#to call it a necessary evil doesnt feel like enough. to say its for the greater good doesnt feel like enough. maybe it isnt.

[captainsmileyfacej]

Being mad and scared won't help. Donate. Advocate. But don't obsess. Don't do that to yourself. It won't help them. Horrible things happen in the world. But you still have to live your life. You have to live, and do good, and bring some light into the world. It won't help them any more than the obsession would, but you need balance. They need balance. They need to be able to think there's something out there worth fighting for. I need to be able to think there's something out there with living for. Don't let everything be hatred and misery. Donate. Advocate. And live.

[kiruyeen]

rambling abt my danny johnson hcs bc I dont have anything better to do

alright so the fog most definitely changed everyone in it, but while most of them are for worse, Danny for better, actually. not for the "hehe I can mutilate people without worrying abt consequences" part. by all means I believe danny would get bored. of the same methods of killing, sacrifing, stalking for short periods, the same realms, same victims, etc. Danny, as patient as he can be while stalking, is a thrill seeking man, and only human, whether he likes it or not.

but this is a key part of him actually getting to explore who 'danny johnson' is. he spent his entire life putting on masks, physical or metaphorical, that he has no idea who 'danny' is otherwise, and this would give him a chance to explore, since, well, being painfully average isnt any advantage to him here and he has nothing better to do since he cant focus his attention on stalking and studying other people. when theres no one left to study, one is forced to study themselves.

he could actually grow out his hair, give himself stick and poke tats (maybe with the help of the legion, who knows), grow a beard to see if he likes it (I dont think he would), etc.

going from this, if he forms genuine bonds with anyone (especially any survivors) bc yk what else is left to do, he could actually, just maybe, open up about his past and realize oh fuck, that shit wasnt healthy or normal at all. I dont think itd fix him, but itd give him a better understanding of himself. I dont think he would ever upon up about this if it wasnt for the fog.

similarly I dont think he'd form any romantic bonds with anyone if it wasnt the fog as well, I fully believe danny used to cut himself off (more accurately, cut THEM up) as soon as he felt his feelings for anyone would get in the way of his mission. I dont think he even recognizes romantic love anymore. the difference in the fog is, well, you cant get rid of your problems by murdering them here bc they just come back like a boomerang.

he semi-canonly has NPD (as in the devs called him a bit narcissistic once and I stuck to it like a starving leech) and I most definitely believe he has the symptoms, as a lack of a sense of self is common with NPD anyway. I never wanna think too much abt this since I have a deeply set fear of misrepresenting already stigmatized disorders esp due to not having NPD myself but I will say, 1, he definitely has an internal hierarchy but the way he feels abt those above and below him are different than you'd assume, and 2, he would have been a murderer regardless of his npd and the npd has nothing to do with him becoming a murderer, it does influence it naturally yes bc its a PERSONALITY disorder but its not what makes him evil yk. its the ritualized abuse he went through all his life with the explicit intent to make him the way he is.

other, small stuff

so since the entity can and does change a few things with the killers, I love to think Danny has tapetum lucidum in his eyes, like a cat, to see better in the dark, esp beneath the mask's eyes.

the way his costume's... strap.. tentacle... things work is similar to a cat's tail as well. swishing furiously when upset, resting naturally when calm, curling slowly when curious etc. it makes it a little bit easier to guess how hes feeling with the emotionless mask on, for the theoretical audience at least.

he's actually not a fan of physical contact, unless it is to cause discomfort to or fluster someone. he's simply not used to it, but he will tolerate it when necessary. he's likely just touch starved but doesnt recognize the sensation, though.

he would not care enough to label his orientational identity but it'd definitely be pan and somewhere on the a-spectrum.

returning to the only getting to know himself after the fog bit, he'd probably realize hes at least a little bit gender queer. (I also love trans man danny headcanons I just cant seem to make it fit with my other hcs)

alr thats abt it I believe. feel free to share ur ideas as well I love reading abt different interpertations for a character esp when it is the silly sopping wet cat that is danny

[hatgame]

Hat kid please hat kid

Okkk sooooo

species hc: she and bow are both sentient time pieces of sorts, rewinding time when damaged enough to when they were fine and thus being kind of immortal. the only people aware of the rewinds are the undead

more under the cut

i really like shane frosts backstory for her: her parents forced her to grow up earlier than necessary and she made the decision to run away, which, leaving her to fend for herself, forced her to grow up as well. its a sad story, but hat kids not necessarily a sad kid.

i used to commonly portray her as sleepy and calm, her head in the clouds, and while i still think of her that way a lot, shes become much more multifaceted to me nowadays.. i think this part of her is mainly evoked to me thru her being showed in bed both at the very beginning and end of the game, as well as (mainly blue) time rifts feeling like dream worlds.. as well as the game always feeling incredibly dream like to me.

shes also definitely impulsive and mischevious, often growing childishly malicious. refuses to view adults as an authority and so makes fun of or otherwise doesnt take seriously any who try to assert their dominance. if another kid tries to do that it might work though

also, while understandably not a skill most kids have, shes pretty good at not taking things to heart or otherwise distancing herself from situations or people. this is something she developed early when she ran away from her parents. that doesnt mean her fallout with mu didnt hurt her though..

shes a lonely kid craving recognition and attention despite sometimes willingly pushing people away. in the very beginning of the game, although very quietly, her alarm clock voices her todo list for the day, with one of the points being something along the lines of "draw faces on rocks and pretend theyre people" which, while obviously meant to be humorous, still hints at (or outright states) hat kids loneliness and lack of desire for solitude.

that said i do not think that's why she did the bff contract lol i think she did that out of pettiness and because she thought thatd be really funny. i dont think she wanted to genuinely befriend snatcher from seeing some hidden heart of gold in it. i think it was a bit

you could say shes canonically scared of them because shes portrayed as such in one of the final journey storybook pages

i agree but actually disagree. i personally believe this is her after their first encounter, before properly understanding what his deal is, not even necessarily tragic backstory wise.. in her diary entries she expresses infinite confusion and disbelief at being forced to do evil community service. which doesnt even seem to directly benefit the scary person thing. its making her deliver mail to its among us babies. also the justification for vanessas manor is so funny hes like steal something from there. and then he doesnt even ask to keep whatever hat kid takes. also she calls snatcher weird on multiple occasions like it just completely saturates her view of him. whatever initial intimidation she had just melts away because hes just some weird person thing. not even really malicious just abnormal

which is why its very hard for me to believe shes hurt by death wish. frustrated and gamer raging? sure lol. but i feel like its like Ohhhhh so this is just genuinely what dead people hanging out equivalent is like? trying to kill each other? (quality time w snatcher) ummmmm ok.. kind of weird though lol. but fun. she ❤️ outfit

ok now regarding the tsundere thing. i do not think she is sincere there. at all. i think shes making fun of him. with the only genuine implication being that the way he is behaving is not sincere. hes not necessarily soft just different. also shes like i do not know what this thing thinks of me. were friends i think. i dont know. (i think they become actual friends later on :) )

with empress i think shes actually intimidated by her, regards her pretty highly and gets actually scared and embarrassed when trying to get what is very clearly her stuff back. but not scared enough to not return to the metro or mess around eating food on the clock. i think they eventually make up

[familyagrestefanblog]

Theory for “Gabriel Agreste”

Saying that I'm EXCITED for this episode is an understatement, I'm THRILLED! So let me give you my speculation for what could happen in it and how it’ll affect the future, because pieces are literally just falling into place in my brain and I just have to write this down.

The episode is called" Gabriel agreste" because in this episode Gabriel will create a (long time) Sentimonster for himself that'll take his place and cover for him in his civilian life while he himself gets completely swallowed by his Hawkmoth/ShadowMoth identity (which is a direct paralell to the fate Marinette just escaped by telling Alya her secret). He doesn't want to "waste" anymore unnecessary time by having to NOT be Hawkmoth, which then completely separates him from Adrien who very much was one of the last (if not THE LAST at this point) few strings that kept him grounded in his humanity.

The episode takes place right before the middle of the season and since it's season 4 we are talking about here its fair to assume that both Adrien and Gabriel are back at (at least) suspecting each other to be Chat Noir and Hawkmoth again at some point. Adrien is going to be even more rebellious after the status quo break and set up of "Lies" so him maybe (or maybe even confirmed already to Gabriel) to be Chat Noir could definitely be the factor that sets Gabriel over the edge, rips these two apart for good (as I foresaw in my analysis of "Jackady") and brings Gabriel to distance himself altogether while covering his own identity from his son by creating a Sentimonster (bc Adriens secret being discovered by his evil family is already forshadowed to hell and back, just like him ending up getting Homeschooled again this season, mark my words)

---

"Queen Banana" is supposed to take place right before "Gabriel Agreste" and we have a leak where it's seen that Adrien is now kinda taking on Nathalies role since she is (supposedly) still bed ridden.

Seriously, just humour me here and stay with me. This would mean that Adrien would get to see and interact with his father much more often and Gabriel wouldn't be able to ditch everything and turn into Hawkmoth as easily as he was able to with Nathalie.

A cover up Sentimonster was actually already kinda forshadowed in "Party Crasher"

by introducing HoloGabe with the intention of providing Gabriel with alibis and to attend meetings etc for him in the future so Gabriel can invest more time into being Hawkmoth. But a Hologramm is not suitable for every occasion, which is where the Sentimonster comes into play.

At first Adrien wouldn't notice much off about his father and the few things he notices Adrien actually doesnt mind. If SentiGabe is really supposed to replace Gabriel as... Well, Gabriel, that also means as a FATHER and my money is on SentiGabe being created to be a better father than the original. SentiGabe does everything Adrien wanted his father to do in s1-s3: Join Adrien at dinner time, spend more time with him, is in general in better of a mood and not such an unpleasant dick and so on and so on.

Easy to say, Adrien basically welcomes the good change he always wanted in his "Father" with open arms and chooses to ignore things that seem suspicious and the always remaining gut feeling of something just being... off. This will collide with the unveiling of more of the family (+ Emilie) mystery which will for Adrien all continue to point at Gabriel as Hawkmoth because of one event that is likely to happen in episode 4.

I'm currently writing on yet another post about this topic in particular, so I will link it HERE for elaboration once I post it, but in short, I think Rena Rouge and the Grimoire secrets Marinette shears with Alya could be the catalyst of Adrien suspecting his father to be Hawkmoth again.

Adriens memories of the time he went through the Grimoire himself in "Volpina" would be triggered again after seing the Grimoire page Rena (honestly, quite recklessly) brings along into battle and from then on things will slowly pile up until Gabriel deflects from himself with SentiGabe in "Gabriel Agreste" (just like he did in “The Collector”)

People WAY to easily forget how ready and serious Adrien was in "The Collector" when he actually concidered his father to be Hawkmoth.

Keep in mind that Ladybug was only able to tell Chat Noir the weakest reasons of her suspicion against Gabriel (while the Grimoire being Guardian property was NEVER found out by Adrien... til NOW) that being Gabriels mysterious personality and the butterfly logo of his brand.

These arguments are weak because they are ONLY actually suspicious in the specific context of Gabriel being Hawkmoth. Once you have proof against that they hardly hold any ground anymore, hence why both Adrien AND Marinette so easily brushed off these points after seeing Gabriel akumatized. I mean, excuse a designer for choosing a BUTTERFLY as his logo when his last name is literally the name of a butterfly type. The fuck kind of accusation is that??

So I hope you understand that when I say that, yes, these reasons DID trigger further memories/realizations for Adrien in that moment

It simply was only the tip of the iceberg.

The fact that Adrien not only gave Ladybug the fucking benefit of a doubt and heared her out about accusing his FATHER of being HAWKMOTH and took it THAT seriously and wanted to find out if his father truly IS Hawkmoth means that Adrien very much sees his father as capable of being Paris villain Nr 1. This... understanding and acceptance of Gabriels nature already had to be in Adrien much prior to "the collector" to set it off like this. And while normally Adrien chooses to turn a blind eye towards his fathers bad qualities in favor of seeing Gabriels redeeming (and even the rare somewhat GOOD) qualities, Adrien only does so because he thinks Gabriel hasn't crossed the line yet that makes his father undeserving of these loving conciderations. But Gabriel being Hawkmoth IS CROSSING that line for Adrien and he immediately sets aside his remaining/choosen love for his heavily flawed father and willingly sees Gabriel for what he is.

Adrien already did it once with only a few somewhat solid reasons and the Grimoire being kept secret from him altogether,

So he will do it again, just this time the proofs and developments are supposed to stay for good.

---

This development would not only be forshadowed by "the collector"

But also by the episode "Ladybug". There Mayura used a Sentimonster version of Ladybug against Chat Noir, using their love against him. What she didn't know though was that Ladybug actually isn't in love with her partner (yet) which ended up with Chat Noir being put in the situation of having to decide which Ladybug he believes to be real.

Does he believe and hold onto Sentibug who returns the love he so desperately seeks in life or does he let go of his hopeful wish and accept the heartbreaking reality of once again not receiving his love in return from yet another person he holds so dear?

In "Ladybug" Adrien couldn't make that crushing decision yet (and don't clown in the replies about this, not only was the situation vastly different it's also a cruel thing to ask of Adrien) but as we are used from Miraculous by now, that episode was only the set up for future events.

What Adrien couldn't let himself believe about Ladybug and Sentibug he will have to FORCE himself to accept about his Father and Hawkmoth. Same set-up of the Sentimonster symbolising Adriens desperate and hopeful WISH what his loved one were vs the crushing, heart wrenching reality of what his loved ones actually ARE. Just that letting go of his wish for Ladybugs love didnt seem "necessary enough" for the mission to succeed so he just couldn't MAKE himself give her up whereas accepting and seeing that his father is Hawkmoth is going to be one of the most crucial sacrifices of the show, changing the game forever. So as horrible, cruel and soul shattering as this is, putting an end to his fathers villainous reign for the sake of the greater good is a reason worthy enough to force himself through his pain.Which brings us once again back to “The collector” (which seriously forshadows almost everything I love that episode), because there is ONE major aspect that episodes sets up like crazy

And that is:

And thats where we are heading now.

This entire time Adrien wanted his Father to behave more fatherly, spend more time with him and improve his explosive behavior but he always got disappointed over and over again. So how heartbreaking would it be if over the course of the second half of the season THIS would be the very reason why Adrien gets behind Gabriels secret? Because SentiGabe behaved too fatherly for Adrien to truly buy it in his heart and when forced to decide what he actually believes his father to be - like the fatherly Sentimonster or the villainous Hawkmoth - Adrien has to and WILL recognize and accept his fathers true nature and turn against him, as it has been set up for a LONG time now.

This season shit’s about to go DOWN!

[losingface-mp3]

analysis of eight by sleeping at last and how it relates to aliveburs character

sorry its not super good, i hadnt done this is a while and this is a few months old, just figures i should post it here

I remember the minute It was like a switch was flipped -wilbur snapping at tommy when he lead schlatt to pogtopia, seemed out of nowhere at the time I was just a kid who grew up strong enough To pick this armor up -he had the charisma and the people to start a nation with violence, but was against it, he didnt want to stoop to dream's level And suddenly it fit -when he came into power God, that was so long ago, long ago, long ago I was little, I was weak and perfectly naive -looking back and thinking how stupid he mustve been to try and run a nation with words And I grew up too quick -was given power before he learned that violence was a necessary evil Now you won't see all that I have to lose -he cant let go of his power, even in pogtopia, when everyone is supposed to be equal, you can see how he takes up a leader-like role And all I've lost in the fight to protect it -canon lives, allies, friendships, his son, ect. I won't let you in, I swore never again -trusted schlatt to vouch for them, but just used them to get on the server to try and get his own power, what if techno does the same thing? I can't afford, no, I refuse to be rejected -'if i cant have Manberg, no one can have Manberg I want to break these bones 'til they're better -he believes that violence solves problems I want to break them right and feel alive -self destructive tendencies and poor coping mechanisms, even before pogtopia, he didnt have anyone to vent to, sure he would smoke with big Q but even then he couldnt tell him everything because he was convinced that it was a weakness. he would yell and lash out at people ruin relationships, ect. You were wrong, you were wrong, you were wrong My healing needed more than time -likely something philza said to him as a kid, his dad always said things when he didnt understand the full story, he called him a terrorist only to do the same thing 2 months later When I see fragile things, helpless things, broken things I see the familiar -not only is this how he sees himself, but how he sees the people around him, babying fundy, 'you will never be president tommy', 'are you saying i shouldnt do this because of niki?' I was little, I was weak, I was perfect, too Now I'm a broken mirror -reflecting on who he used to be, but also showing how hes become the tyrant he promised to bring to justice, a warped version of all the people he hates I can't afford to let myself be blindsided I'm standing guard, I'm falling apart -he cant let anyone else take advantage of him, so he pushes the people he trusts away so they dont get close enough to betray him And all I want is to trust you Show me how to lay my sword down For long enough to let you through -he wants to trust tommy, he wants to trust the people he loves, but he's scared that without his power he'll be the reason everything and everyone he loves will be taken from him Here I am, pry me open What do you want to know? -talking to tommy and tubbo about how he doesnt care, he will blow up manberg, almost hoping to be asked why, again, there was no one to vent to I'm just a kid who grew up scared enough To hold the door shut -ghostbur talked about how alivebur cried a lot during his presidency and how he wasnt nearly as calm or confident as he let on And bury my innocence -he became callused and more distant from the people he cares about But here's a map, here's a shovel Here's my Achilles' heel -he became dream's vassal, he gave dream exactly what he needed to weaken their shared enemies and himself, and was fully aware that dream knew this too I'm all in, palms out I'm at your mercy now and I'm ready to begin -more about being dreams vassal, how he cant step out now I am strong, I am strong, I am strong enough to let you in -he has cut his emotional ties with l'manberg, it isnt his lmanberg anymore, he's fucked and he will not go down without a fight I'ma shake the ground with all my might And I will pull my whole heart up to the surface For the innocent, for the vulnerable And I'll show up on the front lines with a purpose -he understands that he's become a bad person and he doesnt care but he knows he should so he goes into batle, knowing it would be his last, and hes content with that fact, its for the best And I'll give all I have, I'll give my blood, give my sweat -he will make sure that he, and manberg, are dead An ocean of tears will spill for what is broken I'm shattered porcelain, glued back together again -he knows people will be upset, but theyll be crying for who he used to be, not who he is now Invincible like I've never been -he goes into war with the same air hes had everytime, still acting like he's invincable, like hes at the top of everything, but this time his confidence comes from him knowing that either way, no matter what he does, he will be dead by the end of it all

[goldtips]

okay so ya girl is back at it again. this was originally going to be a reply to someone but well. it got out of hand. i shat all over babylon the anime a while ago and honestly kind of feel bad. there are definitely things that the show does that makes it stand out, esp as a seasonal anime bc you dont expect dir. to spend much time on them!!!! like if we’re comparing this to shows like fanservice anime or any .. mediocre seasonal isekai then ofc this show is better lmfao. the only reason i shit on it is because i expected this anime to be Better ;;;;;;;

mind, i’m not rescinding my statement - as far as i’m concerned, babylon is still a hella frustrating anime because it tries to showcase humans as nihilistic, utilitarian robots that don’t seem to consider the topic of suicide emotionally even though thats supposedly humanity’s defining trait ??? and it deals with the topic of suicide with the care of elephants gallivanting in the fucking savanna :))) the whole show has also been pretty lacklustre in terms of characterization, trying way too hard to be intellectual and feed edgy plot points instead of giving any development - the plot feels reactionary overall and placid rather than exciting. also, the fact that the anime started as a mystery / politico-legal sort of show just makes the transition from that to abstract theory even more forced...........

HOWEVER im promised im going to stop shitting on babylon so lets talk about what the anime does right shall we. more specifically,,, the biblical imagery!!! is great !!!! : D

the show is called babylon. in the old testament (ot), babylon is humanized as a “brutal, callous and proud” woman who “believed that she would reign over the earth forever.” in the new testatment the phrase “she who is at babylon” refers to the new world culture currently at war with the covenant community. in such that rome, as a mistress or whore of the new world, is seeking to seduce and subvert people of god, enticing men to fall “drunk with the wine of her fornication.”

yes,,,, a whore who uses sex to entice innocent men into complying with new culture? who believes herself to be akin to god and also in this context, above the law and morality - im gonna say its not too far a stretch to say that magase was intended to symbolise the whore of babylon.

however, that’s not all - links can be made between the enactment of the suicide laws and the seduction of new culture. who exactly is leading the front? kaika itsuki ( 齋 開化 ), who’s name literally means culture. that aint a coincidence. also, that weirdly-placed reference to roman law / norms during the suicide debate as a way to convince the masses to revert / adopt roman ideology??? also not a coincidence. :))))

in addition, there are two other major biblical events related to babylon:

the book of revelations; and

the tower of babel.

its safe to say that both narratives are being pushed atm.

revelations:

in revelation 17, the spirit of babylon decends upon earth through the whore. she arrives on the back of a beast with 7 heads, “arrayed in purple and scarlet”, “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” “seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” the revelations also prophesizes that she will be defeated by a beast, but it is unclear as to which. there are two beasts in book of revelations. the first beast comes "out of the sea" given authority and power by the dragon/serpent. the second beast comes "out of the earth" directing people to worship the first beast, a "false prophet".

in a similar vein, nomaru had secretly vouched for itsuki’s, providing itsuki with the necessary resources for him to rise up in ranks and become the new mayor. the kanji for ryuichiro nomaru ( 野丸 龍一郎 ) contains both the kanji 野 and 龙 which respectively mean field (i.e. earth) and dragon. they are key references to the beasts of revelation

plus according to nomaru, it was also purely because of magase that the political struggle turned out the way that it did, meaning that she is ultimately the one controlling the entire operation. this mirrors the way she is sitting on the heads of the beast (i.e. the proverbial brains of the campaign that itsuki is heading) 

we also see that when magase uses her powers her eyes and hair glow in a sort of purple/burgundy color to support the imagery as well! 

the book of revelations is the final chapter of nt. it is merely an allegory of struggle between good and evil and doesnt refer to actual people or events. kinda like the show huh. nyyy way, we see that the protag john the apostle writes down what is revealed to him through visions to send it to the 7 churches :))

kinda like how zen keeps on seeing magase through visions and has to document !! his findings and report back to admin? ik this isnt exact but there’s a bit where he has to write down her confession and it really struck me as weird until this bit popped up, maybe that was included to as a way of tying in :))

tower:

according to the myth, there were plans to build a city and tower high enough to reach heaven - god who observes this confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other. why? because “now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”

while not entirely similar, we see recurring themes in babylon that deal with miscommunication and new ideology. the conflict mirrors the myth in that unity of language (or ideology in this case) and its subsequent discordance once differentiated. 

the interrogation scene in ep 4 deals with reconciling differences. magase asks whether those with different values should be accepted, despite them being contrary to norm. all this time, society has been developing an ideal set of norms - the entire country shares the same values and priorities with no deviation. growth has stagnated. in similar fashion to how god commands for many languages to be created, magase sows the seeds of doubt towards long-standing assumptions and moral values in order to create discordance and push japan into a state of new development

in the new campaign, itsuki proposes to apportion shiniki city from japan and instill new values. this confounds the population and sends them into disarray - the tower that they have created is crumbling, in similar likeness to the parable of babel.

SO TL;DR this show has a really cool starting concept i cant lie?????  i for one am not shitting on its supernatural elements (even though the flow was a little inorganic) in hindsight there’s no point in expecting a show called babylon not to delve into supernatural/biblical elements lol :)))

as a right hoe for imagery and philosophy/ethics, this gave me high hopes but the execution of everything else was way below average. why bring in a discussion about suicide that’s poorly researched + try to be edgy abt it and have the citizens to have support it so easily???? ruins the immersion so much

if the anime really wanted to focus on philosophy there should be some mention of ethical theory to justify his point. like, being aimlessly philosophical only ends up being flowery and pseudo-bullshit lmao. one of hte reasons why i was so frustrated with magase and zen’s discussion in the interrogation room. like woman what was your fucking point. its only wasting screentime if you don’t get anything from the conversation. the philosophy was so fucking unnecessary - babylon could have been executed as an in-depth political/psychological anime instead. WITHOUT THE SUICIDE.

this and the lack of good characters really bummed me out. i think that the show was expecting me to connect to some of the characters before they were fucking killed off but i didn’t end up giving a single shit about any of them so. :) the whole show feels more about the shock factor and gore than about interesting plot.

concept 10/10, execution 1/10

[foegold]

people be wanting to know about a lil blue bastard. this ones long as hell so its under the cut jsdhfg

Your character wasn’t an adventurer, what livelihood would they lead?

farmer! he’d just keep living the way he’d been living. it’s the sort of life he imagines he’ll return to one day, after he’s seen and done enough. ‘enough’ is a really arbitrary end goal though

Who in the party would your character trust the most with their life?

who in the party wouldn’t he trust with his life tbh. in the most literal sense he’d trust Eli with it just because he knows Eli can bring him back from dying in some stupid and ill-advised way

What are your character’s core moral beliefs?

frogs are good, try to be nice to people but if they’re mean to you first then at least a few bets are off, the rich should probably be eaten. killing is sometimes necessary but maybe try some other stuff first

What relationship does your character have with their parents and siblings?

he doesn’t have any siblings, and his relationship with his mom and recently present dad is. a little weird, and not all the way comfortable, and not like really bad, but just confusing? it’s confusing. at least he’s had more transparency from his mom recently than just about any other time. it’s a start

Does your character have any biases for or against certain races?

he trusts other tieflings a little quicker than other races but its not really saying much because he’s not smart and if you’re good at talking and sound like you know what you’re talking about he’ll just believe you. he doesn’t have the good sense to second think it without prompting

What is your character’s opinion on nobility? On authority?

so far just about every interaction with nobility has been messy or bad or scary or all three so right now the opinion is “not great”. also thats just too much money. whaddahell would you do with that much money.  he’s generally uneasy with authority figures at best, and flat out paralyzed by them at worst. he’s easy to bully when he doesn’t have anyone backing him up and he knows and hates it

Describe your character’s current appearance: clothes, armor, scars they’ve picked up along the journey, etc.

he cycles through an assortment of sweaters but the one he wears the most is the heart sweater he got in Wunjo that’s been altered a few times in the last few months. he do keep collecting those scars tho, before starting adventuring he had a handful of minor scars just from working around the farm with the animals and the equipment and from romping around in the country. now he’s got all sorts, but the most prominent ones are: the thin scar on the left side of his face, starting just below the eyebrow and curving gently below his eye (the last time Leo would leave a mark on him); the twisted angry scars across his torso from being mauled by a giant undead horse(?); and the fluid, patterned necromancy scars slowly spreading across his back, creeping along inch by inch

What location encountered in the campaign has your character felt the most “at home” in, or just generally liked the most?

besides his own house, Roman’s house has been the nicest! its warm and theres soup and friends there. there was a run down little ranch house somewhere at some point, but he’s not so sure anymore that he didn’t just dream about fixing the place up with his best friend

What deity, if any, does your character worship? What’s their opinion on other people’s worship?

he doesn’t have a god he actively worships, but he’s peripherally aware of the god in the mountains that’s responsible for some of the most brutal storms in the region. he doesn’t care much about religion but hes got the same amount of concern most people would have about evil deities and what their followers do

If your character had time to pick up any artisan’s tools, game set, instrument, etc., what would it be?

probably woodworking! its handy, it’s useful for living out in the country where you have to either make the tools or furniture or fun items to put on a shelf you want, or go out of your way and also spend money to get them. maybe an actual alchemy set and/or poison kit but 1) playing with poison just a fun hobby for him and Xan to get into when they have the time and the plants for it, and 2) man he wouldnt follow the instruction manual anyway so whats the point

What aspect of your character’s future are they most curious about? (If they could know one thing about the future, what would it be?)

will his friends be okay? will he be okay? is there an FAQ for tieflings learning that they’re much closer to fiend lineage than they originally thought? that would be convenient and helpful. is john gonna figure out more about the little men named ‘adam’ that’re allegedly everywhere?  if he could know one thing about the future, he’d like to know if everything will end out okay. if things will turn out as nice as he’d like them to.

What colors are associated with your character?

looks at the camera like im on the office

blue, white, and black are the big ones but im trying to pepper in a few other colors. reds and yellows are a close second

Who in the party would your character prioritize rescuing, in dire circumstances?

everyone sits squarely in the #1 spot on the rescue list

that aside john and roman are extremely high priority, they’re not the sturdiest and if something looked at them too hard they might keel over. baster and xan come next, he knows baster’s a shit brick house but he keeps seeing bad things happen to her and really hes just had Enough of it. eli’s a little lower priority because they can heal themselves if they’re in a tight spot, and then blu considers himself least concern. he knows he can get thrashed around some and still survive, he’d rather take a beating and know he’ll walk out of it than let someone else take it and wind up dead

Is your character the most swayed by ethos, pathos, or logos?

pathos, it’s easy to make him feel for u. legit any of them work though as long as you talk it up good enough he’ll believe you and if there aren’t any glaring conflicts between what you’re selling him and his base morals then it’s relatively easy to get him on board

If your character was granted a single use of Wish, what would they use it for?

idk probably something really simple that he put all of .5 of a second of thought into. hes not smart and doesnt have good foresight so he’d probably ask for a frog or smth unless there was something very much more pressing and present

What is your character’s favorite spell? If they don’t use spells: what is their favorite personal weapon/combat maneuver/skill/etc.?

favorite(?) spell is life transference. it hurts a bit but it keeps his friends safe so it’s worth it. invisibility is up there too, its fun and easy to steal from stores when ur not visible

How does your character feel about keeping secrets from the rest of the party?

he doesn’t like lying and also lies really poorly. he’s usually just honest from the get-go, its easier and feels better. if he has to lie its through omission, bold faced lies really just dont work

What type of creature in the world is your character the most intrigued by?

all sorts....bro the world is full of animals and lots of them like to be pet

When they were a child, what did your character want to be, or think they were going to be, when they grew up?

he thought he’d grow up and be a farmer like his mom, the adventuring thing was extremely unplanned and impromptu. he hoped he could be a kind and brave person though, the way Canna described his dad.

The player character to your left admits that they’re passionately in love with your character. How would your character respond?

random roll says it’s Roman, he’d probably laugh because the only reason that would happen is because the party is fooling around with potions again. Roman’s very married and very in love with his husband and makes sure everyone knows it all the time

If somebody (an NPC, someone from their backstory, etc.) your character trusts/loves asked your character to do something against the party’s best interest, who would they side with?

that doesn’t seem like a very viable circumstance, the only npc thats important enough that he’d listen to for something like that is his mom and she actively encourages him to take care of himself and his friends, and lets him make his own decisions about what he’s doing with his life, so

What unusual talents does your character possess?

idk if its all that unusual of a talent but he got really good at stealing and pickpocketing and he can do a sick flip. also does some black magic sometimes

What does your character’s name represent to them? (Or: why as a player did you choose your character’s name?)

it’s his name, u kno. bluebell is his middle name, but Canna called him bluebell growing up and he latched onto it a lot more than arden, and he thinks its a nice name, and a nice flower, and it sure would be nice if people would stop laughing when he introduces himself as “Blu”,

(blu was originally a stand-in name until i named him something else but it really grew on me and it fit him so! it didnt change, he just got other names too)

What major arcana tarot card best represents your character?

The Moon. 👀

What is your character’s relationship with magic? Are they scared of it, wish to know more about it, indifferent to it?

he’s def scared of magic sometimes, especially his own. he also really wants to understand it better though, and be less scared, or at least control it better. imo it’s a healthy fear, theres been lots of magic mishaps 

How did your character learn the languages that they speak?

he learned common and infernal from mom! and he’s learning draconic from xan. it’s a nice downtime activity, sit down with ur best friend and homie and learn a new language just for fun

[mamusings]

Supernatural Season 3 thoughts

At the end of this season I was left thinking maybe I just dont understand the show. Maybe I'm reading it against the grain. Or I dont like what its actually saying and trying really hard to fit it into something else. Its infuriating.

The clear main season challenge is how to save Dean. Underneath that is the worrying question of is Sam still 100% pure Sam.

The opening episode is clever in that it does two very necessary things. The first is it demotes the boys standing again. The show needs them as downtrodden outsiders for the narrative to work, so all that regard we were seeing in s2 is pesky. And it's a slick move to use them opening the cage as a reason for hunters to look down on them. That way we still appreciate them as the audience, but have a convincing reason why they arent held in similar regard by their peers.

The second is necessary thing is the switch from a hunting paradigm into a war one. It's a shift in scale that requires different qualities and strategies and it gives the boys something to struggle with. Episode one achieved that smoothly by having the released demons be different. So we are going to need more than book research to know what to do.

The war footing also changes the moral compass in a way that many viewers see as an inconsistency, but I think actually isnt one. With hunting the idea is to lose no innocent lives. In war, it's about weighing up potential losses. It's a new calculus and the key episodes in this season struggle with it. Jus in Bello and No Rest for the Wicked are both centred on this difficulty and I think in both cases are intended as instances in which the boys get it wrong. That feels like a hard one to call, but I think each time the show is actually saying that by not making the harder, less black and white decision, we end up with a less favourable outcome (more casualties and Dean dies).

In terms of the brothers and their relationship we get to see Dean go uber Dean for the opening episodes. It's fun, but sort of frustrating in a way that's seems intentional because it reflects Sam's frustration with him. It lasts until Sam pleads with him to be his brother again in Fresh Blood. After that we get to see Dean be scared. And both of them trying to deal with the prospect of his death and the options for preventing it.

More subtly we see Sam be scared of losing Dean. We see him trying to prepare for life without him. Trying to be more like Dean. Its ambivalent because we wonder whether what we are seeing is a darker Sam - remember we arent clear on the is Sam ok question. The fact that the spector of a dark Sam is raised by him emulating some of Dean's traits puts the family thing in perspective. Fresh Blood highlights again the weakness of 'anything for my family' as a moral baseline - because everyone is someone's family. The vampire is looking to found family and is mourning his own family. It echoes season 1 in that Dean killed Azazels family. Bedtime Stories shows the need to let go of family. When we arent focused on the Winchesters, Supernatural seems to take care to show that "family above all else' needs to be approached cautiously.

While we are on the subject of moral compasses it's worth noting that this season has several moments considering what the value of life is given that Dean's life is running out. The penultimate episode shows us Dean isnt willing to do anything to stay alive. But Dean's wallowing in pleasure also falls short for him. Lisa is introduced to indicate he wants more than hook ups. Bella introduces the question of whether hunting is about more than vengeance or thrills. Her character is an interesting Dean parallel. They are both joyfully amoral in quite different ways, linked to problematic childhoods, with hellhounds coming to collect. What this highlights is a desire to be and do good in Dean, that Bella lacks.

From a more series perspective what's most interesting is the introduction of a more complicated universe. Demons may come in different flavours, if Ruby is to be believed, and that's still a dilemma at this stage. Alongside that we meet a number of creatures for whom we have sympathy, as well as a human going to great lengths to explain away acts that are undoubtedly evil (the Frankenstein doc who only carves up people cos he needs the parts but it's ok cis he only kills when it's necessary..). The message seems to be that good and evil isnt about humans and non-human. But even when it comes to what you do and why you do it, the lines get tangled up and it's hard to know what's right. More than that, moving onto a war footing, Sam is alert to the need to go beyond the hunting approach. He sees the need to find allies, seek information. He knows its slippery and dangerous, he doesn't trust Ruby (certainly not yet) but he understands that without her he can't make any headway against the newly released demons as he has no way of knowing what they are after. It's a big departure and one that marks him out as a leader in my view. But it makes everything very murky.

So it feels jarring by the end to have Dean falling back into the hunter rules he got from his Father. Dean even calls it a 'black and white' approach. Its Dean's choice how to do this one and Sam rightly backs him. But it's a step back. Just as it's a step back that Dean declares that "the only person who can save me is me" to which Sam is reduced to tacking on a solitary "and me"

So we seem to have left behind the moral of solidarity I took as the point of s2. I was left thinking I have to totally misunderstood this show? But I think the fact that Dean loses and dies is supposed to show us that this approach is not enough. And by the time we get to Swan Song I think that's confirmed.

The solutions in Swan Song are all in the grey area. The message seems to be that its about choice. Sam chooses to try to save the world. Dean chooses to love him through it even when Sam is transformed into something Dean has been trained to hate and to kill. Its emphatically not about brotherly love or bromance in the sense of doing anything for each other. Sam chooses to save the world not for Dean, but because he is responsible for letting Lucifer out and he is the only one who can do it. Note also that its this episode gives us the big line that family doesnt end in blood from Bobby. So it's not that Sam and Dean are brothers that's key here. Nor is the point that they love each other. The point is that they are brotherly in their love for each other in the sense that their love for gives them solidarity and support. They support each other to do the right thing, not anything. Without that Supernatural may be entertaining and/or cool, but it would be vacuous.

.

[askmyboys]

Louie

Real Name: Its something that cant be said around humans otherwise it hurts their ears (it basically sounds like static mixed with a high pitched noise, it can be damaging to the ears if not careful) | Human Name: Louie | Nickname: He really only has one nickname n that's Lou, sometimes he won't mind being called Louis either though | Gender: Male | Age: N/A- there's really no traces of how old he REALLY is, he's not even sure he remembers himself- | Sexuality: Pansexual | Species/Race: Demon | Height: 6'9" (he's a sizeshifter tho) | Hair Color: Umber Brown (his hair is SUPER messy and dirty looking, sometimes he'll wear a hat like a fedora or something to keep it covered, not like he gives a shit if someone comments on it tho) | Eye Color: Desire Red | Appearance: He'll sometimes wear suits out in public, albeit ALL his clothing is dirty, dingy, and dusty- he just doesn't give a shit about hygiene in general, but he's not too picky with clothes, it just depends on his mood, usually its suits, sometimes its more of a punk-like look, sometimes its just tank tops and boxers, he doesnt. give. a. s h i t- dont test this demon buddy, he'll take ALL his clothes off, he'll go out naked, fuckin public indecency his ass- your lil human laws don't apply to him- He's vERY chumby, got that chub going- big soft boy- His entire fingers ARE the claws, long sharp claws- he also of course has sharp bear trap teeth, his canines both top and bottom are a bit longer than the rest of his teeth of course, his ears are also pointed and he's got a few piercings in there as well and you know he's got the short boxed beard. | Personality: He's just a really carefree, lazy, laid back kinda demon dude- I won't say there isn't ANYTHING that won't piss him off or make him sad, bc you know there's ALWAYS something out there BUT- he just doesn't care, he takes compliments in the form of insults, if ya actually compliment him- well he dont expect that but eh your free to do so, either way it dont make him much different, I wont deny- he's got that SUPER big fuck energy, he be fuckin- he does make a LOTTA sexual innuendos, like a l o t of them- he's got that big chaotic evil fuck energy, dont give a shit what gender or whoever you are- you can want to be perceived as a threat- if he likes you he gon f l i r t- in fact someone wanting to be a threat- now thats hot, he's like a cat mixed in with a dog almost, can be very lazy one moment and he's up and going the next, will eat ALL your food and drink all your drinks even tho he legit doesn't need too and then HE'LL call YOU a bitch for not having anymore food or drinks. Big Bastard, I don't know if I'd say he's REALLY evil n shit, he does love to cause trouble, scare some people- but for murdering people n torture and doing all that? Bah, that's a bit TOO much work for him, now if he HAD too? Oh absolutely, he could and WOULD murder if it was necessary- but nah the most yer gon get outta him is scares, him causing trouble around your house or depleting your food and drink supplies too quickly (tl;dr: Carefree, lazy, laid back- he's ALMOST impossible to piss off or make sad, too many gross sexual innuendos, big bastard, chaotic evil fuck energy, can and WILL flirt with you, like a dog/cat mix one minute lazing around the next minute he's ready to go n bother people, hide your food and drinks if you wanna survive otherwise your gon be fucked ....n-not literally- I mean unless you'd want too, he's gross and smelly and will NOT take a bath, he wants to s m e l l like death and any other horrible things so fuck u) | Side Facts: This character is the death of me, he's broken the fourth wall which I wouldn't deny he could probably do and strangled me to death with his bare claw hands- I just genuinely wanted a gross, bit too sexual demon character for some reason but listen, he might be a monster but he's not a MONSTER and by that I mean if you dont wanna do the "fun stuff" in that regard he'll respect that, consent matters- he might be a creep and every horrible word in the world combined but he's not like THAT, he DOES have standards like THAT anyways. If ya don't wanna do that fun stuff at LEAST go out n scare some people shitless with him, or help him bother some humans- or if he's feeling particularly lazy, he'll crash at your place n just, well, bother YOU instead- and he'll probs try to scare ya once or twice too but eh that's to be expected- I will say- he's DEFINITELY a deal maker-like demon, he DOES make deals n stuff from time to time- he DOES enjoy doing it every so often, bc most of the time he gains ownership of someone's soul every now and then but other than that, its still a lotta work- like he doesn't wanna do it all the time, besides who's gonna care that he ain't making deals like he's supposed to. He actually doesn't stay in hell too often, its MOSTLY bc of preference for the living world, humans are there and their MUCH more easy and fun to mess with than other demons (other demons h a t e him, their disgusted by him which to him? ....G o o d, die mad about it then babe~) Satan and him tho- now Satan albeit he does NOT like the smell at all he hides that bc of Lou's personality, he can v i b e with him on the carefree n laid back part for sure ....justpleaseLouisastheliteralrulerofhellIamgoingtobegyoutopleasetakeabathorsomething...) He likes Satan much more than he thought he would, for the literal ruler of hell that dude's pretty chill- ....ok come on let's be honest here, you know as well as I have Louie has absolutely flirted with Satan once or twice, hell- he's flirted with MANY demons before- needless to say not uh many of em liked it which hey I mean its not the response he really wanted nor expected but pissing off a demon can be fun plus they can be REALLY violent ...he may or may not be a masochist and a bit of a sadist even? oh and uh before my dumbass forgets, he's got some powers aside from sizeshifting, he can shapeshift into a few things, mimic other's voices, or even like disappear really quickly- that's only if he needs to get out of situations or make it seem like a person's c r a z y maybe- just maybe but shh, etc- a few other things- you know how demons are- that's good enough for now I guess? I HAD more stuff to say bout him but I genuinely forgot- whoops- but if I think of it dont worry- ye'll know

[justastraightupmess]

snw-cnvs replied to your post: snw-cnvs replied to your post: ...

howd u end it

okAY sO

the thing i decided on was levi is in school maybe 15-17 and its abt his mama and his papa kinda and also him being a shit.

the basic outline of the plot was like this: starts at school levi is sitting with a bunch of girls being all omg levi heart eyes so hot so great we lOve u then a mean bully wearing a backwards cap comes over and slams his hand on levis desk all like fuk u levi u think ur top shit u aint and levi is all ugh this bitcc again what do u want lmao and then bully keeps going so levi stands up and is all smirking like alright bitcc u want some lets go pretty boy

then it cuts from their fight and levi is in some weird empty place (a dream) and hes liek ?? wut ?? then he hears sb call to him and he turns like O.O wut and then sees this giant glowing woman all godly like and shit is like  ;A; mama is that rlly you ?? omg i thought ive never get to meet you im so happy abt to cry and shit  and then she does an evil smirk like “mother ?? u think ur my son?? pls ur not worthy to be my son, filthy half mortal. ur not good enough etc etc”  and hes like ;;;;A;;;;; ma m a ?? and stuff and then she turns away and hes like nO mama come baCk then he wakes up in tears and it was all a dream

next day hes at school looking tired and down and grumpy.  but then bully comes back like haha fuck u and levi is like ugh. not in the mood fam.  but bully keeps going and ends up saying smth like “lol thats why u dont have a mum ;o” and then levi snaps and attacks/10

then it cuts to levi looking sad outside the principals office and silloutes of his dad and principal behind the door and the dudes all like “mr.fay this happens all the time. ur always down here bc levi is causing trouble. problem child etc etc. this is not on etc etc. ur a bad parent or whatever”  then papa fay comes out all sad and defeated but sees levi and smile like :’) its okay son levi feels rlly guilty

then its the next day levi looks int he mirrior like okay. new day new me i got this gonna do better for papa.

school time again and bully comes over and levi is all like “jfc are u like ?? obsessed with me or what ?? like wow” and bully gets kinda flustered and mad bc levi isnt taking the bait. he tells levi to get up so levi stands. then bully grabs his collar and levi is like “omg babe chill lmao” but then its like “bOO!” and leans forward like ehs gonna headbutt him so bully flinches and falls back on his ass all emabrrassed. and levi and everyone laughs. and thenn the last shot is levi looking down at him all smug. 

NOW. 

teacher said 1. the first fight scene isnt necessary i can cut it and start at the dream. but i wanted to make it like shown that hes always getting in fights this always happens kinda thing. and also establish levi as a cocky character

2. that his mum saying all that mean stuff tto him in the dream is a bit,,, harsh like yikes. and that all i’d need to do is have her turn away and leave and not say anything at all so its like conveyed she was never around/didnt have time for him. but idk bc i want her to be harsh?? thats what he thinks she thinks of him and also it kinda explains through that that hes a demigod not jsut some kind otherwise its not known. 

3. he said the ending isnt strong enough. i either need to have levi be the bigger person and grow if thats what i want from him. or have him be like, getting revenge or smth. which im gonna go for bc levi doesnt grow hes a petty bitch 

anYWAY. the small vague ideas i had were i end it either with levi pretending to be the bigger person but then lowkey trashing the bullies car at the end.  Or instead making it ??? somehow more to do with his demigodness ?? i was thinking like he starts talking shit at the bully like “wow ut pathetic, isnt he guys?? etc” and ends up kidna using the charmspeak thing and turning everyone against the bully like the whole class is behind levi laughing at him. and maybe like draw smth coming out of his mouth as he talks to show that its some sort of ?? power not just him talking. like maybe the bully has a few friends/goons on his side but at the end even they turn on him. and then maybe like one last shot of the bully sitting all by himself and levi surrounded by ppl smirking. and maybe he trashes his car as wlel idk

[gghero]

🔥 pokemon and SU

OKAY THIS IS LONG. WAY LONGER THAN I EXPECTED. MORE THAN AN UNPOPULAR OPINION POST, IT TURNED INTO AN ALL-OUT OPINION POST

putting it under a cut; the pkm one is way longer and more detailed, SU is a plain ol unpopular opinion post and shorter so im putting it first.

SU:

honestly, i’ll be the first to say that the show is not perfect, that the characters cant stay on model (its still not enough to bother me or ruin everything because, cmon, im getting to watch the show for free) that the crew have made mistakes, that certain characters deserve better/worse, that certain lessons felt out of place, and all that jazz.

but hey, its not the worst thing to ever happen. i found SU while it was at its peak (late season 1 - early season 2, the best SU has ever been IMO) and even though im trying to not interact with the fandom anymore because of some toxic stuff that happened, i find myself enjoying the storyline, the worldbuilding is great and everything about the art style that is not proportions (backgrounds, palettes, character design) is arguably some of the best in current animation.

my beef with the fandom and most critical blogs is that the discourse sounds like the same stuff over and over and the general attitude is very snarky and condescending. my rule of thumb is that if youre going to critique something, you have to also give your ideas on what you would do in their place. i also felt talked down to everytime i interacted with them, and most people dont even know how to discuss things so any valid points they might bring up didnt phase me after rolling my eyes at their behavior. they also tend to treat their opinions as the objective truth - or only reblog from their fellow critic blog friends.

pokémon:

oh, pokémon. one of my most beloved video game franchises of all times. yet theyre not exempt from criticism. of course, none of what im about to say ruins the experience for me (otherwise, i wouldnt still play the games and making fanarts, DUH) 

the games. first of all i have to say that theyre incredibly engaging. i find myself caught up in the hype before a big reveal, preordering and picking up the new game as soon as it comes out, and then playing non-stop until im satisfied with it... and usually thats it. yeah. one of my biggest complaints about pokemon is how replayable the games COULD be, if only gamefreak did the simplest thing of just adding more save slots. of course, ive ended up deleting old save files in order to replay a game, and thanks to pokebank i can keep my babies, but cmon. all the items you collected, the complete pokedex, how far you went in the battle chateau/battle tree/etc... its all lost forever. the game would also be infinitely more replayable if the post game were more extensive (rather than being like “here, go to the battle building of this generation and battle”). i think implementing side quests or achievement unlocking that gives you in-game perks would add so much.

ALSO GAMEFREAK please stop adding and changing and removing features that we like every single generation!!!! i was not bothered by character customization being removed in ORAS because i understand its a remake and they wanted to keep something similar to the original designs of may/brendan but!!!!! The PSS was GREAT, but you replace it with festival plaza that was... not great!!! you take away pokemon amie, which allowed more experienced players to farm hearts very fast via the minigames!!! you took away the super training!!!!! it makes it look like they dont know what theyre doing, and i understand that they want to shake things up, but i stg if we dont get ride pokemon in gen 8 and instead we are back to HMs, im gonna scream.

my next complaint is how... small the games feel. im not asking for an open world yet (short answer; yes i believe its doable) but the amount of hand holding and tutorials in the last games bothers me, not to mention how limited the exploring feels when compared with older games? dont get me wrong, the gym/trials system is not bad per se - its mostly the map, its soo so so tiny and easy to navigate. i feel like they could look at earlier zelda and mario games and do something similar; an exploration mechanic like twilight princess’s would work so well. you have huge areas to explore while keeping it closed-world, and i never found myself getting tired of roaming around hyrule. in comparison, routes in pokemon feel very small, towns especially are SO tiny, and pokemon is a franchise that would REALLY benefit from the sense of adventure that non-linear larger maps offer.

next is the art direction. im definitely not a genwunner; i think some pokémon designs are good, others are not as good, but i dont have a huge bias towards, say, kanto (kanto’s good designs are good, but kanto’s bad designs are the worst, if it makes sense?) if i had to choose, i’d say gen 2, 3 and 4 are the ones that better represent what i want pokemon to look like in general, but that might be because i love monster-like pokemon like ampharos, swampert, garchomp - huge and bulky-looking pokemon - rather than pokemon that look too much like regular animals or inanimate objects. 

human character design is also good. they have been doing great in terms of racial diversity lately, but i do wish there were more “not-paper-thin skinny” characters (especially women) (and the ones that are fat/obese dont look suspiciously more cartoony/comic relief-y than the main characters); and older characters as well, specially women. 

i think my fave art direction is from black/white (1 and 2), the stylisation, clothes design and especially color palettes were gorgeous. i like a lot how the eyes and highlights/shading looked in black/white (1 and 2) - i think it was Take who did most of the art, instead of Sugimori and Ohmura.

(im sorry but im feeling the top image squad look much more)

my biggest complaint about pokemon’s art direction is that the 3D simply doesnt look its best as of now. im not a fan of the pixel-y black outline all models have, the colors of most pokemon in their 3D models look so washed down in general, and the backgrounds really suffer from this. i must say that changing the angle from a zenit POV to a third person camera in sun/moon was a step in the good direction, you get to see further in the distance and feel like the world is immersive. 

the color palettes for backgrounds could be better too, they have definitely taken a step in the wrong direction and went from this:

(pretty, muted but not extremely pastel or washed down; nice colors, those greens and browns are gorgeous - and yeah sorry about the bottom pic having a slight filter on, but cmon, its not like base game looks much different, remember?)

to this:

(aggressive colors, dont give me a sense of harmony, that extremely orange dirt and sky and almost neon green grass make my head hurt)

i have to say i preferred how the pixel-y, half 2d half 3d style of gen 4 and 5 looked, imo its the best pokemon has ever looked, but they clearly dont have the technology to make breathtaking, fully 3D games yet. i’d say its a necessary evil though so im hopeful for the future. and no, i dont want hyperrealistic textures or pokemon designs either (pokken style is so detailed it feels a little uncanny valley at times, specially with less realistic pokemon like gengar or gardevoir). ideally, pokemon will look like breath of the wild’s 3D character models, with that watercolor-ish style, the cell shading and the vibrant vivid colors. AND NO OUTLINES PLEASE.

finally the last point about the games is the storylines. I generally like pokémon storylines. they’re very good when you are caught up in the action, specially as of late, theyre adding cutscenes and dialogue-heavy scenes that dont feel out of place. but i cant bring myself to LOVE THEM as much as i love other videogame storylines. they still feel a little basic (this is not a problem because of the game’s formulaic nature, mind you) and while they havent shied away from more mature elements in the past, the overall tone is a little immature at times with a big huge plot heavy climax thrown in, and thats it. (and before you tell me pokemon is for kids: i know, but other shows and games for kids dont fall in the same plain secondary characters rut as pokemon does.) i would love for the Main character to have some sort of agency too because i feel like im following what other characters decide for me (at least give me dialogue options that, you know, DONT YIELD THE SAME DIALOGUE NO MATTER WHICH YOU CHOOSE).

thats about all i have to say about the games themselves. not gonna talk about anime or manga bc im not really into those

as for the fandom... its generally chill. its huge, but its divided in so many sub-groups that you never feel overwhelmed. the competitive community might be more toxic ive heard, but im more into the plot and characters anyways.

i do have to call out the huge p///edophilia problem there is. being a franchise most people grew up with, characters like idk, misty, may, dawn (its girls more often than not) were older or the same age as most of the older fans were back in the day. as a result, they have obsessed with their image since they were kids, and this obsession has continued now that theyre grown ass people, and they have no problem consuming and producing huuuge amounts of porn for these characters. as for the latest games, these disgusting people have even less excuse (not that they ever had) there’s tons of CP and adult x minor ships out there, and its allowed to thrive more often than not because of the sheer size of the fandom, too.

PHEW.

[ithisatanytime]

one thing i am grateful for, is i literally never once in my life have been offended by someone saying i was stupid. im completely immune to that because for my entire childhood, teachers and people in general would rave about my intelligence, they would talk about it amongst themselves and i would get told about it later by my friends or my sister. call me a loser, thats true and painful enough but im a tall white genius with a humonguos dick, and i think you already knew that, people pick up on IQ naturally it was an important adaption for sexual selection, probably the single most important one for humans. when girls say they want a guy who is funny, why the fuck do they care? humor advertises intelligence, we are constantly advertising our genetic fitness and its constantly being evaluated on a subconscious level and intelligence is part of that. people realize im smarter than they are as soon as we start talking and you know what, it sucks dick. no one wants to talk to someone smarter than them, no one. so you learn to hide it, but you arent really hiding it because you cant, in fact there are studies that show we can accurately estimate intelligence just by looking at a picture of someones face for a split second (look it up) with far greater accuracy than random chance. so you arent really hiding it, but displaying social intelligence by attempting to hide it. i dont talk this way in real life, i treat this blog as existing outside of the mating game, though it isnt. i express myself more openly here than anywhere else. i genuinely wish i was ten to fifteen IQ points lower as i doubtlessly would be happier and probably more successful, there are social ramifications for being different, especially for something as intrinsic as intelligence, its incredibly alienating unless you are from the social strata whereby you can capitalize on it.

  do any of you think i type the shit i type on here and assume its benign to everyone? of course not. i know many will assume im evil for some of my views, when in reality i am barely capable of being mean. i am not a product of raw intelligence, i have met people smarter than myself (one dude actually) i am a product of my innate qualities and my environment, the specific circumstances of my life played a large role in who i am and what i believe. i dont care about math, largely because i have no natural apptitude for it and the specific circumstances of my life made being a math wiz a lot harder for many reasons. constantly changing school districts meant i was always kind of lost, before common core different school districts covered different things at different times, and math concepts are highly interdependent on each other. so i said fuck it, that being said i acknowledge that math is both conceptually very interesting and incredibly necessary for countless things, and one day i will have to bite the bullet, start from the beginning and attempt to catch myself up. ALL that being said how the fuck am i gonna expect people to understand biology, specifically natural selection to the same degree i do? that would be ridiculous! i fully expect most people at least initially will have no idea what im talking about and just assume i hate people who are different than me and want everyone who isnt a white genius with a massive cock to be shoved in giant ovens lmao. i feel that what i am saying is important enough, that its worth being misunderstood or hated for.

  this is a long text post for a guy who doesnt care lol, but i have been meaning to make a post like this for a while, the takeaway i want you to... take away from this is that i am a tall white genius with above average sized genitals, im very genetical fit and desirable to beautiful east asian women with low body counts.

[lovestill-exists]

money

currency. that thing we chasing. i literally told a kid today that i needed to get a covid test so that i could eat tomorrow.

really, thats just an exaggeration though. To be honest, BrUTALLY so-- i am awful with the stuff.

I lost my wallet while running down the beach bed, flirting with the waves up to my ankles. the bitch stole it. ive been feeling that itch of something taking it the entire day. but what did i do? I pushed that sense out of the way, finding it really annoying. but it wasn’t wrong, was it? it never is

i felt like an idiot. especially when i was whispering wishes to the ocean, asking her about something completely different.. i trusted it was listening, answering my questions in its own, vague way the universe typically does.

instead, it swept up my wallet and gave me false hopes. im livid. genuinely mad

also, the job i took the covid test for isnt responding back to me. probably cos theyre on location and i was meant to look for a breakfast place for 40 people, but i didnt.. cos i told them i needed the address. “please send me the address to your location for tomorrow and i can get right on that” but nope. my hiring location scout told me a sad story instead over the phone, where she had awful reception and i couldn't hear half the words she said.. tried to tell her i couldnt hear her very well, that if she could quickly text me the information id need, then i can start doing my job.. but i doubt she heard me.

i called her again after getting back to my apartment to ask for that information

three hours later, she calls back but doesnt leave a voicemail

i call her back half an hour later and she answers, then hangs up.no call back.

and at this point, im not even mad if i dont work tomorrow. free covid test. ill get my results and have these days off again. I can make my doctor’s appointment.

will i be able to pay for the damn appointment. yes.

will it hurt to do it? only my ego..

I only have the foresight to be able to save a shitton of money if i need it.. call it a cautionary evil, quite necessary but.. its not as big of a basin as id like it to be. sometimes i wonder if im good at anything else.. make money on the side doing.. something else besides being a badass on set

cos set life isnt how it used to be. safe, that is.

I’m not above taking pictures of my feet, for instance.

but maybe.. i should look a lil deeper. I’m also not above working a 9-5 again

at least, until i find this thing im meant to be doing, besides rescuing dogs or something.. at least rescuing someone else, instead of someone rescuing me.

My boyfriend had enough foresight to lend me some money so i can get back home safely. i wasn’t even thinking about it. he mentioned how calm i seemed over losing my wallet, how no one could be blamed for going completely insane over it. but im used to it. how much worse does that sound?

Losing your wallet is losing your identity. your name. your address that isnt the one you reside at anymore but the one that felt closer to home in a long LONG time. your totem, the one your mother printed for you to assure that "abundance is always there for you". ha. my two debit cards.. probably my insurance card ive never used. a membership card for go karts in the bay area.. and 23 dollars.

what a loss. and at the same time.. i dont feel it as badly as i should.

like im lost. truly. like why dont i follow my inner instincts ushering me to just shut up and pay attention to it for once? i walked around, paid for things the entire day and everytime my wallet was in my hands, i had a sinking feeling of dread. that i need to keep it safe. and i felt stupid for feeling that way. so conflicted. money never meant so much to me. why was i worried.. was i overspending? was i depending on it too much? 

but now i just feel stupid i hadnt listened.. i do that all the damn time. i get a sense of something before it happens and i ignore it. im.. worst at listening to myself than my actual financial responsibilities.

i felt that stupidity every time i stopped at a gas station on the way back to my apartment from LA. The act of taking out cash and walking away from the pump inside to let the guy behind the counter authorize the transaction for me.. I only stopped twice.. the second place i stopped at, i convinced myself to stop simply cos i knew the place well and it would be the quickest stop id make on my trip. i kept second guessing my route back home solely as to whether id be making the right choice to go there.

it was at this gas station that a kid came up to me, mask no where on his face, but swearing he wasnt homeless.. just a lil scared. he needed gas to get home but his card was declined. asked me if i had any cash or if i could cash app him some money, just enough to get home.

I hesitated, thinking in the back of my mind if i was going to be alright to give him anything. i had no cards, no more cash than what i had to get home, and i still needed a covid test to get to, where i was unsure if id had to pay for it out of pocket. told him “Sorry, i dont have an iphone” and hes like “shit.. can i please ask you to pay for at least five dollars, you can stand by the pump-!”

“sorry, i lost my debit cards.. haha”

“oh shiiit.. hahaha..”

“yeah.. but i do have a bit of cash my dude. let me get it for you”

“Oh shit, really?? thank you so much!”

This kid, obviously young, a teenager, looked so relieved. cos the more i said something unhelpful, the more panicked he started to look. and i was gut punched by it. i was this kid, worried about his next paycheck, wondering why i was so bad at money, why i couldnt be responsible.

and im not trying to say that was his deal today, his card could have declined for any real reason. but i was that panicked once. its stupid to feel that way over something so.. fucking stupid. something that rules over everyone a little too much.. when we should really not be worried about our next meal, or when our next job will come. i handed him the cash, booked my covid test and booked it out of there. all so “i could eat tomorrow”

i use money to make things just a lil easier. i dont try too hard to be irresponsible. but definetly dont make myself too responsible either. its just habit otherwise, which could be the only thing keeping me afloat. but there is another lesson im missing too.. maybe still not money related. or if it is.. i clearly dont have the answer for it yet.

still learning that one

[whimsically-ominously-auspice]

A lot of control freaks are at risk. Mostly,control freaks

The ones that must invite evil into other's lives.

The mom that doesn't care her daughter doesn't like her fiance and feels it a mistake to have gotten engaged. But continues to push her daughter, even planning the wedding for her to force her to marry someone whom will be unkind to her

The moms that get limited money welfare or child support and goes and gets her nails and hair done and leaves the children in rags.

The moms that force their children to be perfect at all times, children never had the joy of feeling free. Mud between their toys without receiving corporal punishment aka an ass whipping.

The "friend" always pushing you into drug use.

The "friend" bullying you to go out every night calling you a nerd for wanting to do homework or eat dinner with family.

The teacher that stuffs more and more work down your throat with nary an encouraging word nor tone.

The principal that beats students so hard with paddles it can be heard through the halls of the school and the child not being able to sit pain free without days.

The doctor that doesnt listen to your symptoms and sends you home without proper care Because they are too busy and overbooked.

The dentist that applies a chemical to rot teeth so that they can get money from repairing what looks like cavities in xrays

The adults breaking bones in others because they're "too" drunk or high or much of an ass hole not to be selfish jerks.

Bullies. People that don't mean well but we trust with our souls and lives and they purposely push advice or decisions onto others who dont want them.

Someone who doesn't allow you to breathe freely.

"You don't know how to allow us to breathe. So let us breathe for you" The Ventilator response to idiots and jerks who think they rule the world and you aren't allowed to think or breathe for yourself. In response to the person whom says "you don't know how to breathe. Let me do it for you"

Breathing the same term as live.

Its a beautiful virus Corona and COVID-19

Ironically it affects most Zulululu aliens... And they are the ones that created it.

Welcome to Eaerth. 🌎

COVID-19

Co Ventilator ID (children & adults as age) 19

Those of us helicopter parents ... Co parent the child with the world and the child as age 19.

Those of us helicopter children .... Co parent the parent with the world and parent as age 19.

Thus you see the equation is equality between children and adults.

I by far have raised more children than any other teacher taught for a maximum of 60 years and done it better than them by treating them as adults.

62% of negative comments about the way i taught the NHRA children said I needed to tone down sexual abuse and other information i gave them, the problem is As Adults we Learn that we were sexually abused and People KNEW at that time we were young that it was bad. So i had to tell them each and every thing that could be bad. Because they asked.

They asked me an "adult" question. I treated their questions as they were planning to go play with another child's vagina and wanted to know what the abuse part was.

Had I not explained in exact and general terms as I did they could become sexual predators themselves.

That is how i dealt with the situation. Because I was too afraid they would say "that happened to me" So i treated them as potential abusers. Because I would have ended up back behind that candy shack shaking and hysterical losing my mind. So i put up a barrier between their possible pain and myself.

And educated them in how not to become a sexual predator.

Of those NHRA children, in that sexual awareness class, 13 children only 1 became a sexual offender, repeat rapist and it was Ben who refused to listen and usually sat at his desk drawing. Of the kids that paid attention 0 became sexual offenders.

And if you watched the video they clearly focused on Ben to show he was not listening to the content nor context.

Furthermore. I had to teach them all the ins and outs so if perhaps they were an unfortunate victim they would tell me and we would have the CIA investigate so it would never happen to them

I didn't know if they asked because they were thinking about bodies and various ways they could be touched or if they were asking because they had been touched that way.

So had i shut down any child's question with that's too much information and not have a male come explain it and never have the question answered. I knew i would slam the door in the child's face from self healing from abuse or preventing it from happening to them or to someone else.

They needed all the information available. To understand that if they are touched wrongly they have to know it was wrong and that they could get help. They deserved help and someone would help them.

If i said generally "if you are touched here here or here and you don't want to be and so you were molested" then we would have a shit ton more false rape reports out there.

More lives ruined for lack of information

More lives ruined for lack of information.

Treating every one as age 19. Old enough to smoke. Old enough to rent their own home. Old enough to have their own car. Old enough to know better and too young to care.

50 year old ... "Oh sonny I can't do that I'm too old" no ya ain't old lady. You can do it too.

5 year old ... "My mom says I'm too young but i know I can" then it's something that age isn't discriminatory about.

One common thing is Learning. A child can go to an University class. 7,852,931,862,985,301 people signed up for the free wellness class at Yale of those people 76% were under age 18.

Yale. A top Ivey League school. A University most people are aged 18 or more to attend.

13% were age 50 and above.

Two different people age groups vastly far from one another deciding they could do the same exact thing a 19 year old can do.

COVID-19 surviving.

We don't take away Granny's drivers license simply because shes old. She has the same rights to decide her driving benefits as a 19 year old.

No putting granny in a nursing home when she can still keep up her own residence. She has the same rights to decide where and when to live as a 19 year old.

No telling granny and our son who they cannot or can date. When our 3 year old says "my soulmate Is here. I want to introduce you and myself to her" then you go as if they were 19 years old.

COVID-19 that term will allow us surviving the Apocalypse to survive our world that is leftover.

Corona Virus. Time down with Our Spouse and children. The difference between a child and adult is the adult can drink a beer because they are over the age of 21. So in the state of COVID-19 we still respect you're fucking old enough to have kids and we can't tell you what to do.

Wahu Virus. Whahoooooo!! The world will be a better place everyday.

We didn't create the virus. Only the names and chose to not prevent the disease to be released but to be available to be spread.

Nathaniel is always ordering the release of Viruses in China and Hong Kong. I over heard his phone calls and wrote them here. Only 62% of you remember.

He wanted a job...

So it was apparently a code. So our CIA went into the computer and advised them to release it into the Wahu zip code. Meanwhile our CIA on the ground prevented and arrested the ones spreading the disease and only allowed 25% of the virus to hit its targets.

We knew it would spread naturally and the thing was to make a big deal instead of a big virus splash into our air and land.

The targets were outlying rural areas that we allowed. Not deep city but because it was air based we chose to allow the open air places to receive the diseases.

So in a place where 500,000 people would be exposed we closed that to an area where only 5,000 would be.

So while we chose to allow a virus to spread we already had magic done to allow it to kill only EVIL HUMANS. as aliens are not ours to kill...

Except as it progressed evil aliens took too much joy and wanted to do destruction, too. So that is when Wendy and her Team changed the virus to include also Evil Aliens who have no right to be on Earth.

As People became concerned as to how to not catch the Virus COVID-19 became the name.

We never wanted China to be held responsible nor it be called The China virus so we never called it Wahu. Straight to Corona. We said we would back fold it to why we chose that location in particular.

Nathaniel's Zulululu lab is in northern China. So it would been in China it was released. We made up a huge event that was top secret about anti government assassins... People like me would be attending in the millions. And so this way we manipulated the Zulululu to believe it was the best place when really we Jist liked the name and it would suit our purpose to educate for future reasons.

We had to shut down the world's government. And this was simple.

To prove i do have control of the world and we don't want Zulululu here at all or other aliens. They don't fit. They don't live well here. We don't mesh. We aren't friends.

I'm not living on a planet that always deems killing and war necessary. For Some one to try to gain control like sport while hurting my friends I allow to live here, this is my planet it wasn't created by any another than me and Alex. Marc is a star from a collapsed galaxy. Its a long story. But we are a 3some.

When Venus was attacked. We allowed them a safe Haven. We invited them and changed our world to include them

Those some aliens that attacked Venus live here now.

I allowed them and all aliens from 1777 to 1977 to prove they have the ability to sustain their alien life here. Only 1 planet has proven they had the ability.

In the film Virgin River i once again visited to notify the leaders of Zulululu they needed to evacuate inn 1979. They instead said they would change me to rule the world. So i took that challenge. It is now 2020. And they have failed. All alien life has failed.

In the film you'll see I do things my way. To prove they are wrong and do not deserve a place on my planet.

You'll see i do allow friendly conversation and warmness between the community and I.

I get tired of the lying bitch ass mayor and i do strike her with a heart attack. You'll see me extra extra pissed off in those episodes.

So review those and realize I'm totally fucking pissed. Especially when i am standing in her living room after.

But i still remain friendly. I even bring the bitch her dam mattress down.

But i wanted to kill her and didn't. I could had but th3 point was to tell her to quit lying. She figured out who I was fairly early on and abandoned the baby to distract me. I was a trophy to be kept In the neighborhood. Not someone to listen to.

Look at Chloe's eyes. She's certainly of an alien quality..

I also knew what they were up to.

If you watch it seems things take abrupt turns ... Its research. Knowledge gained from patterns and observations.

Like now i watched and right away knew who was lovers. But it is not revealed until i figure it out then. So when she brings out the divorce I had only realized it after going into,her bedroom that the cabin was hers. And doctor had already yelled at her about me staying in his cabin. So in her bedroom I realized they were at one time living together due to her decor. And photos on the night stand on his side of the bed...

Point is we ghosted into alien communities refusing to leave to ask them to leave. Walked and existed in their communities as we did in our own with our True Loves, family and friends.

We proved they had not adhered to guidelines.

And this is why we have WWIII.

Because they are still here.

In the film you'll see phones like now to show them what we could be provided and would provide their home planets with to communicate on.

When they refused we took all our stuff away. And left them with nothing. If we replaced a TV with one of ours... When i left. They had nothing left. I took what was mine in a fit of rage. And didn't return what had stood there before.

We provided them with these items via magic 1-4 months before arriving so they would not suspect a stranger.

The first time we hadn't and in 1979 it was the second time we attempted to help them gently understand they needed other leave.

That is why what you see now in WWIII is so cold, calculated and done. Pissed off. No 2 ways. Fuck you do what i say.

33 years extra i tried different ways. Their recommended ways. To allow them one last chance..

Now in my mind these bitches are all dead. Cause im gonna kill what they live in and eject their souls.

Currently our galaxy is in a black hole. So they can't find us and how to return. Any Galaxy in a Black Hole means if you try to enter you will be killed upon sight..

No "are you lost can i help you?" Instant death.

And our planet is in a black hole within the black holes. It has been since 1817. That is why the only planet we see is Venus because we brought it with us.

Otherwise we could see almost every planet and moon in existence but we don't.

Because of rude ass alien invaders.

So with the Corona Virus we made rules that have punishment of death attached if they are not followed precisely.

To further protect us in the future.

"What's your parenting plan?"

"COVID-19 and if we don't do it we will die"

Aliens will think again about settling in if for some reason they happen to make it to Eaerth.

Then we ruthlessly kill aliens "that wasn't age 19" no second chances..

Loop hole is all ages are treated as 19. So if they do treat us as age 19 because they studied before trying to invade...,well that happened to so and so when,they were 10 --- "we are informed you treated him like a 10 year old. You must be executed immediately"

19 at age 10. 10 at age 19.

You see? Air and water tight.

No one is fucking with our planet again.

Simply they will learn to stay the fuck off.

Don't worry m I break this down to nano if ever we're invaded.

But I built it beyond xyano to prevent it.

So we will be okay.

Work on being safe and taking care and enjoying life. Memorizing your new parental models of COVID-19

[amwritingmeta]

Hello, your Jack metas: 2 Qs: 1) this theory places Jack in role of main hero journey and Sam, Dean, Cas has the mentors to guide himto fulfill his mission to save the universe but he is a plotpoint and our 3 mains need to be the active heroes its their show. 2) if Jack doesnt get the concept of free will yet why would he respect it when he used his magic and want for Cas to be his proctor and not influence him to easily achieve that he wouldnt get why its bad

Hello my lovely Nonny!

What a fantastic prompt for some clarification - I thank you!! I’m going to answer this ask immediately since I invited you to send it with my reblog and since this discussion is all the rage at the moment: strike while the iron is hot and all that.

Ok, firstly, I do apologise, but I need to underline that I would not claim my post falls under the tag “meta”, but rather it’s speculation BASED on my meta, which in turn relies on my personal interpretation of the details the show presents us with. So I need that to be clear before I proceed. I am not speaking in absolutes here - these are my impressions, my reading of the show and my hopes for the future. Okay, let’s begin. :)

1. This theory places Jack in role of main hero journey and Sam, Dean, Cas has the mentors to guide him to fulfil his mission to save the universe but he is a plot point and our 3 mains need to be the active heroes its their show

Okay, I am about to disagree with you, but I hope it won’t be too forceful or that you’re not a wilting Anon that needs to be handled delicately. Again, these are my opinions and you’re more than welcome to have your own based in your personal interpretation of the material. However…

Jack is not a plot point.

A plot point is an event in the plot which makes the plot take a new turn, also known as a turning point. A plot should have several of these plot points during its course, and the main ones are located on the axis of the Act Breaks, where shit needs to get real, deepened, scary, dangerous, you name it. Whenever the plot needs to move in a direction that feels fresh and yet keeps it on its course to an endgame that should feel inevitable, due to the build of the narrative as a whole, you put in a plot point.

Jack’s birth was a plot point.

Jack himself is not a plot point, but he is most likely going to be used as the main plot device for S13.

A plot device is the thing around which the plot is centred. It’s the Dead Man’s Chest, it’s the One Ring, it’s the Angel/Demon tablets, it’s baby Mikey in “Look Who’s Talking”. 

A plot device gives the hero a tangible, understandable, reasonable reason to go on a journey and to pursue his endgame, when he can’t know what that endgame is. (because the endgame is always internal)

The plot device is there to force our hero to make choices that will inform his character growth and further ensure he reaches his endgame. 

Whenever the plot device is faulty or airy (as in The Hobbit, where Gandalf more or less just thinks Bilbo should have an adventure) you lose the immediacy of the necessity for the journey, and if the journey isn’t necessary then there’s no point to the narrative at all, because all strong narrative is character driven, resting on the laurels of the hero making the journey in order to go through a change that lands him in a different place to where he set off (generally speaking, sometimes the hero’s journey is about getting back to where he started - i.e. the entire LotR cast, more or less - but the emotional growth still needs to occur for him to reach that endgame in a believable way and SPN is not using that type of journey anyway).

But can you see where I’m going with this?

(more under the cut)

Jack is the facilitator - the catalyst, as he’s been called by others before me - for Team Free Will finally getting their shit together. He will not overshadow them, the show will not suddenly switch focus from Sam, Dean and Cas to Jack. Of course not! The narrative isn’t asking for that and, on the whole, it would make absolutely no sense whatsoever. As you say: our three mains need to be the active heroes.

What better to activate them than such a powerful, most likely unstable and unpredictable plot device?

They’ll have to use all their tenacity, skill, wit, compassion and wisdom to guide him and this will give us opportunity to watch them focus all these inner traits - forcing them to grow into the roles of teachers, guides and guardians in the process, presenting the absolute necessity for them to WORK TOGETHER, moving them steadily towards their individual and their joint endgames. (rainbows, peeps) (yes for Sam too) 

If this is where it’s headed, I can’t think of anywhere more beautiful for this show to end up. It will not only bookend the beginning, but it will also, after their long, arduous, deeply meaningful journeys, land all our heroes in a different place to where they set off.

Jack as a side character still needs his own arc. The fact that he goes through a journey of his own does not mean that he’s automatically the hero. Each character in a narrative is, effectively, the hero of their own story, no matter if they’re around for an episode or for a whole season or five. If they weren’t, then what purpose do they serve? Some arcs are less developed than others, sure, and some of these characters are used merely as mirrors, guides, exposition or brief plot devices, but I would argue SPN has always been pretty awesome at building human beings out of the needed side characters, and human beings are only believable if they have a past, a present and a future. 

Meaning there needs to at least be the hinting of an arc there.

And I would say that there almost always is. (I daren’t say always) (I’m not that bold)

But, look, even the static plot devices - such as the angel tablet - goes through a beginning (it’s found), a middle (it instigates a whole lot of fuss and shit gets real) and an end (it’s broken into pieces on the floor).

Jack’s “mission”, to my mind, is simple. It is not to step into the role of saviour in any shape or form. Rather, I should think he might be put in a classic coming of age story. He will need to learn who he is and what he’s capable of and what he wants. He will make bad choices, the wrong choices, as he finds his feet, and most likely he’ll fall into the clutches of Lucifer at some point, but before that, if he’s been met with continued understanding, if he’s been met with forgiveness, patience and support from three men who keep showing they have nothing but faith in him, then this teenage renegade will reject the evil of his father - just as Baby Nephi did from the womb - and Jack will find his inner balance, and that balance will spread to every corner of the universe.

I mentioned this in the Jack: In 3 Parts post, but I’ll focus it even further here:

Jack is a perfect physical metaphor for Team Free Will and what they all need the most to reach endgame, which is balance within themselves. 

If Team Free Will rallies around a cause in S13, being more or less forced to work together and realising they make a fucking amazing team once they actually begin to use open communication, daring to try honesty, seeing that it doesn’t blow everything apart, then that honesty will make them need to be honest with themselves, with who they are and what they want, and once they all accept that honesty and each of them begin to truly follow their hearts, then MAN OH MAN!! 

2. if Jack doesnt get the concept of free will yet, why would he respect it when he used his magic, and want for Cas to be his proctor and not influence him to easily achieve that he wouldnt get why its bad

Let me see if I get what you mean by this query. You’re asking me to explain how I speculate around Jack’s influence over Cas? If Baby Nephi doesn’t grasp the concept of Free Will, then why would he respect it when influencing Cas? Why would Baby Nephi leave Cas with his full faculties rather than brainwashing him into doing Baby Nephi’s bidding, yes?

I talked about this in the post as well, but I’ll happily expand for you, my dear. 

My theory is that the vision, the influence, that Baby Nephi used on Cas, was not used malignantly, but innocently. Why do I theorise this? Because Baby Nephi, from the womb, continuously throughout the narrative of 12x19 rejected anything that had to do with evil and chose the most human angel ever to walk the Earth to be his Protector. 

He chose Cas because he felt a connection to Cas’ goodness, to Cas’ innate need to protect, and, quite possibly, to serve. Default angel settings and all that, no matter how Cas has always beat against them, he will do his duty. Perhaps Baby Nephi felt comfort in this, felt a sense of kinship with this angel, but, I believe, more than anything, felt Cas’ deep, deep, deep connection with humanity.

That’s what this was all about.

This extraordinarily human moment of Cas smiling at feeling a baby kicking against his palm. Life. Humanity. Baby Nephi connecting to Cas’ humanity.

I have further speculated that the Baby felt threatened enough by Dagon to act on pure, angelic instinct - it is the baby of an archangel after all - and join with this chosen Protector to destroy this enormous threat. A threat that caused the death of Baby Nephi’s mother. Not the near death - the death. Kelly DIED because Dagon completely drained all hope out of her. 

I’d go so far as to spec that Baby Nephi saved Kelly’s life because he was taught love through her deep love for him - and he connected with Cas because of this influence of his mother’s love.

So Baby Nephi’s reasoning might have looked something like this:

Kelly = humanity = love.

Cas = deeply connected to humanity (through his love for Dean/humanity) = good.

Dagon is a Bad Mother Figure and in S12 specifically, Bad Mother Figures get headed. 

Also, as Dagon is our closest link to Lucifer, by killing Dagon Baby Nephi effectively rejected the evil influence his father was seeking to force him into, which is a perfect setup for Jack’s endgame.

If I’m anywhere near right in all this, of course.

My belief that brainwashing is BAD, as we all know it is given what’s come before on this show, is strengthened with the Burrow Witch plot line and the BMoL plot line of 12x20 and 12x21 respectively. 

As the narratives immediately following 12x19 are showing us that controlling someone is BAD and EVIL, already stated in 12x19 by Dagon brainwashing Kelly into such despair that she chose to end her own life, I can only assume that Baby Nephi’s actions are meant to point to the baby being Good. 

Meaning that what the baby did to Cas - the connection between them - is Good. 

Meaning it’s the Opposite of Evil, which is linked to brainwashing and control.

And from this I can take the fact that if the baby started out Good, choosing love and humanity over suffering and destroying the world, then this is most probably what the future will be all about. 

First impressions last, right? I mean, when you’re setting up a character that’s clearly going to affect the narrative, because he is tied into every single aspect of what makes the narrative so amazingly intricate, and you start out with underlining how this character is fundamentally good before even being born, then odds are that you want your audience to connect to this baby, and to root for Jack to find his way back to that goodness.

But if you don’t see the narrative build of 12x19 in the same light as I see it. If you don’t see the interactions between Cas and Kelly in the same light as I see them. If you see Cas as brainwashed by the end of 12x19, under the influence of something that the narrative has stated can’t actually be evilly controlling Cas because then it would, by necessity, have to be a reflection of the Burrow Which or the BMoL and Baby Nephi just does not fall in the same category as them. But if you see Baby Nephi as evil, then nothing I say will convince you otherwise.

Here’s my meta on 12x19 on Cas and Kelly and most of the episode, if you want to check it out. 

And I cross my fingers that all of these thoughts might possibly have served to answer your questions mostly to your satisfaction! 

Thanks again, it was great to get to discuss this topic! It is one of my favourites to be honest. I am so stoked to meet Jack in S13. I expect he’ll be a fantastic addition to the mix!

xx

[leaughrilke]

So how do Lena and the kids handle things when Kara gets hurt from a fight with an alien or something?

AHAHAHAHAHAHAH WELL

i mean when they’re little, the kids aren’t super duper aware??  and the adults around them keep a p good handle on everything when shit goes down so they usually remain p blissfully ignorant when kara gets hurt

like they get that kara has a sometimes scary job where she has to protect ppl but its like aunt maggie or aunt alex’s jobs and sometimes she walks in the front door moving a little stiffly and sometimes they have to go see her at the deo, sitting under these bright lights that make maia and finn feel a little weird, a little dizzy, a little powerful, and they hurt stella’s eyes (or maybe that’s not why there’s this heavy pounding at the back of her skull?  she’s so little, she doesn’t have words for it) but it doesn’t rlly.....idk sink in??

that said: lena is quietly a Wreck.  bc the kiddos respond to how she responds, she can’t rlly fall apart (not that she ever rlly did??  but she was able to cry abt it and drop everything to rush to the deo and fuss over kara) so she gets v quiet abt it, all hurried crying with the sink running, bathroom door locked.  she gets v good at hiding the evidence that anything is wrong 

one time, when finn is abt six or so and maia is four and stella isnt quite a year old, kara gets Hurt.  like big time, holy shit, lena we’re doing everything we can for her hurt.  and lena’s stretched so thin already bc kara’s been gone a lot in the week leading up to this, trying to catch this trio of aliens (one rozz escapee, two that got caught up in his schemes) bc they made a direct threat to that pretty luthor you seem so interested in, isn’t she married supergirl? so she just—she can’t imagine not being with kara at the deo but she can’t make their three little kids spend the night in uncomfortable chairs either and she’s exhausted and terrified bc for the first time in a long time she’s not like one hundred percent sure kara’s going to be okay??  and she can’t do this alone, she can’t raise their children on her own, this was always a partnership and she can barely keep them all on schedule for a week how on earth can she do that for the rest of their lives?

and god bless the superfriends, they all step the fuck up.  they’re all sick with worry, obviously, but these kids are still pretty sheltered, still dont have any idea of what their mother does, who she is, what she risks to protect them every day, and everyone pulls it together a little, just enough to take shifts with the kiddos.  

maggie takes mornings, gets finn and maia up and off to school, makes sure they have packed lunches and healthy breakfasts and sends lena little text updates, a picture every morning of the kiddos grinning in their carseats

james covers afternoons—winn picks the kiddos up and drops them at catco and listen, they love their uncle james to no end and he comes up with a million and one games for them to play.  cat usually emerges from her office at some point bearing sweets and the offer of cartoons on one of the many tvs on her wall

lucy flies in on the weekend and hosts a sleepover at her apartment in the city, promises that she’ll make sure they eat their fruits and veggies and then immediately gives them just about as much sugar as they can ask for.  they watch the incredibles and finding nemo and the aristocats (abt 37 times, lucy counted)

eliza stays at the house, helps take care of stella when lena needs to sleep.  she and alex understand The Most, and they stay the closest; eliza cooks meals and moms the hell out of lena and alex sits right next to her at the deo, squeezes her hand whenever she starts to cry and cries along with her

its not good and its not easy and those six days are the Longest of lena’s life but the kids dont even remember them rlly, just a hazy sort of fog of hanging out with their cool aunts and uncles and finn’s the only one that kind of remembers??  but he only rlly remembers kara coming home and them eating a lot of potstickers

UNDER THE CUT BC I KEEP CRYING UR WELCOME

it’s a completely different story when they’re older.  i would say the first Big Scary Moment comes when finn’s ~10, maia’s around eight, and stella’s just turned five.  stella only rlly remembers it bc emotion sort of sharpens all of her memories???  and there were a fuck ton of emotions happening

stella’s at a sleepover and maia’s at a girl scout overnighter and finn’s at a sleepover too (nice attempt at date night kara and lena, too bad evil waits for no happily married couple’s first night alone in months) and kara has to leave bc there’s something happening uptown and lena’s happy, a little warm from the wine and says something like hurry back and she turns on the news, bc she always does when supergirl has to save the day and it’s around six, so it’s the regular evening news and its on in just about every home in national city and the counselors at maia’s camp are watching just to kill time

so everyone gets to watch in hd as supergirl gets shot out of the sky in a hail of kryptonite bullets

stella’s hysterical, so’s maia (no one ever said the kids were any better at secret keeping than kara), finn’s the only one that rlly keeps it together long enough to fake a stomach ache and ask to call his mom to come get him.  lena’s numb, rlly, has to focus on keeping her voice steady when she’s got maia and stella on speaker, assuring them both that she’s on her way to get them, she’s just picked up finn

alex’s already had one of the break rooms near medical set up with cots and lena nearly cries then and there in relief, because she sure as shit isnt leaving the deo without kara and she sure as shit isnt calling a babysitter for her hysterical children, not when stella’s hanging onto her and maia’s tucked up against her side and finn, oh god finn’s trying so hard to keep it together, keeps looking at his sisters, keeps looking at lena and setting his jaw and he’s so much like kara it hurts for lena to see

kara’s in surgery for a long time, long enough that the kids eventually pass out.  they have separate cots, but finn asks lena to help him shove them all together and it makes a surface big enough for the kiddos to curl up together, stella sandwiched between her big siblings, finn’s longer arms just barely reaching over maia’s shoulder, keeping them all together and lena can’t sleep so she pulls up her cot as well and watches her children sleep, watches them draw their breath in sync, as a unit, and she’s not sure how long it is, but then alex is stepping in, exhausted, and she just nods at lena and it’s enough

stella must sense the mood shift bc she’s awake first, squirming to get free of the dog pile theyre in and waking her sibling in the process and then they’re all looking at lena, wide eyed, and it’s maia, the boldest of the three, that asks when can we see mama?

alex answers that she’s resting, that she needs to rest a little longer, but if they’re very quiet and very careful they can go in and see her right now and lena’s not sure if she’s ever seen her children so entirely subdued, but they shuffle into kara’s room very quietly and very carefully, lena just behind them and kara just barely blinks, just barely smiles at them before it all changes again, before stella’s whispering something in finn’s ear and finn’s nodding and asking alex if they can kiss kara and kara’s eyes are shining and lena’s very nearly openly crying

kara kind of cuts alex off with a hoarse c’mere kiddos, i feel like i haven’t seen you in a week and then finn’s wrapping his arms around stella’s middle and he and maia are bouncing off the ground lightly, floating over to kara’s side and their kisses are kind of messy, a little snotty probably, considering how much crying they’ve been doing, but it’s okay, it’s so much better bc kara’s laughing and smiling and sharing a look with lena when stella insists on putting bandaids on her bc you’ve got a lot of booboos mama

it changes as they get even older, obviously, as they get a better understanding of why their mom is getting hurt, and maia gets very angry with kara for a while bc she gets wanting to protect ppl, she gets being a hero, but what, are you just going to leave us?  

one time kara gets p hurt and maia storms out of the room when the family gathers around her and she wont talk to lena, wont talk to alex, and its against several warnings not to that kara gets out from under the sun lamps and goes after her.  it’s not an easy conversation, not by any means and maia’s angry at a a lot of things and kara’s only one of them, but she gets the brunt of it, gets the why don’t you ever think about us?  and the broken i don’t want you to die that comes after a fair amount of yelling and crying

kara doesn’t have a lot of answers that will satisfy maia, she knows, bc maia’s young still and hasn’t had much reason to see the good in people, doesnt have the same idealistic world view like finn, like kara, but what she lacks in solid answers, she makes up for in a hug that clocks in around twelve minutes at least and it’s not the end of the discussion, but its the end for now bc then maia’s remember that holy shit, my mom just got thrown through a building and is ushering kara back to the sun bed

finn’s so gentle, his heart just breaks every time kara gets hurt.  he cries for days in college once bc kara blows her powers in the middle of a fight and just keeps going bc back up wasnt coming and there were civilian lives at stake and he wanted to fly home to help, he wanted to, he wanted to so badly, but he couldnt, he was rooted in place watching the fight on the tv in the lounge, too afraid of the power he had to move

he feels a lot of guilt for that for a very long time, even after stella intervenes (she doesnt v often, only when she thinks it’s necessary) and kara talks to him, assures him there’s nothing for him to feel guilty for.  it takes years, rlly, for him to ever really forgive himself for not helping her, for not stepping in

mostly tho he steps in and fills the gap while kara’s down, takes maia to the demo room when her hands start shaking with rage, holds stella’s punching bag, stops by lena’s office when he’s on his way home from school to drop off a sandwich or salad or something just to make sure she eats.  bless him, he rarely confronts his own feelings about his mother’s second job, the risks she takes.  he can’t, you know?  they’re hard, difficult to handle, difficult to reign in, so he avoids thinking about it too hard until he’s forced it, then my sweet son just breaks down at the oddest moments, like in line at the grocery store or folding laundry or playing video games with his best friend.  just fucking sobs—its usually weeks after kara’s been hurt, and kara’s learned to be on the look out for him around this time, learned to keep half her attention searching the city for her son crying and when she hears it she just drops whatever she’s doing and goes to collect him.  they usually go get ice cream or maybe pizza, or sometimes take a walk along the pier.  sometimes kara will ask finn to teach her how to play whatever game he’s rlly into and she will act like she absolutely has no idea how to play it at first (even though she totally plays them)

and stella !!  stella, little stella always feels it the hardest, always takes her pain and grief and anger and fear and multiplies it, carries the weight of her family with her everywhere she goes.  even if she’s not watching kara fight off whatever evil is lurking in national city, she knows when it’s gone wrong bc lena always watches and the two ppl stella can feel the easiest, strongest, loudest are kara and lena.  she always feels it first

and then it’s agonizing hours of pain, wave after wave of horror and fear and it gets worse the more time she spends around her family—its always the worst from alex and lena, she gets flashes of what happened from alex, gets blood and the crack of bone, the echo of kara getting slammed into a wall or a truck or the pavement.  she gets these bits and pieces of horrible what ifs from lena, gets black suits and questions about kryptonian funerals.  it’s awful.  she doesnt want to be alone when its like this, but stella can hardly stand being around other people, like her own shit is hard enough to deal with, she doesnt need this too

she toughs it out every time tho, bc she’d rather live through it with them all, rather be right there when her mom wakes up than to be somewhere else.  her peace of mind isnt worth that much

eventually it spills over bc it has to, stella cant swallow these feelings forever.  it’s a few days after the latest scare and stella’s the only kid still at home, the only one that didn’t have to get back to school, so she’s spending the rest of her spring break on the couch with her mom while she recovers, while she recharges.  it’s fine one second, then kara gets up to get more popcorn or something and stubs her toe and since she’s still powerless, she actually winces and then stella’s thinking about it, thinking about how close they all came to losing her again and the thoughts and emotions sort of push their way into kara’s mind and stella knows the moment they do bc then kara’s stopped and is giving her this terrible, soft look

by this point, kara knows stella’s patterns like the back of her hand, knows that she wont talk about it until she’s ready, but that she’ll be ready a lot sooner now that kara knows what’s going on.  so she doesn’t say anything, just gets more popcorn and makes stella some tea while she’s up.  when she comes back to the couch, she pulls her daughter into a tight hug bc the sensory thing—that usually helps when she gets overwhelmed like this, too

i’m sorry you’re carrying this, kara tells her.  i’m sorry i can’t help.

stella nods.  i know

its almost enough to know that her mother would carry it if she could