#which i have no problem for the original characters

[webtomo]

While I am optimistic about Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream and will probably be buying it and playing it regardless of anything, there are a few things that kinda potentially concern me about the game. I assume most of these will be addressed at some point in the future, but I want to run through them real quick.

1 - The "New Horizons" problem.

Though I did play a lot of New Horizons when it came out and did thoroughly enjoy it, it is undeniable that the game is held back by a number of flaws. Most notably, the fact that they significantly stripped back a number of features (especially near the time of release) as well as the general "softening" of the game. Now, don't get me wrong, New Horizons is far from a bad game. But many things sort of hold me back from considering it the definitive Animal Crossing experience, especially after coming off of New Leaf/Welcome Amiibo. I do really enjoy the customization of the game, but in many ways it almost feels like they had forgone things like villagers personalities and their autonomy in order to make that happen. Not to mention the fact that many key elements of the series were not in the game at all at launch, and were instead added in later updates. I am hoping that at the very least, the team behind Living The Dream will be able to learn from the negative aspects of New Horizons. Tomodachi Life is a series that, in part, is made by the randomness of every social interaction and is way more heavily focused on social interaction than Animal Crossing as a whole is. So with that in mind, I do hope that they don't entirely drop the ball in that regard and can present us with something interesting. Another big aspect of Tomodachi Life is relationships and the drama that the islanders get themselves into, so I hope that they allow for those things to continue to be relevant in this entry without dampening the personalities of the islanders.

2 - Gay Marriage.

I think most people know about this by now, but back when Tomodachi Life originally came out a controversy sprung about, named the Miiquality movement. This movement was centered around making Nintendo acknowledge and allow gay couples to exist in Tomodachi Life, since it was one of the only games in the life simulation genre to not allow it. Nintendo responded by claiming that they would promise to include it in a potential sequel, since it was too late for them to change anything in the original Tomodachi Life for 3DS. Now, this is a net good thing, and I and many other have been asking for this for a long time. However, I am somewhat worried that for whatever reason, they do something to work around the gay marriage thing. It honestly would probably be kind of stupid for them to do this, but I can very easily picture a reality where they forgo the entire existing relationship system and replace it with something else, maybe something like the Miitopia system or something. But honestly, at that point, it would just be easier to allow gay marriage outright since the Miitopia relationship system was the reason that game was marked as an 18+ title in Russia and Nintendo seemingly had no issues with releasing the game there despite it. Nowadays, we live in 2025. There is no reason for them to not include it at this point. Tomodachi Life for 3DS released in 2013 in Japan and 2014 everywhere else, which predated the legalization of gay marriage in the United States and a number of other places in which the game released, and is still not fully legal to this day in Japan (but is pretty close to potential legalization at the time of writing). Nowadays, Nintendo seems more open to the idea of having visibly queer characters in their games, for instance the Fire Emblem series allows you to be gay in most of their modern releases. Just last year, the Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door remake officially canonized trans Vivian, so I do think the option is still on the table.

3 - Scale and design.

The trailer we have seen shows some already significant design changes in this game compared to the previous two, which honestly I do think looks decent and I have positive thoughts on the art direction as a whole. However with any big new changes, there are bound to be some rough points. The flatness of the island we have seen is a little weird, which I assume may be related to a potential building feature, in which case is fine, but in many ways honestly feels like a visual downgrade from the 3DS version. Albeit we have not seen too much so far regarding the appearance of the island, and if island customization is a thing then that could potentially negate that issue entirely. However, a bigger concern of mine is the scale of the island itself. I am somewhat worried now that since each islander is living in a little cabin instead of an apartment, that the amount of Miis you are able to add will be limited. This isn't entirely a deal breaker necessarily, however I think most people would agree that it would be extremely disappointing if the game forces you to limit the amount of people on your island arbitrarily. I think if they were to cut down the amount of Miis per island, a reasonable minimum should be at least 50. Ideally I would prefer if the cap of 100 Miis was still a thing, since its a pretty reasonable number and I would be happy if they even allowed for more than that. Though if they do decide to limit the islanders to a smaller number, then I think it would honestly kill a lot of the hype for this game, since a big aspect of Tomodachi Life is the broadness of interactions possible between many islanders at a time. The Switch is more powerful than the 3DS so I am hoping they at least have some way around this issue, but the Switch isn't necessarily a powerhouse to begin with, so we will see how that pans out.

With all of that being said, I am still very excited for this game. I imagine future news will address some of these issues, but for now I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens. I will continue to post more about Living The Dream as more news presents itself.

[creatingblackcharacters]

Please tell me if I am wrong about this but it is dated/offensive to refer to Black people as characters of colour, right?

You must have seen my meltdown yesterday, huh 🤣 okay. I'm gonna get a little personal with this one because I think I'm allowed to be passionate about it (and yes, anger).

It is not dated nor offensive to say that Black people are characters/people of color. The offense comes into play when you know their identity, you have the option and the knowledge to say Black- especially when the topic at hand is about their Blackness, which is its own particular experience- and you choose to say "characters/people of color" over that instead, as if they're synonymous terms, when they aren't.

It implies that you don't actually care about the character's/person's identity to use it, or maybe even that you're uncomfortable mentioning it without cushioning it in something else. Why? Why is saying "Black" hard?

I need y'all to understand that when you say "people of color" that's literally EVERYBODY ON THE PLANET that didn't get to be labeled "white". It's basically saying if you're not white, you can be generalized. I'm not just "not white", I'm Black! And I want you to use my specific identity, because for a long time, it's been treated as a dirty word and lesser identity!

E.g.: If a woman made a post saying "hi, I'm a trans woman, my pronouns are she/her, and these are the issues that affect me." And in the notes are messages saying "yeah! I support all my hes shes and theys!!" And she's like "hey, that's cool, but I'm a she, and this post was about my identification with this label and what comes with".

And they respond "oh well all lives matter it's fine, btw I'm an ally". 😐 But then turn around and think they're being supportive of her, when in reality they're disrespecting her and the identity she asked them to use, overgeneralizing a topic that was specific and thus declawing the directness original message (while simultaneously receiving validation for being an "ally" from everyone that isn't this identity). 🤬

Anyway. When we consider the history of the identity of Blackness and how it has been treated as a dirty, taboo topic: Why would you say "character of color" when you're solely talking about Black characters? Why is that your go to? What does it add, that mentioning their Blackness directly doesn't? What are you trying to say, that you can't say "Black"? Because if it's gonna be a problem, then the problem is the context you're about to use it in! I genuinely want y'all to consider this, in your own conversation and in others.

Why not say Black, when someone is Black and identifies as such? Why not?

[icantbelieveitsnotbutler]

Polaris Identity Theory

Manga spoilers under the cut.

Because Toboso conceals his face, Polaris is probably a character who readers would recognize.

Polaris has claimed on multiple occasions to be a butler, and said that he lost his previous master. This might lead one to assume he was a butler in Vincent Phantomhive's household. However, Polaris appears to have a different chin shape compared to any of the previous butlers.

Polaris' first physical appearance is when r!Ciel comes to the townhouse. Soma opens the door, let's r!Ciel in, and offers him food because he believes him to be o!Ciel. R!Ciel shoots Soma with a small handgun, which is o!Ciel's signature weapon. When Agni tries to protect Soma, Polaris appears and stabs him with a knife, of which he has many. In this scene we see that Polaris is tall, but not as tall as Agni.

He is also incredibly strong and fast, performing maneuvers that would be impossible for a human, and as a result, impossible for a bizarre doll created from a human, as the bizarre dolls we've seen so far seem to retain the physical limitations of their human bodies.

Sebastian even remarks that killing Agni would have required more than 5 average humans.

The rest of the information we have about Polaris is very limited. In Japanese, he refers to himself using 私 (watashi) and uses uses polite sentence endings (desu and masu).

However, Polaris' most distinguishing characteristic is his devotion to his master. When confronted with the possibility of running out of blood and losing r!Ciel, he loses control, yells, stops using polite speech in Japanese, destroys his surroundings, and falls to his knees.

If Toboso were introducing a new character, she wouldn't need to hide his face. The only existing character who fits the profile of a butler, exceedingly devoted to his master, almost as tall as Angi, wielding an absurd amount of knives, and with strength and speed way beyond those of humans, is Sebastian.

When Polaris first stabs Agni in the townhouse, he seems to appear suddenly and unnoticed by Soma and Agni. The reader might assume that he came into the room or out of hiding at this moment to defend r!Ciel. However, I believe it to be more likely that he walked in with r!Ciel, unremarked-upon because if Ciel walks in, Sebastian would be expected to follow. In fact, it would be strange if the 13-year-old came in alone, without an adult, and especially without his near-constant companion.

At this point I will mention what originally made me think of this theory: Sebastian's catchphrase. I will do my best, with my extremely limited knowledge of Japanese, to explain.

The phrase Sebastian is so fond of saying is "私は[悪魔で]執事ですから." He's literally saying "For I am a devil and a butler," but doesn't blow his cover as a demon because it sounds identical to "For I am a butler to the end/persistently." (私は[飽くまで]執事ですから)

After freaking out over the possibility of losing r!Ciel, Polaris tells him and Undertaker that if r!Ciel died, "I wouldn't be able to rest, even if I died. I can't imagine where else I could be... for I am a butler, even in death."

私は[死んでも]執��ですから。

This is nearly identical to Sebastian's catchphrase, both saying "For I am a butler," with a single word (and its attached particle) swapped out:

私は(I)[ ]執事(butler)です(am)から(for)。

An obvious problem with this theory is that Polaris is loyal to r!Ciel, while Sebastian is loyal to o!Ciel. An even more obvious problem is that while Polaris is murdering Agni, Sebastian is with o!Ciel elsewhere. This is the point where my implausible theory reaches its peak of absurdity: I believe Polaris is a bizarre doll of Sebastian, specifically Sebastian the butler.

When Undertaker impaled Sebastian on the Campania, he obtained his cinematic record. Like when Grelle cut him with her death-scythe in the Red Butler Arc, Sebastian's record only shows memories of his current body and nothing before it manifested. The sole purpose of the body named Sebastian is to be the best butler and to serve his master. This could also explain the previous master Polaris lost and his insanity over losing another: the last memory of the body the cinematic record was taken from is seeing o!Ciel thrown over a railing and out of reach; Undertaker captured Sebastian's desperation in that moment and used it to create a bizarre doll.

[caldella]

Blitzø & Verosika: 7 Deadly Similarities

An unnecessary dive into how these two are alike, and their possible past dynamic

Who asked for this? No one really. But it's something I've wanted to touch on for a while.

Like a lot of HB character conversations, I see a lot of discussion back and forth about these two: mainly on whether Verosika's Anti-Blitzo parties were extreme overkill for their breakup, or whether Blitzø's particularly hurtful way of severing ties/avoiding blame afterward deserved it. It becomes a lot of, "which one is shittier than the other?" And to be honest...

I don't see many people bring up how the show displays that the truth is more neutral. They function very similarly.

The more we saw of Verosika in the few episodes she's been in, the more I got, "Yeah I can see why these two dated long enough for her to fall in love." I think they share a lot of qualities. Some probably drew them to each other, but some probably caused issues instead of connecting them.

Trait One: Leadership

Verosika and Blitzø are both leaders of a team. They're pretty classic Type A personalities: take-charge, ambitious, don't take orders well from others. They want to make them instead. I could easily see Blitzø with his hyper-confident persona and Verosika's 'I'm a star, bitch' attitude being drawn to each other. Neither of them like taking shit from someone, and before they directed their ire at each other, they were probably good at channeling it together in an 'us against the world' way.

Trait Two: Extroversion

Both Blitzø and Verosika seem to be extroverted and prefer being around other people (or demons, whatever). In fact, I think they emotionally rely on it. From what I recall, Ozzie's is the only time Verosika shows up alone anywhere. Other than that, the closest she comes is showing up for work in Spring Broken with Tex her bodyguard. She's otherwise constantly surrounded by her employees/coworkers or hosting events for people she invites. While her screentime has been limited, I get the feeling she doesn't like being by herself. Neither does Blitzø, who's made an entire found family for himself for that same reason.

Trait Three: Crass

In a show with plenty of swearing and crude humor, both of them are pretty high on the list for quick insults or crass remarks. They're both so blunt that the other's attitude probably never phased them while they got along. But I'm guessing that also prevented them from having a lot of more meaningful conversations without reverting to this as a safety net.

Trait Four: Deflecting Accountability

Both of them have some seriously damaging behavior: Blitzø with his sabotaging relationships and Verosika with her insistence that she's too successful for rehab. Blitzø uses his deflection to avoid getting close to people or looking too far at his own self-hatred. Verosika sees rehab as an admission of weakness that could damage her image/career. Both hide serious problems under a mask of confidence.

Trait Five: Using A Painful Reminder to Make a Statement

It seems that Blitzø never officially changed his name's spelling to Blitz. Instead, he insists on the "O" being silent, distinctly marking that his association with his circus/clown origins are done. Similarly, Verosika chose to cross out her Blitz tattoo instead of cover it up - a black heart would've literally matched her face marking - and she wore pants with a crossed out version of Blitzø's forehead mark in Apology Tour. Perhaps she got her tattoo altered before rehab, or perhaps she got inspiration from Barbie's crossed out forehead marking. Either way, both she and Blitzø don't actually eliminate these signs of their past selves, the hurt selves that they're afraid to let the public see. They instead use the reminder as a sign to the world that they're different now.

Trait Six: Coping with Emotions via Violence or Self-Destruction

I agree that the Anti-Blitzo party was weirdly violent with its imagery (and the foreshadowing of the cake being beheaded isn't lost on me). But whenever I see people bring up how violent the party was, they don't seem to consider that Blitzø takes out his feelings via violence, too. He does it literally, especially if he's frustrated/avoiding introspection. That isn't dissimilar to Verosika using performative violence to cover up her emotional pain. Perhaps she learned some of it from him.

Both of them also lean towards self-destructive behaviors to handle negative feelings. Verosika is shown as an alcoholic from her first appearance. Blitzø's binge in Queen Bee seems to be a one-time thing and not a habit, but between that and his spiral in Ghostfuckers, it's clear that he also uses self-destructive behavior to avoid addressing his vulnerabilities.

Trait Seven: Projecting Negative Generalizations Onto Others

(Yes bringing back the 'everyone's shitty' screenshot again)

I have to thank this post from timkontheunsure for actually having this piece fall into place for me. Both of them, when facing (real or perceived) rejection from someone they've developed feelings for, turn it into anger. They respond by putting people into a category and assuming that they must be the same as everyone else within it. Blitzø struggled so bad with the idea that Stolas could have feelings for him that he rejected it and assumed Stolas would function like every stereotypical uncaring royal. His negative perception of royalty as a whole was thrown onto one person despite conflicting evidence. He did the same with the Anti-Blitzo party, when Verosika tried to confront him on his own behavior. No, HE wasn't particularly shitty, he was just a denizen of Hell. Everyone there was shitty.

And Verosika did similar with Stolas, by assuming he would be just another bitter ex completely wronged by Blitzø. She assumed that the party and venting about Blitzø would be cathartic for him like she felt it was for her. There was no room for gray area in the situation. With the drastic way Blitzø hurt her, surely everyone else he's hurt must feel the same and need the same outlet.

Conclusion:

We'll see if the show ever addresses it, though I don't think it's something they really need to. I'm guessing that their combined ambitious personalities and 'I don't give a fuck' attitudes drew them to each other. And since they dated before Blitzø adopted Loona, he was likely in his wilder party phase as well. Verosika probably felt like they could take on the world (Hell) together, but either Blitzø was not as attached or his self-destructive tendencies sabotaged things the moment they became serious, as he's had a habit of doing. I think Verosika made the anti-Blitzø motif such a drastic part of her persona to prevent a public scandal about the hurtful/embarassing breakup. She's a major celebrity under the public's eye. To her, it was safer to have a justified target than to be the target herself.

I think, even if Blitzø hadn't ripped up their relationship, things still would've gotten messy. Two bold, loud individuals who struggle to cope with negative feelings without turning aggressive/projecting them? Hiding pain under self destruction? I don't know if either would've been able to start addressing these issues if the other refused to work on their own. It was only after the breakup, and several years of living and growing, that either of them were able to actually have an honest conversation.

[daresplaining]

Hello o/ I'm doing research for what may or may not become the next chapter of a Blindspot-centric fanfic, and realized that my knowledge of Stick is extremely limited (read: barebones introduction via show, which I am these days suspicous of for characterization, and a couple Elektra comics). Are there any comics you would recommend, especially around Matt and Stick's relationship? Does he.. abandon him, like in the show?

Oooh, a Blindspot fanfic! No pressure at all, but if you'd like, feel free to let me know when it's finished so that I can spread the word.

I am a huge Stick fan, he's one of my all-time favorite Daredevil characters, and I actually thought they did an excellent job with him in the Netflix shows; Scott Glenn and the writers managed to evoke that essential Stick-ness to a degree that made me very, very happy, while also finding new and interesting things to do with him. But his dynamic with Matt in the MCU was a bit different than it is in the comics, due to key backstory alterations. In the show, they chose to kill Jack off when Matt was still very young. This meant that when Stick eventually came along, little Matt latched onto him as a replacement parental figure, thus making their separation very messy and psychologically damaging.

However, in the comics, Jack was alive and well all throughout Matt's time training with Stick. While Matt eagerly embraced this training and the freedom and empowerment that it provided, and while he was able to share parts of himself with Stick that he never felt comfortable revealing to Jack (his powers, his love of risk and adventure, etc.), his relationship with Stick never moved beyond the closeness of a mentor/mentee dynamic. This is not to downplay the importance of Stick's role in Matt's life in those early days of learning to negotiate his painful new powers. But Matt already had a loving father, and so having Stick around as another (if prickly) guiding presence in his life was just a bonus.

Man Without Fear (1993) #1 by Frank Miller, John Romita Jr., Christie Scheele, Al Williamson, and Joe Rosen

The questions surrounding the nature of their separation digs into one of my absolute biggest continuity frustrations: the Man Without Fear Problem. The Man Without Fear mini-series, published in 1993, presented a new, alternate take the Daredevil origin story, drawing on previously established elements but also making key changes to the nature and order of events. And that was all well and good, but rather than being allowed to exist as its own separate, self-contained thing, some (but not all) later Daredevil writers decided to pull some elements of it into the main continuity, creating a scrambled mess of canonical vagueness surrounding what Matt's current, "real" backstory is that has never been properly clarified. For the period surrounding Matt's childhood, this isn't too much of an issue, as the events of Man Without Fear don't deviate much from the standard 616 continuity. But Jack's death is where it starts to get complicated.

Now: the only source of information we have for Matt and Stick's separation is Man Without Fear, which tells us that their training ended following Matt's vengeful attacks on the men who murdered his father, with Stick deciding that Matt was too emotionally volatile to become a member of the Chaste. In MWF, Matt goes on a brutal rampage following Jack's death that ends with him accidentally killing an innocent bystander, and this is what leads Stick to decide that he is too emotional and reckless to continue his training. In the original, standard 616 version of events, Matt did also accidentally get someone killed on his first 616 outing as Daredevil, though it was the person he was gunning for anyway, and also (arguably) less directly his fault. (He even kills the same guy the very same way in MWF; there is no version of continuity in which this death upsets Matt. Which I find interesting in itself). The Man Without Fear novelization by Paul Crilley puts forth the suggestion that it was not the violence inherent in Matt's revenge outing, but simply his decision to seek vigilante justice at all, that was Stick's main issue--which is great, because that can apply to all versions of the continuity, so let's go with that. Besides, Matt is unquestionably an emotionally volatile person who would have made a terrible member of the Chaste, so regardless of Stick's exact reasons for making that judgment...he was correct.

However, it is the other, MWF-specific death of an innocent bystander that affects Matt's reaction to Stick's leaving. Brutally disappointed by Matt's failure to live up to his hopes and expectations, Stick cuts off contact entirely. He doesn't explain anything to Matt. He just vanishes. And Matt, after having just accidentally murdered someone, goes running for Stick to seek his mentor's support and comfort but cannot find him.

Man Without Fear (1993) #2 by Frank Miller, John Romita Jr., Christie Scheele, Al Williamson, and Joe Rosen

The question is: did this death happen in the regular 616 continuity as well? And the answer is: maybe? Some writers have made the effort of dragging that plot point over into the main series and trying to make it fit (DeMatteis built a whole story arc around it), while others have stuck to the earlier version of the origin story. There is another factor worth mentioning in the difference between these two versions of events: in MWF, Matt was just a teenager when Jack died and all of this happened, while in 616, Matt was nearly out of college (or law school; don't get me started on that continuity mess). The fact of the matter is that we have never seen a 616 version of the scene above, so the exact details really do come down to personal preference.

In any case, Matt's attitude ultimately was "fine then, bye" and he moved on with his life (Elektra, in contrast, was very seriously wounded by Stick/the Chaste's rejection of her, which drove her down the path toward becoming an assassin). When Matt and Stick reunited later in life, they weren't exactly best pals, but their interactions contained an undercurrent of mutual respect. Matt appreciates everything Stick did for him and still calls upon his lessons in times of crisis, and Stick is proud of Matt, even if neither of them is emotionally healthy enough to openly admit these things to each other.

Daredevil: Ninja #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Rob Haynes, David Self, and Richard Starkings

Daredevil vol. 1 #296 by D.G. Chichester, Ron Garney, Christie "Max" Scheele, Al Williamson, and Jack Morelli

There's a great line toward the end of Man Without Fear, right before Matt and Foggy embark on the adventure of opening their first law firm, where Matt describes Stick as "a presence long-missed and never forgotten," and there are several occasions in the main series where he refers to Stick as his friend.

Daredevil vol. 1 #189 by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson

Stick ended up giving his life to save Matt, a loss which moved Matt deeply (he later kept Stick's staff in a place of honor in his home gym). For many years afterward, Stick stuck around as a kind of ghost, haunting both Matt and Elektra and offering them advice or insults, depending on the situation.

Here's another post I wrote about this years ago, which goes into slightly more detail on the differences between the comics and the MCU. As for reading recommendations, here are the key issues that cover Matt and Stick's 616/MWF relationship, in (somewhat) in-universe chronological order:

Young Matt and Stick:

Daredevil volume 2 #500: This issue doesn't actually cover Matt's time with Stick, but it provides some wonderful backstory for Stick and his teacher, Master Izo (who is a Brubaker invention and a goddamn delight. I could do another reading guide just for him, but it would basically just be "read the Brubaker/Lark run"), including how Stick found Matt in the first place.

Man Without Fear (1993) #1-3

Daredevil volume 1 #225-226

Daredevil volume 1 #254

Daredevil volume 1 #349

Daredevil volume 3 #25

Also: Matty and Stick by Ty Templeton

Adult Matt and Stick:

Man Without Fear (1993) #5

Daredevil volume 1 #176-177: Stick's introductory issues!

Daredevil volume 1 #187-189

Matt and Ghost Stick:

Daredevil volume 1 #262

Daredevil volume 1 #287-288

Daredevil volume 1 #349-350

Daredevil volume 5 #609

Misc.:

Daredevil: Ninja: Stick isn't technically in this series, but it is, in essence, all about Matt's relationship to Stick's memory and legacy.

Daredevil volume 7 #13: Matt rescues Stick from Hell (why is Stick in Hell? Unclear). I'm including this mostly just for completeness, and for anyone who wants to see Stick naked (no judgement).

I hope this helps!

[m1ndp4rty]

Irving

There's really no way to say what will happen with Irving.

Again I've seen some hand wringing on whether this is the end of Irving's character or role in the story. I'm of two minds. On one hand Irving's innie died. He makes a sacrifice and scores a hit against Lumon with revealing Helena. He plays foil to innie Marks position in the finale in that he does step out of the exit hallway in chase of who he loves in the outside world, fulfilling his initial desire to non-exist together with Burt. (Versus Dylan who chooses a more symbiotic coexistence and Mark choosing to go full innie)

I also kind of love that death has real stakes here. Some people may see this as Irving getting put on a bus but it speaks to the fact that there are real consequences to defying Lumon, and that fundamentally if Irving B "died" as an Innie he can't come back. He is lost to the MDR, and to his friends because he quite literally "died." It's just as traumatic and consequential as if his outtie were to die.

It would be quite different I think for the show to make the argument of the equivalency of severed and un-severed existence if they bring Irving B. back. it means there are less narrative stakes for the innies when they're being threatened.

Also like with Gemma I'm fundamentally rooting for the Innies to be free or to "escape" Lumon and the severed floor. Maybe that is disrespecting their autonomy but to me it's a poor argument that their existence as Lumon intends it and whatever agenda their work serves for Lumon is something we should be championing.

Like with Gemma freedom from Lumon and the ability to choose what comes next is a win for Irving. Like with Gemma it comes at the cost of his "love" but (for the last time) like with Gemma it may not be the end of Irving's story. As I wonder what or where they might take the character if they decide to bring him back I'm more hopeful for the possibilities than angry with the choices they made.

Irving was in some ways the best of them, his experience, his compassion for his fellow severed selves and his laser focus on the goal echoes a lot great qualities that we see emulated in the remaining members. Narratively he's the Obi-wan, you strike him down and he could become more powerful than ever before. He also as the old wise mentor figure needs to be removed so that Dylan, Mark, and Helly can make mistakes or decisions without his guidance and wisdom. He's the Gandalf and he is too much of a stabilizing voice of reason with the ability to suss out what the problems are to be left alive. His absence hurts because he's a great character that we do want to see come back which is why I'm glad he's gone. It meant something that he lived, and it means something that he's "dead."

Time will tell if like the mentor figures mentioned he can come back in glory in a time of great need. I could certainly see Devon, Gemma, and Harmony tracking him down to link up with whatever organization or individual he was plotting with to get the scoop on Lumon.

For now Irving gets my favorite track on the original score for season 2. A sendoff that hints at better things, and someone who is more whole for having lived a severed life. Someone who's ready now for whatever comes next.

*Pure speculation time:

Like with Burt there is room I think to make Irving antagonistic in the next season. For one the nuance of him wanting to wreck Burt's marriage and not fundamentally caring if Fields gets hurt puts him neatly alongside the rest of the crew in terms of chasing love for good or bad regardless of who they "hurt".

If Irving is trying to take down Lumon or get to the testing floor there is a good chance that the served floor as we know it will end or the people in it removed. That once again puts him at odds with the innies who desire to stay alive.

If I were to speculate at Irving's backstory two roads that I think would be interesting to go down would be to follow the millitary angle: the government's role and thoughts on Lumon and severance as a technology are nebulous. I think many of us can imagine some fairly nefarious use cases for a perfected or imperfect severed technology e.g. agents for black ops or spying as gimmies. Or to flip it there was an incident with a severed spy/agent that they're trying to track down and prove now.

Irving being some kind of terrorist cell or deep cover agent trying to investigate in service of a government? would be a fairly reasonable path. It would bring higher stakes but would move a little away from the work/life corpo angle by bringing in the military-industrial complex. That being said big pharma and big tech in bed with the gov/millitary is almost sci fi show 101. It feels almost redundant to say Lumon must have gov/military contracts already.

I feel like if anything it's more likely he serves as a private contractor type with his ex navy/military background and discipline on a long sting operation and he's one of many attempts to get a handle on Lumon by a rival corp. That would make him similar to Burt as a hatchet man or enforcer type.

Irving as a kind of deep plant of a company that we saw Lumon fencing with like in the Lexington Letter. It would give Irving less of a squeaky clean motivation and reveal that he like Burt may have a fair few skeletons in his closet.

What was his goal? It seems that it's tied to whatever floors lie below the severed floor. We've seen testing now and with the rate of turnover I suspect it's not a specific person like with Mark and Gemma that Irving was trying to find. He's certainly been with Lumon for too long for me to think that's the case.

The end product of the testing, and the Manchurian candidate Lexington Letter innie bots though, however those are shipped (be it the chip or the person) I could see being of interest. If I had to guess that's what I'd put money on.

[wigglesdtuff]

Your post about interaction on tumblr really hit the nail in the head. I feel like the problem here is that there isn't really any opportunity for an actual conversation due to the nature of reblogs. I also feel like the ask function tends to be difficult to interact with because it kind of puts you in the spotlight, so a lot of people (including myself most of the time because i get shy lol) tend to send questions anonymously.

That being said, I love love love seeing people yap about their favorite characters! I obviously adore Robin, I think she's so cool and I cried like a loser over her in ennies lobby, but everybody gets weirdly attached to a certain character, and she never made it into being my favorite, so seeing someone who is as obsessed with her is so so cool because it has presented me with so many different and interesting perspectives on her character. Part of being a one piece fan is becoming so extremely attached to a character that they consume your entire being, which is why it's necessary to have a balance of people's favorite characters, so that we are able to have an in depth analysis of everyone haha

For me, what was originally most compelling about Robin was the fact that she was the first, and for a while the only, adult on a crew full of teenagers. If one piece has proved anything, it's that variety in age amongst the main cast is very important. It creates fun dynamics, and it makes for such better story telling. It also kills me that the first time Robin was shown unconditional love and kindness since she was eight years old was from a bunch of naive, ambitious weirdos who literally tried to fight an admiral for her. Which also brings me to one of my favorite scenes in one piece.

LIKE SHUT UPPPP rereading the manga and coming across this post ennies lobby almost sent me into a coma I'm not even kidding. I think this is genuinely one of my favorite moments in the entire story, especially with context. Utjghrkoaj they love her so much, and she loves them so much it makes me sickk. Imagine being forced to face the past you tried so hard to forget only to be defrosted in a bathtub by a bunch of teens who fought one of the strongest people in the entire world for your honor. And it's genuinely amazing how much emotion is conveyed in this panel when there's not even a single word and Robin is just staring blankly at the ceiling. One piece really does have incredible emotional storytelling and I feel its character focused moments are incredible, especially when it comes to Robin.

I love Nico Robin, and I love talking about her and seeing people who love her too. She's so special and you're so awesome. Sometimes I have to pace around my apartment after seeing your art because it's so cool, the colors remind me of those pop rocks that you dip your lollipop into and it explodes in your mouth, it's so beautiful. This one in particular scratched a nice place in my brain.

Hehe yessss. So pretty. This is so long but I got carried away. Have a good day!

I keep wanting to thoughtfully respond to this one, but I couldn't have explained that moment better myself. It's such a beautiful parallel to Nami waking up to the crew fretting over her while she's sick. Oda's character writing is just something else, and there's something for everybody! I think Robin has just latched onto my brain forever now.

Thank you so so so much for the kind words and especially about my art! That's such a fun description that I'll so super keep in mind. And :3 thank you that's one of my favorites I did this year so far!!

[devotedlydeepeststrawberry]

Please someone explain to me what exactly is the Voice Actor Hoyo drama and how exactly is a Chinese company at fault for a (mainly) USA strike?

SAG-AFTRA goes to war against AI and starts the strike. All union members are meant to be on strike and not promote the video games from the companies who didn't sign the interim bargaining agreement. Now, Hoyo is a Chinese company and outsources its eng VA to other studios. Each of its games are in different studios. Why does Hoyo have to sign the agreement and not just the eng Studios?

Would Genshin and other non-union projects have to become union projects? Is it not allowed for non-union members to work on union projects in the voice acting industry? Would this greatly affect the non-union VAs? I like sources with these answers and not just anecdotal evidence or 'I'm a VA trust me, bro' without proof that you actually are a VA. Just like I'd like to see a true source about the 3000$+ yearly fees to join the union.

Zenless Zone Zero recently had some drama for replacing two voice actors without prior notice. The game is under Sound Candence Studios which, while not under the agreement, has in fact a clause about AI-protection in their contracts. And ZZZ and the studio are not 'struck' by the strike. But 2 VAs decided to strike anyway. One was confirmed to not even be part of the union. I think the biggest issue here was 'without prior notice' as there was no reason to strike a company that essentially doesn't have much to do with the strike anyway.

And Hoyo is changing Genshin's studio to SIDE studio, probably to bypass the strike but also to ensure that they won't have this problem in the future as they don't only use USA based VAs. In fact, they replaced a character's VA with a VA based in Japan. With a Japanese agency. In SIDE's Tokyo branch. And not only are fans mad but also the USA voice actors bullied the poor guy on twitter/x. Now, Kinich was only voiced in ONE patch. Why such drama? Because he lost a job he isn't doing? USA is not the only english speaking country in the world, and I'm sure that a lot of people in Europe, Africa and South America also play Genshin in English. People who may not be aware of the strike and complain to Hoyo about the voiceless characters. Hoyo never made a contract with the original VA, Formosa did, so they have no responsibilities towards him. And Hoyo has no moral reason to continue to employ USA citizens. Not their country, not their strike. If an American company did this, I wouldn't like it and it would be easy to sway me on SAG-AFTR's side. But since it's a Chinese company with an intended worldwide audience I'm more on their side. They waited for more than half a year for the US to get it together and come to a conclusion and it's their right as a foreign company to act upon the complaints of the consumers. (Hopefully, they also take the complaints of diversity and story telling in Natlan to heart as well). And honestly, I would like to have more VA's outside the US in general. I dislike the overexposure of USA media and licensing groups.(Hated it since 4kids got the rights for Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh for all of the 'western world' and countries like Germany had to take the USA versions of the shows, instead the original Japanese like they did with Digimon and One Piece. Seriously, same channel one after another you would hear Brock say in german: 'jelly filled donut' for rice ball and then hear Zorro say onigiri or riceball later)

Anyway. I do have a bias, but I'm still on the fence since TikTok, Reddit and Youtube all have different sentiments and opinions depending on the information, misinformation, and rumors they heard. I just want clarity. I would even read the entire interim bargaining agreement to properly understand what is happening. Except the bullying. There is no reason to attack an American born Japanese person who has a wife and a child in Japan for taking a job his Japanese agency probably told him to take. The moment the audition started the old VA lost the job. He didn't betray anyone.

There is also the fact that it seems Wriothlessly's VA isn't om strike anymore since he does promote Genshin on his YouTube again.

[theirwolfbicanthrope]

So a few weeks ago I finally watched Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (2023). And I have…thoughts. Some that were vaguely touched on in a post I made not long after watching. (That was just a bit of pondering - and complaining - about the way Thomas’ desire for financial and career security is positioned as greedy in the recent remakes.) Having had a little time to sit on it and think about the film, I’m ready to dive in a little deeper. 

(Aka I started writing this a day or two after initially watching, forgot about it, stumbled on this in my drafts, and decided screw it, I’m gonna finish this.)

Now I admit it probably is a little unfair to bring Nosferatu (2024) into this because it certainly had a bigger budget and more resources, and I acknowledge that. But seeing Robert Eggers’ take before this one by David Lee Fisher did not do it any favors. Additionally, the similarities and differences between these two remakes are truly fascinating to me. Also, the limitations of this one are not the problem, imo. Overacting, underacting, weird CGI, lower production value costuming and sets are not the flaws of this film (I mean the acting is an issue with some characters, but if the writing hadn’t been so clunky and muddled and heavy-handed, that might not have been as grating). 

So really, this post is half review of the 2023 remake and half a rambling examination on the relationship between Nosferatu films and their original source material, Dracula, and how Dracula adaptations would later influence Nosferatu remakes (fitting, maybe more so because elements of Nosferatu would influence Dracula media too).

Because like, on paper the 1979 remake feels like it should be the most obvious one to point to since they didn’t even bother to use the silent film’s names for the characters, choosing instead to take directly from the novel instead - and here we get our first influence from other Dracula adaptations over the book, because they mix up Lucy and Mina. (Which has always, always been one of my more trivial pet peeves yet it will never fail to make my eye twitch.) It also leaned heavily into a tragic romance angle (although in this one it was purely one-sided), seeming to take note of the way recent Dracula media kept leaning more and more towards a doomed, brooding romantic with the titular vampire.

But that brings me back to these two films which are both so clearly made in not just a post ’brooding romantic Dracula’ era, but a post-FFC’s Dracula one. While Eggers’ opted to take his remake and go for a more historically accurate, somewhat grounded approach, this movie is really just an attempt to recreate the silent film but with dialogue, modern perspectives and - of course - a dash (or more) of influence from Dracula adaptations.

What is so interesting to me is that these two films exist in such similar time frames, it’s just that the process of being made and released are drastically different. Based on wikipedia, this particular remake was financed (via kickstarter) in 2014 and then filmed during 2016, and Eggers’ version was first announced in 2015, a script by 2016 which is now floating around online. Then Fisher’s movie finished filming on schedule only to languish in what seems to be post-production and distribution hell, while Eggers’ attempt continued to fall through repeatedly before finally coming together and being filmed in 2023 - which just so happened to be the same year this movie was first screened. Ultimately, both got released in the last quarter of 2024, and I don’t think it’s jumping to conclusions to say that the release of Eggers’ version probably helped this movie at last see the light of day on streaming. 

Despite the fact that their announcement to release time frame overlaps, the drastic difference in the course of events and the disparity in the hierarchy of filmmaking make it unlikely either one influenced the other. AND YET - both films put an emphasis on Ellen having a pre-established connection to Orlok that predates Thomas, and posit the idea that Orlok is ultimately coming to Wisborg for her specifically. 

This goes beyond the infatuation that Dracula has for Lucy in the 1979 film. That particular remake does not imply any connection between them predating Dracula’s glimpse of Lucy’s photo. It does not show Lucy feeling a pull to Dracula - instead she outright rejects him when he comes to her, asking her to join him. She is full of a righteous conviction that Dracula cannot shake - not so much in God, but in the love between her and Jonathan, in herself. (Lucy not only discovers the knowledge that she can stop Dracula if she allows herself to be sacrificial bait to ensure his demise, but she actively works to render his new home unsafe for him so he has nowhere to go if she fails. She is out there sanctifying the house he bought and the coffins she could find, all while Jonathan remains at home in a catatonic state and everyone else dismisses her.) 

These remakes, however, want to explore the idea that Orlok and Ellen already have a connection somehow, that Thomas is specifically chosen for this reason, that Orlok comes to Wisborg specifically for her. And both films - because this is a post FFC’s Dracula world - want their Ellens to feel a pull towards him, too. 

(Sidenote: I’m not saying this as a condemnation, just an observation. And full disclaimer, I personally do ship the Hutters and the Harkers in many versions, and then Orlok with one or both Hutters in most versions. Likewise with Dracula and one or both Harkers.)

But while Eggers’ goes all in with his “Demon Lover”, dark and tragic triangle approach, this film feels uncertain of where exactly it’s going and what exactly it’s doing. Ellen supposedly has dreams of Orlok, but we are never privy to them - we are simply told about them, and only earlier on. Ellen talks to Ruth (Harding’s sister in this, like the original) about her dreams, that she is seeing a shadow in them that lingers when she’s awake. We are never shown such a thing. While we do witness a dream of hers that seems related to the events unfolding, it is bizarre, does not actually feature Orlok in it - it actually starts with Ellen hearing Thomas call her name in the distance, but Thomas does not appear in it either - and is never referenced again. (I’m not even getting into the fact that she’s pregnant in the dream despite the fact that there is no talk of pregnancy or even wanting a child in any other part of the movie.) Ellen also goes on to tell Ruth she feels drawn to this shadow and conflicted over it. 

We have a moment where Ellen is talking about Thomas and also the shadow, and says “She loves him,” and I admit, I am not quite certain which “him” she’s referring to. It makes sense that she’s talking about Thomas, but the phrasing is awkward and unclear. And then this leads to Ruth talking about different kinds of love, including “forbidden” love, and it is heavily implied she’s a lesbian and is sort of coming onto Ellen? This is also never really brought up again. (Okay to be fair, earlier on Ruth and Harding argue over her not being married and she’s very insistent on not marrying, so they did lay some groundwork. Only to then drop it. This is a pattern.)

Oddly enough, during the first half of this movie, Ellen, her relationship with Thomas, and her ‘told but never shown’ dynamic with Orlok felt eerily similar to what I’ve read and been told of Eggers’ 2016 draft. This Ellen feels unfulfilled, unloved; there’s a sense that she struggles to love Thomas, while Thomas seems mostly happy to be married but less interested in who he’s married to (he cannot even tell her he loves her when leaving, after she says it to him). Ellen speaks of her dreams that make her feel confused and feels a pull towards darkness. Thomas is obsessed with attaining wealth and being just like his best friend Harding (here named Wolfram), while Ellen doesn’t care about such things.

To be quite honest, had I not read that this was filmed in 2016, I’d be convinced that the writer/director here had seen Eggers’ early script and took some of it to heart when making his own version. This film’s Thomas even knows, as he languishes in Transylvania, sick from his travels and Orlok feeding on him, that Orlok is specifically targeting his wife. A strong indication that these remakes are both - consciously or not - heavily influenced by adaptations of Dracula as much as the novel itself and nearly as much as the original silent film.

Plus, neither 1922 and 1979 give any indication that Thomas/Jonathan and Ellen/Lucy do not love each other or are not happy together. I already spoke of ‘79’s Lucy and her faith in their love, and on Jonathan’s end there’s plenty of evidence that he loves her in return. While he seems to be unmoved by Lucy’s sacrifice at the end, this feels like part of his transformation. My personal interpretation of Jonathan at the end was that becoming a vampire/nosferatu has turned him into the worst version of himself - rendering him unfeeling and unaffected, detached from that which made him human, which made him Jonathan. Hence not remembering Lucy or their relationship after returning home even before he turns. He is newborn in his vampirism, he does not have the sadness or loneliness of that movie’s Dracula, who has been such a creature for too long. And though financial success/economic concerns are present in the original and maybe vaguely so in the ‘79 film, Ellen/Lucy are not so outspokenly against Thomas’ financial worries. There is no indication that Ellen or Lucy are unhappy, unfulfilled, or longing for some secret darkness. They do not want Jonathan to go, and seem to have some sixth sense that something awful will happen, but it is not due to an already existing psychic or spiritual connection with Orlok/Dracula.

In a lot of ways, 1979 - despite using names from the novel for its characters - honestly seems to be the least influenced by adaptations of Dracula. Probably because it came earlier on, while 2023 and 2024 both came after FFC Dracula and its enduring influence over the world of Dracula media, for better or worse. Coppola’s lavish and over the top adaptation itself drew from Nosferatu (mostly in regards to Dracula’s shadow and I think the noticing of Mina’s picture - I could be completely misremembering, but these seemed to originate from the 1922 film, not the novel itself). The 1992 film went in hard on Jonathan Harker being stuffy and overly prim and proper, with Mina being sexually unfulfilled/frustrated and craving something more, something darker - and though it is not the originator of the reincarnation plot, it was the one to solidify it in pop culture and truly cement the concept of Mina and Dracula being the real romantic story, that they had a preexisting connection that Jonathan was ultimately the third wheel in.

(I did, through an ask sent after my post discussing the remakes’ depiction of Thomas and his relationship with money, find out that an early draft of the 1992 Dracula is accessible online and included Jonathan being very focused on money/coming across greedy, which makes me think that might be the root of 2023 and 2024 taking similar approaches.)

What is interesting is how 2023 and 2024 clearly exist in this post Dracula 1992 world and are influenced by that version, but in different ways both movies seem to try to reject it as well. There’s of course Eggers’ discussing how he didn’t want to do the romantic hero version, he wanted Orlok to be an asshole evil vampire while still exploring a twisted triangle between him, Ellen, and Thomas. But 2023 rejects this influence by basically just…dropping it after a point.

All that foundation laying and variation from the original silent movie? Pretty much goes nowhere and means nothing, and I am left wondering what was the point. Those dreams? That pull? Ellen feeling something for the shadow? Just dropped. The only additional, on screen moment between the two (and calling it that is a stretch) comes when Orlok finally feeds on Thomas - Ellen dreams that she’s there, sort of, and can see what’s happening. While this is indicated through editing in the original, this film explicitly shows her viewing what’s happening through a watery window while she sleepwalks. And…yeah. That’s basically it. The rest of the film sticks much closer to the original version, with a few added moments and minor alterations here and there. 

Harding’s sister Ruth dies and he becomes convinced Knock did it, while Thomas tries to convince him that the plague is no mere plague but the curse of the vampiric Orlok - sound familiar? I swear, did these two directors hang out at some point? - but Ellen’s plot suddenly becomes painfully identical to the silent film. Whatever additional meat was given to her now means nothing. (We even find out in this version she’s of Romani descent, which is what the protection charm she gave to Thomas comes from and I think is supposed to explain her “mystical” nature - but we find this out in a scene between Thomas and the nurse who believes his talk of Orlok and vampirism at the Transylvanian hospital, and it’s never acknowledged again.)

While 2024 decided to give Ellen a connection to Orlok and make her the central figure from the getgo through to the end, 2023 seems to give it to her for a little added flavor that is burnt up early on, and then decided to remain firmly focused on Thomas. Even with the unflattering portrayal of the character, Thomas in this specific film has the most consistent character arc. Which is truly frustrating, because again - this iteration of Thomas is absolutely insufferable and an awful husband. All the negative things said about Thomas in Eggers’ remake, even the most biased? Yeah, all that can be applied to 2023’s Thomas Hutter and more. (In fact, I won’t lie - the dialogue between Thomas and Orlok at the dinner table the night of his arrival reads like a parody fic fed by some of the most outrageous anti-Thomas sentiments I’ve seen on here and heard of from others.)

Where Eggers’ Thomas is allowed to show Ellen love from the start, in this version, Hutter cannot tell his wife he loves her back before he leaves, holds the charm she gave him with little regard even as a token of her concern for him, and happily sleeps with a Romanian local during his stay at the inn before reaching the castle. He’s rude and completely dismissive of her. Also it’s implied that though they’ve been married a year, they have not actually had sex? (As I type this out, I am pondering if this was what the pregnancy in her one dream related to, a desire to procreate with her husband already. It would have helped if it had been acknowledged at any other point. This movie is not overly subtle with a lot of its dialogue, but then it has other elements where I think I get what it’s saying but if I’m not reading too much into it, it is being painfully vague and obtuse.) 

I’ve read some discussion on the original silent film, where it discussed this sort of exaggerated innocence between Ellen and Thomas at the beginning and that they’re ‘childlike’ before Thomas leaves, discussing the influence of the filmmakers’ backgrounds as soldiers. As well as the fact that some of them were gay. Now, I can’t say whether or not that was director David Lee Fisher’s intention, but I struggle to see it. Maybe that’s a me problem. Even if that was the intention, did he have to make Thomas the worst husband who only cared about becoming “the richest man in Wisborg”? 

Thomas’ arc in Fisher’s remake isn’t so different from his arc in Eggers’, on paper. Unfortunately, while Eggers made his Thomas more sympathetic over the years of working on his script, this movie went hard for having Hutter be a shitty, obnoxious, greedy, dismissive asshole of a husband. Instead of Thomas learning to take his wife at her word about these otherworldly things and that money won’t save them, it’s Thomas learning he actually loves his wife and should treat her better, also stop being a greedy bitch, and maybe man up some. But it’s too little, too late, and doesn’t feel that sincere. Perhaps his lesson was that his greed was the root of all this suffering. Which, whoo boy - but I have a whole other post ranting about how frustrating THAT kind of storyline is in this day and age.

There were interesting ideas in Fisher’s remake, which might be the most annoying part of how underwhelming it was and how close it ultimately remained to the original. Trying to emulate the visual look and style of the silent film gave it a chance to explore those ideas in interesting and different ways from the theatrical remake. But probably because it bound itself so closely to its source - despite other adaptation influences - all those different ideas ultimately fizzle out, and it becomes basically a rehash of Murnau. What feels like a building towards something deeper between Ellen and Orlok goes nowhere, and in the end they have as little interaction here as they did in the silent film. Thomas and Ellen declare their love for each other after he returns, but it feels empty and unconvincing. (Not helped that Ellen has no idea he cheated, and he definitely doesn’t bring that up in his apology.) Ellen sacrificing herself to stop Orlok because it’s the right thing to do? I believe it. Doing it to save Thomas because she loves him? In this version? I don’t buy it in the slightest.

I decided against really getting into the acting because again, it’s the writing/direction that I have the most problem with. I will say Orlok and Ellen are both pretty well portrayed but I feel weird naming anyone because I know Orlok’s actor is on tumblr. I will say he was criminally wasted. The rest of the cast give performances ranging from passable to ‘overeager theater kid’. To sum up my feelings on Fisher’s writing and directing - I found both to be underwhelming, murky, clunky, and uncertain. Sometimes it will lay its themes out in overly heavy-handed dialogue, and sometimes it’s so painfully vague I have to wonder if I am simply reading into things that aren’t there - at least to me.

My apologies if this is all over the place and not the most concise review/examination of the 2023 remake and how Dracula/Orlok can’t escape the shadow of FFC. Really this was more about getting my thoughts out. And maybe also work on my rusty as shit meta writing. In a stunning twist, I might make gifs of this movie’s Ellen at some point. Look, she was absolutely lovely, and I have a soft spot for the actress. 

Anyway, come talk to me or send me asks about Nosferatu films or the Throuple if you like! The brainrot is still strong. 

[thegameartist03]

after five years my brain decided to get me back into hlvrai by inventing a What If They Were Dead au.

warnings for the content ahead! this is a darker, grittier version of hlvrai with a lot of mentions of death, severe injuries, fatal disease, and body horror. this is also a real life version of hlvrai where the characters aren’t ai and they aren’t in a video game.

the general idea for this au is that on the day Gordon arrives at Black Mesa for the big test, every character in the main cast (except for Tommy and Darnold) through a series of unfortunate events ends up dying. then, the Resonance Cascade occurs, and the energy it releases removes the boundary between life and death and puts almost everyone and everything in the facility in a state of undeath. for some, this turns them into essentially zombies, for others, they become horrible fleshy monstrosities, but for the lucky few that are the Science Team, they’re brought back to life! mostly.

all that said, have a character lineup!

i have a longer post going into detail about what happens to each member of the Science Team, but the basics are this!

Benrey (who started out as a normal human) jumps early off one of Black Mesa’s very unsafe elevators and sticks the landing so badly that he straight up dies.

Coomer is one of many clones, and because of all the issues with cloning he had to have numerous cybernetic implants to keep him alive. his body started to reject these implants, including in his brain, which swelled up and led to his very sudden death.

Bubby is still a pyrokinetic test tube baby, and although he had a period of time where he was able to survive outside of the tube, his body has deteriorated so much that when he tries to escape Black Mesa at the end of his life his organs collapse on themselves and he dies.

Gordon Freeman is notoriously bad at getting to work on time as well as making sure the helmet of his HEV suit is secure, so when the Resonance Cascade begins with him at the epicenter, he trips, his helmet pops off, and he takes a beam of radiation to the face before getting thrown back by the explosion and cracking his skull on the wall. and, you guessed it, he dies!

off to a cheerful start, aren’t we? but don’t worry, they all get brought back! with varying and somewhat terrible consequences.

the Xen crystal used in the test opens unstable gateways to Xen, a dimension that is both lifeless and deathless, which releases shockwaves all over the facility and creates a variety of undead monstrosities that take the place of the aliens from the original series. this ‘Xenergy’ that changes people is also what, through pure coincidence, revives the Science Team in mostly alright condition. it has consequences though- each of them can regenerate whatever damage they take and are prevented from dying, but it resets their bodies to a state before they died and they have individual problems that get worse over time.

Gordon is the least affected and can take any amount of damage without experiencing a reset because he was at ground 0 and absorbed a ton of Xenergy. however, this excess Xenergy is constantly arcing out of him and creating anomalies (see: duplicating pigeons, survivors acting strange, etc). Gordon is in complete denial, does not realize he or any of the other Science Team members died, and thinks that every scientist or security guard they come across that doesn’t look like a practical effect in a horror movie is still alive and fine (a small number are, but they don’t stay that way for long).

Coomer was brought back to the state he was in briefly before he died, so the Xenergy is constantly resetting his body- and as a consequence, his mind- whenever it starts to degenerate again. it goes so far to alter time and space when he does something like jump down a pit without a rope. this causes the ‘glitches’ he experiences throughout the series. there’s a way he can reduce the resets, and that’s by killing clones! Coomer is able to steal compatible parts from his clones to replace his own failing organs to give himself more time, which also gives him more awareness about their situation.

Bubby can regenerate damage and thanks to the Xenergy, he’s in good enough shape to walk around for a little while, but over time that changes. the longer he’s out in the air and moving around, the more he begins to decay and get closer to the point where he’s basically a beached whale and his body collapses on itself. he can mitigate this problem by consuming a key ingredient from the test tube fluid he was kept in- soda! between soda breaks it does get harder and harder for him to walk, so he’s often either leaning on something trying to play off his discomfort so he doesn’t look weak or getting carried by Coomer.

Benrey’s got the worst of it. his ability to regenerate damage is really high, he can survive being riddled with bullets and taking a laser beam to the helmet, but the Xenergy doesn’t keep his body in a locked state. as time goes on, he goes from pale and sunken to outright decaying. think Jack Goodman from An American Werewolf in London! he can’t find any way to stop or reverse this, and he has to watch himself as his body slowly falls apart.

there’s also the Sweet Voice, which both Coomer and Benrey have. Sweet Voice occurs when there’s an excess of Xenergy in the body, especially after regenerating damage or being reset, which then takes on a color pattern based on the electricity in the nerves and is expelled. it corresponds to an actual color spectrum from Xen, which is why it can be translated.

Tommy hasn’t been mentioned yet as he isn’t among the dead, but then again, it’s been a long time since he could be classified as ‘alive’. Tommy is actually working at Black Mesa for a sort of internship; not to be a scientist, but to get practice at running the ‘family business’ as he likes to call it. Tommy, G-man, and Tommy’s dog Sunkist are psychopomps- they guide newly dead souls to the afterlife. Black Mesa was the perfect opportunity for Tommy to get field experience on his own, as the company had a very high death rate and asked very few questions. his dad was already doing business with the mysterious Longevity Department, so it only made sense that Tommy practice his job in the facility. what he doesn’t expect is for a seemingly harmless experiment he was set to oversee to go so horribly wrong it upsets the balance of life and death and kickstarts a global apocalypse. he’s stressed, he’s overwhelmed, but at the very least he’s got a few friends that kinda sorta made it. he has no idea how to solve an entire facility full of employees whose souls are now trapped here, he’s just an intern after all! so he makes his new job keeping an eye on the Science Team and trying to keep them sane and alive and not zombified as they attempt to escape Black Mesa.

i’ll probably have a couple posts sometime after this going into more detail about everything, but this is it for now! my motivation for this is probably gonna wither away like every other project i’ve started so i’m gonna post what i can while i can.

if you have any ideas or questions, feel free to ask!!

[randomfoggytiger]

Mulder's Brain Disease: an Open-Minded, Analytical Dissection (In-Depth)

Mulder's brain disease, love it or hate it, has to be one of the most unnecessary plot threads of The X-Files. Not only is it wedged into Season 8 haphazardly, but it accidentally stains a new wash of retroactive interpretation into Season 7-- a not altogether successful maneuver, all told.

Most of the canonical evidence provided clashes with itself, many of the details volunteered undermine its collaborative vision, and each piece of action or exposition is either forwarded with the assumption of legitimacy-- and therefore unchallenged-- or immediately discredited in the next scene or scenes.

There are two clear paths and one alternative to explore: Mulder didn't have brain disease (per Season 7's original intent); Mulder did have brain disease but didn't tell Scully (what Agent Doggett is led to believe); and Mulder had brain disease but didn't know it.

Let's begin.

STATEMENT(S) OF (ALLEGED) FACT

The X-Files is well-known for its... questionable timelines. That becomes exponentially more complicated with Season 8's tightly wound schedule and Scully's pregnancy (which Spotnitz and Carter stuck to rather well-- barring a few logistical hiccups-- post here.)

The brain disease arc inflexibly hinges on a retroactive retelling of Season 7's schedule. One chronological bookend is Amor Fati (stated to have taken place "in the fall"); and the other is the month of May: Mulder takes "four consecutive" road trips to North Carolina, allegedly pops over to Squamash Pennsylvania (twice), and supposedly buys himself a new headrest (read: gravestone)-- all within the span of four weeks. Additionally, we have allegations of a year-long brain disease-- despite all evidence to the contrary-- which places Mulder in a position of secret keeper or liar by omission (which CC has vehemently denied, post here.)

BRAIN DISEASE

(**Note**: This section's information will be summarized under the "FACTS AND FICTION, THOUGHTS AND THEORIES" subsection.)

Requiem builds on top of the "encephalitic trauma" Mulder experienced in Biogenesis-Amor Fati-- one that, we're told, made him "more alive than he's ever been." So alive, in fact, that his body couldn't support itself and shut down; and so alive, in fact, that CSM cut out a part of Mulder's lobe and Frankensteined it into his own.

The show's mythology set up the alien-human virus as early as Season 3, and built upon that foundation with the characters' subsequent adventures in Fight the Future, The Beginning, and Biogenesis. As a virus, it grafts onto human DNA and changes it-- or in this case, reactivates from junk DNA. As Dr. Anne Simon, a consultant for The X-Files, explains:

Jan. 2001: 

"...I work on viruses. Viruses can’t turn into anything. If a virus turns into something, it’s not a virus. I was really horrified. So I read the rest of the script, and I came up with a different science that would only change a few conversations, but it would change the idea of what the virus was. And I had my fingers crossed that he’d go for it. If Chris wanted that virus to turn into something, he would’ve done it whether I wanted it to or not. But he loved the new idea: The virus integrates itself into the DNA of the person. That’s what a lot of viruses do, activate a resonant program in the cell. There’s a program in all our cells, in our DNA that starts with that single egg and turns us into a person. And that’s encoded in our genes, in our genetic makeup.

"The problem is that there’s a huge amount of DNA we don’t have a clue about. There’s a whole lot of DNA that we call junk DNA. We don’t have a clue what this junk DNA is doing. My idea was the virus activates a resonant program in the junk DNA, and that the junk DNA is actually there to turn a cell into the horrible creature, which means that we are the aliens."

Point taken. Multiple (questionable) vaccine inoculations and infections aside, humans in The X-Files world have latent alien DNA. The ancient artifact Mulder handled in Biogenesis activated his; and, unable to bear up under that extremis, his body was reduced to catatonia and shut down. Though there are quite a few problems with that specific chain of events (most of which I discuss in an alien virus post here), the logic could, theoretically, hold up.

ENCEPHALITIC TRAUMA AND REWRITES

In Amor Fati, Mulder was so far gone that he'd disconnected from reality (although his "inner" world was still influenced by outward events.) How, then, was Mulder brought back from the land of fantasy? Metaphorically, it was through Scully's belief and love and courage; practically, it was because of the (successful) medical procedure he underwent during his captivity (post here):

RULING OUT: TREPANATION AND BRAIN EDEMA

Two possible causes for Mulder's later complications need to be explored before we move on.

Firstly, as with a great deal of other components on the show, trepanation is not as simple as the writers propose:

World History.org, here: 

"Trephination (also known as trepanning or burr holing) is a surgical intervention where a hole is drilled, incised or scraped into the skull using simple surgical tools. In drilling into the skull and removing a piece of the bone, the dura mater is exposed without damage to the underlying blood-vessels, meninges and brain.

According to Academic Press's 'Osteoarcheology': "A neurosurgeon can perform the procedure safely, although it comes with severe repercussions such as direct or indirect perioperative complications, which include increased damage to the brain, infection, blood loss, hemorrhage, and potentially death due to the trauma as the skull's protective covering is compromised."

Here, its perils are hand-waved away with "advanced alien science"; but to potentially complicate Amor Fati's explanation, the purpose of Mulder's surgery was to slice out an activated portion of his brain and transfer it to CSM's:

Penn Medicine, here:

"A temporal lobectomy, or temporal lobe resection, is a neurosurgical procedure that removes the front part of the temporal lobe of the brain to treat drug-resistant epilepsy. Each person has two temporal lobes, located beneath the skull on the side of the head in the temple region. The temporal lobes play important roles in memory, emotional responses, language, and sensory memory and processing of sounds, visions, and smells."

While it's possible that Mulder's and CSM's declines could have been kick-started by this procedure, that's not the route canon follows. Spender's deterioration is tied to "cerebral inflammation", which in turn is tied to Mulder's pre-surgery encephalitic distress-- in short, pre-trepanation trauma.

Secondly, the script also details a medical procedure that is most often used to relieve and treat brain edema (brain swelling)--

NHS, here:

"Ventriculostomy: In this procedure, a surgeon cuts a small hole in the skull and inserts a plastic drain tube. Cerebrospinal fluid is drained from inside the brain, helping to relieve the pressure.

Surgery: Surgery may have one or more of these goals:

A. Removing part of the skull to relieve intracranial pressure; this procedure is called decompressive craniectomy.

B. Removing or repairing the source of the swelling, such as repairing a damaged artery or vein or removing a growth."

Brain edema-- depending on the extent and duration of the trauma-- usually inflicts various degrees of harm. And while that could be promising when discussing Mulder's brain disease, Scully would have seen evidence of edema-ridden damage on his CT and MRI scans during his convalescence. Further, brain edema is not a form of brain disease, rather an offshoot effect of that condition-- therefore, not the cause of his (alleged) impending death.

AUTHORIAL INTENT AND REWRITES

Inverse to Mulder's reawakening and restored health is CSM's 30 touch-and-go hours and grim, post-operation prognosis:

His doctor's hints about a second surgical intervention are particularly intriguing. When CSM reappears in Closure, Scully notes his odd pallor-- "You're sick"-- which he doesn't deny-- "I had an operation." We are to assume he is referencing the brain surgery in Amor Fati-- he is-- but I would like to posit Spender could be referencing a possible second procedure (an off-screen attempt to mitigate his ailing health.) By En Ami, CSM's fate is sealed, and he openly admits his mortality in order to ignite Scully's trust (post here): "Cerebral inflammation-- a consequence of brain surgery I had in the fall. The doctors give me just a few months." His arc comes to a close in Requiem (unless you push canon into Season 9 and beyond) where we see the rapid toll of his deterioration.

Recovery from "advanced alien science", then, is aided by regular, everyday human physiology: age, health, medical history, and comorbid influences. Spender's age, smoking status, and former cancer diagnosis all combine against him-- his hubris for power led him willingly to death.

By contrast, Mulder's experience wasn't mentioned again until Requiem when he and the Bellefleur residents-- who'd previously suffered encephalitic trauma-- were called to the ship and abducted. There was no idea, hint, or reference sown about his deteriorating health: not a sign, not a symptom. Yet, mere months later, the tale is retold in Within: we learn, allegedly, that not only did Mulder have brain disease (and not only did Scully not know) but he'd also suffered through it for a year.

Frank Spotnitz admitted, after the close of Season 8, that the brain disease (and the IVF arc) was a last-minute creation he and Chris Carter decided on after their plans for a second movie set post-Requiem fell through: 

April 2001: 

"In the absence of pre-existing context for season 8’s dramatic surprises, the writers relied instead on flashbacks tailored to fit this year’s narrative. “Had I known there would be a season 8, I would have preferred to salt in all of the clues about these flashback episodes last season,” says Spotnitz of how he dealt retroactively with fitting in Mulder’s illness and Scully’s [IVF]. “But there really is no way to unravel these mysteries in my mind, and make use of David in the time that he was available to us, without having some flashback episodes.”"

Setting aside the complete lack of evidence that would “prove” Mulder was suffering from a degenerative brain disease, silently, for a year (without telling Scully), we’re left with a few bare-bone facts: 

Season 7 was not written with the brain disease in mind.

Mulder's "encephalitic trauma" in Requiem was shared by the other Bellefleur residents, who were not (that we know) dying.

CSM declared that he was dying from "cerebral inflammation."

CSM's downturn post-Amor Fati was recorded at key moments through Season 7, with scrutable markers of decline and clear indicators of psychological shifts and changes influenced by his impending death.

In Within, we’re led to believe Mulder was suffering from year-long degenerative damage due to the surgery he and CSM underwent in the fall of 1999. Not only do his actions (or non-actions) in canon contradict this thesis, but Within-The Gift's timeline contradicts it, as well.

Deadalive-Three Words Mulder never confirmed he was diagnosed with-- or knew he was suffering from-- brain disease.

What, then, is "cerebral inflammation"; and how can we work in the brain disease as more than a creative (though flawed) hypothetical?

THE FIRST ROUND OF INFECTION

Encephalitis (“cerebral inflammation”) is pretty straight forward: you either have it and notice, or you have it and don’t.

There are two main types of "cerebral inflammation"--

NIH, here:

Inflammation in the brain and spinal cord can be caused by infections such as viruses. Encephalitis can also be autoimmune when antibodies can attack brain cells.....

NIH, here:

"Because people may have subtle symptoms of encephalitis, many cases may go undiagnosed. Several thousand cases are reported each year, but many more may occur since the symptoms may be mild at onset in some people."

Encephalitis hits fast and hard, disappearing within two weeks (Better Health, here) of its inception. Mild instances can pass through the body undetected; but severe or life-threatening cases are unequivocally transparent:

NIH, here,

"Once the acute illness, which normally lasts for 1 to 2 weeks, is under control, comprehensive rehabilitation should include cognitive rehabilitation and physical, speech, and occupational therapy if brain function is severely affected."

Mount Sinai.org, here, 

"Those with a severe case of encephalitis may develop:

High fever

Severe headache

Stiff neck and back

Photophobia (sensitivity to bright light)

Sonophobia (sensitivity to sound)

Vomiting

Drowsiness and confusion

Seizures

Behavioral changes

Muscle weakness

Partial paralysis

Loss of consciousness

"Because encephalitis can on rare occasions be dangerous, it needs to be diagnosed and treated promptly....

"Many people exposed to encephalitis-causing viruses have no symptoms. Others may experience a mild transient illness, but do not develop full-blown encephalitis. People with mild encephalitis generally recover spontaneously over a period of several weeks.

"Severe cases of encephalitis can, however, have devastating effects, including:

Swelling of the brain caused by excess fluid (cerebral edema)

Bleeding within the brain (intracerebral hemorrhage)

Nerve damage (neuropathy)

"Encephalitis is a relatively rare disease. People at highest risk for encephalitis, and its complications include the very young, the very old, and people with weakened immune systems."

NIH, here:

"Because the disease can occur suddenly and progress rapidly, anyone who is suspected of having encephalitis should immediately contact a doctor or go to the hospital.

"...In more serious cases, the disease can cause hearing and/or speech loss, blindness, permanent brain and nerve damage, behavioral changes, cognitive disabilities, lack of muscle control, seizures, memory loss, or death. People with serious cases of encephalitis may need long-term therapy, medication, and supportive care."

Lastly, the risks for serious complications arise with the usual physiological predispositions and environmental factors:

Mayo Clinic, here:

"Anyone can develop encephalitis. Factors that may increase the risk include:

Age. Some types of encephalitis are more common or more serious in certain age groups. In general, young children and older adults are at greater risk of most types of viral encephalitis. Similarly, some forms of autoimmune encephalitis are more common in children and young adults, whereas others are more common in older adults.

Weakened immune system. People who have HIV/AIDS, take immune-suppressing medicines or have another condition causing a weakened immune system are at increased risk of encephalitis.

Geographical regions. Mosquito- or tick-borne viruses are common in particular geographical regions.

Season of the year. Mosquito- and tick-borne diseases tend to be more common in summer in many areas of the United States.

Autoimmune disease. People who already have an autoimmune condition may be more prone to develop autoimmune encephalitis.

Smoking. Smoking increases the chances of developing lung cancer, which in turn increases the risk of developing paraneoplastic syndromes including encephalitis."

In Biogenesis, we are told the alien virus in Mulder's DNA is activated when he touches an ancient artifact; but it's debatable if that incident lines up with viral (infection via an outside invader) or autoimmune (mistaken antibodies attacking its host) encephalitis. Regardless, that question is secondary to the main hypothetical: if encephalitis ("cerebral inflammation") has a short shelf life, what was killing CSM (and Mulder?)

REINFECTION: AUTOIMMUNE ENCEPHALITIS

The problem begins with CSM's (and Mulder's purported) year-long deterioration. "Cerebral inflammation", as explained above, does not drag its feet when swooping in for the kill. And more broadly, how is Mulder able to be reinfected with a disease which old Spender sliced and diced from his head? Better Health.gov's description (here) fits what the writers were going for, I believe: "There is evidence to suggest that some cases of viral encephalitis are caused by dormant viral infection... becoming active again." This plays well with Mulder's initial infection (Biogenesis), as well as CSM's lengthy "cerebral inflammation" and Mulder's (alleged) inflammatory reemergence.

However: recurrence is a symptom of autoimmune encephalitis, not viral encephalitis--

NIH, here:

"Although rare, there have been cases of post-infectious autoimmune encephalitis (where it is triggered by an initial response to an infectious agent)."

Autoimmune encephalitis: a review of diagnosis and treatment, here:

"Viral infections are known triggers for AIE. It is believed that virus-mediated brain tissue damage may lead to antigen exposure that triggers the development of anti-neuronal antibodies."

Another checkbox that can be ticked off: AIE might take longer to diagnose because of the difficulty pinpointing symptoms--

NIH, here: 

"Diagnosing autoimmune encephalitis can be difficult as the average onset of symptoms to diagnosis often takes a few weeks to 3 months. ...To diagnose autoimmune encephalitis, we need multiple tools to aid in the diagnosis, although clinical judgment is the key to making decisions. They will include a constellation of neuropsychiatric symptoms, lab studies, neuroimaging, and electroencephalogram."

Slowly-degenerative AIE cases (though infrequent) do exist--

Autoimmune encephalitis: a review of diagnosis and treatment, here:

"By way of generalisation, autoantibody-mediated disorders often present rapidly, over a few days to weeks. However, we have observed more chronic courses, of between 1 and 5 years, particularly in leucine-rich glioma-inactivated protein 1 (LGI1)-antibody, contact-associated protein 2 (CASPR2)-antibody and immunoglobulin-like cell-adhesion molecule 5 (IgLON5)-antibody syndromes. These findings mean that time to disease nadir is often outside of the 3-month duration which appears in diagnostic guidelines."

Nevertheless, atypical cases are often put through rigorous testing to rule out other degenerative autoimmune diseases due to the severity of their symptoms: mood changes, mental confusion, muscle tremors, seizures (focal rather than generalized), pain, psychiatric symptoms, and (more often than not) tumors.

Autoimmune encephalitis: a review of diagnosis and treatment, here:

"Seizures occur in most autoimmune encephalitis syndromes and are a common factor that triggers neurological attention. The types and frequencies of seizure vary between autoantibody-mediated diseases and may help pinpoint the individual autoantibody. …These patients, typically men in their fifth to eighth decades, have very frequent focal events with multiple semiologies and only rare generalised seizures....

"In addition to treatment of the underlying immunological process, it is often necessary to consider management of seizures, movement disorders, behaviour, pain, sleep and autonomic disturbance, and mood disorders. We do not discuss this substantial topic comprehensively here but rather we focus on special considerations relevant to the two most common forms of autoimmune encephalitis: NMDAR-antibody and LGI1-antibody encephalitis."

It is possible, however, that the extent of the damage Mulder received during his surgery might have been overlooked-- fertile ground for the next trauma-induced biological onslaught:

NIH, here:

"Because lesions can sometimes be clinically asymptomatic, a systematic neuroimaging work-up should be performed.... Cerebral computed tomography scans [CT scans] performed at admission show abnormalities only in 30% of patients, essentially supratentorial readily visible diffuse or large focal hypodensities of the cerebral white matter. MRI of the brain should therefore be systematically performed when post-infectious encephalitis is suspected."

But the basic premise (and same problem) of 'traditional' encephalitis remains. AIE, though possibly reoccurring, does more harm in the short term than the long run: its most powerful weapon is either immediate death or a damaging domino effect--

NHS UK, here:

"Encephalitis can damage the brain and cause long-term problems including:

memory loss (amnesia)

personality and behavioural changes

speech and language problems (aphasia)

swallowing problems (dysphagia)

repeated seizures or fits – known as epilepsy

emotional and psychological problems, such as anxiety, clinical depression and mood swings

problems with attention, concentrating, planning and problem solving

problems with balance, co-ordination and movement

persistent tiredness"

It's not a leap, then, to suppose that--

CSM's health immediately crumbled apart because of his age, health, and smoker status.

Whereas Mulder's health-- if he was affected-- was bolstered up by youth and other factors. However: that does not rule out a potential sleeper agent lurking in his brain, waiting for the next traumatic incident to reactivate, AIE-style. (We'll get to that.)

FACT AND FICTION, THOUGHTS AND THEORIES

The facts, as we know them:

Encephalitis, no matter its form, is not a slow-burn, long-term killer. Yet, the fallout from its destruction can create a domino effect that could, potentially, be lethal.

Regardless of the original diagnosis, CSM and (allegedly) Mulder suffered from autoimmune encephalitis after Amor Fati.

While mild cases can be undetectable, severe or life-threatening encephalitis can't be masked and must be treated promptly.

CSM is doubly or triply immunocompromised-- per his age, past cancer, and on-going smoking habit-- and was promptly affected.

Mulder and the Bellefleur residents were abducted and transformed due to past "encephalitic trauma", not current, prevalent brain disease.

Most importantly: if Mulder and CSM had been dying over a year's time, there would have been conspicuous physical evidence-- evidence which Scully would have detected (as she did in Closure.)

Irrespective of these facts, let's play around with a few hypotheticals.

If Mulder and CSM had been dying contemporaneously, then they would have to be deteriorating from the ripple effects of at least one of three factors:

Extensive brain damage-- which would have become immediately apparent once they woke.

Accumulative comorbidities set in motion via brain damage-- which Spender did, and Mulder did not, have.

Reactivated effects caused by another traumatic incident-- which Mulder could have had (and did) in Season 7.

That last point is a particularly intriguing theory. Mulder would have been suffering profusely had his disease run concurrently with CSM's-- but what if it didn't? What if Mulder's brain disease was a recent diagnosis-- one he'd received before his abduction? If so:

His reticence from Scully would be short-lived and easily explained by Mulder still processing the news.

His sudden rash of trips to his mother's and sister's graves could be influenced by anxiety over an impending medical report or in reaction to an inflexible diagnosis.

His headstone purchase could be explained as a rash, last-minute gesture of acceptance (or could have been faked by his nemeses, which we shall get to.)

Yet, and this cannot be stressed enough: even if Mulder had a recurrence of encephalitis, it alone would not be enough to kill him, just like it alone would not be enough to kill CSM.

To get to the bottom of any and all possibilities, we need to map out a simple, logical, cut-and-dried timeline.

So, let's do it.

CANONICAL (AND RETROACTIVE) TIMELINE

(**Note**: If you don't care to read the discovery process, skip to PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER.)

To chart a course through the brain disease's cluttered "shoulda, woulda, coulda"s, two options present themselves: episodic air dates, or in-canon date markers.

Here we run into the first problem: neither touchstone works unmitigatedly: either in-canon dates reorder key episodes (perhaps the props department worked off the script rather than day-of filming?) or air dates don't graph cleanly onto defined in-canon perimeters and events. What we'll have to do: nail down the definitives, and work back (loosely) from there.

xfilestimeline.net provides an exquisite guide to (most of) The X-Files's chronological order, which I will be referencing below (direct quotes in italics.)

AMOR FATI

Amor Fati takes place "in the fall" according to Within. The air date (November 14) and in-canon estimate (October 7-14) both roughly group into that space. Mulder is wearing his "victory cap" to come find Scully; but it's hard to know for certain that the hallway scene takes place shortly after the last week of September (which, according to xfilestimeline.net, was the first Yankees victory of the season) or if he simply wore it to cover his bandages and bantered around the obvious.

Either/or is viewer's choice.

SIGNS AND WONDERS

Signs and Wonders's air date (January 23) outruns a "medical report" (January 17-19) by just a few days.

EN AMI

En Ami takes place (comparative to any month afterward) "last spring." Since there is no internal date provided, it either falls on March 19 (its air date) or sometime after February 20 (X-Cops's in-canon date) and before April 14 - May 1/May 8-12 (Brand X - Chimera's in-canon dates.)

Again, viewer's choice.

SEIN UND ZEIT

Sein und Zeit airs on February 6th; but its date is "confirmed" by a TV broadcast of State of the Union Address (January 27 - February 1.)

BRAND X

Brand X's air date (April 16) coincides with its in-canon, two-week recovery estimate (April 14 - May 1.)

CHIMERA

Chimera debuts a full month prior (April 2) to in-canon configurings (May 8-12: Date confirmed at outset ((2 weeks after 4/23)).)

Chimera marks the first overlap between Season 7 and Season 8: Mulder (allegedly) visited Squamash, Pennsylvania on May 6 -7, a day before he and Scully were assigned to a stakeout (May 8.) It's not stated how long Mulder and Scully were on duty before he was again reassigned; but it stretches believability (what else is new?)

ALL THINGS

all things has no fixed internal date, though it's air date (April 9) takes place a full month before the estimated in-canon dates (May 13-15.)

FIGHT CLUB

Fight Club's airing was May 7; but its own internal date (June 17-19) so incontrovertibly contradicts Requiem's abduction timeline that it can be confidently swapped out for May 17-19.

This episode is pivotal to quite a few brain disease theories.

JE SOUHAITE

Je Souhaite air date (May 14) is hastily surpassed by its estimated internal date (May 22-24.)

This episode is vital to understanding the brain disease arc-- more accurately, to understanding Mulder's mind frame when given three wishes.

REQUIEM

Requiem is key to the entire framing of the brain disease arc:

Either Mulder is abducted on May the 21st (Requiem's air date), which shreds through Agent Doggett's May timeline (which will be discussed below);

Or Mulder is abducted on May 31st (the day before Within), which tears fewer rips in Agent Doggett's theory.

Pulling from my "Laying Waste to The Gift (with Its Own Canon)" meta (post here):

A. ...Doggett refers to Mulder's trips as "Four consecutive weekends in May"-- distanced language that (one can infer) means the month is over. (If he and Scully were still in May, Doggett would have more naturally stated "each weekend this month" or "the past four weekends.")

B. Spotnitz has since confirmed Within takes place the day after Scully's reveal in the hospital ("Season eight begins the morning after season seven." Interview here.)

C. Therefore, it's safest to assume Within takes place in June (either June 1st or June 2nd), pushing Mulder's abduction date to May 31st.

WITHIN

Within begins the complete disregard for air dates-- and rightfully so, given the strict guidelines of Scully's pregnancy (post here.)

See Requiem above: takes place June 1st.

PER MANUM

Per Manum takes place mid-September (Scully's baby is fourteen weeks old. Given that she announced her pregnancy to Skinner at the very end of May, it seems likely that she conceived in mid-May, which would give a mid September date for this episode.)

THE GIFT

The Gift is broken into three trips: (allegedly) Mulder, May 6 A.M. - 7 A.M.; (allegedly) Mulder, May 24; and Doggett, late September. (No internal dates provided. It is said to be roughly a "year" since Mulder visited Squamash, but given the events of Episode 8x14: This is Not Happening, it's more like under half a year. Doggett confirms that Mulder was abducted in May. He went to Squamash, PA on May 6-7, and returned there on the 24th.  Doggett also reveals that Mulder falsified case reports, which explains how the dates might be off at the end of Season 7.)

This episode is, quite frankly, a catastrophe. I broke down the timeline and its inconsistencies in a previous post, here-- suffice it to say, it discredits its own claims in its own episode. But, we will be returning to this... gem later on.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Now that we have a framework for both seasons, we can begin to slot the pieces side by side.

"In the fall", Amor Fati: Mulder and CSM both undergo brain surgery. Mulder fully recovers (or does he?) while CSM deteriorates slowly over the course of a year.

May 6-7, The Gift: Mulder burns up one of his consecutive weekends by (allegedly) taking a trip to Squamash, Pennsylvania on May 6-7.

May 7: Mulder takes his first 370 mile trip (10 hours total) from D.C. to North Carolina and back. He will (allegedly) make three more consecutive weekend drives until his abduction in Requiem.

April 14 - May 1, Brand X: Mulder is hospitalized some length of time during his two weeks of recovery. Neither Scully nor the medical staff notice any medical abnormalities (i.e. odd or troubling physical responses, readouts, or charts) despite heavily monitoring his health.

May 8, Chimera: Mulder has a case ready for he and Scully to investigate (one that likely required the weekend to research-- more on that later.)

May 13-15, all things: Mulder burns up another consecutive weekend on a trip to England.

May 17-19, Fight Club: Mulder takes some heavy hits.

May 22-24, Je Souhaite: Mulder doesn't consider asking the genie-- not once-- to heal his brain disease.

May 31, Requiem: Mulder is abducted due to his "encephalitic trauma", courtesy of Biogenesis's ancient artifact.

June 1, Within: The Alien Bounty Hunter parades around Mulder's life, stealing his (and Scully's) computer.

June 2, Within: Doggett obtains rental car receipts, VISA card purchases, and year-long medical records, thereby coming to the conclusion that Mulder took four consecutive weekend drives (nearly 400 miles, over 10 hours) from D.C. to North Carolina. Doggett and his team do not find Mulder's gun taped under the apartment sink.

Late September, The Gift: Doggett finds a case from last May he and his team had missed. He also finds a bloody gun taped under Mulder's sink that he and his team had missed. He also finds an incriminating report that has Mulder and Scully's name on it that he and his team had missed. He does not check the dates against "Mulder's May Pilgrimages", nor does he corroborate the signatures and evidence with Scully.

Chronological order locked and loaded.

DEBUNKING AGENT DOGGETT'S (ESTIMATED) ITINERARY

Now, let's break down the evidence Doggett "unearths."

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

In Within, Agent Doggett rests Mulder's brain disease on three rational (and one discredited) facts:

Mulder's surgery "in the fall" (Amor Fati)-- one Mulder did not, apparently, recover from. Doggett and his team discover "evidence" indicating a year-long decline which the files predecessor had kept secret from his medical doctor-partner.

Mulder's "four consecutive weekends" drives to North Carolina ("Same mileage each trip: 370 miles, 375 miles"), which means he either kept them hidden from Scully or she lied to Doggett when questioned.

Mulder's sudden, erratic purchases in May: flowers and a personally-inscribed headstone on the same VISA card.

Mulder's and Scully's missing computers and files (later proven to be the Alien Bounty Hunter's machinations.)

In The Gift, Agent Doggett discovers further "proof" to support his supposition:

Mulder (allegedly) took a trip to Squamash, Pennsylvania to investigate a case on May 6 (Saturday.)

Mulder (allegedly) returned to be healed by the Squamash creature on May 7.

Mulder (allegedly) turned down the opportunity to be healed in order to mercy kill the Creature.

Mulder (allegedly) hid his bloody "murder weapon" (an ankle gun) under his kitchen sink.

Mulder (allegedly) had Scully sign off on his closed report, with or without fully informing her.

Mulder (allegedly) placed his and Scully's careers in danger because of this falsified report... conveniently (post here.)

DESTRUCTIVE CONTRADICTIONS

Problem #1: Doggett Needs Four Weekends

As we've explored, ad nauseam: the car rental receipts Doggett finds in Mulder's desk plainly communicate four weekend trips in May.

Mulder burns up the first weekend of May on the Squamash trips: he arrives in Pennsylvania on the morning of May the 6th (Saturday) and doesn't leave until the early hours of May the 7th (Sunday.) He is then (allegedly) supposed to drive a 10 hour round trip-- without sleep, while (allegedly) suffering the painful effects of deteriorating "brain disease"-- and be back by Sunday night to prep for an X-Files stakeout on Monday. Both trips cannot coincide with each other, which means one-- or both-- have to go.

Mulder burns up a second weekend on his trip to England: he begins preparing to leave on a Saturday (estimated May 13) and arrives back a day or two later (estimated May 15.)

Mulder might burn up a third weekend recovering from Fight Club: the extent of his injuries would probably inhibit his ability to drive safely-- not to mention the possibility of a compounding, painful "brain disease."

Discounting The Gift (which is rife with inconsistencies and contradictions), two of the four necessary weekends were spent elsewhere.

In fact, the only weekend Doggett can rely on (per his own timeline) is the one following Je Souhaite-- three days before Mulder's abduction. (That weekend will be instrumental later.)

Problem #2: Doggett's "Evidence" Doesn't Match His Timeline

Mulder's VISA card made a lot of purchases over the course of May, some of them reasonable (flowers for his loved ones' graves) and some of them questionable (a headstone and rental cars.)

The VISA card's legitimacy was authenticated by the rental receipts on Mulder's desk-- but those rental dates don't match with Mulder's recorded movements (either by air date or canonical rewrite.) Discounting the Gift, at least two out of four weekends were spent in D.C. or England, not on the road back-and-forth from North Carolina.

Doggett doesn't question this.

That same VISA card was used to justify Mulder's tombstone purchase.

Doggett doesn't question this.

"Mulder" was spotted swiping FBI evidence in order to locate Gibson Praise, and was able to access "his" apartment as well as the office.

Doggett doesn't question this.

"Mulder" (allegedly) took two trips to Squamash, one the week before his disappearance-- the locals never described what he looked like, only testified that he questioned them and tried to kill the Creature later.

Doggett doesn't question this (even after seeing a doppelganger in Without.)

Mulder's VISA card, trips, "brain disease" diagnosis, bloody gun, and falsified report only pop up once he can't challenge their authenticity.

Doggett doesn't question this.

To give the man some credit, most of this can be excused away with the rationale that he doesn't believe in far-reaching conspiracies or boogie men trying to take down Mulder in the dark.

Indisputably, though, the onus is on the writers for tragically mucking up their timeline. Or helpfully, as it's easier to dismiss the entire brain disease arc as a hoax based on these claims.)

Problem #3: The Gift Collapses In On Itself

As previously mentioned, I've combed over The Gift's problems at length (again, post here); but let's go through it once more for totality's sake:

Mulder's trips to Squamash and his trips to his mother's and sister's graves can't coincide, not with late-stage "brain disease."

A solo case, a bloody gun, and falsified signatures-- each piece of "evidence" was missed by Doggett and his team, despite the fervor of the FBI to blame Mulder's disappearance on his erratic nature. And each piece of "evidence" conveniently materialized when Mulder or Scully (or both) needed to be eliminated from the files.

Scully never confirms nor denies the report's authenticity, nor her participation in signing off on it. Conveniently.

In protecting Scully, Skinner and Doggett might have incriminated themselves-- or passed over the clue that would unravel the conspiracy behind the trips, VISA purchases, and "Mulder"'s many appearances.

The last visit by "Mulder" to Squamash is unaccounted for. Say, perhaps, that he had traveled there on May 6 and shot the Creature on May 7-- that doesn't explain why he returned on the 24th. Unless, of course, it wasn't him.

Problem #4: Mulder Would Not Be Physically Capable

Not only would Mulder have to be hiding his (hard-to-miss) brain disease symptoms from Scully-- a medical doctor-- he would have to be squeezing in 10-hour weekend drives routinely after physically-demanding x-files all week.

Problem #5: Scully Was Unaware of Mulder's Weekend Trips

Within posits that Agent Scully was utterly in the dark about her partner's weekend activities-- which is, frankly, ludicrous given her and Mulder's history of constant communication and recent commingling.

This can be explained away with one or two considerations--

Scully was lying to Doggett about not knowing where Mulder was going (North Carolina, i.e. his mother's and sister's graves.)

Scully knew he would disappear every weekend but never bothered to ask where he was going (e.g. spending healthy time apart, caching up on other obligations, etc.)

--but it was not canonically intended. As if that ever stopped the writers or the fans.

Problem #6: Mulder Never Confirms Nor Denies His Diagnosis

In Deadalive, Scully describes Mulder's condition as, "Blood, electrolyte imbalances, a loss of brain function. I strongly believe that Mulder is infected with an alien virus." (Another one, or the same one?) And when Mulder wakes, she tells him, "Whatever neurological disorder you were suffering from, it's no longer detectable. After a course of transfusions and antivirals it has rid your body of the virus that was invading it. The scars on your face, on your hands, on your feet, on your chest, they, they seem to be repairing themselves. Mulder, you are in perfect health."

Neither then nor later does Scully say "your brain disease from last fall is healed"-- in fact, both seem to be discussing the super soldier virus he was infected with on the ship (a sleight of hand for the writers to dodge the ramifications of the brain disease arc.) In fact, is Mulder ever told he, supposedly, had brain disease?

Mulder was taken due to "encephalitic trauma", not his brain disease (since none of the other abductees reported ill health in their spouses or missing community members.)

Mulder was infected with "an alien virus" bound and determined to turn him into a super soldier.

Mulder was returned "deadalive."

Mulder was healed by taking him off life support.

So, he was likely told about his "encephalitic trauma" and his close brush with a super soldier zombie "alien" virus... but was Mulder ever specifically told about the (alleged) year-long degenerative brain disease? The one that doesn't kill slowly, and only claimed CSM's life because of the latter man's presumptive co-current comorbidities?

I think not. Whether Mulder did or did not have brain disease, the writers seemed to want to brush that arc briskly under the rug and never acknowledge it ever again-- which is exactly what they did.

BRAIN DISEASE BELIEVERS, THERE IS STILL HOPE

Despite the ravages this meta has wrecked on the brain disease arc, there is still a perfectly reasonable-- and dare I say, logical-- explanation that would seamlessly factor in Mulder's brain disease. One could still indulge in angst alongside Season 7's original intent and Season 8's post hoc hypothetical with a guilt-free conscience.

May wonders never cease.

Except: the timeline must be drastically shortened.

THREE THEORETICAL TRUTHS

It's all come to this: three possibilities laid out before us.

Each idea works with the same conceit: Mulder was irrefutably (per the loopholes left in the writers' wake) setup by his enemies-- incongruous purchases, trips, and medical records collaboratively pulled together to blacken his name forever in the FBI-- with Scully's reputation soon to follow. The attempts ended with his burial-- which is doubly ironic, considering he rose from the dead three months later-- and the discovery of her pregnancy; but the "proof" of "their" endeavors stuck to the files like smoke.

MULDER WAS RECENTLY DIAGNOSED WITH "BRAIN DISEASE"

According to this theory,

Mulder would have had to suffer a recent relapse in order to fit in with the "cerebral inflammation" recurrence timescale.

Mulder would have had to suffer another trauma to kick off an autoimmune encephalitic malfunction.

Mulder's relapse couldn't have taken place post-Signs and Wonders or post-Brand X, since Scully would have observed the resulting tremors, mood swings, or early small-scale seizures.

Fight Club fits the aforementioned criteria and gives Mulder a free weekend to drive to his mother's and sister's graves before Je Souhaite.

Mulder would have to have been given a "to be determined" precaution rather than a full-scale diagnosis because he did not wish to be healed in Je Souhaite.

Mulder would have had to be told bad news post-Je Souhaite and pre-Requiem.

"Cerebral inflammation", as has been hammered home, is not a lengthy death: sustained damage and other comorbid factors are responsible for potentially killing the patient after the disease has been treated. As we also know, "cerebral inflammation" can reoccur via erroneous immune signals or a second traumatic event (which would kick off said erroneous immune signals.)

Mulder was in the hospital three times after Amor Fati: once in Signs and Wonders, once in Brand X, and once in Fight Club. Scully was on hand for the first two concerns, and would have seen the results of his painstaking tests and recovery. But she wouldn't have been able to witness his records in Fight Club (since she was recovering herself.) It is wholly possible that the repeated stresses Mulder's body weathered caused a relapse, one which would have been so new and so recent that it wouldn't have manifested unmistakable symptoms-- yet-- before his abduction in Bellefleur. Given autoimmune encephalitis's grace period, that gives a few weeks to three months before Scully could, theoretically, have figured things out. If that be the case, it also slots onto one of two weekends Mulder had free to travel to North Carolina (Fight Club's case wrapped up on Friday the 19th, a day before Saturday the 20th.)

Most importantly, it saves Mulder's dignity. The greatest injustice of the brain disease arc is that it implies a level of ignorance he fostered on Scully's part-- a proclivity to lie by omission rather than openly share the truth between them. While Mulder does have a history of holding back the complete truth -- his exes and past partners, his retrieval of Scully's ova during the cancer arc, his concerns about Emily's paternity, and his mutual feelings towards her-- he was more vulnerably agape after the consummation of their relationship (displaying his fear quietly in Requiem's "I can't risk losing you" plea.) And let's face it: Mulder isn't equipped for the long con-- Scully unfailingly spots and deduces his schemes or aims.

Combine these factors with Mulder's forgetfulness in Je Souhaite-- not a thought was spared towards his mortality when offered three wishes-- and it makes sense why the medical evaluation and determination interval should be kept short.

By giving Mulder a smaller window of time to process, it falls in line with his and Scully's established character traits: his need to withdraw (e.g. Conduit, Pusher, The Red and the Black, One Son, Amor Fati, etc.) before making and sharing a decision with Scully-- and her innate ability to smell out protracted brooding like a bloodhound.

(And, as formerly mentioned, Mulder never buys a headstone, regardless-- no matter how many falsified VISA cards Doggett finds.)

MULDER DID NOT KNOW HE HAD "BRAIN DISEASE"

This second theory rests on the first's medical possibility, but weaves farther down a different path.

The same chronological order applies-- i.e. autoimmune encephalitis recurrence post-Fight Club.

However, Mulder is unaware of his ailing health: his doctors miss the early symptoms during their examinations; and since Scully is otherwise preoccupied (i.e. recovering), it's never notated.

Since AIEs have an additional buffer period of up to three months, and can be hard to catch without physical symptoms or a thorough MRI, it's plausible that Mulder never knew.

This would also fit with the Bellefleur abductees' "encephalitic trauma", strangely: their old injuries could have been recently triggered-- or forcefully triggered once on the UFO-- in the same manner that Mulder's injury was inflamed post-Fight Club.

This idea plays with the best of both worlds: Mulder's decay looming like a ticking time bomb over his and Scully's happiness; his and Scully's unbroken dedication to the truth and each other. A A VISA card and headstone, grave flowers and falsified reports were setup ahead of time-- orchestrated by the CSM's lingering shadow faction in allegiance with the aliens: Mulder eagerly offered as the price the overlords demand from the humans.

It also works beautifully with Season 7's intended canon (Mulder whole and hale, with no brain disease in sight) and with his and Scully's miscommunication in Three Words (he assuming she's referring to the super soldier virus, she presuming he knows she knows about his brain disease.)

MULDER DID NOT HAVE "BRAIN DISEASE"

Lastly, Mulder was not dying from brain disease:

Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz (and the other writers) did not conceptualize Mulder's brain disease when writing Season 7.

Mulder displayed zero symptoms in Season 7 in the weeks and months leading up to its finale.

Mulder did not wish to be healed when he came face-to-face with a genie in Je Souhaite.

The brain disease timeline Agent Doggett digs up in Season 8 is built on manipulable evidence and irrevocably, triumphantly falls apart on itself.

Mulder never confirms nor denies his alleged diagnosis.

According to this theory, Mulder recovered in "Amor Fati" and did not deteriorate further. Instead, he and Scully investigated their subsequent cases with lighter hearts as they finally consolidated their relationship, found his sister, and made peace with their individual and mutual choices in life. When Mulder was hospitalized for venomous snake bites, he did not display any neurological damage. During the events of Closure and En Ami, Scully quickly ascertained that CSM was suffering and dying-- visible, physical symptoms her partner did not have. When Mulder was hospitalized, again, for an infestation of beetles in his lungs, neither his MRIs nor close, personal observation indicated that he had late-stage brain deterioration and neurological or circulatory damage. When Mulder was hospitalized a third time (alongside Scully), whatever (off-screen) complications arose then were not enough to worry him when granted three wishes an episode later.

If this be the case, the evidence "uncovered" in Within and The Gift would have been outright fabricated. This hypothesis aligns in all respects with the flimsy and superbly dissonant pieces canon offers at different times-- information only forthcoming enough to cast doubt on Mulder's and Scully's good name before disappearing immediately afterwards. Evidence, moreover, that is never corroborated between either agent, or between themselves and Agent Doggett.

It would fit with Season 8's timeline, too: perhaps Mulder makes anomalous trips in May-- with or without Scully's knowledge-- but the dates of at least half of those alleged trips clash with weekends he spent on, or preparing for, other investigations. And perhaps Mulder did investigate Squamash (doubtful): his actions there could still be divorced from an ill but hopeful man.

THE TRUE BELIEVERS

Of course, you can always headcanon Mulder did, indeed, have a year-long brain condition; but that would entail a total disregard of the facts. (Then again, when has that stopped canon before?)

FINAL VERDICT

As enlightening, entertaining, or engaging as this project has been, it will probably not shift or shape minds: whether someone believes in the brain disease or not depends on that person's emotional, observational, and intellectual tastes and pursuits.

My only hope is that this work creates or fosters a new perspective.

CONCLUSION

This has been my most researched and re-edited meta to date.

Thank you to @sagan-starstuff for affirming that, no, the brain disease made no sense and that, yes, I hadn't lost my mind. Hopefully the science presented tracks.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[splinterofpandora]

You're not him. About Jeph Loeb style. Perfection of The Long Halloween universe. Why Hush was never important. H2SH fails.

We're starting a long journey that will focus on the upcoming Batman issues. Each new topic post will follow the thoughts that are brought up in Hash. But what is Hush?!

The original series was successful commercially and massively. I mean, new readers, regular people, and random comic fan could easily understand what Batman is.

Cool art, nice narration, lots of drama and a simple plot did its job perfectly. You knew a lot of things. You understood the cost of Bruce's victory. And there was an unusual relationship here. But that's for them.

Don't get me wrong, you can love Hush while still being a Batman fan. I respect that. I think Hush is a pretty good work because it is what it is. There are clever notes here about Jim and Alfred's role in Wayne's life. I love the alley scene because it reveals the nature of Gordon and Knight's relationship. Every episode is in its place. And I'm always happy to see Helena-that's my girl-Huntress.

But it's the most conventional Batman story ever. Because we've known for a long time that he and Selina couldn't have been a couple at the time of the comic, and it's Bruce's fault. Hush never made sense as a character. The best friend who showed up years later, but whose death the steely Batman reacts more strongly to than Jason's murder. It's not a detective story because the structure is too obvious. You only have one new antagonist, and no one else here is going to change their mask. They're stable.

Writers tried to make it interesting after...Hush...but the attempts were not successful. Because all the character has is blind revenge. Which works for a standalone story, but not a complete storyline. You're asking me why it really worked in the past. Only one reason. Cool Loeb's approach.

Hush takes place after big Figurative event. After Cassandra father-daughter plots. But before complicated Bruce/Selina and Todd's returned scenarios. It retains the imprint of the era. On the one hand, Batman hasn't properly begun his journey into the light yet. He was fighting with Cass about it. He was having problems with Sasha. He had become less focused on the mission, but still obsessed with it and his fears. Jeph emphasizes it from the first monologue in his head. Bruce can't work as Clark, he's too dark. He has a lot to lose, takes a lot of risks.

At the same time, we see how much his friends and family mean to him. He talks about Tim's role, the importance of Dick's support. He always wants to help Dent...

It's an image of time. Today is a different time. Bruce hasn't been obsessed with fighting for a long time. Jason closed the Joker issue and became a better, kinder man. Calmer and more humane. He's really learned how to be a true hero. Damian is no longer a child. Hell, even the Joker has important new stories! The foundation of Bat-universe has changed. Forever!

But all we see in part 2 are blind comic book references that don't make the scenes. Bruce can't be mad about that. He's done years ago. This isn't Barbara's trauma. Or Jim's. And it's not even a trauma to the reader, because modern conflicts are New 52, Bats Who Laughs, Tom King's concepts, City of Madness, Harleen...is about Bruce's place in his own world, about psychology.

About a city without Batman, because we're talking about Legacy. The difference between Wayne and Knight. H2SH is not!

We get a laughing fish thrown in our face, they give us the Joker's rescue again like it's not a plot from 2009. Or 2015. Or 2019. Again thoughts of the endless mission. Again the panic in every reaction as if it were the end of the world. Stop it! But again. HOW. DOES. IT. WORKS. Well...it's smart!

Dark Victory uses the same vibe, structure, roles and character locations as The Long Halloween. This can create a sense of deja vu similar to H2SH. The main difference is that this...structure here makes scenes.

The Long Halloween has a story about the world before Batman. Bruce is often wrong, he can be hurt by mafia. He's more violent, putting principles above the world. Gotham's elite, the clans, are destroyed, and at the end, there are a new kings...supervillains. The master assassin uses old methods in the form of a gun. His messages are poetic but not ideological. In mafia style, yes.

It's different in Dark Victory. Batman is more accurate and dangerous. Villains have become more understandable and easy for him to deal with. Selina is back from Rome, and she's acting a little differently. The attentive and cruel huntress like in TLH? Yes! But now she acts more gentle. Doesn't just lunge at her prey. She plays with affection. The main villain uses a particular style of killing. He's still close to old-fashioned assassins, but also has clear signs of a new approach. Unusual targets, a sly message in each new body, a bit of games with the police and Batman. This is the age of dark Gotham...

And then you open The Long Halloween Special, where jailbreaks have become the norm. Where Gotham isn't so scary. Where Batman and Jim can go out on a night of celebration together, and Batgirl and Robin make a date under the Moon. This is comics!

Globally, it's always the same story. Someone dies. Chasing the killer through the clues. A third plan character with sudden help. The collapse(literal and figurative meaning) of a building or something big on the heads of all the characters. An epic battle with a happy ending. Killer isn't a killer.

Jeph uses this all the time, so the basis of his universe doesn't change. Bruce is always quite dark and serious. The detective works on a circle system where minor character in the first issue = killer. Details make it alive.

In H2SH, there are no meaning-making details. Think back to The Killing Joke adaptation. One shot tells every fan a deep Bat/Joker never-ending battle background.

Instead, Batman imagines the Joker killing his parents. It's a reference again, but what role does this have in the plot? Bruce doesn't realize that the Joker hurts others? Can he only realize it by going through it? Then Batman doesn't work at all. Or is it about seeing all the killers in one killer? Then you're just erasing any relationship with Two-Face.

And that's the way things work around here. Loeb's beautiful approach breaks down because he forgets when and why he does what he does. It does the same thing as in The Long Halloween universe. But there we have a gradual development while maintaining a general...stability, unchanging foundation. This doesn't work for H2SH because it has no context. Because a violent Batman with the loss of dear ones doesn't work in 2025. That's all that's left to do is draw homage. Bad release.Really frustrating.

[tornoleander]

(Reblog Cause I got so many words for this)

Hmm seems like you’re looking for a situation where the wish largely a grieving “I love Nya” wish with the accidental effect of saving her and defeating Nadakhan.

Which I can absolutely see the appeal of!

But “I wish you had taken my hand” doesn’t work for that.

The main problem is their’s no reason Clouse wouldn’t find and release Nadakhan. Narratively just wouldn’t work as the ending.

Her taking his hand at the start would NOT have stopped Nadakhan. If she took his hand and hides from the helicopters with them then what?! The team should just fly past the press to sticks i instead of hiding?! Ninja were never going to make it there in time to stop him. Like I cannot see Nya Joining in their bad decision to hide make them get to Sticks any faster. They would probably be in about the same spot. (Not to mention his hand seems out of reach from her without Airjizu lmao😭)

So they have to really have the actual stopping Nadakhan part of the wish.

Additionally Nya taking Jay’s hand solving the Nadakhan problem feels like blaming all the bad things on Nya not shelving her issues and doing that in the first place. And that feels icky to me.

I hate falting Nya for not talking Jays hand it makes me think of the misogynistic ass reddit post that comes up when searching Skybound Nya. Like yes, it would be easier for the ninja if Nya would just drop it, women are often expected to shelve their problems. But geez Jay talked about her like she belonged to him let her be angry. Them being spotted was not a big deal. Putting not being spotted by Darith over stopping Clouse when he arrives in sticks was always a bad decision.

About the other thing you said, Nadakhan definitely was on Jay’s mind Nadakhan talked about his wish dilemma and it was a part of the last conversation he had with Nya.

Nadakhan: “Only one wish, Jay! What a dilemma. Wish me mortal, and she dies. Wish her well...and there is no stopping me.”

Nya: “You have to make your last wish. You're the only one who can stop him.”

"I wish no one had found that teapot in the first place" makes more sense it can be Just as emotional

it’s actually related to the reason Nya is dead in his arms. At least makes more sense as a desperate thing to say then “Remember that time we were on that hospital rooftop and I said something that upset you but you didn’t just get over it, what if you just dropped it then?”

He defeats Nadakhan with the “butterfly effect” of bringing Nya back.

"I wish you'd taken my hand" does sound romantic I suppose but In practice only serves to take Nya’s agency.

I find Nya airjizuing getting up to take kiss Jay of her own accord cause SHE WOULD MAKE THAT CHOICE, much more impactful.

With the big bonus of choice and defining herself being the conclusion to her character ark.

I do think the original intention with the scene was “I don’t care what these people think anymore I define myself and my role in my team and I wanna kiss Jay”

Thank for talking about Skybound with me it’s my passion and you are actively helping me find how to phase things for rooftop scene in my video that is everything to me right now.

My one gripe with Ninjago Skybound is Jay's final wish (and a lot of the "final wishes" but Jay's makes me frustrated the most, shockingly! Puns always intended!)

Spoilers for Ninjago Skybound but also it's been like nine years so I don't feel super bad if you do get spoiled!

Back to my point. Jay's final wish is two wishes, really.

The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack have an episode dedicated to this kind of thing, ya can't just keep adding "ands" into your wish to get more stuff, that's just cheating and it feels cheap.

I know they were trying to get the rewind to undo all the damaged done that season, but I think they had the set up to do it already put in place. They (the writers) would've just had to put a bit more care and attention into it, but the perfect wish was right there within their grasp!

Just change Jay's wish to only include the first part: "I wish you'd taken my hand that day". There. Simple, clean, concise.

Kids are smart. I know I was when I was first watching this season air. I had wanted Jay's wish to be something so simply yet so profound, and it almost was.

Consider this, if his wish only changed the fact that Nya had taken his hand that day, there could be a butterfly effect where the Ninja are able to evade the media swarm and reach Clouse in time to stop him from using the teapot, thus undoing the events of the season and making Jay's "final moments" with Nya in the original timeline focused solely on her while still fixing everything. Boom! Done!

It's a small thing to gripe about, but ARRRUGGHHH it could've been so beautifully simple. I still love Skybound the most (<- Jay Apologist/Defender till the end) and will love any season focused on him, but this one thing takes me out. I can excuse the other mistakes of the season and everyone else's "final wish" being to wish themselves away, but Jay's last wish should've been the best one.

[guavie]

gameplay concept for my nier visual novel fanfiction thing!! i'm making it in renpy and don't rlly understand what i'm doing on the coding side of things but just getting this concept out of my head & semi functioning is rlly exciting for me hehe

[fumifooms]

What if we were both magic prodigies and it otherized us in different ways and we devoted ourselves to protecting a family member who has general other goals & priorities. What if we both did self-sacrifical devotion in opposite ways.

What if we were dark mirrors of each other and where I've grown overcontrolling you've grown complacent. What if, bought as a servant into a pretty loving home, ownership and control is what love looks like to me, and to you neglected and lonely growing up, love is gratefully taking any scraps of it you’re lent.

By belonging to someone, even if she comes back injured or fails at finding Delgal, she feels like she belongs and is cherished, by owning someone he feels safe in them not leaving him.

She’s what’s tethering him do you see… And he’s the only thing giving her direction and purpose in her state. She needs a compass and he needs a support.

They’re both so out of it 😭 It’s the weirdly intense and unearned mutual trust and reliance on each other?? They’re each other’s weird little comfort codependent teddy bear. Or at least they were headed towards that before SHE DIED THEN HE DIED THEN THEY BOTH FORGOT ABOUT EACH OTHER AND NEVER MET EVER AGAIN. Though she’s also the guard attack hound keeping him safe… And vice versa he heals her and can rewrite her very being with just one wave of his hand. They’re both so so mentally and physically vulnerable both but they cling onto each other. They can’t perceive things accurately but despite it all someway somehow they stumble into something closer to resembling companionship just before they both die. Falin is just that kind and Thistle is just that lonely. Overworked.

We both haven’t lived for ourselves in a very long time, haven’t we.

They both have a similar devotion to the people they love but again the difference is that Thistle starts overtsepping while Falin is self-effacing. The other difference between them is that people care about Falin <3 People have given up on Thistle long ago, and he has given people reasons to, while people refuse to give up on Falin. Yaad has a mini arc about it dw about it it’s ok he’s not all alone in the end 😭😭 He reached out for Marcille’s hand but they already all wanted to help him, they just had to be given the chance to, Yaad just had to be given the chance to, it’s okay I’m okay

Hey what if we learned to get in touch with our own identity and the world around us and living in the present again through being in the worst codependent situationship ever.

Falin and Thistle sitting in a tree, sucking on flowers together because they’re h-u-n-g-r-y 💕💕💕

I bet he’s only ever thought of flowers as useless ornaments. Weak weeds. But she shows him they’re tasty and useful and good and pretty in their own right too and deserve existing without proving their worth and waaa <33 Thistles…... Did you know thistles taste sweet if you remove the thorns and eat them?

"Even as a chimera, her kind nature remains" you can’t suppress her in the way that matters. You can’t soothe him in the way that matters. It’s doomed. You’re doomed. It’s all doomed. Save me.

[bixels]

I wanna give you a heads up to be careful when it comes to the character Svengallop and your adaption of him into your story as Sven. The character he is based on, Svengali from the book Trilby, is an anti-Jewish caricature in the same vein as Shylock and Fagin who controls and exploits a young gentile woman. I know you care about this kind of thing so be wise about where you take the character and what ethnic background you give him

Yeah, I learned about this when doing research. The character in the AU is not Jewish and has a Scandinavian/Slavic background. The connection is superficial only because the original character has it. To be completely honest, because we're not adapting Rara's original episode at all, Sven will probably have a different, non-villainous role. Probably just an uppity, snobby manager/agent.