Namjoon thrice in your life. For the first encounter, you were his rival. During the second one, he broke your heart. As for the third time, you let him walk in again even when he brings no promise of healing what he broke.

But they say, third time is a charm. Will that stay true in your case too?

Warnings: Angst, high school setting, competitive reader, tiny fluff, discovering crush.

A/N: This is a part of the Patreon exclusive ot7 series of Bangtan Chaebol Universe. Jungkook and Jimin's story is already completed. and Namjoon's is the next in line. This story is kind of overlapped with Jungkook's one, anyone who has followed From Within will know why.

Chapter Index: -

Part 1: The heart shaped hair pin

Part 2: Chaebol took the subway?

Part 3: The first kiss

Part 4: Recipe for a heart break

Part 5: Third time as grown ups

Part 6: All the clouds are in a silver lining

Part 7: Making and breaking boundaries

Part 8: Loving two people at the same time

Part 9: Late night conversation

Part 10: Third Time is a Charm

“Your place or mine? Or better, the library?” Namjoon had questioned, staring down at you expectantly, clearly too excited to be induced into a science project. 

While it was unlikely for the teachers to pair two good students up on the same team, it was the lottery which put you and namjoon together. 

That is where the concept of being destined first struck you. 

Though you had brushed it off. 

“Library sounds good.” you answered. 

Later while working on the project, he had asked you another question, something very personal this time. 

“Why do you think I am your enemy?” He gave you his utmost attention. 

“I- what?” your pen scratched against the surface of the notebook crudely. 

“You think I am your rival or something. I know. I am asking you why?” He kept an impassive look on his face. 

“I used to top before but I come second these days. Also.. you got it all. It kind of annoys me.” You had answered truthfully, without showing the courtesy of masking your language. 

“I got it all?” Namjoon raised an eyebrow. 

“Yeah. You are good at studies and your family is rich.” you shrugged. 

He had chuckled then, “Just because I am good at studies and I have a wealthy family, doesn’t mean I got it all, Y/N.” 

It was the first time he called you by your name. 

And that was the moment you decided to start liking him a bit - only a bit.

Read the full chapter on Patreon.

[honeytonedhottie]

a post on persistence⋆.ೃ࿔*:･💝

im super happy and excited to announce that this post is a collab with the AMAZINGG @pinkpigtailsprincess. we wanted to collab on this post and talk about PERSISTENCE in manifesting and how crucial it is when ur manifesting things.

HOW TO PERSIST ; persisting simply means reminding urself that u already have whatever it is that u want. when u persist, you decide what it is that u want and you STICK to it.

the oxford definition of persistence simply means to continue in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

your 3d literally has no choice but to catch up and reflect the new thoughts that ur thinking in ur 4d so just KEEP GOING. if ur gonna whine or complain every step of the way and think thoughts like "persisting is hard" or "theres lots of resistance/difficulty with manifesting" then thats what ur going to experience.

manifesting is easy, effortless, and instant. when u catch urself thinking thoughts that perpetuate the old story, remind urself that no matter what, whatever u persist in will harden into reality simply because it HAS to. stop getting in your own way!!

LIMITLESS > IMAGINATION ;

limitless definition; possesing power of an immeasurable rate a perfect way to describe your power your literally the god of your reality and you know you might think thats silly or “delusional” its so true though like ever since birth people are conditioned to believe that being negative is the more “logical” and “realistic” way to think than positive which is such a stupid revelation because all throughout life you meant to believe that you have to bring yourself down to earth about achieving something and that you’ll never have “” but that makes no sense seeing all of the extraordinary achievements that humans have done like

build rockets and do rocket science

walk on the moon

build the great wall of china

and so many others including the human body its self your cells in your body healing and protecting wounds and your organs being able to stay in the designated spot no matter what and you think “logic” actually matters?

everything in the human mind is projected i mean everything you use on a daily basis started off in the mind it all stems from imagination

DECISIONS ⭐️ ;

deciding is the final decision and the final outcome no matter what no questions asked like if you went too a sushi restaurant and ordered and decided that you want a shrimp tempura roll you will have the shrimp tempura roll no matter what concepts “if the concept of something can exist then that can be achieved no matter what”

literally something i think about alot and a direct quote from yours truly like most people do think that you can have something because its quote “unrealistic” or it “doesn’t exist” but if that were really the case than why is the concept of it allowed to prosper like if those things really didn’t exist then the concept of billionaires or superpowers and superheroes wouldn’t exist or even time travel everything single one of those things are a product of imagination!!!

YOUR THE ONLY POWER ;

alot of the times on loablr you see people say “you’re the only power” and “you don’t even need that method just imagination and that honestly just so real because if you really think about all of these methods ie: 48 hour challenge, 10k affirmations method etc.

and the void state those things also stemmed from that person’s imagination when you use those methods or use subliminals all your doing is giving it a smidge of your power the method is only powerful because your giving it that power in conclusion you and your imagination are the only things that matter !!

[waxn-wane]

Talked with my therapist again and she approved of sebaciel, and generally the proship idea

She said that "all art is a projection of the artist", this doesn't mean that you are immediately a creep deep down. It means that there is a reason we're attracted to the concept of sebaciel. This varies from person to person, but to me it's the safety and comfort the contract and Sebastian's inhumanity provides. To me, him being inhuman is a positive because in my mind, Sebastian becomes a concept and not an adult man. Therefore: safe.

She said that I recognized myself in Ciel, and that his relationship with Sebastian is an issue of protection and consent. Through the contract, Ciel is provided this, without question or room for argument. It's comforting because it was something I was deprived of as a child.

She said "the devil can only affect you if you let it. (From what you're saying), Ciel doesn't let the devil do anything he doesn't want, he has control of the situation, and this is important to you"

We talked about the antis also.

She said "they disagree with this type of writing because it's an aberration of the norm. But this content is made for and by a select few, usually by people who didn't go through what was normal, people under special circumstances (trauma, assualt, etc).

(Although this is not a requirement to make it and no one is entitled to your trauma.) Not everyone would understand why the artist/author made that, and not everyone will consume it the same way."

We talked about how darkfic and topics helped me cope through difficult times in my life. She said that it was good that I was able to discern and was able to (what she called) "take what you can get and put it to good use". Which meant I used the darkfic I read to protect myself. Although that is not always the case for others.

Even though this is good for ME, it's not good for EVERYONE. Because though it had an overall positive impact on me, some people will be affected by the same thing I'm making/writing/reading negatively. This is why it's important to be careful online. About who to interact with so conflict is avoided. Censorship of the entire thing is something she disagrees with. One of the relevant reasons would be because most of the people interacting with this content were survivors themselves, and like me, someone who didn't have resources, could use to cope with their situation.

Additionally, she said "When you're undergoing incredible stress and trauma, your mind tends to numb you. Interacting with these, reading about similar things you went through activates your empathy. You're able to relate to the character and in turn empathize with yourself. It has the effect of bringing you back to reality, away from the numbness. Through these dark topics, you were able to cope, to process your grief and anger and ultimately, that is good for you"

Anyway, Sebaciel to me is a CSA power fantasy where Ciel has autonomy and Sebastian is happily under his collar. Consent reigns king and I hold the reins. Compared to other dark ships I've read about, this might be the most comforting and healing one so far.

[jamiepaige]

Constant Companions Closeup #2: NOT QUITE THERE

(also on spotify!)

b-b-back once again

Round two of the Constant Companions Closeups - a series of in-depth dives into the songs off of my latest album, Constant Companions! Yesterday was track one, Dyad - today is track two, Not Quite There, featuring the incomparable telebasher!

This one's a bit of a dark horse relative to the rest of the album, but it may very well be my personal favorite song on the entire thing so dammit let's Yap

---

For the uninitiated, this song pulls heavily from a song off my previous album called Gummyworm, both in vibe and by very directly quoting its synth motif.

Both of these songs deal with two sides of the same emotional coin. I actually don't want to go into too much detail about it - I feel like the lyrics spell things out clearly enough - but I will say this:

When it's all you know, it's easy to believe that a love that isolates you, a love that doesn't respect you, a love that hurts is better than no love at all.

You deserve better. There are always people who genuinely want what's best for you, who want you to feel truly loved. It certainly isn't always easy - it's genuinely good if your interpersonal relationships have a little friction sometimes - but love should make your life brighter.

You deserve a love that's fair.

---

The original version of this song was actually intended to be on Bittersweet alongside Gummyworm. The original concept for that album had a whole heady concept involving duality, songs reflecting each other, the two halves basically being reprisals of each other... Ultimately, I'm glad I scrapped that idea, because it was waaaaaay too much for me to manage after a couple years of barely making music. Maybe I'll revisit it someday though?

The drums on this song are sampled from an Instagram post by Louis Cole, where he's doing this crazy one-handed hi-hat blast by holding a drumstick sideways. I'm a drummer and that shit genuinely scares me a little like i dont know how he does half the things he does its fucked BUT. I bring this up because he's one of my biggest inspirations as a musician! I'm really big on jazz in general, in case my love for spicy chords wasn't enough of an indication, but his specific brand of freaky hyperactive bullshit just does it for me.

Seriously, go watch his band KNOWER play their song Overtime. Absolutely insane performances across the board. also Clown Core

This whole song is really just my attempt at matching some of that hectic jazzy energy with my own style of music, so I figured it only made sense to make it another collab with another musician making delightfully frantic jazz bullshit - the legend herself, telebasher! I really am such a massive fan of her work, and I struggle to think of anyone who plays guitar quite like she does. We previously worked together on another Bittersweet track, Asemic Speech, and her guitar work is a major reason why that song is still one of my favorite I've ever released!! She's just built different like listen to this oh my god!!!!

Lastly, since this song was one of the first written for this entire project... it is admittedly a case of me shoehorning the album's leitmotif in after the fact. It's a little forced when it shows up in the backing vocals! But, the choir of vocal synths during the guitar solo served an additional purpose - my own voice doesn't show up on the album again for another four entire songs, and this would've otherwise been the only song on the entire album that didn't feature any vocal synths. Thus did I attempt to bridge the gap, as it were. Hopefully it makes the final product feel more natural!!

Either way, that's all for today's post.... i think.... which means that tomorrow.... we're gonna rot.... for clout

[spitfirerose]

Been looking at PLZA theories and speculations, so here's my own two cents.

Buckle up, kids. In this essay, I will...

Explain that you can't have a game set in Kalos feat. AZ & Floette without the Ultimate Weapon. Let's say the Urban Redevelopment Project is being used by our potential villain(s) to accomplish their goals under the radar. Do they want to become immortal by being within its radius? Bring back someone from the dead? Or perhaps wish to wipe an entire region off the map? Are they working alone, or is someone else manipulating them and using their power and influence to get what *they* want, since they wouldn't be able to on their own?

Whichever the case, the Ultimate Weapon *needs* Pokémon as a power source. *A lot* of Pokémon. It sure would be convenient to have a full supply of "wild" Pokémon available in the City to harvest at their leisure. No one would notice them missing. They're meant to be captured, after all. Perhaps these strange disappearances are investigated by Looker & Emma, especially if people's Pokémon begin to vanish as well (the aforementioned "incidents" occurring in the City). And hey, if those Pokémon aren't enough, there's always that peculiar Floette said to have lived for thousands of years. She could probably recharge the Ultimate Weapon as many times as desired. All the villain(s) need to do is lure her away from AZ. They could do it themselves, or enlist the aid of a certain rival that just happens to live and work there, and is just so, so happy to support their boss with whatever he needs.

Secret villain Urbain/Taunie and my life is yours. Seriously, their names are literally a reference to the Project. It is time, GameFreak. Everyone and their mothers suspect Jett & Vinnie, it would be perfect.

Anyway.

You may be wondering what purpose will Xerneas and Yvetal serve in the meantime? In X and Y, the Legendaries were used by Team Flare to start up the Ultimate Weapon (unlike AZ who didn't need them). There's any number of ways for them to return (Hoopa shenanigans, XY Protag released them, there's more than one, etc.), and since this is a Legends game, both will be available. If one villain wishes to revive a beloved companion, they may be after Xerneas. The other wishing for death and destruction will have their sights on Yvetal. Just like with deciding to team up with the Diamond/Pearl Clan to ultimately determine if Dialga or Palkia are caught first, it will be up to the player to decide what order they want to rescue the Legendaries in.

It doesn't really matter though, since the lives of people and Pokémon will be at stake regardless of player choice. That's where Zygarde comes in, except this time Squishy is not our friend. All of Lumiose City *will* be destroyed if Complete Form Zygarde isn't stopped from trying to clean up the true villain's mess (by creating an even bigger one, of course). It's up to you, the player, to deform Voltron and save the day. Maybe with a little villain redemption while everyone takes shelter in Hotel Z....as a treat.

As a bonus, it's revealed that the reason Zygarde took an interest to you at the start (aside from being the Chosen One™️) is that you remind them of the XY Protag aka your half-sibling. I see you, Sycamore and Grace. I see you.

Anyway that concludes this essay. It's too cool of a concept to be canon because they're all cowards, but damn if it wouldn't be incredible, game-of-the-year material.

[ariemfox]

who is more repressed: park vs adams

- for park

sexual repression. extreme comphet vibes. it's off the charts

she managed to explain away an acid-induced hallucination of kissing adams & adams doing a sexy catwalk for her as normal heterosexual behaviour

always making gay jokes about adams ("you want me to wear them (shoes adams got for her in the gift prank war) while you masturbate?", *takes a picture of adams' cleavage before proceeding to suggest she should just drop to her knees if she wants to suck up to house*, *about hepatitis c* "she [adams] got it from me 😉"... i could probably go on). she also believes this is normal heterosexual behaviour

that lesbian haircut <3. i see u park (:

"i've tapped over 30 guys and never wanted to see most of them again". park, sweetie. babe. do you even listen to yourself speak

going on a date with that guitarist micah (patrick stump from fob. wild.) who she doesn't even know, to make adams jealous - taub's words, not mine.

her whole obsessive thing with chase could deffo be read as 'i'm jealous of the concept of adams & chase together so therefore i want to be with chase' even though she wants to be with adams

she tells adams "you can't have sex with chase" out-of-nowhere. she tells that to adams, & not vice-versa to chase. i feel like it's significant that she only wants to control adams' sex life, and not chase's. and yet she's still chasing chase!! comphet!!

repression regarding her family. her strong family values & cultural pride makes her feel iffy about even speaking a word against them. she's repressed her personal development so much for them, to the point where she is still living with her parents throughout most of s8 & her dad makes her packed lunches to bring to work

her outbursts of anger also speak for a whole lot of repression. honestly, most of the time i think she uses house as her personal punching bag. she's always snapping at him lol

s8e14: a rare shot where park momentarily breaks out of her metaphorical cloud of repression to realise that having a sexy acid-induced hallucination of her co-worker is probably not normal heterosexual behaviour. this is a mere second before she manages to find a heterosexual explanation. repression manifest.

- for adams

she has a whole lot of repressed anger. constantly snapping and losing control of her emotions, projecting hard on to patients, especially in terms of ethics and personal issues. see: callie from runaways.

that scene where house lets her use the diagnostics office as a rage room & adams fucking beats up that model skeleton. yeah. that is what i mean by repressed anger.

she didn't talk to anyone about her husband cheating on her and their divorce for an entire fucking year. repression is her thing.

she literally ran away from her problems (home) at 16

she is also so fucking repressed about how badly her parents screwed her up, she doesn't even believe they screwed her up (they did. a brick wall can tell that they clearly did) even when they caused her to run away from home as a kid

like the whole romanticising her friends being screwed up by their families?? wishing she was screwed up by hers so that it would explain why she feels so screwed up?? poor girl.

even house (repression personified) acknowledges this when he says "it's normal to be screwed up, it's really screwed up to romanticize it."

and throughout all of this she thinks she is normal. at least park somewhat acknowledges she is weird lol

definitely not as sexually-repressed as park but still makes gay sex jokes (e.g. "how about all five of us live together and the $7,000 sex doll? it'll solve all our hang-ups")

also, adams is the one who initiates the infamous gift prank war in their first episode together (in case you haven't watched house md & are somehow reading this, prank wars in house md are a form of flirting). in this she gets park coffee, expensive shoes that 'happened' to be in a 2 for 1 sale, a spa certificate, and pays thousands of pounds for her car to be fixed. and this was all 'for a prank', which she does because she was 'curious' to see how far park would retaliate. yeah i bet u were bicurious adams. ffs.

s8e4: a rare scene where adams lets out her repressed anger in a healthy, controlled manner by beating up all the people whoever hurt her, including her parents and ex-husband, via a model skeleton. this is before next episode, where she goes back to projecting on to patients, pretending she is normal, and having random outbursts of anger. repression manifest.

they have very different brands of repression going on, but jesus christ. they're both absolute basket cases of individuals, i love them.

[autosuns]

Of Ambulon and Pharma and doomed amica endura

I'll preface that I'm the last person to try and explain my ships by how canon they are and this is very much the same case of me just entertaining the idea and what their relationship represents and what role they play in a wider story, this is not an invitation for discourse or a debate. It's just me rambling on why I like the ship so much, think Pharma and Ambulon are narrative foils, while using some canon stuff and word of god.

Jokes about hamburger or hot dog or literally anything regarding Ambulon's death will end in block idc I think it's obnoxious 👍

CW for robot gore, discussions of torture, you know, the package that comes with DJD and Decepticons and MTMTE.

When it comes to Ambulon and Pharma's relationship, I think it's fair to start with bare bones, yeah?

I'm going to start with each character individually, what my take on them is, so we're all on the same page.

Ambulon

So, the basics are:

Ambulon was part of the failed combiner project of decepticons, the first combiner at that. He has horrible alt mode, that brings him a lot of shame, so he prefers to keep it a secret. He switched to the Autobots, eventually.

We don't know for certain if he was created for the project, or was one of the "volunteers". What we do know though, is that he's an MTO specifically, not just constructed cold, and MTOs were a concept of war.

Meaning, he cant be older than the war. Meaning, in my personal opinion, he was either made for some operation, then snatched by Shockwave for the project, or was created already specifically for the project.

There, I think, comes a timeline conflict. It feels unfeasible, to me, that MTOs were made this early into the war, by Decepticons. What I think happened, is that Shockwave did try to experiment on other Decepticons to figure out and develop on Jhiaxus' research, but once MTOs as a concept came into the picture, it became infinitely easier to just have an alt mode pre-made for a mech.

Unless when Shockwave said he was going to give Megatron a gestalt he meant he'll postpone it for 4mil years and do it a little before he succeeded with Devastator so Ambulon deserting LITERALLY as he is picked out for the combiner project JUST to avoid it makes this line from him especially funny:

Boy for all we know you're not even 15 years old.

Also the idea that character like Ambulon did that out of some sort of cowardice, that THIS was his breaking point to join Autobots, feels wrong.

In-text it becomes even less likely Ambulon had a life before the project, as his name "Ambulon" seems to be the only one he ever had (judging by his statue post on Necroworld).

I think why I'm getting a Little long-winded explaining Ambulon is to draw a better picture on his experience with Decepticons, Specifically Shockwave.

That to say, he had a horrible one. He knows better than anyone what Decepticons are capable of and how far they will go/what Megatron would allow. Especially once DJD comes into the picture.

And it just emphasizes the way Ambulon in the end of it all chose kindness. The first issues he appeared in cement it very well, especially since most of his intro we get from First Aid's point of view.

Ambulon is tetchy, can be a gearstick sometimes

Ambulon took pity on the Decepticons he thought were hunted down by the DJD

Ambulon convinced Pharma to let them stay

The Genericons showed their scars to Ambulon specifically

Ambulon gets passionate about hate crimes concerning one's shape/alt mode

Ambulon is "tetchy" and rejects First Aid's idea because he's concerned that it's too risky

For Ambulon to put your own life on the line to save a single life is an act of selfishness (also stemming out of his concern for First Aaid, imo)

Ambulon let the Genericons share a cell

To sum it up: Ambulon is very greatly concerned for the greater good and treating people without bias, Decepticon or Autobot, especially when there's any sort of discrimination involved.

(Using Genericons and Triple M as a tool with Ambulon was a very clever foreshadowing for Ambulon's situation, but it is a general theme that runs in these issues and Ratchet's/medics character arcs, it's the functionism, one's shape and purpose in life, but it is a completely different post to make. Just let's keep the theme of one's shape and purpose in mind.)

The thing is, Ambulon is who he is by choice. His Decepticon past is always showing, whether he wants it or not, but all he wants, essentially, is to help people and treat them with kindness. He's a "gearstick", but he's a gearstick with a big spark. He saw the greater cruelty in Decepticons and made a choice to never participate in it.

Ambulon is an MTO who made his life and became what he wants to be despite everything: Decepticons, his alt-mode, biases, all of that. He's true to himself and his intentions.

I'm gonna also get this out of the way that Ambulon's established character is continuously ignored, dumbed down and twisted: the point is that I do believe JRO didn't think about him that much or that deep, and what he did with him did not retain with him into further issues. That is to say, "You're gonna let Dr DJD cut us in half?" is a dumb fucking line to come out of Ambulon specifically, makes no sense, too snarky and cruel all things considered, and while I think it's also very funny it jsut shows Ambulon's accidental insignificance. Ok. That's all.

Pharma

Oh boy this one's a doozy. Okay, listen, I'll try to get more brief with it, try to get straight to the point, but Pharma has so much nuance around him on a greater scheme of things that it might also just be it's own post. SO we'll just try to focus on his persona and relations to others.

Pharma is a doctor of talent on par with Ratchet, if not actually better. He used to be friends with him, he's implied to have used to do medical service in the new institute, and eventually was stationed on Delphi by Prowl, practically abandoned by Ratchet. There, he ends up being blackmailed by Tarn, ending up killing his patients to meet the increasing quota, being led to the brink of creating a virus that he exposes the facility to in hope to close it down and escape it scot-free. Obviously, because of Ratchet, it didn't work, the rest is history.

Unlike Ambulon with his 3 panels and a half of screentime worth talking about character-wise, Pharma is a combination of multiple things at once, his place as an Autobot, his connection to the DJD, his act, and most of his actual character we get from very few shots of him from the past and what people say of him, and just a little of his behavior at Delphi before his crime is revealed.

So I think we'll focus specifically on the Decepticon part when it comes to Pharma cuz it's much easier to talk about.

Pharma vehemently, without hiding it, hates Decepticons.

It will go into even bigger field of speculations than trying to piece Ambulon's character together for why he hates them so much. It could both just be a thrown in line for the story to flow (Genericons) and act as a foreshadowing (DJD blackmail), the fact of the matter is, he hates Decepticons, he does not have pity for Decepticons, and if DJD did not play into his hatred, years of war for sure did.

(Also worth mentioning that in the issue #4, the paralleling story is Tailgate learning about the war and backing off on his decision to be a Decepticon. The entire build up works very well, imo, and plays into just how much it should hit you when Pharma turns out providing for DJD, along with the choice of Ambulon to not be a Decepticon anymore.)

You see, I think Pharma is incredibly caring person. He cares for his patients and he cares for his people. He takes his work extremely seriously. He's willing to be a donor for his patient and he's still conducting research to cure illnesses when there was no legitimate point for him to do that anymore. He's not just a surgeon, but he's a virologist/epidemiologist.

But, probably when we ask ourselves, "So if he was such a wonderful doctor, equal to Ratchet, someone Ratchet recognizes, why wasn't he the Chief Medical Officer in the first place?"

I think it's mostly his personality. It's his hubris and ego. It's also the inherent societal bias of Cybertron when it comes to jets - though this part of worldbuilding isn't that consistent, he is a forged jet AND a doctor.

And that's also why I think he doesn't believe in that "forged" functionism bullshit. BUT thats another post of its own (take a shot every time i say that in this post).

Let's just bullet point this:

Pharma is a talented doctor who's good and dedicated to his job. Practically nothing is impossible for him and it becomes a focal point of his conflict with Ratchet, too.

That said, Pharma's shape is what, I think, is responsible for his hubris. He's a jet, he's forged, he's a doctor, but he's a doctor because HE, PHARMA, is good. Nothing to do with some God. (which is different from Ratchet's internalized functionism)

Pharma hates Decepticons, he tried to kill the DJD, and it may seem like he pushed it all on Ambulon because he was a Decepticon, but I don't think that's the case. Specifically because of this:

He does not see Ambulon as a Decepticon, and it was just panicked shitty lie he had to quickly come up with on the spot.

Pharma feels guilt for his actions, and after killing Ambulon, he's actively taunting First Aid to kill him.

Pharma is a jet doctor trapped in the loop of self-sabotage after being exploited, psychologically tortured and left for dead, after a poor attempt of saving face. Pharma is a jet doctor who embraced his new look, but couldn't live with it, far from accepting it. Furthermore, his body is used by Adaptus himself, where the only thing he could do is trying to get his body back, to help his comrades, only to end up dying, again.

That's where I'm going to use a single word of God that makes, all in all, a lot of sense.

"Grurdging respect" is about best way to describe Pharma and Ambulon.

Now since I've reached the image limit on this post it's relentless rambling and speculations time!

You probably can already tell where I'm going with this. I think Pharma and Ambulon direct inversions of each other.

Decepticon gone Autobot as a choice - Autobot gone rogue out of blackmail and fear of failure

MTO doing what he wants to do and taking control of his body and life, disconnected from a gestalt or his "purpose" - A forged jet trying to continue his career of a doctor despite all the odds but who's agency is continuously taken, not only by others but by his own ego

Where they overlap, is their desire to do what they want. Where they differ, is one's sincerity and other's toxicity.

Ambulon is someone Pharma would never be, and someone he, on meta level, wishes he was more like. He doesn't want to be Ratchet, even if we think a little about his obsession and desire to prove to Ratchet that he's better, he wants to be someone Ratchet would respect. And in the end of the day, it all didn't matter anymore, because clearly Ratchet never respected him enough in the first place: "waging a war on his body", taking body parts for his own gain (hands), that Pharma didn't even really care about anymore. It was personal. He wanted Ratchet to hurt.

All of this, ultimately, is justified. Little who would respond to knowing someone who betrayed you (and whom you, also, betrayed) also breached boundaries of your autonomy. It's just basic decency. I don't believe TFs never heard of that or don't follow it, in some fashion. Maybe it's more loose, but for the purpose of drama and villification of Pharma, it was convenient, I guess.

See, Pharma is just inherently, like anyone, very flawed. The circumstance he's put in and the war led to the worst of his qualities spike. And in relation to Ambulon, it's the inverse of a person who, having seen the horrors of the war, having been through the horror and the existential dread of being in a gestalt, chose kindness anyway.

"Grudging respect". A jet doctor, a genius, and an ex-soldier MTO, who made the choice of helping people. An ex-Decepticon, too, no less.

See how it could've developed into something more?

Both eager to do their job, Ambulon is a perfect stabilizer for Pharma's general emotional response to things. He may be a good doctor, but he's prone to acting and saying things before really thinking about it. Ambulon is capable of convincing him and giving a good argument, without it being personal.

"Grudging respect" with Ambulon working with one of the best doctors out there, who's work is going to be invaluable even after his death.

And if things worked out differently? Do you think Ambulon wouldn't be there to sympathize with Pharma's trauma regarding DJD? Do you think Ambulon wouldn't pity Pharma for what Tarn put him through? Ambulon? The Decepticon who was there? The one who even should fear DJD the most? The one who might've even triggered DJD once he was so close on the radar?

He might've confided in Pharma in the first place, as someone literally second in charge after him.

Pharma and Ambulon are defying Adaptus as a societal concept, among with the existential idea of your shape dictating your purpose. And within the text they don't just defy, they end up suffering the most out of it - Pharma ends up in a position where his hands are praised more than he, as a person, is, Ambulon dies by these hands, and his death dooms Pharma as well.

I hope it was comprehensive enough, i WISH i could include more images to prove my point. The amica endura would've been insane. If only the circumstance was different.

[pinkpigtailsprincess]

౨ৎ ⁺ . Dolly n Honeys Collab .ᐟ 🎀🍯🐬

Hii Dolls!! im soo soo 2 do this collabs with one of my favorite blogs @honeytonedhottie !!! basically we’ll be talking about persistence and being limitless!!🧁🎀 Enjoy!!!

Honey 𝜗𝜚 ! 🍯🎀

HOW TO PERSIST ; persisting simply means reminding urself that u already have whatever it is that u want. when u persist, you decide what it is that u want and you STICK to it.

the oxford definition of persistence simply means to continue in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

your 3d literally has no choice but to catch up and reflect the new thoughts that ur thinking in ur 4d so just KEEP GOING. if ur gonna whine or complain every step of the way and think thoughts like "persisting is hard" or "theres lots of resistance/difficulty with manifesting" then thats what ur going to experience.

manifesting is easy, effortless, and instant. when u catch urself thinking thoughts that perpetuate the old story, remind urself that no matter what, whatever u persist in will harden into reality simply because it HAS to. stop getting in your own way!!

Dolly ୨୧ ! 🎀🫧🍨🛼

Limitless > Imagination!! 🎀🧁

Limitless Definition; Possesing power of an immeasurable rate a perfect way to describe your power your literally the god of your reality and you know you might think thats silly or “delusional” its so true though like ever since birth people are conditioned to believe that being negative is the more “logical” and “realistic” way to think than positive whoch is such a stupid revelation because all throughout life you meant to believe that you have to bring yourself down to earth about achieving something and that you’ll never have “__” because of “__” but that makes no sense seeing all of the extraordinary achievements that humans have done like

- build rockets and do rocket science

- walk on the moon

- build the great wall of china

and so many others including the human body its self your cells in your body healing and protecting wounds and your organs being able to stay in the designated spot no matter what and you think “logic” actually matters? everything in the human mind is projected i mean everything you use on a daily basis started off in the mind it all stems from imagination i mean just think about how everything around you started put as an idea in someones head!!

Decisions!! 🎀🍨🫧

deciding is the final decision and the final outcome no matter what no questions asked like if you went too a sushi restaurant and ordered and decided that you want a shrimp tempura roll you will have the shrimp tempura roll no matter what

Concepts !! 🎀🧁🐬

“if the concept of something can exist then that can be achieved no matter” literally something i think about alot and a direct quote from yours truly like most people do think that you can have something because its quote “unrealistic” or it “doesn’t exist” but if that were really the case than why is the concept of it allowed to prosper like if those things really didn’t exist then the concept of Billionaires or Superpowers and Superheroes wouldn’t exist or even time travel everything single one of those things are a product of imagination!!! 💭🎀

[cosmic-walkers]

Thomas and his view of bastards placed into religious vows/holy orders is very interesting. Because his first thought is to assume that now, as adults who choose to stay in said orders, they hate it, or that they don't take it seriously. Which at first, is an understandable misconception. But sometimes, he lets his own personal view of religion overshadow the fact that maybe, just maybe, they are happy in positions that have given them power, status and family. This is about both Dorthea and Stephen, and his relationship to them.

Thomas can count a total of two bastards on his fingers forced into the religious life that he's pissed off. and i put the rest under the cut.

He did it first to Stephen, where in the book he mentions that Stephen was basically forced into being a priest even though he didn't want to. He talks about how Stephen loathes being a priest, how it’s this shameful, things that he is embarrassed by (in addition to being well, a bastard). However, being a priest gave Stephen immense amount of power, and he ends up becoming the Bishop of Winchester. There is nothing that states, at his big age, Stephen actually hates being a priest/Bishop. 

He also brings up sex with Stephen, basically asking if Stephen has been sleeping with women. Aside from being gay, Stephen takes his vows of celibacy very seriously, and that was something that shocked Thomas. UNDERSTANDABLY, because aside from Stephen, almost all the clergymen Thomas knows are fucking and have kids running around the place. Stephen however, doesn't, and there is that cognitive dissonance from Thomas because he is probably thinking, "why do you take a position you were forced into so seriously, especially when no one else does?" and it's because yes, he was forced into it, but that was the only place he was accepted. he is a family embarrassment, but the clergy became his family.

Next is Dorthea, whom like Stephen also had no choice in taking religious vows, but as we see in both the show and the book, she doesn’t hate it. In the show she states she wasn’t there by choice, and she might be forced to leave, not by her own choice. She brings up her sisters, and worries for them, especially when Thomas doesn’t. Thomas comes to her thinking that she hates her life, that she wants to leave, that she detests being a nun - but that simply isn’t true. He offers marriage to her as an escape, but doesn’t even realize that is a cage. At that time, nuns had far more freedom to live their lives than married women. They didn’t listen to a man, they were not governed by a husband, they could make their own money, they could teach, etc. Because Thomas assumed that Dorthea hated her life, he never actually asked her if she liked being a nun. She loves her sisters, and even though she had little, to no choice, the life she as given is the life she accepted. She found a family, she found happiness even if she was shunned. And again, she has far more freedom that many women around her. 

The lack of awareness is also quite interesting to me. because Thomas doesn’t realize that the *only* reason she’d be attempting to “escape” being a nun, is because her monastery is going to be destroyed. It’s not so much ‘ I hate this life, I wanna marry you’ as much as it is ‘because of YOU, this life that I have learned to love is over - so I am going to either go to the street or be forced into a marriage.”

ANYWAY back to the concept of bastards and religions. Back then, being in holy orders or religious vows was one of the few things that saved bastards and gave them family, status, power, etc. Especially when their own families were either ashamed of them, or didn’t want them. Which is the case of the two bastards in question. Thomas does a lot of projection on his own view of Catholicism, holy orders, and religious vows. And with that, there is also this idea of entitlement, which I already talked about in another post.

Anywayz...

tl: dr - Dorthea is a fully-fledged lesbian, and if they were on better terms, Stephen would have let Thomas fuck him if he asked. He would have absolutely bent over for that man.

[marvelousmop]

The King in Yellow and the War Over the Mind

I think one of the most powerful aspects of Robert W. Chambers's The King in Yellow, and one which sets it apart from a lot of later Weird Fiction about academics who become too invested in the world of the arcane, is the idea that there just isn't anything explainably wrong with the play. People know there's something wrong with it, especially once you get to the second act... but if you just looked at the text itself, you wouldn't find anything.

'No definite principles had been violated in those wicked pages, no doctrine promulgated, no convictions outraged. It could not be judged by any known standard, yet, although it was acknowledged that the supreme note of art had been struck in The King in Yellow, all felt that human nature could not bear the strain, nor thrive on words in which the essence of purest poison lurked.' ~ The Repairer of Reputations

Despite how central it is, I completely missed it on my first reading (mainly because I was young and grappling with a particularly bad printing of it which made the text really small). I only started to grasp it when I listened to the concept album The King in Yellow by experimental post-rock band "Ah Pook, the Destroyer".

This album is largely inspired by Chamber's work, using that premise - an idea that you can't see but can still cause genuine harm - to talk about the current political climate. Songs touch on a wide array of cults and conspiracies - from the modern-day antisemitic ramblings of Qanon and Lizard People conspiracies to the strong figureheads and interpersonal conflicts of cults like Heaven's Gate. They even find time to touch on the Time Cube somehow, all under the framework of the King in Yellow propagating harmful ideas and bringing about the New Age of Madness.

But it's not as simple as just looking at these people and calling them mad. Okay, sometimes it is that (best exemplified in the gospel stylings of "The Tribulation of Alex Jones"), but there are cases where the characters are presented with genuine empathy, such as in "The Road to Carcosa" where we hear about the life of a man who, through exposure to the Yellow Sign (which here is attached to Right-Wing conspiracy theories) ends up destroying his relationship with his family. The singer gets a moment of lucidity in the refrain "The fall of my life came after; And all of my mind was scattered", though this fades away as we hear the end of this story: Him living alone in a gun-filled squalor.

Another thing that elevates this album is how it turns it all back on the listener. There's obviously a specific audience of Left-leaning listeners a project like this would attract, and those people are very unlikely to also share the beliefs of the average Qanon-minded person, but (much like in the book) it constantly emphasises that the actual specific beliefs don't matter as much as the spread of ideas. This is most visible in the refrain heard throughout the album:

The fall you believe Is not far as it seems And the deep can not be so alive The blithe poison meme That you did not believe But you saw and it entered your mind

Belief doesn't matter. Sheer exposure to these toxic ideas means that, in a way, you've already been harmed no matter what you take away from it. This idea is also present in the book, most directly in the story "The Yellow Sign".

In it, Mr. Scott is fully aware of the King in Yellow, but has actively tried to avoid its influence, partially due to the unfortunate fate of Hildred Castaigne (who featured in the story "The Repairer of Reputations" and at the very least wanted to do a monarchist coup of America that would place him as King - all after reading The King in Yellow). By all means, he should be doing the right thing - he has no interest in The King in Yellow and is actively avoiding the play... and it's not like anyone's staging it anymore, so he should be fine... and yet, after strange dreams, an erie watchman, and other bizarre events, he and his model, Tessie, are driven to read it. This is also a story the album quotes right at the start:

'Then, as I fell, I heard Tessie’s soft cry and her spirit fled: and even while falling I longed to follow her, for I knew that the King in Yellow had opened his tattered mantle and there was only God to cry to now.' ~ The Yellow Sign & Beautitudes

It's an idea I think is also evoked in the structure of the anthology. While the first 4 stories directly feature the King in Yellow in one way or another, the rest are tragic, sometimes supernatural romances with seemingly no connection to the title character, to the point where some reprints just do the first 4 and ignore the rest... though I feel it's deliberate when keeping this idea in mind. While the King is absent, Yellow is a recurring motif throughout the book, often emphasising death or danger, and reminding the reader of that titular presence. You have been exposed to the King in Yellow, and now your mind is his domain.

[lovetogether]

here i will send an ask to inquire because perhaps you would like to share a bit about them on your blog .... what oc's have you been workshopping!!! i would like to know the secrets. what has tumblr user lovetogether been cooking

Hello hello our dear friend allister! Rubs hands together… eheheh, since T:MLs (last big oc story we did) we’ve been mostly working on tiny oc “drabbles”? I guess you could call them. We have bursts of scenes and whatnot but that’s about it. They mostly exist to . Have fun . We’re a writer at heart though so they do have a bit of narrative set up - anyhow! Come with us down here into this wine cellar,

First one is this ^

This is “Humanity”, a man made passion project of sorts. It’s mostly based off glados, portal two in general, and our own alienation from people and tendency for “escape” but not in a manner close to usual “fandomites” (Is that a word..? I just made it up…) Humanity’s deal is it was maybe a “human” (used loosely as you know we draw most people as kemono) at one point but was then wiped and given many mechanical enhancements. Its essentially and a i trained off only human made media like films and tv shows, it’s connected to tons of TVs in its main sorta “lab” (shown in the tiny drawing) nd these screens will reflect snippets of movies and tv shows which coincide with whatever emotion Humanity is mimicking at the moment. Despite the heavy media training though Humanity remains mostly emotionless, only mimicking what it’s been fed. It’s never actually been given field training. And it never will. The lab in a portal two type situation was abandoned for one reason or another, the place only inhabits machines now, including Humanity. The place is overgrown and lonely. We have this idea that a girl ends up there, maybe Chell style (can you tell we like portal lolol) but she’s like, a child. This child is Humanity’s first like experience with a real person and it’s confused by her lack of - what was on the screen. It learns from here, we think at first it rejects the truth of humans, opting to believe what it was trained on, but it eventually learns.

Next is Persimmon :-) !! Or Persi (per-see) for short ! He’s a young chipper business man who died and ended up in the afterlife, he’s kinda comparable to a zombie? His premise is sorta dark humor-ish, apologies to viewers out there-! He was a very upbeat businessman and then one day a slight inconvenience happened at work and so he went home and offed himself in the tub. He resides in the afterlife now and is pretty chill with this. He often greets new comers and whatnot, his excited energy towards everything is sorta welcoming..? He’s extremely open about the fact he ended his life and is very chill about this, when questioned about his life and he goes on to say it was fine which then spawns the question “why’d you do it?” He sorta just smiles and shrugs. Admittedly a very dark humor type concept but we just wanted to make something which made harder topics like that a bit easier to stomach as those kinds of things have always left us numb rather than offended. We’d want people to feel okay with themselves, nd in a weird way his optimism is sorta a..? “It could happen to anyone” type thing, through the dark humor we create something earnest. As always.

Finally here’s Donut! She’s a coworker alongside our other workshopped oc Delilah “Dell” Coordinates . They’re “fbi agents” cause well they’re based off twin peaks characters. We don’t really care about fbi type junk though so they’ll just be defunct detectives or something funny like that. Donut is chill for the most part, bringing the sorta straight man edge to a case but with a kind demeanor. She waves off supernatural but in no way undermines believers. But don’t let her lax attitude fool you! She’s extremely skilled. She doesn’t linger but she also doesn’t rush yknow? She’s maybe a lowkey daydreamer but a realistic one, she enjoys the simpler things…

Oh my god we forgot to say, Persi is a stoat and Donut is a white tailed mongoose. Yus 👍 oh and, Persi + Humanity are sorta “us-based” ocs which means we don’t reeally? Have set pronouns? They’re agender. Yuuup. You can use he or she for them . We defaulted to it for Humanity cause it felt right. And he for Persi cause of the businessman title. But really we don’t care. Thank youu ~!

[blueikeproductions]

So the Pokémon Giga Leak happened and the thing that stuck out to me was leaked planning documents for HZ and various separate animation projects. I don’t want to discuss the leaks that show the future road map to HZ’s ending though, it’s the preproduction stuff that strikes my fancy.

I’ve been very upfront in not liking HZ, as the plot and characters never felt right for the main line anime. They felt more suited for Twilight Wings type stuff, and apparently I wasn’t far off.

One of the earliest phases was a movie, apparently they’ve been trying to push forward with a “movie universe reboot” post Pokémon Coco in an attempt to bring back lapsed adult fans, but nothing has gotten off the ground. There were rumors prior to this leak of a Liko movie, but nothing ever surfaced, so I’m guessing leakers found scraps of the original movie pitch and went wild.

That it was originally intended as a movie makes more sense, as the continual stretching out its main plot beats across the usual three year anime life span doesn’t work. It’s the same problem Digimon Tri had, unnaturally stretching out and waffling on its Meicoomon plot, annoying and confusing fans until they finally decided to kill her off as was originally intended. (Apparently the writers wound up liking Meicoomon and didn’t WANT to kill her off, creating one of the problems.)

As such the Terapagos plot and the general treasure hunt/Castle in the Sky vibe it has fits a movie plot far better. I’m not super sure if the Six Heroes were involved in this phase, but they’d make the script too bloated if so.

The concept then became the basis of the anime instead, but during development it was intended to continue using Ash as the main protagonist, lining up with previous rumors I’d heard from Japanese fans. These rumors stated Ash was to go to Paldea and meet up with two students, some prototype versions of Liko and Roy. It would appear in this version of the story Ash was intended to remain business as usual but late in development he was cut, intending to start fresh instead.

Taking it at face value, as HZ is functionally a continuation of JN’s globe trotting gimmick, I wonder if Ash would’ve taken a break from battling and just become an Adventurer. The original story map didn’t include battling in the Gym challenges, with the school arc we got being the result of executive meddling, but if they kept using Ash, would they have included the Gym challenge anyway… Also Amethio’s early rivalry with Friede makes far more sense if you put Ash in Friede’s place, which makes me think Amethio was conceived with Ash in mind, and is why he doesn’t really vibe well with Liko and Friede: he was never meant to be THEIR rival.

Also a big complaint is the lack of capturing other Pokemon, and how fans keep insisting everyone needs to get six Pokemon, but the show has stayed consistent so far on only keeping two Pokemon each. So does that mean in Ash’s case he would’ve had Pikachu and a spare? With Friede being Ash’s stand in, it stands to reason Ash might’ve had Charizard too, but with ATBAPM seeing Pidgeot return, I wonder if the original intent was Ash using Pidgeot as his secondary.

I mean it makes sense, long time fans have wanted Pidgeot to return, & the old children’s chapter books in America had two original stories that saw Ash keeping Pidgeot and using it, throwing a bone way back then. In an adventure setting, Ash riding on Pidgeot and using it more extensively to help with Explorer and Team Rocket stuff would be a great way to reestablish it. Also with Ash having obtained Mega Evolution, and Mega Evolution returning once more in the anime anyway for ZA synergy, we could’ve gotten Mega Pidgeot ideally. Ash’s removal is still weird, as lining up with other interviews and comments, it sounds like they intend to bring him back anyway. Some writers have apparently said outside the leak they were considering bringing him back for HZ, confusing the matter further. Adding on to this, despite Ash and other familiar characters not being present, the leaks confirm Liko’s thing not only is still happening in the Ash anime, but it actually happens in-universe immediately after JN. (This leads to a minor technicality, as ATBAPM is treated as its own thing, so does that mean Ash’s Latias story happens alongside it or it hasn’t happened yet?) The notes also mention an idea to include Iris at some point, but she’s older… That doesn’t really make sense with the provided time frame, but a couple year time skip is referenced after the kids capture the Six Heroes, so maybe Iris appears after that? It’s not clarified, nor does it help that Brock appears in the document but doesn’t seem to be included in this guest appearance otherwise.

Anyway Ash’s departure is still strange as it’s the result of the staff having waffled for years on continuing to use him, and they decided to finally put their foot down. Ok that’s fine. Then they decide to not definitively call this the end, avoiding finality like language, leaving it wide open for Ash to come back. So… the staff was wanting to move on for years, finally decided to, but plan to bring him back anyway, negating … all of this.

Then why not just keep him? Ash is the mascot alongside Pikachu and heavily ingrained in pop culture like Optimus Prime. It honestly feels like with this continued waffling, they’ve unintentionally set up Liko to be the Rodimus Prime martyr for if and when Ash returns. Whether any force in the universe can stop Ash remains to be seen. Also that makes it worse for Liko, as if Ash does guest star in HZ, it’ll suck all the oxygen out of Liko as fans will be far more invested in what HE’S doing, negating the whole point of getting people invested in a new character. And they know it!

This feeds into pry HZ’s chief problem: apparently the show’s unusual chaotic story structure is the result of the anime staff studying fandom reactions week to week, with the show being driven by that alone instead of the plot or characters.

-rubs temples-

Ok there’s a reason the Ash formula worked, and after using it for 25+ years you’re pretty much married to it. If you have to constantly guide the new show based on fan feedback only that tells me, coupled with Ash in the back door, that they had zero faith in this new idea, and the continued waffling has led to the show’s subpar production and performance. Even Game Freak staff in leaked notes have expressed dissatisfaction with the new direction, admitting it’s bad and confusing, with the main plot being sluggish. They also pointed out how little stuff like the Titans in SV are being used, if at all. Pokémon is a toyetic anime like it or not, you kinda have to properly advertise and use new Pokemon to get kids and veterans into them more. That’s why several of Ash’s and Team Rocket’s Pokemon are fondly remembered, vs here where the show outright admits in universe they completely forgot about Roy’s Kilowattrel.

This bizarre behind the scenes drama might be why other animated projects that were supposed to be out by now seem to be paused or outright cancelled until either another leak or official announcements say otherwise.

This loops back to the movie problem, where the only Parallel Ash movie that did well was I Choose You, while Coco and Power of Us shunted Ash to a supporting role and the new cast and stories didn’t wow audiences. Neither of these movies are fondly spoken of, or even remembered, with even in post COVID, Coco seems to have been forgotten entirely.

The aforementioned push to capture lapsed ADULT fans lined up with some chatter I’ve heard previously where TPC seems only interested in targeting us, and not kids. Which is utterly ridiculous because kids are still super into Pokemon 20+ years later. I can’t walk by families in stores without seeing some kids wearing Pokemon clothing or buying merch. I over heard one boy sad he couldn’t find any Pokemon Journeys books he was looking for, while a girl was looking for Pokemon books at the library, and the library just threw out its well read Ash themed books.

Like are Japanese kids not invested as much anymore? Is that why they’re targeting adults? I guarantee that’s not gonna work in the long run going by Digimon and Transformers’ own current struggles to remain relevant with children and its own fickle audiences.

That’s where the other adult oriented pitches come in. After HZ was shunted into being an anime, they tried again with a pitch about cyber bulling and suicide, something that sounds more like a Digimon plot for their Adventure sequel films. The concept art sees a girl riding Pidgeot in what looks like a virtual space in an upside down world being chased by Aerodactyl pouring out of a cyber portal. Like replace the characters with Sora, Birdramon and Pteranomon, you have something that works. For DIGIMON.

They tried again with a more grounded plot about a teenage boy investigating a mystery related to (a shockingly violent) Mew, with a sequel tease involving an ominous Mewtwo observing events. This was fleshed out more and seems otherwise completed script wise, but it’s stuck in development hell. Having read it, it reads like the live action Detective Pikachu somewhat, and others who’ve read it have said the same. It also sounds kind of … boring. I don’t know if Ryan Reynolds would help here but it’d be a start.

It seems both films were only intending to use Kanto Pokémon, not helping complaints of Kanto pandering, but despite this, a new Pokémon seems to have been toyed with, as an unidentified dog like Pokemon crops up in the cyber world concept art.

The only other noteworthy thing is a 12 episode “all ages” kids anime intended for Netflix, but other than the Twilight Wings studio attached to it, there’s no character or plot details. It seems to be in an unknown status, which doesn’t bode well.

Until something official comes out about any of these projects, I’m leaning towards them all being cancelled due to creative differences.

So what’s my take away.

Removing Ash was the worst decision they made and I think. like with Hasbro and Good Boi Megatron, they’re slowly realizing they done goofed. Liko, Roy and Dot SHOULD have worked and on paper their story is interesting, but the writers just keep messing up. Maybe just get new writers/director, crack a whip, I don’t really know what to suggest here. The new kids haven’t been treated well at all in both ends and that really sucks.

Talk of letting him return and keeping the anime within the same universe seems to be a fail safe to do so if they need to. Continued fan demand/preference for Ash dominates especially in the US, where children’s books and activity books being published now in 2024, as of typing, are STILL Ash, going back and adapting later Journeys material. Some reports, anecdotal & recent pre Giga Leak, suggest the US heavily influences what Pokémon does, and with America side stepping Liko in merch right now in favor of Ash might guarantee a return. Emphasis on MIGHT, but TPC is fully aware of the demand, and increasing backlash at Liko’s character development, as of the school arc, isn’t endearing her to anyone still.

I think the situation should be as follows, and some past stuff implies it, that despite being in the same universe, HZ shouldn’t use Ash or any of his friends.

At all.

That will further undermine the struggling HZ cast, and it’s far healthier to just let the Rising Volts ride off into the sunset; and going by what I’ve read and heard for their story map, eugh, let LDR have that dignity of riding off.

My current theory, based on the leaks and what we’ve seen before that, is if Ash returns full time, it’ll probably be Gen 10. That’s pry the best way to start clean with him again, and going by internal complaints, I wouldn’t be surprised if the anime stops the Journeys formula and returns full stop to the loose game adaption with any upcoming new gimmicks and Gym matches intact.

All attempts to start over fresh seem to be imploding, so swallow your pride, and just accept the fans and kids want Ash and all that entails back. You tried a new direction but couldn’t commit to it well and now the dirty laundry is out for everyone to see thanks to a phishing scam. If you don’t want to go back to Ash, I’d personally recommend getting the PokeToons team to pick a kid from their shorts like the Nidoran girl, and make a new main line anime based on that. People seem on board with PokeToons, so that’s a start.

But until something is officially announced, I’m leaning towards the next anime being a compromise: Ash, Dot & a new kid that’s technically the new lead but not really.

Because if TPC is aiming at us only now, then veterans have spoken and majority would rather have the immortal 10 year old back over what we’re currently getting. For now let’s let LDR ride off when their time comes peacefully, be it next year or the year after, and go from there.

Despite it all, there’s really no easy answer to this, all we can hope for in the context of the anime, is they figure out something that works, either being the familiar Ash or a new kid with a smoother introduction. We don’t know until they try something.

[manic-maniac-man]

Maison Martin Margiela PITTI IMAGINE UOMO REPORT & INTERVIEW

Aw06 (pt.2)

"The invitation was a demitasse cup that featured handwritten details about the show."

"The reception party held at Theatro Puccini on the night of January 12th. The view from a camera positioned at the entrance was projected on screens inside the venue. In a piece of clever trickery, models for the show appeared on screens walking in the front door but suddenly strode out onto the main stage. After their appearances, each of them slipped away into the crowd with the presentation ending in just a few moments. The models then proceeded to party along with the assembled throng. All were clad in clothes from assorted past collections, some of which were especially painted white for this event."

What is the concept behind your project at PITTI?

We were kindly invited by Pitti Imagine to attend their last fair in June 2005. On that occasion we spent most of our time visiting all of the pavil- ions and stands of the participants and were greatly inspired by the ener- gy and bustle of the place. Of course the projects of the invited and fea- tured designers were great yet we were more drawn by the core energy and purpose of Pitti itself. Pitti is a men's wear fair first and foremostly yet it is also a meeting of minds, cultures and creativity where people of our industry have the time to work, socialise, catch up on news, ideas and the work of others. This was our primary stimulus in our project and we very quickly decided that we would like our project to be within this maelstrom of creativity and commerce.

As the colour white is a key element of the expression of the Maison Martin Margiela and commerce, stands, booths, cafés and restaurants are key to the life of Pitti we decided to have these aspects confront each other and try to create a "Fair within a Fair", a game of sorts. For this reason we decided to bring our 'White' to as many aspects of the life of Pitti imagine Uomo 69 as possible in the stands and areas we have created as well as propose souvenirs of this Pitti and provide light moments of distraction, relaxation and fun for its visitors.

-What are your impressions of PITTI?

We have always been greatly impressed by the strength that Pitti Imagine and Pitti Uomo represent for our industry and even more impressed by all of the projects that have been created and staged by our predecessors ans invited designers at Pitti Uomo. The organizers of Pitti Imagine have had a lot of patience with us down through the years as this was certainly not the first time that they have invited us to partici pate. On the other occasions we had decline as we were too small a team to cope with putting on the type of project we would have liked to We are more than happy that Pitti Imagine persisted with their invitation and that we can now bring a part of who we are to Fiorence.

-Why are all of the Maison Martin Margiela interiors and con- tents painted white?

We have always used white as an expression of our House, team and work. White represents a force through fragility for us. It is never just white and more-whites all the shades possible! We usually use mat white so that the passage of time is evident.

-Many Critics have commented on your work as being on the borderline between fashion and art. is that how you regard it as well?

We view it as firmly footed on the fashion side of the fence yet we are happy to learn of how our work touches others. It is not that we view our work in one way that any other interpretation is not valid. Such an interpretation, in this case that our work is closer to that of an artist, though welcome, remains entirely subjective

-Your Artisanal collections remake vintage clothes. Why?

We have always enjoyed the challenge of reworking existing clothes, fabrics and objects to create new garments and accessories. This challenge is linked to finding a new role and force for these materials, revisiting their structure and use. For us it is not that garments are vintage in the since that this word has now become we use materials and garments from many sources and periods - many of them very ordinary.

-What effect did Martin Margiela's time as designer at Hermès have on his work for the Maison Martin Margiela lines?

When he first got the offer, Martin Margiela felt that it was a great honour. Many interpret luxury as a level of quality, but we perceive luxury as quality with functionality that it is important for something to be able to have a long term of use. The experience at Hermès further strengthened Martin's belief in this principle.

-How do you view the trends? Do they have any effect on Maison Martin Margiela?

We inhabit the realm of individuality, so we tend not to concern ourselves with trends. We do, however, understand that as long as one has an interest in clothes, they cannot be ignored. As people who make clothes, we may absorb them subconsciously.

-Your men's and women's wear collections are very different. Why is that? And why no men's fashion shows?

The original title we gave to 10, our men's wear was "A wardrobe for men. In this our approach is much more linked to purely a sensibility of dressing than a creative expression in the designer' sense of the term. Our focus is much more on the details of construction and fabrics of individual garments than on outfits and styling. In our view most men search a less radical, more introverted, expression through their clothes than the women who enjoy wearing our clothes. For 1 (our collection for women) the approach is much more one of an ongoing study on the form of a gar ment as it is worn on the body as well as the overall silhouette. The challenge is to invent and bring new views on the shape of garments to our customers. As for the lack of shows for 10 this is born from our wish to present the clothes being wom in a more day to day environment than that of a fashion show for this reason we tend more to present the wardrobe via a photo reportage with an explanation of the detailing of the main gar ments of 10 for any particular season in a more one-on-one setting.

-How has the sale of the majority of your company to Diesel changed your life?

It is Renzo Rosso, President of Diesel group that has entered our company as a majority shareholder. In a certain way this means that Diesel is a 'sister company' rather than being directly part of our structure. The changes we are experiencing are both sought and very evaluative, natural and are very reassuring in that we now have access to an expertise and approach to the more structural aspects of our work as a company that eluded us prior to this change in our structure.

-Is there anyone you'd like to wear your clothes? Do you wear your Maison Martin Margiela clothes?

Among people like us who love clothes, there are many who place importance on a creativity and sensitivity. There are many people like that among the Japanese. Of course, we all wear Maison Martin Margiela.

-In the past you have collaborated with Rei Kawakubo, what Impression did you have of her?

Whether you are Japanese or Belgian, Madame Kawakubo is a very great woman. Despite the fact that she has already become a legend, she continues in her pursuit if creation. That is a wonderful thing. To us. she is both 'spiritual mother' and 'creative sister.

-Martin Margiela refuses to be photographed. This makes you unique in a business that thrives on celebrity and cult of per- sonality. Why did you decide on this policy?

In any case we do not adopt this way of behaving just to be unique but more so that we may find our way to function and to proceed that best represents our priorities for our work and the means of stimulation for us in our work that we choose to focus on. If we were not to find our way of functioning to continue over the long term was not to be possible.

-The Maison Maartin Margiela speaks as a collective, why have you chosen to do this?

In order that we best reflect the reality of our work together. Even though the final result of our work may be accredited to the creative vision of a designer and their team (as is the case for all other fashion design com- panies) we preferred that the contribution of all team members to this final result be expressed in a more transparent manner. It must also be said that our wish to communicate collectively clearly evokes the position that we have taken with the label on our clothes since our beginning in 1989, namely, that it be blank or with numbers and not the name of one individual printed on it.

-Some people have speculated that there is no such person as Martin Margiela...

We have been hearing this for a long time now. It is sad that people do not accept the way that a person wants to be, and leave him alone. The reason that Martin Margiela is not exposed to the media is absolutely not an attempt to create some sense of mystery. If you want to know about us, look at the clothes we make that is everything - there is no need for a designer to be visible. For the record, fear not; the designer Martin Margiela does exist in the flesh.

[chaapanya]

Talking Circles: A Human!Cole Study

I've been thinking lately about the way the fandom at large tends to view Cole-- often this infantile version of a young man that, due in part to being neurodivergent coded, is flattened and shaped to fit in these little boxes labeled "innocent", "sweet", "child-like", and "pure", and I cannot for the life of me disagree more.

As a neurodivergent person myself now entering my 30s, I have a more stable standing point to look back at the years of my life spent growing and realize that my autism effected me in ways I thought at the time it wasn't, yet very few of these correlate to how other people perceive autism to work. Especially when it comes to sex and love.

First of all, let me be clear when I say I'm not discrediting anyone else's headcanons. There are multiple versions of Cole, even within both diverging paths, and I'm not here to tell anyone what is "right" or "wrong". What I AM trying to convey is perhaps the changing of viewed angle people often take when trying to understand Cole that may add more depth and perspective to his character.

Though I didn't view Cole as autistic coded at first (I'm not typically one to view anyone with additional tags outside of "human/person" and pronouns), it's a perspective I can respect. That said, Cole is no child. He is a fully grown man unsure how to react in the world he's been placed in (this is a canon description taken straight from Dragon Age: Asunder btw) and due to such, I have taken to comparing him more close to how a robot would learn human emotion rather than how a child would.

He has a sharp mind and as he grows, he even develops his own unique sense of humor. He is absolutely not innocent, sex and love are not foreign concepts to him on a surface level. Why, then, is it so difficult for the fandom to believe that he could grow to learn both of these things on a deeper level?

Neurodivergency, especially autism, is constantly compressed into this immature, child-like outlook even by those within it's own community, and this is something commonly projected onto characters. Cole is no exception despite never being portrayed in any of the media he stars in as being a "sweet baby cinnamon roll that can do no wrong". He can be cruel in his kindness, he can be razor sharp, he can wield himself as a weapon outside of the blade he carries-- it's not so much of a stretch to consider he is capable of true love and lust.

Something common in autistic spectrum individuals is their hyper fixation on sex when first experiencing it. This isn't always the case, but it does happen and is often disregarded because "well of course that's normal in kids with hormones at that time, it has nothing to do with autism." or some other excuse to separate sex from neurodivergency as far as possible for the comfortability of neurotypicals.

I very much believe this would occur in Cole as well. We know Cole is capable of very deep feelings, even if he knows not how to label them with words, and we know from both Asunder and Inquisition that he is capable of having these feelings for other people. Love is not so far outside his emotional capacity scope. He had no interest in sex at that time because he had no one that he loved-- many people on the spectrum also tend to be demisexual, which brings me to my next point.

Asexuality (the common sexuality applied to Cole and other autistic coded characters) is a very broad spectrum, an umbrella term even. Asexuality should absolutely not be flattened into just "ew sex is gross and makes me uncomfortable". Does that exist? Yes, but that is only one type. Demisexuality is huge and often ignored, yet not as much as Greysexuality-- people that feel sexual attraction yet at a much less consistency with varying levels of intensity.

I firmly believe Cole is demisexual if not entirely greysexual. He held no attraction to women, yet was fully capable of acknowledging when someone was pretty or lovely. It seems very, very likely that should he fall in love with one specific person, *that* is when he would experience his first urges of desire-- because there is then connection. His first experience would open doors and sensations to him that he never would have dreamed of. It's not very difficult to merge from there into his hyper fixation on it with the very first ever love of his life.

And who else would Cole find attachment to than his Inquisitor-- someone who constantly looked out for him, constantly asked if he was doing alright, went out of their way to help him, and clearly cared very deeply not just for his life but also his happiness (providing your Inquisitor was kind to him as mine was).

People would argue "But what about Varric and Solas?" and my answer to that would be Cole is already well aware that Varric is in love with another woman and Solas is adamant about not allowing himself the luxury of love (for himself, baggage of his love for the other party). This COULD be applied as well to an Inquisitor that pursued another of the inner circle as well, leading to him and Maryden. Again, Cole is not a child and is hyper aware of other's sensitivities. He would not pursue someone that did not have an open door for him in their heart.

This is also why I dislike Cole x Maryden so much, they simply have no chemistry and were dropped in the story almost as if a knee-jerk after thought. Even Sera and Dagna had more relevance. The entirety of Trespasser, Cole was dappling concern and care over his Inquisitor even with his lover standing right next to him-- Cole and the Inquisitor have a LOT of chemistry and connection, even if its one sided and unrequited.

Regardless, there is probably more I could say on this, but this is all to say that I believe the constant infantilization and flat asexuality of Cole despite his constant growth through Asunder and Inquisition is a loud injustice. He should be given more autonomy to be the grown man that he is and experience all the aspects, both tidy and messy, that life has to offer (provided he was made more human. Spirit Cole is a whole different discussion). It is a deep shame to see very Spirit!Cole coded traits repeatedly pushed onto a Human!Cole that very obviously desires to grow like one.

To quote Varric, he made himself human, and humans change. They get hurt and they heal. We need to let him.

[myobsessionsspace]

Who is Kim Young Jin?

The man behind the looks, bringing BTS' vision to life, from photo-folios, to music videos to high fashion magazine photoshoots.

Kim YoungJin and his team have worked with the members as a group and as individuals on their concerts and everything in between.

“Seoul-based stylist Youngjin Kim has been obsessed with fashion since he was a child, saving up his pocket money to buy magazines. “It was so special to me,” he remembers. After majoring in photography at college but leaning into the looks just as heavily, somebody suggested he give styling a go and well, the rest is history. These days, he’s working with BTS, but can also be found dressing the likes of NCT 127, Super M and Daniel Kang for cover features, campaigns and album artwork.”

ID Magazine - VICE Interview (March 2022)

👤What was your entry point to styling?

“I worked as an assistant to [Korean actor] Jin Oh Jeon’s stylist for about five years and came to understand the overall system of the Korean fashion scene. Looking back, that time was so precious; time that brought me to this moment, I guess.”

The man himself, Stylist @kimvinchey on IG

Kim YoungJin styled BTS and Bang SiHyuk for their TIME Magazine 2022 photos.

Kim YoungJin has been head stylist for MVs such as 'My Universe', styling Jimin for 'Vibe', j-hope for 'On The Street' to name but a few MVs

👤Tell us about the type of work you do.

“Styling for albums and projects such as “My Universe” by BTS and Coldplay is receiving tremendous attention on a global scale. Whenever I style an idol group, I think of a designer creating a collection. I mix and match clothes from different Japanese brands such as Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto, and I express my own aesthetic with styling to fit each concept. I also style various editorials for fashion magazines. I consider myself a fashion stylist, and when I first took on the role of an idol stylist, I was proud of demonstrating what kind of visuals could be created if a fashion stylist takes on an idol.”

Kim Youngjin has worked with the members on the brand ambassadorship endeavours, such as styling for mag shoots like the Valentino photoshoot with SUGA

👤Of course, a stylist doesn’t just ‘style’. You’re often a bridge between celebrities and brands — a look you introduce to an idol could quickly become a trend.

“Exactly. In many cases, celebrities or models with good momentum are recommended to brands or magazines, and if the celebrity is an ambassador of a fashion house, they communicate more closely with the fashion brand.”

👤What do you think is the most important thing in styling?

“I try to combine the latest fashion trends with classic items. For instance, I like pairing Levi's denim and casual sneakers with a Saint Laurent blazer. As details are crucial for men's clothes, the overall outfit is often impacted by details such as perfect length and sleeves.”

In Chapter 2 of BTS' journey, Kim YounJin has been part of many of the members solo projects that were even released post enlistment for some, such as j-hope LV campaign and styling for Esquire Magazine

👤Do you have a favourite brand or designer?

“I’ve always loved Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, which has had a huge impact on me as a stylist. I have such respect for a person who has accomplished what they’ve wanted to do for a long time — I think Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons are both great in that regard too.”

“I’m 32, so I was in elementary and middle school in the 1990s, which was when I started getting into fashion. Since I was really young, like 10 years old, I used to go downtown to buy clothes by myself. In elementary school, I wore baggy sweatshirts and jeans like this Balenciaga ensemble. I liked hip-hop and K-pop even back then and would dress up like this and dance at school festivals. Retro fashion is back in style, so it doesn’t at all look out of place or time to dress like this again.”

Mr Porter - The Journal Interview (Oct 2020)

💜

Special Mention:

**Though Taehyung has worked with Kim YoungJin with group projects the Head Stylist for Taehyung (V) during Chapter 2, in particular his Layover Era has been @HIJIBIN, Taehyung's personal stylist.

Info on Kim YoungJin:

https://www.mrporter.com/en-sg/journal/fashion/youngjin-kim-contemporary-fashion-classic-style-k-pop-1445414