#which doesnt seem on purpose on his part

[cougar-crossing]

Two is so . Hey man

[ttheoryofhappiness]

came up with an aaaawful idea for what could happen in trial three! ♡

" haruka? "

es, who is about to go question haruka, cannot find him in his room! or cell. whatever

eventually they start asking the other prisoners and apparently shidous taking care of him cause he NEARLY DIED !!!!!

so he like explains what happened and es is like oh my god i didnt think hed actually do it ??????crap

since obviously they cant question him they just end the reeeally short voice drama

" sakurai haruka, sing your sins "

the song starts yk its a normal haruka song

but then at some point it ends abruptly [ haruka dies ]

[fizzyorange-v2]

just talking to my friend in dms about how at first when q!charlie started calming down from his rampage i was kinda upset cause i WANTED a full villain arc i wanted blood and rage and a massacre but then I kept watching and realised how much of a fucking idiot I was to underestimate charlie slimecicle’s rp skills like that. because charlie isn’t just playing a character hell bent on righteous revenge for his daughter, he’s playing a character actually grieving that daughter.

it’s obvious now that i think about it that the initial revenge plot to kill all the eggs and his repeated self affirmations that juanaflippa isn’t gone and that it can all just be reset are clearly just him entering the denial and anger stages. and that later scenes after the rest of the server finally backed him into a corner and calmed him down and he had that heart wrenching scene looking at juanaflippa’s photo, asking for a literal trial for her life and soul back and then that whooooole bar scene, that he has then entered the bargaining and depression stages.

Because the truth is, q!charlie doesn’t actually want to kill anyone (except Mariana lolll), he especially doesn’t want to kill any of the eggs! All he wanted was to be a good dad. And I think that that’s part of the reason he as a character failed so hard to actually tangibly hurt anyone during this stream. He was a mess, crying screaming yelling clawing trying to do something, anything to save his daughter. Anything to fix it all. That scene of him failing to break into Phil’s house haunts me.

But I think there’s something especially tragic that before Juanaflippa, q!charlie probably was the kind of character to hurt others without caring, he seemed to have no idea about empathy or healthy relationships before her thats for sure. He’s literally already killed TWO eggs before this, so causally and with such ease. But his love for his daughter improved him, and it changed him, and it made him just enough of a better person that when that daughter was taken from him, suddenly even to save her he can’t fucking do it anymore.

I also really appreciate how everyone else on the server reacted to him too. They didn’t at all treat him like some big bad scary villain like I originally would I’ve expected. Sure they were understandably wary and protective, but every single one of them weren’t so much angry at him as… WORRIED for him. And it really helped put it in perspective that this isn’t some guy going on a hashtag villain arc, but immersed me in oh fuck. This is a guy that just lost his daughter. And all his friends and fellow parents know. And they aren’t scared of him, they’re concerned for him. They aren’t full of fear… but pity. Because they know. They know what he’s just lost. And they understand. And they’re trying to be there for him.

And Charlie despite all the grand speeches and diabolical plots and not so carefully placed land mines… doesn’t really care how he gets Juanaflippa back, as long as she’s with him again.

Just man,,,, the way Charlie performed this character’s grief is so fucking stellar and SO fucking excruciating. The part that genuinely broke me was in that photo scene when he said: “i'm sorry flippa... i thought i could change something- i thought i could undo it, thought i could make it right... now i see that there's no way this can be made right...” which already fucking ow ow OW and clearly him finally exiting denial/anger straight into depression but then he whispers THIS FUCKING BIT: “it wasnt even on purpose… i know that... it doesnt make it better… what do i do juanaflippa?” LIKE FUCK!!!! FUCK!!!! OKAY!!!!!

Anyway massive props to everyone for the rp today but ESPECIALLY charlie for this agonisingly accurate and visceral depiction of grief that I somehow was NOT expecting. I thought we were going to get villain arc egg massacre angst and instead we got father mourning his daughter trying futilely to do anything to bring her back angst. I’m never fucking recovering from this one.

[asmogorna]

Okay so there’s this ww artist on ig called like tooth lilys or something and he’s always causing drama in the ww fandom and he mouthed off about your art and now heaps of insta ww fans are like talking about you :| free publicity?

ahhhh so thats whats happening .. lmao thats crazy

i checked out their story, and i sure doooo love how they leave some things out when talking about both situations that they mentioned to make me look worse ..

ok so

warning, yap session incoming

the "will wood in a (miku) binder" thing happened back in fall 2023 when i was still semi new to the fandom and didnt know a lot of things. so tho i to this day i dont think it was that big of a deal, i wouldnt do it today

it was an artwork made for shits and giggles, the context of which i have explained here before. i never meant to imply that will wood is trans and i certainly dont "headcanon" him as that. my curse is that even when joking around i tend to try and make my art look good, so i get why people thought it was unironic. and i know that it sounds like a lame ass excuse, but it legit didnt cross my mind that people would think i drew will wood as a trans guy or smth. legit my only thought process was "funny haha internet thing" + "my favorite thing" = "good idea"

now the usage of his real name is something i am genuinely sorry for, but it was an accident and a genuine mistake on my part. i remember seeing someone mention it casually in some comment section, and assuming that it was ok, since i didnt know he was in any way against it. (i also thought that it was the same name that he used in "the real will wood" in that one section cus it sounded a bit similar).

when i was informed about the fact that he doesnt want it spread around i deleted the post right away and apologized, so bringing it up like something i did on purpose and out of malicious intent is a tad bit .. misfitting, if you can use that word

now the hot topic of the day: my waywood art

i have said this before and i will say this again, how i feel about rpf is solely based off how the people involved feel about it

to clarify: i never drew anything inappropriate or even suggestive with them, the "worst" thing is 2 simple sketches of them smoochin. or. this.

idk if this is what they were referring to when talking about me drawing will wood and gerard way "making out" (specifically. because i think "making out" implies to be more sexual stuff than small kisses). and if so, then it once again feels like blowing things out of proportion

and now the point i want you to get: will wood wouldnt give a flying fuck

like i said earlier, i never drew anything inappropriate, because that would actually cross will's existent and real boundaries. you know, the ones that he stated

im not making some conspiracy theories about him being gay, like some people seem to imply in their inbox messages to me

im not sending a whole ass smut fanfiction to litwtc gmail or something, i dont bother him in instagram dms asking if he wants to fuck gerard way, im not shipping him with people who he actually knows personally and has to look in the eyes of from time to time

im not doing anything that he would actually care about

him and chris have joked about him being attracted to gerard before, and though im not saying that you can joke about everything theyve ever joked about, i feel like in our case its clear that will clearly doesnt care about the implications ? (i generally believe that ww fans would get their panties twisted about less things if more of them listened to what these 2 talk about so calmly on litwtc but i digress)

if he saw that some random teenager on tumblr is drawing him and gerard way (gasp of horror) holding hands, he'd laugh at it max and then move on with his day

people are treating the whole situation like i posted pictures of him from when he was a kid or leaked patreon content or drew him fully naked or anything else that, you know, would actually affect him in one way or another

what im doing is innocent fun which isnt even likely to reach either of them. will wood very rarely checks tumblr and, once again, i genuinely dont believe he would care. and gerard way aint got no internet + he doesnt care x 2

it is weird but rn this is what brings me the most joy, even if its silly to say. both will wood and gerard way mean a lot to me and putting them in situations together makes me happy. i am but a child full of fun whimsy

i wont be posting any more explicitly romantic art to avoid more drama, and i also wont be responding to all the anon messages i received because there are like .. too many of them. an overwhelming amount i'd say. sorry about that

i really didnt mean to cause such a fuss, and i understand why some people might be uncomfortable with what i do

i fully understand why you would dislike my waywood hyperfixation shenanigans, and i dont have a problem w you over that, but treating me like pure evil because of a thing so insignificant is just.. overdoing it

once again, i will be toning it down, but it really isnt the end of the world if i dare to draw will wood and gerard way being a tad bit gay (which is, i apparently need to mention, not me actually saying that will wood the alternative musician is a homosexual gay who is in a genuine for real actual real gay homosexual relationship with gerard fucking way the lead singer of my chemical romance. i think speculating on other people's sexuality and gender identity is boooo tomato tomato tomato)

sorry for the rant and sorry to all who were disappointed by my lack of remorse. come back in a couple years when i turn 18 and stop having fun and artistic freedom

thank you for your attention and i hope i at least cleared some things up to those who werent w me throughout every event where i get involved in fandom drama

bye bye

[incorrectfatui]

Today on my headcanons: are they superstitious?

Note that with superstition I'm primarily talking about belief in/worship of supernatural creatures/practices outside the Gods and known magic. Think knocking on wood/throwing salt over your shoulder/buying fortune slips. However I will make exceptions on beliefs in Gods/Entities that are not explicitly true, like the rumours surrounding some of the Youkai in Inazuma and how to avoid them.

With that being said:

In general, I think out of the regions, Inazuma and Liyue would be the most superstitious, with Mond and Snezhnaya close behind. Yes, Natlan, Fontaine and Sumeru have their own magical creatures and such, but Inazuma, Liyue and Mondstadt have much more obvious displays of superstition- Mond mostly in regards to the Gods (yes including Andriud and Vanessa) and Liyue and Inazuma with their prominent non-human population. Youkai and Adepti seem much more elevated above and less integrated in the general population than Foxians and Elves in Sumeru or Saurians in Natlan/Melusines in Fontaine. Snezhnaya I'm mostly going off of vibes tbh.

Least superstitious I'd say is Khaenri'ah, which is funny given that they're almost entirely based off of/inspired by Germanic Mythology.

I'd say my final order would be Inazuma > Liyue > Snezhnaya/Mond > Natlan > Fontaine > Sumeru > Khaenri'ah

As for the Fatui:

Pierro: Literally from the Atheist nation, so no, and he thinks it's stupid. Unlike a certain someone, though, he keeps his opinion to himself unless asked about it.

Capitano: no, but respects it when others are. Will participate for traditions, or to pay tribute to others culture. Does follow some superstitions just out of habit, but will gladly subvent them If necessary.

Dottore: actively looks at superstitious, tries to figure out how to do them wrong/offend the entity the worst, then does that.

Columbina: ABSOLUTELY superstitious. Technically stronger than most entities, but thinks they traditions are fun, so she follows them. Makes up her own little rumours as well.

Arlecchino: Not really superstitious, but tries her best to follow actual rules that surroung some of Teyvats non human residents, just to be sure. Fontaine is relatively low key in this regard compared to some other reasons, so she mostly doesnt have to worry about it

Crucabena: used to be incredibly superstitious when she was younger, but grew out of it for the most part. Likes using scary fairytales to get the children to do what she says, but lowkey kind of believes some of them herself on a lesser scale.

Pulcinella: yes. The grandpa type of superstitious. Doesn't take it too seriously, but definitely would rather follow the traditions then not.

Scaramouche: Kind of hard to explain. Inazuma definitely seems more suitable for superstition, given the Youkai, but considering his own heritage he's very aware about which legends are true and which aren't, and doesn't feel very threatened by them. Used to follow superstitions out of politeness as Kabukimono, now he doesn't really care. Imitates Dottore in actively disobeying tradition, but only in regard to the Shogun and Yae- he doesn't dislike the youkai enough to try and piss them off on purpose, although he definitely doesn't go out of his way to respect them either. Actually probably has quite a few urban legends and superstitions surrounding himself as Kunikuzushi and the Kabukimono.

Sandrone: no. Doesn't give a fuck. Thinks Dottore's approach is really annoying because he's actively inconveniencing everyone else in the process, but she herself wont follow tradition unless its useful to her.

La Signora: it's a little hard Not zo project on her (and Pierro) given they're from the nations inspired by my culture xD For her, I'd say surprisingly yes. She wont follow Seelies in the dark because they remind her of Will O' Wisps, and definitely believes Dragonspine and Old Mondstadt are haunted. Has shared books on scary Mondstsdtian fairytales (look I need to bring up German fairytales whenever possible) with Crucabena more than once.

Pantalone: Kind of. He used to follow all the good luck superstitions when he was a kid, but have up on them when they werent working.

Childe: a little weird case. Definitely kind of believes in Snezhnayan superstitions (and post Scaramouche leaving he believes in Inazuman ones, because remember the paper mansion?), but likes to take them as a challenge. Will be told to watch out for evil spirits and intentionally try to goad them into fighting him, but doesn't do that around his elders because it's rude and some of them get genuinely scared. Would do 3AM YouTube Challenges.

[changbinsboobs]

I only pity chan a little in the sense that he doesnt seem to do well without others being around him or him constantly needing validation through helping others. I get it can feel lonely but sometimes its better than being around fake ass ppl who only want to use him or he might end up using others. it rlly wouod be interesting to see his reputation reading tho esp around female idols

Used the 3rd Eye Tarot, hope you enjoy💗

*This reading is for entertainment purposes only and doesn't state any facts!

Chan Reputation Reading

Ok WOW!!!! Not gonna lie to you I'm SHOKED!!!

I thought he's gonna be a casanova in this reading but surprisingly im getting none of that, quite the contrary actually.

But lets start from the beginning, so his overall reputation in a few words is social and friendly, hardworking and unexpectedly stern/cold.

He has a very approachable personality, very social, fun and open towards people whenever the moods right for it. I think people view him as someone to easily "get close to" or at least interact with.

But at the same time when it comes to work he doesn't come to play and i believe (not among idols but rather just within the industry) word is, he is difficult to work with.

Not because of bad work ethic or anything - quite the opposite - he's very meticulous, perfectionistic and likes things being done his way. If not, he's not affraid to argue, to stand his point, if you're slacking he's not affraid to call you out and even if he's in his right to do that, i believe people find, he might go overboard sometimes in his obsession in work.

People that already know him see him as a workaholic and extremely focused in his work so that even if he's easy to approach - he's not easy to be close to, as a friend, cuz he's always away working. Thats his absolute first priority.

If someone knows him outside of work, and then get to experience him in a working environment I think they get really really shocked, because they experience a completely different side if him where all of his goofiness and friendliness goes out the door and he gets this scary stern look in his eyes and his whole aura changes, even if he's still polite - his energy and vibe is just totally different.

As for his reputation with the ladies (idols/industry) its not as different. This sternness is there for sure and everyone can attest to that in one way or another.

I believe he's quite popular with the girlies, he's quite liked and many have interest in him romantically or sexually.

But just as many get met with rejection. Thats the part that really shocked me. But i actually believe he doesn't go around sleeping with idols. If he does (which i believe he does🌝😂) he does that with commoners, fans etc.

I think his main reputation among female idols is "keep away from him, you'll get hurt" but thankfully for a whole different reason than i (we) thought. They'll get hurt cuz they'll get rejected😂 as he doesn't mix work with love i believe. Maybe he has a rule like that? Idk? Or maybe he's just not attracted to them for some reason? Maybe cuz in his love affairs he wants to escape work for a short while but if he's with an idol maybe he feels like he hasn't fully escaped? Hm idk what's your thoughts on this?

[dingodad]

does every planet with sapient life have a first guardian, or only planets destined to play The Game?

if every sapient planet capable of playing The Game has a first guardian, do you think HIC had to kill those first guardians? do you think she also has a trophy mount of all the first guardians she killed, a la jake "poppop" harley?

do you think deltritus will have a first guardian, manufactured or otherwise?

does gracillia have a first guardian, and if it doesnt, what would it look like if it did?

the word is that "Every planet destined for intelligent life" has a first guardian. this has commonly been reinterpreted as only including planets that will play host to sessions of Sburb, partially because we observe that first guardians are born from ectobiology and arrive on their homeworlds via frog temple meteor, but I've never been enticed by this reasoning because you have to remember that ectobiology is pretty much just supposed to mimic genuine biology. all of the comic's protagonists being created ectobiologically doesn't mean that's how ALL humans are born, so it's not particularly out there to suggest that most first guardians come into being through some natural means as well. in fact the linked page even tells us "each has a unique, circuitous origin through the knots of paradox space", without mentioning ectobiology specifically, so the door is wide open for first guardians to be created by other means.

that being said this page does also tell us that a first guardian "facilitate[s] the planet's ultimate purpose", and knowing what we know about Homestuck's cosmology it doesn't seem like a huge leap to presume that the ultimate purpose of most intelligent life IS the creation of new universes via Sburb. but given that most of the first guardians we're aware of - like most organisms in general - are kind of just stupid animals with no broader awareness of their purpose, it's a little difficult to believe that Becquerel or GCat were actually able to deliberately guide the Earth in any particular direction. so there's a strong argument to be made that all these things go hand in hand but it's far from concrete. and it's interesting to think about edge cases. like, those countless worlds which had presumably yet to fulfil their ultimate purpose when the Tumor blew up.

i think the trolls probably do encounter a lot of first guardians in their space conquest, but I doubt it's the Condesce who personally has to deal with any of them, since her initial visits to alien worlds are usually "cordial" and full-scale invasion doesn't take place until after she's left. I have actually put thought into this before cus if we run with the assumption that most first guardians are in fact just animals then the fact that the Alternian military has an entire arm dedicated to animal communion kind of makes the process of subduing one into a total joke LOL. Tavros and Condy never had even a little bit of trouble taking control of Becquerel or GCat. it feels super plausible that this was even part of the reason the Cavalreapers were established in the first place.

Deltritus I honestly think is a tossup. Dirk is very obviously already Doc Scratching it up in terms of the planet literally having a guardian (with Rose and Terezi as second guardians/aunties) so a highly involved first guardian would be pretty much redundant. but with Dirk trying to replicate the key elements of Homestuck it wouldn't surprise me if creating one of those was also in his agenda, and if Deltritus IS heading toward a Sburb session for real then the established pattern would seem to dictate that they'll end up getting a first guardian anyway. all depends on whether the story wants to dedicate any time to that concept, and at this stage they could take it or leave it.

Gracilia does have a first guardian. I don't know if the trolls have ever come across it though. at the very least it wasn't a significant factor in colonisation. Becquerel was willing to sacrifice himself to blow up one meteor to save Jade but even that's really just because he was an especially loyal creature. can you really imagine he would become relevant if flying saucers descended upon London or something. imagine if the first guardian of Earth was like, a whale. how long would it take aliens to realise that the Earth happened to have ONE teleporting whale using space powers to warp krill into its mouth or whatever. this is basically what we're looking at with Gracilia's first guardian

[thornswoggled]

yori is fumiki and heres why: my manifesto

or: wait, we werent all on the same page about this?

i should have written this when i first read chapter 98, but im only getting around to it now. this is less me trying to convince you, the reader, and more hoarding all my collected thoughts on why yori is absolutely fumiki, if its a red herring its a silly one, and if he isnt or if its left ambiguous forever i will eat crow. here we go:

before i start let me say most of my evidence is the way yamazaki frames him visually rather than solid "proof." comics are an artform, theres a reason things get framed the way they do, and her artistic choices in ch 98 (i feel) are meant to serve as a big blinking neon light that says "you should be feeling this way about xyz right now"

iic, there were rumblings of "the young auditor" being fumiki as far back as his introduction in ch 51 due to to his unique ability:

which is essentially a refined version of fumikis innate ability to keep fae away. we know yori is part of a "family business," and it seems appropriate that with the proper training, he would be able to freeze fae in their tracks rather than simply ward them off

unfortunately this is where "evidence" ends and "vibes" begin

chapter 51 didnt get adapted into what was otherwise a pretty faithful adaptation in season 2, and i understand why - theres a lot going on, and this chapter is fairly out of left field. but theres one other quip that got left out of season 2:

this is a one-off thought that wouldnt have been difficult to include in the anime. imo, i believe this line from ch 62 didnt get animated because we hadnt met fumiki yet like we did in the manga. now, onto more recent chapters... (under a read more because this is going to get pretty long)

chise and yoris first meeting is framed in a very purposeful way. in chapter 98, elias is preoccupied with ousting all the outsiders so that he and chise can be alone, stuck on the idea that "christmas is for family only:"

and three pages later, who do we meet?

im really struck by the way chise and yori are drawn together here. personally, i dont read this as "chise is meeting a new unimportant side character," this is "the strings of fate have pulled us miraculously back together again"

waiter! waiter! can i get an order of drifting sakura petals and sparkles with this panel? am i waxing poetic here or do you see it? the way theres no background drawn here, no other characters, even in later pages when we know elias is standing right behind chise, he doesnt get included in frame so that its just the two of them:

while im at it, can we appreciate how theyre wearing the same outfit? black pants and a hip-length dark coat/sweater with oversized pockets, a collar, and six left-sided buttons. yoris dark gloves also evoke chises cursed arm here but i dont want to risk looking like a maniac any more than i already do. i mean... dude, look at them, theyre matching

speaking of matching, lets pop back to 51 for a sec

both yori and chise have canine familiars! actually, it looks like yori might have multiple - look at all those pokeballs i mean bamboo tubes in his coat. if my memory serves, we didnt know yori was japanese at this point, but everyone assumed so because of the appearance of this familiar... which was another log on the "this might be fumiki" fire

fun fact: this little dude is almost certainly a kuda-kitsune, which were said to be kept in tubes and summoned by a soothsayer, who could use it to perform curses, or tell the past and future

and the drama with which we find out his "name":

"i bet you were expecting me to say fumiki, huh. good luck im not giving you that this early you have to work for it." as far as aliases go, "ri" could be derived from "hatori," but neither of the kanji in "fumiki" can be read as "yo," so its probably just random

after yori leaves, we get another repetition of "christmas is for family," which at this point feels like yamazaki is leading us to water and dunking our head in it:

i think its awfully convenient that ruth was absent for chises exchange with yori. do you think he would have been able to smell that theyre related? or whiffed the kuda-kitsune in his coat?

right after this, too, we get this line from elias which i have been thinking about a lot:

theres a few different ways this could be read, so im not married to any one interpretation, but it could be foreshadowing "if chise decides to pursue a relationship with her estranged family, what will i do then?" as gabriella would say, "i hate to be a third wheel"

given what we have seen of yoris aloof personality, i have to imagine there will be drama if/when the reveal is made. sadly i can picture him actually pushing chise away if she tries to reestablish a relationship with him

now! that is pretty much where my thoughts end, but i do want to share questions/doubts i have:

if yori read all of simons reports to determine he was an unfit observer, there is no way he doesnt know chises full name. i wonder whether he had any reaction to it? he may assume that its just a coincidence. i briefly wondered if the hatori name was an invention by yuuki, until i remembered that the family chise stays with in the OVA also has the same name. unless yuuki was adopted by another family like seth...? dont mind me, im going pepe silvia mode over here

have i mentioned i talked about yuuki before in another theory post? take it with a grain of salt, i already got proven wrong on one front now that jasper has been introduced

will yuuki be reintroduced if fumiki is? i desperately want chise to get that closure, but this scene from ch 42 has a sense of finality to it, a sort of "you will never get to resolve things with your father or see his side of things" stank:

... actually, now that ive mentioned the kuda-kitsune, can we look at this thing again?

another word for the kuda-kitsune is "izuna," which is read in modern japanese as "weasel." could the critter whos watching yuuki here come from the same place as yoris familiars? yuuki leaves his family immediately after this - getting summoned maybe?

okay, okay, let me stop myself here before i start looking like im ranting and raving. can we talk about the mail, please, mac? ive been dying to talk about the mail with you all day, ok? "pepe silvia," this name keeps coming up over and over again. every day pepe's mail is getting sent back to me. pepe silvia! pepe silvia! i look in the mail, and this whole box is pepe silvia!

if youre a fence-sitter, what are your thoughts? do you think we just dont have enough evidence yet? inquiring minds want to know

[ganondoodle]

I probably still wouldn’t have been a big fan of the game, but I don’t think I would have been NEARLY as upset about TotK if BotW didn’t seem like it was so obviously setting up plot points for a sequel. Like, you’re very clearly MEANT to wonder what malice is, and how Ganon became the Calamity instead of just the Demon King. Fi is awake again, where are they going either that? What’s the deal with the Triforce-shaped symbol on Zelda’s hand? There were a LOT of other things like that, and many of them had to do with overarching lore for the series.

I get it if they want to reboot the series, but “BotW 2” was the single worst game you could have done that with. It could have been an amazing conclusion to the original continuity.

EXACTLY, you, you get it

botw felt like the introduction to a vast world with secrets and hints to things that were planned to become a bigger thing- a big giant game as a big giant set up, and then ... like totk likes to do alot, it lacks a pay off, and that is something it even does within itself, cosntantly, set up and no pay off, or set up and the most boring and uninspired pay off you can really not even call that, from the bigger things like the whole dragon thing being hammered into your head as irreversible and then it IS reversible.. out of nowhere without you having to do fuck all, the whole thing with the ancient hero beign a big mystery with lots of interesting ideas attached and then its some weird ass dog creature that doesnt resemble any other race with, of course, sonau armor, bc there nothing that isnt sonau in that game, even finding the old treasure maps you can find that then lead to amiibo stuff from botw id call that

botw wasnt that great with rewards either but exploring the world and wondering about those, surely intentionally, placed mysterious and intriguing designs and places did alot for making it so interesting to think about, totk fumbles it all and even the new stuff doesnt even come close to that environmental storytelling botw was so great at, sonau ruins? ha they look entirely different than in botw actually, bc those were built by hylians you see, the actual sonau stuff is in prime condition considering the time thats passed and its all the same blank blocky blocks that serve no purpose but to be a place for you to find a thing or exchange some currency- the most you can think about it is ... that the sonau hollowed out the entire underground of hyrule, every inch of the map, ... which is WEIRD and doesnt exactly make them look that good but ... thats all there is

at least with the shiekah it made somewaht more sense and it felt much less .. invasive? and you didnt have anyone from that time to talk to, other than dead monks whos only purpose is to give you their last piece of their own spirit, but in totk ... raurus ghost and mineru too are both just there to talk to but DONT tell you shit but vague hints that were already clear, the sky islands used to be on the ground? oh you dont say, you see them there in the stupid memories! and dont get to know how they got up there and theres nothing that can clue you in to that, its just sonau magic yet again i guess

dont even get me started on the whole malice/miasma thing, it made so much SENSE that there was a source of it, someone that has keep kept in a horrible place just between life and death for thousands of years trying to break free by their hate and anger manifesting to such a degree its literally spilling out and building creppy eyeballs, mouths and ribcage like structures like they are trying to rebuild themsleves outside of their awful prison no one knows about is so damn compelling, but no, actually, the guy trapped there was the msot evilest evar, was sealed bc him evil and no other motive, and the previously mentioned stuff is pretty much utterly unceonnected, and his magic beign miasma with red instead of pink and no creepy body parts was the true version of it, that pink one was its own thing heehooo SHUT UP argh

it doesnt help that really, i dont feel like the sonau were set up either, they were a tiny part in botw, really only serving to make the world seem more ancient and more full of history, having ruins from a past civilization there you know nothing about and cant find out more is so good, its compelling and sad and makes the world feel more real, just shoving them into everything, being the center of attention all of thes udden and not even the architecure fitting feels so ... forced, i really truly believe the og sonau werent meant to be more than that, but in their fear of the game being too similarly looking like botw they took the sonau to replace the shiekah with them- imo the shiekah were the ones set up to be deeper explored in botw, with their whole misstreatment by the royal family in the past, monk miz kyoshia reacting the same way a yiga commander would was deliberate and brings up even more interesting ideas, the comments about where the mysterious energy the ancient shiekah used to power everything being concentrated in certain regions?? thats a big ass set up, the fact that the center of what is signaling everything to reactivate being below hyrule castle? the fact the whole arena thing was BUILT INTO THE CASTLE or it on top of it is so??? cool??? and sso damn intriguing, we are scratching the surface of their history- but then no, actually, the sonau are the cool new shit those other ones just uh ... disappear, also the sonau did everythign the shiekah did but even better wayy before them haha

its like they didnt want to tackle the more complicated stuff with the shiekah, their relationship to the royal family and how the yiga ... have a point and a good reason- so they replaced them with entirely new purely goodest good guys that did the same stuff before them with none of the history attached :))

this is why im so insistent on it not really being a sequel, thers no follow up on anything that was set up, NOTHING, and no, a couple having a kid now or whatever isnt a follow up on an interesting set up, how hard is it to understand that-

.... listen to me rambling, you probably know all that already nhjdfkbnkd

(i know i always bring up the shiekah but ... they were so central in botw, while also not taking up every single corner- unlike some other ones >_____>, with so much interesting stuff to connect and think about, i cared about them so much i felt kicked down the stairs by their treatment in totk)

[zwoftt]

from what i’m clocking from spoilers and recent posts i’d like to just say i’m all for some drama but quite frankly angst stresses me tf out sometimes (especially when it’s two characters i’ve grown to deeply love and want to see happy))

i bet dorian’s speech was absolutely amazing, deepens his character, raises more questions(at least in the group towards dorian), and fleshes out his morals,, but i cannot shake the fact liam/orym looked like crying during it. i mean, it’s only natural sure because orym is in love with dorian and wants to see dorian succeed and be the best version of himself that he could possibly be… but do i think this will make orym fall out of love? i don’t know. and it’s scary. though part of me still has that delusion in thinking that both robbie and liam know what they’re doing and are doing this on purpose so in that case, this mishap WONT cause our boys to fall out of love but i’m so torn. this hurts. dorym has been the biggest slow burn i’ve been following for years. years. i will not be okay for months if they don’t end things on good terms (whether that’s continuing to be pining friends or actually getting together))) at this point i’ll take the yearning friends situation over them failing to communicate and leave each other both sad

what i’m hoping for is that next episode(s) they ACTUALLY talk. one on one, heart to heart. this is literally the perfect setup for liam to swoop in with his skills and get that angsty conversation he’s been edging. orym is misunderstanding dorian, dorian still hasn’t told anyone about his brother getting murdered by the SPIDER QUEEN which is WHY HE DOESNT LIKE THE GODS. they need to talk. they have to. otherwise shit will keep drifting them apart and i know that both dorian and orym do not want that at all. they are in love with each other, and don’t know how to act on it or what to do about it. there is so much going on, so much that is left unsaid and it’s hurting their relationship and it’s KILLING ME. i would say it’s like in exu, that time when they head butted about the crown,,, though now it’s not so simple anymore. they just need to talk about stuff. maybe then orym will fully understand why dorian is so cross with gods… and then in turn dorian can understand why orym is anxious about the way he’s been acting.

looks like a love confession will be an even longer wait…. sigh. we got so much fluff just for it to go south again- my heart is physically breaking on the inside. i cant even remember if this is what it felt like with vaxleth back in the day. this seems a lot worse rn imo ……

i’m still very dorym strong. i believe they can work through this. dorian and orym are being played by super talented actors anyway.

[hqlmsbury]

A good girls guide to murder tv show review

Haven’t been on here in a hot sec but I just really feel like venting about this show. I LOVE the books they are incredible and pip and Ravi are SOSO special. The tv show had all the capabilities to be a great adaptation, I don’t mind minor changes that make it easier for first time viewers but a lot of it rubbed me the wrong way. Here are some of my thoughts so spoilers ahead!

• nats character. What in the actual world made them decide to merge Nat with (Chloe? I think was the name) Andies other best friend. It changed Nats ENTIRE character. It lost that interest factor which made it seem like Nat really could be the bad guy, it felt unnecessary and disappointing to her character

• my pipravi moments. Why was there not one single Pipravi moment that was the same in the books. Literally not one. Pip doesnt share her location so Ravi has to go to Cara at the end. Ravi doesn’t go into Becca’s house at first because he’s scared, rightfully so but Ravi would never have endangered Pip like that! Ravi wanting to move away immediately after they figured out sals innocence???? The moments they got lacked the essential chemistry that all those little moments had. There was no reason for Pip to go into Becca’s house alone Ravi easily could’ve went with her just like in the book and we could’ve gotten the “real men wear floral while trespassing” line. Those small but important moments that make the characters and the relationship.

• Pip was not as smart as in the books. I sort of understand why they made it seem that way as they had to progress the show quicker but I think certain things were handed to her. Finding Howie was one of those scenes why was it so quick, easy, and almost painless. And later on he’s barely mentioned at all. Where was the blackmailing?!?!

• going of the last point why did Naomi tell Pip about Maxs secret instagram, again it made it seem like pip could not figure it out herself, there was no sneaking around and logging into Naomi’s computer. It was all handed to her

• the girl in Mr. Wards attic. Why did she know who she was lol? I think it unfairly made it look like Mr. Ward was more evil than he really was. In the book he really did think it was Andie and that he was helping her. Keeping this girl “trapped” in his attic because he told her he killed Sal was also an unnecessary part of the story.

• having Victor Amobi be suspected?!?!? What in the world was that. It added drama that was completely unnecessary to the story, Victor is such a great character and he is so special to Pip in the books. I feel adding that was something they tried to do to “spice things up” when sticking to the original storyline would’ve been a much better path.

• Barney’s death. I can’t recall if it was ever mentioned Becca was the one who killed Barney but again where was that suspenseful feeling? And also this was a purposeful kill when in the books Becca actually did release Barney and he was killed on accident.

• a couple of little things. I felt like the actors they cast for Pips friend group looked way older, however Asha who plays Cara grew on me and I really enjoyed her as Cara.

If they make a second season I will watch it and hope for better and hopefully they get more funding and Holly is more involved with the script. These are only a few of the things I was disappointed about because overall I don’t think it did the books justice at all. I enjoyed pip as Emma and think Zain did a good job with Ravi considering the script they had.

[shigayokagayama]

The Beach Omake And Authorial Intent

initially i was going to save this for a big teru analysis i had cooking however i eventually ended up deciding that it would feel like a really long tangent in its original context and probably deserves a separate post.

when it comes to the whole "teru's parents" thing i generally see two competing ideas on it

a. terus absent parents are the real villains of mob psycho and are the direct cause of everything wrong with his life and any and all teru analysis must center around this fact

b. terus parents being absent in the first place is only revealed in an omake and only exists for plot convenience and is not something that should be focused on at all when writing him

and whenever i see either of these my mind always drifts to the question of authorial intent. i know how people are reading this information, but how are we supposed to? i know death of the author is becoming more of a common thing in fandom spaces (albeit usually misused) but i feel like a better understanding of why this omake exists and how we're supposed to read it might help to better synthesize two takes that seems to be completely at odds with each other.

okay first i want to go over the actual placement of the beach omake in the update schedule of the manga because, unlike most other omakes, i feel like this ones placement in the schedule of page releases is actually super relevant

the vast majority of omakes come at the end of weekly updates. you finish reading the usually 15-20 pages ONE put out and then you get a little bonus comic at the end, usually something funny or a slice of life but but occasionally more serious. multi part omakes are usually spread out over multiple updates, making you wait a couple weeks for a punchline.

beach omake is not that. between chapters 99 (mob gets hit by a car) and 100 (the whole rest of the omake) there was a 6 week hiatus from normal pages and in this hiatus is where we get beach omake. reading it all together immediately cuts away the sort of "slice of life sunday paper comic" tone other multi part omakes have and make you read it as a part of the actual main story, since that's how you're used to reading these weekly updates.

now the actual tone. generally the multi part omakes exist to be long punchlines and the rare emotional ones are a single page for maximum impact. beach omake has a very different structure compared to, say, the haunted doll omake or the pot of happiness.

off the bat from the first two pages there's not really a joke. the tone mostly seems kind of melancholic. mobs expression for the middle section of the second page (maybe purposely) is obscured by the panel breaking off, it's hard to tell his reaction, all our attention is directed at teru. with all of the panels taken up by dialogue (primarily his own), we're being asked to focus on what he's saying:

-teru lives alone

-he lives alone because his parents live overseas

-he hasnt seen them in a while

-he doesnt like having nothing to do

-he doesnt like being alone

all of this information is delivered with an extremely casual expression from him, implying that it's not something that seems ll the out of the ordinary for him. mob, on the other hand...

the hesitation before he says anything and the way his expression is obscured seems to imply something is... off... about this information to him. this isn't a handwaved "oh mob is walking home from school after passing out because he needs to for plot reasons", we're reacting to this information like it's weird.

the next two pages are, mostly, a lot more of what we expect out of a mob psycho omake. the first one works as a standalone joke page, teru is bad at identifying animals which leads to him showing reigen a roach, something reigen is terrified of, instead of a beetle.

the second page starts similarly, we get a dumbass joke about reigen trying to pick up women at the beach (note: i think this is the singular time we get an indication reigen is even into women) but then the next two panels take on a more melancholic tone again. we get a small panel of mob and ritsu playing on the beach and a much, much larger panel of teru sitting on the beach, watching them. the dialogue bubble forces us to pay attention to the fact that he is silent.

the ending of this omake is where we bring it home. generally the last panel centers the punchline of the page, or of the whole omake, but the final panel of this isn't really what was being built to in this case.

we start our second page on teru. his expression is obscured, reigens speech bubble is shoved to the side so we can see that teru's hat is being held in his hands.

when we see his face in full view he looks... confused. he looks like he doesn't know how to react to someone going through all this trouble for him. teru is a character who, up to this moment, we have seen as extremely independent. he always rushes into things alone, he always has to be the hero, he always has to be the one to save the day. hell, this omake is immediately followed by the confession arc. where... you know.

so what are we supposed to get out of this omake?

teru's been doing everything on his own up to this point

but he doesn't have to anymore

[ilynpilled]

i feel like ive seen too many very odd reads of this whole thing, so i do wanna go through jaime & the brutal murder of rhaegar and elia’s children situation.

first of all, we know jaime’s main function as a kingsguard at 15: he is a pawn in aerys and tywin’s beef. he is a hostage and a means to rob tywin of an heir

this is what rhaegar tells him too. despite jaime’s guilt, it was not a “i am leaving everything in your hands 💔 you are my most trusted knight” being said to an unseasoned teen, rhaegar isn’t dense, but a: “he is tywin’s son, he is the ideal hostage to keep him under control. a crutch for aerys and his dangerous paranoia (even if just to satiate him, which is why he was kept close, again, people knew that aerys was erratic atp.)” we have the actual conversation. rhaegar is open about this, he isnt really tricking jaime here. they also emphasize that he has to stay near aerys. that is his primary role, not anything else. what rhaegar didn’t take into consideration is that tywin, when it comes down to it, will sack the city anyway (neither did he know what would happen at the trident, and how badly the tides will turn, how it will affect aerys and how he will think he was betrayed by lewyn and dorne, how he will not let elia and the children leave etc), the stakes are too great for house lannister and we know tywin will not pick the losing side. it is already a pretty grim situation for jaime, who had witnessed the brutal executions of a bunch of people at this point, to be left alone in the hands of a mad man as someone who eventually becomes solely responsible for the red keep, while also being functionally a hostage while his father decides to betray the crown, but of course, aerys has a bigger plan to retaliate and therefore jaime also has bigger things to worry about.

jaime feels guilt and responsibility about the whole thing anyway, and the way it is read in the most bad faith way imaginable is kind of odd to me. the dream is extremely integral. it reveals things to us that jaime pushes down as a narrator. it peels off the layers. first of all, jaime is explicit about ned’s judgement, the kingslayer complex, and the role that played, and his concious expects ned to show up in the dream as well, but it is revealed to be not actually about that. he, and that external source of judgement and scorn, is not the thing that haunts him. we see that it is a deep sense of failure over being unable to triumph over contradictions. he reflects on this after the dream too: “it was not him. it was never him.” and the message is deliberately delivered by the ghosts of the people that embody that initial quixotic view of the world that he had as a boy.

i have seen people claim that the “light dimming” is meant to indicate jaime lying about not knowing (being aware that tywin can be very brutal and is capable of hurting innocents is different from jaime knowing or suspecting this order). even if that wasnt contradicted in the text (ill get to this), it doesnt seem to work with the dream? the fires also gutter out when he gets condemned for killing the king right after, there is no clear him “lying” consistency here. and even if you go by that interpretation, the flame is unaffected by the claim of “i was with the king”, which would then have to be true (and it is—so again what is jaime meant to do here?) because we know the scaling of maegor’s holdfast was happening simultaneously with aerys being murdered and the wildfire plot being stopped. the main function of this part of the dream is jaime’s light, a “romantic burning out” as george puts it, being destroyed by contradictory oaths and a fundamentally unjust and cynical world. the light being withered is about losing hope & purpose, and failing to keep vows that actually matter. rhaegar’s children, his guilt over them, and the oath they embody (protect the weak, defend the innocent) plague his mind. the “I never thought he’d hurt them” is relevant in a different way. jaime is guilty of being an extension of the lannister regime. he is guilty of enabling it. and this is more relevant to him after this event, in the present. the whole dream operates on three levels: past, present, and future.

it is why this idea comes up with the tysha situation as well. whether he knew or considered it at the time (and i do not personally think he did, or it was compartmentalized) or not is not whats truly relevant. i think the point that is being emphasized is that tywin and his legacy is something that has to be rejected entirely in the present. he knows by now inarguably. no more “looking without seeing.” this justification does not work anymore. anyway, the point is that his light goes out because of the terror of being confronted with these contradictory oaths and impossible situations where these heavy choices have to be made, with devastating costs. the vows cannot compromise. these are situations and choices that destroy a nonexistent ideal that he had always romanticized in every aspect of his life. it is a culmination of the build up of everything jaime held close to his heart being torn down during those two years serving in the kingsguard. it is about the conflict between ethics and morals: “In some queer way, that had been worse than Lord Chelsted’s screaming. “We are sworn to protect her as well,” Jaime had finally been driven to say. “We are,” Darry allowed, “but not from him.” & “After, Gerold Hightower himself took me aside and said to me, “You swore a vow to guard the king, not to judge him.”

but this situation is intentionally impossible in every aspect. morals and ethics conflict. we have the obvious of what do you do when killing the king breaks the oath you swore to protect him? what if not doing it means breaking the oath to protect the innocent? what if your heroes condemn you despite you telling them the full context of this dilemma and make the fire gutter out permanently? what if being with the king (be it to protect him or kill him to save a city) means you are not there to protect the children from your own father (who you are also sworn to obey)? the moral constructs that this society operates with is nonsense, and it is not confronted by people. can the horrors be fought at all? this is how you have someone described as a “very idealistic young man” by george turn into the amoral bitter cynic we see in the actual series who proceeds to revolve his life around another delusion instead, the only one that remains to him, and loses his own moral code due to how extremely it all conflicts with all code of ethics. it results in a cowardly acceptance of the horrors, his selfishness and faux nihilism, and leads to the enablement and perpetuation of evil.

there is a reason this whole thing haunts jaime and his narrative, and starts blending together with the starks in adwd (something jaime is directly accountable for), and is a huge factor when it comes to jaime effectively contradicting tywin’s dogma when he goes with brienne. jaime became that “knight” in many ways, he, by his own admission, became the smiling knight, who he later also labels “the mountain of my boyhood.” but he is not anymore, which is why there are notable anti parallels in that chapter.

when it comes to how much jaime knew back then, i think the text is pretty clear:

1. if jaime knew or suspected that tywin had the massacre of an entire family already in motion the hope of “leaving to make terms” would not really be there. 2. after he is found, crakehall informs him that they secured the city and the castle. jaime points out in retrospect that this was only half true, and that he couldn’t have known about the scaling (and other things) still happening by this point. jaime is under the impression that everything is secured as a result. he orders everyone who yields to be spared. he is also under the impression as per his narration that aegon is still there, safe and alive, and could be a potential king. however, he does become concerned about the possibility of another aerys. there is a reason he climbs the throne here imo. i never read this as “jaime too busy fucking around lol” or “is intentionally letting them die because his blood is in both of them.” again, he orders everyone who yields spared, and is under the impression that the castle is already secured. he even entertains the possibility of tywin being hand to aegon as king (clearly not possible with what is in the middle of happening —and if he even suspects this threat, why is this considered a possibility by him?) until he gets an aerys flashback, and decides against it despite it serving his family. he has a lot of things on his mind right now anyway to figure out tywin’s current strategy when it comes to house lannister (not to mention this is not really how jaime’s brain works, he is not very machiavellian minded) considering he just damned himself by committing one of the most significant oathbreakings in history, and that someone will fill the hole left by the person who had the power to nuke a city, something that jaime has nightmares about nearly 20 years later. and even if he was aware of this threat that he clearly wasn’t, considering the fact that it was happening simultaneously with jaime killing aerys and being found, if he knew and tried to rush over there after killing aerys, judging from the distance, it would have been too late. hence “i was with the king…” in the dream.

[sporesgalaxy]

PLS.. share thoughts on zoro n sanji relationship........ i dont ship them but they are so. SOOOOO.

THEY MAKE ME CRAZZYYYYY. and honestly the way their dynamic make me insane doesnt even HAVE to be read as romantic. But i feel so much crazier when i see them shipped and its not even capitalizing on all the shit theyve got going on.

So anyways here's my Zoro and Sanji retrospective I spent several hours on I guess. As if it's my fault.

▪︎

When Zoro and Sanji meet, Sanji has given up on his dream to see the All-Blue in favor of supporting Zeff.

Zoro is still throwing himself at his dream to be the greatest swordsman with all his might, and nearly dies to Mihawk for it.

Initially, from Sanji's outside perspective, it seems like a waste of precious life.

Zoro promising never to disappoint Luffy when he's on death's door clearly makes Sanji reconsider, though.

•••

The next time Sanji and Zoro really interact after Zoro's defeat is when they go after Nami at Arlong Park.

And the first thing Sanji learns about Zoro is.......that he's willing to hit girls!

To Sanji, Zoro seems like he's willing to turn on someone-- and worse, willing to hurt a girl-- just because he's angry for an apparent betrayal that no one has any concrete proof of yet. What a jerk! Surely that earned him the dig Sanji makes about his loss to Mihawk.

Unbeknownst to Sanji, however, Zoro has already bet his life on Nami's friendship being genuine by almost drowning himself.

Zoro doesn't want to bother explaining this to some stupid new guy who's willing to side with a stranger purely on the basis of her gender. Clearly, Sanji doesn't understand ANYTHING about this crew, and should just stay out of things.

And so their initial mutual dislike is born!!!

They tend to bicker a lot after this, but I think the next time Sanji brings up Mihawk is in Alabasta.

Once again, Sanji is hitting below the belt because he's convinced Zoro's done something nigh-unforgivable: doubting Luffy. It's a reminder that their rivalry at this point is still built on genuinely misjudging each others' character.

Now at this point I've run out of my 100 daily shounen jump chapters so I can't find for you the PRECISE moment thet are mutually like "yeah ok fine you're a DECENT guy I GUESS" in Alabasta but I think it's the clock tower maybe? The point is that the whole crew has to work together VERY HARD to defeat Crocodile and it shows Sanji and Zoro that they can count on each other to support the crew, at least.

Their improved relationship is apparent in one of my fave downtime scenes so far: Sky Island jungle dinner :)

I...don't think we've seen Sanji ask for help cooking before this point?? Much less from Zoro. So I fucking love that. And Zoro goes along with it, even though he complains!!!!! It shows perfectly how they now trust each other to help take care of the crew.

Another one if my fave examples of them counting on each other in a kind of funny way is when they're fighting Zombie Oars.

Zoro pushes Sanji's buttons on purpose to get him to go along with it, and it works. But it also shows that Zoro was counting on him to give him a boost! The middle panel could even imply Zoro jumped before Sanji agreed to anything, which really proves how much they're willing to couny on each other now.

Which of course brings us to the conclusion of Thriller Bark and a WILD curveball in their relationship: thes self-sacrificial x2 combo.

What Sanji does here floored me. At this point not only does he trust Zoro as a part of the crew, but he considers Zoro a more irreplacable member of the crew than himself.

And Zoro refuses to let him.

Now, we know from his initial fight with Mihawk that Zoro being willing to kill himself doesn't mean he considers his life unimportant. Zoro and Luffy are both unafraid of death, because they have to be willing to die to even have a ghost of a chance of achieving their dreams.

That's why Zoro chooses to take on Luffy's pain and why he is able to survive it.

Zoro's sacrifice obviously means a lot to Sanji. When Zoro refuses to acknowledge his sacrifice, Sanji goes along with that and covers for him.

And of course he understands. The pain Sanji mentions here that Zoro is trying to spare Luffy from is the exact same pain that lead Sanji to give up on his dream of finding the All-Blue in favor of trying to repay his life debt to Zeff. Sanji wouldn't wish the guilt he feels for Zeff's leg on anybody.

Sanji shows a lot of concern for Zoro after this point up until the time skip!! He calls Zoro a hero to Brook, and tries to help Zoro deal with his excess injuries without drawing attention to them. Zoro is of course surly about it, because he's frustrated by his own limits. He got a taste of what Luffy goes through and it just made him more desperate to become strong enough to lighten Luffy's load.

I find their sort-of reset after the timeskip hilarious.

Sanji was already feeling deeply insecure when he got sent to the island of question your gender and sexuality-- things Sanji clearly considers very important to his identity. Since he can't bear to question himself, he relies on reacting combatively to things that challenge his masculinity. Kicking them, mostly. I'm sure he picked that up from Zeff.

Meanwhile, Zoro is THE most traditionally Masculine member of the crew besides Sanji by a long shot (Franky is in 3rd place as a self-professed freak with blue hair and pronouns who refuses to wear pants). Zoro is buffer than Sanji. And seemingly more stoic than Sanji. And Zoro has cool scars and uses three swords and his muscles are bigger and half the time he's not even wearing a shirt.

This masculinity contest between them was present before the timeskip too, but it's really the only good explanation for the extremeness of Sanji's sour attitude the moment he lays eyes on post-timeskip Zoro and remarks, aloud, "He's back. Like I really care..." after how much appreciation Sanji showed for Zoro's sacrifice before the timeskip.

Sanji WOULD be annoyed at his crewmate's seemingly effortless, unshakeable masculinity after two years of doggedly avoiding non-consensual crossdressing and constantly fighting for his life to outrun gay thoughts.

Zoro's side of things so far post-timeskip seems a bit less wound-up than Sanji. Zoro never takes an insult sitting down, and also just enjoys making snide remarks, so if Sanji's going to argue with him there's no reason for Zoro not to argue back.

This is why I am a gay Zoro truther, even if that gayness has nothing to do with anyone on the crew. Because its fucking hilarious if Sanji is one-sidedly trying to out-hetero-masculinity a literal gay man.

[mimobombs]

SONIC 3 THEORY; SHADOW WAS MADE ON EARTH

After rewatching the trailer over and over and overanalyzing every screenshot. I think I have a fair assumption that Shadow was not made on the Ark. In fact, I doubt the Ark existed in the Movie universe until Sonic's time.

Crazy theory time is a go,

Why do I think Shadow was made on Earth?

1. Trailer backgrounds.

We see three scenes with Shadow's test tube. One where it stands intact, and two where it is seen broken. In the scene where its intact, its harder to tell where its located, with just machinery and darkness as a backdrop. Which easily could have mislead us to thinking this is the Ark.

But when its the broken one scenes, we can see first in its reflection what looks like an old railing. Its is very faint in my screenshots but if you give it a look on bigger screens its a bit more visible.

The railing is more fitting of a 70s house railing than a space station's. Unless Gerald made his quarters look like a house, a possibility.

But. In the second scene where Shadow punches forward, this very same broken test tube is seen, and the lightsource is now clear to us. Its a hole in the background wall. This hole is clearly either damage from a fight, or a natural collapse. But whats for sure is that the location is on earth, as overgrowth can be seen through the debris and around the broken wall.

Now this can be bounced back as maybe a secondary location to hold Shadow to have further testing when Gerald was contained and brought back to earth. But. We also have to think of another detail.

2. The Era

Gerald's story is set 50 years ago on our earth, our world. Gerald was not a roboticist, but more a biological scientist, and in that era, they had very rudimental space exploration shuttles, like the Apollo missions. I highly doubt a ship the size of the Ark was made during that time, and that the military had advanced enough ships to raid said Ark and return to earth without a risk. We could say the same with the technology used to create Shadow being way too advanved for its era, which honestly is true.

To me the interesting part is the Ark seems to have been contained in a G.U.N stronghold, as we see what I assume is the Ark emerge from the waters in London.

As far as we know, G.U.N was only created recently, as the second movie indicates, so they couldn't have been in possession of such a gigantic asset for a long time. Unless the military was the one in possession of it and transfered to G.U.N when they were wipping their database from Robotnik's info. Maybe it was found after? Maybe Eggman made it? Wtf's it doing in LONDON? Changing its location alone would be impossible for how big it is... Many ideas could explain this but my theories have nothing solid for the small bits of content shown...

But either or, the last piece of proof I have is.

3. Maria's death scene

Not much is seen in that one shot, but it speaks for a lot.

In this scene, clearly the area has been raided, there is military, but the background also has hint details for us. We can see a flipped over car in the corner. There is also possibly a military car/jeep seen in the other corner burning. They may be in an underground area long enough to use cars, like a tunnel? Part of a military base? Sadly the amount of smoke doesnt make it easy to figure out whats behind them, and even whats on the ground. Though i just feel like it doesnt really look like the Ark to me.

With that in mind we also have to remember that this is not a note for note retelling of SA 2. Clearly something like the Ark will appear as seen behind Tails in that one shot.

But I theorize it was made later. Gerald, if alive or not, is seen with Eggman tech in his old home, probably for research purposes to better understand his grandson's mechanical genius, and maybe to recruit him to build or perfect the Ark project? Clearly in this scene Eggman seems surprised to see his tech there...

About Gerald, its hard to know if he is truly alive or not. To me two options are possible. Either Eggman is hallucinating tf out after either being knocked out or something of the like, meeting his grandfather and it goes into a spiral of insanity.

Or.

Gerald completed his research that he had first aimed for with the existence of Project Shadow. Immortality. the detail that makes me wonder if we will go that path, is during Maria's death scene, Gerald looks the same age as when he's seen interacting with Eggman. His white mustache and body stance is exactly the same, and we would have expected a lot more wrinkles and showing bones if the man was almost 130 years old.

Another detail into question;

If Shadow was made on Earth, what kind of sickness does Maria have? An interesting detail I did notice from all the shots that clearly belong to Gerald's home, is that its absolutely dark. No windows are seen, and the type of debris and breaks seen on the walls feel like it was made of concrete. Which makes me think that possibly, his home was a bunker. Hidden in the alps somewhere, so he could work on his research in secret, but also keep Maria safe.

An interesting twist for her character to not have experienced earth, would be if she had a type of illness that renders her Immuno-compromised to the point of it being fatal, or maybe a reaction so intense to the sun or even simply the air up on the surface being dangerous for her. She could only dream of the world outside as she is not allowed to leave the bunker to see it. It would bring a similar narrative to her and Shadow watching the earth from space!

Anyways I digress, I don't claim anything I've said to be solid truth. Ive just been digging the trailer and turning it in my brain in every possible direction that I had to post my ramblings somewhere, or else I would have gone insane. This will eat at me for the next months until the release, or a more detailed preview is posted. Enjoy the brainworms yippeeeee ♡♡♡

Also please if you have seen bits and pieces of the leaked unfinished cut please dont tell me about it Ive ran into 4 different mini spoilers and I'm still mad about it :)))

[imustbenuts]

nuts reading trigun in japanese 7 - filial piety, and meryl

my alternate readings/translation/interpretation of jp lines are for triangulation purposes and nothing else.

ch 10-12. a more general scattershot of a post than over analyzing the japanese texts this time round. i think meryl in these 3 chapters is the most interesting character for me. but mainly bc she seems to be carrying a baggage: her struggle with filial piety.

^OH's version

ソレが普通ですわよ That'd be the most common sense thing to do. それにもともと家訓からして『自立せよ』ですからね But our house's motto is to first be independent above all. ドライといえばドライなのかも Mine would just be dry beyond dry...

me: hm. an office lady in the context of being written in 1990s by a japanese guy. i understand.

(i actually prefer OH's version bc the implications of what shes saying is the exact same, but more importantly leads into this page)

いきついて見れば When I realized all that 何か大切なものを忘れてるのかも… Realized that perhaps I've forgotten something (filial piety) so important... 私… I...

(you can see how this raw translation fucking sucks. I'd reword it in a way that's along the lines of 'feeling so ashamed as to forget getting angry', but OH's version is a downright banger. 11/10 the implications of what she feels is still the exact same. love it a lot!)

right so.

filial piety.

filial piety for a lot of asians is... kind of hard to break down. but perhaps can be explained as "abandoning ones' parents is the worst sin one can do".

not being filial is an invitation to the most extreme judgement from relatives and outsiders in a society which upholds it as the absolute virtue. at least, for the most part. (late stage capitalism fucked it all up yayy)

abandonment can be in the form of presence and/or financial. if a child doesnt make bank to pay back for their parents raising them up, they're not filial. if a child is absent and not there to take care of their parent, thats not filial.

and not being grateful, not being filial, equals shame and warrants divine punishment. (check out folklores like momotaro and kaguyahime that touches on these themes)

meryl i think struggles with that bc shes likely an only child who is expected to work an office job after studying super hard for it, and is now living independently away from her parents. meaning, she is technically not present to take care of them, which in this context makes her feel immensely guilty.

to make matters worse, it sounds like shes one of those types where her parents possibly had to work a lot to pay for this and that, resulting in a severe lack of communication. so this compounds, and she can only write dry stuff in her mind.

milly, by the way, does not have this problem as much:

she has a lot of siblings who can shoulder the weight of it all together, so in terms of that filial piety stress shes not doing so bad.

Badwick, the focus of this arc, by the way, faces the same struggles with meryl:

i mentioned the financial part bc from how chill the parents are with him, i think its possible he was trying to sell the land for large sums of money for his parents to retire. theres an added level of resentment going on that complicates their dynamic, with a dead brother and a land that means too much to sell for any sum of money.

and also his parents are... too nice and understanding, jeez.

i dont think meryl has the resentment. i think her case was similar in that her parents worked hard to provide and kinda neglected her in the connection part.

ofc this might then bring up the question of, 'isnt filial piety kinda transactional?', and, yeah. it... frankly can be. some parents have weaponized it, knowing that a society which forces unconditional love and financial support from a child is a good retirement plan. and it sucks. nightow must have realized this and sidestepped it.

whether bc it will not be well received by the then jp audience or if he just doesnt want to tell a story about this, i dont know. there could also be the fact that the 90s was a bad time to be talking about securing retirement for parents when the economy was circling the drain.

trigun gets dark later. we are getting love and peace above all else, at least for now.

...hm something seems to be rising over the horizon. but we can deal with that later. domestic violence

also i think vash is the kind who would also be a filial son to rem. this aspect of him is just lurking silently in the background in hindsight. in a barrel.

(incidentally i think this is also why luida and brad got promoted to surrogate parents position in stampede. much to ponder ponder...)