#with the odd bit of Relevant Life Stuff here and there

[silverwhittlingknife]

So you're a go to source for all things Dick&Tim bros and you tend to write primarily from Dick's POV. So, odd question, but if you were to summarize their relationship from his POV in FIVE panels which panels would you pick? Keeping in mind that one specific aspect of their relationship that you love needs to be clearly represented by each panel (loyalty, trust etc). I hope this is a fun challenge and not an annoying question so if you don't want to answer that's cool! Have a wonderful day!

No more talk. The same thoughts run through two minds... (SotB 29) / You're my equal. My closest ally. (RR 1) / I can't stop thinking how much I rely on him. (GoG 3)

25 Feelings Dick Has About Tim

This was such a kind ask & a cool challenge which I totally failed; here are TWENTY-five panels of Dick's POV on Tim sdfdsfds Look, I got carried away! Marcia and Cindy! The boys!!

OKAY SO BEFORE I GET TO THE PANELS A FEW NOTES:

WARNING THAT THERE ARE SOME NEGATIVE EMOTIONS IN HERE because I love conflict but but but you gotta remember those are not the final word!! They are complicated people and sometimes they get mad at each other BUT ultimately their relationship is so hugely important in both their lives & they love each other and rely on each other so much -!!! <3

Also I have CONCLUDING THOUGHTS at the end about what Dick's POV leaves out (mostly: a lot of Dick defending & protecting & supporting Tim, which Dick does instinctively but isn't very self-aware about most of the time)

I have loosely organized my list into 5^5 format (5 categories with 5 examples each!), so if you want to skip to a relevant one, here are the categories!!

Below the cut:

I hate him and find him infuriating (#1-5)

On second thought, he's endearing & fun (#6-10)

Grief is complicated & he's all tangled up in mine (#11-15)

I love him & think highly of him (#16-20)

I rely on him & though it's hard for me, I trust him (#21-25)

I hate him and find him infuriating (#1 - 5)

1) He thinks he’s so smart and can psychoanalyze me and Bruce, but he doesn’t know me at all, he should get lost (New Titans 61)

2) He thinks he’s so smart and can psychoanalyze Bruce but he doesn’t know Bruce at all, he should get lost (Gotham Knights 26)

3) He is so nosy about stuff that is MY business (Robin 0)

4) He sounds like an insincere suck-up half the time... but okay, fine, if you push him he's got a sense of humor about it (New Titans 65)

5) I'm sure he's a better vigilante than me. It's my fault for being a failure, but I resent him anyway. (Nightwing 9 - Dick's having a nightmare)

On second thought, he's kinda endearing (#6-10)

6) He worries too much and gets anxious so easily, but it makes him fun to tease (Robin 67)

7) I'm not that competitive - okay, so maybe I'm a little competitive, I gotta make sure he doesn't get a swelled head (Prodigal)

8) I'm supposed to be his favorite! It is not cool for him to be fanboying over my not-girlfriend's not-boyfriend!! (Birds of Prey 19)

9) We have fun together. I can kick back and relax when it's just the two of us. Plus I get to boss him around a bit. (Prodigal)

10) He’s always trying to reassure me, and I guess it's a little comforting, but also he doesn’t really get it. Or me. He makes excuses that he shouldn't, because he doesn't understand that I suck. (Nightwing 64)

Grief is complicated and he's all tangled up in mine (#11 - 15)

11) He reminds me of everything I try not to think about. Sometimes the memories are so strong it hurts to look at him. (Batman 441)

12) WHY IS HE BEING IMPOSSIBLE ALL OF A SUDDEN??? THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING (Nightwing 139)

13) We're the same. He says all the things I don't let myself think about. It's like arguing with myself. (Nightwing 139)

14) He thinks he gets to tell me what to do but he doesn’t, fuck him (Battle for the Cowl)

15) Life sucks, so what. I sucked it up so he should too (RR 1)

I love him and think highly of him (#16 - 20)

16) He’s the closest thing to a brother I’ll ever have.  If someone hurts him I will hurt them harder. (Nightwing 6)

17) I can't handle the idea of losing him. (Nightwing 97)

17) He’s so good and I’m not. I'm afraid I’m bad for him. (Nightwing 110)

18) He’s better than me, and it’s kind of a relief because I know no matter what he’ll be okay. (Gates of Gotham 3)

19) In my head he’s the responsible one.  (Gotham Knights 10)

I rely on him, and though it's hard for me, I trust him (#20-25)

20) I know I have to trust him but I'm afraid he'll make the wrong choices and get hurt (Nightwing 139)

21) I'm sure I know what he should do because I see myself in him - not that I can take my own advice, but he should (Blackest Night 3)

22) I trust him.  When I’m losing my grip on things, he pulls me back. (Gotham Knights 10)

23) I want him to trust me (Red Robin 12)

24) He can tell when I'm lying. Sometimes he sees my weaknesses better than I wish he did. (Detective Comics 874)

25) He’s always there when I need him. (Teen Titans / Outsiders Secret Files)

Final rambling thoughts:

TIM: Uhh, okay, so I'm just skimming this list - do you really trust me? you're not just saying that? - but anyway, I'm confused because you left some stuff out? Like some stuff that's kinda important? DICK: No? I think I got everything? TIM (starts counting on his fingers): The time I was having a bad day but then I called you. The time I got captured by Two-Face but then you saved me. The time I fell off a train but then you saved me. The time I fell off a building but then you saved me. The time I fell off a different building - DICK: I feel like you're trying to make some kind of point but I'm not sure what it could be.

SO THE THING IS, I put 25 panels in here and not a single one has Dick catching Tim when he’s falling!!! But I think that's a central motif of their relationship from Tim’s POV, not Dick’s. I love Dick, but in some ways I think he is spectacularly un-self-aware.

And I think he especially has a lot of blind spots about Tim. He kinda intermittently gets that Tim admires him, and he enjoys it in a playful I-get-to-boss-you-around way. But Dick tends to consistently underestimate all of his own good qualities & skills, and he meets Tim at a point in his life when he's especially down on himself & his abilities. And so he's unable to see his own influence on Tim, & therefore unable to fully understand a lot of Tim's priorities and loyalties and motivations, because you can't actually understand Tim without understanding Dick's impact on him. There's a fascinating moment in Bruce Wayne: Murderer when Dick's completely blindsided & upset to discover that Tim doesn't entirely trust Bruce, even though this has been a definitive fact of Tim's whole thing ever since he showed up with his Batman needs Robin theory, and Barbara has to actively remind Dick of the obvious-to-everyone-except-Dick fact that a lot of Tim's loyalty is to Dick, and Tim loves Bruce but feels free to be more wary of him. (And to give Bruce credit: this is not something he ever begrudges.) But anyway Babs points this out, and Dick manages to sorta process it for about five seconds, but he cannot actually accept it into his worldview so instead he discards it at the speed of light and goes off and has an argument with Tim instead sdfsfdsf

All of Dick's virtues - Dick's kindness at the circus and Dick's determination to fight through grief and Dick's rigid sense of morals and Dick's vigilante skills and every time Dick has ever backed Tim up or listened to him or protected him or saved him from something or just been casually kind to a stranger in Tim's presence etc etc etc - all these things loom really large in Tim's mental story of Who Dick Is, and What Dick And Tim's Relationship Is. Tim meets Dick before he meets Bruce, trusts Dick more than Bruce, aspires to be Robin instead of Batman. And so in Tim's default version of the story, Dick is the super-special and admirable hero and Tim is... nobody in particular, a tagalong outsider who's barely managing to be a hero, not part of Dick and Bruce's family and not part of their story, who, if he's VERY LUCKY and tries REALLY HARD, might be able to fight his way to proving himself and offering something to Dick that Dick will value, if Dick doesn't get fed up with him first.

But that's not Dick's version of the story!!!

Dick's version of the story is almost the exact opposite, a story where Dick's an outcast failure black sheep who's screwing up everything he tries, and meanwhile Tim is The Sudden New Perfect Robin Who's Better Than Me And Probably Bruce Loves Him More And Probably They Gossip About What A Loser I Am, mixed with a complicated edge of Tim Thinks He's So Smart But He Doesn't Know Me/Us At All. Dick gets much more attached to Tim over time, and Tim gets unnervingly better at the know-it-all psychoanalysis so then Dick gets to have complicated feelings about him being right instead of just annoyance at him for being wrong, plus Dick's relationship with Bruce improves a lot, so Tim stops feeling so threatening. But Dick never fundamentally changes his basic theory of their relationship in which Tim is highly impressive and capable, and Dick is not so much.

And so asking Dick about Tim is kinda like if you asked George Bailey to tell you about Harry Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life; like, you'll be there for five hours while he tells you how great Harry is, and how accomplished Harry is, and how he doesn't really get how or why Harry does the things he does, and maybe George does feel a little resentful or jealous sometimes, but that pales in comparison to all his admiration and trust for Harry who he loves so much, who's better than him in so many ways, and he's not gonna openly gripe but secretly he can't help but feel sometimes like he's such a failure in comparison to Harry, a perfect person who emerged fully formed from Zeus's head with all the virtues and also all the accomplishments, etc. etc. etc. --

-- and he will not actually remember the part where he changed and saved Harry's whole entire life unless you literally send him to an alternate timeline in order to force him to remember it. <3

[moongothic]

When people talk about there being "evidence" for the theory that Crocodile could be Luffy's other bio-dad, they tend to point out these kind surface-level details, easter eggs and Crocodile's odd behaviour during the Marineford-arc. And while all of that is very important as it lays down the groundwork for explaining the theory to people, unironically I think there's even more to the theory. When you really think about the implications the theory has on Crocodile's character and how that would tie into the long running narrative elements and themes in One Piece as a whole, I think it kind of changes everything

So, in this post I want to analyze and speculate about the theory, going a bit "beyond" the basics we already know. Heavy emphasis on the speculation-part, because I'm not here to provide conclusive evidence to prove that Crocodad is Real, rather, I'm here to speculate about how it could be real in practise, and try to explain how so many things would suddenly add up if the theory was true. I'm here to prove that Crocodad would make sense on a narrative level.

Quickly starting with a brief-ish summary of the Basic Thesis of the Crocodad Theory, just so we're all on the same page:

Naturally, if you already know the basics, feel free to skip this bit

Crocodile has secret beef with Ivankov. Although there is no proof that the beef has anything to do with Crocodile being trans, when you go out of your way to introduce a new character whose power is Magic HRT, it's a natural conclusion for people to assume that if these two know each other, then Crocodile could be a trans man. And naturally, if we're assuming he's Luffy's other dad, then he has to be trans

Dragon, as the leader of the Revolutionary Army, is in canon considdered to be the world's Most Wanted Criminal. He is extremely famous as pretty much everyone (except Luffy) knows who he is

Crocodile knowing the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army doesn't inherently mean he was involved with the Revolutionaries, nor that he has ever met Dragon, but being familiar with Ivankov means it is entirely plausible the two could've met in the past

(Sidenote but I do have a loose theory how Crocodile could've been involved with the Revolutionaries; not relevant here but if you wanted to read it, here you go)

Despite this, when Dragon is revealed to be Luffy's father during the Summit War, although Oda includes the reactions of all the other Shichibukai, he very specifically leaves out Crocodile's reaction to the revelation. This is suspicious as hell, because surely, between his ties with Ivankov and Dragon being world famous, he would've had some thoughts about Luffy being Dragon's son (wrote about this in more depth)

For Crocodad to be real, we are assuming that Crocodile did not know Luffy was Dragon's/his son until Sengoku's announcement during Marineford, this being the reason Oda didn't show that reaction; it would've been too revealing

(We are assuming that Dragon never told Crocodile his name; this is entirely plausible considdering his full name had been a secret to the whole world (as explained post-Enies Lobby), and Dragon had kept the existence of his son a secret even from Ivankov and Kuma. We also need to assume that Crocodile did not name his son, otherwise surely he would have realized Luffy was his son when they met in Alabasta)

This is why Crocodile ends up saving Luffy's life twice in Marineford (as well as Ace's) when until the revelation he had no reason to even care about the idiot

Crocodile choosing to save Luffy's life probably means one of two things; either he really hates the World Government more than the child who foiled his plans to take over Alabasta, or he cares about his son despite knowing Luffy hates his guts

Again, this is just the basic concept, if you want to read more and see all the more easter egg-type hints, I'd reccomend this post, this post and this post (the third one repeats most of the stuff the first two do in but less detail, but also adds a few more notes extra notes). But now that we're generally speaking on the same level, we can delve deeper.

Please, go get yourself a drink and maybe a snack, this is gonna get long and deranged

Going to start with a fairly small thing.

Through out the series Oda has been repeatedly hinting at Crocodile having A Past, some History, A Backstory that lead to him becoming the way he is. But Oda hasn't actually told us what that backstory is. On the surface, this wouldn't be that strange, after all, there's lots of characters whose backstories we haven't seen, for example Mihawk. We know essentially nothing about that man and how he became the way he is. But what's different about Crocodile as opposed to Mihawk and many others, is that Oda hasn't hinted at there being an interesting backstory there that's worth telling. Like I'm sure Mihawk could have an interesting story, but Oda hasn't alluded to that at all. So the fact that he has repeatedly told us that Crocodile does have a backstory, but at most gave us two whole breadcrumbs in an SBS, is a little suspicious. (For clarity, the hints we've gotten so far to Crocodile's backstory were his repeated comments about not trusting people and how he had given up his dreams in Alabasta, while Summit War gave us the Secret Beef with Ivankov and his grudge against Whitebeard. In an SBS in Vol 78, Oda did confirm that Crocodile had his ass kicked by Whitebeard after he became a Warlord in his early 20s, and that he went "quiet for a while" until he started his heroics around his 30s, setting his eyes on Alabasta. Indeed, we have some breadcrumbs of lore, but this hardly paints a full picture. We know nothing abot what he was doing in his late 20s, which would've been the time Luffy was born btw)

What I'm getting at, is that Crocodile clearly has a backstory, but the fact that Oda hasn't spilled the beans yet would indicate to me that it's likely Oda has been saving up that backstory. Which would make sense, Crocodile hasn't been in a role in the story yet where spending time to tell his story would've been appropriate. So really, we're just waiting for the right time for those beans to be finally spilled. But what makes things even more interesting is that One Piece has a very specific track record of not giving its villians extended and dedicated backstories/flashbacks. Villians can cameo in other characters' flashbacks (Moria, Arlong), they can have their own little segments inside the the heroic characters' flashbacks (Orochi, Doflamingo), they might even get their own SHORT dedicated flashbacks (Lucci whose flashback was 6 whole panels long). But villians do not get their OWN, dedicated and EXTENDED flashbacks. Flashbacks are for the heroic characters. There has been a single exception to this rule and that was Big Mom. That's it. And while I'm positive this rule is going to be broken at least one more time before the series ends, really. What do you think is more likely to happen? That Crocodile becomes such an important villian again, this late in the game, that he deserves his own flashback so we can finally find out what his deal is? (When Blackbeard and Imu are also there mind you) Or that Crocodile's role in the story might not be that of a villian anymore, and that Oda had been saving up his backstory all this time because it could reframe his entire character and how we view him?

Oda loves taking inspiration from various mythologies and pop culture alike to bring life into his work.

This is nothing new or surprising, we all know this. For example, Oda did base the original seven Shichibukai on the Seven Heroes from Romancing SaGa 2, each Warlord more or less matching a description of one of the game's villians. Crocodile just happens to match Wagnas, the queer coded leader of the group, who had the noble swordsman Noel (Mihawk) by his side when the group was created to save the world from a great evil. Meanwhile Alabasta as a whole took a lot of inspiration of Egyptian mythology, Crocodile in that arc matching the role of the crocodile-god Sobek. Sobek is a protector god ("Guardian of Alabasta"), associated with military power (literally what Crocodile wanted to obtain) and fertility, carrying the epithet of "he who loves robbery" (man stole a lot of things, from money and lives to rain and nearly a whole dang country). Sobek's name is speculated to come from the words "to impregnate" or "to unite", both being potentially very interesting coincidences (depending on if Crocodad Real and what Cross Guild's purpose in the story is going to be) (if you want more details you can go read the Wikipedia article on Sobek). (Also I'm sure there's something interesting to be said about Sobek's fusion with the sun deity Ra, Sobek-Ra, and how Luffy is our lil Sun God)

The reason I'm pointing this out is that based on Oda's hinting and/or references to mythologies, people have in the past been able to predict certain plot twists and reveals way ahead of time. For example, most recently people were able to predict that Saint Saturn had been the one to give Ginny (and by extension, Bonney) the Sapphire Scale-disease based on a certain legent about ushi-oni, which is what Saturn just happens to be. (Here's one of the many Reddit posts that predicted that reveal) And there is one particular story from Japanese mythology I want to bring up, as it may be relevant to our Crocodad Discussion here. The story of Toyotama Hime. Here's a quick TL:DR;

Princess Toyotama had travelled from the depths of the ocean onto land so she could give birth to her child. When the time to deliver the baby came, Toyotama asked for her husband, Hoori, to not look at her while she gave birth, as she would change into her true form. And while Hoori promised he wouldn't look, he couldn't keep the promise. He peeked in on her wife as she was giving birth, only to discover that she had transformed into a gigantic wani. Horrified by what he had seen, Hoori fled, leaving his wife and child behind. Hurt by what had happened, Toyotama abandoned her son and returned to the ocean. (You can read different summaries of the legend on the Wani-article as well as Toyotama's article on Wikipedia)

Now historically speaking, "wani" in mythology can have referred to serpent dragons, sharks or sea monsters. But in modern Japanese, the word translates to "crocodile". It's what Luffy and a few other characters call Crocodile on numerous occassions. Hell, Crocodile's favorite pets are his gigantic bananawani. Historically speaking it might be more accurate to say that Toyotama had transformed into a sea serpent, but for our intents and purposes, Hoori abandoned Toyotama after she became a crocodile.

I can not tell you what exactly the relationship between Dragon and Crocodile was like, how it began and how it ended. There's no way for us to know when Crocodile transitioned (beyond "after giving birth to Luffy"), nor do we know how Dragon found out about it and how he reacted to it. There's a million options for how things could've gone down, and nothing to truly go off of to even make a guess. All we do really know, is that 1) Dragon does not seem to wear rings at all. 2) Crocodile wears rings, but leaves one out specifically on his ring finger, where one would normally wear their engagement/wedding ring (mind you; for the first half of Alabasta Oda drew Crocodile without a ring on his middle finger, but from the latter half onwards, through Impel Down and Marineford, it's always the ring finger). 3) This suspicious ass comment

"I don't know they have kids or not" YEAH RIGHT

If we wanted to use the story of Toyotama Princess as a jumping off-point though. It's entirely plausible that soon after giving birth Crocodile transitioned thanks to Ivankov's ability, and because Dragon wasn't into it, the two broke up/got divorced. The unfortunate reality is that many couples end up breaking up if/when a partner comes out as trans and chooses to transition. Just like Hoori abandoned his wife because she turned into a crocodile, Dragon could've divorced Crocodile because he transitioned into a man. And Dragon would not be a bad person for it (as long as he was respectful about it). If Dragon is straight and just couldn't see himself being with a man, that's just how it is. At the same time, this would be a gut wrenching, painful thing to go through, and this kind of heartbreak could have devastating concequences for Crocodile's character. Concequences that could play deeply into One Piece's long running narrative elements, which is why a lot of my speculation from here on does end up relying on the Toyotama Myth possibly being inspiration for Crocodile's secret backstory. I acknowledge there's no quarantee that's the case, but I am here to make an argument for why it could be.

QUICK SIDENOTES

As mentioned before, although Ivankov holds the key to a weakness Crocodile has (in their own words), we don't know what that weakness is.

Crocodile joined the Shichibukai in the first half of his 20s (SBS vol 78), and he would've been 27 years old when Luffy was born. This means it's nearly impossible for Crocodile to be stealth trans, as he would've been a public figure for years; which means, Crocodile could be openly trans

A single earring on the right ear can be read as a "gay earring". The man does like his jewelry, so there's no proof he's signaling that he's gay, but if Crocodile's happy to let the world know he's into men, then surely there'd be no issue with him being openly trans either

His transition would've happened 17 years ago pre-timeskip, so in-universe it'd be old ass news and not worth bringing up to the readers if it doesn't add anything to the current plot or his character (which it wouldn't have during Alabasta nor Summit War)

If Crocodile's secret weakness wasn't him being stealth trans, and Ivankov can't detransition him against his will (can't hit Crocodile without Armanent Haki), then what is that secret weakness Ivankov knows about?

As Dragon told Kuma: "A child is a parent's weakness". If Ivakov was anywhere near Crocodile when his child was born (so that Crocodile was able to transition as soon as the kid was out) Ivankov could/should know about the child existing, and would thus be able to blackmail Crocodile by holding the information of his secret child hostage

However, Ivankov did not know about Dragon having a child

Meaning if Crocodile and Dragon were in a relationship, it must have happened in secret, otherwise Ivankov should've realized Crocodile gave birth to Dragon's child

So One Piece has a lot of narrative elements that come up time and time again through out the story,

And some of these have become more and more relevant in the story especially post-timeskip. This is not a comprehensive list of all of them, just the ones that could heavily tie into Crocodile if he were Luffy's other dad, as they could reframe his character. So, let's look at these narrative elements, how they've appeared in the story so far, and speculate how they could reflect in Crocodile.

🐊 People existing in the wrong bodies / bodies that have been altered (and what it means for you to be "you"/how does your body reflect who is on the inside) 🐊 Queerness

Wrote about this more in-depth in this post, but to keep things short; Thriller Bark, Punk Hazard, Dressrosa and Wano all heavily featured characters who have had their bodies either temporarily or permanently altered, sometimes with the person's consent and sometimes without it. Not to mention all the various characters through out the series who have gone through similar things, like Franky, Kuma as well as Brook, among countless others. As well as every Devil Fruit user who can transform their body (including every single Zoan user). People, the way they inhibit their bodies and the freedom to be who you are is very important to One Piece. That is already a very queer-coded narrative, but then we also have explicitly queer characters. Queer characters, who have been deeply important to the story, and whose presence has become more and more prevalent with time. Not to mention how queerness in general has been "escalating" over the course of the story. There's this video from Berry for A Thought on YouTube which explains this more in-depth, but to summarize the most important observation from the video; we have slowly gone from Kuina wishing she had been born a man, to non-binary drag queens (first one being able to temporarily change their own bio-sex by turning into someone else, to the second one being able to change anyone's bio-sex permanently), to two pre-transition transgender characters. All we really need for this escalation to reach its "peak" is if we had a (named, non-background) transgender character who has already transitioned. Unsurprisingly, Crocodile could fill that role really nicely.

🐊 Loneliness

Loneliness is generally speaking a very important theme in One Piece, as it's on the opposite side of coin with friendship on it. So many of our main characters have suffered for years from loneliness, by being ostracized and rejected by their communities, abandoned by their families, sometimes suffering for decades for the sake of their loved ones because they had promises to keep. Luffy himself considders loneliness to be most painful, scary thing imaginable.

Loneliness is something queer people struggle with. A lot. Being rejected by your loved ones for who you are is a painful, common experience for many. It alone can keep many queer people in the closet for years and decades, because the fear of being left alone and abandoned is too much to bear. Some people are accepting of queers but only as long as they stay "over there", pulling a full 180 when a family member comes out. Some people only ""accept"" trans people as long as they don't transition. And while some people may appear to be accepting of you when you come out or are early into your transition, many (trans men especially) lose friends and support the more they start to pass. Crocodile does not trust people. He set up base in Alabasta sometime around the age of 30, meaning he spent around 14 years by himself (until he recruited Robin), unable to trust anyone. That's a long time to be alone. Of course, there may have been a practical side to why Crocodile chose to spend over a decade in utter emotional solitude. If he was scheming to take over a country, then having anybody close who could leak his plans out and foil them would be dangerous. Hell, it's exactly what happened thanks to Robin. But having your significant other destroy your ability to trust people and then isolating yourself to avoid further heartbreak and "betrayal" could be another, potential reasoning as to why Crocodile chose solitude.

🐊 Two failed weddings and one relationship that never was

In Thriller Bark we witnessed Nami almost get married off to Absalom. On Whole Cake Island, we almost saw Sanji get married into Big Mom's family. During Egghead arc, we saw how Kuma never got to have the relationship with Ginny he had yearned for deep inside. I already mentioned Crocodile's missing ring. How his relationship with Dragon might not have worked out because of his transition. How Crocodile's queerness could've lead into solitude, out of distrust. We already have three relationships that never worked out. So how about a fourth one.

🐊 What makes a family (/chosen families) 🐊 Family reunions (with blood-relatives) 🐊 What it's like when your blood-relatives are really horrible people

For the first half of the series, One Piece did very much focus on the concept of chosen families, as most of the Strawhats grew up with non-blood relatives that they all considdered just as much family as their actual blood relatives (if not more-so); Luffy with Ace and Sabo, Sanji and Zeff, Nami, Nojiko and Béllemere, Chopper and Hiruluk, Franky and Tom's Workers. Chosen families are deeply important to this story. At the same time, a lot of post-timeskip OP has actually revolved around (blood) family reunions. Punk Hazard was about sending the kidnapped children back to their families (as well as Momonosuke to ""his father"" Kin'emon), Dressrosa was about reuniting all the broken families Doflamingo (and his family) had torn apart. Whole Cake Island was about Sanji reuniting with his blood family while being forced into a whole new one, and Wano allowed Momonosuke to reunite with his sister (and Kin'emon with his wife). On Egghead we've gotten to see the gutwrenching reunion between Bonney and Kuma, and we are all dying to see Luffy meet Dragon eventually. Not to mention all the other reunions many of us are waiting to see, like Shanks and Buggy, Moria and Perona. Luffy and Garp (currently held hostage by Blackbeard), Mihawk and Zoro. And many others. But indeed, not all the family reunions have been good. Sometimes, the blood relatives have been horrible people. Like Big Mom (to some of her children and husbands), Judge and Kaidou. Sometimes, your blood relatives suck ass.

Needless to say, Sir "I tried to bomb one million people to take over a country" Crocodile is not exactly the greatest guy around. But what might be arguably more important is that... Why is Crocodile a plot-relevant character again, on an emotional level? As I mentioned, characters like Buggy and Mihawk relate to certain characters, so potentially getting to see them reunite with other characters would have emotional weight behind it. Mihawk and Buggy are both relevant characters both to the plot but also on an emotional level, their return to the spotlight makes sense. But then we have Crocodile, a fellow member of Cross Guild. Sure, he's definitely there to help move the plot along, no doubt about that. But emotionally speaking, why the hell is he here again? Is there a character he could "reunite with" that would have that same kind of emotional weight behind it? You could argue Vivi perhaps, but between Vivi hating the man's guts and and Crocodile probably not giving a damn about her, I'm not sure that reunion would have that much emotional weight? Robin on the other hand could be very interesting, considdering she did live under Crocodile's protection for four years until she betrayed him, an action that seemed to have stung Crocodile. That reunion could be deeply interesting.

But you know what this post is about. If Crocodile is Luffy's other dad, then those two coming across each other would suddenly have enormous weight on it even if Luffy himself didn't know about it. Because if Luffy were to find out, Luffy would then have to decide if he'd acknowledge Crocodile as his other dad or disown him. Mind you, Crocodile already knows that Luffy hates his guts for what he did in Alabasta, not to even mention the fact that he tried to kill him three whole times. Luffy has every reason in the world to hate Crocodile. The man surely understands that. But then there's the fact that Crocodile isn't Luffy's mom, but his transgender father. If Dragon rejected Crocodile for being trans, why would his son be any different? Which raises the question, would Crocodile be afraid of that? Of meeting Luffy again? Of Luffy somehow finding out and then getting rejected by him too? How does Crocodile feel about any of this? Now of course, we the readers already know that Luffy canonically loves and respects queer people. Luffy would never look down on Crocodile for him being his dad (the warcrimes are different). But Crocodile doesn't know that. And this is what I mean by there being emotional weight on these two reuniting, as anything that could go down between these two could have massive concequences for Crocodile's character. And please, keep in mind, although Oda hasn't dwelled too deep into the subject in One Piece, there are people who aren't accepting of queers in this world.

This prince, and his entire kingdom, could not accept his mother for who she was. An entire country crumbled because their queen came out as trans. So just like there are accepting families (including Kaidou strangely enough), there are unaccepting, queerphobic ones too. So the fear of rejection would not be unfounded. (Also, if Crocodile and Dragon are divorced then those two coming across each other, especially after The Shit Crocodile pulled in Alabasta, would have a lot emotional weight on it too.)

🐊 The things you are willing to do and sacrifice to protect your loved ones

Shanks gave up his arm for Luffy. Zeff ate his leg so Sanji could have actual food. Béllemere died for her daughters while Nami sacrificed her freedom in an attempt to save her village. Tom gave up his life to protect Franky and Iceburg. Robin attempted to sacrifice her life so the Strawhats could continue their journey in peace. Sanji gave up his freedom for Baratie and the Strawhats. And so many countless more lives, given up for the sake of others.

So people often give Dragon shit for being a "deadbeat dad". I've discussed this in the past, so to keep it short; the World Government went out of its way to hunt an unborn child, hurting countless pregnant women, mothers and newborns while chasing for Gold Roger's son. A child who had "evil blood" and had to be exterminated from the world. Similarly, the World Government went out of its way to put a massive bounty on an eight year old child for the crime of being able to read ancient texts. Dragon would have known and understood that if he ever had a child, as the leader of the Revolutionary Army, his child would become yet another target for the World Government to hunt, just like Ace and Robin did. This should also apply to Crocodile; if the WG found out about him having been involved with the Revolutionaries they would no doubt strip him of his Shichibukai status and make him a wanted man again. Crocodile's child would thus be in just as much danger, even if the Government didn't realize it was ALSO Dragon's son. If Dragon wanted his son to be free and choose his own path in life, Dragon had to keep his distance from Luffy. The same would apply to Crocodile. Luffy probably ended up in Garp's care, not because his parents didn't want to raise him, but because they wanted Luffy to be free.

But as long as the World Government exists, if they ever found out about Dragon having a son, that child would end up in danger, he could become a target. And the only way to ensure that child's safety would be by eliminating the ultimate threat. The Government.

Now that is the ultimate goal of the Revolutionary Army anyways, something Dragon and co have been working towards for over two decades now. But most of their efforts have gone into freeing small countries by overthrowing corrupt governments and gaining support, little by little. Which is understandable, the WG is impossibly powerful, you can't just walk into Marijoa all willy-nilly, take out the Tenryuubito and free the world, the Government's forces would take you down within seconds. Dragon understands this, which is no doubt why the Revolutionary Army hasn't made a move against Marijoa directly until the latest Reverie. It'd be too risky, and if the Revs were taken down, who would be left to oppose the WG? Their slow approach makes sense. But at the same time, while the Revs did attack Marijoa, destroying the Tenryuubito's food banks and freeing a single slave... as long as the Tenryuubito are allowed to literally stay on top of the world, this attack has done nothing. They're just going to demand more tributes, they're going to enslave more people. It's going to make things worse for those who aren't in power. It's harsh and unreasonable, and I don't agree with them, but I do understand where some fans are coming from when they considder Dragon a "fraud". If you wanted to help free the world from this corrupt rule, then you have to actually strip those in power from their status, otherwise nothing will ever change. You have to actually fight the enemy.

I can not tell you for certain why Crocodile wanted to create "a military nation powerful enough to oppose the World Government", I do not know for sure why he wanted to obtain an Ancient Weapon. But nuking Marijoa out of orbit sure would be a fast way to end the rule of the Tenryuubito, ensure nobody would get hurt by the World Government's corruption and slavery ever again, and make sure your son would never become targetted by them. A line of thought I'm sure Dragon would not have agreed with. But a line of thought Crocodile could believe in.

Remember how we still don't quite know what Cross Guild is up to? How the Shichibukai are based on Romancing SaGa 2's Seven Heroes, a group formed by Wagnas (Crocodile) with the swordsman Noel (Mihawk) by his side to save the world from a great evil? And how Cross Guild has been focusing on hunting down Marines by putting bounties on their heads? Make of that what you will.

🐊 Learning not just to love and trust others but to be loved as well

Robin tried to sacrifice herself not just because she loved the Strawhats, but because she thought she herself was unlovable and did not trust the crew, believing they too would betray her eventually. Sanji tried to sacrifice himself because he thought he was unworthy of being loved. Ace went through most of his life, thinking it would've been better if he had never been born at all. We know Crocodile does not trust people. The logical assumption here is that it's because he was betrayed in the past and had his trust broken. Did he ever have a crew, in his younger pirating days? If so, what happened to them? Did they betray him, leave him? After Whitebeard kicked his ass? Who knows. If Crocodile was in a relationship with Dragon though, it does mean that one point he loved and trusted someone, deeply. So much so they had a child. But if their relationship ended because Crocodile is trans, that would have broken his heart, wouldn't it? Made it hard for him to trust anyone ever again. And what would make you believe you were unlovable more than being rejected by your significant other for being queer. But as I mentioned before; Luffy loves and respects trans people. His affection towards queer characters through out the series is absolutely unmatched (the way he exclusively uses the "-chan" honorific for Bon Kurei, Ivankov and Inazuma, calls Yamato a man, and is far more interested in Okiku's spooky mask than her being trans). What would be a better way for Crocodile to be reminded that he can be loved and that he can trust others than being accepted by his estranged son?

🐊 Inherited Will

In Alabasta we learn Crocodile once had a dream that he gave up upon after learning how strong the most powerful pirates of the Grand Line, the ones standing between him and his dreams, truly were. In Marineford we learn Crocodile lost to Whitebeard in his youth. During Miss Goldenweek's Cover story, we learn Crocodile dreamt of becoming Pirate King.

A dream that he shares with Luffy. An inherited will Luffy carries on.

You know the RPG trope where the final boss is either god or your dad? Yeah. This line really hits different when you shout it at your father.

Now, all of this is fine and dandy, but what does this actually do? How would Crocodile being Luffy's other bio-father add to his character, impact Luffy and the story as a whole?

Now there's no way for me to fully predict how the plot is going to develop through out the Final Saga and what might go down. There's a million moving pieces and a billion potential directions things could go. We could be here forever debating those things. But as I did explain in detail already, if Crocodad Real, it could heavily impact Crocodile's character depending on what does/doesn't happen.

For one, we could have an idea of why Crocodile is a plot relevant character again; if his ultimate goal had always been to destroy the World Government to protect his son at whatever cost, then we might know why he wanted to create Cross Guild to begin with; either create a military force strong enough to fight the WG on their own, or, if nothing else, dwindle down the Government's forces and be a general nuisance that leaves the WG vulnerable (perhaps enough so that the Revolutionaries can do the hard work) and/or unable to spend their resources on hunting down Luffy and the Strawhats. Crocodile could be acting as bait, a distraction to protect his son. There's a few options there. This would also give us an idea of where that Cross Guild plotline could be heading; some people believe CG is there to join the race for One Piece and get defeated by the Strawhats, and that'll be the end of it. But now we would have another option, of Cross Guild joining the expected final war against the World Government together with the Strawhats and the Revolutionary Army. So that's one way Crocodad could impact the story and the general direction its heading.

But then there's the character-side of things, how would Crocodad impact our characters? Now obviously, the three characters that would be most impacted by the theory would be Crocodile, Luffy and Dragon. There's some other characters too, Ivankov (since they didn't know), Robin, potentially some Cross Guild members (could they learn to respect Crocodile more sincerely if they learned that the man did in fact have a heart and something/someone he cared about and wanted to protect?) and maybe even Garp, but realistically, it's the core of the family itself.

Now Dragon already would know about everything so there'd be no Shocking Revelation for him. And based on what we saw him say about Sabo maybe being responsible for Cobra's death at the Reverie, we can make an educated guess that Dragon is Not Happy With What Crocodile Did In Alabasta.

So the two aren't on good terms, probably. Dragon might just be absolutely furious at Crocodile for what he did. Understandable tbh. I guess we're just going to be left wondering if the two could somehow ever reconcile, and whether or not they still love each other deep down, despite all the pain and hurt (and warcrimes) they've gone through.

Then there's Luffy. And I guess everything boils down to two major questions; will Luffy ever find out the truth, and if he does, will that impact how he feels about Crocodile? 'Cause it's entirely plausible the series could end with Crocodad being real and Luffy never finding out. And in that scenario, well, Crocodad could impact those other aspects of the story, just not Luffy. And in some ways that could be fine too. It could still be meaningful for Crocodile (and Dragon) that way. But what if Luffy did find out? Now, mind you, it's already a bit of a mystery how Luffy feels Crocodile as of now in the story; back in Impel Down he still understandably hated the man's guts with a fiery passion, but after Marineford Luffy does kind of owe Crocodile his life after he saved him. And Luffy is generally speaking pretty respectful when it comes to stuff like that. But also Luffy was unconcious when Crocodile yeeted him and Jinbei out of Akainu's reach, so does Luffy even know Crocodile saved him? (Though surely he would remember Croc sparing Ace and getting guarded from Mihawk) Not to mention, when the Cross Guild reveal happened, the only comments we got about it where Luffy calling Buggy an idiot and Zoro being confused about Mihawk being there. They didn't even acknowledge Crocodile. It was almost like Oda seemed to avoid the subject?

We also need to considder how much would Luffy find out? Just the basics, that his other parent is a trans man and just happens to be Crocodile? Or like, everything? From whatever his plans were with taking over Alabasta to however Crocodile might feel about his sweet baby boy? Because if all Crocodile had wanted to do was protect his son, despite knowing he might never see him again, and if Crocodile did still unconditionally love Luffy despite everything that happened, despite knowing (/assuming) that Luffy already hates him... Well first off, Robin nearly assassinated Iceburg and was willing to let the World Government potentially get their hands on an Ancient Weapon just to protect Luffy and co (on top of all the deaths she helped cause while working for Crocodile, all because she wanted to read the Poneglyph herself). If Luffy was willing to forgive Robin for all that, would he not forgive his dad for doing the same? And Luffy isn't one to dismiss kindness, when people express that they genuinely care about him and his well being Luffy does respect that (even if doesn't fully reciprocate the feelings, like with Hancock). And Luffy has deep emotional intelligence too. If Crocodile was convinced he'd be rejected by Luffy for who he was, especially if that had happened to him in the past to begin with, over something Luffy wouldn't bat an eyelash at (like being trans), like. Luffy wouldn't be shitty about that.

We know Crocodile is a broken, traumatized man. We don't know how much shit he has gone through though, beyond getting his ass beat by Whitebeard and The Divorce. Knowing how Oda likes to layer trauma in character backstories*, there definitely could be more to Crocodile than just those two things, but for the sake of this post, let's just focus on The Divorce. *(Like how Robin was alienated by her community long before the Ohara Genocide, and then spent decades of her life fleeing from the Government, hurt and abandoned by people time and time again. Or how Kuma was born into slavery, lost the love of his life and finally gave up everything he had just to save the life of his daughter. Early OP flashbacks may have been a bit simpler, but as time as gone they have definitely gotten more complex and layered, so I would not be surprised if Crocodile's Full Backstory had like 3+ layers to his trauma)

One important part of One Piece has been teaching/reminding certain characters important lessons, to change their view of the world and make them better people as a result.

Here's some of the messages of One Piece, its beating heart and soul

And of course, sometimes some characters can't have their minds changed, at least not that easily. But their ideals and worldview can always be challenged and proven wrong. This is what happens to many of the villians in the story. Like Moria's ideas of how he shouldn't have to do any of the hard lifting himself and how instead of having friends he can just have replacable zombies instead. Moria's worldview was wrong, and is exactly what led to his downfall in Thriller Bark. Or Spandam and the CP9's ideas of justice, how anything they do can be justified as it is for the "good of the world", including killing innocent civilians. They can do that, because they are "heroes of the world", they are "justice". Needless to say, none of the CP9's actions during Enies Lobby could be considdered "heroic", and, well. If "justice always prevails", then their defeat did prove theirs was a false one. Or how Enel isn't a god, how Doflamingo doesn't have a god given right to rule (neither does Wapol for that matter), how Akainu's ideas of "absolute justice" are monstrous at best, how the way Judge and Big Mom treat their families is not how a family should be like at all.

During Alabasta, Crocodile's plans were foiled because of he didn't trust his underlings with his secret identity and refused to communicate properly with them himself. That one conversation between Crocodile and "Mr. 3" (Sanji) is more or less what allowed the Strawhats to reach Alabasta just in time to stop him. But although distrust is what lead to Crocodile's downfall, he still carries that core belief even now; he still doesn't trust others. Which raises the question, what other beliefs might Crocodile still carry deep inside?

That he can't trust anyone because people will betray and leave him sooner or later? That nobody would ever stay by his side, that nobody will ever love him?

Are those not the exact same core messages of One Piece, the false beliefs that we've seen proven wrong, time and time again?

It really wouldn't be right to end the series without Luffy proving Crocodile wrong once and for all, and make him change his worldview, now would it? But hey, the good news is that there might be no better way to prove Crocodile wrong than to have his son unconditionally forgive him and accept him as his father.

All of this to say; yes, I think if Crocodad was real, it would heavily impact Crocodile's character and whatever character arc he might have. Like I'm not arguing for Crocodad in the name of meme'ing. His whole story could suddenly tie into so many of series' core themes and messages, and tie into our main character in a meaningful way. It could impact heavily where the story as a whole is heading.

The other, more likely option is that Crocodad isn't real and that I have lost my marbles thinking I was onto something with this post. In the end, time will be the judge of that. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed my utter derangement.

[sn0wp1anets]

observations about joel (mostly speech stuff) and interactions with others bc ive been hyperfixated since the beginning of time (also theres alot of bs commentary im sorry)

general stuff:

very very british like extremely british

'bloody' and 'blooming' ALOT - when he's annoyed or shocked or offended (im gonna call this his pseudo swearing for the rest of this for convenience)

instead of very he says 'well' sometimes (e.g. "this bloody pico park music is well annoying) and "absolutely"

instead of really he says 'proper' sometimes so "stress is proper northern" etc

instead of 'i haven't' he says "i've not"

he gives an explanation for basically everything he does and instead of because he says 'as' alot

'to be honest' "i bloody hate woodwork to be honest" (sometimes he says 'to be honest with you' too)

'innit' occasionally "it's like waterslide innit"

'like so'

'by the look of it'

he gets irritated really easily - "for goodness sake" and he'll start cutting himself off alot "this bloody-" and also his voice gets much more high pitched and his pseudo swearing gets way more frequent. also 'blooming heck'

(and also this isn't super relevant but when he gets mad all his friends start commenting on it and its the funniest thing- in the overcooked stream as soon as he starts getting annoyed everyones like 'oh here he is')

i didn't know if i should put this in a specific section but he says 'babe' alot - not just to lizzie but to jimmy like ALOT and also in general - i'll talk about this a bit more later tho !

pauses alot: in between words/phrases, and also before he answers questions (this is not as often but also if he wants someone to stop him- he was playing scrabble and was basically asking if someone could spell out vagina so he was slowly going 'and a g....and an i...and a n...' etcetc idk this isnt relevant i just thought it was worth mentioning)

he's kinda an oversharer 😭 ? (this is lh hes 31 im sure he shares what he thinks is appropriate) but at any given moment he starts giving details about his life- a kinda memorable example of this is in mcc26(?) when w*lbur made fun of his accent so he started telling a story about his grandfather and giving alot of details about him after he said he couldnt talk too much about it AND grian begged him to stop

repeats things (especially when he's annoyed) : "game's a bloody joke. game's a bloody joke"

he basically never says 'oh my god' its always 'oh my gosh' or 'oh gosh' sometimes its 'oh jesus'

his voice is generally higher pitched and more expressive in videos than in streams but this is more of a general cc thing than a specific joel thing

very confident in his builds (AS HE SHOULD BE !!!) and he'll share his thoughts alot : "i think it's come together really well" "lovely" "i'm really happy with it/with how it's turned out" etcetc

when he narrates he uses a mixture of 'I' and 'We'. what i've noticed is he uses I for his thoughts ("i feel like" "i think") and we for everything else ("we need" "we're quite high in the sky" etc)

'genuinely'

'what (are) you on about'

'what the heck'

he will say very random (kind of odd) things just out of nowhere as if its normal and he'll only realize it's weird when someone questions it? e.g. the mumbo trauma dumping bit in SL, or in one of jimmy's streams he said 'until i get back to the hotel if yk what i mean' and jimmys like 'i dont' and joel just goes 'idk either'

accent stuff:

it's really recognizable idk what to say

very northern: hes from yorkshire - his accent used to be stronger in his old videos but you can definitely still hear it (like its still super different from grian or like mumbo idk)

his 'th' sounds come out as 'f' (idk if this is an accent thing or a joel thing but he's talked about it and said his family members have it too)

again not sure if this is an accent or joel thing but when he says any word with 'con' he says it kinda differently- it's hard to describe but for example when most people say convention the 'on' sound is more like a 'un' sound? whereas with joel its very much an 'o' sound like in 'box' or 'coffee' (genuinely have no idea how else to explain it but in phonetic symbols- joel essentially never says /ʌ/ it's almost always /ɒ/ when its a 'con' word)

jimmy-

NICKNAMES !!! 'jim' is used alot - more than anyone else and one of the only people who calls him this. hes used 'mr neutron' too (idk how many times'

(he also doesnt actually say tim/timmy often and when he does its exclusively when grian is present)

typical british male friendship nicknames: 'lad' 'big man'

when he joins jimmy's stream he always says hi in a very dramatic way?? usually with a pretty deep voice (idk this is just something i noticed)

he calls him a loser alot?

(this might be more of a bad boys point) but joel is generally not that mean to jimmy? definitely he's meaner than he was a few years ago but that makes sense because they weren't as close but. he'll call him a loser and stupid/idiot sometimes but his main 'bullying jimmy' momentsare usually always when he's with someone else (usually grian, sometimes fwhip)

'what are you doing jimmy' or sometimes 'what are you doing with your life'

lizzie:

'babe' like all the time. once lizzie mentioned that they don't even really use each other's names alot because they just say 'babe' all the time

oli:

ok so joel really doesn't use that much like modern internet language but oli does and then joel will pick up on it (its cute but also horrifying sometimes)- he kept saying 'dogs' in reference to feet after oli said it

they flirt alot but differently to how he does with jimmy (hes more passive whereas with jimmy he initiates it more idk how else to describe it)

he calls him 'man' sometimes

he's also really giggly around oli theyre adorable

(tbh theres so much more to say about oli and lizzie but idk if i have the energy and time for like 10+ years of interactions rn - and honestly alot more for everyone else too but like.)

grian:

in general joel picks up on people's energy etc and mimics it alot but it happens so much with grian specifically - this sounds very weird but the more time he spends with grian in one go the more he starts to act like grian (especially with interactions with jimmy)

[glennquackmire]

My hunger games au lore that im acting so odd over because I keep getting flashbacks to the other post

Ik i said I would make this into a video but it was getting to like 10 minutes long 😭 so here's a really shortened version of some of it OK SO

-The curtis brothers live in DISTRICT 7 instead because I like the idea of them being lumberjacks it's funny and also because the Curtises knowing alot about plants and trees and stuff is kind of relevant

-Their parents died in an altercation with some peacekeepers. Is that still lazy?? Yea but hopefully not as lazy

-Ponyboy still genuinely believes Darry sees him as a burden and despises him so he is under the impression that Darry is going to try and kill him the second they get into that arena so naturally he tries to get as far away from him as possible for most of the games.

-instead dally and johnny are from district 12 which I THINK fits better for them??? Johnny still has the same kind of schtick as in the original post where he believe he doesn't have a shot at winning which he's not really coping well with, but dally I kind of changed its not that he thinks he can or can't win its more that he doesn't want to. He's super mad the two of them have been put into this situation and doesn't want to conform to the opressive system the capitol has put in place to keep the district peoples lives being used as entertainment I guess. But I don't really know if it's in a "i want to start a revolution" way or not I guess.

-Tim I mostly added because I like him.I'm a tim stan. He's from district 8 for the same reason the curtis brothers are from district 7, I like the idea of him being really good at sewing. I'm still on the fence on whether I wanna add Angela or Curly as tributes too but as it stands tim is the only one that has been reaped out if the three of them. He's really desperate to get back for this reason because he knows without him his siblings would be left on their own. He's also really really smart in this au so he makes it super far into the games.

-The socs respectively are from Districts 1, 2 and 4 because them being the careers makes sense to me. Like the advantages that the careers have in the games just kind of aligns with the advantages the socs have in LIFE. Does that make sense????? Idk I might be talking out of my ass here 😭. The combinations of the socs have changed around alot but I keep going back to Randy and Marcia in 1, Cherry and Bob in 2 and Paul and Beverly (from the musical !! Its so good go listen to it) in 4.

-Steve and Twobit I added because I think they're a funny duo and they're from district 6 (get it cause it's the transportation district). I really don't have much to say about them honestly I have a little bit so if u wanna hear about them let me know !! Originally it was gonna be sodapop and Steve but I couldn't find a way for it to make sense. Maybe I'll add him in and say he's not related to darry and ponyboy or something I don't know. I hate leaving him out though ily soda.

-Scout is still here (hi scout) but she's used as a bit of a plot device now lol

-the arena is a huge forest, but its also got some really mountainous areas

-there IS mutts now but they're let loose about 2 thirds of the way through and aren't around for very long. The fire is still there as well because mostly i just enjoy drawing fire.

-I think (?) That's everything, I'll keep the deaths and the other stuff that happens in the arena for another post because this is already kind of long I think

-if you want to hear more you can totally message me !! I love talking to people or u can use the ask box I would literally love either of these but obviously no pressure 😭

-I have a BUNCH of drawings done for this au like so many

Anyway I think the moral of the story is not being a good writer and 3 days of being awake are not a good combo lol

[swallowtailed]

palisade 62 / finalisade side b track 6

on palisade!

one thing about fatt, they can stick a landing. more specifically austin and jack by their powers combined can stick a fucking landing. tbh let me talk about the outro first, actually:

stunning final track. loved hearing it morph from the palisade theme into other tunes.

a joy to hear from parti one last time!! probably my favorite npc of this season.

and to lift back out into the frame of perfect imperfect as hosted by layer luxurious (broadcasting from the planet of palisade, which is a lovely touch)—it’s my audio drama past coming out, but i do so love a diegetic radio show. we were promised that we would hear the end of the perfect millennium! and we did! satisfying.

i wasn’t sold on the plot of this sortie, but janine brought it home—has been bringing it home all arc. her work in this finale has been really, really cool. super solid science fiction. going from questlandia back into armor astir felt like an odd zigzag—much like dipping into and back out of the mirage—but the thread of blossoming sentiences was very strong.

(would like to take time to dig into the thematic structure of this season, now that it's over, but for now i am just pointing at it)

god, just knowing that brnine survived, and continued the fight… that's a win. closing on them bantering with thisbe was, i agree, the perfect final image.

brnine’s gravity clock changing to “thisbe is an important part of my life”... thisbe saying they’re a good captain and asking to watch a movie, and brnine immediately teasing her… they’re friends ;-;

also—season about grief—it was jokes, but thisbe saying “i was stating a fact, i wasn’t mourning” and brnine replying “sounded like mourning to me”, and ending palisade on that exchange… a good note of closure on that theme, i felt.

there’s been a lot of excellent character work this season—brnine, thisbe, cori, figure, jesset, and august all stand out to me. i’m trying not to make this post too long but man. genuinely incredible stuff.

perennial blooming again with thisbe’s gift of the pollen was really lovely. as was all the imagery in that scene

thisbe throwing sixes to speak with perennial was so Dice Game. one last little bit of serendipity for the road.

also thisbe being integrated with various different ways of being is very “it’s not a field it’s a garden” to me

i am looking forward to seeing how they treat this new phase of the divine cycle, because a transformation like that of the divine arbor would be devastating to a lot of lifeways & ecologies. it is far from the only time this has happened in the divine cycle! but it’s a great chance to concretize that. kudzu and other invasive species were raised in a previous ep; i’m also reminded of area x from jeff vandermeer’s annihilation. what i would like to see: a focus on new social forms, cf scavengers reign. fatt typically does not dig into ecologies, land relationships, etc, but perhaps they will look more in that direction in the divine arbor’s new world? who knows. either way i’m gonna be sitting here talking about ecological readings because unfortunately i do think it’s important and relevant lmao. (while i’m talking on the season scale, this is something i really want to see in sangfielle as well. which is a setting that even more deserves some time spent on the land.)

cori’s scene with elle was great. her storyline this season has been so fun—losing none of the bravado, but coming more into herself. i thought she was gonna give elle some of her blood but a ritual knife is probably a better gift.

can’t wait to see where they’re at next divine cycle season!!

“if only you could get five more minutes” made me laugh

glad that levi made it out! starcrossed is a wild name for a team led by a guy who kicked off his career by defeating the fear of death—kinda thumbing his nose at fate—but it seems like he’s pulling it off so far.

can local plant-based organizing be a viable alternative to galactic capitalism? i sure fuckin hope so!!

leap vanishing with present would have been extremely space opera

perennial blue ribbon…

i did overall really enjoy this season. i think it’s their best yet, for character work and executing on big ideas. a sharper take on twilight mirage. it’s dense but it has momentum. they really do get better every season imo... like my season ranking does kinda just go directly up in chronological order

god. palisade.

stay tuned~

(also, while we’re here, thanks for reading! this is something like the sixtieth of these weekly palisade ep posts, which is wild. it’s been a weird year and a half, personally—a lot of time in motion—but tuning into palisade every week and then thinking and discussing together has been really fun. so shoutouts!)

[riding-the-sunset-bird]

hi!! i know this depends a lot on personal taste but i thought i'd ask you because you know the game so well, which dlc do you think is the most worth it?

(note: this anon clarified in another ask that they meant all DLCs but were most interested in the Cove Step DLCs; thank you!)

Hi!

First off, gonna give you massive credit here because I think this is a super fascinating ask, so much so that I want to do a bit of a deep dive!

(skip to the end for the summarized/basic stuff)

Personal Preference

I'll begin by saying that if you just ask me this question outright and it comes down wholly to my opinion and my opinion only, then I'd say that Baxter's DLC was the most worth it to me. The actual reasons for it are a bit too extensive - I'll leave it at me simply adoring Baxter and what his DLC contributes to the story's narrative - but that would be my answer.

However, I'd really like to go into something that I find more objective. We'll do this by splitting that idea of "worth it" into different categories and going from there, because it could mean so many different things depending on player preference.

Story Relevance

This just boils down to what DLC adds the most to Our Life's story, which I'm defining as "moments/scenes that would feel natural in the base game" as opposed to a DLC that comes off like extra content but not necessary content.

For this one, I'm going to award the points to the Step 3 DLC, mostly for Reflection, Late Shift, and Serendipity. All three of these moments provide something for what already existed in the base game, to the point where I almost think it's odd for them to be DLC content.

Reflection gives both backstory to Cove's scar (something that had been talked about before but not fully explained) and closure on Cove's conflict with his parents over their divorce. It also shows character development for Cove as he moves past all of that.

Serendipity follows up on Liz meeting Shiloh in the Step 3 intro. Even if the player doesn't care about Shiloh, I think it makes sense for Liz to go searching for him even if you didn't have the DLC, and then the DLC just lets you actually see what comes from it (that's not how it works in-game but I'm just making a point).

Late Shift follows up on what the MC's job is if they chose to have one, as well as showing Cove at his job. It expands the initial choice of "job"/"no job" during the intro into an actual moment, which gives it more meaning. I'd consider it an equivalent to Charity in that way (which is impacted by whether or not the MC volunteers at ORCA).

So yeah, Step 3's DLC, no contest.

Consistency

This is what I'd imagine to be the DLC that is the most "all-around" of the DLCs; maybe not too high of highs, but not too low of lows either, just an all-around solid product.

I'm giving this one to the Step 1 DLC. While it's the shortest of the DLCs, I think the content is consistency good throughout all moments. All feature the MC just doing assorted kid things and satisfy MCs who might be Indifferent to Cove early on (all except two allow the MC to mostly ignore Cove if they'd prefer to spend time with others), whereas the Step 2 and 3 DLC can be more mixed.

For example, Reflection - while solid and emotional if you're invested in Cove's backstory - is a lot of talking and not a lot of doing, Happiness is hilariously short if you're Indifferent to Cove, and Serendipity is probably a total skip for players who aren't interested in Shiloh. For the Step 2 DLC, Soiree tends to be a standout moment that overshadows the rest and other moments are largely out of the MC's control (Escapade if the MC isn't having fun, which has little impact, and Summerwork if the MC isn't the type that would lead to the drama in said moment).

But the Step 1 DLC is the one I feel would be most consistently enjoyable throughout the whole thing, at least when keeping in mind the limitations that would naturally be placed on the MC given that they're a child. I always enjoy playing each fairly equally.

Fun Factor

This just comes down to the highest highs - the DLC that provides the most fun - and I'd say that the Step 2 DLC does that.

Mall allows you to spend roughly equal amounts of time with Derek, Lee, and Cove (both a different experience from the base game and gives the MC a new location to mess around in).

Birthday lets you engage in various games and meet with Miranda (which could be something fun for the player, either meeting Miranda early if they haven't played the full game yet or seeing younger Miranda if they have). Plus, that this is the moment where the MC can retaliate against Jeremy (dooting Jeremy into silence is one of my personal biggest non-Cove non-Baxter highlights of the game) which gives the moment worth all on its own.

Soiree being a big win whether you want to bring Cove or not and giving the MC multiple different ways to experience it (including having a dance with Baxter, regardless of whether they go down his route or not). This allows MCs who might not be Indifferent to Cove but still don't want to bring him for whatever reason the full freedom to do so (unlike Happiness), which allows for more replayability.

I've expressed points about Summerwork and Escapade already, but even disregarding the potential fun of those, I think the highs of the others outweigh the lows, which I don't think the Step 3 DLC would do with the ones I've gone on about. The Step 1 DLC is overall more consistently good and I think a player is more likely to enjoy all of the steps, but I think the Step 2 DLC is more fun.

Other Matters

These are a few details I don't want to get too much into but still wished to address. The Step 3 DLC, content-wise, is unquestionably the largest out of all of the Step DLCs (provided that you play all of the moments in each), even though all Step DLCs are the same price. Likewise, the Step 2 DLC is larger than the Step 1 DLC.

Goes without saying that quantity does not equal quality and, while not pointing to any specific target, I want to add that I don't think it's acceptable for things like CGs to not be up to par with the ones in the base game when you're paying for the DLC while not paying for the base game.

Additionally, I think it's strange for the moments that feature the alternative guys to be locked away (Mall and Summerwork for Derek, then Late Shift and Boating for Baxter; Derek won't even join the player at their house if the MC is Indifferent to Cove and Terry/Liz will jump into Cove's place in Late Shift/Boating respectively rather than the MC potentially getting Baxter). This can make Derek's proposal in particular at the end of Step 2 confusing to base game players because they will have only seen Derek in the intro and ending, thus making his crush come out of nowhere.

It doesn't change the quality of the DLCs themselves, but I just wanted to point out that both Derek and Baxter kind of have an extra price tacked onto their DLCs because most players would probably want to see more of them before buying those.

And yes, it does indeed give the Step 2 DLC a few points towards the story relevance category because Derek's proposal is there no matter what, but I thought the Step 3 DLC still outweighed it.

Just wanted to get all that out of the way.

Addressing the Cove Wedding DLC

I sometimes call this the "Wedding Planning DLC" because that's what you'll spend a large chunk of time doing. That's not a criticism if you like that, just stating an observation.

Unlike most DLCs where I can weigh the various moments' pros and cons, the Wedding DLC is just one long "moment" where you plan your wedding with Cove, have the wedding with Cove, and then have the reception.

Also, Baxter is the wedding planner, so if you hate him then prepare to hold your breath before diving into it.

I think it does well for what it's trying to do (it's a little sad that there's no CG but there are so many mini-CGs that I get it), so it really is just a matter of whether you want it or not.

The Step DLCs are $4 each and the Wedding DLC is $3, so do I think that the Wedding DLC is worth 75% of any of the Step DLCs?

Not really (I eventually got tired of the planning part to the point where Baxter giving dance lessons became the most exciting thing that happened, as it felt like there was some development going on, lol), but I can see why it'd be worth it for other people. I recommend it if people are just very dedicated to planning a wedding in addition to seeing the wedding and reception.

Derek's Story DLC and Baxter's Story DLC

These two are another case where it very heavily leans on personal preference. I've already said that I like Baxter's DLC the best, but I might as well talk about Derek's too.

My feelings on his DLC are... complicated. Basically, it's the Derek and His Family DLC and I think that's great, but when it comes to plots centered around families, my attention tends to drift (this includes the moment titled Family in Step 2, by the way). Found family holds my interest a bit more though, one example being a potential plotpoint you can go down in Derek's DLC where you consider Mr. Holden a father to you.

While I do enjoy the personalities amongst Derek's family (barring Nicolas until Step 4), I think it might end up being a problem for some because the story stops being about you and starts being about Derek due to the amount of characters exclusive to his DLC all connecting back to him and not you. You take a backseat to the plot and Derek's issues in Step 4 actually end up being resolved without you during an argument/conversation with his brothers.

Which is good if you just want to kick back, watch the plot unfold, and listen to Derek talk about his problems, especially as his major issue takes place between Step 3 and 4 so the player doesn't witness it. Me personally, I had a lot of my agency taken away during key moments, such as Siblings where I didn't think going to see Elizabeth was a good idea, nor Boardwalk where I missed out on seeing Jorge (who is my favorite Suarez) and Elizabeth's relationship develop because the game has you go with Derek, nor the ending of Step 4 where I wouldn't have just run off with Derek due to wanting to spend more time with the family.

Another awkward little detail is that Derek will crush on the player and try to get them into a marriage proposal regardless of the player's own feelings, which can lead to some awkward moments (like Nicolas wanting to see the player in a swimsuit "because that's what Derek wants").

Baxter's DLC is the opposite because his family is only mentioned occasionally and not even seen on-screen. You largely spend one-on-one time with him and characters tend to focus on the player rather than Baxter (and when they do focus on Baxter, it's often as an extension of the player's connection with him).

It's very high drama/angst for a typical Our Life story, which can naturally turn people away who prefer the slice of life nature of most moments. It's a very different feel from the rest of the game and not just because the player is spending time with someone who isn't Cove. Cove is set up as the character that the player is with for all steps and in-betweens, inevitably meaning that Derek and Baxter won't stick around after their step until their Step 4; it's just that one of them makes far bigger drama about it than the other.

The DLC also lets you meet Miranda's brother and you get a psuedo Wedding DLC mashed into Baxter's Step 4 where you're part of the wedding planning process without being one of the people the wedding is for. Miranda gets a mini-plot for herself involving her relationship with Terry in addition to already getting one of Baxter's moments centered around giving her a birthday party.

On the downside, the interest system in Our Life does not function towards going down in interest (doesn't function well in general with how Baxter's DLC works, really), so going into Baxter's Step 4 with the idea of never forgiving him or not at least becoming friends again won't work. The game assumes by the act of choosing Baxter's Step 4 that the player wants to eventually hear Baxter out and becomes friends/lovers again, otherwise they'd be doing Cove's Step 4 instead; it's just something to keep in mind.

Speaking of Cove, while Baxter's DLC gives a little more focus towards Miranda and Terry, Derek's DLC has a moment where Cove shares equal screen time with him, so you could consider both DLCs to give extra focus to separate groups of people (Cove+Mr. Holden or Miranda+Terry).

Basically, both DLCs are entirely different and I can't really give them a category because they're so different compared to the base game, so I'll give some bullet points later of who I think would enjoy the DLC rather that putting them in a box.

The only other thing left to say is that, while Derek's DLC pairs with the Step 2 DLC and Baxter's DLC pairs with the Step 3 DLC for getting that little bit of extra time with the respective character, story-wise I think the Step 2 DLC is also good for Baxter's DLC because of Birthday and Soiree.

Recap

Overall, I do believe that every DLC has its own value and anyone could think differently on which is the best to them. I felt like it'd be too cheap to just claim which one is the best, especially since I like the more controversial Baxter DLC (the Step 2 DLC is my favorite Step DLC, for the record).

So to summarize:

Step 1 DLC (for Consistency)

most consistently likable and good all around

if one moment stands out from the others, it's not by much

the "safest" choice of the DLCs, which could be seen as either a good or bad thing

Step 2 DLC (for Fun Factor)

highest highs of the Step DLCs

allows for multiple assorted character interactions

Soiree being a strong moment to lean into the MC's independence

meeting younger Miranda in Birthday and finally retaliating against Jeremy

solid addition in combination with owning the Derek DLC or Baxter DLC as an extra bit of fun

but can have a feeling of the MC being "taken along for the ride" in some moments or doing things that might not seem like something that'd happen to them

Step 3 DLC (for Story Relevance)

includes the most content that adds to the MC's/Cove's story in a meaningful way

serves as an extension of a few happenings in the Step 3 intro

heavy on emotion

works in combination with the Baxter DLC to give the player extra time with him

feels the most natural amongst the base game moments

but can be a mixed bag depending on the MC's feelings on Cove and other characters like Shiloh, potentially leaving at least one moment as a total skip

The Cove Wedding DLC is good for people who:

like the idea of planning their wedding the way people spend hours doing character customization in games

can enjoy or tolerate/put up with Baxter as the wedding planner

are cool with a low conflict/casual plot (as nothing goes wrong during the process)

are fine with having no Cove CGs, only mini CGs

The Derek's Story DLC is good for people who:

like plots centering heavily around family

enjoy young children acting like young children

want extra time with Cove and/or Mr. Holden, as well as Elizabeth (who features in two separate moments and also Step 4)

prefer sitting back on some level and watching the plot happen around them instead of directly from them

don't mind being reminded every now and then that Derek is crushing on the MC if playing a friendship-only route

And the Baxter's Story DLC is good for those who:

prefer one-on-one time with characters

want a change of scenery from the usual Our Life plotlines and a heavier dose of drama than the usual

are seeking more time/development for Miranda and Terry, as well as their relationship

like the potential option of having a fling with Baxter in their story (whether that ends with the MC romancing Baxter in the end, someone else, or no one at all)

wish to be involved in a wedding with a conflict attached, as well as the MC not being part of the couple having the wedding

Hope this answers your question!

[magicalgirlmindcrank]

Trying to process how we feel about the Boo saga still. So here's a buncha of unoriginal thoughts since it's dragon ball and every opinion imaginable has been voiced ad nauseum by now.

So Saiyaman at the start sees dragon ball returning to it's early roots as a gag comic and such but it lasts like all of what? Six chapters? There's an interesting bit of Gohan training Videl who's an outsider to all the Z fighter stuff and trying to live a 'normal' life besides being so fundamentally different. This is honestly maybe the highlight of the entire post Cell saga for us? It's just really charming and cute and we would have read another 20 chapters of this.

Then we just get some bad guys and tone shift by giving Videl a harsh shove out of any plot relevancy, and it's taking itself seriously again. The line about Vegeta saying he let himself be possessed so he can go back to the way he used to be feels odd as does that whole plot, but people have wanted a rematch between them since the Saiyan arc so whatever. It's fine that his character development gets completely binned for a little ig as his following exit makes up for it.

From there though, things just start really falling apart

Boo himself is this weird mix of gag comic early dragon ball, but trying to fill the shoes off a Frieza or Cell type. There's some moments where the terror he presents is genuine, like when he starts just eating entire cities and then wiping them off the map, but then they have that stuff with Gohan and all the Gotenks shenanigans and it's just like??? And the story feels like it wants to be about the old guard helping the new step up before stepping aside, even stating as much several times, only to bring Goku and Vegeta back anyways and then it's just letting Goku handle it. Being succeeded by the next generation is also just a plot line they already did excellently in the Cell saga and trying to reprise it here only to flinch makes them both weaker.

It was kinda nice to let Mr Satan get an actual hand on the ball and be responsible for saving the world/ universe, and to see the spirit bomb actually work. Seeing old faces then was good too, as well as most of the ending, even if 'Oob' feels a bit silly himself.

Also Super Saiyan 3 looks lame as hell

[illegalmushrooms]

shrooooms, the kids miss uu where art thou 😭

... hey!

(incoming yap session, beware)

This is a little awkward. I haven't touched my Tumblr in like, apparently three years. There's some questions in my inbox, but they're so old it feels a bit strange to answer them now, right? 😭

Anyway. It's nice to see you! Whoever you may be! (Are the kids OK?)

Last week, for god knows what reason, I re-donned my mushroom hat (humor me for a moment and imagine a Mario Toad-style monstrosity) and published a new (old) chapter of Don't Leave! (y'all remember that? Does anyone reading this right now remember or know who I am??).

Laying off the parentheses now--I explained in the chapter a bit of the future of the story and what was happening with me. Oh my gosh, is that a conveniently-placed link to the chapter down below?

As I mentioned somewhere in that conveniently-placed link, I'm mostly fine, and there's nothing else I have written for Don't Leave! so far.

Well...

Okay, so that's a complete and utter lie. I do have something written. But I'm afraid it's not very useful.

I actually wrote... a complete, very dramatic ending to the story. It's an interesting ending, to say the least, but of course, the story is nowhere near that point. I'd have to write another thirty-forty-who knows more chapters or something to even reach this supposed ending, and by then I might not even like the idea I have there.

I guess that's not relevant. I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that I never, ever, forgot about Don't Leave! I've thought about it a lot, even when I haven't been writing a single word. I've been reading every comment and message I received across the different platforms, and you know, smiling stupidly at my phone every time. I've totally missed the world of fanfiction! I've missed Bella, the ridiculous character I conjured up within the depths of pandemic-era isolation! I've missed sitting down at my laptop and tap-tapping away and sinking into this wonderful world Togashi made!

So here's what I'm going to say about the story. (This post just gets longer and longer, doesn't it? Sorry!)

As of right now, there is no next chapter.

I can't say when there might be a next chapter.

I can say that maybe, life-permitting, I'll post something in the fall, if I can squeeze in some time to rewatch HxH. I've just... forgotten a lot of the go story's intricacies that an author has to keep in mind to write a comprehensible fic.

That's what I have to say about Don't Leave! .

(and, to anyone who might be thinking of those other fics I wrote, which I highly doubt anyone is... I actually have a few chapters of them simmering in my docs somewhere. But I'm a bit embarrassed about it, so let's consider them dead for the moment, alright?)

Now that I've cleared that up, and some of my conscience along with it, I suppose I'll drop in a tiny life update for any curious souls. I've never disclosed much about myself and I'd like to consider myself awful cool and mysterious, but can I speed run certain vague life events from my past three years?

I... survived a car crash, travelled to new countries and places, moved, wrote a ton (fanfic and general fiction, all of it kind of ass), survived a fire, worked and toiled to the capitalist machine, had a couple mental breakdowns, conquered the mental health, lost it again, conquered again...

...and so on...

What's next for me?

I am hesitant of publishing anything else at the moment. I have a lot of fics I'd written just sitting in my files; everything from miscellaneous anime stuff to Harry Potter to this one reallllly odd story about isekai-ing into Minecraft, of all things. (I actually kind of like that one. Don't know if there's an audience for that kind of thing, though). My writing has absolutely improved since those admittedly rough early chapters of DL (I am ASTOUNDED it ever gained the little audience that it did) but there's still an anxiety I have about sharing my work. Silly, yes, but that's that.

For right now, I have the new DL chapter, I have this long-ass update post, and I have my genuine appreciation.

Much love to anyone who might still care. <3

Until next time?

Illegal Mushrooms

[bikelock28]

i'd like to hear your additional wolfstar thoughts, and thoughts on the queerness of sirius and remus

Thank you for this Ask! I got a bit carried away with this answer so it's very rambly long and detailed.

General disclaimers :

Content Warnings: Homophobia, teenage sex, brief mentions of sexual assault.

This is a LGBTQ+friendly blog which supports all queer identities :)

I'm going to refer to Sirius and Lupin as MLMs. "Queer" is too general given I believe both are cis, and MLM encompasses gay/bi/pan/ etc.

I'm a cishet girl woman so none of what I'm saying is from my own personal experience

More specific disclaimers:

While all sexualities have always existed, the language for them hasn't. We're dealing with 2 dudes in the 90s, who were born in the 60s, so they'd be unlikely to refer to or even understand their sexuality in the way we do now.

Actual Canon: what happens on the page in the book. Facts.

Possible Interpretations: self-explanatory. There will be multiple of these and they will be contradictory!

Bikelock's Interpretation: Which of the Possible Interpretations I believe.

These days it's tempting to read queerphobia into all of JKR's writing. Personally I disagree with this because mars critical analysis, and because it's a sweeping generalisation based on her recent transphobic tweets and comments, not her writing of fictional MLMs 15+ years ago.

Some of the evidence is from when Sirius and Lupin were teenagers. Therefore it's easy to say "well they hadn't figured their sexuality out yet". This is true, but also that's the evidence we have to work with, so we have to go with it.

Is Sirius Black An MLM?

Here I will look at Sirius in isolation (without Lupin I mean, not like when he was in Azakaban).

Actual canon: "Several posters of bikini-clad Muggle girls" on his bedroom walls. Harry notes that he "had to admire Sirius' nerve". Possible Interpretations: 1. He isn't really into girls in bikinis as the main point is to piss of his parents, not to lust over. 2. He is into girls in bikinis and can lust over them while pissing off his parents. Win-win.

Actual canon: "The girl sitting behind him was eyeing him hopefully, though we didn't seem to have noticed". I love this! Possible Interpretations: 1. Sirius has so many girls after him that he doesn't notice. He's got that cocky, "Oh hey? Didn't see ya there" swagger (this is more commonly known as Being A Prick). 2. This moment is a representation of Sirius not being into girls in general.

Bikelock's Interpretation: I reckon both interpretations for both the above are very plausible. I do think JKR intended Sirius to be straight, but I believe and enjoy the MLM readings of them.

Actual canon: "He was very goodlooking" "Still-handsome face", "Looking haughty and bored, but very handsomely so" etc etc etc. Honestly, the narrator is always banging on about how goodlooking Sirius was/is (JKR, stop crushing on a teenage boy BORN FROM YOUR OWN MIND, you absolute weirdo). But we never hear about a girlfriend? That's a bit odd. Possible Interpretations: 1. The constant spelling out of how sexy Sirius is is the narrator implying his womanizing, 2. It's a deliberate omission of romantic interest because he's gay, 3. While we see a lot of photos etc, we only see pre-Azkaban Sirius do stuff in Snape's Worst Memory, and Sirius' love life was not relevant in that scene, 4. Sirius' handsomeness isn't anything to do with who he's going out with, it's more about his arrogance- being goodlooking can be about YOU, not your relationship with others! Bikelock's Interpretation: I think JK intended 3 and 4, but as a Basic Straight Girl I'm a sucker for fictional and irl too bad boys, so I also think 1.

Is Remus Lupin an MLM?

Here I will look at Lupin in isolation.

Actual canon: Carries a Big Secret which will affect his job and his security if anybody finds out. In general is a private person who lives with shame. Possible Interpretations: 1. How very sad that this secrecy and shame can be interpreted as a signifier for queerness :( 2. It is more about infection, illness/disability, Snape being a dick, the structure of leading up to the PoA finale, than an metaphor for queerness. Bikelock's Interpretation: 1.

Actual canon: Big Secret publicly revealed by Snape in an act of revenge. Possible Interpretations: Snape outs Lupin. 1. Metaphor of outing of queerness. 2. This is, like, a thing that generally happens in dramatic fiction, and not necessarily queer coding. Bikelock's Interpretation: Err, both.

Actual canon: Married a woman and had sex with her at least once. Possible Interpretations: 1. Lupin is sexually/romantically attracted to women, meaning he: 1A. Is straight, 1B. Is MLM who is bi/pan etc. 2. HOWEVER:

Actual canon: Lupin is literally never seen happily interacting with his wife on-page after their wedding. Yep, that's right. Go back and check if you don't believe me. Possible Interpretations: 1. Lupin doesn't really want to marry Tonks (1. 1...but he was pressured into it by Tonks, Molly, and like, all the others (evidence for all this being in the hospital wing in HBP), 1.2. And/or because it was a crazy time, he was grieving for Dumbledore, he was scared, he was doing mad shit). So yeah, it's possible to argue that even though Lupin marries a woman, he could still be gay. In fact, I actually think this kind of makes sense with everything else we know about Lupin's self-hatred, shame, commitment-phobia r.e Tonks, and general appalling decision-making. Bikelock's Interpretation: Despite everything I just said, when it comes down to I believe that Remus is in love with Tonks and did want to actually marry her.

Actual canon: Lupin ditches Tonks twice, including when she's pregnant. He "made a grave mistake in marrying Tonks, and have regretted it very much ever since". Oof, not a good moment this. Possible Interpretations: 1. Remus Lupin is a character who has experienced trauma, the effects of which makes him a dreadful boyfriend/husband to Tonks, especially when he is terrified he has subjected her and their child to lycanthropy. This man is a walking disaster, and I don't mean that in a cute "this smol lil catastrophe bean" way. His bewilderment, self-loathing, shame, fear and experiences of abandonment and grief, are the reason he is so changeable regarding Tonks. 2. See above bullet-point: he never wanted to marry her. Bikelock's Interpretation: First one. Lupin is an awful husband for reasons explained by his Actual Canon lycanthropy, not reading into it that he didn't want to be with her in the first place.

Actual canon: After 4 books of the narrator banging on about how old, grey and ill Lupin looks, when Teddy is born he "looked younger than Harry had ever seen him" and "seemed dazed by his own happiness". Omg i'm dying reading this bit, it's so lovely. Possible Interpretations: 1. Heterosexual marriage and parenthood appear to have metaphorically cured Lupin of his infirmity and misery. Does this heteronormativity stretch into homophobia? 2. This joy is everything this beautiful man deserved. Of course he would be happy after the birth of his child! A key HP theme is parents and children and the love between them- here's JK demonstrating it. This is especially important given A. Harry being orphaned as a baby, B. Lupin (and Tonks) being killed off, leaving Teddy an orphan. It is key that Harry witnesses this love from a new parent about his child, both as part of A. Harry's own understanding of himself as an orphan and his relationship with his parents, B. The father-figure role he will play in Teddy's life.

Wait, What About ALL Of OotP?

I'm putting this separately because a lot of Wolfstar's situation in OotP applies to them both:

Actual canon: Secretly living together and despite being outcasts, Sirius and Lupin are father figures to Harry together. They even get him a joint Christmas present! Possible Interpretations: 1. ...gay subtext af. 2. Harry has many father figures, there are plenty of people are barging in and out of 12GP not just Lupin, Sirius is stuck inside and Lupin is skint so in terms of practicality they had to share the present, and it's just part of adventure stories that characters have to hide in secret. Stop reading so much into this! Bikelock's Interpration: No2.

Actual canon: The 40-Line Stare. A classic of Wolfstar shipping. Possible Interpretations: 1. Staring at someone is not a signifier of romantic attraction. 2. Staring at someone is totally a signifier of romantic attraction. Bikelock's Interpretation: First one.

Actual canon: Sirius and Lupin's interactions in Snape's Worst Memory are negligible. Possible Interpretations: 1. They weren't together at this point but would be later. 2. They were together at this point but it was a secret. 3. They weren't together at this point and never would be.

Other Stuff

Actual Canon: "Lupin walked to Black's side, seized his hand, and pulled him to his feet so that Crookshanks fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a brother". Another Wolfstar classic. Possible Interpretations: 1. He embraced Black like a brother. 2. This is from 13-yr-old Harry's understanding, and they actually may have embraced more like lovers. Bikelock's Interpretation: No1. "Brother" is what it says on the page. I think to cast the “misinterpreted a lover’s embrace” aspersion on Harry's viewpoint is grasping at straws. Think about irl the last time you hugged a sibling, friend or romantic partner...would a a bystander know the difference?

In fact, that whole scene in the Shrieking Shack arguably has lots of Wolfstar Hints dropped. But think about what's going on in that moment. It's batshit crazy! It's the dramatic climax of the book so the characters are all heightened. I just don't think any of the alleged Wolfstar Hints can be counted as legit given the circumstances.

The two characters are very close friends. Staring, hugging, caring for each other, avenging a friend's death, nagging each other, going to places together staying inside together, being distraught when the other one dies- these are all ordinary/understandable things for old, close friends to do. Personally I am irked by the idea that these actions can only be explained if the two characters are romantically involved. I think that's a disservice to Sirius and Lupin's friendship. It also demonstrates a pretty negative view of male friendship in general. Male friendship isn't just "wheeyyy football Quidditch booze bantz bantz". It can be caring and meaningful, like Lupin and Sirius'. Moreover, in general imo platonic relationships are just as important as friendships. Sirius and Lupin don't need to be romantic lovers for their love to be valuable.

Sources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20050305162545/http:/www.livejournal.com/users/elwing_alcyone/11152.html

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/12/10/harry-potter-and-the-secret-gay-love-story/

https://soundcloud.com/quibblerpodcast/ep-95-gender-revelio

OK You've Rambled On Long Enough, What Do You Actually Think?

Bikelock's Interpretation- Lupin: Easy for me. I interpret him as bi. The Big Secret and outing in PoA is a clincher. I don't think it was intentional by JKR but in my view it has a clear MLM reading (poor Lupin, the main signifier of his queerness is something upsetting, shameful and vengeful). I also like the idea of him as bi because he is so far from the Chaotic Sex-Mad Bisexual stereotype.

Bikelock's Headcanon- Lupin: (this is stuff I've made up myself with less/no canon evidence): Lupin is bisexual het-romantic (though, he wouldn't refer to or consider himself this way). I don't like the idea that he has had zero romantic/sexual relationships by the time Tonks turns up. It just...it's a bit cliché, a bit easy? (also a pain from a Remadora fanfic-writing perspective).

If you've read Pluto you'll know I write Lupin as having a poor relationship with sex. Although actually, I reckon it's mostly a poor relationship with heterosexual sex. See more in this post. The gist is, Lupin he believes he is a potential sexual predator because he is a werewolf. He would therefore feel more safe from himself when having sex with another man, because blokes are generally bigger and stronger and would have a better chance of fighting him off if he were to lose control. (It therefore a was a real twist of the knife to have JKR pair him off with a girl a lot younger than him). So, I think for the 12 years between the Potter Deaths and PoA, he was occasionally jacking off/blowjobs with random blokes met in pubs. Not to stereotype here, but that casual sex is a bit more common amongst MLMs than The Straights. Also I like the idea that our quite sweet, mild Prof Lupin has sucked off some dude behind a wheelie-bin. I think this would probs be Muggles because A. Lupin presumably spent a lot of time in the Muggle world, B. More anonymity.

Any girls ever? I think so. As I said, I don't want Tonks to be the first woman Remus ever slept with. I think his mates may have parlayed him into some action at school, and maybe after. Of course he would be very anxious about if/how/when to tell them he's a werewolf, and very guilty if/when he didn't tell them. This pre-Potter Death version of Lupin was a bit cheerier and less ashamed than the version we meet in canon, so his view of het sex wouldn't have deteriorated to the point I explained in the above para- that would happen after the Potter Deaths. In the 12 years after that, I reckon there probably was a girl or two, but ngl I struggle to come up with scenarios. She'd almost certainly be Muggle.

I dislike the fact that this headcanon of mine carries with it the homophobic implication of "had sordid and unfulfilling gay sexual encounters until monogamous het marriage and fatherhood made him truly happy". But, err, I guess that's how it is and idk what to do about it.

Bikelock's Interpretation- Sirius: I have less to say about Sirius. I fancy him see him as a very annoying, cocky, arrogant, womanising straight fuckboi. But I also think the MLM interpretations are plausible and fun.

Bikelock's Headcanon- Sirius: When I wrote Sparkling I wrote him as both interpretations. Defo having my cake and eating it BUT I plausible imo, and Sirius would have his cake and eat it too, wouldn't he?! I see teenage Sirius as a speedball of "wanna do it all, say it all, fight it all" so it's not a huge jump to "fuck it all", especially if he's getting lots of offers from girls. Plus, power is a big thing for Sirius and I think he'd enjoy the power element of sex, especially ditching girls once he's done with them. I think the MLM side of things would be more disconcerting for him, as it would for any boy in the 1970s.

Wasn't This Meant To Be a Post About Wolfstar?

Oh right yeah, sorry.

Bikelock's Headcanon: I think at Hogwarts Wolfstar could have happened. Generally such relationships between boys are A Thing at boarding school (although maybe less so at a mixed-gender boarding school) and I find that interesting and...kind of cool?

Pre-Potter Death Lupin is more fun and light, and boy is he happy to be cajoled into naughty fun with his friends. So I can see him copping off with Sirius, even if it was just as experimentation/boredom/horniness (remember, they are teenage boys!). Surely he'd actually feel better experimenting with a close friend? As for Sirius, I think if he sensed Lupin was MLM he would use that to his advantage. Not in a predatory way, he'd just...yeah, also participate. Likewise, if he's getting all this attention from girls but suspects he's MLM, he might feel better exploring that with a friend, who he knows won't be (too) weird about it or out him.

I don't know why I don't see them as legit "in love". Maybe because most 17-year-olds aren't?! It's something I find frustrating about Harry's gen. And you don't need to be in love with the person you're getting off with at school!

Lupin’s situation means immediately post-Hogwarts he HAS to crack on and start making money to clutch at whatever stability he can find. Sirius' upbringing was materially stable and financially privileged, but emotionally shit, so I bet he wants/needs the opposite to Lupin: to get out there, see the world, have adventures. Lupin has to be more pragmatic than to want those things. A long-term romantic relationship would therefore not work. Being in the Order would change things too.

I also like the idea that James is always Sirius' BFF. His romantic relationship with Lupin was separate, perhaps less close- see my above point about the value of platonic friendship.

Wolfstar could not possibly be A Thing by the time the Potters went into hiding ABSOLUTE LATEST. Sirius suspects Lupin of betraying the Potters to Voldemort! Lupin wasn't told about the change in Secret-Keeper. Obviously that's Best Practise Secret-Keeping, but think about how many huge secrets the Marauders kept at school: werewolf, map, Aminagi, Snape incident. Lupin not being informed of the switch is therefore a big deal demonstrating major distrust.

Fats-forward to OotP. Imo it's too much time past, they're too different, they weren't even together particularly romantically or for very long as teenagers, and even that was now a lifetime ago. Therefore it doesn't make sense for Wolfstar to be together in OotP. Also, it doesn't fit timeline-wise with Lupin/Tonks (who are Actual Canon!).

However, I do like to imagine touch-starved Sirius being, like, weirdly physical with Lupin, like putting his head on his shoulder a lot, maybe he kisses him goodnight sometimes. But, more in a strange, sad, lonely way, than a romantic way.

The End. Phew, that was a long post! Thanks for reading- even if you just skipped to the bottom. In case you possibly need more of my rambles, here's a plug for some of my Wolfstar fanfic, or at least fanfic involving the characters:

[sydmarch]

ok @minetteskvareninova & @caleblandrybones as promised here's everything i can find on the filming of heaven knows what & the whole "pretending to be homeless" thing. surprisingly after not finding any of the old articles i remember reading in my reblogs the first mention of it i managed to find was actually in a more recent interview i was just reading for funsies & didn't expect to be relevant here:

Though he has no formal Method training, Jones harks back to that tradition – especially in this era of actors as bland, gym-pumped corporate ambassadors. He was recommended to intensity merchants the Safdie brothers for the role of Ilya, the blade-hurling junkie in their 2014 heroin memoir Heaven Knows What on the basis that: “He will do what you need him to do in terms of immersing himself.” He hit the New York streets to understand the vagrant’s life. “I was panhandling a little bit and made $150 in a day.” You suspect there may have been the odd Landry Jones fan among the donors. He didn’t, though, as some have speculated online, go as far as shooting up as part of his preparation: “I worked with Malcolm McDowell [on Antiviral] and he told me: ‘You don’t need to do that shit. You can just be an actor.’”

this interview doesn't really get into his experience staying on the street but is kid of like a precursor to the experience that i found interesting bcus i'd actually never read about their first time meeting before:

So you met him in person for the first time when he arrives for the shoot? Josh Safdie: Yes. His agent asked us to put him in a fancy hotel and stuff. We rolled up to the hotel [that first night].

Ben Safdie: Everybody [from the cast] ended up staying at that hotel soon enough.

Josh Safdie: Yeah, he had a lot of people in that room. Everyone from the street was in his hotel room, they were throwing bottles out the window. So, we pull up to this stoop, and he was sitting in front of the hotel and asked immediately, “Why am I staying at this hotel?” And we were like, “Well, because your agent said…”

Ben Safdie: He said, “I thought you guys were real.”

Josh Safdie: “I thought this was going to be like a real situation. Where are Ari and Ilya staying?” It was about five degrees out, and I said, “Well, because it’s so cold, they stay at this Internet café on Eldridge.” He goes, “I’m going there.” I said, “Well, let’s hang out first.” We took him over to Sean’s house, and we watched a bunch of movies. And then I dropped him off back at his hotel and said, “Tomorrow I’ll introduce you to Ari and Ilya.”

But he didn’t go back to his room. He went and found the Internet café and got time on a computer, and stared at Ilya, the real Ilya, while he was passed out. He had known what he looked like, so he just stared at him and watched how he slept and everything. Arielle wasn’t there that night … Then the next day, I introduced him.

Ben Safdie: That first meeting, we were all sitting at a McDonald’s, and Caleb was just kind of witnessing Ari and the real Ilya. He was very careful not to say anything or do anything — he was just watching them. And, for me, that’s when I realized that he was going to be able to do it, because of the way he was watching. Every once in a while he would say something; he knew what to say to get Ilya on his side, not that it was phony in the slightest — he just knows people. That’s what you’d hope from an actor. He would say things and slowly work his way into the world.

also "At this point, Caleb was fully in costume, looked a lot like Ilya. He showered once, the entire shoot, maybe. He smelled horrible." lmao the dedication.

this one also isn't the one i was looking for where they actually talk about his experience prepping for the role but it does get mentioned:

Benny: I heard that on Contraband he got arrested and cost production a lot of money because he was sitting in jail for three days. For Heaven Knows What, he was upset that we gave him a hotel room. He wanted to stay on the streets immediately with everybody. He’s like, “If I’m going to be playing a kid on the streets, I want to be living with them.” Eventually, he found them and hung out in the streets. But when they found out he had a hotel room, everybody went back to his hotel room and he kind of fit in perfectly. You could see him observing and understanding everything.

i SWEAR back in like 2015 i remember reading another interview where they actually talked directly to caleb about his time filming but i cannot fucking find it & i've dug through literally every interview i was able to find for this movie. also totally disregard what i said in my tags earlier about "wasn't it filming for this when he met katya" bcus once i used my brain cells for 2 seconds i realized that doesn't make any sense timeline wise so it wasdefinitely a different time he looked homeless ig (lmfao???) bcus i distinctly remember him saying she thought he was homeless & didn't believe he was an actor but i will be attempting to dig up that interview later rn i need a break from looking at screens bye

[kimmkitsuragi]

The Fame (2008) by Lady Gaga - my commentary edition

because i truly am insufferable like this and want to talk about her music (also one mutual said i should do it so ❤ if u see this, this one's thanks to u bestie)

i will probably do this for her other albums as well ✌

general comments: first of all this album is THAT GIRL. every song is still so relevant, both in terms of sound and lyrics. you would think okay ive listened to [a song from this album] 9283755 times it was way overplayed. and yeah but umm actually no! no matter how many times, it will still be slaying. pop perfection in the literal sense. and she did all that with her DEBUT ALBUM. legend energy. and!! it's insane that this album had SO MANY literal hits like so many of these songs were so popular and all over the radio. it was at the time where they didnt really understand gaga but they were still all over her. energy. (i dont think the general public ever understood her to this day but u get what i mean)

JUST DANCE - a classic!!!! the redone tagline that started it all... makes me think i really want these two working together again. anyway, having this as your studio debut is actually insane if u ask me. no matter how many times i will listen, don't think i will get bored. the bridge is too good actually, can we bring back actual bridges in pop songs???? please and thank u

LOVEGAME - oh man how to even begin this one. i can't believe this one was playing everywhere for years!! "I wanna take a ride on your disco stick" is actually one of the most iconic lines in late 2000s music lmao. truly a signature sound for this era btw.

PAPARAZZI - that girl forever and ever. this will have to be considered together with its vma performance, because it just HAS to. the song itself is crazy, the celebrity worship and the downsides of fame. love that concept love the execution. but then she had to go ahead and have that performance too!!!! truly game changing and life changing as well. the way NO ONE was prepared for it. no one even understood in that room. she was one step ahead even from such an early time in her career. this one truly makes u understand that she's not just another popstar thank u very much.

POKER FACE - the first insanely popular hit. like yes the songs up until this one was Successful and popular. but this one?? honey there was no escape from this one. my first exposure to gaga as well <3 i was like 9 lmao. (it's also insane how it's going 4/4 in terms of the songs being actual hits lol) anyway did you know she says "fu fu fu fuck her face" in the chorus? now u know! sneaky and very strong gaga energy for this lmao. ALSO i love the live performances of this song because she makes it so fun all the time. mixing it up and all that. the dance is fun too! i dont know how to actually comment further because like what else can i say this is poker face.

EH, EH - this is the odd one out of the album right. it's so cute and bubblegum-ish compared to the rest of the album. and i like her!! a lot!! it's giving a little bit of retro too. when i think abt it this might be the odd one out of her whole career probably lmao. she's versatile, and keeps doing different things all the time. but this kinda cute-ish song is very rare for her. as i said i like it but now i wonder how the selection of this song went lol. this is also kinda reminding of her pre-debut stuff in some ways??? but it's been some time i might be wrong too. anyway, interesting and fun song imo

BEAUTIFUL DIRTY RICH - oh my it's so hard to pick my fave song from any album but like this may be IT. the cuntiness of this oneeee it's clear to me that this is kinda the direction that her music ended up turning after this album. in terms of the vibes and cheekiness and as i said, the cunt levels. there's also some jazz influence (? i may be using a wrong genre name here but U GET IT) even if it's minimal like cmon this song is SO GAGA. it's so her. it's so fun. this one deserved so much more popularity if u ask me. im eating up the delivery each time also

THE FAME - ooh baby the guitar in this she's a rock starrr <3 this is the most direct one in terms of the album's general theme and messages (i mean duh. the name lol). i like how the verses and chorus kinda have different vibes. verses being more guitar driven, and the chorus being more bubbly and poppy. it's fun, but nothing so mindblowing tbh but i still like it!

MONEY HONEY - okay cunt is back. we love it. the pre-chorus is SO delicious and then how it transforms to the chorus is even MORE delicious. this one would be so high in my ranking of the album you dont even know (if i could actually have a real final ranking lol). love how she's embracing the famous rich bitch vibe so much here. KI KI KISSES!!

STARSTRUCK - one of the more underrated tracks in my experience. honestly i love this one so much. feel like it's another lowkey unusual song from her, but she has the vibe down so well, the genre doesn't even matter. it feels so natural. the tasteful autotune sooo late 2000s man i feel that. the features work well too imo! this is all "jewels and drugs" wished it was tbh (we will get into it more in the artpop post tho, havent actually listened to that song in sooo long so i may be wrong once again lol)

BOYS BOYS BOYS - i always think "oh this one yeah ok whatever" but then im always having so much fun with it?? like i will have fun with it, but still not care a lot abt it tbh. it's a pretty straightforward pop track and doesnt really feel like a gaga-exclusive something to me. but i still enjoy it! love the little nod to just dance btw lol

PAPER GANGSTA - a piano hip hop influenced track <3 always love this vibe. still tho, kinda another unusual gaga song imo. out of all the hip hop influenced songs from her, this might be one of my faves. it's also more lowkey than the others. and that bar is not so high tbh lmao. so yeah i like it, nothing too special tho

BROWN EYES - okayyy believe it or not this is one of my most played songs from the album probably. i love gaga balladsssssss!!!! serve the VOCALS. give me everything. i love this one so much so much. also that guitar part in this like im listeningggg <3 this feels like some kind of a prequel to speechless, which is probably my fave gaga ballad ever. ough dont know what to say. this is the most vocals she showed in this album, and i know that this is Nothing compared to her full potential and talent. but!!! still so impressive for me. i just find her voice so (insert every positive adjective here) umm and also on top of that, comforting. so. yeah great great song imo

I LIKE IT ROUGH - futuristic vibes here we gooo i like this one a lot. this is also very signature gaga sound for her future career i feel like. especially the verses, but the chorus too to some extent. also one of the biggest earworms of the album for me

SUMMERBOY - okay this is also a somewhat cute-ish song but this one feels less cute for some reason. it feels more... naughty?? lol maybe that's why i dont find it too out of ordinary for her. but it kinda is when i think abt it! really reminiscent of her older stuff as i said (iirc) for "eh eh" too. but also love the rock influence too! maybe that's why i dont find it too out of the ordinary lmao. anyway this is really such a vibe it makes me so happy and silly i love it

DISCO HEAVEN - this one is probably the one i listen to the least from this album tbh. it's fun! but it doesnt feel that special for me. i love the instrumentals a lot now that i think abt it. but couldve used a stronger closer for the album maybe!! also never paid attention to how this album has so many spelling moments lmao truly 2000s vibes

[h-worksrambles]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is somehow simultaneously both the game I’m most excited for next year and yet I also can’t remember the last time I was so anxious for a new release.

For context. I love Final Fantasy VII. It’s my second favourite game in the series. I played it in 2019 with no nostalgia and was stunned at how well it holds up. Its story is a compelling ride that’s still painfully relevant to this day. The characters are loveable and multi fascinated. The combat is simple while having enough nuance to sink your teeth into and the world is a joy to explore. It’s an iconic game but one that earns every bit of its reputation.

You know what I also loved? Final Fantasy VII Remake. It brought the world and characters I adored to life in a new way that captivated me all over again. It has some of my favourite combat in the series, and it visually captured the original better than I could have hoped. Even the controversial ending pivot was something I could respect for what it was saying on a meta level about the need for VII to evolve in order to keep discussion of it alive. But that new direction demands that what comes after has to be a worthy complement to what VII originally did. And now that Rebirth’s getting closer, we’re soon gonna get our answer about that.

And that’s the thing. On many counts, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth looks amazing. The pivot to an open world looks promising (I know that the devs citing Horizon as a source has got some folks worried it’s gonna go full Ubisoft in terms of open design but I’n cautiously optimistic that the exploration will be good). Every change to the combat in terms of new abilities, mechanics and party members feel smartly chosen to make for a smoother experience. Every scene they’ve shown in trailers promises to lovingly re imagine and expand so many phenomenal parts of the original. Red XIII’s self reflection at Cosmo Canyon, Barret’s symbolically facing his darkest impulses through Dyne at Corel. The entire Nibelheim incident with a PLAYABLE Sephiroth, letting us experience the terrifying gap in power between him and Cloud through the gameplay? I really couldn’t ask for more.

But that’s not all there is to this is there? Following on from Remake’s ending we now have an alternate timeline with Zack Fair, having survived the events of his tragic death, looking for Aerith. And on some levels, this could actually be really cool. The trailers imply that Biggs apparent survival also only happened in this other timeline. Our Biggs, Wedge and Jessie (that Remake did such a good job expanding and making us cry over) are still gone. And this other Biggs has been hardened by those experiences. That’s interesting and allows him to develop without undoing that fantastic death scene that Remake gave him. There is promising stuff here. It promises to be a legitimately NEW vision to complement the original without undermining its themes (and I want you to keep that in mind for what I say next).

And yet there is a troubling vision looming in the back of my head. And that vision is The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

I do not like the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. I think it’s drab, baffling, incoherent mess that fundamentally does not understand the source material. And that’s odd because it’s made by many of the same people who made VII so legendary. There’s a tendency for uninformed, uncharitable takes to paint Tetsuya Nomura as a hack who went from character designer to creative lead and promptly butchered VII according to his whims the second Hironobu Sakaguchi stepped back. But all it takes is a cursory glance at the dev history to see that’s not the case. Many of the most applauded aspects of VII are things Nomura either suggested or helped with. Say what you will about Kingdom Hearts or the shudders …The Third Birthday. But Nomura does have a strong eye for game direction and ludonarrative. Many of the creatives on the Compilation have done sterling work elsewhere…

Which makes it all the more baffling that it’s so terrible.

Advent Children is an aimless collection of admittedly cool action scenes that also entirely misunderstands what VII did so well thematically. An attempt is made to continue its themes of grief and the cycle of life by effectively giving Cloud PTSD. But the execution is so one note and heavy handed that it only comes off as forced, and fails to do a character as nuanced as Cloud any justice. It doesn’t feel like a meaningful expansion of his character. It feels like it’s regressing him so he can learn the same lesson again. Which would be easier to stomach if it was done in the service of a realistic portrayal of depression, but it’s really not. When your depiction of these issues is so flat and cartoonishly one dimensional, maybe you just don’t have as much to say about grief and trauma as you think you do. Sure, the old 2000s critique that AC is bad because it’s ‘emo’ is surface level and bad faith. But that doesn’t make the movie any less shallow or badly written.

Crisis Core does admittedly do a wonderful job expanding on the character of Zack Fair to make for one of the series most loveable protagonists. But it’s also a 101 in bad prequel writing. A story dedicated to over explaining and cheapening the world and characters of the original. All in a bid to make room for a string of uninteresting, shallow new characters that are placed on an absurdly high level of importance in the lore at the cost of everyone else (please tell me whose idea it was to rob Sephiroth of all agency in his own downfall by having him be manipulated by Gackt’s OC?). All capped off with a faux intellectual, badly translated script that, for all its words, has so little to say compared to the original.

And the less said about Dirge of Cerberus or On the Way to a Smile, the better.

I’m worried that this is making me sound like some bitter purist. I don’t think Nomura or Nojima ‘ruined FFVII’ much as people love to parrot that. But I do think when these continuations chiefly exist because executives are breathing down their necks to milk the giant cow, even good creatives are going to make lesser art. And even then there are signs of ambition in the spin offs. But they’re tainted by a lack of restraint, and often compromise what worked about the original. Sometimes I could see what they were going for, but that didn’t make VII’s world and characters feel any less bastardised. Which is why I want to stress how much I loved Remake. It did have that tight execution and understanding of the original and its characters that the spin offs lacked. Hell I was even excited for the new potential of its ending.

But now a few years on, I have to wonder. How much of it is actually going to be ‘new’? And how much is just going to be dredging up the series’ old mistakes? The DLC for VII rounded off by reintroducing Nero, an antagonist from the much maligned Dirge of Cerberus, making him a canonical part of Yuffie’s story. 2022 saw the release of a remaster of Crisis Core shortly before marketing for Rebirth showed off Zack’s parallel story throughout the game. It is thus heavily implied that you should play Crisis Core Reunion, because this stuff is going to matter to Rebirth. And it was recently announced that Advent Children Complete is returning to Japanese theatres for the first time in years. The movie that so fundamentally damaged the perception of what FFVII is, is not so subtly being presented as being very important to whatever comes next. And that’s to say nothing of how Sephiroth’s portrayal in the Remake so far matches up scarily well with the novels’ revelations that he and Aerith are actually still alive in the Lifestream and can technically come back whenever they want (a retcon that actively makes my blood boil for how little it understands ANYTHING about VII for the sake of fanservice).

I mean…is this it? Is this all the ‘new story’ we have to look forward to? The same mystery box sequel baiting that dogs the later Kingdom Hearts games, and a bunch of heavy handed fanservice for all the worst excesses of the Compilation? Honestly, Remake was actually really good about how it used the Compilation. Carefully and selectively and threading in minor characters, worldbuilding details and homages so they fit more organically into VII’s world. It really felt like Square Enix had done through a wildly experimental phase, learned what worked and what didn’t, and were now exercising an ambitious but controlled hand. But maybe we’re sliding right back into that excess and schlock.

Back when Remake came out, I remember seeing many comparisons to the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. But now I’m wondering. What if this isn’t a deeply personal meta-textual commentary on how the creators’ relationship with their art has changed? What if it’s just a multiverse punch up filled with fanservice for a bunch of mediocre spin offs from the 2000s that people are apparently nostalgic for? Is Zack actually back because the writers think he would meaningfully enhance the story? Or is he back because they know how popular Zack is and know fans would eat up a potential reunion between him, Cloud and Aerith, no matter how little sense it makes?

But that’s also where I can breathe a little bit of a sigh of relief. Because a lot of my worries are still just ‘what ifs’. At the end of the day, what we have so far is a great remake of a classic, which has a highly promising sequel on the way. And I’m excited as hell to play it. And yet I can’t deny the uncertainty makes me uneasy. This trilogy of reimaginings has so much promise and potential. And I hope it doesn’t opt for shock value and fan service to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It’s from many of the same minds who made VII so special, but many of those same minds have proven they can also miss the mark of what they previously got so right. VII is a powerful story of identity, environmentalism, the nature of death and self reflection. It’s a scathing critique of capitalistic greed and our lack of respect for the planet. While also being a hopeful story of love and self betterment, that tells us the people we lose are in some small way still with us, as long as we remain in harmony with the natural world around us. If the Remake isn’t going to fully recreate that story for a new audience, then I hope at least that it’s got something equally worthwhile to say that can stand alongside it. But only time will tell.

[shawoluvs]

I was tagged by the lovely @fourseascns to do this tag game thing~ I usually try to stick to a kpop theme on this blog but I'm gonna just scratch that 'cause they're not relevant~

☆ three ships ㅡ Three ships I am very much in love with atm are Nikolai/Zoya (the Grisha verse), Chandler/Monica (FRIENDS) & Alina/The Darkling (the Grisha verse)~ Like I've not even watched Shadow & Bone yet but every time I see something about it it takes me right back to the books and the energy that DarkLina have is just so so so so so so good, it's so perfect, little scared the show is gonna fail to capture it as it has failed to capture some other things...

☆ last song ㅡ The last song I listened to was F U Anthem by Leah Kate~ I'm seeing Hayley Kiyoko in literally like two weeks and I'm pretty sure she's the opener for her and I'm very excited about it all because her songs are kinda all edgy heartbreak songs and going to bring such a good energy to the show before Hayley comes on~

☆ last movie ㅡ The last movie I watched in full was Carol but the last movie I caught on TV, that I absolutely adore, was Legally Blonde~

☆ currently reading ㅡ King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

☆ currently watching ㅡ I'm kinda really slow with watching stuff at a moment, partly because I tend to watch random youtube stuff instead and other stuff I save to watch with my sister but the shows I'm currently watching very slowly are Love (it's on Netflix, it's kinda alright, I'm only a few eps in so we'll see) and Twenty Five, Twenty One (I'm liking it but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the main couple yet with their sort of age difference and how this guy kinda only hangs out with high school kids... idk it's a bit of an odd one but it's got great people in it)

☆ currently consuming ㅡ Mentally ejbgjre lots of Sims 4 youtube videos... I have this weird thing where I watch a lot of Sims 4 youtubers but I actually refuse to play the Sims 4 partly because I'm a Sims 3 loyalist and partly because without so many of the ridiculously priced packs it doesn't seem worth it??? So I like to watch youtubers with all the packs play it and live vicariously through them, y'know, like a normal person.

☆ craving ㅡ Something sweet and/or water right now, I just had bacon and cheese pita sandwiches which were very delicious but that's a lot of savoury/salt and I tend to eat in extremes like that????

I'm gonna tag a few of my lovely mutuals as usual, if you fancy taking part then here ya go and if not I hope you're having a lovely day~ Also I'm sorry I always end up tagging the same people ejgberjge I cannot remember urls for the life of me~

@seuiqi, @kseulgiz, @joshriku, @solaarflaree, @eternallys, @ohmuqueen, @justdoityo, @mizugucci, @mykindofkpop

[cogbreath]

vent below idk what image to give to make it worth your while have geeked up spongebob sparkle

7 in the goddamn morning that family is YELLING YELLING. and by that i mean my. but i dont want to really be a part of it. not like they treat me like one anyway. really. except my mom. but when shit like this goes down im basically invisible. maybe its for the better that way. but i dunno. having to see that shit go down. really effects me still. i can enjoy watching nasty fights on reality tv and shit but this stuff isnt enjoyable. cuz like. well i live with these people and shit. whatever. point is. starts making some alters really freak out. i dont even really disagree with the ones who start feeling violent about it. if killing an abuser didnt land u in prison 4 life basically i dont think we'd even be dealing with this shit. probably cruel to say. but really whats cruel is someone who does this shit to people for 20 odd years. can i blame them at all for thinking that when we r like a caged animal who cant fidn a way out i really cant

itsnfine dont worey i wont let things come to that point. but ifnsomehow they do i guess my point that well you all know i tried ans you all know that the fucker had it coming and i will try to figure out how to fit a phone up my hole in prison ans i'll keep blogging as long as none of yall snitch

^ none of yall better act like thats something serious im being a bit funny but honestly i do think this site is pro killing your abuser more than other sites at least on the hypothetical level which helps becuse a lot of you won't disagree with us feeling that way

id love to do it but i wont because i've talked about it and alluded to it more than enough to warrant premeditation charge, and i wouldn't be able to feign innocence to hide it for the rest of my life and id always be paranoid about it so its not worth the mental weight either

i used to worry a lot that he would snap and kill me and mama

i guess it could still happen but i dont feel as scared about it as i used to.

maybe because i feel that im old enough to maybe stop it or at least be really hard to accomplish

this will all mean nothing when i forget about it mostly in a few hours

actually i'll be going to sleep in a few hours

since my schedule is literally the opposite of this family because i need time to myself

hopefully my dreams will be kind to me

i was really upset yesterday because i had a vivid dream where i was being affectionate and romantic with a guy who committed rape on me

woke up super disgusted and went back to sleep until 6 pm about it to get a better dream

does anyone on here care if i call it that if it wasnt violently penetrstive?

to me its a gross criteria plus what are you supposed to call someone who did less that that

whatever

point is i hsted the dream

all my dreams are vivid

many of them are lucid which is lovely

when they arent lucid though sometimes its awful but still its very vivid and all felt as real as life

this isnt really relevant anymore

right now i kind of feel nothing but my tummy hurts a lot

love you guys

[cblgblog]

So if Anna was a nurse, and Jerry a surgeon, both were Fireflies from the start (With Jerry having enough pull it's said he's the one who ran the St. Mary's branch) and Anna wasn't always in Boston what are the odds that Anna Williams and Jerry Anderson knew each other?

I mean…it’s Last of Us, right? As a franchise, even since the first game, they’ve been obsessed with cause and effect, action consequence. You killed this guy who’s part of David’s group, then fate brings you together. Abby running into Joel and Tommy by accident and getting saved by the man who ruined her life. They like to do their goes around, comes around stuff, right?

So I mean, why not? We don’t know how long Jerry was with the Fireflies so we can’t rule it out, and again it would be a very TLOU-esque thing to do.

Which brings me the image of Marlene and Jerry’s argument in 2 about the vaccine—one of my fave scenes btw so I end up going back there a fair bit anyway.

“There’s no way to remove the specimen without destroying the host.”

“The host. She’s a child, not some petri dish.”

“You think I don’t…I’m aware of the situation.

And it goes on from there but in this case, there’d be divergence and Marlene’s, “You have no fucking idea what the situation is.”

Her annoyance at terms like ‘host,’ the clinical way Jerry’s speaking about this even though he’s only doing it to control the horror of what he’s suggesting, speaking in clinical terms and abstracts so that he can even talk about what he’s advocating for. Except it’s more than annoyance here and Marlene’s visibly frayed at the edges and it throws Jerry off, has him questioning.

“Well, then you need to make me aware. You told me to figure this out. I can’t do that if I don’t have all the relevant information.”

Relevant information. Is it relevant information? Not really, honestly, but it’s also the only thing that matters, and Marlene’s never told anyone this, and she doesn’t want to now, because if she does then she no longer gets to hide behind clinicals and abstracts either. But if there’s even a chance that it could change the outcome… “She’s different, Jerry. She’s important.”

“Marlene…” To his ears that is the most obvious, redundant, why in God’s name would you even waste breath stating it thing that’s ever been said.

But Marlene’s not talking about her blood or her brain. “She’s Anna’s.”

“Anna who?”

Marlene just Looks at him.

Jerry goes pale. For the tenth time that day his mind basically explodes. “Your Anna.”

Because Marlene and Anna predated everything. Outbreak, Fireflies, everything, Marlene and Anna were forever. Until they weren’t. And it’s been over a decade, but he still remembers Anna’s face enough that it’s now the only thing he’s seeing in Ellie’s, of course they’re related, how could he not have seen it immediately?

“Yes, my Anna. The one who died protecting her child because I wasn’t there to do that. The one who spent her lasts breaths making me swear to protect her child, keep her alive. And then begging me to kill her, which I did.”

“Marlene—”

“I already killed Anna by not being there. Then I shot her in the head because she begged for it, and there was nothing else I could do. Now you’re asking me to kill her child. Before you do that again, you need to look me in the eye and tell me that you’re sure, absolutely sure, that there’s no other way.”

[charzoid]

Overthinking a simple movie hours

Pretty much the title. Ever since the barbie movie came I’ve been thinking of a lot of world elements that will likely not explored at all cause they likely aren’t relevant much to the plot. I was never a big Barbie girl but I didn’t mind them.  They are still one of the few dolls never turned creepy in films so that makes them better to. Anyway here’s some dumb stuff I’ve been thinking on. 1.Barbie seems to be becoming more human so would that mean she’ll get hungry or need to use the bathroom for the first time? I don’t want to be gross but from the bit of there world we see they don’t need privacy or have food since dolls don’t have to eat or actually bath.  2.Will there be a domino affect because she mentioned death and her human like morphing to her friends? We see no one looks past the age of their early to mid 30s so that must mean either no one ages or death just isn’t a thing despite their shocked reaction implying they know the meaning of the word.   Would this lead to her friends slowly also becoming human to while the main Barbie and Ken are off on their adventure? 3.Will this humanization affect the main story Ken while he’s also in the real world along with the other kens? 4.Not saying it needs to happen but would Barbie start questioning love since in one short scene clip with Barbie running out a building with a long odd stare at America Ferrera’s character and Ferrera seems to be a fan of Barbie. It could be just friendship but I don’t know. Being human means asking questions so she might question why she loves ken other then he’s nice and ken since that’s all they know. Not saying they’d break up but maybe a poly thing between the three happen since Ken would be questioning to. 5.If the other Barbies and kens become conscious of life outside and also want to join the real world with their friends would they want to change names or at least nicknames so its less confusing for outsiders?  6.Would it be creepy or make sense for their limbs to come off and on in scenes they fall or are pulled at since most Barbies does can come apart if tugged enough?