#together they symbolize transformation from a bad situation to a good one

[floralstorms]

the botanist hemulen

[thelunarfairy]

Holiii, For a long time I have thought that JSHK's ending tells us or makes a metaphor for the end of the story.

So I decided to do a quick analysis of what the ending can tell us :)

First we see Nene walking and how she leaves her friends behind and how the further she goes things get worse, as if something bad was going to happen, because even though they are on the surface they are not safe.

In the next scene we see Tsukasa and Hanako walking towards where the other is, they get together and there is something bad, a problem, a catastrophe, as if in the place where they are both everything goes wrong.

Then there is the scene where Kou encounters Mitsuba but he disappears, while Kou remains on the surface and continues moving forward, which from my perception tells me that he will move forward with his life and will only be left with the memory of Mitsuba.

Then Nene is left alone and begins to join Hanakp, going deeper into the other side, giving what seems like a kiss with Hanako.

But they begin to sink and get deeper into this.

Nene transforms into a fish and leaves Hanako's hands, watching as Nene gradually moves away from him.

He takes it again to get it out of there, wanting to take it to the surface.

But it doesn't reach the surface, Hanako can no longer do anything but watch as she sinks deeper to the bottom.

Nene reaches the sky, he cries and there is a sun, but neither Hanako nor Nene are present.

What I understand is that Hanako made a new attempt to save Nene, but again it doesn't go well, he sees that Nene is in danger and tries to get her out of where she is with him, but she dies anyway, which will be a hard blow for him, that's why he sinks or maybe he sacrificed himself for the good of Nene's soul but that means he will cease to exist.

Another theory I have (that you already know) is that Nene will sacrifice herself for Hanako or to reverse the catastrophe that is happening.

There is a lot of symbolism in the ending, I would like you to give me your vision of what the ending can say :)

In fact there is a video in Spanish explaining certain ending things.

Is called: Teoria sobre la muerte de Yashiro nene, It's on YouTube and it's from the user Me No.

It seems to have a direct relationship with the day of separation.

Right at the beginning we see the sun and moon completing each other, then they are covered by clouds that rain in reverse, yes, the raindrops go up instead of going down. This could mean the return of time, or travel from it.

The near bank and the far bank, they oscillate at certain times, keeping this in mind, let's define that the light part is the near bank, life, and the red part is the far bank, death.

Yashiro is the only one who has a white reflection on the red part, representing that she will die soon. When the banks waver and the light part becomes dark, we see Nene being represented by a fish, showing the bond she created with Hanako and that she becomes a type of supernatural.

Following that, we have the twins part. Both are being represented in life, but for some reason, the margins are backwards, the light part is at the bottom and the red part is at the top. Perhaps this could mean the distant past (a hypothesis)

Or, a situation where both were alive but were already supernatural. The union of the twins results in a kind of large hitodama, as if the four were united, at the same time as two flowers (?) bloom on each side. They are also shaped very similar to a heart, so it is open to interpretation.

The moment this happens, the margins change again. We have the red part and the black part, inverted compared to Nene's.

Perhaps the flowers represent the twins and the hitodama the creature that is linked to them both. Assuming the two come together when the seal is removed, not just Tsukasa's but Hanako's as well, something could happen. And it doesn't look good. Both going in opposite directions.

We see Kou meeting Mitsuba, who after death becomes a camera that follows Kou, it's self-explanatory.

Then, we have Nene crossing to the far bank, where Hanako is.

This is where the key is.

The moment of the kiss

Nene went to the far shore to find Hanako and save Aoi. When the two reunite, they kiss. Just like what happened to them at the end.

Then Nene becomes a fish and Hanako throws her away, then sinks.

At this moment we can see a representation of previous events. There are two birds and two fish, they change positions simultaneously between the banks, which could mean the exchange of Aoi's life for Nene's.

Hanako pushes Yashiro away, throwing her into the clear part, part of life, it could represent the moment in which he saves Nene's life, leaves and closes the gates of the supernatural world.

We see Nene crying in the clouds, far from the banks, the drops fall normally, at the right time.

It suggests that it refers to the moment when Hanako tries to sacrifice Aoi and moves away from Nene, closing all the gates (most) to the distant bank. She cries about being away from him and her friend.

The only thing that is out of order is the kiss, considering that the ending scene is a kiss, if it is a hug, it fits perfectly, as they say goodbye with a hug before Hanako disappears.

If it's a kiss, it could just be the anticipation of the moment of reunion.

The order of events is not precise, so this opens up possibilities for discussions

[pianostarinwonderland]

Any theories on the new Halloween event? People are saying the boys are going to the twst version of pleasure island.

circus.

that's all i have to say.

No because, masquerade AND circus events, paired together??? That is a literal match made in heaven, especially for Twst. Pleasure Island is also the perfect setting for a circus themed event. Like, just look at this.

It's just so. good. for a circus theme.

Anywho, on any theories regarding how the story will go, hmmm well, Honest John and Gideon were essentially the ones who led Pinocchio to Pleasure Island. They're not the actual villains themselves, in fact, they're hired by the Coachman to lead boys to this island. Maybe in the event, they're also misled, which very much fits the theme of Twst and how its villains aren't simply 'bad' people.

If they're going with Pleasure Island, by God, it's going to be a really complex story. Pleasure Island is a place where bad boys are led to, and they can do anything there: eat to their heart's content, drink alcohol, smoke, etc. Do things that good kids don't do. But the longer they stay, the more they start to transform into donkeys. And once they completely turn into donkeys, the Coachman strips them of their clothes and ships them out to mines where they are made to labor. And according to the Disney wiki, the origin of Pleasure Island is from the original story where the donkey is a symbol of stupidity in Italy. So supposedly, the moral of the island is that boys who don't care about their education and moral code and engage in "jackass" behavior instead will grow up to become men who can't do anything except do backbreaking labor.

It's pretty haunting to think about. Makes me wonder how Twst will twist this to suit the game. Obviously the boys will make it out alive, but I wonder if the themes of the story will be the same. Or will there be some adjustments to accommodate our contemporary sentiments? Regardless, it's really interesting how both Glomas and the upcoming Halloween event tackle themes of morality. Glomas focuses on the high and mightiness of those who think that they're in the right, on the need for atonement. This event is likely going to tackle the other side, people who succumb to their desires too much that they forget their morals, and the consequences.

On the topic of SSRs, a lot of people are speculating Ace and Ortho. Some say Jade. Some say Jack.

I really do hope for Ortho SSR, as much as it may pain Ortho/Ignihyde fans. He and Pinocchio are so similar in that they're not human, yet they are alive in a way. As for Ace, I really see it! I think he fits the aesthetic very well, that's one. But more than that, Pinocchio is also a story of growing up, particularly in growing up to be the kind of person you want to be. You want to be a good person in society? A bad one? Or somewhere in between? And Ace's character arc is definitely ripe for that theme, because as of now, he's not even sure what he wants to be. His chances of being SSR are a little lower than Ortho's, but I still hold on to the idea that he would be an SSR.

I really do want both tweels to be SRs, not going to lie. But something that interests me is that Pleasure Island is advertised to be free. Free food, free alcohol, free tobacco. But it's not. For all that pleasure, you turn into a donkey. There was a price to pay. And that's very on brand for Octavinelle, so Jade being the third SSR is possible.

On the other hand, Jack being the third SSR would be so delicious. First of all, he's a fellow first year, so the theme of growing up would be so good. Secondly, he has strong principles, to the point of being rigid. It would be so good to see him placed in a situation where his morals are tested, where he has to learn the complexities of the real world while keeping his wits and principles about him.

Man, this event is going to be so good. I'm really excited for October. 😭

[nelfes]

9 and 10 violence ask game for Tales of Legendia

9. worst part of canon (aka wow this got long we will do the fanon one later)

Tales.of Legendia worst part of canon

Yes it took me a year to do this but I had to fit into my “looking at media through on a non biased lens” outfit on, you know how it is - esp w/ with blorbos and comfort media.

But I have many thoughts, several I've talked about before so let's go!!!

The one I've talked about before: and honestly a source of confusion for fandom I honestly can't fault them for - the conflation of Shirley’s romantic feelings for Senel and her care for Orerines as a whole

The ending of the main quest is beautiful, my favorite Tales of cutscene, and deeply symbolic. However!!! In terms of story telling? It simply does not work and leaves much to be desired

We have just found out that Maurits is not like Vaclav at all - taking the Legacy by force to endanger and conquer other nations; instead he is taking back a weapon of war that was used against his people as a tool of oppression. You, Senel and the party, are the aliens and invaders and have been all along. Shirley asks a pertinent question when she realizes this and for the first time in the entire game is given a choice in her actions with the assurance Senel believes she will arrive at a decision correct for her 

Call me whatever you like. But I won't let you kill these people [...] I understand now. Some people hate. Some forgive. So what should I do? What do I want to do? 

(I trust these people! I believe in the tomorrow that we build together! They have offered their hand, and I intend to accept it.)

It's a beautiful speech and one Go Tanaka most associates with Shirley’s character for good reason. Even after seeing the extent of the brutality and ugliness of the Orerines Shirley still tells Maurits she believes she can stop their cycle of hate and steps down from her role as his and their gods’ chief executioner.

But this has all hinged on Senel’s big declaration, one he only makes once Chloe&co convince him that staying away from Shirley after she’s told him she loves him is cowardly. Especially because his excuse is “my dead ex gf will be sad, her ghost told me ):”

His declaration to Shirley is that he trusts her and will no longer push aside her words of feeling as he has done for so long. It is the core of their conflict which reaches beyond the Senel-Stella-Shirley love triangle, and that is communication. Stella and Senel as her older guardians always hid things from her (like Senel’s past as a spy) and that is what causes her to snap, that the people who she treasures refuse to ever truly let her in.

But that doesn’t erase the romantic angle to Senel and Shirley’s reunion, and the Rite of Feriyen only exacerbates that issue as it’s introduced as a Ferines marriage ceremony. Sure, Tanaka meant for the final scene where the water lights up to be Nerifes accepting Shirley’s decision to co-exist with all the Orerines, but it’s emphasis on she and Senel holding hands muddles the issue.

The manga does this much better with the Ferines actively participating in the final fight and being horrified by the monstrous transformation of Nerifes!Maurits. In general, while removing much of the nuances to the Senel-Stella-Shirley drama the manga is incredibly respectful and empathetic toward the plight of the Ferines. Even Maurits. Walter's death, though bloodier, is meant to emphasize the terrible situation he was in as a child soldier and the scenes of Vaclav's torture are handled with care as are Fenimore's scars.

2. Let's talk Ferines

I honestly do not feel qualified to tackle this subject fully as it hinges on the treatment of indigenous people forcibly taken from their land and imprisoned. But that's the thing. That's an integral part of the Tales of Legendia universe - that is why the Legacy itself exists.

And as expected there's much good and bad with the portrayal here.

I think the Character Quest Interlude fail here, fail Thyra in general but that's an entirely different rant (gods the disparity between Fenimore and Thya I am soOOO). The Ferines in the aftermath of the Main Quest are no longer being shipped around in military facilities but neither do they have sovereignty or even a land, and it is a real shame that Shirley does not have to deal with that considering home/belonging is such an integral part of her character. This is such a missed opportunity.

Going to end this here until I have more/better researched things to say (I am a white anthropology student, my ideas really aren't game changing) but I think it's worth noting that the Ferines architecture seems clearly influenced by Ryukyu island culture. I think it's worth noting how Japan treats that culture.

[zealousfandoms]

Flore'gez The Methonasian

@sweetpeaches666 @simply02artists

(Warning:Mentions of child abuse, abduction, trauma and heavy mentions of things here be warned.)

•Flore'gez is one of Ben's Donor's of his Methonasian transformation (aka Swampfire.) And making Flor one of Ben's dads he's about 29-30 years old so about his prime he's very young. Unlike his other dad's tho he didn't willingly give his DNA to Myaxx it was Bad Myaxx still insisted which nearly got her head cut off,burned and probably impaled on a tree

•He didn't willingly gave his DNA up well he did technically he was just convinced by Myaxx who is about 1 inches to be cut off in half by Flor 😅 but eventually he gave in. But with clarification from Myaxx and her praying she won't die too early he let her go on the condition if anything happened with his DNA or whatever they used on it he will come after her and destroy what was used to his DNA. In fear she immediately bolted with his DNA and Flor just going back to business.

•Flor adores children very much.. seeing them frollic and play warmed his heart and such innocence they pose.. he gets aggressive and so overprotective of any children if harmed.. he's like a beast who guards his own kits even if they weren't his own. He never hated any children not even if let's say Albedo was turned into a 5 year old child of Ben he would take him in with no question. (Picture Albedo would be confused and terrified with the whole situation, in Flor's eyes child is child plural.)

•Ben's other dad's would have mixed feelings with Flor. On the other hand they saw him a monster but also some felt bad. They have never seen such a being so broken and brought back together it was like finding peices of a mentally sane person in a black ocean. Galapagus tried to help him but you can see he wasn't successful. he he's beyond his own mind now. the only thing that makes him move is if he's out "Hunting" or when he's near people he loved which is Ben.

•He never hurts Ben's other dad's the good ones atleast (he liked Galapagus, Prisoner 775, Tetrax and a few others because they have either went through the same as him or felt bad. Galapagus wanted to help him) for just being people who understand him or try to help him the evil ones.. well let's just say he once nearly tied Transyl at a tree and waited for the sun to rise. Dissapointingly Transyl still lived because Ben didn't want that and also because Ben and his human family is there.. he doesn't want them to witness someone dying. Maybe one day he could chuck Transyl in the sun.

•Flor hates Royal people or Prideful aliens in a way.. (they also were like "Him") because when the war happened before Flor was left alone an orphan he roamed the desolate place of what was once Flor's home. Flor basically roamed around the universe fleeing from his home after seeing such devastation until he was taken in by some not so good crowd. Flor thought he had found someone he can depend on.. what a mistake he thought.

•Flor wasn't initially bad or did what he does out of just because he wanted too back then he has normal life, two loving parents and he's actually technically royalty in a sense back home in Methanos his father was a Cheif, sadly that was when War was still raging through the galaxies. Flor's parents were the unfortunate cost of this fight both dying in eachothers embrace to save there species. And hopefully for there son to survive.. Flor's Parents are both males (yeah they gay :D) one of his dad's is Gladious he got his intimidating face from him also his beauty. And his name is based on the flower Gladiolus flowers, they represent a lot of things and ones of those they can mean strength and perseverance, while other times, the long flowers symbolize remembrance and the honoring of passed loved ones. And his other dad is Bellis which is a nod to the daisy flower that represents purity, innocence, new beginnings, joy and cheerfulness. He's a little silly and Ben might have got that sillyness and joking attitude Swampfire actually resembled him.

•Flor owns a trench coat. Which wasn't his. The trench coat used to belong to an owner and leader of the not so good crowd mentioned he was at the top highest of wanted criminals for Child kidnappings, illegal market, Poaching of Alien species and many more this person owned a lot of people for his bidding an empire. His group went to Methanos after seeing the devestation they were there to steal loot but they found something even better. A Methonasian Child.. from then on they used this child as new game Flor realizing he was used as a pawn after so long snapped and proceeded to kill him and everyone he never left one unscathed.. those who did survive bow down before him in fear. He ruined the trench coat and remade it in his own style ereasing every part of that man especially his smell. Flor's own wax fragrant skills play here now. but it still stays as a testimony for his acheivement.

•He has many scars and bruises from his past that he refused to show even to others like Ben so he wore large and long sleeved clothes he looked more like a typical dad would but he doesn't always liked wearing others that aren't his trench coat because he never liked how he looked. In Methanos he's considered beautiful not just for his colors but his eyes and his body which is feminine despite him being male. His eyes were beautiful Amber and below is a mixed of purple which made it look like his eyes were the setting dawn of the morning.. a rare exotic beauty.

•Flor was manipulated, bred and born to fight that is his purpose the purpose those people ingrained in his head.. "doesn't matter if you live or not, as long as you get the job done.. you are useful"

•they used Flor's greif and anger against his better judgement and turned a child into a killing machine. Other than being a teen at a young age.. the kicker would have been that they made him do other stuff. Other than stealing, killing, drug dealing and other stuff. He was used as entertainment for sick people in clubs.. and Flor didn't even had a choice if he wanted too he only obeyed. And he came back the next day with those aliens paying with grins.. he only looked down and said nothing.

This is also part of that scenario where he does so we'll undercover in Clubs and in the night. It's basically second nature.. even if that didn't stop the trauma he had endured in a young age. He also felt grief for all those children he has neglected in his care when he was still that man's pawn. He always reassured and played with those children they called him there "big brother" because he's the only thing they had to one maybe even slipped to "Dad" frankly he didn't knew either and he was a victim of manipulation when he found out what happened to those children who went through the door and never came back.. he lost his mind that day and his greatest failure.

•Flor has Trauma and Insomnia in some cases he also has Hallucination hearing and seeing things his mind is warped in every way of reality.

•He owned a giant Tetramand Pole Axe he got it after ambushing a female Tetramand in Methanos. But he claimed it as his own now and as his new favorite weapon amongst a few others.

•He does love Ben even if Ben hadn't met him yet but when he found out he has a son he immediately tracked him and when he found out who his son is.. and what his life is.. he is set to protect him. In the shadows. Until Ben met him one night after getting news that some bad guys are up to no good only to find Flor covered in blood and the start of there meeting.

Flor up close.

(Originally he is gonna be in Sweeetpeaches666 au of Shapeshifter Ben AU but I got hooked with my character and now he's officially my oc other than the Shapeshifter Ben AU there is a lot more I wanted to add about Flor and a few wrong grammar's 😅 and more about Flor but maybe some other time.. and it's also near Christmas so merry Christmas 🎄🎁!)

[septembersghost]

Since you are having a harry day, I love how harry's song doesn't give you much tea. Like if we listen to Taylor's songs we know which one's about joe,harry,Jake etc....like she uses different imagery for each. She used red colour for jake to symbolize how painful and passionate it was, fire imagery for harry because it was easily extinguishabld but have potential to burn brightly, golden for joe because his heart is gold and it is good,beautiful, valuable all at the same time.She also narrates well. But harry simply confesses his thoughts and feelings as a song without having a backing narrative. So it means different things to different people. This is why he doesn't explain songs. As a private person it allows him to be vulnerable without people using it as a double edged sword (like Taylor). So we live in a world where grape juice is about olivia or ex or something else theories can coexist because it is vague on purpose. We enjoy the song for what it means for us, not what happened in his life or who it's about.

i get where you're coming from, i have a lot of complicated thoughts about this! for me personally: We enjoy the song for what it means for us this remains true for me for every artist i love and connect to, whether i know the specific details or not, but i understand that varies from listener to listener.

with taylor, her strength is in such strongly personal writing - whether it's diaristic, as a lot is, or more loosely autobiographical but with some fantasy sprinkled in (ie: folkmore) - she is beautifully adept and giving details to paint a picture, being self-referential, leaning on specific metaphors and imagery to conjure specific situations. and for those of us who've been here for a long time, there's a richness in that because we can piece the stories together, understand exactly what she's talking about, and click in to each emotional facet, each story, as they transform and as they're a part of her. the magic of it is then when we take those songs, knowing what/who they're about, and transform them into our own. since i'm a documented red stan, i'll use that as an example - my mind, of course, knows those songs are centered on jake, and can analyze them from that perspective and empathize with what she's detailing, how that relationship made her feel, why it affected her deeply. but then the songs also have that other life in my brain, where they're mine, and subjectively emotional about my own memories, or my own associations to apply to them. same, with, say, my love for lover. i have never been in love like that, i've never had a longtime partner, so technically i have no real way to relate to the full depth of love she feels for joe and the golden daylight of that, and YET, it still totally resonates because i'm a romantic, because i love love as a concept, and because it was such a source of warmth and comfort to me in a dark time that it took on its own happiness and meaning. the archer being so dear to me and so relatable when it's all centered inwardly. "help me hold on to you" more being about life itself than a loved one. and i think there's real value in BOTH aspects of her art.

unfortunately, taylor has had constant inescapable media scrutiny, and we have the knowledge of all of these things, so we can pinpoint relationships and inspiration, and it's impossible to talk about her intent without mentioning those relationships and events. idk if it's fair to categorize it as "tea," even though maybe we unavoidably make it that. when it's weaponized against her, that double edged sword as you mention, it's awful because it isn't her fault, and it's like...she should be allowed to speak her truth and process her experiences without shame, and the amount of cruelty and misogyny and trauma she's endured is terribly unfair. the fact that our analyses in relation to her voice and her way of telling these stories relies on that awareness isn't a bad thing, it simply. is.

She used red colour for jake to symbolize how painful and passionate it was, fire imagery for harry because it was easily extinguishabld but have potential to burn brightly, golden for joe because his heart is gold and it is good,beautiful, valuable all at the same time. i just want to say that i love how you phrased all this, and agree.

and then harry to me, his approach is more like stream-of-consciousness or even conversational. and he's fortunate that he has been able to keep some things more private, by far the songs dissected most are the one we know are connected to taylor, so is that really an effect from him, or from her? it's a conundrum, and we all navigate a balance in that however we can.

he does use illustrative details - the fridge light washes this room white, there's no water inside this swimming pool, does he take you walking 'round his parents' gallery, the coffee's out at the beachwood cafe, kiss in the kitchen like it's a dance floor, you sunshine/you temptress/my hand's at risk, i fold/crisp trepidation/i'll try to shake this soon, you sit high atop the kitchen counter, you're trying to lift off the ground on those old two wheels, you showed me a power that's strong enough to bring sun to the darkest days - but he's also a bit more abstract. i don't know if this comparison will make sense, but i think of taylor as a pre-raphaelite painter, and harry as an impressionist. both have distinct beauty, but capture the picture differently.

like this

both are women in gardens with roses, both are beautiful, but the way they depict the scenes has a different effect. the brush strokes, the details, they evoke their own atmosphere. the distinction makes them their own special artists, and i love being able to discuss that, and am grateful to have/keep both.

[arcane-temp-fandomblog]

Arcane plotlines / Shimmer & Chemtech - Zaun's national exports

So this is continuation of Arcane plotlines / Fissures, illness & mines . Shimmer & Chemtech are one of few - aside from cheap labour - quality products of Zaun's economic situation. We get to know one of Zaun's native tech's shimmer and it's development really well, but very little about chemtech. And then we also see shimmer no. 2 or some other substance - the orange one.

It's good to remember that no tech in this story is good/bad - it's always how one uses it. Shimmer is best example - it can save someone from brink of death and destroy someone else.

While political-economic subjects are not at the forefront of season 1 - imo. it's only because most characters have not exchange any information about what they know, and most - mainly Caitlyn - even don't know what they don't know.

So we need to trust our eyes and go to our main source of reliable information broken-dreamer turned mob-dad Silco and his export enterprise. This is what brings him and Jayce together in the end to arrange Zaun's independence. Unsuccessfully, but hey - season 2 goals.

Shimmer was developed by Singed, most probably while attempting to ease pain of countless surgeries of his daughter as her body was failing from being poisoned by chemical spill. Likely somewhere between Viktor's first flashback and him joining Silco - her body failed completely or she was completely transformed into automaton. One way or another shimmer was developed too late to save Orianna as she was.

Shimmer has many qualities - eases pain, literally and symbolically, of people of the undercity. But we know from Sevika's arm that it's not clear cut case if you succumb to shimmer addiction and/or how quickly. Anyway Caitlyn the ex-enforcer is on the Grand Conspiracy case to bring the proof to Marcus, so she wants to find culprit responsible for all the misery of the undercity.

Then uses shimmer to save Vi from her wounds. Irony, right?

I'm just going to assume it's not shimmer that causes the undercity's misery, shimmer overuse is the symptom.

Anyway from the 2nd act intro song - Dirty Little Animals - we get more shimmer info:

Such a lovely way to burn burn burn I never felt like this before I think I might just want some more (...) It makes your blood run hot It makes your spit taste sweet It makes you feel more alive Than you have ever been Throw it into your mouth Gets stuck between your teeth Why would you die up there When you can live underneath (...) Novicane Never same Giving local luck But when you go under you will never go back up

Novocaine works by blocking the nerves in your body from sending pain signals to your brain. / google It's good to remember that from Council Archives and from the show we learn that a lot of people sympathise with Silco's vision of independent Zaun. Not only Babbette and Jericho kind of only not answer Vi questions - everyone knows Powder became Jinx, just Vi quest is less important than Silco's goal. Babbette life is better ie.

But more importantly Silco has more sway than the chembarons in ordinary people working for their mob enterprise (from CRIMINAL PROFILE - WORK IN PROGRESS "CHROSS")

NE: Chross? What do you want to know? (...) ENFORCER: Did you know that he's from Piltover? NE: He may come from up here, but he's a citizen of the nation of Zaun. ENFORCER The what? NE: An independent nation. If we don't get the luxuries of living under you, why should we be ENFORCERed by your laws? Should we not make our own? A government that works for us instead of against us?! (...)ENFORCER: Someone else. His boss? NE: I ain't telling you EXPLETIVE.

Remember, loyalty. Shimmer became Silco's export product - through Piltover's Hexgates. Where? To Noxus most likely. Or Ionia. Both? Since there are bribes involved - we already know that's it's not easy to smuggle illegal things out of Hexgates. For Silco that is or the undercity. Right?

But then the tragedy struck all the underhanded hexgates exports, Jinx herself.

And well that gets Jayce and Viktor called in like two schoolboys into the council meeting, Jayce being recommended to protect the safety of Piltover as new councilor.

The wine must flow, among other things.

And Jayce conscientiously sets on this security task like a man who never stepped a foot out of his lab and understood the system... or on path to fix Piltover's security in another way than closing Hexgates, by tightening security of the Hexgates. Which as we'll learn in the same episode is as if he closed Hexgates.

See Silco exploited the loose Hexgate security to benefit of his own goal - Nation of Zaun, but there are more important people and institutions benefitting passively or actively from lack of security. Because tightening of security leads to this:

I love two well three things about this scene. Well four. Five:

1. Heimerdinger may appear uncorrupt but one doesn't need to engage in active acts of corruption to benefit from it. It really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things if you take bribe to the hand or through an institution, right? I mean Academy is his crowning project of the city that is the bastion of enlightenment.

2. Amara is harmless btw. that's why enforcer went knocking at her door. Imo. Amara is the main export trader of Zauns other good - chemtech. This is where shipment manifestos pointed.

3. Councilor Salo and Hoskel have this little friendly trade with Noxus, they ship them wine - and Noxus ships them spirits. And also the two of them always vote together. 'Coz they hate each other... oh Jayce.

4. Mel wins this convo with Jayce and get's eveything she wants.

5. From now onwards - Jayce, without realising it (until going to the undercity), has become the most economically powerful lobbyist in position of power. Thanks to Hexgates illegal trade. Haha. Irony.

This is the reason all of them vote out Heimerdinger from the council, and this is the reason why while screaming objections they still vote for the peace deal and independent Zaun.

Personal Hexgates profits > profits from the undercity, well Personal Hexgates profits trump everything for the council.

Fictional mechanics of politics are just as strange as real world politics. Right?

Anyway, now for less well known of Zaun's products - Chemtech.

We only hear about it from Caitlyn's files, and of course Vi doesn't take her on her little revenge ride - just her not-brother. Because Caitlyn would recognise those suits as belonging and developed for Renni and immediately know they are not one off as stolen by her files suggested (in plain sight / council archives). Also would know that missing children were involved and some child experiments - I mean a hospital. Well we'll know more since Marcus led this case so who knows whose mess he was covering up, but the jist and more is in Arcane plotlines / Fissures, illness & mines :

ENFORCER The chemicals… What did they do? BGW I don't know. ENFORCER Was it shimmer? BGW Not like any shimmer I'd seen before. ENFORCER How was it different? BGW It powered their machines. ENFORCER These illegal experiments. BGW...Yes. ENFORCER And did you ever catch a glimpse of who was running things? BGW She wore a suit- UNKNOWN Officer, stop the recording.

Chemtech will probably be one of the main storylines in season 2. This is root of Caitlyn's Grand Conspiracy, this is what she needs to solve, not Shimmer.

We also know from lore that Warwick hunts down chembarons, Ekko as well, Viktor kind of has a big issue with them, and most other characters from Zaun do. So I can only assume it's a storyline.

We also know chemtech is made from sump toxins, probably distilled. But then was engineered on human subjects?

Anyway Silco's aim to built up Nation of Zaun has gifted him - his own corrupt version of council. The chembarons, but he can control them much better - just with force and a little scare. All that to say, Renni is one of them:

And she has her mechendise frozen at the border, what is it?

I assume chemtech.

Because funny enough chemtech has been acquired from Zaun by Noxus as weapons of mass destruction in Ionia. So few possible links:

1. Mel by accident helped her brother to export through harmless Amara chemical weapons from Zaun. Her brother is dead for it, just Ambessa doesn't know why he died. Or does know.

2. The man with a grudge against Medarda clan can by lore only be : Urgot - who ends up in Zaun (if he hasn't already) or Darius - who takes whole Noxian honour seriously and lost his lover/co-warrior when she left Noxian army after seeing the devastation chemtech created. Both are executioners, lol.

Oh and we know something somewhere makes sense for Jayce and Silco.

Funny detail from Caitlyn's council archives, Silco asked Chross's (another chembaron from Piltover) hitman to leave old Progress Day pins on every hit. That self-made man just keeps on giving with his salt against Piltover. And honorable mention, imo,. Shimmer 2.0 - the orange one (lime green may be chemtech) Singed manage to complete to finally revived Vander... er... Warwick. We know these two substance don't point to Silco - that's why they're in "it's the firelights" grenade Jinx makes. I think.

And that these two neutralise each other? Maybe.

But since Singed researches substances from flowers, I think it may be plausible that another person stumbled on the same properties - one who also researches flowers/plants and comes from similar place - Sky Young. Other posts by me - Arcane meta analysis posts - mostly politics, tech and character parallels.

[stxleslyds]

Robin Jason, a friend and ally of the Titans.

PART 1.

Last Friday I was feeling extra rage-y after the news about the Titans mini with the Titans show line-up of heroes. I still think that a) Jason shouldn’t be considered a Titan or be in the team as Red Hood and b) that him going back to wearing a bat symbol on his chest is just bad but as @randomlut said there is a possibility of that book not being set in DC’s current universe and if that’s the case then okay, I will not complain about it anymore.

But this post isn’t about that Titans book it’s about Jason’s Robin’s appearances in volume two of the New Teen Titans!

Now, this won’t be an in-depth review of those issues from a story point of view, it will be a post in which I talk about Jason’s characterization and interactions with the Titans. Maybe I will even dive a little bit into why I think that the interactions that Jason and Roy have in those issues makes the relationship that they had in New52 very out of place.

Let’s begin!

·         NTT (1984) #19

Jason as Robin appears here only in the last page of the issue. After the current team of the Titans appears to be falling apart Donna calls Jason and others to help in a mission, this team that she puts together resembles the “original” line-up with Robin, Speedy, (Kid) Flash, Aqualad and Hawk.

·         NTT (1884) #20-21

Jason appears in the Titans tower along the OG Titans, when Donna finally tells them what the mission is all about (stopping Cheshire from interrupting a meeting) she asks if they are in on the job, Jason is not only excited about being there but about Batman actually letting him come all the way to the tower. A little bit of what Jason thinks or saw in Bruce is shown when Wally says that he “didn’t think the Batman could be thrilled by anything. He is always so grim.”

Basically, what Jason says is that the Bat isn’t that bad if you get to know him and that he cares about Jason’s education outside of vigilantism. Also, Jason seems to be grateful and very receptive of the things that Bruce taught him, he regards him as a very good mentor.

After everyone decides to help, they get on their jet. Here we have a very important interaction between Jason and Donna, she is telling him how she is feeling about the attitude of the rest of the team and about how she is a little bit lost now that she is in charge of the Titans and then she asks what Robin thinks about the whole thing, Jason is obviously thrilled once more, someone as experienced as Donna is asking him for his opinion? It blows his mind away! Batman never does that, he is always following his lead and never has a say on what they do so, to him, helping the Titans is only getting better and maybe he will ask the Bat to let him join them permanently.

Because they were talking Donna wasn’t paying much attention while flying and after they barely avoid crashing the jet, she apologizes to everyone and once more looks for reassurance with Jason, this time Jason is caught off guard but after Hawk teases him about his hesitation he tells her that “everything’s okay”.

When they arrive to Switzerland (where the meeting will be held) we have Jason’s first interaction with Roy Harper and him also slowly transforming into a burrito, that boy was cold and pissed off about it!

It’s really funny to me that Roy talking about Oliver’s pervy arrows is his very first interaction with Jason, who would have thought that a mad man would later make them besties?

They all go inside a building to get warm and for a while Jason is just chilling while the other Titans are all having an existential crisis, because here is the thing, Jason is a kid, he was presumably 14 here while all the other are in their twenties. Donna is having trouble with her new position as leader of the Titans, Wally is trying to live up to Barry, Garth is grieving his love, Roy is still very uncomfortable about being on a mission that involves Cheshire and Hank is just crazy. The others are trying to complete a mission while their real-life problems loom over them and Jason is just on an adventure with cool people.

Its not much later than Cheshire attacks the Titans, she first takes on Wally because he is her biggest threat and then detonates a bomb, now here I will give a little bit of context, Cheshire does not want to kill the Titans as of now, she just wants to incapacitate them because them being there is making her own mission more complicated, all I will say is that she doesn’t truly have villainous intentions and that she has a very weak spot for Roy.

Anyway, the bomb incapacitates Garth and Roy and Cheshire also managed to shoot Wally so only Donna, Hank and Jason are left standing to capture Cheshire, but here is the thing, Hank doesn’t want to capture her, he wants to kill her.

Jason has interacted very few times with Hank so far and it has always been Hank teasing him but now as Jason is going to fight Cheshire Hank interrupts him telling him that he will do “what has to be done”. Cheshire of course wont fall easily and I think that at this very moment she is thinking that killing Hank wouldn’t be a bad idea because he is going to mess her plans up! But not to worry as she is raising her gun Jason comes in to save his ass!

Jason is not a match for Cheshire and after that she quickly subdues him. But what’s important here is two things, first Jason doesn’t want or consider the idea of killing Jade, he just wants to capture her and bring her to justice, secondly, he doesn’t even want her to kill Hank, who has been violent towards every Titan and rude to Jason every single time that he has interacted with him. What I am trying to say is that this IS Robin Jason, he doesn’t think or act the same as Red Hood will in the future, he has his opinions on what punishments killers should get but he is not there to kill anyone himself.

There is this whole page where Donna beats Hank against a tree so he stops killing, because that’s not what the Titans do, she explains that if they do that then the public (that is already quite afraid of them) will just fear them more and they don’t need that, plus she believes that he is acting that way out of grief after losing his brother, as she is saying all of this though she is putting quite a lot of pressure on his chest and that might have ended up in her actually killing Hank if Jason hasn’t been there to stop her.

Donna is obviously not having a good time and after this she says that she “has had it” and that from now on Robin should “take command” because “its his group anyway”. Oh man…its clear to the reader that Donna is not having a good time being team leader but she also misses a certain person a lot. She is obviously not seeing Jason there, she is seeing Dick, the person that she is used to take orders from but he is not there.

Jason is aware of this, he might be a kid and might not have as many problems as the other Titans as of now but he is not a fool and he doesn’t want people to see someone else when they look at him, so he confronts Donna about what she just said/did.

Jason is just great in this scene; he just doesn’t want people that he admires to treat him as if he were someone that he isn’t. Just because Dick isn’t there doesn’t mean that he (because he is Robin) can replace him, they are not the same person and they do not have the same experience. He calls out Donna on her behaviour towards him and Donna being an adult takes responsibly for her actions and understands that ultimately, she was hurting Jason’s feelings. We have a kinda wholesome moment when they hug but because this is written by Marv Wolfman and he just can’t help himself, he proceeds to write Jason as a horny teenager. What a way to ruin the moment Marv…

Back to Cheshire, she is about to kick Wally’s face in when she decides to first tell him what he has to tell the others when they wake up, which is “Cheshire remembers”.

Wally tells the Titans Cheshire’s message but none of them truly understands what it means, Hank says that he doesn’t even understand why they are alive. Donna comes to the conclusion that Cheshire might want something from them and this is where Jason gives his thoughts, he says “Doesn’t matter what she wants. We take care of her. She’s a killer.”, its clear once more than although Jason (as Robin) wouldn’t kill anyone he does feel a certain type of way about criminals and wants them to be locked up.

After yet another verbal fight between Hank and Donna the Titans take a cable car to their next location, Jason is shown as exited about the view and the whole experience once more. When they arrive, they find Faraday (the guy that called Donna for help in #19) and he explains a bit more the situation but Jason once more is having trouble staying warm so he goes to the cable car tunnel nearby, but he doesn’t go alone, Roy goes with him because his “costume wasn’t made for this kind of weather either”, in this second interaction between these two we get to see Jason’s detective skills shine.

Jason has been watching Roy and he found his reaction to Cheshire’s message quite sus. Not only is he showing his detective skills here but he also said in a previous panel this: “The Batman keeps telling me to watch people’s eyes. And every so often I notice you become awfully agitated…like something was going on you didn’t want to be part of”.  Zdarsky, hey pal, I am talking to you, look at this dude! He read Roy like an open book, this is Robin Jason, he likes being Robin and he is brilliant at it, he is methodical because he learnt from paying attention and working with Batman, so, you sir are wrong, not only did UtRH disprove your dumb narrative but so does this interaction (along all his appearances in this book).

Roy is impressed by the kid, and yeah, he calls him kid because he is a kid…Roy is visibly older than Jason as he should, do you see it Lobdell? Yeah, there is no dubious age gap between those two as you made it seem. Roy is impressed because between both of them he is the one that is most experienced, not the other way around. How did Lobdell manage to make up a whole as run where not only were Roy and Jason close in age and besties but also Jason was better at vigilantism than Roy and Roy was the one being impressed. It’s wild, wild and bad.

Back to the issue, Jason taken out of the fight quite fast once more by Cheshire and she proceeds to talk to Roy, that’s where we find out that they were lovers and that she feels weak when she is around him because he makes her feel feelings but that’s not all, she tells Roy that he is “the man that fathered my child” …Oh and now she does want to kill him. That’s where #20 ends, so let’s see what happens with Jason in #21.

In the beginning of #21 Jason is conscious once more and when he hears Cheshire’s threat, he attacks her so she can’t shoot Roy, he also says this “Sorry ‘cat’ that’s a definite no-no. Don’t you know mommy’s and daddies should never fight” I, I don’t know why he had to say it like that…the 80s were weird. While Jason is being himself Roy is thinking “Don’t be cocky kid, Jade hasn’t got a sense of humour…” but because he wants to talk to Jade, he tells Jason to go, that he will handle Cheshire and he leaves.

Roy and Jade talk, Donna and Hawk are fighting bad guys and each other and at some point, Jason joins Garth and helps him take down a couple of guys, he also tries to make conversation with him but Garth is still not talking to anybody.

Cheshire tells Roy that he will never hear about their child again and that he needs to let her do her thing and stay out of it because he doesn’t understand what’s going on, Roy doesn’t do what she asks and she “poisons” him. Donna saves a guy that Hank was trying to kill. After Cheshire leaves Roy comes to the conclusion that she wasn’t there to kill the people from the meeting or that she poisoned him, but because they were there and everything went to shit now the people that were getting together are blaming the Titans for the interruption. The whole thing is a mess and the news channel are not nice about the Titans as a whole, but I am not interested in exploring that here. All you need to know is that the people that made Cheshire do what she did to the Titans were the Brother Blood people.

It’s on the jet that we see Jason again, he and the others are going back to the tower. Because the news are painting the Titans as bad when they are arriving to the tower Jason sees a lot of people protesting about them and he feels bad. This was his first job with the Titans and he is a kid, imagine how sad it would make you if you wanted to help and after getting the job done people were mad at you. But even though he is sad about that he takes time to ask Roy if he is okay after he sees him almost running away from the tower, he doesn’t get a response but he isn’t mad about it.

Jason’s stay with the Titans comes to and end and he says that he loved hanging out with them and is grateful for having been invited, he is so sweet!

·         NTT (1884) #24

Here, for some reason, we see Jason saying goodbye to the Titans again and unlike at the end of #21 Roy is there to see him leave.

I am not going to lie though; I liked this goodbye better it feels like it’s more complete than the other one. Here he says that Batman wants him back in Gotham but that if the Titans ever need him again all they need to do is call. He also mentions Nightwing which is funny because he will be called by Donna again in #26 to help the Titans get Dick back from Brother Bloods Church.

I am going to cut this part here because issues 26 to 31 have a lot of Jason content that I want to explore and I can’t put any more pictures here, also this post is already long as it is now!

I just love Jason’s little moments in these issues, him confronting Donna and reading Roy like and open book in #20 are my absolute favourite, I just think this is a nice way to kinda show how wrong some current characterizations of Robin Jason are and what better way to do that than reading and looking into some good stories.

Oh! Before I forget, in #21 Roy leaves the Titans’ tower to go see Jade and he actually gets to meet his daughter Lian for the first time, so yeah, that was a wholesome moment!

[oonajaeadira]

The Mandalorian Tarot: Major Arcana

If you’re following me, you know this is a Mandalorian obsessive account. I love the man, I love the show, I write a Mando-fando that is all about pining and touch. I tend to go all in when I have an interest. 

Another one of my interests? Tarot. A friend challenged me to Mandalorify the major arcana. And because Jon and Dave know their stuff and are good with archetypes (which is all tarot really is), it was an easy fit.

YOU GOT MANDO IN MY TAROT. YOU GOT TAROT IN MY MANDO. TWO GREAT TASTES THAT TASTE GREAT TOGETHER.

But. I can’t draw, so I’ve dreamed them in words and included the Rider-Waite-Smith deck illustrations that I would riff on if I could.

READY? LET’S PLAY.

(All tarot illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith. All Mandalorian images property of Star Wars/Disney.)

UPDATE! @heathenashtattoos​ has taken up where I cannot and is making these cards a reality! I will post them individually and come back to link them to this post as we go.

0 THE FOOL = THE MANDALORIAN / IT IS MADE! --->

The story of the tarot is the Fool’s journey, the arc of becoming. So it makes sense to me that Din would be the fool. Fits even better, since he has tremendous Fool energy in his himbo tendencies, just rushing forward into situations without a lot of planning--he’ll deal with it when he’s in it--ready to rely on others to show him the way or guide/help him to the next step.

If I could draw: Din on the cliff, with his jetpack on, meaning he has no fear of falling. Instead of the bindle-stick the Fool carries, he’d have his pulse rifle slung over his shoulder. Instead of the dog nipping at his heels, Grogu. And, of course, the landscape would be Tatooine/Navaro-esque.

~~~

1 THE MAGICIAN = LUKE SKYWALKER , IT IS MADE! --->

The Magician is someone who is still learning to bend the laws of magic/the Universe, but very adept with their tools. Since Luke is only a few years into his Jedi training at this time, he makes a pretty good Magician.

If I could draw: Luke in his blacks, holding up his lightsaber. The Jedi symbol would replace the infinity sign. 

***

2 THE HIGH PRIESTESS = AHSOKA TANO / IT IS MADE! -->

High Priestess is further along the path of her magic than Magician, and her knowledge is more intuitive, her skills more effortless. Where the Magician is still learning the balance of light and dark, the High Priestess knows the value and pitfalls of both. It was always going to be Ahsoka.

If I could draw: Ahsoka sitting cross-legged in meditation mode, but with eyes open and a knowing smile. Instead of two pillars, she holds her lightsabers up and parallel to each other.

***

3 THE EMPRESS = PELI MOTTO / IT IS MADE! -->

The Empress is the mother figure, the energy in the universe that provides all that is needed and embodies the energy of creation. I can see the argument for Omera being the Empress--mostly because she is a mom and she’s soft and a lot of people see the Empress as a soft female figure, I get it. (And if I were to do a minor arcana, girl would show up as one of the Queens for sure.) But in the end, I gave it to Peli because she’s a recurring character, more relevant in his story, and if Din is the Fool, Peli is more an Empress to him. She’s able to be the provider of his particular needs; services to his ship to get him up flying, contact and location information, and she’s always willing to care for Grogu whenever she gets the chance.

If I could draw: Peli sitting in the dock, against the R4 unit, holding aloft a spanner and surrounded by her pit droids.

***

4 THE EMPEROR = BOBA FETT / IT IS MADE! -->

The Emperor is all about authority. And all I gotta say about Boba is BIG DICK ENERGY.

If I could draw: Just put him on the Jabba throne and let him lounge like a badass.

~~~

5 THE HIEROPHANT = THE ARMORER / IT IS MADE! -->

The Hierophant is the keeper of traditions and a spiritual guide. As the leader of the covert and keeper of the Way, The Armorer fits.

If I could draw: The Armorer, framed by her forge, holding aloft her tools, with Mandalorian acolytes. Instead of the crossed keys at the bottom, let’s just have a mythosaur skull.

***

6 THE LOVERS = FROG LADY AND FROG HUSBAND

This should be obvious and I will fight anyone who says it isn’t the right thing to do. I will die for this.

If I could draw: I would actually depart from the Smith depiction and just draw them embracing or holding each other by the arms and staring into each others’ eyes. Some kind of glowing background? Maybe the egg tank?

***

7 THE CHARIOT = THE MUDHORN

Oh. You thought I was going to say the Razor Crest, didn’t you. Don’t worry, I have plans for our beloved craft, but it ain’t here. The Chariot can be a ride, yes, but it’s about victory. Sometimes it’s about the victory over your inner “beastly” natures. To travel to the next phase in the journey, the Fool must take on the beasts that drive the Chariot and claim dominance over them, and when he does, they will carry him to the next level. Since it’s the victory of the beastly mudhorn that brings Din to his bond with Grogu and becomes his signet, Mudhorn for the win.

If I could draw: Again, I’d probably play on Smith’s imagery, put the charging mudhorn in the middle, and replace the rams with Din on his knees brandishing the vibroblade and Grogu in his pram with his Force hand up.

***

8 STRENGTH = CARA DUNE

Don’t come at me about including Cara. I am glad Gina got shown the door and I lose no love on that bigot. But. Cara is not Gina and to cut her out is to cut out Jon and Dave’s creation and I won’t do it.  I actually love her a lot--she’s got her flaws, but she’s sassy and strong and solid, and I would happily accept a piggyback ride from her any day. She’s also a major player in Din’s story and deserves a spot in it. Strength comes after the Chariot--once you’ve conquered the beast within, you have confident dominion over it and it becomes a companion or a tool for your use. Cara is one with her toughness, she’s used it to do some good and bad shit in her past, and she continues to wield it effortlessly and fearlessly. She is absolutely this card.

If I could draw: I would put her maybe sitting on top of the downed ATST. I’d replace the infinity symbol over her head with the one on her cheek (Rebel Alliance).

~~~

9 THE HERMIT = KUIIL

The Hermit is a loner, yes, but in his solitude he looks within, learns from all he’s been through, and becomes wise. He holds aloft a light of wisdom and truth. This was always going to be Kuiil.

If I could drawn: Just our buddy, looking out over the Arvala-7 landscape, holding aloft an in-universe working lamp. No need to get fancy. He would want it to stay simple.

***

10  THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE = IMPERIAL SYMBOL AND STORM TROOPERS

The Wheel is fate. You win some, you lose some. Sometimes you’re on top, and sometimes the Wheel crushes you beneath it. You are helpless to its roll and where you’ll land. Storm Troopers are such a sad bunch. They are keepers of Imperial Law on the ground. On a good day, they capture a Rebel or hold off an attack. On a bad day, their Moff just blasts them to make an example.

If I could draw: The wheel would just be the Imperial symbol and there’d be Troopers on and under it. Maybe the one on top is just standing there, looking authoritative. The one underneath has been blasted. Some Wheels have two more figures--one on each side--and I’d add those too. The one on the down-going side would be falling, arms flailing, blaster shooting (if only sound were available, there’d be a Whilhelm scream), and the one on the up-going side would just be dangling by one arm, along for the ride.

***

11 JUSTICE = COBB VANTH

Well, it just feels right to make the Marshal into Justice. But it’s not just a literal translation of making sure the right thing gets done and the bad guys are punished. Justice is about wiping away emotion and making decisions with bare truth, looking at every side of the situation and understanding what is really there. And I think Cobb fits this well. He doesn’t want to give up his armor because of what it means for the protection of his people. But he’s willing to consider it, if there’s another way he can protect them. Emotionally, he doesn’t want to deal with the Tusken Raiders, but he does it because he can see it’s the best course of action. He flies into battle with the Krayt Dragon. He gives up his armor without a fight. He makes a fair trade and sees the balance in it because he walks away from the emotion and chooses the best course of action. Cobb Vanth for Justice, errybody.

If I could draw: Cobb in the Fett armor, but with the helmet at his feet. In one hand, a bottle of spotchka. In the other, the Tusken mushroom drinky thing; he’s holding them with equal balance.

***

12 THE HANGED MAN = MIGS MAYFELD

The Hanged Man is not just about a dude who’s hanging upside down. (If that was the case, I would have just gone with Gor Koresh and called it a day.) Hanged Man is about changing your perspective to see things in a new way so you can grow. Many times, this growth also requires sacrifice. Over the two episodes we see Mayfeld, we know he goes from Imperial sharp shooter, to traumatized deserter, to merc, prisoner, and exonerated friend. He’s seen some shit, given up a lot, and he’s willing to see how he can be a help to others and find redemption for himself.

If I could draw: Hear me out. Take the image of Mayfeld hanging upside down from the Crest hatch into the prison ship. Mirror that above with an image of him in his Imperial Ground Transport gear. Flip it all upside down so bad Mayfeld up top, good Mayfeld on bottom, images mirrored but inverted, hence “looking at things a new way and getting everything a little topsy-turvey.”

~~~

13 DEATH = MOFF GIDEON

Death is about transformation, so it’s not always the most sinister card. But Death does not discriminate. It comes for us all, constantly stalking, and it will strike you down to serve its needs. You need to face Death to get to your redemption. But really, Gideon is our big baddie here, so why the hell not.

If I could draw: I would forgo the Smith illustration and go for the Marseilles tradition on this one. Gideon and the Darksaber replaces Death and the scythe.

*** 

14 TEMPERANCE = IG-11

Temperance is the transformation that comes after Death. Once Death has chopped your physical being into pieces with his scythe, Temperance is there to take all your pieces and put them back together into something new and better. It’s also a card that asks you to re-evaluate your priorities and see if you can find better motivations than you previously had. IG’s death and reprogramming speak loudly to me on this.

If I could draw: IG pouring the tea.

***

15 THE DEVIL = THE CLIENT

Here’s another baddie card that’s all about your worst faults, about excess and giving into the stuff that will eventually kill your soul. The Client holds on hard to the Empire, doing whatever he’s ordered to do to be one of the top dogs. And in the end, it doesn’t matter. Gideon takes him down like he’s nothing.

If I could draw: The client, wearing his Empire bling, with chains around Doctor Pershing and a rough-looking Storm Trooper.

***

16 THE TOWER = THE RAZOR CREST

I don’t know about you, but Chapter 14 killed me. And not because the Dark Troopers flew away with Grogu. We all knew Din would never stop at getting him back. But when the Crest was destroyed, it was like someone punched me in the soft parts, and I made a lot of severely anguished noises. The Tower is the most tragic card in the tarot. It’s when forces beyond your control make a very big (and usually negative) impact in your life and everything changes. You are left to pick up the pieces and survive any way you can with the skills and resources you’ve been blessed with.

If I could draw: Just that moment of the ray hitting our beautiful Crest, just as it begins to break apart, maybe with Din, Boba, and Fennec watching in horror in the foreground.

~~~

17 THE STAR = GROGU

The Star is hope. It comes after the biggest tragedy in the deck to tell you that not all is lost. There is always something there to live for. C’mon, kids. In this series, there was only one choice.

If I could draw: Just Grogu. Maybe drinking his soup. Or maybe he’s levitating his metal ball overhead, reaching up to it with a smile on his face. *coos*

***

18 THE MOON = BO KATAN KRYZE

We all like Bo Katan, sure. But remember my Clone Wars/Rebels fiends, she was Death Watch, and they were terrorists. She sided with Maul to take over Mandalore. Sure, she’s come a long way and her path is a bit more honorable now, but she’s got an agenda, which makes her hard to trust. Since the Moon is about more feminine energies and has themes of illusion and deception--things look great in the moonlight, but maybe not as they really are--Bo Katan’s our girl.

If I could draw: Head and shoulders profile, double-imaged so you see her face, but her Nite Owl helmet superimposed in profile over it. Nite Owl signet on the bottom. Possibly flanked by her two Nite Owl cronies.

***

19 THE SUN = GREEF KARGA

Everything's sunny when Greef’s around! He’s the feel-good gramps that’s going to make any situation A-Ok! If you’ve got a problem, Greef can sort it out...or he knows someone who can! The sun is always gonna shine on you and take you back.

If I could draw: Just Greef smiling and being cheesy with the halo of the sun around him. 

***

20 JUDGEMENT = FENNEC SHAND

This card traditionally shows the resurrected rising from the grave, ready to be judged. Fennec’s got a lot to answer for in her life, but she is being given a second chance, and my number one girl crush is going to do new and wonderful badass things with it.

If I could draw: I’d either just show her opening her gut pocket to show her new works, all full of aura, with her looking down at it reverently. OR I might do a scene of her being rescued by Boba.

~~~

21 THE WORLD = THE HELMET

Din’s helmet is the world he lives in. But it’s also a symbol of The Way. The World represents completion, a wholeness of self and being, the end of the journey. And since Din is our Fool, his journey is an exploration of his morals and honor, what it means to walk the way of the Mandalore, and what the meaning of the helmet is for him. He may choose ultimately to keep it on and go all-in on Mandalorian-4-lyfe (Child of the Watch style), or he may understand that the helmet is just a symbol and the honor was in him all along; he can wear it or not wear it and it’s all the same.

If I could draw: The World usually depicts a circle or sphere of some kind, the symbol of perfect completion. The helmet is close enough, so it takes up the center. Traditionally, there are four symbols in the corners that give more meaning to The World, and I would replace them with The Razor Crest, Grogu, the Mudhorn Signet, and the pulse rifle or blaster. These represent his home, his foundling, his clan, and his religion, all of which make up more of the whole; what it means to him to be Mandalorian.

~~~~~~~~~~

Challenge accepted and faced. 

Adira dops her witchy mic….

[0aurelion-sol0]

So this post is gonna be heavily inspired by @hawkinsschoolcounselor thoughts and theories (@kaypeace21 too, I already told all of you, she already pretty much covered everything.)

It's about Will's birthday, a certain gift he may get for his birthday and of course the return of the pest, Lonnie.

(Since we know it's happening in Spring and probably in March given the informations that we have.)

The gift I am talking about is a watch.

(Something that was already hinted and talked by people a long time ago. (And given certain theories, may reveal a number related to the boy. 😏))

Not only would this fit with the theme of the season AND the whole clock imagery, it would tie Will again to the supernatural plot in an unexpected way.

There's a lot of candidates for Will to give the watch and I will go through all of them and why. But again...

I want to show you something that points to that direction.

The Last Of Us. YES, I KNOW, I talk about it a lot but it's not my fault if the Duffers said they were inspired by it. (In an IGN interview, come through with know the realm of the work.) But there's two scenes in the game that I think could be very important.

This is about two scenes.

The first one is the opening scene of the game where Joel arrives late from work and Sarah (😏), his daughter, sleeping on the couch, is waiting for him to come home for his birthday to give him his present. (Really inspired Jim and Sara's characters in ST.) Which is none other than a new wristwatch, Sarah says that since Joel kept complaining about his broken watch, she decided to buy him a new one.

The first thing we hear in the game is the sound of a clock. (Symbolism and connection yet again.)

Sadly, not everything is going to go as expected, as the same night and on Joel's birthday, an infection that killed and transformed a good part of the population into raging and hungry monsters. (Basically zombies without being zombies since they are still alive before a certain stage. The infection attacks the brain. (😏) (Like The Flayed in a way.)) During that same night, Sarah dies killed by a soldier who was ordered to kill them because they trespassed in an area that was controlled and they were suspected to be infected. Sarah dies near 3.00 am. (Like the clock in ST that has always been at 3.00 am in the teasers (Go look "The Witching Hour".)

The second one is Joel, many years later, guiding a girl named Ellie Williams (😏) to a safehouse where they can wait for his partner Tess who is making a deal with a terrorist group named Fireflies (that will backfire later). (Hopper making a deal with Brenner that could backfire on El later.) (Fireflies = Hellfire Club "Satanic Panic" = "Fireball!" / FEDRA (Army in TLOU) and US Army in ST.)

Ellie mentions that Joel's watch is broken. (He hasn't been able to grieve Sarah's death and is still stuck in and by his trauma which will affect his decisions in the game.)

She even mentions bad dreams when she hears Joel having a nightmare. (which connects with "Dream A Little Dream Of Me", the song in the 003 trailer and a certain theory about a certain someone creating and affecting everything around him. 🤭)

Knowing this it opens some interesting possibilities.

First, let's see our candidates who could give this watch to Will.

Mike: It wouldn't be as close to this story but it would be in a same way, an act of affection and tenderness. (And given what we believe, the beginning of something 😏.(And also connects the fact that the two wear similar watches and may show the importance that this relationship will have and has over the plot.))

Joyce and Jonathan: Given both have the role of parent for Will, this would be a reverse situation but still an act of love in every way. It would make sense for Joyce and Jonathan to work together to find a gift for Will. (And given a theory I believe about Joyce, could also connect with something about the clock but that's for later.)

El: Well, first Jo"el". She has a lot of maternal traits and just like Sarah who parallels Ellie in TLOU. El parallels Sara. It would be a nice moment of bonding between the two. (It would also tie again with the clock elements and her own storyline about the clocks. It would also be funny if a number reveals another number through the watch without knowing it. 😏) One might also say, she will be with Jonathan and Joyce, the three of them giving a gift together to Will.

One could say that such moment would fit Jim and Sara more (since we are gonna explore Hopper's past in Season 4.) but they already have their blue head tie connection and symbolism.

And so, of course...

Given the themes related to the father and fatherhood in both stories and all the teasers and that Joel's birthday literally goes to shit, Lonnie's return is the perfect thing to ruin Will's birthday.

Now one might say, Lonnie would probably give something to Will that he doesn't like. Like guns, weapons or something related to baseball.

But given Lonnie is a smart master manipulator and might come back to use his family for something again, offering a watch is smart.

Why is that ? Well a watch is something that always comes in handy. It's always something useful. It will also appear to be genuine since he doesn't force Will with what he likes. (Until he will, of course.)

Not only that, if it's a watch that looks expansive, the question to where he got the money to pay it could come in question. Sarah in TLOU jokes she sells hardcore drugs and that is obviously not true. But what if it was the case for Lonnie ? What if he was into some shady businesses and got the money from there ? (Argyle was described as a "stoner type", if he is there, Lonnie could make a joke about it with him while it might actually be true.)

There has been multiple references to drugs or things related in that realm in ST. It wouldn't be a surprise that it comes in full front in ST4.

And again it would tie well with the themes surrounding fathers and fatherhood and the relations that it had so far with clocks and time.

And if it's in 004, a mention of Bob, Hopper or even... Papa would be quite fitting.

[entamewitchlulu]

*cups hands again* Can you elaborate a little on the metaphors present in Utena? I'm very curious about them!!

Man ok anon this has been sitting in my inbox for a while and I must have gone to sleep before seeing it that one night and then i never sat down and answered.

tw here i'm gonna talk about akio's grooming and canon-relevant sexual abuse

There's like, a fuckton of metaphors in Utena. We could talk about roses, or the bird cage design of Anthy's garden, we could talk about rings and fairy tales and the framing of the story as a stage play with a Greek Chorus in the form of the Shadow Girls and everything. We could talk about stars and constellations and the references to Greek mythology in the subtle framing of Akio and Anthy = Zeus and Hera, we could talk about a bajillion things but you know what right ni wanna talk about cars.

yes, that's right cars.

There are so many cars in Utena. They don't start showing up proper until Akio appears, because his character is inextricably tied to them. But what do cars really mean in Utena? they're certainly not just regular vehicles to get you from point a to point b. Hell, they show up as a major set piece in the third arc's dueling fields. So if they're not supposed to be cars, what are they?

I think that answer is manyfold. One, perhaps very obvious answer, is that the car represents sexual drive and desire. It is, of course, Akio's tool of choice in manipulating the young people in the school to do his bidding. In one of the first scenes with the car, Akio is driving Touga someplace and teasingly asks him if he'd like to take the wheel. Given that it's pretty heavily implied that Akio and Touga are sleeping together, this is very much a reference to sex. The car is Akio's means of "driving" people to the ends he desires, which is in essence him using sex appeal to manipulate. His main grooming tactic is to take Utena on drives -- in the car, there's no one but the two of them, and it's not like anyone is going to be able to see or notice if anything is wrong and step in. It's isolating, and you can't exactly leave the situation when you're going 75 down the freeway.

You could also think of the car as not just a sexual representation but as a means of removing agency from other characters (which of course ties into Akio's serial sexual abuse of others). In a car, if you are the passenger you have no say on where you are going. You have to be able to trust the person driving to take you where you want to go, and if they don't, or if they drive recklessly, you're shit out of luck. You're not going to really be able to wrest control of the vehicle away from the driver without getting yourself into trouble. Akio taking his victims on those car rides is a means of removing their agency. They fall into his plans because he's taking them on the routes he decides, and they have little choice but to fall in. He is the driver, and they are the passengers. He is the puppet master and they are the puppets. You'll notice that the first time Akio takes advantage of Utena, it's by pushing her down inside the back seat of his car. Once again, the driver and the driven. It feeds into his desired persona as a manipulator.

The car could also be just, in general, "adulthood." In Akio's hands it's, of course, a dangerous tool, but getting in that car gives all of our young cast this glimpse of a world that they aren't usually privy too (as mentioned before, when Akio asks Touga if he'd like to take the wheel, Touga responds that he's underage). Since Utena as a whole is something of a surreal coming of age story, of learning more about yourself and growing up past the things in your childhood that holds you back, this makes sense. These young people get this glimpse of "adulthood", represented by something they aren't able to have in the form of driving a car. Driving a car is generally considered something of a milestone (though if I'm correct this is more of a Western milestone than a Japanese one, as I believe having a driver's license is less common seeing as public transport is better and streets are narrower in urban areas, so this point is probably my weakest so far). As a representation of sex, it's also an "adult" milestone in that regard, and both of these give the cast a glimpse of something "beyond" the dream like high school they live in into the future, and forces them to try and come up with solutions for the problems they're facing now in order to reach that.

But so far I've only talked about cars as being Akio's tool, mainly. And sex, adulthood, etc, none of these are inherently bad things. Even being a driver and a passenger isn't inherently a bad thing if you can trust the person who's driving. They're only dangerous in the wrong hands. Because cars aren't just tools of terrible things in Utena, and if we look at the movie, we can see that cars are also a metaphor for freedom and agency, as we watch Utena herself become a car. This has definitely been talked about by much more coherent people than me, but in essence, Utena transforming into the car that Anthy can use to drive to safety, free of the world she's trapped in, is a metaphor for Utena becoming the vehicle for Anthy to escape her abuse. Utena doesn't save her -- Anthy saves herself. Anthy drives the car to her escape, Utena just left her the tools to get there. Cars aren't just a symbol of terrible things -- they are ways of reclaiming freedom, agency, sexual power, and trust in others.

I think probably more than almost any other metaphor in the show, the image of cars is the one that shows just how much everything has two sides. Anything can be terrible if you use it the wrong way, but those same things can often be good used in the right way. It all has to do with the way you choose to wield the power you've been given.

[misstrashchan]

Pyre/Greedling Meta:

I remember in the earlier volumes that a fair amount of people in the FNDM would compare Cinder to Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist, due to her femme fatale persona and voice seeming like an impression of Laura Bailey's Lust.

But as we learn more about Cinder and meet Salem in vol4, it's very clear that the version of herself she likes to present herself as is meant to come across as an impression, an imitation. Because she's trying to imitate Salem, the person who defines what power is to her.

And as that facade crumbles and we slowly start to see how deep Cinder's desires really run, it's far more clear to me that her character and story have much more in common with Greed, not Lust.

:read more:

Greed is the only homunculi who is willing to follow his deepest desires to the fullest, regardless of where that placed him. He was certainly willing to do evil, but wouldn't if that evil didn't personally benefit him. And, over time within the series, Greed comes to realise that his obsession with power, glory and seeking to become God, were nothing more than vain attempts to cover up his true emotional emptiness caused by a lack of connecting to others. And once he finds a cause and people to support who help and support him in turn, his character arc finishes with him, Greed, looking on all that he has, his friends, and is grateful. Content.

Which ties into the lesson of the Fall Maiden in the Tale of the Four Maidens in which Fall begs the Hermit to look around at all he has and be thankful. To be satisfied and content with oneself, which is a lesson Cinder has to learn in order to truly become a Fall Maiden.

Greed's desires are similar to Cinder's own ambition for power driven by her fear and insecurities, seeking to become a "godlike maiden badass" wanting to fill the emptiness and craving she feels, not yet realizing that this will not be what brings her true satisfaction to her, well, greed.

"Greed may not be good, but it's not so bad either. You humans think greed is just for money and power! But everyone wants something they don't have"

"You Atlas elites are all the same! You think hoarding power means you'll have it forever. But it just makes the rest of us hungrier! And I refuse to starve"."

I think it's very important to point out that Greed doesn't become good or redeem himself because he sees the error of his ways and wants to atone for the things he's done, rather he starts on the path to redemption by refusing to be a pawn to Father any longer, when realizing the power and glory he craves he wouldn't be able to obtain by staying and working underneath Father like the rest. His greed and dissatisfaction are what motivates him, though it is ultimately Ling who gives him the final push and convinces him to side with the protagonists.

And Cinder at the end of vol7 seems to be heading towards a crossroads of whether or not she'll stay with Salem, given how the Grimm arm that was "gifted" to her by Salem seems to be slowly consuming her body, she might have doubts about whether the kind of power Salem has promised her is really the kind of power she wants, and whether she's prepared to sacrifice herself to obtain it, or whether she could choose to strike out on her own. Again, some villains start on the path to redemption solely out of self interest.

It's also not just Greed's story I think Cinder's is remarkably similar to, but the stories of Ling and Pyrrha and the role they play in Greed and Cinder's stories, as their souls and stories are intrinsically intertwined.

The ouroboros tattoo and its meaning was the first thing that caught my attention, as it the ouroboros symbol represents eternal cyclical renewal. Of life, death and rebirth. And how that aligns with Pyrrha's incantation used to unlock Jaune's aura:

"For it is in passing we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee"

Cinder also has a tattoo of her own symbol that appears after connecting to Amber's soul and taking half of her power, just like the ouroboros tattoo appearing after Greed and Ling's souls were intertwined and he had taken over his body. Cinder takes the other half of the maiden powers after Pyrrha had been bound to them as her and Amber's aura were intertwined, making it likely that Pyrrha is a part of Cinder in the same way Greed and Ling are.

Both Pyrrha and Ling are considered to be people in positions of power and prestige with great expectations placed on them that they intend to live up to. Ling as an Xingese prince, Pyrrha as a world renowned champion fighter and promising huntresses, the "invincible girl". Both agree to becoming a maiden/homuculus respectively, despite the inhumane means of doing so and risk to their body, soul and life, as they believe obtaining this power will help their people.

"We can't transfer Amber's power to you but we can give you what those powers are bound to."

"Her aura"

"Her life... would become intertwined with yours. The question is-"

"What's that gonna do to you?" - (RWBY Volume 3 Chapter 6)

Greed and Cinder's stories are body horror stories about what you'll sacrifice for power, and the power they are "gifted" by their masters, Father and Salem, is concentrated in their left arm.

Interestingly, Greed's power that transforms him into an inhuman monster is his "Ultimate Shield" that makes him invulnerable, which is the exact opposite of the "power" that Salem grants Cinder that slowly crawls up her left arm threatening to turn her into a monster makes her more vulnerable than most, because she doesn't have aura to protect those parts of her.

Both Greed and Cinder are the most defiant of their masters wishes, and often Father and Salem experience losses and failures because they underestimated Greed and Cinder's ambition. What should have been an easy win at Haven for Salem failed because Cinder was overly ambitious in her need to to win, to feel powerful, and Greed's betrayal of Father is simply because his own ambition is greater than his, thus he would never be content to work underneath him, to be less than him.

Both are charismatic individuals and good at convincing others to work with them. They like to surround themselves with others and both are the only ones under Father/Salem to have their own subordinates (Wrath doesn't count since it was always Father's intention to have him become Fuhrer). Despite them clearly needing human connection, their relationship with their loyal subordinates we are introduced to alongside them is... Not Super Great. They might care about them to a certain degree, but at the end of the day they ultimately view them as useful tools and possessions.

Both of them speak of an emptiness they feel inside of them:

"All of these souls inside of me, and yet I still feel so... empty"

"It's... an emptiness. It burns. Like a hunger."

It's ultimately Ling thst acts as Greed's consciousness, as when he doesn't show any remorse over killing Bido, the last of the old Greed's followers, on the orders of Father, Ling is the one who drags out all of his repressed emotion, being able to feel his pain and see his memories, he forces Greed to face them and how terribly he treated his "friends", and to reevaluate his priorities and self, pushing him away from Father.

"It's nothing personal. I'm just doing my job. I am sorry, honestly!"

"What have you done, Greed? Are you determined to prove you're a monster? What kind of sick creature... would kill his own friend!?"

"He wasn't my... friend..."

"Then why do you remember him? And are you gonna try and tell me Bido was just making everything up?"

"Those were the last Greed's memories! They're not mine!"

"THEN WHY ARE YOU IN SO MUCH PAIN!?

Pull yourself together, Greed. I'm warning you. I'll take this body back if you drop your guard"

"They aren't mine... Father purified me and purged the old Greed's memories. Those memories aren't a part of me any more!"

"No! You're wrong Greed! It's not that easy! They'll always be a part of you! You can't just erase them from your soul! They were the only part of you that you chose!"

"Look at them! Can you not hear their souls crying out? You abandoned them. Your real family! You threw them away like trash!"

"Fool. If you turned your back on something you wanted, YOU DON'T DESERVE TO CALL YOURSELF GREED!" (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood episode 44, Greed and Ling)

If Pyrrha were to return, it's likely she would manifest and communicate more directly with Cinder than maiden predecessors usually do (though in all fairness we don't know the details of if maiden predecessors do or not), being more similar to Ozpin and Oscar's situation, rather than just being a part of her soul, because of how unnatural her interference with the fall maiden's power transfer was. The way Ozpin looks and speaks about it makes it clear he knows there is a very good chance he was recreating his own curse the GoL bestowed on him, and that this isn't like when he was the Hermit, giving his magic happily to the Maidens.

There's also the parallels between Ozma and Pyrrha's situations too, and how readily they accept their mission and fate, and in how they die, and I believe we still haven't seen the full payoff to those parallels with Pyrrha.

When Ozma reincarnates the first time, it's implied that he completely overtakes Ozma 2.0/ Oisín/Diggs (why do we have so many names for him), having not yet learned how to live with the souls with which he had been paired. It's not until much, much later when Oz is beginning to have doubts about whether he should stay with Salem , but still continues to go along with her plans that Oisín makes himself known, (and we know Ozma isn't used to him communicating with him with how suprised and shaken he is by this, which is strange considering he's been paired with him for a long while, unless Oisín hadn't made himself known before this) and is the one who finally pushes Ozma to leave Salem.

"What are we doing?"

With Cinder returning to Salem's side, full of doubt of whether she can go through with Salem's plan for her, to hurt and destroy herself for this power, and Emerald and Mecury (probably Neo too) likely betraying and cutting ties with Cinder too, which is going to leave her full of even more doubt, hurt, anger and additional feelings of betrayal and confusion. And more than anything, alone. Which would be the ideal time for Pyrrha to say to Cinder like with Ozma, "What are we doing?" To push her to reevaluate her priorities and self.

Imagine Pyrrha finally being able to manifest or communicate with Cinder, realizing she's bound to the woman who killed her. Knowing her emotions and memories in their entirety, feeling her pain and anger as if it were her own. And Ruby describing her as "Pyrrha thought that if there was even the smallest chance of helping someone that it was a chance worth taking" the Pyrrha who told Jaune "Everyone needs a little help sometimes" understanding what Cinder went through, and that if she couldn't save the world or make it better by attempting to kill Cinder, then, maybe as she is now, the one thing she can do to help save the world, to make it a better place, is by helping Cinder be better, helping her use her talents for good, like a true maiden should? (On a more fun note, imagining Pyrrha deciding to help Cinder but not missing any opportunity to be a playfully snarky little shit towards her. Because what is Cinder gonna do? Kill her again? Like tell me Pyrrha would not Do Both. And Cinder's not sure which she hates more: Pyrrha teasing her or feeling sorry for her)

Another interesting thing is how in The World of RWBY: The Official Companion states that Salem's goal is to possess all four relics, and to absorb the power of all the Maidens, which she means to at some point, absorb Cinder's power. It's likely part of why she favours Cinder and has such an intimate relationship with her (the Relic of Choice might have played a role in why Salem chose Cinder specifically) That transition of maiden powers from Cinder to Salem would be made much more seamless for Salem if she was grooming Cinder to be more like her, and was slowly becoming more Grimm, if she was treating Cinder like an extension of herself, because to Salem, she would be. Which is again, similar to Father and Greed, as Greed literally was an extension of Father created from him, and absorbed back into him when he became too disobedient and remade and reborn again.

The finale of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood has Father absorbing Greed's philosopher's stone in an attempt to claim his power, but Greed ends up sacrificing himself by inverting his Ultimate Shield inside of Father, making his whole body incredibly fragile and vulnerable so Ed is able to defeat him. In the end, Greed ends up being the key to their victory against Father.

I want to make it clear that I don't personally think RWBY will end with Cinder dying or "defeating" Salem. At least, not in the traditional sense. I can draw as many comparisons as I like between Greed and Cinder but at the end of the day they're two different stories with different themes. And I don't believe that kind of ending would align with RWBY's. One of the themes of Cinder's story is to find a way to keep living no matter what. And as for Salem, the only way she can "die" is to learn the value of life and death, which would require a much more different approach.

But either way, I do believe Cinder will end up being their key to victory one way or another, similar to Greed.

[mistergrass]

Zodiac Mom Headcanons: Momiji’s Mom

Slowly but surely I am making my way through these mom posts. This time let’s talk about someone whose worst moments as a mother were put on blast for the audience to see. 

Rat & Snake Mom | Ox Mom | Tiger Mom | Rabbit Mom | Dragon Mom

Momiji’s mother is an only child born in Berlin. 

Her father, a handsome and charismatic man, is a renowned photographer. Her mother, beautiful and alluring, is a dancer. They’re drawn to each other immediately when they meet on a photoshoot that features her mother’s dance troupe. 

Their romance is as short-lived as it is passionate, and the affair comes to an abrupt end when her mother becomes pregnant. 

The responsibility of a child falls almost completely on her mother’s shoulders, essentially ending her dance career (something she had left her family to pursue), and the beginnings of a cruel resentment begin to take form.

Her father has the spirit of an artist -- not wanting to be tied down to one woman, and not very suited for a traditional family lifestyle. That being said, he doesn’t abandon mother and child completely. 

As Momiji’s mother grows up, her father will pop in and out of her life as he pleases. She thinks her mother can be too strict, too mean, and becomes a difficult child to handle as a result. But when her father comes to visit, she is over the moon and perfectly behaved. He’ll take her to museums, show her the photographs hanging in his studio, give her a stepping stool so she can help in his dark room, and (unlike her mother) will never ever scream at her even when clumsy, childish hands accidentally spill things or knock things over. 

Her father never sticks around for very long, and as wonderful as it is to see him, it hurts tenfold when he leaves. And so, she grows up with her mother’s snappish impatience, and her father’s casual and conditional affection. 

Going into her teenage years, Momiji’s mom begins to come into her own as an artist -- admiring and following the path of her father. She loves painting and ceramics, but she begins to grow into an undeniable beauty and it’s not long that she’s discovered as a model.

Her mother does not approve of this choice. For her, it’s bad enough that she has to watch her daughter openly prefer her father’s company to her own (despite everything she’s given up to raise her, while he can barely spare to send a postcard on their daughter’s birthday), but now her daughter is adding insult to injury by pursuing her father’s lifestyle. A lifestyle her mother was forced to give up to have a child. 

It also doesn’t help that Momiji’s mom finds almost instant success as a model. 

Where her mother was simply impatient before, now she becomes cruel. 

She begins to undermine her daughter’s beauty, nitpicking at every little thing about her appearance. Momiji’s mother is now being constantly told that her photos are drab, ugly, unprofessional. That her beauty is fleeting, that the world around her will discover one day how little talent she has, and that her artistic abilities are worthless and boring. All this while she’s still only a teenager. 

Momiji’s mom acts out in different ways, but mostly by taking on more modeling work (that exhausts her) and bringing home boyfriends her mother would never approve of (for good reason).

Her first serious boyfriend is a man six years her senior who is possessive and jealous, and rips to shreds the last bits of self-esteem she had left. 

By the end of their four year relationship, Momiji’s mother has come to believe that something inside her is deeply, truly ugly. She has an overflowing anxiety that others will see her for what she truly is. Something that is wholly incompatible with her inability to be alone -- whether romantically, or via the need to surround herself constantly with people. 

It’s at this time, at 20 years old and in her second year of university, that she meets Momiji’s father at a campus mixer.

At first, she’s intimidated by him (thought that doesn’t stop her from making conversation). She finds he’s not just studying abroad here, but attends the university full-time. He’s fluent in Japanese, German, and English, and seems so much smarter than she believes herself to be. In addition, he has a cold, distant demeanor to him that makes him seem unattainable. 

Momiji’s father on the other hand, is taken immediately by this woman. He’s awkward and nervous in large social gatherings, but has been told from an early age never to outwardly show his discomfort. But she talks so passionately, so freely, that he can’t help but be drawn to her. When he fumbles over his words at the end of the night to ask her out for dinner, she realizes that she’d mistaken his shyness for apathy, and it immediately enamors him to her. 

After two dates, they become inseparable. 

She’s taken in by his kindness and gentility. He listens to her as if everything she says matters. He isn’t at all like the arrogant personalities she’s dated in the past, and if anything has an aversion to talking about himself. He never once makes her feel stupid, puts her down, or makes her feel worthless.

She’s prone to terrible mood swings and bouts of manic self-loathing that will leave her a sobbing mess. But where this has driven away boyfriends in the past, it only serves to make him more devoted to her. He holds her in his arms, and never once gets upset with her for being so much to handle.

Momiji’s father is an only child from a high-ranking Sohma family, and has had the entirety of his life mapped out for him since birth. He works to inherit his father’s business, and to maintain their standing in the family. Insurmountable pressure had been put on his shoulders from a young age, one that isolated him from making true friends in favor of focusing solely on his studies. He was never allowed to be overwhelmed, to not be good enough, nor to be disobedient. 

But Momiji’s mother is like a walking piece of art -- chaotic and beautiful. He finds her endlessly interesting. He’s never met anyone who talks so openly about the things they love, the things they hate, or their own fears and insecurities. He likes feeling as though he can take care of her. He likes being someone reliable for her. And, eventually, he finds her to be the only person in the world that he can be vulnerable with. He has only ever cried in front of her. 

For the last two years of college they spend all their free time together. He uses his cushy Sohma allowance to take them on trips and long weekends around Europe. And when the time comes for him to return to Japan after graduation, he can’t picture even a moment of his future without her. 

He proposes, she says yes, and she agrees to leave her life in Berlin behind to move to Japan. 

It’s a difficult transition. Though she had started learning Japanese when they first started dating, she’s far from fluent. It makes forming friendships and new connections within the Sohma family all the harder. 

It’s also clear that her mother-in-law does not take too much of a liking to her. Momiji’s father bends over backwards making sure that their new home has space for her to continue her artistic pursuits, which comes off as frivolous to her new family. She also has limited housekeeping skills which reflects poorly on her ability to be a proper wife. 

It’s an isolating experience, especially with her husband working long, late hours nearly every night. The loneliness begins to eat at her, resurfacing the shattered self-esteem that her new husband had spent the past two years healing. She seriously considers moving back to Germany on more than one occasion, but then she gets pregnant. 

She’s not ready for a child. It’s too soon, and the thought of taking care of a whole other person is terrifying when she can barely stand to get out of bed most days now. But her husband assures her this will be a good thing, that maybe it will help the aching loneliness she feels. 

Before she has a chance to get excited, they’re summoned by a young Akito. 

Momiji’s mother doesn’t really process what she’s being told. Her husband has to translate what the little six year old is saying to her, and when he does his face is pinched and anxious. 

A curse, he says. Her child is cursed. Somehow it makes sense, what with everything that dwells inside herself, but it’s hard for her to grasp this whole thing beyond that.

The pregnancy is a difficult one, filled with complications and scares that leaves her health completely depleted. When Momiji is born two months premature, her nerves are completely frayed. 

True understanding of her child’s situation doesn’t really hit her until she holds a small rabbit in her arms, swaddled like a baby. 

She vomits when it first happens. The transformation leaves her completely shaken, and she can’t understand why no one else around her seems to find this as horrific as it obviously is. 

She does her best for the first few years. Honestly, she does. But the child makes her nervous. The supernatural nature of it all terrifies her, and she shakes every time she tries to hold her child and finds a little rabbit there instead. 

As he grows older, she finds herself snapping at him over the smallest things, just as her mother did to her. A guilt builds inside her steadily that somehow she is at fault for this, that her hidden, disgusting nature warped and mutated their child. The thought of it puts her in hysterics at times, and she finds she can never relax in her own home.

Her husband urges her to keep herself together. There’s a desperation in his voice when he talks to her now. He reminds her, again and again, that above everything else Momiji is their child. Theirs, and no one else’s. He is their son that they have created, and he is still a symbol of the love they have for each other. Once she adjusts to the situation, she’ll learn to love him the way he knows she can. She just needs more time.

During this period, other zodiac mothers make an attempt to reach out, and her Japanese is finally at a level that she can have pleasant conversation with them. Haru and Yuki’s mothers invite her to lunch often enough. Shigure’s mother is also very hospitable. She also takes a real liking to Kureno’s mother, though the woman is clearly disliked by many of the other women in the family. 

It helps, but it’s still difficult to talk to these women about her issues with the curse and with her son. Their eyes are judgmental, and she worries if she falls apart in front of them it would not be met with the same warmth as her husband (though he’s hardly ever around anymore). 

Stress and guilt and shame and fear slowly build inside her for the next four years. Then, one day, she sits down to paint and realizes she can’t. She’s too locked up -- the reality of her situation has become too overwhelming, and she can’t even release it through her art.

She finally decides to tell someone about what’s going on. Her husband had been very clear with her that this curse is to remain completely secret, but it’s not as if she wants to do a news interview. All she wants is to talk to her mom. 

Her mother is still the same harsh, critical woman she’s always been, but they’ve grown closer in the past few years. Becoming a mother herself has made her appreciate her own mother more, and the distance has softened both of them to each other considerably. 

She tells her mother the whole story, with her listening surprisingly sympathetically throughout. By the end of the conversation, Momiji’s mother feels more comforted and loved by her mother than she has in years. 

It’s Momiji’s father that gets the call from his livid mother-in-law demanding to know what’s happened to her daughter, and if he’s doing anything about the fact that she’s having a complete nervous breakdown that features wild delusions regarding their child.

Momiji’s father comes home that night, and for the first time he becomes truly angry at her. He scolds her for telling her mother anything about their situation, which only serves to make her just as angry since she was only seeking a bit of support. 

But it all gets much much worse when he says how lucky they are that her mother thought she was deranged. 

The whole world drops from below her feet when he admits that he let her mother continue to think that she was clinically insane. The man who had always defended her, understood her, cared for her -- the man she had left everything for -- had created a lie so egregious and spouted it back to her own mother. 

She demands to know why he would do such a thing, and when he sputters out his thoughtless obedience to this strange family -- the one with the child treated like a king, and with all these dark secrets. After so long of telling her that she was his light when his family treated him like nothing, after telling her that she was his most important family now -- it’s a betrayal that she’d never expected from the man she loves.

The reality of her isolation comes down all at once. There is no one left she can talk to, there is no place she can go, and this child now represents something completely foreign to her. The only thing that was keeping her together was her husband’s assurances that the child was completely theirs -- but it’s not. This child belongs to the Sohmas, to some curse that her body housed and nurtured. The disgust that’s been building inside her body breaks like a dam and completely washes over Momiji. 

She becomes inconsolable. She refuses to look at her son, and her husband becomes subject to fits of rage and anguish. He feels as though he’s completely lost her, and with the love of his life so indisposed, he feels just as alone. 

Momiji’s father is the one who tells her about the option to wipe her memory. Not just in hopes of reeling back her sanity, but because he wants her to forget the lie he told. If she forgets that, maybe their marriage can go back to how it was. If she forgets that deep cut of betrayal, maybe she won’t look at him like he’s some misshapen stranger. 

She agrees as quickly as she had when he proposed. Together they decide that forgetting Momiji will ultimately be for the best.

At first when she recovers, things seem to return back to normal. But there’s always a piece missing as the years go on. There’s always something not quite right. Momiji’s father is paranoid and nervous -- the presence of his wife is no longer a comfort, but a stressor. And sometimes, for the briefest moment, he’ll catch her staring at him. Her eyes far off and distant, like she’s completely lost in thought, and the expression that rests on her face will be one of fear. When she comes back to herself, it’s as if she hadn’t even noticed. 

The zodiac mothers are told not to speak to her after her memory is erased, which suits most of them just fine (Haru’s mother took particular offense to the decision). Below is the relationship chart for pre-memory wipe: 

Friends with: Kureno’s mom, Haru’s mom, Shigure’s mom, Ritsu’s mom

Doesn’t like: Yuki’s mom, Hatori’s mom

[drowsydregon]

EVEN MORE Small Facts/Details About Ninjago Characters

> Day of the Departed is Nya's favorite holiday

> Lloyd isn't usually one to snark or be cold towards people, but if you do him dirty he will verbally eviscerate you. He did this to Harumi, Garmadon, and Akita after feeling betrayed or hurt by them.

> Cake isnt the only thing Cole likes. He also likes chocolate-covered shell peas!

> Jay really likes cotton candy! he's seen eating it during Lloyd's trivia game in "Child's Play" as well as after stopping Lloyd in "Rise of the Snakes."

> While Kai isn't very good at skating, he is good at sledding.

> Lloyd's animal symbol was an ouroboros serpent until he became the golden ninja. Now it’s a dragon.

> Cole tends to cross his arms.

> Ninjago's version of Instagram and Facebook merge together, and the site is called "InstaBook.' Twitter on the other hand is called 'Chirper.' Kai's handle on Chirper is @ Fi-Ya13 (Yes, it's pronounced how you think it is. Bonus fact: Kai is a professional dork.)

> Cyrus likes talking about technology and the work he makes, even in the presence of people he doesn't necessarily like. He was very proud to announce the features of the BorgWatch after Krux dismissed the device.

> Cole is a nervous eater, and Ronin called him out on this.

> Nya and Zane are the only Ninja who have never been shirtless at any point in the series. On the other hand, Jay has straight up been naked on-screen before. (And... hit a dude with a towel while he has naked.)

> Zane's speech pattern tends to be more formal than his fellow Ninja's. He doesn't use slang, idioms, or contractions very often. The other nindroids tend to be the same way.

> Wu's beard got a lot longer after being hit with the Time Punch. Seriously, it basically dragged on the ground.

> Cole is a very skilled artist. Specifically, he likes making traditional paintings.

> The last time we saw Zane's falcon was season eight.

> Jay.. does not have a very expansive vocabulary. He wasn’t exactly sure what 'bequeathed' or 'temporal' meant.

> Skylor has appeared in every season since her debut. The only exceptions are season 8 and season 11.

> Ronin's eyepatch has thermal vision and can scope out ghosts. Pretty handy if you owe a very dangerous ghost a large debt, no? ((This also implies that Ronin likely isn't blind in his right eye.))

> Ever wonder what happened in the aftermath of Skybound?? No?? Well according to The Dark Island Trilogy, Nadakhan's crew is actually currently in Kyptarium Prison, while Clouse is trapped in the Underworld.

> Acronix's favorite modern invention is the BorgWatch. Likewise, Krux hates BorgPads the most.

> Acronix says he has followers on InstaBook. How many or who these followers are is unknown.

> During DotD, Morro and Pythor's statues are opposite side of the other villains'. This could be possible a representation of how Morro and Pythor got redemption arcs while the others did not. (even tho Pythor's redemption arc was a psuedo arc, he was still considered 'redeemed' until that point)

> Fangtom and Skalidor's names are never mentioned in canon; whereas Pythor, Skales, and Acidicus are all mentioned by name at least once.

> The spider song Harumi sings is actually a lullaby Hutchins taught her. Ironically, she found it pretty creepy as a child.

> Harumi likes lots of garlic in her noodles, but wasn’t really allowed to have garlic often due to her parents believing that princesses 'are not allowed to have bad breath.'

> Harumi also likes ice cream and cats!

> Pythor has happily taken pictures with a family visiting the amusement park, and only seemed to hate it after the flash went off.

> Acronix likes taking pictures. This includes selfies. 

> After being bleached, Pythor's eyes shift in and out of being pink and red. Whether this is an animation error or there's an actual reason for this is unknown to me.

> Harumi has zero clue where Mr. E came from. He just kinda... appeared.

> Nonetheless, Harumi was soft for Mr. E. She tried to reason with Garmadon to prevent him from being murdered, and looked legitimately hurt when she was unsuccessful. 

> There's a particular scene where Morro walks into a bar, and he seemed to get a nostalgic kick out of being there. As if he's visited it many times before when he was still alive.

> Pythor prefers to lead armies with perfectly concocted plans rather than directly fight his enemies. If he has to directly fight, he's either gonna pull a trick out of his sleeve or he's gonna end up running away.

> Morro is one of the only ghost warriors we see whose never seen with a tail. (Unless you wanna count the time he possessed Bansha)

> While Chen is ultimately a selfish asshole, he did stick up for Skylor after Clouse made a snide remark about her betrayal.

> Pythor is extremely lonely, going so far as becoming friends with inanimate objects in order to fill the void. He even questions why Lloyd would run away from making friends, saying that 'everybody needs friends, even tyrants,'

> Chen, Clouse, Skylor, and Garmadon are the only cultists without tattoos on their faces. Likewise, they're the only cultists who keep their regular humanoid heads after the transformation spell is complete. (Well aside from Clouse, since he never became an Anacondrai in the first place.)

> Hutchins was more aware of Harumi’s problems than the Emperor and Empress. It’s also implied Hutchins was growing suspicious of Harumi’s plans.

> We don't have much to go off of, but it's subtly implied that Morro was very curious as a child. This seems to carry over as an adult, as he can be seen assessing situations and acting quickly based on these assessments. (For example, he was the one to figure out Yang was likely the culprit that brought everybody back to life during DotD while all the other villains were still bantering with each other. He was also able to figure out how to use the Sword of Sanctuary fairly quickly through mere study.)

> Morro almost always has an eyebrow raised. Seriously, between his smug nature and his curious nature, his eyebrows never even out.

> Cryptor laughs... a lot. Like that's literally half his dialogue. At least he's having a good time!

> Morro had his green hairstripe before he was adopted by Wu.

[deans-haunted-baby]

Curious. What do you mean by Dust till Dawn going against it's Characters? I know I have my own feelings, or confusion, with how they left Kate's story.

From Dusk Till Dawn effectively character assassinated every single character in the very last episode including Kate Fuller. No one is acting like themselves in that series finale it's like some deranged fanfic writer came aboard and hijacked the show while no one was looking. If you thought 15x18 & 15x19 of Supernatural were bad and believe me they really are; those episodes are minorly salvageable against the slaughterhouse that Dusk 3x10 was. It utterly contradicts and ignores everything the show put forward in all 3 seasons. I will never watch that episode again.

I'll first explain what that piece of shit did to the show's lead protagonists, the Gecko brothers. Regardless of how you or anyone else feels about Supernatural's series finale; that show was a saint to Sam and Dean's storyline beginning to end compared to how From Dusk Till Dawn definitively butchered Richie and Seth. I'm sad saying this because Zane Holtz and DJ Controna are outstanding as these characters. I freaking love their chemistry man, it's a great rival to J2! They're the badass dark clones of the Winchesters.  Their arc starts out fascinatingly complex because they went from cold-blooded criminals/bad guys and meanwhile during their escape over the Mexican border with this hostage family the audience is told pretty quick by Professor Aiden Tanner that the Geckos are destined to become these foresworn warriors The Mayan Hero Twins in an ancient prophecy (based on real Mesoamerican lore) who battle the Underworld. So right away the show is telling us ahead where Seth and Richie are suppose to end up in their journey and when you introduce a storyline this big I expect a satisfying payoff.

At the end of season 1, Richie Gecko is *SPOILER ALERT* transformed into a culebra (snake-vampire) while Seth Gecko remains human symbolizing their night and day Hero Twin counterparts from the legend. And they're separated in the first half of season 2 where both try to navigate this new supernatural world they've stumbled on individually. What they find, no different than the Winchesters, is that neither can function properly without the other making their destiny all the more valid. That season is practically constructed like their swan song to the criminal lifestyle since the brothers are meant to become more than crooks; and since Richie's a vampire they can't ever go back to basics. Their adopted father aka uncle Eddie actually says the line "this is my swan song" in 2x07 to Seth and Richie in reference to their final heist together which is not a coincidence. That's the writers telling us that the Gecko Brothers' role in the show is going to shift from anti-heroes to heroes very soon. Eddie and Kate Fuller's fates in S2 act as the primary catalysts for this transition taking shape in the finale.

Going into season 3 it's business as usual for the boys until the prophecy of the twins officially rips a hole in the damn universe via demon queen Amaru. Who's now possessing Kate. Throughout that season Seth and Richie embark on a journey of heroism; find themselves battling monsters, actually saving civilians and dealing with their own personal demons (guilt and remorse over past sins). That year is presented as their redemption arc and final phase into their new role. No one ever tells them about their destiny (despite most of the other characters knowing) but we as the audience are already aware as we watch the brothers in action. The best episode is without a doubt 3x06 the crown jewel of From Dusk Till Dawn because it's about overcoming the darkness inside. And who best represents that than Richie; the show's most important central character whom began the series as a deadly clairvoyant criminal into the tortured vampire hero struggling with his own humanity. Now I won't spoil the whole episode for anyone who hasn't seen it or the show in general but it's an incredible moment of character development for both the Gecko brothers. Not only does it cement their powerful bond it's the episode that defines who these two are once and for all. The ones who lead the battle between good and evil; keep the balance of light and darkness. One day I plan to do an entire analysis of that episode because it's so fucking brilliant and shot so incredibly eerie at the same time 😁

You want to know what 3x10 does to these characters? It shits all over their entire storyline and pisses away THREE FUCKING SEASONS of character development. Just flushes it all down the toilet rendering everything they've ever done up to that point completely pointless! Their destiny which is the WHOLE POINT OF THE SHOW is suddenly dropped last minute and the Geckos hit reset on their former criminal escapades; dragging Kate along with them. I hate that finale with the fire of a thousand suns for what it does to Richie and Seth 😡

Moving on to Carlos Madrigal. He is the best villain character in the history of show villains hands down. I can actually say that without blinking. Wilmer Valderama is phenomenal, he steals the show as Carlos. He's is so freaking awesome, evil and badass! I just want to keep seeing this man tear things apart while being the sexy asshole he is 😈For all intents and purposes I don't want to spoil his whole storyline on the show for those following me in case they're interested. But what I will say is 3x10 destroys this character; so don't watch it if you want to keep the memory of who he was alive. I'm actually depressed over what was done to him as much as I feel sorry for Wilmer having to perform that shitty script. It's laughable in a very bad way. Gotta hand it to the writers and showrunners of FDTD they certainly knew how to humiliate their best characters in this series. Carlos basically goes from charismatic yet lethal Hannibal Lecter to a very captain obvious Gandolf caricature. Yah you heard that right, it's really fucking sad.

Next we have Freddie Gonzalez; the audience's avatar into the series. This character is connected to everyone on the show for a reason because of the crucial part he plays in this universe. The "Peacekeeper" destined to police the line between the supernatural world from the human world. In the beginning he's a Texas deputy on a quest to avenge the murder of his father figure/partner Earl McGraw via the Gecko Brothers. But once he steps in that territory of monsters there's no going back. And FDTD repeatedly tells him and the audience this in the first 2 seasons. But then 3x10 pulls the ultimate fuckery by giving him the most cliched, nonsensical hallmark ending effectively cancelling out his entire purpose in the series. He instantly forgets that he ever cared about Kate, watching her bleed out on the ground, then leaves the Geckos high and dry rushing his family (who isn't injured) to the hospital. And he stays there while the battle continues 😣

Kate and Scott Fuller OMG words cannot describe my anger over what was done to them so I'll make it fast. I'll begin with Kate the bright light and heart of the series. Her arc in the first two seasons is excellent. It's emotionally driven because she begins as an ordinary girl in broken yet seemingly-happy family to a young woman finding her way around the supernatural world maintaining her faith and moral compos while trying to help her brother after he's *SPOILER ALERT* been turned into a vampire; paralleling the Geckos's situation. Scott being only a 16 year old kid, like Richie, struggles immensely after his transformation; searching for meaning as a cursed individual and coping with his duality. He was already different to begin with so being a vampire adds some interesting layers to his character.

Btw Kate plays a vital role in Richie and Seth's lives, though in my opinion is more strongly connected to Richie. The show even goes as far as developing the early glimpses of a romantic arc between Kate and Richie (seeing as they kiss twice) with angst at the end of season 2 that is never resolved. You want to know why it wasn't? Not only does season 3 mute Kate's voice and agency but 3x10 ruins her character and demolishes her whole arc with Richie (who spent all of season 3 trying to save her) at the last second due to fan pressure of those who shipped her with Seth. They don't exchange one word nor barely look at one another it's like seasons 1&2 never happened. This is the biggest fuck you to fans of these characters I've ever witnessed in a series and they did my boys Adam and Michael so dirty in Supernatural. Poor Scott whom the show enjoyed kicking around all season barely gets a thing to do in that series finale either than listening to his sister and Seth gab about prom lol. Yah you heard me I'm not making this shit up I swear. Then he gets abandoned by Kate while she goes off to be a bank robber with the character assassinated versions of Seth and Richie. How extraordinary 😖

Santanico Pandemonium is really the only character in the series who manages to get out unscathed. HOWEVER her arc is handled very poorly beginning to end. They set up an arc between her and Seth that also goes absolutely nowhere. Give her zero closure with Richie whom she sired, dated and used in S2. And randomly throw her in a scene with Kate that makes no fucking sense after these two had nothing to do with one another all series. On top of that Santanico is barely in season 3 so by the time the show wraps her arc feels incomplete.

Other characters go missing that no one notices, the new bad guy whom they've set up at the end is just left hanging. And Richie Gecko, you know the show’s other lead, is horribly sidelined after 3x06 to make way for the Seth Gecko solo show. When I say FDTD series finale is bad I mean it's really fucking terrible and blasphemous.

[thangone]

im gonna snap an post about a part of my au w/ the transformers

(btw this is a copy-paste from an insta chat i had so if it weird blame it on that not me <3)

things to get straight

1.) autobots and desepticons are ethnicities not groups, they are the bots that were built on the planet and stayed on the planet

2.) good guys are unities, bad guys are Puritans

3.) the war never leaves cybetron/comes to earth

4.) transformers are the name of their kind cybertronians are bot from the actual planet (like someone from NYC is a new yorker or somethin like that)

so the government of Cybertron were being discriminatory towards everybody who wasn't born/created in Cybertron. Like minorities(religious groups, Outsiders,ect) and nobody really understood why until the death of Orion Pax. Orion was The Sire AKA dad to Optimus Prime and also an earth terms would technically be a rabbi (yes this came from a family guy gag no i will not explain why), The Invasion and murder of the temple and Rabbi Orion tons of minority groups in Cybertron and its territories decided that enough was enough

They started protesting, doing demonstrations, hosting podcast, doing everything and anything to get more people like them mad about the situation that occurred that night. It turns out that they accidentally stirred The Hornet's Nest, the government now segregating those that don't comply to the standards that they want. w e l l this was when bumblebee became a Great Scout and quickshadow one of the Espionage Masters that they are. It turns out the government wants to mark up all the non-conformers and force everyone to be like them (to put it lightly) THEN destroy the territories leaving only Cybertron and it's cybertronians.

So Optimus and a ragtag group of other Transformer minorities and allies banded together and called themselves the Unites, and protested against this idea by destroying a government marking building, disobeying the laws, and showing they will stand and fight the good fight. (the unite symbol is the the autobot symbol in honor of Orion)

that was until the government started kidnapping bots and forcing them to fight by mind wiping them.

Including some of the Unites like Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream,ect ect and turned them into puritans

Obviously not a good thing

so now its a civil war of mass proportions that lasted for 4 million years, the good news is that the puritans mentioned (plus more) escaped and joined the fight for basic rights gaining protections AND fighting the good fight via out-numbering the puritans :3

bad news is the head of government were also mind-wiped which means someone or something else forced them to do this

the leaders stood down and were released after interrogation but other then that everything is okay now :)

or is it? >:)