#well anon's conspiracy theories in this case

[velvetvexations]

can you imagine hating a religion so much you hold on to one post someone makes about practicing it for months so that you can pounce on them because you've built up this deeply unhealthy grudge that results in getting your idiot followers accusing them of being a fucking nationalist

Like? Can someone? Tell me? Where I mentioned the person I'm supposedly obsessed with? Where I said "this is in response to [x]"? Because this anon was literally the first time I had ever heard the word "hjra" in my life.

I did not know anything about the hijra before that anon. No one had mentioned them to me and I read nothing about them, including any article written by any radical feminist. I knew nothing about any of that.

But somehow the above was taken as calling HER racist, specifically for her views on the hijra, even though I say outright that I'm not talking about them and am just saying that if that's the case people need to be specific instead of saying that all non-Western third genders are transmisogynistic.

But this woman was so fucking pissed off by that one post where I mentioned practicing Hinduism that this was casus belli enough to throw out her conspiracy that I'm obsessed with hating her out of retaliation for posts I never knew she made criticizing Hinduism, to which she began talking about how it's a religion impossible to practice ethically and reblogging people saying it needs to be done away with.

Ohhhhh, but I mentioned her some before, every now and then? Oh ho ho, well, let me talk about all the times transfymynysts have randomly made a post dunking on me, with zero substance other than getting an own in. On the other hand, the only times I've ever mentioned her, or anyone else specific for that matter, is to critique their contributions to transfeminism, which is especially a big deal here since unlike that last jackrabbit giving me the powerjacketing obsessive stalker trip, THIS jabberwock is a published fucking author! Like, I'm fucking sorry? I, a trans woman, can't once in a blue moon comment on a published author's feminist theory?

And now I am being called a Hindu nationalist.

Outragous.

[andy-wm]

I’ve just been listening to a podcast about the fabric of reality, and came on here for a bit of downtime. And lo and behold, you’re talking about reality and time passing, and that’s exactly it.

No matter what we think, no matter what we say, or theorise or claim, we don’t alter the truth, and that stands for everything that doesn’t pertain to us.l and our own lives.

I can think the earth is flat till the cows come home (I don’t, obviously) but that doesn’t alter reality. 

Same goes for Jimin and JKs relationship. I’ve seen people claim wild theories, bending and stretching to reach conclusions far outweighing a k drama or blockbuster movie, whereas I personally, think mundanely and simply, that they are together. 

Whose right? We don’t know. 

That’s the truth. We don’t know. 

We may never know, we may find out one day?. 

I’m saying this with a smile on my face because that’s the beauty of life right, as long as we are not harming others, or coming into others spaces and shouting. As long as we aren’t being disrespectful to others, and to Jikooks bond. 

I will say this though, an actual truth people seem to forget or quickly dismiss across the fandom as a whole, is that those men chose to enlist together and whatever we may think of their relationship that is what happened and we should do well to remember that. 

Hey Anon, that's what i call serendipity.

And I love this ask, thank you!

I absolutely agree, what we know - or think we know - has no impact on what truly is.

Even when we believe we know all there is to know, new discoveries and new understanding mean - hopefully - we're constantly learning and reassessing.

When it comes to Jikook, Occam's razor is my go-to: the simplest explanation is, in fact, usually the best. We don't need convoluted plots and schemes and conspiracy theories. There's enough information staring us in the face.

Sometimes we need to untangle that information - I'm not saying we should accept everything on face value - and we do have to look out for new information so we can adjust our understanding.

But that is the case with everything on earth. There is no static knowledge.

These things add layers of richness and complexity but they don't change the basic premise of our underatanding.

That understanding, for me, is that these two humans love each other.

As you say, there ARE things we definitely know, like their companion enlistment.

Like the fact that Jimin chose to have JK with him - next to him - when he talked about his depression on Beyond The Star.

We know Jimin flew 28 hours so he could spend 3 days with JK in NY and Connecticut.

We know that JK was ready to crack Yoongi on the head with a frypan when he though Jimin might have been hurt (by a 5g shuttlecock).

We know that JK never harms Jimin - in all the games and jokes they play, he never targets Jimin (spraying his butt with a watergun is not targeting him, before anyone gets huffy. That did Jimin no harm at all.)

We know that Jimin worried over how hard JK was working.

We know JK begged Jimin shamelessly in front of millions of people, to do a weverse live together.

We know JK watched and hyped all Jimin's footage when he was promoting FACE.

We know they jumped into the comments of one another's livestreams several times last year.

We know all these things, but imagine what we don't know.

There's so much we have no idea about.

Hours and hours of footage that never reaches our screens. Months of time they spend together or alone or with family or friends. That's as it should be - their their private lives are just that - private.

Yes, I have a lot of fun picking apart the little glimpses we get into their lives because i enjoy their dynamic so much and because I'm naturally curious (okay, yes, I'm nosy 🤣).

I look deeper not because I'm hunting for lies or flaws, but because these two delight me. Sure I speculate, but i don't purport to know what they are to each other or where their boundaries lie. And I'm happy not to know. Some things are none of my business.

Like you, Anon, I accept that i may never know the true nature of their relationship, and I'm quite okay with that.

In the end what does it matter?

Whatever they are to each other, they're happy, and honestly what more is there to life than love and happiness?

💜💛

[utilitycaster]

Given this campaign’s ups and downs and the current slate of CR programming, I’m curious what your outlook is on CR’s overall creative direction, especially going into a big anniversary? I mainly ask because you don’t seem to get bogged down in weird conspiracy theories about CR as a company nor do you act like CR producing other side projects is the root of campaign 3’s issues (like many disgruntled fans seem to - mostly reddit bros obsessed with viewership proving their points). You also seem to know your shit when it comes to creative direction in TTRPG content and have well founded critiques and complaints. 

I personally think a lot of what they've been doing is interesting, but I do sometimes wonder if I’m just prone to wanting to like what CR does because I'm a fan and want them to do well.

Hi anon!

First, thank you so much. I do not in fact know my shit re: creative direction and while I don't want to put them on the spot, several of my mutuals DO have considerably more knowledge of creative direction and production considerations than I do. They are just also better at keeping quiet and hedging their bets than I am. Anything I say that is correct re creative direction comes from a combination of avid reader who likes to analyze fiction/project management experience/common sense.

Honestly? I don't know if they'll do a campaign after this one (and it's possible they'll wrap up C3 before the 10th anniversary) but I think that the reason C3 is like this is because of the demands of a campaign that incorporates EXU Prime and past campaigns and the moon plot. I think Matt needed to run this the way Brennan runs D20 seasons and the cast was also expecting a campaign with the more open plotting of C1 or C2, and no one realized this until pretty far into the campaign. It is not too late to stick the landing of a messy campaign, though it's also not too late to totally fuck it up; but I think (and, to be fair, hope, because I'm also a fan and want them to do well) that the issues of Campaign 3 are contained within Campaign 3.

Part of why I think that is because the "side projects" have for the most part been successful! TLOVM looks great as does what little we've seen of the animated Nein series, the Daggerheart one-shots have been fun, I've loved Candela Obscura, Calamity and Downfall have been incredible, and while they're a lot more hands off with Midst what the cast has been involved with has been stellar. I do not think they are creatively tapped or exhausted and indeed had any of the above not been as strong I'd probably be easier on C3 since I would think it was a case of overextension. But as for C3, I think they just underprepped for a campaign that needed much more prep and awkwardly got stuck in it.

If they wrap up C3 a few months before the 10th anniversary and plan to do a fourth campaign, I'd say that would be a great time to announce it (though I'd recommend taking at least 3 months off if not more, as they have in the past). If it's still going or has just wrapped up, or if they don't plan to do a C4, I'd use that to announce an EXU or maybe some Nein show news and save that announcement for later.

[silent-sanctum]

If you can, you do Jotaro x reader where the reader (gender neutral) is a very famous music celebrity and how Jotaro handles the being with someone who is famous with their daughter Jolyne in their life as well. Love your work and hope everything is good with you 🩷

Thank you anon! 💖 Kinda stressing out over paperwork over here but it's all good nonetheless! 🫡 You're request is heard and I hope I did your request justice with this short fic. Hope you enjoy! ♡

My Universe - Jotaro x Reader

word count: 2.2k

One of the perks of having your spouse be a famous global soloist, is having a kid with them and have said child be their number one fan if Jotaro wasn’t already.

Sure, he may not necessarily like all the discography you put out for your fans, but that’s normal for anyone. You did mostly pop with some R&B on the side, and he was more of a jazz man himself. But he did have his personal playlist of favorite tracks he’d listen to time to time on repeat.

But Jolyne was on a different level than he was- she adored you off-screen and on-screen. If you were at home or at least around her, she’d have a field trip being with her idol: She’d get her hands on every merchandise that’s yet to be released, listen to songs yet to be heard, and get special access to VIP areas only meant for artists.

How about the time spend with Jotaro?

Well, aside from musing your daughter with all the perks and love from a celebrity guardian, there were times you left Jolyne with her own bodyguard and babysitter, and used the free time to roam the city with your husband and do whatever they wanted to do.

Initially, your personal life was kept secret from the world, choosing to separate and not involve it with the life of stardom. And that was still the case back when you and Jotaro were still dating. You posted a lot on your social media, mostly pictures of your “selcas”, outfits-of-the-day, food items, behind-the-scenes special from your stages, nature shots, and pictures with fellow celebrity friends.

Once in a blue moon, your fans would blow up social media whenever you decided to be ballsy and post pictures of you with Jotaro, his face hidden thanks to his hat and mask. The content of the image was relatively tame and “neutral”, but given the context behind these pictures- the intimate proximity of the two, the matching color palette clothes, the rare posting of him in general- might as well made your fan base theorists.

“Boyfriend reveal when????”

“Bestie, please share the tea to the world”

“Hello? The couple fits?? The cute poses??? Call me delulu but-”

“All of you are being weirdos. Stop invading their privacy”

“Yeah the dude could be her cousin or brother or something”

“Girl they be dropping these lovey-dovey ass pics and still wonder why we’re this delusional”

“Uhm cousin?? Brother?? With those pictures? Weird but pop-off ig”

You’d receive many posts of similar flavor all over your timelines and you admitted to liking whenever your fans talk about the love of your life as if it’s a conspiracy theory and most of them coming from a supportive mindset. It irked Jotaro for a moment when said community managed to somehow track both his formal account used to document his research findings, and his private social media account where he posted pictures of scenery similar to yours.

But there were the rational handful who were able to veer them off his ass, dismissing their claims as false despite hitting the nail on the spot.

Eventually, once you shifted to a more flexible and lenient agency, you decided to reveal to the world that the popular music icon was engaged and to be married the next week all through a single image of your hand brandishing a ring on your ring finger with a bride emoji as its caption.

“GOOD MORNING???”

“MARRIAGE?!!”

“THEY IS GETTING MARRIED YALL”

“And yall called us crazy for saying they had a boyfriend all this time”

“We boutta get Papa Star amongst us”

The fans and the general public went wild and aside from the obsessive ones, most of your community sent their support.

Despite your relationship now public to everyone, Jotaro still wanted to keep himself mostly anonymous to the news. So whatever images were taken with him in it was blurred out with the default blur effect or an emoji sticker- a “star” one to be specific-covering his face whenever it was shared among fans.

The community erupted with loud awes and cheers when you announced to the world that you were going to have a baby girl in the family in one of your interviews.

“OMG???”

“Alright baby protectors, it’s our time to RISE”

“Much love to the little onee”

“I will defend this child with my life.”

“Shooters for baby girl where yall at?”

“Oh she bout to be the luckiest mfer with all the merch exclusives”

Years later, Jolyne grew up to be her parent’s number one fan, doing exactly what your fanbase had thought of when she’d grow older.

Going back to the present, you found yourself stuck knee-deep in your career doing a sold-out world tour, performing for thousands of cheering people in cities across the world. This wasn’t your first tour and you’ve found a decent routine to follow when doing so, but this year was a first for you.

You expressed both in social media posts and in interviews that burnout began to hit you full-time and a multitude of nagging negativity clouded your head as you kept up with all the schedules, production, and practice sessions for majority of the year. You’ve been so busy that time spent with your family this year was little to none. You constantly shared that hopefully sometime in the middle of promotions, you could return home to your family.

Jolyne felt it watching you through the screen. Jotaro felt it too.

All of them missed you and he wanted to do something about it for once.

By the time September came, your world tour came to a close with one last concert to be done in the Rose Bowl Stadium in California. Both him and Jolyne were never able to attend to any of your concerts due to work and school, but timing was in their favor for once and he made the most of the opportunity.

He got into contact with your manager, someone he became close acquaintances with, and notified of them coming over to watch your show. At first, Jotaro just wanted to be there with your daughter in tow, but the manager and a couple of the crew members in-charge of the set list had different plans.

He agreed to it.

With the VIP tickets secured and their booth ready for them, Jotaro and Jolyne flew across the States with eager anticipation and excitement, the latter mostly radiating off from the little girl.

Eventually, the day of the concert arrived and your daughter couldn’t contain herself from running about, unable to wait any longer for her to watch her other parent sing and dance live for the first time. During the day, rehearsals were done before the show proper and a handful of lucky fans were able to watch it.

Thanks to a streamer fan’s dedication and generosity, Jolyne was able to watch you walk about the stage in cozy casuals interacting with your community through a live stream in her phone. From time to time in the middle of preparing things needed for a concert, Jotaro would tune in as well, happy to see you even if it was from a live feed.

Hours later, he rented a car nearby and drove both of them to the beaming stadium, teemed with cheering crowds of fans falling in line either to enter the venue or to purchase on-site merchandise. On the lampposts and the walls were banners of you welcoming everyone to the event.

To avoid getting mobbed, both father and daughter kept themselves hidden from any passing person with a hat and mask as they walked across the area to the stadium’s entrance. To everyone else, they might as well be an ordinary dad-and-daughter duo who were also fans of their favorite artist.

Jotaro followed the instructions sent to him by your manager and headed off to a more discreet entrance where they didn’t have to worry about any lines or people complaining of why they get to enter first and not them. A guard stationed by waved them inside and led the family into their seats overlooking the brightly lit stage. Before the platform were thousands of light sticks waving in the dark, belonging to the fans singing to songs being played as they waited for you to start.

Beside him, Jolyne sang along with enthusiasm, shaking her own personalized light stick to the beat of the music. He would do the same in an alternate universe, but here it just wasn’t his thing.

After a few minutes, the music faded off into silence and the lights dimmed until the stage cast the whole venue in darkness. The crowds cheered and many miniature lights shook in the night. The speakers suddenly blared a remix of one of your title tracks and the jumbo screens flashed to show a VCR containing a mashup of you in a concept film, introducing your theme as a music artist to your audience.

Then as the dancers brought in the energy with their entrance, the stadium exploded with excited screams as you rose up from the below and walked to the front, passing by your back-up dancers until you stood in front of everyone. A second after you greeted the crowd, you switched demeanor and joined the others in choreography.

Jotaro couldn’t help but smile and clap by the time you finished your introductory performance, contrasted by his daughter’s loud screams. He watched wistfully at you speaking with the audience, sweating from all the dance and singing.

It truly was something different watching you live versus watching a live broadcast from home. You’re so near and yet so far from him.

And so far, the rest of the evening was spent like this with you; the beloved soloist performing many of their hit songs ranging from hard hitting beats with impressive dance routines to soothing ballads that had you simply sitting on a fancy stage prop all dolled-up to match the aesthetic of the songs.

Jolyne never pried her eyes away from her other parent, always focused on you and making sure she sung, danced, and responded to your every questions with the devotion of a true, hardcore fan.

By the time the concert was near its end, you were standing in front of the crowd in a cozy outfit akin to the aesthetics of a person living in a humble cabin in the woods. Supposedly, this segment was supposed to be for when you brought up a box of mixed Q&A and dares for you to do.

However, as you said that you were about to start with the bit, the screens beside you changed from showing an arcade-esque “Break Time with Y/N” to a simple “You have special guests watching you”.

Out of the blue, spotlights turned to Jotaro and Jolyne’s booth and there they were- clear as day on the jumbo screens. Everyone cheered yet again as their way of greeting their favorite artist’s family. And even as Jotaro froze on spot, tipping his hat over his eyes as he offered a small wave, his little girl beamed and waved her light stick at the camera.

“I’m here! Hello!”

Jotaro, from what he could see from under his hat, fixed his gaze on the other jumbo screen where it showed your reaction to the surprise- you were crouched on stage, one hand waving at your child, while the other covered your mouth as he saw tears well up in your eyes.

You didn’t expect them to be at your closing concert but seeing your family present was enough for you to break character and fixate on the loves of your life. “Ah really, you guys…”

In response to your happy tears, the crowd cried out a nearly-synchronized “don’t cry!” prompting you to let out a wet chuckle and sniffle.

It occurred to him that he could do something while the cameras were on them. He reached for his phone from his coat pockets and with a few taps, he showed the screen to everyone- a mobile digital message with the words scrolling across the black screen in neon yellow:

Congratulations on your successful world tour. We love you <3

“Ah! You’re gonna make me cry again!” You said, whining as you swiped your eyes free from the new batch of tears ready to fall. He chuckled back. “Everyone, that’s my husband and baby girl. I love them and the fact that they’re here makes me the happiest person right now.” The crowd cooed.

“Now that they’re here, I’m all the more charged up to perform for everyone!” You said and the stadium cheered in response. With one more long look at your family watching from their booth, you continued. “Hope you all enjoy the rest of this night as much as I am enjoying right now.”

With Jolyne’s suggestion via a whisper, Jotaro turned to his phone and changed the message one more time before the camera diverted away from them. This the message scrolled by in neon green saying:

Let’s celebrate! Let’s eat out later! Our daughter is starving.

Your fans expressed a mix of laughter and wholesome “aw’s”. In turn, you smiled and with both hands grasping your microphone, you replied back to them with a curt yet loving, “Of course. My treat.”

[creature-wizard]

If programming isn’t real then what happened to me. If programming isn’t real why do I have the conditioned responses due to what happened. If programming isn’t real then why am I the way I am. There’s literally no other explanation.

Basically every alleged symptom of the DID programming process described by the likes of Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler is a likely symptom of something else. Many are potential symptoms of other abuses, including corporal punishment, psychological and emotional manipulation, emotional neglect, and the like. These types of abuses have can have far more profound impacts than many of us realize, especially if we grow up in an environment where they're normalized or where adults assure us that they don't count as "real" abuse.

If anything, the DID alter programming myth functions as a way to scapegoat the trauma from being raised in environments like this onto secret cults of devil worshipers so these kinds of people can go on pretending their own childrearing methods aren't inherently abusive.

Now what I'm going to talk about next, I'm not saying that it necessarily applies to you, but I also can't rule it out, and I figure it's good to mention it in a general sense.

At least some of the alleged symptoms of DID programming are symptoms of growing up autistic in a world that hates autistic people. (I'm not saying that you're necessarily autistic, but I can't rule it out, either.) Many autistic people are put through a cruel conditioning process called applied behavior analysis, which is supposed to make them act like allistic people. Autistic people who can't pretend they're allistic are often shunned and bullied, and develop people-pleasing habits as a consequence. This type of conditioning was never carried out on purpose, and yet it was very much carried out.

We can also internalize shitty things people say both to and around us. (Like adults calling certain types of people worthless and undeserving - but whoops, turns out you're one of those kinds of people.) We can also pick up on implicit messages in media that aren't good for our self-worth (like when a trait you have is overwhelmingly depicted in villains, or when people like you are never depicted as attractive). This can impact us in numerous ways, including exacerbating people-pleasing tendencies.

This thread over here mentions some sources of trauma that are often overlooked.

Editing to add in case this post gets reblogged: This anon chimed in with some excellent points, too.

I think it's a safe guess that your life sucked, and that you were not treated well. One way or another, you were hurt very badly, and you did not get the care or comfort you deserved. But saying that your trauma symptoms can only be explained by the alter programming conspiracy theory is like saying the weather patterns of the Little Ice Age could only be explained by witches. Conspiracy theories appear to explain things, but what they're actually doing is offering false explanations in order to further bigger narratives that target a lot of innocent people.

For more information on the origins of the alter programming conspiracy theory, and how we KNOW it's a conspiracy theory, see this post.

[starlightseraph]

love to the brave antis!

i’m being so serious rn when i say that if you’re part of the rpf circle (and that specific one) then please get the fuck away from me and my asks and my posts.

i spent a while hate-reading and rubbernecking, but i was strong enough to block all the major players and i’ve almost entirely kept them blocked. if my inbox last time i mentioned this was anything to go by, clearly some of y’all couldn’t do the same to me.

if you’re in the good omens/staged fandom or a fan of david tennant and michael sheen and somehow aren’t aware, there are a bunch of disgusting blogs that have been spewing hatred and conspiracy theories, for years in some cases. these include but are not limited to: that georgia tennant and anna lundberg baby trapped the guys (with like every kid they’ve had, because david and michael have clearly been on the edge of leaving them so many times), that georgia is repeatedly raping david (???), that she’s abusing him and he’s afraid of her, that david and georgia’s kids hate georgia because they recognise the abuse and are disgusted by it, that anna is some maniacal villain who always planned to trap an established actor because she can’t do anything, that she hates michael, that david and michael are in a sexual and romantic relationship, that they they want to leave their partners for each other, that they already have left their partners in secret, that david and georgia have gotten divorced and are living apart, that georgia’s dad set up her and david on purpose (outside of his influence in getting her the role that they met on), that georgia and anna send coded messages to each other and to followers with the songs they use on instagram stories, that georgia was a criminal-level stalker who baby-reindeer’d david into marrying her, that the four of them have a pr firm that’s orchestrating every flick of their eyes but that this firm is failing miserably by telling them to turn down the heat between david and michael while forcing them to drag georgia and anna along wihh them, and that anyone who doesn’t agree with these rpf blogs is homophobic and wilfully ignorant.

they send death threats to and dox people who dare to say anything against them, i’ve gotten threats myself. @dtmsrpfcringe has gotten wishes of ill on her children and she’s been told that her family doesn’t exist and she’s making them up or is delusional. i myself got death threats and a bunch of abuse on anon for my relatively tame posts on this shit. i was fairly early to the game, i think my first post on the situation was 10ish months ago, and they have radicalised more and more since then. i’m not up to date on their latest insanity— i’ve had them blocked for a long while for my own mental health— but i’m not gonna let the brave people behind the aforementioned blog and others get absolutely vile messages without saying anything.

now i wanna make myself very clear: rpf is fine! real person fiction is fine! i personally don’t like it, but i have no ethical objections as to why others shouldn’t. using the names and likenesses of real people for fun and silly little stories on ao3 is totally ok. but it crosses a line when y’all present the stories as an “investigation” or claim that they’re objective reality. some of the followers of these blogs have admitted to messaging georgia and anna directly about this, and there have also been a few comments on their instagrams that seem fuelled by this stuff, proving that their claims of staying quietly on their own corner of the internet are bullshit.

if anyone’s interested, my old posts on the matter are here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. they’re all months old and quite out of date by now, as i’ve been pretty good at keeping the blogs blocked, but i do think they include some well-written points (much better than this post lol, i just woke up). something has changed though; i say in one of the posts that i’d have no problem with the theories being true, but the blogs have since begun more proudly displaying some truly insane accusations, which i would absolutely have a huge fucking problem with.

anyways. most of the new stuff i’ve seen comes from tori and co, see dtmsrpfcringe and the council (lol) for more, if you want to see a bunch of wonderful people fighting a shit show to protect the fandom.

[alacants]

hello tumblr user alacants, it feels kind of cursed to be saying this on the literal day of rafa’s retirement, but i have been so Moved by the federer/juanki narratives lately and would love to hear your thoughts

hello anon please know that when i got this on the literal day of rafa's retirement i laughed aloud. perfect timing, actually!!! sorry that it took me seven weeks to answer. 😬

the tennis narratives really are sooooo interesting. like. they started out very much as equals. juanki won their first two matches. by the end of 2003—the year they both won their first grand slam titles, the year they split the channel slam—the h2h was a nice even 3-3. (and one of those was a juanki retirement.) then exactly as roger's imperial phase began, juanki fell off the cliff. like. exactly.

juanki took the atp world no. 1 ranking on september 8, 2003. on october 18, he beat roger in madrid en route to his one and only masters title. on november 3, juanki dropped to no. 2 behind andy roddick. on november 12, juanki lost to agassi in masters cup round-robin play and andy clinched the year-end ranking. on november 14, juanki lost to roger in same, bringing their h2h even for the last time. on january 30, roger beat juanki in straight sets in the aus open sf and in doing so clinched his first world no. 1 ranking, effective february 2. on february 25, juanki—holding at world no. 2—was upset in the first round of the marseille open, contracted chicken pox shortly thereafter, and did not play another tennis match until april. one year later, he was ranked no. 98. roger was still no. 1. on august 17, 2008, after 237 weeks, roger finally lost the world no. 1. spot to rafa. juanki was ranked no. 50 at the time.

and if you started watching tennis at any point between 2004 and 2022, you don't even recognize that world—i certainly don't. it's all historical archaeology. these two are living links to a vanished age, except one of them helped bury it and the other was one of the earliest casualties.

like. juanki is the warning! he is the dead body in the first act! here is this young threat who's materialized out of nowhere and he is coming to murder you. the difference is that juanki stayed murdered, and roger famously did not.

so nowadays they're looking back on the same era with similar—but not identical—rose-colored glasses. for roger, it's the first blush of success, salad days just before the golden age. for juanki, it is the golden age. and i mean, they are both romantics and nostalgists, to different degrees. juanki admires roger's tennis so much, and speaks of it in such superlatives—the best player in history, the only player who's ever made me feel inferior on the court. and, you know. i think this is also how roger thinks of his own tennis, ahaha. (I DO TOO SO IT'S FINE.) i think they really feed each other's errrrr how can i say this lovingly. appetite for recognition. you were the greatest player ever. oh, well, you were great too, we played some amazing matches. mutual validation cycle.

i think one of the big what-ifs for me is, what could the relationship/rivalry (such as it is) have looked like if it hadn't been for the chicken pox-broken rib crit. juanki was never going to be rafael nadal, but let's say he'd kept building on his momentum. let's say he was the spanish clay man for a couple years—the main obstacle standing between roger and roland garros and rome and monte carlo. or maybe he followed through on the early narrative that here was a spaniard who wasn't just a clay courter, actually—maybe there's another uso final in his future with a different ending. like, there's no question that roger would ultimately be the better and more successful player but it could have been a really interesting pre-rafa moment. anyone who would like to write this fic feel free.

(i mean for that matter, what about the fic where juanki is the repressed closet case to end all repressed closet cases and roger federer is reddit conspiracy theory manic pixie dream gay roger federer, BOY would that be some encounter c. 2003-5. sorry this is not an actual narrative, it's just a fun fic idea.) (wait what about the fic where that did happen, c. 2003-5, and though it might be 20 years in the past it's definitely played into their present day fondness. really gives some nice flavor to the shanghai final box.)

i saved this thought for the end, because much of this post is silly and this is not. but of course there's one more thing they share—the unenviable experience of losing someone very, very important to them before they'd achieved the dream. i find it hard to believe that this is something they would have talked about then, but they certainly would have known it about each other. maybe it's something they can talk about now.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Hi!. I don't know if you watch/consume some ts theories on the internet but there's this channel where a girl talks about red and maroon being about MH. I never thought about red being about him because it had jake all over it but i love your analysis and theories and they bring me some comfort so i would love to hear your thoughts on this take.

Hey anon, I'm choosing to believe this is sent in good faith, so if so forgive me if I get a little snippy.

But: I absolutely do not consume "theories on the internet" because Taylor isn't a TV character, she's a person who shares her truth as she experiences it through her art. People need to stop turning her and her life into a sim because it's completely rotted their brains and warped the way they interact in society as a whole. To be blunt, if the source of whatever is coming from a platform that can be monetized (most especially Tiktok which lends itself most easily to this, but also Twitter and Youtube), you have to assume that what people are putting out is for the purpose of getting eyeballs on it to make money-- in this case, off of Taylor. To be fair, there were some content creators I enjoyed previously in small doses because their reactions and insights came out of a place of love and relating to the music, which is why we're all here, but I find especially since TTPD, people have lost the fucking plot and are going full-on conspiracy theorist through her discography. I haven't been able to watch any youtubers (the only other platform I watched since I don't do tiktok or twitter) since the album came out and only use tumblr to engage with Taylor's music now.

As to your question, no, Red absolutely isn't about MH, because Taylor and Matty didn't even know each other until after 1989 was recorded. Point blank, end of discussion. I'm not going to say with 100% certainty who it's about because I'm not in Taylor's head and I'm trying to be more flexible about making absolute statements unless there are incontrovertible facts (like this one), but like most of the album, Red is almost assuredly about Jake. And in the same vein, I'm trying to practice what I preach and reiterate that I'm just some girl on the internet whose opinions hold no more weight than anyone else's, and am trying to move away from speaking in absolutes on main like "this song is about this person/this event," but Maroon to me is very obviously about Jake as well. And IMO Taylor has made that very clear, too.

TL;DR: that take is terrible and uninformed and ignores very obvious themes in her writing as well as actual provable facts, and at best was created by someone very unfamiliar with Taylor's work and history and at worst was created by someone specifically to up views to make more money off their channel.

[mrs-monaghan]

I was looking through tkk blogs to see what they were saying about Jimin’s death threats and their role in it—unsurprisingly nothing, and I saw you in the replies and just wanted to say, they don’t have receipts because they don’t exist. Their entire ship is built on slow-mo edits and conspiracy theories.

I do wish some jkkrs would realize they’re starting to think and move like the cult. That blog seemed more rational and reasonable than I’ve seen a tkkr be before, and harassing them isn’t doing anyone any favors. No jkkr is ever going to convince a tkkr of anything in the same way that a tkkr can’t convert a jkkr. That blog at least thinks jk and jm are friends… and wow the bar is on the floor isn’t it? I am surprised that blog is so popular though because they don’t seem to say much of anything. They agree when tkkrs send them asks and then give vague non answers with no receipts for any other ask, but I guess they’re used to that sort of thing. The one time I saw them trying to show receipts it was from an account named KookV FANTASY FICTION 😂

I did not harrass them. I do not harass people. I just made a statement. Like u said, this person seemed pretty level headed so yeah, I replied. You don't come across a sane tkkr everyday so that's why I was confused by their post. Because all I have to do is swap Taekook for Jikook and I can find all the moments they described.... with receipts! 😅

There is something you said thou that stands out to me.

No jkkr is ever going to convince a tkkr of anything in the same way that a tkkr can't convert a jkkr.

Anon, I disagree. If a tkkr showed me legit questionable moments I would listen. If we didn't have HD photos of the Taennie Paris drama I would listen. But as it stands everything they say makes tkk real can be found with V and the wooga squad, can be found with V and other members, with JK and other members. There is not one single "sus" tkk thing that applies to only them.

So yeah, a tkkr would never make me stop believing in Jikook... but Jikook would make me stop believing in Jikook. What happened with V is NEVER going to happen with Jikook. There is not leaked photos or videos (legit ones) that exist of Jimin and JK with other men or women. I personally don't think they have ever broken up so I believe this to be fact. From 2013 when we met them till now November 2023, there is nothing of substance out there that suggests Jimin or JK are or have ever been with other people.

Idk about the future but now, in this moment, I can confidently say this.

But,

If in future they broke up and stopped... well Jikooking, I guarantee you Jikookers would stop "shipping" them. Me included. We don't support Jikook to be stubborn. We believe in them because they remind us of our own rlships or rlships of people we know about.

I discovered BTS and then gravitated towards the two members who screamed "we suck each other's dicks!" to me. This is the story of 90% of Jokers. If it was RM and Jin who acted the way Jikook do, this would be a Namjin blog. If it was Jhope and V doing and saying the things Jikook do, this would be a Vhope blog. Because I am an Army and I watched alot of content with all 7 and Jikook just happened to be the sus ones.

Heck, if Tkk were any bit suspicious to me, i would be a tkkr too!

But alas! That's not the case.

Anon I disagree because majority of Jikookers have reason. We are smart, we did the math. When we get debunked we accept. When we get corrected by the Koreans, we accept. We admit when we are wrong and the survival of our ship doesn't depend on getting rid of V. Most importantly we don't make up anything just so our ship can keep sailing.

GCF Saipan who???

We are here because among all 7 members it was Jikook who looked like they had something going on. You will find Suga biased Jkkrs, Jhope biased Jkkrs, Jin biased Jkkrs, etc. If I thought tkk were real, I would support them despite Jimin being my bias. THAT, anon is the difference between us and them. Not what you think.

Oh. This is the post anon and I are talking about. Please no hate to the blog. He/she seems like good people.

Like @magicshop-pjm1 likes to say; thanks for attending my TED talk

[theoryandahalf]

as much as I love ash gtlive will not work if it’s not at least 2 ppl on it as the conversational and theorizing craziness is what makes it gtlive. so if matpat leaves i wonder if the theorists will take turns on gtlive? or even just space out uploads? ppl talk about forgotten middle child film theory but gtlive is just the skeleton on the bottom of the ocean flor lmao

OMG. Do I get to talk about my Theorist conspiracy theories now?! YESS!! STRAP IN FRIENDS.

So I agree with you anon, I think its very tricky to replace Matt on GT Live, that's why they didn't transition him off at the same time as the other channels. Personally, I think Matt's still on GT Live for three main reasons.

1.Failsafe. If they misjudged the transition and watch time dropped off dramatically, they had Matt still existing in the Theorist ecosystem and could use GT Live footage more frequently (see Tom's Kintopet episode for an example). I don't think they'd ever bring him back as host, but they're not stupid and they probably wanted to keep him around just in case.

2. Nostalgia. GT Live is special for Matt as its really the livestream that catapulted him into his big Youtuber status. I think Youtuber Kamermoon says it really nicely in their video "How Game Theory Survived the Hate"; the live channel was Matt's way of rehabilitating his reputation (and the reputation of gamers in the wake of Gamergate) by showing everyone he's a normal-ish likable dude. So he might be loathed to leave it because it has a lot of his emotions tied to it, and because it also requires slightly less work from him (by slightly i mean its still a huge commitment, Matthew please take a nap).

3. Profitability. I think a lot of older brands or brands that are frequent on the channel are reassured by Matt being the one to represent their products. I did wonder going in if the ad reads would be changed with the new hosts and overall there hasn't been as much #spon on the other channels. But you know which channel has had the uptick in sponsors? GT Live. So far we got at least three recently sponsored episodes on a channel that used to rarely get them. I think its because its Matt and the advertisers want him. He's well known in the industry, popular and safe. They don't know the new hosts. Thus I think Matt's kinda stuck on GT Live for a little while just until the advertisers adjust to the new normal and they have proof that the channels aren't tanking with Matt's departure.

So what does that mean going forward? Food Theory and Style Theory have lower views with Santi and Amy right now, and I think that's understandable. Those are the channels where Matt did the most live action so its the most jarring to have him missing.

(Sidenote thats also probably why there's more ads on gt live, sorry guys we have to live with them for a while)

What I think is going to happen is that over the summer you're going to see Santi and Amy on the couch with Matt much more frequently. Lee as well, but mostly because he lives down the street and he's an easy pull. I think they're going to try to slowly transition the audience to them so that they will share the live channel (Amy mentioned Theorist is looking to buy a studio space and I think that will allow Santi and Amy to film "Live" content from the west coast). I think its going to be much slower than the fast(ish) transition we had before for the above three reasons. But I'm fairly positive Matt will leave at the end of the summer (its rare that this man does not do what he says he will) and we will have a steady rotation of the various channels doing livestreams or lets plays, with Ash either running or organizing their schedules (basically serving as a mini Jason).

I also think there was always a plan for Tom to move to North Carolina because he has hinted many, many times that he wants to move to the United States and likes NC. It makes logical sense to move to where Matt lives since he's running the flagship channel and has to take over his boss' many industry contacts. The only thing that would stop him is that immigration is a bit of a mess right now in the US. I guess they stopped issuing as many work visas during the Trump administration and they haven't really recovered? Honestly I'm not 100% sure the exact story there, I just know its hard to move out here so they might have to wait a while before Tom could take over for Matt. If he eventually makes it stateside, then he can film live content with Lee as the "east coast" branch of Theorist, probably in Matt and Steph's house, until they truly give up and kick everyone out.

TL;DR...I agree that Ash will not be the solo host for GT Live for fiscal reasons (I'm also not 100% sure they want the role? Hard to say) and it might take a while for Theorist to get everyone in place for Matt's last departure. It will happen, just not right now.

[saintsenara]

Thoughts on snuna and Snape x lily Luna Potter. The first one is one that I ship and the second one is just a ship I saw and thought was interesting though I haven't read or seen anything Abt it yet.

I just think that with all of Snape's crankiness and irritability Luna would be immune to all of that and just always be there for him.

I'm asking about the second one just in case you know and ship it so I can learn more Abt it ✌️

i’ll be honest, anon, we’re going to have an issue here because i am definitely not of the opinion that snuna is a ship which is watertight.

not because of the age gap - i literally don’t care! - nor because of the student-teacher dynamic, present even if they get together once luna’s an adult - this doesn’t matter! these aren’t real people! - but because luna is a deranged conspiracy theorist.

i should say that, in general, i loathe luna’s standard fanon characterisation because, yes, while it draws out the positive aspects of her canon personality, such as her phenomenal loyalty and her ability to weather adversity, it also massively underplays the fact that she’s stubborn, inflexible, irrational, unwilling to listen to anything which challenges her beliefs, easily led, and so on.

snape, obviously, is someone who was groomed into joining a terror organisation, so he’s undoubtedly susceptible to a bit of magical thinking himself - i’d live for a snuna fic in which she manages to gradually convince him that seed oils destroy the magical core or that the battle of hogwarts was hoax - and he obviously has just as little respect for the government and its corruption as she does. but he also prides himself on his intellectual creativity, something which requires a grasp of the rules and theories of magic as they exist within reality in order to move beyond them. one of my main issues with snamione is that snape clearly finds hermione insufferable because of her intellectual inflexibility - her reciting of textbooks and dislike of experimentation - and my view of snuna is that the same issue will be present - luna is not someone bound by mainstream disciplinary conventions like hermione is, but she is someone whose beliefs are clung to just as stubbornly, even when they are provably false.

maybe they can get together when luna’s done some work on deprogramming from the fact that she was raised in a cult - and snape’s done the same work in order to move on from the two cult leaders who defined his adult life. but i think that would probably result in both of them being less interesting characters to me… who wants to read about a couple who are healthy and well-adjusted?

i have only ever read one snape x lily luna - little lily by ciule, which manages, somehow, to contain neither underage nor non-con. i back it.

[brxkxnhxxrtsclxb]

Hii! Just wanted to ask if you saw Boruto leaks? (If you didn't, i'll just that it's over for Sarada😭).

hi anon :3 !!

sigh… a can of worms i didn’t want to open has been opened soooo…

long rant ahead:

[TLDR: this manga is a hot mess. sarada deserves not better, BUT THE BEST (i’m biased, she’s my fave so she only deserves the best)]

dear anon, i. am. tired. TIIIIRRRREEDDDD !!!!!

i’m sorry if this comes off as mean and rude and pls know i am not cussing you out (literally not directed at you, but at the manga) but WTF . respectfully, WHAT THE FUUUCCKKKK ??!! this manga is soooo i don’t even have the right words. well for one it’s ghetto. i can say that

so now we know chapter 10 WAS sarada’s fight this time skip. seems she’s for real gonna get the sakura treatment in being underutilized. sakura got her one fight against sasori and that was that UNTIL the war and fight against kaguya. seems sarada is unfortunately suffering the same fate. she got her dodging and chidori against hidari moment (which was literally the bare minimum tbh) and that’s it. WTF ._.

she’s being saved by we all know who YET AGAIN. it’s tiresome. why does she constantly need to be saved ?? we KNOW she’s capable to do her own thing. WE KNOW THIS !! she’s a shinobi dammit. her best moment was in the kawaki arc against boro and she’s never had another chance. that was all kodachi. i truly lament the day kodachi was let go (reasonable as to why but i didn’t realize how good we had it T_T). also, she has the other jonin with her so again, WTF. get them out of the way to give the MC yet another hero moment (same with himawari which doesn’t even makes sense. she got kurama now right ?? she got a huge power up somehow. tf she needs to be saved for?? hello ?? who’s writing this ??)

why IS sarada always being saved ?? they have her yapping about her goal to become hokage YET she’s done nothing to prove it (only did so by welcoming and befriending kawaki) and SHE IS THE ONE BEING SAVED !!!! the hokage’s job is to PROTECT THE VILLAGE !! she’s the one who is suppose to be doing the saving, not be saved!!!!! omg who IS writing this ??!!

i will say it’s possible the leaks are fake. i know this guy who said this is a reliable leaker but he also did say he wasn’t posting any since the chapter was dropping soon anyway. it’s possible he posted them so people could stop pestering him about them OR he just lied to, again, get these people off of him idk. of course there is the chance they’re true but that doesn’t matter anymore. this manga is fried. chapter after chapter, it’s the same washed stuff

kishimoto and ikemoto said it’d get dark and would be darker and better than naruto, that’s not true at all. fandom kept telling those outside of it (haters and those neutral to the manga) to give it time and how the time skip will get better. here we are now and nothing. it’s all… for what ??

they haven’t canceled this manga because reasons. and if that’s the case where they (jump) wanna keep it around, they’re better off canceling it while they still can and rebooting it tbh. they can use the same karma and otsutsuki plot line. it’s good. it works. all they need to do is hire an actual writer who knows what they’re doing and how to tell a story (like they did with kodachi), or idk a different mangaka who writes and draws and knows what they’re doing to work on it (like almost every manga). this isn’t any hate to ikemoto, but we know the man isn’t a writer. if that were the case we wouldn’t have needed kodachi from the start (shit, maybe ikemoto is the one doing everything which is why it’s all so contradicting and makes zero sense and so repetitive but this goes into conspiracy theory territory so i’ll leave it alone)

i’ll keep reading to see where they go with kawaki cuz i do like him too (and where is the lil vampire ?? where he ran off to?? hello ?? code, you there ??!!), but other than that this manga is a hot mess. notice how everyone in the ENTIRE CAST is dumbed down and weakened to make boruto look good ?? if you need to make your entire cast stupid in order for your main character to shine, you’re not a writer who knows what they’re doing and your main character sucks. your MC is boring and needs to be made to look cool and special by sacrificing the other characters. i’m sorry that’s SUPER RUDE, but that’s the truth and all there is to it. i can’t sugarcoat it :((

sorry for getting into a long rant anon. thank you for thinking of me and letting me know when seeing the leaks. i appreciate it🖤 it’s comforting to know someone sees things for the way they are. it IS over for sarada. as a fan of hers, i can say that cuz that’s what we’re getting. i’m not gonna sit here and be like “no she’s doing just fine”😭😭. only people i see defending this are shippers which is so stupid cuz that’s not the way to read shonen manga and not the main focus. you can have your ships, yes, but it’s literally not working in sarada’s favor AT ALL

idk. maybe it’s possible things will get better for sarada and i REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY WANT IT TO. YAY if that does happen but she’s in the middle of combat and this is what we get for her :(( she doesn’t get fights. ZERO TIME TO SHINE and it’s so stupid. she’s the main heroine, please treat her like it

imma go and cry in a corner now (not literally lmao) cuz my girl only deserves the best and that’s not boruto cuz all he does is hinder her character and potential😖

i am not okay with any of this T_T

[desultory-novice]

Another Lightning Round!

This time, we're answering:

-Borb Feet -Shadow Dedede and The Mirror World's Dream Fountain -Kirby Royalty -Soul of Kirby?! -Forgiving the "unforgivable" Dream Friends (a lo~ng post for an old ask!)

Hee hee! I'll tell you what, anon, at first, I wasn't sure how to take this comment (something I mentioned on stream) because getting good at drawing feet on the internet is... well...you know!

But given I myself started this by pointing out how bad I was at it with Galacta Knight, I really do appreciate the compliment! Next on my list.... borb hands. I've seen so many people draw Kirby's n-nubs (?) in ways that really make them look so marshmallow-y and fun!

-

Hello?! That idea of the Star Rod never getting repaired after Shadow Dedede broke it?! Fantastic! Imagine it drying up, and of course, the effects something like that would have on the mirror world!

(Has anyone else stumbled across that gorgeous but haunting series of "bad end" pictures a certain Kirby fan artist did on Twitter? I remember one had Dedede with a dried up Dream Fountain. That's very much what I'm visualizing here!)

Now, I vague~ly recall that there's some debate about the "darkness in his heart" part of the Shadow Dedede pause screen?  That the English version says it is Shadow Dedede who has to overcome his darkness whereas in the original, it is OUR Dedede who has to overcome his "shadow" that being Shadow Dedede.

...But just because it isn't saying that Shadow Dedede is trying to overcome something doesn't mean he doesn't represent a painful mark in both Dedede's histories. And such a "mistake" (unknown at the time) is an excellent possibility!

Lastly, thank you! The steady influx of lore and theories everyone drops into my inbox reminds me of my favorite parts of fandom in the old days and is a major treat!

-

This is NEAT! While they may not have known about each other in the past, you bring up a great point that after so many games, these various planets (dimensions? in the case of Fluff) are forging bonds with each other. Everyone likes the Galactic Star Alliance from the anime, right? What's interesting is that we kind of have a basis for such an "alliance" forming in our current Kirby-game verse!

Kirby has helped these monarchs get in contact with each other, becoming a link across multiple planets. So I think the idea of them getting together and talking now, in the present~post-game of Forgotten Land is a possibility! Let each other know if any suspicious activity is happening or if everyone is still doing all right.

Although that reminds me of something that came up in the stream... Since King Dedede is the "self-proclaimed" ruler of Dream Land... is there an ACTUAL ruler of Dream Land/Popstar waiting in the wings? Waiting for their return? Or sealed away even? (D-Dark Nebula, is that you?)

Either way, a meeting between those 5 sounds both intense and fun! I would love to come back to this idea with a sketch or illustration of some kind!

-

I'm digging into the backlog for some of these. Also, I can't believe I never answered this one?! Sorry if this ask is too old even for you, @emeraldcoloredwinter

(I'm also sorry in case I did in fact answer it in the past and can't find it - because Tumblr's search is really unreliable. If I repeat myself here, I'm sorry. If not and this turns out to be relevant...great!)

Frankly, I would love to see all kinds of soul lore expanded upon in future games. Partly because I have my headcanons as to why Sectonia/Pres. Haltmann died for realz versus why Marx and Magolor came back and if we get more tidbits, I can come closer to completing my conspiracy corkboard!!

(As well as figure out just where Drawcia lays in the current state of "canon." And maybe figure out some stuff about Zero, Zero 2 and the Dark Matters and what happened to them!)

On the one hand, I feel like Void did a rea~lly bang up job at feeling like you were battling the soul of Kirby. Or at least "a Kirby." I mean, seeing Kirby's face appear on Void, with all those childish movement patterns and that smile before defeat?

But Void was also composed of a variety of thoughts and feelings, so it wasn't exactly our Kirby. Then we've got the Shadow Kirby battles in Kirby Fighters 2, which also come somewhat close in concept, as you're fighting someone with the same ability set as you. That would be another good way to do it, I think.

But it still doesn't quite scratch that itch, does it? ... Now, I feel silly that I can't remember if this is a real thing or I'm just combining a bunch of games in my head (I-I may be old but I'm decades away from the point where I should have to fear being senile!!) but watching some Castlevania longplays... there was a part of one of the games where you go through one of the old castles, right? Maybe it wasn't in black and white, but it is in my memories.

And Kirby had a part like that too, in one of the games! At least, I think it did...? (Okay, maybe I AM going senile...)

:cough: That aside, something like those visuals above when combined with the feelings evoked by the 8-bit nostalgia portion of Void Termina's The Star Conquering Traveler Suite...

I can only imagine it would be sad. Maybe it would involve some kind of sacrifice or some kind of origin story. A time-travel game even? Something that takes us back to our favorite hero's beginnings. Despite it inevitably being THE penultimate fight, I can't picture it being a big dramatic battle so much as one of those interactive cutscenes, or something with never-seen-before-now gameplay elements. But it would feel like a true goodbye to the Kirby series. Oh, it might be able to continue on past that, just like things didn't end after the Star Allies completion picture either.

...But expect a lot of fears (and tears!) of something happening when it finally did.

Personally, I can't help but think Kirby's Soul would look like Retro Kirby or Popopo from Twinkle Popo. It might not even be called "Kirby's Soul" but have a more archetypical name like "Soul of a Traveler" or "Soul of Youth." 

...Soul of the Spring Breeze.

-

Another super old one. Gah, me and my slowness... The sad thing is, I had nine~ty percent of this written out a while ago but just didn't know how to finish it. I'm so sorry about that, @vexx-ation !

It was a really good ask though and I'm glad I gave it another shot. Now then, I think that in large part, this would boil down to who was most harmed by those characters and in what ways!

-

[Dark Meta Knight]

Dark Meta Knight is the biggest mystery because... DMK refuses (or can't) talk to anyone so we know nothing about his feelings. And we don't even know how he returned the first time after death (?)

Meta Knight is the one DMK has arguably hurt the most (excluding maybe Kirby) but I feel like Meta Knight is also the one who needs nothing from DMK to understand forgive them. It really all depends on where Dark Meta Knight is coming from. Was DMK a willing agent in Dark Mind's takeover? Then Meta Knight would be more hard on/untrusting of his shadow for certain. But being his mirror counterpart, I think he would take it as a sign of something lacking in himself. That he is only one step away from making such a turn. But if you, like me, think that the placement of certain objects and events in Amazing Mirror (Radish Ruins as DMK's "stage" and Shadow Kirby showing up one last time before you face off against DMK) are indicative that something more subtle is going on, Meta Knight may not even require an apology from DMK at all. Either DMK was manipulated or was attempting to manipulate the situation in the Mirror World's favor. In which case Meta would just silently nod and go on with his day.

Then there's King Dedede, who, at least in his own parallel mode, was seemingly attacked at random by DMK. That certainly puts them off on a wrong start, but I also think that Dedede would be able to eventually laugh it off and compare it some of his Meta Knight's more belligerent actions in the past (something that would probably fluster Meta Knight, as he wouldn't expect that comparison, mirror counterpart or no.) IE: I find it hard to believe the guy with a wrestling ring in his castle would hold an ambush against somebody for long, especially as he won.

It would take Bandee probably a bit to come to terms with the scary version of someone he most likely respects, but DMK has his cute (?) side too (like in his idle animation) so I think Bandee could come to accept DMK, especially after both Meta Knight and Dedede express that they no longer hold any hard feelings toward the dark knight.

Kirby would probably be the closest thing to a "holdout" here, only because Dark Meta DID ambush two of his friends (depending on the timelines) and he'd want to know that's not going to happen again. Afterwards though? DMK's right to be a part of the group is never questioned again!

-

[Susie]

Susie... ahhh, Susie. Let's just note that all the classic Susie discourse disclaimers go here and remind everyone once more that they're on a Susie-friendly blog and to some of you, what I am going to say may come off as being exceptionally "light" on Susie's crimes. It is what it is, however. If you want a brutal takedown of Susie, there are dozens of other blogs who will give it, I am certain. I can only go in-depth on things from my view of my Kirby-verse.

In random order: Bandee was the only one to not be incapacitated for large chunks of Planet Robobot's story and I believe that were the game to be remade in the modern style (or even had it been released on more powerful hardware than the 3DS) Bandee would have been a second player character just like in Forgotten Land. And if we assume that of him, then we can assume Bandee would have been exposed to Susie's entire plotline same as Kirby.

Bandee is, at least in the novel-verse (and it's not a bad HC in general) the most empathetic member of the Dream Team. Bandee can sympathize with and care about just about anyone. And Bandee might have been wondering if there was something going on with Susie before even Kirby started to see the cracks in the secretary's facade of corporate perfection.

While Bandee wouldn't like the things she, her father, and the HWC have done to Popstar, I think that once he sees where she's come from, his own anger would be tempered down. That everything reverts at the end (ironic (?) that everything is almost "magically healed" except the Haltmann's shattered family bonds) would be enough of a relief for Bandee that I think he could move on to looking at Susie as just a person. (And isn't he the one in the novel who gives her the pocketwatch back or am I mis-remembering that?)

I actually think Susie "as a friend" could be more intimidating to Bandee that Susie as an enemy. She's a sympathetic enemy. As a friend, she might be a considered too "extra" for the small warrior Dee! XD

On that note...I don't know why, but in most cases, I just see King Dedede as being very forgiving toward people in trouble. Oh, he will grumble about it to no end! But I don't see him EVER hurting anyone while they're down.

Of course, Dedede was also unconscious for 99% of Planet Robobot. Was he even awake when his DNA was stolen? Does he know? I mean, not knowing wouldn't be great at all, but I can't help but think that more than being harvested and bottled, his biggest concern, just based on his priorities, would be that his castle got destroyed AGAIN. Why can't the poor man keep a castle?! He didn't even do anything this time!! (Even the Halberd made it!) So, yeah, imagine a confrontation with Susie and Dedede and Susie tries to imagine all the things Dedede is going to call her out for and no, he's just upset about his castle getting wrecked. Susie is surprised he even cares about that "dinky, dusty old thing" and thus, a shouting match begins.

But again, I don't think it would last for too long. I think the things Dedede and Susie would clash on would be petty things. Dedede is pretty manly in his interests and Susie is very girly. They're blue and pink, even. I think Dedede would forget or just plain ol' not care about Susie's more "human rights" crimes and make MOUNTAINS out of the little things. Although they do share a love of machinery, and that might be something that would bring peace to the VERY petty disagreements. At least until Susie chastises Dedede for using "old parts" while Dedede goes on an old man rant about how those old parts are three times as reliable as all this easy to break new stuff! (Dedede is the equivalent of the guy who put his first car together by hand. Susie is the "born plugged in" type.) So, yes, they fight, but not for the reasons you think. ^^;

...As for Meta Knight, I think countless paragraphs have already been written on these two and most people know where I fall about now. Meta Knight, whether we saw it happen on screen or not, was able to figure out what Susie's deal was faster than anyone else, and while he didn't care for having his autonomy stolen (not to mention, I can't imagine he liked all the bulk of his un-asked for cybernetic upgrades. Mecha Knight is a tank. A stark contrast to Meta Knight's fast "here and away" style.) But if anyone in the entire FRANCHISE understands that sometimes your morals take a backseat for your goals, it would be him and now that the dust has cleared and the HWC was on the losing side with Susie as it's sole survivor (speaking brutally) there's no reason to be angry with her anymore. That said, I believe that, much like happens in the fandom, Meta Knight probably gets questioned fairly often (by people who know) if he's upset at Susie, with some not believing its possible he wouldn't be. But I really think to him, it's just something that happens when you're pushed into a corner.

What Meta Knight would care about is not what Susie has done in her past (to him) but what she does now.

...That said, I think he will find an "excuse" to be somewhere else when she looks at him with stars in her eyes and a wrench in her hand. (I am a firm believer that the Star Allies scene is meant to be taken comically, not seriously. I have nothing against Mecha Knight unwanted modification angst but that scene should not be your sole "proof" such a thing exists.)

And of course, as for Kirby, Kirby has already accepted Susie. He ran to her side when she was injured. He agreed with her request to stop Star Dream, and he accepted her invader armor. There's nothing else to forgive. Acceptance is freely given.

Lastly...

-

[Marx]

Marx is the silly one. Very silly. I think, on my first draft of this post (I made the choice to write it again from scratch rather than base it on my previous version, so that it was up to date with my current feelings) I took the concept of Marx and forgiveness very seriously, but then I booted up Star Stacker (SNES) again and remembered that the story began because one day, Dedede saw a sparkling star flying through the sky and decided, "I'm gonna shoot it with a cannon!" So, in case this needs to be restated...

The people of Dream Land are absolutely buck wild.

Probably, due to the comparisons with his spiritual successor Magolor, there's been a casual attempt to try and make a bigger deal out of the "ship in a bottle" events of Milky Way Wishes.

I don't want to be a hypocrite here. I'm a huge fan of "Let's try to expand on Marx's backstory, personality, and motivations using every tiny scrap we've got" and I do so relatively shamelessly. I love the idea that there might have been buckets and buckets of angst and pathos behind his decision to trick Kirby into bringing Galactic Nova into Popstar's orbit so he could kick our beloved puffball into the darkness of space and wish to make the planet his own...

...but do I think that those acts in a vacuum are on the same scale as what all the other big, bad, last bosses have done?

Not really.

Well, not like the modern villains. Marx is a bit more like Dark Meta Knight or Daroach in the breadth of his bad guy-ness. His act harmed very few people in practice. It could have gone on to harm more eventually, had it succeeded. It might have even been devastating! Similar to if Dark Mind's reach was allowed to expand into the peaceful non-Mirror Popstar. Or if Dark Daroach went on to rule as the second coming of the Lord of the Netherworld!

But... it wasn't. The clown's dreams lasted only a few brief minutes. To the people on the surface, Nova exploding probably looked like no more than a shooting star. ("Everyone make a wish!")

...The only person Marx needs forgiveness from, then, is Kirby. And that is the story of several hundred different fanfics and fan theories and frankly, I enjoy all of them because the ~potential~ dynamic these two characters share is one of my favorite things in the series.

And, leaving the "middle" of that journey for we, the fan creators to come up with, I believe we can at least say that, in the end, the two seem to have made up successfully.

...Now, there's still the question of would the rest of the Dream Team LIKE Marx or forgive him upon hearing what he did! I think Meta Knight would be wary of him for a lot of reasons. He's unexpected and uncontrollable. He hopped in to attack the group during the Star Allies credit sequence. But Meta Knight also (in an alternate timeline) thought wishing on Galactic Nova for a ridiculously selfish wish was a perfectly sane thing to do so I gather he would have little issue with Marx's ambitions, if not his actions. And as for his attempted murder of Kirby, Meta Knight is :cough: also guilty of that so yeahhhh. Maybe he doesn't LOVE the jester's antics or even tolerate them, but he wouldn't decry them from a moral high ground...?

I personally love the idea that King Dedede is headache-inducingly familiar with Marx. I like the idea that Marx might have even gotten his title of "jester" thanks to King Dedede. According to the Dedede Encyclopedia entries on twitter, Dedede had no idea about Marx's attempted takeover of Popstar nor did he know about Marx's "true form." Thus, it's easy to imagine that to Dedede, Marx is nothing more than another cute, silly resident of Dream Land, like the Waddle Dees. He may even treat Marx with the same paternal kindness he gives the Waddle Dees. At least until Marx goes a step too far!

TLDR, I love the version of their relationship as implied in the Kirby Storybooks, where Marx is one of "those troublesome kids" who teams up with Kirby to play harmless pranks on Dedede. It's so crazy wholesome, something that you can't always say about Marx!

...Lastly, Bandee... Oh, empathetic little Bandee. I feel like Bandee would probably be the one to eye Marx the most critically. Because Bandee has eyes on the ground level to NOT be fooled like Dedede nor so extreme that he can't hold Marx accountable like Meta Knight. I think Bandee is probably the closest to Kirby in seeing Marx for who Marx really is, but doesn't have the "complex" relationship Kirby and Marx does that inspires Kirby to forgive him no matter what he does.

Not that I think they fight or don't get along, necessarily. (In fact, the sudden spike (?) in MarDee - am I spelling that right? - shippers has rekindled my interesting in their dynamic) But I do think that while Marx is giving everyone his "Who? Meeee?" eyes, Bandee is off on the side giving Marx a narrow-eyed look of "You don't fool me."

But again, I think that honesty may be something that could turn into a kind of closeness they don't have with others! Plus, biased, but I also completely love, love, love the idea that the one Waddle Dee who is tired of being "just a Waddle Dee" and the one Noddy who is tired of being "just a Noddy" have an understanding that none of the naturally over-powered residents of Popstar can ever understand.

It's possible to write them as rivals or enemies. These two, quite frankly, could be very cool together in a variety of ways!

[utilitycaster]

fascinating how some people are acting like Liliana’s one of the vulnerable teenagers the RV has recruited and not a powerful, presumably level 20 general who’s committed horrific atrocities in the name of predathos. it’s like saying alex jones is a victim of qanon instead one of the primary peddlers of it. I get having sympathy, especially for for the troubled young mother 25+ years ago, but genuinely. what is going on here?

Hey anon,

Something I've noticed in fandom, not exclusive to this campaign, though perhaps heightened, is that a lot of people really struggle with the concept that victimhood does not absolve you of wrongdoing. It provides context; but it doesn't take away what happened to others as the result of one's actions, even those actions were taken under extenuating circumstances.

Caleb Widogast is perhaps one of the most stellar examples of this in Critical Role. There were many extenuating circumstances. He was an abused and manipulated teenager. His parents are dead by his hand. These are both true statements. Part of what makes Caleb so compelling is that he is, on an intellectual level, well aware that he was pushed into this in many ways both psychological and magical, and that he was a child. He also acknowledges - truthfully - that it was still him putting the pieces together of "my parents are traitors, and so I should do as I'm told here." The story is about him finding a way to move forward and live his life, but the victims - his parents - cannot forgive him, and the campaign indeed ends with a very clear message that what is done cannot be undone.

But not everyone liked Caleb's story. Some felt he should have been less forgiving of others and killed the entire Cerberus Assembly for letting it happen. Some felt he was unforgivable even by himself for his actions. And some disagreed with him - including in-world - and argued he bore no responsibility, and, notably, Caleb consistently pushed back.

I don't think Liliana is quite at the level of Alex Jones (who is, in my opinion, pretty much wholly unsympathetic; I've read through some articles regarding the Sandy Hook defamation trials and this guy just wants to sell supplements and will do anything to do so). But yes, she is comparable to someone actively pushing dangerous conspiracy theories and bringing others in. That is, again, the thing about cults. Even if you're not at the top, if you're recruiting others, or, in the case of cults that do harm to those other than just members - which the Vanguard undeniably does - participating in harmful external actions, then you are perpetrating violence. You are also a victim. These can coexist, but victimhood does not negate the harm done. Liliana is sympathetic. She is also actively making the lives of many people worse.

Now, some of the problem is that there are people who think releasing Predathos is not, in fact, bad, and so to them Liliana is not complicit in a sufficient level of harm. I'm not really interested in wasting my time on them; that line of thinking is pretty fundamentally at an impasse with mine and as discussed previously I find it rests entirely on incoherent and presumptive arguments linked only by broken metaphors and rank hypocrisy. But moving on, I think some of the other people arguing in defense of Liliana not just as a sympathetic character (which, again, she is) but as someone blameless and deserving of endless patience are perhaps struggling to separate "it is not helpful to endlessly flagellate yourself over past wrongdoings if you have truly made a turn for the better" with "some people will not forgive you, ever, because you have undeniably harmed them, and you are not owed anything from them." You have to live with yourself; of course you should grant yourself patience. Those hurt by you do not need to do so. If someone is brainwashed by a cult and they kill someone, the relatives of the murder victim might forever hold this against the murderer despite the brainwashing, and I, personally, do not believe this is wrong of them. I don't believe it's "inspirational" to forgive someone who hurt you sufficiently badly except in the sense that it would be put in the "inspirational" section of an airport bookstore that really means "extremely Evangelical Protestant in outlook." I don't think you should hurt them back once they've stopped doing harm, but you might never want to speak to them or interact with them again and I think you are valid in that choice. I certainly believe that any forgiveness can only come after a sustained pattern of change.

In short: I think people want a very Good or Evil narrative about Liliana when the answer is "she's a victim and she's also victimizing others, and it's valid for those harmed by her or by those she works with closely to say "I am deeply sorry you fell into Ludinus's clutches but the devastation you are leaving in your wake isn't something I can ignore or, at this point, forgive." As Ashton says, the fact that Liliana is deep in a cult doesn't negate the fact that there's a very real chance that same cult will kill her daughter - indeed, they came within a hair's breadth of doing so - and that that hasn't stopped her.

[mysteriouslytransparentwitch]

https://www.tumblr.com/mysteriouslytransparentwitch/772372572393340928/to-the-anon-who-said-this-about-hm-just-the

Anon, sorry but the only people criticizing Kate for not disclosing her type of cancer, for not ‘thanking’ her medical team publicly and not supporting a cancer charity, are only the obsessed squad and the idiots who can’t get over the idea that she had an illness and she wasn’t facing one of their stupid conspiracy theories, so now they disturb her with nonsense. The majority understood what was going on, and let her in peace.

Also, Liz herself said several times in many interviews that she wanted to defend Catherine because she knows how difficult the illness was and she couldn’t fathom the way people attack her while receiving treatment, since treatment is difficult by itself. Her mother also said that they were using the attention the photo with K had, to raise awareness about the rare type of cancer she had and raise money. So, I think we should let Liz and her family out of this, when they have made clear their intentions as to why they did interviews or why they defended Kate.

And for KP or all the royals being the same of H&M, well, maybe it can be true , at the end anti-monarchists always use the: ‘the RF only do photo-ops, only do things for PR. Of course KP and all the royals use PR, I mean, they are the UK PR themselves, all of them do photo-ops, people goes to the press to say how great, charming, down to the earth, hard-working they are, etc. the difference is that the RF represents a country , H&M and the bunch of celebs represent themselves; hardly the celebs and H&M help to an initiative in the long term, in comparison to the RF

The main problem right now for W&K/KP is that they have been involving a lot of personal feelings and that they have used many personal/family stuff to elevate their own image or in the case of W, clean the ‘cheater’ rumours, when their main work is to serve the people, nobody wants to know how much W loves her wife, they want him doing the royal duties and it’s a plus to have his personal initiatives but unfortunately he is prioritizing his personal interests. Another problem is the relentless headlines of Will the statesman without putting much work. But apart from that, all the members of the RF always have had PR, we have always had people gossiping to the press that they were so cool, that they hugged the volunteers, etc, but again, they represent a country

--

[kick-a-long]

HIII im the last anon here again :)

this might send twice so sorry in advance my internet sucks

EVERYTHING YOU SAID!!!!!!IS SO FREAKING SMART AND ON POINT!!!!!!

your account is such a fave of mine because as someone who knows the history of antisemitism well and studied it, it feels like everyone but you downplays it and misunderstands it so you do such a great job haha u just get it

Speaking of conditional acceptance - being Jewish is immediately different because as you said : we're "accepted" when we succeed except they are still determined to erase us so there's a campaign to label us as "just (insert nationality)" instead of Jewish and our Jewishness is debated - the left's Judaism is just a religion versus the right's a Jew will always be a Jew. to everyone we are just abstract ideas and contradictions. We're "slippery" and can "hide" and yet they always know who's a Jew. This is uniquely horrible to us tbh.

Do you have any books or articles that discuss what we have spoken about? Im writing a paper lol

OKAY ONE LAST THING (youre so fun to talk to) im a yapper #sorry. Have you watched attack on titan and do you think it's antisemitic? i have to kvetch about this

thanks so much! you're fun to talk to too.

I don't have sources, I grew up in a pretty weird house with hundreds of books, every wall was a book case including our bedrooms. i would read stuff and then move on without really remembering the name of the book or author. I was named after Hanna Arendt, who I don't really agree with, but as for other books, i don't remember. I've always been on high alert for how antisemitism works since I picked up Maus as a kid. I've paid special attention to it in fantasy seeing how closely antisemitism follows conspiracy theory and fantasy troups.

as far as attack on titan goes, I would LOVE to hear your take on it. i fell off on season 3 but I know the gist of the show. I have a hard time deciding if it's antisemitic, honestly. I'm always a little dubious of how much japanese people understand what jews are to goyim, how the abrahamic religions interact, or how antisemitism is distinct from other bigotry. they also have a very different perspective on what WW2 was about first because they don't recognize their own history in china during WW2 and didn't have the historic fall out from it that Germany did.

it definitely has holocaust/WW2 inversion and "X group are the real jews" this time X being imperial japan. it also has a pretty one to one of erin being a new hitler stand in as the main character (a surprisingly popular romance anime plot line btw. 'can you reform the ultimate bad boy, anime hitler?" kinda trope.) it's also got some pretty WILD blood genetic magic type stuff which is i think something to do with the Japanese emperor and eugenics shit. So that makes it seem pretty cut and dry, right? but I have a hard time seeing if the author understands what roll antisemitism played in the Europe side of WW2. I don't know if jews even play a roll other than borrowed imagery and names. you have characters or places that through name or roman nose seem pretty jewish to me: anne, levi, ymir (which sounds like a hebrew city name to me) zoe, etc... but idk if there is any idea that jews are different from either the bad guys or the good guys. I would love to hear your take on it! ramble away!