#verified theory

[having-a-hyperfixate]

Don’t mind me sprinting to try and get this thought in order before the Anime Expo panel. I need it to be out in the wild Just In Case.

So, a few of the Gung Ho Guns have gotten reworked for Stampede, yes? To varying degrees.

Ninelives is apparently not a horrific flesh mech, Dark Souls boss thing, according to the end credits of episode 3.

E.G. the Mine just got a HUGE upgrade and didn’t get owned 3 seconds after he showed up.

Monev was an actual character with a fubar backstory and emotional impact instead of just Some Guy who trained in a basement for years specifically to kill Vash. (and Orange is SO EVIL for this)

Elendira is. *gestures futilely* There is so much going on there but yeah. She’s going to be terrifying once she achieves adult body and loses (drops?) the childish attitude. Also because of the whole Plant hybrid thing her nails truly are literally infinite sooooo.

So I have some thoughts about Hoppered the Gauntlet.

In Trimax, Gauntlet’s narrative weight comes from the fact that he makes Vash remember, which by extension makes US, the reader, understand what July really meant. Before that we had heard mention of it a few times as ‘a city destroyed in a single night’ and talk of there being ‘no survivors’ but we had no actual connection to it, and also no real idea if that was even true. But in Stampede, we saw July happen. We were there. So even if Vash’s memory is still shot afterwards, and he doesn’t remember Lost July, we the audience DO. So having the Dragon’s nest play out exactly the same isn’t going to have the same narrative punch in the gut that it did in Trimax. It can’t.

There’s also the fact that, given how we’ve met most of the major players in the story, or had them mentioned at least (hi Milly), it feels kind of Odd™ that we haven’t seen someone has emotionally impactful as Gauntlet yet.

Unless we have.

We saw with Rollo/Monev that Orange is willing to have the person’s regular name be one thing and then have a second Eye of Michael code name. I suspect that is going to happen with Gauntlet; either because EoM or because he has decided on his own to lie about who he was.

And yes, I do in fact have someone in mind.

I checked myself the translation there is accurate; the only change I would make is calling the gun ‘gaudy’ instead of ‘shiny’ but that’s not a huge deal. Also for the record, the original tweet is from Jan. 11, well before he makes his reappearance for the season finale. So when it talks about a ‘reappearance’, it is talking about seeing him again in July. Original tweet here, tweet containing the translation here.

I think Chuck Lee is going to be our Gauntlet. That he made it just far enough out of the city to survive, but that he was badly maimed in the process, and that his family didn’t make it. He’s the ONLY member of the military police with a unique design. He has an actual name, and the director himself tweeted about his backstory. His gun is so unusual that we would recognize it anywhere. Hell, I referred to him as ‘the gold gun guy from episode one’ when one of my friends didn’t recognize him immediately. His gun is so incredibly recognizable. Almost like we need to be able to recognize him by that alone, when everything else about him has changed.

THIS could be how narrative weight for Gauntlet is established in the Stampede universe when it can’t be done the same way as in Trimax. Taking a character who has, in a way, also been with the audience ALL ALONG, who was there with us for two pivitol moments, the beginning and the awakening, but who comes at it from such a horrifically different angle and bringing him back in such an agonizing way. Because he was very much in the wrong with his stunt at Jeneora Rock, but his rage over the loss of his family in July would be justified, even if we know it wasn’t Vash’s fault.

(Also, the IRONY of him ending up as one of Knives’s lackeys when Knives is the one that caused all of this? Damn.)

Footnote: I have Thoughts on why they can get away with adding Milly to The Squad late. That is a whole other Thought but tldr; (and also I haven’t actually written it out) Milly is the most perceptive of all of them she doesn’t NEED an extended intro to Vash to Know.

[p5x-theories]

It seems that new information has been leaked, announced by LaoV at a private three-company offline fan event in China on July 12th.

International version: Around the end of the year (or the end of the fiscal year?)

The P5 collaboration pyramid and spaceship editions will be held right after the summer event.

There are long-term plans for collaborations with the Persona series, and what is known at this time is that the order of future collaborations is likely to be P5R, P3R, and P4G.

Please look forward to seeing how Yuki Makoto(P3 MC) appears in the story of P5X.

Also, later this year, "a red-haired female character that many people are looking forward to" is scheduled to appear.

bilibili video: 3vmOQ6qlhd

Oh, this is all very exciting news if true! Unfortunately, it looks like the video might've been taken down (nothing comes up when I put it into the url), or maybe I'm just doing something wrong...? Either way, I can't check this for myself at the moment.

[raayllum]

Callum turning to look specifically at Rayla for this dialogue - whether to foreshadow how he feels about wanting Rayla to kill him (ergo not let him live) if he may pose a threat with Aaravos, or to foreshadow Callum's own potential ethical dilemma (both within and beyond S5, starting with giving Finnegrin the dark magic spell) - utterly killed me, thank you

[anistarrose]

Why are A CYBER'S WORLD and WELCOME TO THE CITY... Like That?

[Title text: "Why are A Cyber's World and Welcome to the City.... Like that?" with the track names in all caps. End text.]

I know now is a weird time to come down with Deltarune Brain-Wormes (affectionate), but as is always the case when I come down with the Brain-Wormes, I rewatched the Andrew Cunningham video on Gaster's Theme, as if this time I'd make a new connection that somehow eluded me all six or so times before. Except... this time, I actually did realize something!

For context, Andrew identifies a Gaster's Theme reference in Welcome to the City with "low-ish" probability of brainrot, ie a relatively reliable quote of the leitmotif — and he finds this mildly vexing, as did I. Because Scarlet Forest has a very strong Gaster quote, and that makes two consecutive "second areas" in Dark Worlds with Gaster-y music, yet no clear thematic connection to the good doctor — unless you presume Gaster to be the egg man, who appears in both areas — but then A Cyber's World immediately quashes that connection, by sharing the Gaster-adjacent melody that Welcome to the City has, and we all know Cyber Field has no egg man.

So, like... that clearly begs the question, what's up with that? Waiter, there's some Gaster in my Cyber World! Is this not a reliable Gaster's Theme sighting after all? Did Toby just let it slide in by accident?

Well, I don't think so. And upfront, I don't actually have a lore explanation for the Gaster hints. But I do have evidence that Toby did it on purpose, for some reason — and that we might need to pay more attention to Cyber Field and Cyber World going forward. Because, I mean, just look at this:

[ID from alt: a screenshot of the 6th and 17th tracks in the Deltarune official soundtrack. They are A Cyber's World? and Welcome to the City respectively, both written in all caps. End ID.]

I don't even know where to begin with the weirdness of these two tracks, as they appear on the soundtrack. I mean, they're capitalized! They're the only capitalized tracks from Chapter 2 that aren't Spamton-related!

Gaster talks in all caps! The secret bosses, which are rife with musical and textual Gaster references in their own right, talk in all caps! The only Chapter 1 tracks in caps are Another Him, The World Revolving, and The Holy! Almost as Gaster-y as you can get! Yet while we're back in the Card Kingdom, neither Field of Hopes and Dreams, nor Scarlet Forest, are in all caps! So why are their analogues?

And if that wasn't weird enough... Cyber Field and Cyber City have the sixth and seventeenth track, respectively! You know, like stats of 666, like fun values in the 60s? Like Entry Number 17? Chapter 1's sixth and seventeenth track, Cliffs and Checker Dance, are neither in caps nor otherwise reeking of Gaster! Genuinely, what the hell is going on here?

...Did Toby literally just happen to notice these tracks were 6th and 17th respectively, and throw in the caps to fuck with us? The Gaster motif sightings make me seriously doubt it. And the fact that Kris and Susie's first foray into the Cyber World, walking on green platforms that by all means look identical to the Cyber Field proper is suspiciously silent, with no sign of the Cyber Field theme — until Queen shows up with two whole tracks, ensuring A Cyber's World gets pushed back to Track 6 — well, it could absolutely just be to build an unsettling atmosphere while the player is presumably disoriented. But there's so many Gaster-colored flags here that it needs to be examined, right?

The only other thing I can think of is how Gaster really put emphasis on "fields" in the Chapter 2 announcement... but that doesn't explain why Field of Hopes and Dreams isn't equally suspicious, nor account for the weirdness of Cyber City:

[ID from alt: a tweet from Gaster, via the Undertale account, reading: "The second field. The second connection." in all caps with a link to deltarune.com. End ID.]

Truly, I don't know. This seems like something we might not be able to solve with the information we have as of Chapter 2, but it's simultaneously hard to leap to that conclusion when this doesn't even look that much like a recurring pattern from Chapter 1. Is Gaster or a related entity naming these tracks — like how Gaster names certain "devices" in the code all caps, for things like the Goner Maker sequence? I mean, maybe, but then why? I have more questions than answers.

In summary, I guess... you know how Deltarune showed us that in hindsight, Waterfall in Undertale had been really freaking suspicious, in some ways we recognized but other ways that were right under our noses? I just think that Cyber Fiend and Cyber City might wind up in a similar position, after future Deltarune chapters.

[koshka-sova]

on minor parsing of the reverse 1999 timeline: where do events fall?

disclaimer: this post is not meant to provide a decoded in-game timeline. its purpose is to sow discussion about how to make sense of it.

minor spoilers up to 1.9 vereinsamt, and mention of versions 2.0-2.2

months ago when 1.4 prisoner in the cave (Ch5) was released in CN, a user posted her findings of the game's timeline based on the IDM in 37's lab and greta's account in the star. you can find the post here. the scope of her findings was limited to the main story and makes sense. although the theorised timeline only goes up to Ch5, we can easily extend the timeline to include the story up until the storm in Ch7, since the progression from prisoner in the cave -> vereinsamt is linear.

QUERY: where have previous non-main events fallen into this timeline?

the official re1999 account posted earlier today some images of a laplace forum board, and two things stuck out to me:

these two comments. one of them is likely windsong, based on the ID end letter 'W' and her ley line device. the other is (likely) mesmer jr's account, and here she mentions 'researcher ezra.' before talking about windsong, lets clear things up a bit with ezra.

in uluru games, vertin already has a sizeable team, such as bringing regulus, darley, la source, and click when the uluru crew first set foot in the stadium. having regulus around means the event definitely happened after Ch0-4 i.e., regulus recruited, team timekeeper is established. but did it happen between Ch4 and Ch5? not necessarily. although we know the storm has a physical radius, nothing is proven yet on which storms had affected australia. besides, ezra seems to have already been an established member of laplace by the time of the event. so, when uluru games happened is still up for discussion.

with windsong, however, one thing is certain: farewell rayashki happened before the main story. a few points infer to this:

all of farewell rayashki (1.8) happened, and THEN windsong was recruited by lucy to join laplace. this means lucy hadnt resigned.

the radio broadcast at the beginning of the event tells of a storm syndrome that turns people's insides into electrical wires. this syndrome doesnt match any storm directly in the main story (comic book explosions in 1966, money = food in 1929, oil paintings in 1914, people turning into blocks during vertin's breakaway incident; this was 1987, per the previous linked post). this might match, however, with greta's account of the storm in the star.

that's all fine and dandy, and windsong's presence in the laplace forum (which happens AFTER vereinsamt, as the forum discusses a charging station in vertin's suitcase to accommodate lucy) means the timeline is still fairly consistent. but what about the other events?

theft of the rimet cup is likely to be before Ch0 this is tomorrow. regulus was still in 1960s london at the time

green lake. horropedia recounts that the zeno campsite story seemed to have been in 1971, but when exactly is that in relation to the game's main story? still unclear, but should be after vertin establishes team timekeeper...

mor pankh, iirc, was also around 1960s, though whether this means it happened before the main story is up for discussion.

uluru games, as discussed above, should be after Ch4 at least, however it might be even later i.e., after Ch7 vereinsamt.

notes on shuori: no clue on this one... the one lead to maybe making sense of the timeline is yenisei, as it's implied she meets the timekeeper at the end of the event. the status of pei city and the storm is a different topic entirely, as well.

farewell rayashki: before one of the earlier storms prior to the main story (Ch0). see above.

after having finished vereinsamt, im quite excited to see where the story is headed next. although arcana is seemingly out of the picture, the manus still exist. what little i could garner with versions 2.0-2.2, without much spoilers, is the active presence of manus vindictae (or at least, one member) through characters like ms kimberly and ms grace. with anjo nala being a major character in Ch8 tristes tropiques, this might mean events 2.0 and 2.1 happen between Ch7 and Ch8. everything else, i have yet to know, however.

[nevaroonie]

poor Casey.. im sure he'll get the hang of it-

[asshatproductions]

Feel free to elaborate in the tags!

[alicepao13]

Yeah, that isn't weird at all.

[freckliedan]

what’s the xmas 2018 thing

in late 2018 @freckliephil and i were beset upon by psychic visions. and were soooo convinced they got engaged when visiting phil's family for xmas. the only thing we've ever been wrong about is timing. u can check out my engagement theory tag + i'll be tagging this too for anyone on mobile.

[9hikers]

i'm not sure if it's intentional but tmagp really does give its audience the same choice sam is having to make: blissful ignorance, or going down the rabbithole.

there's so much extra info you can find from casting calls, the ARG, Q&A's, the kickstarter - i'm stunned by the amount of lore that has been uncovered already

[starpros-sunshine]

see seb the point is that just how you wouldn't call a pumpkin a melon you wouldn't call a melon a watermelon because

the seeds for one. texture also

cucumbers and pumpkins at least have the seeds in the center you know?

Yeah but like. They're still melons? They're not cucumis melons but they're still melons? I agree that they're different and shouldn't be thrown into the same category but that doesn't mean they're not melons? That's the whole point of them being watermelons is that there's a lot of water in them do they have a different structure why else would they be in an entirely different category?

[chubbychiquita]

I’m so sorry I’m having trouble keeping up with your health issues, but rooting for you all the way. Is the MRI for the gallbladder stuff, or is that resolved and you’re fully back aboard the gaintrain?

gallbladder has left the building! after surgery i had a lot of weird infections and complications that left the entirety of my digestive system totally fucked 😭

i've been trying to get it back to normal through dozens of treatments and diets and meal plans and medications for ~2 years now but the doctors can't even pin point what's wrong.

+ the symptoms aren't constant or predictable! one week i can be totally fine and stuffing myself to the brim with ice cream, and the next week i can't keep down water and have to go to the emergency room for fluids 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 so yes, currently my full time job is going to the doctor.

[disgruntledpoptart]

Hello. This is Mahmoud again. I hope you are well. May I ask you please to check my new post and consider sharing my new blog in a post or reblogging it? Thank you in advance!!! https://www.tumblr.com/mahmoudkhalafff/755062755057434624/what-do-i-and-my-family-in-gaza-matter-anyway?source=share

Mahmoud and his family have reached out to me on multiple occasions, and as much as I am glad to hear from them, it breaks my heart how they are still in such danger. So please find it in your hearts to make a donation, or if you really can't, share the link or replogg this post and the others on their blog, get their story as mych attention as possible.

Don't ignore them and all the others suffering under Israel's genocide!

anything helps 🙏

[ethocomments]

this is incorrect, but I've gotten stuck on not one but several cases of rampant comment myths and this screenshot led me to it. etho first referred to his lp season 2 base as the man cave for the first time on October 26, 2011 in episode 112. scrolling through ep 112 comments, you will note:

two people pointing out the actual first time at 0:37

possibly the first comment bdubs ever made on etho's channel (to be verified; they did RFTW together approx. 3 weeks prior. it's the earliest I've found so far, and bdubs only has 27 comments on the channel with at least two of those being recent and getting hearts & one being etho drinks toilet water, which narrows the chances significantly.)

people asking about the creeper trick - the two leading theories are that creepers would not explode unless they were on the same Y level as the player, or that it's an exploit of the way glass panes could block mob line of sight. (etho used a similar trick with fenceposts a few eps prior, as the taller hitbox prevented a creeper from "seeing" him despite having clear in-game line of sight.) this has to be beta 1.9 prerelease 4 as prereleases 3 and 5 showed the version in the HUD, but I can't find any documentation of version changes that corroborate either theory. i will give a prize* to anyone who can confirm** this

people claiming this episode is the first instance of "go get your snacks," which is corroborated by ethopedia. however, as always, there are dissenters claiming LP s1 or earlier in s2 and it's possible the imperfect auto-captions didn't pick it up, so this earns a solid plausible rating.

with all that said, happy 11-year anniversary to the man cave and also the most consternating comments on any etho video.

[lwieserce]

i need everyone to let me live in their brains like a parasite please tell me every single little personal detail so i can pick it apart

[friendrat]

Ok, I can't be the only one who has had this thought nagging at me. It is way too much of a coincidence that Chloe and Marinette were in the same class so many years in a row. I really think Chloe used her father's influence to get in the same class with Marinette, specifically to bully her.