#Check theory has literally never ever been wrong

[serqphites]

Vamp vicky neuman fic... I beg...

I GOT YOUUUU!!! the vamp brain rot needs to be studied like i literally cannot get it out of my head. first vicky req in what feels like years<3 in this i just got rid of her powers bc i just wanna focus on the vampire part:) also in my mind they live in somewhere like forks in this! sorry i'm a twilight girly at heart 🤷🏽‍♀️

18+, mdni, vic goes down on r while they are on their period, cannibalism mentions, murder mentions, blood mentions obviously, lmk if i missed anything!

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⋆.˚ okay now we’ve all heard of cocky vampire vic, but what about ashamed vamp vic? the woman who lays awake at night, watching you closely as you sleep. she is finally relaxed, chest unmoving as she no longer has to focus on 'breathing'. her gaze is fixated on your peaceful expression, while in her mind she contemplates your future together, almost arguing back and forth with herself. it's something she wants more than anything, more than she wants her humanity to belong to her for even a second longer, but is it even a possibility? is she even allowed to dream for a moment of spending the rest of her your life with you? could she go through with that, watching you grow old and eventually pass on, all while she doesn't look a day older than when you met?

⋆.˚ the time you found out is something she will never forget. how could she have been so stupid, so careless?

midnight cravings when she hasn't hunted in weeks are always disastrous for her, the thought of sinking her fangs into an unsuspecting deer keeping her mind more distracted than she'd ever like to admit. she remembers turning over to check her alarm clock, the neon red beams bouncing off of the walls surrounding her. 2:34am. she could be gone and back in half an hour, and you wouldn't know a thing, right? she couldn't have been more wrong if she tried, and the moment she realised this was when she snook back through the front door to your shared home, only to come face to face with you stood at the foot of the stairs, the blinding light of the torch from your phone causing her to flinch, "jesus baby, you tryin' to blind me?" she chuckles nervously, looking up once you've lowered your phone. your face says it all, mouth slightly ajar, eyes wide, face pale. it's in that moment that she remembers she is covered in blood, trickles of it still pouring from her mouth, staining the pajama shirt you'd bought her a few birthdays ago. it takes a lot of convincing for you to stop freaking out and just sit down with her so she can explain herself, and so she makes you promise to her you won't do anything until she's cleaned up and changed her shirt. your mind is on autopilot at this point, and you're not even sure what exactly you've just promised you won't do as victoria scurries off upstairs. thoughts race through your mind a million miles a second: is my girlfriend a murderer? is she a psychopath? is she a fucking cannibal!? after what feels like hours (realistically it was under 7 minutes) victoria makes me way, slowly, into the living room where she left you. she takes a hesitant seat beside you, eyes glued to your oak coffee table, "thank you... for staying." "why were you covered in blood, vic? why? are- are you some kind of murderer or something!?" you jump straight to the point, tone harsh and confused, partly scared. "no baby no!," victoria turns to you with furrowed brows, reaching out to take your hands into her own. you let her. "it's something i should have told you way too long ago, i was just, hell i don't know. i was scared." "vicky, i'm scared. you have to tell me what it is, please." you're begging at this point, pleading with her to just open up and quiet the theories circling your mind. surely there's some reasonable explanation to this whole ordeal. "i'm... i'm a vampire." (and now i'm cutting it short here because at this rate it'll end up just being a one-shot LMAO)

⋆.˚ as you get more and more used to the fact your girlfriend is a vampire, you can't help the drizzle of intrigue that comes along with it. you have so many questions to ask! i can picture it perfectly, being out on a walk through the woods with her, your lukewarm hand tensing in the grasp of her ice cold one.

"wait- how have you eaten breakfast and dinner with me everyday if you're a-" "i'm not just limited to blood, you know? just because i don't need food, doesn't mean i can't have food." she cuts you off, perfectly stopping you before you can blurt out exactly what she is. nodding, your eyes scan your surroundings, and you catch a glimpse of a squirrel climbing it's way up a tree. "hey! can you eat those?" you turn to her before whipping back to face the direction you spotted the squirrel in, arm extending to point over at it. "i could, but i wouldn't." "why's that?" "not good enough, they hold barely enough blood to keep me full for an hour, they're a light snack at best." she looks to you with a gentle smile, honestly enjoying how your interest has peaked in her... lifestyle.

⋆.˚ now it's time for the nsfw part... and shoot me but i cannot stop thinking about vamp!vicky eating you out on your period. also going with a sinners vibe, imagine the glowing eyes in the dark... anyone else soaked ahahaha what

imagine your hands in her hair, her face buried so deep in your blood soaked pussy you're surprised she can even breathe. well, until you remember she doesn't actually need to breathe (easily the best part about her vampirism, she never needs to come up for air). you roll your hips into her face as her tongue works wonders on your swollen clit, your head rolling back with a spew of curses following. "fuck babe- right there- yeah right there- so fucking good!" the words leave your mouth without you even trying to speak, and from the finger vicky adds to your tight as anything vagina, she clearly fucking liked it. you manage to lift your head long enough to look down at her, her arms wrapped around your thighs, keeping them in an unnaturally firm hold. glowing eyes meet your own in the darkness of your bedroom, and for just a moment she pulls away to smirk up at you, a mixture of blood and slick coating her lips and all the way down to her chin. the sight alone makes you feel like climaxing.

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[stagefoureddiediaz]

I feel the need to remind everyone that Check pattern theory has never once failed me so Eddie being in Check when he called Marisol to set up a date (coupled with the fact that Eddie literally said dating people you met on a call never works out well and then the show literally re-enforcing that by having her remind him that they met on one of his calls) is the reason for my nonchalance over Marisol still being around.

So, whilst I'd rather we didn't have a transphobe on the show, I'm not going to expend any energy on her - she'll serve her purpose and leave, she's a plot device and she isn't meant to stick around past her use of getting Eddie (and Chris) to where the writers need them to be.

[cusimmrbrightside]

I have always liked the idea of the school for mutants being very literally a school, and I know yes it is but I mean in the sense of if you want to be an X-men, you have to be a teacher. They have exams at the end of years, they have Ofsted checks (for those who don’t know what they are, it’s essentially people coming to check that the school is good at being a school) and they have teachers for every subject, which brings me to my next point;

“I’m Right You’re Wrong, Here’s What The X-Men (‘97 specifically) Would Teach As Subjects”.

(Also this is based off of UK school system but I use American terms like “seniors” and “AP” and “Midterms”)

Maths Teacher Gambit is surprising, for a guy most assume to not being entirely smart, an idiot goof off who’s the comedic relief. But you need to know numbers to gamble, and that he does with being very well versed in mathematics way past an AP level. He’s made the promise for every senior class that he will teach them to play blackjack on the final day, and has only ever lost once. Which is when the rule of “no betting real money” came into place.

English teacher Jean reminds me of the kind of teacher who would let the social outcasts into her class for their lunch breaks. The kids more likely to be bullied and she will fight tooth and nail to make sure those kids bullies don’t come into that classroom. they’re loud and shout and shouldn’t really be in there but no one has to know and she certainly won’t be telling them to leave any time soon.

Physics teacher Magneto is very specific to my highschool experience I’ll be honest. I had a physics teacher who was an actual Dr with a PHD and he hated being there. His classroom has (well, had since the building was knocked down about 5 years ago now) this one cabinet that was never fully shut, it was always open just about an inch or two, and he’d stand with his foot hovering just above it and then slam down on it whenever we got too loud so the noise would shut us up. That’s very magneto coded. Erik Lehnsherr would purposefully make the cabinet always a little open so he can do that.

Biology teacher morph is just a funny concept, a person whose physical form and change and morph into just about anything. They are considered one of the “fun” teachers, you could easily convince them to let you watch a movie all class as long as it was biology centred, but with classics like Osmosis Jones, you’re not stuck watching a documentary about animals giving birth.

Chemistry teacher Storm does not fuck about with children’s education. She is not strict by any means whatsoever, she just will not bend to someone saying they want to watch a film or should do a practical instead of theory. She has a set curriculum. She knows what she will be doing by the first week of the summer holidays and already has the room set up all pretty and organised.

Geography teacher Scott has the unfortunate job of telling his students that, they just won’t be looking at memorising country flags and politics. But hey!! Rocks are cool!! Beach shores are cool! Lake formations are cool! He’s the vice principal and designated nerd teacher. He once beat the elite four for a student on their copy of Pokémon Red because the student promised they’d do well in their midterms. Yes, he was in his 30s when the game came out, he doesn’t care.

History teacher Logan is a walking fun facts book. He’s exhausted, goes on smoke breaks on every gap of time he has, dislikes his job and will randomly get passionate about one specific topic, and will then dedicate his next 4 classes to that topic. Having been through a lot of modern history with personal experiences, he’s able to bring a lot of souvenirs to show his classes. Bullets, helmets, clothes he once wore hundreds of years ago, his personal memories of basic inventions like the vaccine.

PE (physical education) teacher Rogue is full of fun sports games, you can join any kind of sports team you can imagine and if you ask nicely enough, she’ll put Just Dance on a projector in the sports hall so you can just play that instead of actually play an actual sport. As long as you leave her class exhausted and without time to have a shower before your next class then she’s succeeded in making whoever your next teacher is absolutely miserable (bonus points if it’s Logan with his enhanced sense of smell).

Art teacher jubilee does believe that there is a right way to critique art. And she can be a little in your face about it. She does think you can have wrong opinions especially when it comes to your own art. If she overhears you saying you didn’t something wrong, she’ll scream into a megaphone “adapt, improvise, overcome!”. There are no mistakes! She’s eccentric, bubbly, creative and brilliant, the only one suited for the job.

It wouldn’t be a school without budget cuts. That’s why Nightcrawler is both the languages and religions teacher and he’s beloved at both. He comes up with roleplay scenarios the students can play to help learn their chosen languages, he has varied religious texts in his room and when he says to the students “I’ll pray for toy during exam season” he’s not actually joking.

(I forgot about Hank I’m actually going to cry he’s one of my favourites and I forgot about him. He’ll be in pt two or smth.)

[darkstarofchaos]

So I'm still seeing people claim that Prowl abused Chromedome and people are apparently interested in seeing me take Chromedome apart, so you know what? Let's do it. Under the cut we will take a look at the characters as they were during the events of the Shadowplay three-parter, their relationship, and whether there was, in fact, abuse happening.

Let's start with Chromedome. Specifically, let's start with an aspect of his character that people tend to get wrong: his interest in mnemosurgery. Because it is his interest. People often blame Prowl for his getting involved with mnemosurgery, but that's honestly not fair to Chromedome. This mech loved the subject, and didn't make the slightest attempt to hide it. And it wasn't just mnemosurgery - check out how he talks about the Institute:

In addition to the above, Prowl asks Chromedome earlier if he believes in the Institute. Chromedome admits that he doesn't know, but "the idea of the Institute fascinates me." This is like, his favorite conspiracy theory tied to his favorite subject, and y'all want to act like none of it ever mattered to him? Yeah, mnemosurgery ruined his life, but at least do him the service of treating it like the personal tragedy it is instead of something horrible Prowl forced on him.

Moving on, Chromedome appears to have been a very impatient and short-tempered enforcer: he's happy to chase down suspects and talk to witnesses, but seems to be frustrated by the slower parts of investigation (or perhaps he's just frustrated by Prowl. We'll get there). He does pull his weight in finding and interpreting clues, though, and generally comes across as the older - or at least more experienced - member of the duo.

Prowl, by contrast, feels surprisingly young, and even idealistic (well. For him). He believes the recent societal unrest will settle without a war, he's upset by the idea that the system he works to uphold might be corrupt, and he's philosophical about his Functionist upbringing, which he claims taught him to "respect" rules. He also seems fairly inexperienced as an enforcer; not a rookie by any means, but he's never been in a fight, he doesn't know what a "classic" case of spark rejection looks like, and he's not sure how to handle the discovery of the Institute because he doesn't know if any laws are being broken. Chromedome refers to him as a "desk jockey" in narration, so it's possible he's simply new to being on the field.

So, what does his relationship with Chromedome actually look like?

For the most part, they're actually pretty civil with each other. They can discuss their work without fighting, they casually bring up other topics in conversation, and they've shared parts of their lives with each other - Chromedome, his interest in mnemosurgery, and Prowl, details of his upbringing. Just looking at the few scenes we're given, they seem comfortable with each other and get along pretty well.

There are a few things, though.

I can see how one might place Prowl in the wrong here; he words his assumption in an accusatory way, and Chromedome's reaction suggests that this is normal - that Prowl blames him for things and never apologizes if he's wrong. Except Prowl is wrong and he does apologize. Further, Chromedome is literally an unreliable narrator - his narration mocks Prowl for being focused on the job instead of being glad he wasn't hurt, but Prowl expresses that exact sentiment. So is the takeaway that Prowl is being unusually reasonable, or that Chromedome is accusing him of behavior he doesn't actually partake in?

Here, we see Prowl showing off, otherwise known as doing his job. It seems that Chromedome is still mad at Prowl for staying behind while he went after their suspect. It's understandable that he would want backup, but he also knows Prowl has never been in a fight. So, to put it another way, he's mad at Prowl for not putting himself in a potentially dangerous situation that he isn't prepared to handle. What a nice guy.

Let's take things down a notch.

Here, we see that each mech wants the other to stay with him. Prowl is admittedly a bit selfish about it, having assumed Chromedome would leave with him instead of asking. But more importantly, we're starting to establish a pattern: Chromedome implies that he would stay on Cybertron (where the danger is), and he seems upset that Prowl won't do the same. With no way to determine his tone, we don't know if that upset takes the form of hurt or anger, or both. But he does seem to interpret it as abandonment, and once again, he would rather have Prowl with him in a dangerous situation that Prowl wants to avoid. So I guess they're both being a bit selfish here.

There's one more event I want to talk about. After Orion decides they're going to steal the Matrix, Prowl refuses to take part, and is upset that Chromedome is putting his job on the line by joining in. But before he leaves, he promises not to tell anyone about the heist if Orion makes Chromedome stay behind.

Chromedome says that he never really forgave Prowl for leaving without an explanation, and that's somewhat understandable. He wants to help Orion, he considers it important, and Prowl just left. It's reasonable to be upset when someone walks out on you like that. What isn't reasonable is that Chromedome's next piece of narration begins with, "I was taking my irritation out on a wall when Pax appeared".

So he's angry at Prowl and he responds with violence. Obviously not violence directed at Prowl, and we have no evidence (at least at this point in his life) that he's ever physically harmed Prowl. But he's shown plenty of disregard for Prowl's comfort and safety, so this throwaway line is certainly a bit concerning.

So, was there any abuse between them? Let's recap:

Prowl makes one accusatory remark that he apologizes for. He never mocks or insults Chromedome, and rarely criticizes him. He's a little bossy while on the job, and "controlling" once, when he wants Chromedome kept out of Orion's heist (because he doesn't want him getting in trouble). He expresses concern for Chromedome's safety, tells him "Good job" when he correctly identifies a glass sample, and thought he would leave with him if war broke out. Prowl is blunt and not very good with emotions, but he obviously cares.

Even ignoring the mockery in the narration, Chromedome scathingly refers to Prowl doing what he's good at (which also happens to be his job) as "showing off". He's resentful, he lashes out, he wants to be Prowl's first priority. He never shows concern for Prowl's well-being, never says anything nice to or about him ("he's really good at spatial computation" doesn't count if he's insulting him in the same breath), and the only indication that he cares about their relationship at all is that he gets angry when he feels jilted.

And no, Chromedome's abandonment issues are not Prowl's fault, or his problem. The mech who goes on to delete his own memories of three dead husbands instead of dealing with the grief does not get to blame someone else for his maladaptive coping mechanisms.

In summary, I don't think their relationship was abusive, at least at the time presented to us. I do think Chromedome was a self-centered jerk, and it's possible that Prowl refuses to back down in most of their fights because he thinks he's right. But a relationship isn't abusive just because it could benefit from couple's therapy.

Or because you hate one of the people involved.

[caldella]

Stolas, Via, and Prophecies:

A Future Destined to be Misread

This is another loooong one! As frequently happens with Stolas discussion: TW/CW for mentions of suicidal thoughts/ideation and abuse.

Important note:

I originally started this as a reblog to this post on @amalthea-13 's blog, but it got long and felt like hijacking a conversation that wasn't mine. (Hope you're okay being @ -ed like this, I can remove if you'd like.) It would feel wrong to post this without crediting it or suggesting to read that post if you'd like, because the discussion was very interesting and made me think on a few points that I touch on here: particularly Stolas' life and how it limited his ability to do/interpret his job. This post here is a combo of my own character analysis, story analysis, and some fan theory.

I feel like I have multiple drafts going RN that were either inspired by or started up at the same time someone else posted something similar, so recognizing that is literally the minimum I could do.

Basically, in this post I'm taking my personal examination on Stolas' Goetian role to read prophecies in the stars: what has come from that, what they've potentially been, and where that might be going in the future of HB. Some of this is reiterating things I've already reblogged before, but here we're putting it in one handy-dandy spot.

Has Stolas Actually Read Prophecies in the Show?

This is kind of what kicked off my idea to post. I've seen discussion a few times on how Stolas has never actively done his job in HB. However, I'm pretty certain he has. The thing is, the very nature of prophecies and how they work is why this might have gone unnoticed. If by 'reading prophecies' what's meant is actually meeting with the other Goetia about them - no, we never saw that. But I'm pretty sure that reading prophecies was what he was doing during the morning of The Circus:

He woke up, speed read through the constellations, then shoved the Grimoire back and moved on. This looked like a quick check-in on what the stars say. So, why did nothing come of it? Why was this never shown again? Because he didn't see anything new and likely hasn't for a long time.

Prophecies are generally rare and about big events. They're not going to pop up every day, or every year, even every decade possibly. They usually don't tell someone when specifically they're happening, either. They can hang overhead for generations, and the Goetia live indefinitely. A prophecy could involve something centuries in the future, and Stolas is only in his 30s. His job involves a lot of waiting for nothing, like constantly refreshing a webpage in hopes to see a few pixels move. Reading prophecies sounds powerful and impressive, but in Stolas' reality, it's tedious and fruitless: a good metaphor for his entire life. It probably reinforced his feeling of being trapped. Nothing changes: nothing ever changes. The stars themselves told him that constantly. Today is the same as yesterday and the day before, and tomorrow will be identical. This is his role, to be repetitive and useless day after day. He cannot avoid it, cannot escape it. The universe itself says so.

In fact, the feel I get is that Stolas found new information so infrequently that he could update the other Goetia every couple of months, and no one was the wiser:

Stolas' Confusion and Uncertainty About His Job

Stolas was both a good and a bad choice to read prophecies. He loves books, loves reading, loves learning. I think he threw himself into his role as much as he could, at first. But Stolas is also a very literal individual. Prophecies are not. They tend to come via metaphors and symbology, or they predict the outcome of something without showing the way things get there. Kid Stolas already had a shaky faith in how well he was going to be able to read them. We might find out that he received training on how to use the Grimoire after this, but being able to see prophecies doesn't mean he can understand them correctly, or even 100% know when he sees one at all. And in a society that considered itself above consequences, I don't think anyone else bothered to delve into what he discovered. They were left with his limited interpretations. Misreading prophecies is a common trope in literature/mythology. And when prophecies exist, those affected by them don't understand them 100% or realize when they're happening: not until the gears are already turning.

Someone like Stolas, who has limited life experience and tends to take things exactly as presented, only received his own viewpoint, which in true prophetic fashion skewed the results.

Stolas' Isolated Lens

Another callback to Amalthea-13's post - I 100% agree that Stolas' lack of faith in his own future and his social abuse/isolation hampered how he viewed on his prophecies, or hampered even getting them in the first place. His life was too above the everyday reality of working class Hellborn like imps, hellhounds, incubus, etc. He was also an outlier in his own social group, too, from the one-two punch of not fitting into their culture and having Stella/Andrealphus continuously degrading his public image. He knew enough about the ways the Goetia functioned, but he stayed uninvolved in their day-to-day pettiness and didn't share his life with them - to an extent where most of them didn't even notice when he wasn't present at a trial about him.

Why does all this matter? Because any prophecies he received have been viewed from this limited, hopeless lens. I think that he and Via both received prophecies, but they were only partially understood, and Stolas has heavily misread his own because he only focused on what was important to him. Having limited people he was connected to, and only one person he cared about at the time, he focused on how the future affected what was most important to him: Via.

More on that in the next segments.

Stolas & Via's' Actual Potential Prophecies

I am one of those who will die on the hill that Loo Loo Land, an episode already filled with foreshadowing of future plot points, gave us Stolas and Via's prophecies right away. Via's are more obvious, because they've both come true by the time we hit Mastermind/Sinsmas:

Via's prophecies:

Her living in the palace without Stolas, Stolas being gone

Stolas going away without her to live with Blitzø

Limited vision again! Just like Stolas, Via's viewpoints were restricted by her life experience and the most important person in them: in this case, her father. It hasn't been explicitly said that she is prophetic, and she might not even know she is. However, I think Octavia took glimpses of the future that might have a bigger reason behind them (like Stolas being absent from the palace) and only saw how that immediately affected the two of them, not what that could signify in the bigger picture.

In fact, for someone worried about losing their dad, she's rather blind to how Stolas wasn't wrong to want bodyguards at Loo Loo Land. Sure, he didn't need them, as the imps that attacked him couldn't do any lasting damage, but she skimmed over the fact that he was literally tied up and accosted multiple times. She thought having bodyguards at a theme park was ridiculous, but attacks on him did happen, even if they were mere nuisances. It didn't occur to her that her fear of Stolas leaving might be part of some bigger picture that was already starting to happen - one that involved Stella, Andrealphus, the other highborn of Hell - that it was more than just Stolas chasing Blitzø.

Which Brings me to Stolas and His Prophecies.

(Sorry the auto-captions from Stolas singing here are not good on YT, so I can't screencap the exact lyrics well)

I am far from alone in believing that You Will Be Okay was a set of a thinly veiled prophecies that Stolas received early on and interpreted from his limited experience/priorities. And I'm by far not the first to post about/try to digest it. But still... if these were prophecies, what do we potentially have here?

His own absence in Via's future

The stars aligning

The Seven Rings collapsing

Creation dying/finding him in the sky

Octavia will be okay

How Stolas Interpreted His Own Prophecies

Stolas doesn't have an interest in perpetuating the Goetia's cycle of power and control. He's had no reason to interpret prophecies in a way that benefits them. No one has really cared about him for a long time, and he's been shown over and over (by his father, by his wife, by their society, by the future in the stars) that he has no power to change things. I think this very literal-minded owl took any prophecies exactly as they were presented and didn't consider symbolic or alternate meanings. And the only personal use he had for them was to protect his daughter, because nothing else mattered at the time.

What Stolas believed he saw:

A future without him: he will be gone, and Via will take over the palace and his responsibilities.

The universe will continue, and the alignment of the stars and all their symbology will be Via's to interpret.

Whatever he's foreseen, Via will make it through. On the last days, when all the things have come to pass, Via will still be okay. Though he will only be there by the stars/everything he's taught her, she will remain until Creation itself is gone.

He has a lifelong history of abuse/isolation, and tendencies that hint at him being passively suicidal. If these are prophecies Stolas received, it's a pretty safe theory that he interpreted all of this as his impending death. After all, he was already forced to produce a "cautionary heir." The whole reason Via exists is in case something happens to him (and we still don't have answers on who his mother is/what happened to her). What else would take him away from Via except his own death? With a dwindling will to live, a wife who despised him, and a culture that barely acknowledged him and would only mourn his loss as a political requirement - there could be nothing else.

When Stolas looked into the future, he thought he saw nothing for himself. His story was not actually his - it was Via's.

Stolas spent his adulthood waiting for his nothingness to end (or as I've had pointed out that I didn't mention - waiting to end his own nothingness). He never moved forward because he had no support or external influence to do so. Never hoped for a better future because everyone around them and the stars themselves - which determine fate, as his job told him - said he wouldn't be there for it. At least, that's what it seemed.

Lack of Discussing His Prophecies

With all this, I think it makes a lot of sense that Stolas hasn't openly discussed prophecies so far in the show. From what he believed, his visions of the future only affected himself and Via, and Via would come through them fine. Stolas has spent his entire adulthood hiding his abusive marriage and his own depression issues from Octavia. if he foresaw the potential of his own death, there'd be no way he'd tell her about that, either. No need to worry her with whatever his fate was going to be. Just make sure she'd be okay to go on without him. No need to suggest research with the other Goetia - they don't care, and the only things that might affect them are the inevitable collapse of the Seven Rings and the End of Days, which none of them could prevent. If these were visions of the future, they only discouraged him from reaching out or looking further.

A Wrench in the Gears of Fate

We can't discuss Stolas and his bleak view of the future without then bringing Blitzø into the equation. Stolas doesn't call Blitzø his light for no reason - he's an outlier that defied everything Stolas had been told about his future. He met him before he started his 'job.' No one planned for them to meet as adults. The stars hadn't said anything about him, either. Stolas suddenly had an outside influence dropped into his life. He was experiencing feelings he thought would be locked away forever. He was making decisions based on himself: what he wanted, and not what the world told him was inevitable. Blitzø was a giant question mark that suddenly appeared on the map of his life.

All these prophecies might have been hanging over his head, and perhaps his end was still waiting out there in the nebulous future. But he could be himself until it got there. He could at least decide who he was in the first place. Besides the choice to be a loving father, he was making decisions for the first time in his life.

And all that culminated in Mastermind: Stolas determined that even if he couldn't change the overarching things meant to happen, he could choose how. He wasn't going to wait for fate to happen to him - he was going to make it happen himself

Misinterpreting/Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

This was such a fucking amazing moment for Stolas' story, with so many, many layers to it.

We obviously have this as Stolas' and Blitzø's big emotional moment that solidifies that both of them are in love. Neither of them wish to move on. Stolas loves Blitzø. He chooses to love Blitzø despite what anyone else would want. He would rather die than be without him. He would die for him. He would love him no matter what, over and over. Always.

On one hand, Stolas took control of his own destiny. He took accountability for his own actions here, a theme that continued through Sinsmas. He fully decided in Mastermind to make decisions on his own terms.

But on the other hand, he still only defied fate by giving into it completely. "If the stars themselves say I'm going to die, then I'm at least choosing how and when. And I choose now."

Stolas still functioned under the assumption that he didn't have a future. His "choice" was to accept that he was meant to die, but to do so in a meaningful way. He would accept the fate prophecied for him by beating it to the punch and causing it. And he only made this choice because he couldn't think of another way to protect Blitzø's life. Part of his choice involved taking accountability for his own actions (like lending the Grimoire to Blitzø), but at the same time, he was forced into it by people like Andrealphus, who had already been waiting to make a trap he would walk into.

And even though he made a choice, he wasn't really allowed to keep it in the end.

Losing Faith in His Own Visions

In my opinion, post-Mastermind Stolas has likely lost all faith in interpreting the future. He thought he understood it. He was supposed to die. Via was going to inherit his place forever. The universe would keep going, with her safe. But, as often happens with prophecies, he read it wrong. Via's fear/future insights came true, and Stolas' vision that he wouldn't be there with her came true, but he didn't die. He has to live through it. Stolas has spent his adulthood waiting for an inevitable end - he accepted it, took control of it, tried to make it happen - and he's still here, still going. He always figured he would be gone as those gears of the universe kept spinning, but now he's still here, experiencing all of it as it turns and turns...

I don't think he's going to discuss prophecies or visions of the future, not for at least some time. He's misinterpreted them so far, and in his eyes it's done nothing but make things worse. The only positive thing he has left at this stage is Blitzø, who he still views as outside of any pre-made destiny the stars told him about. He got lost in that question mark on the map. Now he's not sure what that inevitable destination is actually supposed to be anymore, so why look into it? He's been only wrong so far.

Fan Theories - Stolas' Prophecies and His Future/the Future of HB

AKA I personally think Stolas will choose all over again, but this time fully for himself.

This part is just speculation! I could be wrong on all accounts!

With Season 3 heavily in the works, and theories on the plotlines/character arcs swirling around, I've had my own theories on You Will Be Okay and what it might actually mean, in context of the show's future. Not what Stolas read of them, but what they could hint at for the audience. Side note: I know that the entire HB story wasn't written out way back when S1 first started, but I think it's equally valid to theorize "the HB writers took You Will Be Okay and found ways to interpret it into the story" just as much as "the entire song was written to foretell the plot."

So let's go over some lines!

"It always seems so stark/How silence grows under the moon/Constellations gone so soon"

I don't think Stolas meant/realized this was a little prophetic, but I feel like it was. Once Stolas got involved with Blitzø and the Full Moon arrangement, he kept up less and less on his duties and responsibilities. Metaphorically, he became more silent in his job, and reading prophecies became less and less important. Blitzø was a silent space that destiny had not told him about. As he started to make decisions for himself going into S2, he started fighting against the monotonous fate the stars had pictured for him. Eventually, that led to him losing access to them completely. They're now gone from his life.

"As the stars start to align"

I feel like this is where we are at the end of Season 2. This is obviously a reference to his job, now Via's job, of reading the stars and finding prophecies/meaning in them. And a reference to how he felt his life was destined, written into the stars. But the metaphor of reading the stars can also be taken as where we are currently in the Helluva Boss story - Blitzø's and Stolas' actions for the first two seasons have kicked off some major things that are going to have domino effects as we go. The plot is starting to roll, and the future is taking shape. Stolas' decisions have had a hand in that, and he doesn't even realize how much.

"And if the Seven Rings Collapse/Although the Day Could Be My Last"

I feel like this is where we might be headed in the story. Not a literal collapse of the Rings of Hell, as Stolas has likely interpreted it, but metaphorical. We've had some hints starting at Mastermind that Blitzø surviving the trial - along with his and Stolas' words during it - have caused a ripple effect among the imps and general working class of Hell. The series doesn't shy from showing the corruption that inherently keeps the people of the Rings class divided and repressed, and it's exposing some of the weaknesses that might come into play to mess with that. I don't know if "outright imp revolution" is precisely what will happen, but I think the overarching story is going to involve a major shift in power dynamics that permanently alters how things are run in Hell. But it's not going to happen without major characters like Stolas being in a lot of potential danger to get there. This could also reference how his words in Mastermind have already started that ball rolling - a day that nearly was his last. It was STOLAS who mentioned Blitzø lighting a metaphorical fire in his race. He was an active part in kicking off any plotlines that come from there.

"And when Creation goes to die/You can find me in the sky"

Stolas didn't believe he'd be there for the end of days. And I'm going to be honest - I think he's right, but not in the way he interpreted. Stolas thought he was going to be killed (or if we take his potential suicidal ideation seriously, perhaps he'd reach a point where he would end himself). But I think the final part of Stolas' story - like Season 4 last few episodes end - is going to be different. We have him currently stripped of his powers. IIRC, Viv herself said that Stolas' injury from Western Energy would have a "lasting effect." She also said Stolas will not "physically die" in the show. (If someone finds a the screenshots of these please please share because I'd love to past it in here for reference). The reference to the injury could just mean the scar he now has from it. Or it could mean something else. The not physically dying could mean he might die metaphorically - which could have been losing his powers/identity in Mastermind, or it could not...

For all we know, Stolas is the first of his kind to be stripped of his powers. It seems he's the first Goetia to demand things like a divorce. He's functioning outside the realm of what the upperclass of Hell really understand. Again, uncharted waters, big question mark on the map. I've spoken with a few of you on here about how out-of-touch the banishment itself was. Stripping someone of everything and throwing them onto the streets that hate them would, under other circumstances, just be a more painful death sentence than the outright execution. Yet the upperclass of Hell didn't seem to view it as more than a temporary, slap-on-the-wrist punishment. I'd say it's fair game to say that no one has any idea what that angelic weapon injury might've done to Stolas, nor do they know what another one will do if he is injured again while stripped of his powers. No one really knows what stripping his powers might've done to his body in general. We've also been given what I take as another hint - a pretty obvious reference to Disney's Hercules in Sinsmas, with Blitzø saving Stolas from the ice hydra/dragon in a similar way to Hercules fighting the hydra.

So, where do I think this is heading?

I think Stolas is still going to choose to "die" - but it will be in the form of giving up his immortality. He will choose to die, but this time because it's how he can truly LIVE.

Let's face it, as much as it might hurt Via to process, Stolas doesn't want to live forever. And I'm not even sure how his character might become okay with doing so unless Blitzø magically gets immortality, too. Via is the only thing he cares about right now that will be around that long. He doesn't get along with the other highborn. He doesn't want involved in deciding how others are governed besides letting them choose for themselves. And the only individual he cares for besides Via is very not-immortal. I think, at the end of things, Stolas is going to face a reality where he is no longer immortal, whether it be a new injury that kicks off something in his not-magic body or a side effect of having his powers ripped out of him in the first place, not sure. But I think he's going to have the option to regain immortality, he might even have it back along with his powers for a while. But like in Disney's Hercules, he's going to turn the immortality down to choose a mortal life like Blitzø and the IMP crew. Because a real life to him would include all the things he thought he could never have: people who care about him, a life he chooses, and growing old with someone he loves. A family - like he tried to build with Stella but couldn't.

"When creation goes to die/You can find me in the sky" might be a reference to how he's always going to metaphorically be there for Via until the end of time, but it also might be a hint that HE, specifically, will be a creation that will one day die, but his love for her will live on.

I think Stolas saw most of his prophecies as things that will happen in a future after his passing, but he misinterpreted. They're all instead things he's going to personally live through, just like in Mastermind. Just as Via's prophetic nightmare was about her future, Stolas' visions weren't fully about Via: they were about him. He's not a passive observer of a future without him - he's part of the catalyst that will make it all happen.

As for getting any future prophecies, amalthea-13's post mentioned that he might be better at receiving/interpreting them later in the story, now that he's slowly gaining agency and drive and sees things outside his highly controlled old life. I again refer to that post for any potential, as my ramblings are more on stuff Stolas has already potentially foreseen. TBH I hadn't even considered the option of him having future prophecies, and it's an interesting idea to think about. While I'm more inclined to guess his prophesying is over, things could be really interesting if I was proved wrong - and I've definitely been wrong on plot theories before! Hell, this entire post could be wrong! Who knows for sure?!

Conclusion

That's about it! If you read this whole thing, please take my wholehearted applause, love, and apologies for the length. Y'all know I love this absurd, depressed owl. I'm so nervous for the chaos he's gonna go through in future seasons, but I also can't wait to see it. Time will tell if any of my personal prophecies come true, or if I misread things badly myself instead. 😘

[always-just-down-the-street]

INANIMATE INSANITY 16 SPOILERS AHEAD!

ALSO EYESTRAIN WARNING!

Also this fan-art is based on the theory I made here, so please read this before checking out the fan-art below!

You beg MePhone to say he's lying. That you're real, that you were never supposed to win, that your conquest to save everyone from themselves hasn't been anything short of the only lie bigger than your continued existence. You try to think back to who you used to be and you can't, it hurts so much, she's dead and it's your fault, you knew you were unsalvageable but you didn't know it permeated so far into your being. The gilded cage you lost the key to. You feel yourself crack again and you pray it'll be quick but no, you just sit there, broken, crying, screaming. A winner forced into the role of the villain, the liar, the freakshow.

The only grace you can hope for is that if you go completely insane, maybe you'll finally be more like her again.

You stare at her. You see every day you had fun with her back in the first season, when things were simple and the world felt like it actually made sense. When you weren't burdened by the knowledge of what you really are. You can't help but laugh- why should you be so surprised? You were only ever meant to take the shape of the vessel you were given, who cared if it was a physical one or not? You think back to every day you saw her in the corner of your eye, watching you prance around in the hotel you stole from her. In the life you stole from her. She missed that and she missed them but she definitely did not miss you. You wouldn't even be surprised if she hates you, and the worst part is she has every right to. MePhone wanted you to be the villain, the person everyone hates, but things went wrong and she was forced to take that role instead. But now the truth is out. Her last good deed was saving you from yourself. You're still the villain.

And somehow you're the most surprised of them all.

-

The joy of being an artist and a theorist is that sometimes I get such a cool idea I can express it in both ways.

Yes, this is a sequel to my Netflix Trip picture with Knife and Suitcase, this time featuring our season one finalists OJ and Taco and Kikuo's Hole-Dwelling! (Originally it was Puppet Loosely Strung by The Correspondents but Hole-Dwelling actually goes INSANE with the theory.) It's based on the theory that I had posted of last, which (and I might go back to the original post to add this) I have now given an official title: The Misremembered Lanes Theory! Or AU, if this gets deconfirmed. You never know! But yeah, it is named after the Season 1 finale.

Just like last time, the models were done in Blockbench, this one was a lot harder because I had to wrangle with stuff like OJ's transparency, trying to pick the right face/expression for Taco- there was a version of this image where Taco had just gone. Completely mad/feral, but it didn't look as good as I wanted it to...but, I think I finally got around to a fun result in the end. Speaking of fun facts, my favorite little design thing I did for this: OJ and Taco's strings are colored like each other! Puppets literally and helplessly ensnared in each other's role. :)

Plus I already have an idea of who I might do a piece of next, so that'll be fun! So I hope you all enjoy this piece as much as you did the last piece and the theory itself, all fan-art is appreciated, and thank you for reading this far!

[cottoncandythunderhead]

soulmates

the idea of soulmates or "fated partners" is intriguing to me, heres my theory abt the soulmate mechanics of saiki k ^^

my 1st and main theory is that its related to mikos ability to see compatibility, ppl with the highest or maybe only if its 100% compatibility r considered soulmates. however tho i do believe this in general bc it has the most canon backing i dont actually think this could be the case for saiki and aiura, we never get to see it but i think if wed been shown the compatibility (or chance of success) between these 2 it would be low (u can reference my miko analysis for y i think this) so i think theres more than 1 way for ppl to be fated partners. the idea that this is the only way to be soulmates also contradicts info ill provide below

another theory ppl have had is that ur soulmate is literally ur future partner, and at 1st i thought this was implied when i read the manga bc miko says she was "looking into her own future" when she found her soulmate, however after checking a few translations, this seems to be a mistranslation, she uses the same language as she does for any future or non-future readings. this post would b rlly long if i went into it but i think this theory is completely off the table in saiki and mikos case, it would contradict what we know (abt mikos powers, future not being stagnant, the fact she went out of her way to change the future to find her soulmate which would imply it wasnt in her future b4, and more), but maybe the future isnt entirely off the table as a factor for soulmates in general. i do think its possible considering all her talk of future and fate

canon facts abt soulmates:

-they r hardly mentioned at all. the only mentions of soulmates r: 1) when shes talking abt saiki. 2) chiyo thinks shes shuns soulmate, miko doesnt believe so. 3) in 236, a client asks miko if hell ever get married, miko refers him to "the woman of his dreams", NOT his "fated partner" or "soulmate." its unclear if this woman is his soulmate or if she foresaw something else (im in the middle of a reread so pls correct me if im wrong so i can add to this and on that note lmk if my translations r ever off)

-miko mentions she doesnt believe chiyo is shuns soulmate, but she didnt scry this and her language implies she doesnt know for sure. this means their 2-4% compatibility doesnt actually 100% ensure that they arent soulmates, but it might be what made her think they probably arent. this means compatibility may be linked but not entirely indicative of being soulmates

-miko mentions that she was "rlly feeling it" the day she found her soulmate which may imply its very hard and rare for her to see. she also makes no attempts to get any1 else with their soulmates iirc so it seems unimportant and not guaranteed, its only a desire

-compatibility, which may be linked to soulmates, is also referred to as "chance of success", which may or may not be an interchangeable term

so with all that in mind heres my theories for all the ways ppl can be considered fated partners:

-highest/100% compatibility

-your ideal/dream person (i think this 1 may be possible to be unreciprocated or possibly u have to be each others dream person with ur ideals, morals, and plans for the future lining up)

-the person u get with in several possible timelines or in the foreseeable future

-the best future that can be foreseen is 1 where u r together

i also dont think miko can conciously choose or see which "type" of soulmate shes seeing

we also have to consider that compatibility and the future BOTH canonically change pretty easily and altho that concept interests me in the context of soulmates, its rlly hard to consider that here in a way that doesnt stretch too far from theories into just fanon and where soulmates would still mean anything at all, so ill table that for now but the idea that soulmates can be changed is very intriguing and i think its pretty likely when i consider how all of mikos seen powers work

now specifically for saiki and miko: i think theyre some form of the last 1. i think fate brings them together bc every future where they dont meet is a bad future, at least for saiki. this is bc i believe kusuo could never have stopped the volcanic eruption, or at least that it wouldve taken him many more years to do so without miko. therefore each future where theyre happiest is 1 where theyre connected in some way

[paper-starz]

WELCOME HOME THEORIES AND ANALYSIS! FRIDAY THE 13th EDITION!

HUH?? A surprise Welcome Home Update???

WITH LORE AND SECRETS?!?!?!

Ohohohoho! You know yours truly loves lore! And oh boy... Theres a lot to unpack here.... So buckle your seatbelts folks! I might've discovered something BIG

WARNING! THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE HALLOWEEN UPDATE! OH AND THIS IS GONNA BE VERY VERY LONG!

Ok, first things first, THE THEORY

I might've figured out who the main antagonist could be, and it's not Wally or Home. In fact, it has been staring at us the entire time, we've just never realized it.

I think the main villain of Welcome Home could be the spooky swirly void living inside of Home.

"WHAT?!?! This early on in story??" I hear you say! "This couldn't be possible!"

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE DEAR VIEWER! And truth be told, there could be multiple antagonists in Welcome Home, but all evidence points to this swirly guy being the source of everything wrong thats happening. Also, from now on, I'll be calling it the Entity. (Spooky swirly man sounds so silly!)

EVIDENCE 1: It makes people sick.

It seems like the Entity emits some kind of black "ink" that makes people sick once you touch it. It also seems like the WHRT knows about this too! Going into great lengths to order everyone to wear gloves.

Writing on sticky note atop vinyl glove box reads: Put on gloves before handling ANY art. Call me if we run out!

Not to mention that think ink also seems to effect anyone psychologically, making them want to discover more about Welcome Home, even if it harms their own health.

In the ABOUT US page:

When I unwrapped the first letter, I felt it. I heard it. Open. Open. Open. I want it out. I’m going to get it out.

In the STAFF ONLY page:

Everything is so disgusting to touch. Sometimes the mail doesn't come for weeks. I want to rip into everything I have. My head feels so muddled too. Ever since I opened the envelope.

I keep getting phone calls, now. Or at least, I assume that's what's happening. I keep hearing it ringing. All day, sometimes. I check my phone and there's no new messages. I thought maybe some of the site staff were pranking me, but I tore up the workspace and couldn't find another phone that might be ringing. All that was there were the toys for the exhibit, and obviously those couldn't be ringing. But I kept hearing it anyway. The phone ringing and ringing... ...I keep digging and digging. I've poured over every recovery the WHRP has given me access to, every inch of their website, and the things I find make less and less sense. If I didn't know better I'd say everyone was coming together to pull an elaborate prank on me. I can still hear the phone ringing now. I don't know how to answer the phone. I need to answer the phone.

The NEWS PAGE also mentions ringing! (This could be the same person who has been affected by the ringing)

So many guest signatures… So many of them are trying to communicate. What are you telling me for? Do you think I can answer? What are you trying to do to me? I’m closing that guest book, I’m not playing this game anymore. The ringing is enough.

And even affecting them physically as well!

NEWS PAGE

What is it, I hear you pleading! Clawing at your screens just as we have! Coughing, headaches, nausea- I know. I know. It will take a lot of cleaning, preparation, and polishing on our part, but it is a worthwhile labor of love.

Coughing, headaches, nausea.... The Restoration Team is growing sick, yet they are completely obsessed with restoring more evidence for Welcome Home.

They even know that they are growing sick, they wear gloves, they clean, they prepare, they polish the artwork over and over and warn anyone NOT to touch the ink, but it's not enough. They need to restore Welcome Home, even at the cost of their own health.

Heck, the entire page (and studio) is literally dowsed with black ink!

And it seems to be growing too...

Theres more stuff on the walls I keep hearing phones ring.

"More stuff" as if he's surprised, as if there were less ink on the walls than before. And he keeps hearing phones ringing... Its growing...

And it made its way into the real world....

EVIDENCE 2: SALLY'S HORROR STORY!

Ah yes! Some evidence from the Halloween Update! This time, from Sally Starlet’s Macabre Menagerie of Monstrous Mischief Making! Specifically, I want to analyze the "noticeable gap" in the audio, the only part where the WHRT did NOT transcript. (This was written by yours truly btw!)

SALLY: What?! No, no, and no! …It is because this town is rumored to have visitors at night… Something from deep within the forest, far beyond the hills and mountains… No one knows what it wants or where it’s going, just that it is persistent… Just that it arrives here. So many stories have risen about their origins… But I know what it is searching for. It is looking for neighbors who have stayed past the daytime, to gobble them up whole. That is why so few live here. It moved through the streets at night, but it doesn't break into homes. However, on rare instances, it will find itself with an appetite left…. unsatisfied by its aimless wandering. Even the occasional unfortunate insect that has crossed its path is not enough… Those who have lived through the night say it isn't quiet about it either. They always say you can hear when it gets closer to you. Do you know what sound it makes? I hear it. Every. Night. You can hear it too, if you listen. Especially if you wait next to your window. First, theres rustling in the bushes. Then, A scratching on the pavement and the walls as it crawls up. Finally, if you're quiet, you can hear its guttural sound…

Now, I know what you're asking. Why even bring up this little story at all? What does this story have to do with the Entity?

Context, my dear viewer. If you listen closely, the audio is too clear. No static, no nothing. This segment is also the only part where it didn't get transcripted because it was "inaudible". Which is strange, because you and me and you and that guy and me can hear it just fine! And THAT is why it got me theory senses tingling.

Plus, the story is about a monster too! Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

So let's analyze!

"…It is because this town is rumored to have visitors at night… Something from deep within the forest, far beyond the hills and mountains… No one knows what it wants or where it’s going, just that it is persistent… Just that it arrives here."

This could be talking about the Entity. We don't know what exactly the Entity wants, just that it looks like it's determined to reach a goal that we don't know much about.

"It is looking for neighbors who have stayed past the daytime, to gobble them up whole. That is why so few live here."

It feels like this is talking about the portal-like properties the Entity has. "Gobbling" up neighbors whole and sending them to another dimension, ours.

Sally also states "That is why so few live here", which makes me question how many neighbors used to live here before. Perhaps Julie's siblings, Howdy's family, Barnaby's mom? Were they sent to another dimension? Where are they now????

Not only that, but Sally makes it clear that it goes after neighbors at nighttime. And what time does Welcome Home usually update? 7 PM (*Now, this time could be different because of timezones, but the updates usually happen during the night)

"It moved through the streets at night, but it doesn't break into homes. However, on rare instances, it will find itself with an appetite left…. unsatisfied by its aimless wandering..."

"First, theres rustling in the bushes. Then, A scratching on the pavement and the walls as it crawls up. Finally, if you're quiet, you can hear its guttural sound…"

I think Sally is giving us an EXACT description on how the Entity managed to break into Home.

1st, theres rustling in the bushes. Home does have bushes surrounding him.

Then, a scratching on the pavement and walls as it crawls up. The Entity could've broken into Home by either climbing through the window or through the roof.

Finally, a guttural sound. Now... where did I hear a guttural sound in Welcome Home before.... Oh yeah! Wally. <- Click this handy-dandy clip and you can hear something quite monstrous right below Wally's voice!

"Wait a minute.... Did you say Wally has a guttural voice???"

I did, dear reader. I did.... Which brings me to my next point:

EVIDENCE 3: POSSESSION AND PUPPETEERING!

Throughout our inspection of the Welcome Home website, we've seen countless times of Wally becoming more and more distressed as each update comes out.

But we've also seen a lot of inconsistencies regarding our lil' Darling! In fact, I even compiled these into a theory in which there could be 2 people hacking into the website!

And while that I still do believe there are more than 2 people hacking into the website... I don't think the Question Answerer is the one doodling. He's still hacking onto the website, but unlike Wally, he writes it out.

The last piece of evidence just proves its the same guy writing this! The Question Answerer!

I want to rip into everything I have. My head feels so muddled too. Ever since I opened the envelope. (see above)

Ok but if the Question Answerer isn't the other guy doodling... then who is making all of the inconsistent doodles??

Why, the ENTITY!

Not only are the doodles inconsistent, but even the sound of Wally's voice sound... quite off if you compare enough audios.

For example! Compare the interview audio with the newest Happy Haunting audio, do you notice anything peculiar about Wally's voice? Especially in the Happy Haunting audio? (If you have trouble finding it, compare these few timestamps below)

4:08

4:51

8:45

13:39-15:29

It sounds... off. Robotic even! It's slow, and the articulation is way different from the interview audio. In the interview audio, you can hear how happy Wally sounds! Even in this audio (and this one too), you can hear Wally growing increasingly frustrated. Yes, its still monotone, but you could hear emotion!

But the Happy Haunting audio, it's neutral. Yes, it IS monotone, but it feels like someone doing an impersonation of Wally rather than Wally actually speaking himself. In fact, the audio reminds me of the phone audio right here. It has the same pauses and neutral tone, save for the very audible growl right underneath Wally's voice.

But speaking of the phone audio.... Did you catch that?

...Do you know who I am? [The heart beat and ambience resume.] [Gasp.] Oh no. Well that’s not neighborly at all. We’ve never met before. But don’t worry. Even though you and I haven’t spoken before, I’ve seen you... Every time you have looked into my eyes. I want to know… What did you see? [Silence.] I hope you saw a friend, but I’m not sure you saw a name... Stand still. Let’s start over. Ring ring ring. Click. Hi, I’m Wally. I’m so happy to finally meet you, I think you’re the absolute most.

...That's strange, isn't it? We definitely HAVE met Wally, not formally, but we do know about him (this fandom is proof of that!) So how come Wally is saying that we haven't?

Especially when in another audio, he says that we DO 'know him'.

…Why won’t you answer me, neighbor. Why can’t I hear you. You know me. You do. Please open. Let me in.

Contradictory, isn't it? We can't both know Wally and NOT know Wally at the same time. That's impossible....

Unless the phone audio Wally isn't our Wally... its the Entity.

Technically, we DON'T know about the Entity. It's not a character in Welcome Home and the things that we do know about it are just mere theories and speculations. It is our 'first' formal meeting with it.

Then why did it introduce itself as Wally? WELL BECAUSE ITS POSSESSING HIM! It's trying to convince us that it is Wally, using his signature catchphrase and even saying 'I hope you saw a friend'. Besides, if you were a weird portal monster, I doubt you would introduce yourself as one if you wanted to trick someone.

And if this possession theory does turn out to be true, it does explain the major inconsistencies happening in the website! Such as the doodles!

The Hearts!

THE HANDWRITING

THATS NOT WALLY'S HANDWRITING! He writes in CAPITAL LETTERS and in RED (not all lowercase and in blue!).

WALLY CAN'T DRAW HEARTS SO WHO'S DRAWING EM???

AND BOTH OF THOSE BARNABY DRAWINGS SURE DO LOOK INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER. ALMOST AS IF SOMEONE WITH LITTLE DRAWING EXPERIENCE DID IT.

But if you still need a bit more proof to convince ya, here's some more!

W a L L y: You won't write back Wally: You're looking for me. Silly. Silly.

I think W a L L y is our Wally! He's getting desperate, but he knows that we won't be able to write back. Wally on the other hand is the Entity, it knows that we are looking for the main big bad antagonist, and it knows. It even mocks us.

And I think we've seen evidence of these possessions before. Look at none other than the bug audios!

In every single one of these bug audios, we are in the perspective of Wally himself. But in these bug audios, Wally doesn't say anything at all. Rather, he sits unmoving, listening into the conversation whether he has been invited there or not!

In this bug audio, Wally has been listening in on Sally and Howdy's conversation the entire time!

But thats not all! All of these bug audios are connected according to the conversation between Barnaby and Home! Which means that all of these bug audios are happening on the same day at a very short period of time, which is concerning on just how frequent Wally appears to be disassociating. Or if that's even Wally at all!

If that is the Entity controlling Wally, it feels like he's observing them, studying them. Perhaps that's why the audios always cut out whenever a neighbor says Wally's name, it snaps him out of that trance and reminds him that he is in fact the real Wally!

Which brings us to our latest bug audio (and by far the most worrying one), the Candy Spider! The Halloween Bug?? Idk it's this one <-

We've just gotten proof of Wally munching on an apple. This would've been fine and dandy in any other situation, but remember viewer! Context matters! Especially if we put into consideration that that is not Wally.

BARNABY: ‘Ey, how’s my little devil doin’ over ‘ere? You guardin’ my apple for me, pal? [There is a brief pause. What is he doing.] BARNABY: Oh— heh, I guess ya didn’t do a very good job at it. [Barnaby calls out to the room] Hey! Who took a bite outta my apple? I think I see some fang marks, Frank!

Yeah that SURE is definitely not worrying. Nope, none whatsoever!

Oh boy... I think that's everything. Well, not everything everything. I still don't think the Entity is the only bad guy, just the main one! The Playfellow Workshop is very suspicious, and while I do believe Wally and Home are most likely victims of everything that is going on, I don't think I should say that they are quite innocent yet.

In the banner, they are the only two NOT separated by hearts! It seems to me that they are working together to give out more evidence to the WHRT.

And Marlo... another company that is VERY suspicious. What did their logo look like again?

A house logo with an eye in the middle.... Why does that look so familiar?

AH.

Well that's clearly not suspicious!

[crepes-suzette-373]

Germa's Ancestors

(+ Shandora connection?)

This is a kind of long theory post. I feel like at some point it would make more sense to narrate this as audio/video, because I think people don't like walls of text.

Anyway, bear with me for now, this is a long post.

I want to begin by analysing this scene:

To my knowledge, the phrase 無念の魂 is very specifically only applicable to the souls of the dead, and you can't use it to say souls/spirit in a euphemistic sense. E.g "put my soul into my work", or something like "the spirit of the age". I did my best to check various examples of usage, and far as I can find it really just means dead people.

In that case, then the dialogue about 300 years in the raw would mean "To think that I entrusted you with 300 years' worth of my kingdom's regretful souls".

"Regretful souls" is, as it says, the souls of people who died with a lot of regrets or resentment. It's quite a different sense from "longing".

Also another thing, he says 合わせる顔もない about the dead. This isn't "disgracing their memory". This is "I'm so ashamed (of myself/my failure) that I cannot face them", hence the "I despise myself" dialogue that comes after. It didn't really specify a word for "direct ancestor" so I assume he meant all people of Germa of the past.

So... this could be either/or, but if failing to restore Germa = regrets, and supposedly people there have been dying in regret for 300 years, then it sounds like wanting to restore Germa was the people's dream ever since their destruction.

Though, that is still open to interpretation. It doesn't have to mean "reconquering North Blue" really was the goal that was passed down through generations. Maybe actually the ancestors just wanted to have some land again, but over the years that goal becomes corrupted and twisted.

Or all of that was just crazy talk and the ancestors never actually wanted this. Who knows?

(I do apologise to anyone who really don't like Judge for putting this stuff on your dash, but he's kind of the only one who ever actually said anything substantial about Germa history, and for analysis purposes he has to be in there)

Also a little conspiratorial bent.

The dialogue text said that the souls cannot return to their homeland, it strongly implies the land is just completely obliterated. It's similar to how the Shandians said that their ancestors no longer has a place to return after the sacred trees were cut down.

Germa, or at the very least Judge, has a similar attitude towards the ancestors as the Shandians. Perhaps not quite to the point of worshipping them as gods, but Judge view the past dead of Germa with deep respect.

I feel like it's hinted that "Moon = high technology", as shown by the robots on the moon that Enel saw in the cover story. I've made theories before speculating that Germa is thematically connected to the moon, but maybe they actually literally are related to the moon via one of the moon tribes that descended to the Earth.

I'm not sure how canon it is, but one of the Data Books had said that Skypieans don't actually have wings. Their wings are just costume/decoration.

Assuming this is real (Data Books and Vivre Cards are sometimes wrong), are there humans in the world who are actually descendants of Skypieans? After all if they literally have no wings, then they would look no different from regular humans. Skypieans didn't really have an obvious strong ancestral worship like the Shandians, but perhaps there is some shared culture that we don't know.

That, or possibly somehow the Shandians' wings are also fake. In the moon murals you can see that the Birkans' wings are differently-shaped from the other two. If the Skypiean wing is fake, who's to say that the Shandian one isn't?

Also, an interesting thing is that the Shandian ancestor seems to be the one making the robots, while the Birkan is either observing or giving instructions. So the Shandian ancestor is at least some form of engineer. Curious.

On that note, the people of Wano also deeply respect their ancestors, as real Japanese people do. They have curious Princess Kaguya hints, as well as strong prevalence of moon symbols all over.

As I noted in my analysis of honorifics, Skypieans, Wano, and Germa all share the 上 honorific usage. This is an unusual honorific that no other kingdoms in the world seem to use. Aside from the above 3, only the merfolk royalty and the Tenryuubito use them.

It could be that it's simply "archaic language" even in the One Piece universe, and it just fell out of use in most of the kingdoms. It still makes me wonder if there are actually a lot of humans who have blood ties to the moon tribes that isn't revealed yet as well.

I've also previously mentioned that young Judge has a "Kabuki face" that reminds me of Kin'emon, but I didn't consider that Kalgara also kind of looks like that too. It might just be design coincidence, but maybe it actually means something, I don't know.

[shutupineedtothink]

Post Ep 6 Theory: Billy Is Casting Agatha as the Villain

Well I really have no business writing theories at this point since I’ve been wrong multiple times but like maybe I really got something this time, you know? Isn’t that the point? Can’t I be right one time?? My Capricorn stellium is raging at having all these theories disproved. And I love it at the same time. 😅

Whatever. Potential spoilers under the cut.

So I’m fully on the “Billy magicked the Road” theory, he is Wanda’s son after all and tbh there’s just too much evidence to ignore it at this point. I won’t go into all of it, House of R pod does a great breakdown in their episode 6 review, check that out if you’re interested. The basic points are: Billy created the Road probably subconsciously, Agatha knows it, she’s trying to figure out how he did it and what his goal is, and also get her power back and not die from the Seven. Cool.

My theory is an offshoot of the Billy theory, and speaks to where he and Agatha are going to end this season (aka coven two). Ready? Ok.

Soooo if we take as fact that Billy conjured the Road, because he can’t control his magick and more broadly because he has some shit to work through (again, same as Wanda) then how do we explain Agatha’s trial within that framework.

Why was the trial to “punish Agatha?” If Billy, subconsciously or not, is in control of everything that happens on the Road, why do that?

Well, subconsciously, he’s angry at Agatha. Whether he’s actually angry at her specifically or just angry about what happened with the hex, it doesn’t really matter. He has a lot of suppressed anger that needs somewhere to go. And who’s the closest available probably evil witch? Ya girl, Agatha Harkness.

Someone he saw as his friend, possibly, in the hex. Someone who fought his mom and tried to take her power. And someone who ultimately, by disrupting the status quo, led to his literal world being destroyed. By that logic, I’d want to punish her too.

Billy, in his (probably subconscious) magic-fueled rage, grief, and sadness over what happened to him, his family, and his life, took all of that and blamed it on Agatha. In his fantasy of his own hero’s journey on the Road to find his brother, to get his family back, he has (spell)casted Agatha as the villain.

So when Agatha “can’t control” her power in episode 5, siphoning Alice, it’s not because she has issues with her own control of her powers. It’s because Billy was making her do it (again, probably subconsciously). She essentially blacked out at that moment, and turned into the evil witch Agatha Harkness. And when she comes to, she seemingly has no idea what she’s done.

So when she says she couldn’t control it, she’s not lying. But it’s not because she’s never been able to control her powers. She’s probably had control of them for centuries. It’s because in that moment, Billy was writing the narrative, not her. And then he confirms it to her face — you’re lying, you want power, that’s all you’ve ever wanted. Essentially saying, you’re the villain here not me not my mom.

And then it clicks for her, what he’s doing, subconsciously or not. And she turns on the evil villain persona herself to take back the narrative from him. And we get, you’re so much like your mother. Creating the Road, creating this whole story to serve yourself and the narrative you want to believe. Making me the bad guy. Undertones of fuck you.

Okay great, so where does this leave us now and how does this play into the show as a whole? I think the question the show is asking, as it relates to Agatha’s character, is who really is Agatha Harkness? Is she the villain? Is she the hero? Is she both, or neither? Is she her reputation, as Lilia reads in ep 2, or is she more than that? Can she be more than that? Can she be good?

Now here’s where it gets real juicy y’all, because as much as Billy has made Agatha the villain in his hero's journey, he's also made her the Guide.

He goes to her to lead him down the Road. He's constantly asking her questions and trying to learn from her. On some level, maybe a more conscious level, he does idolize her. He wants to see her as a witch to look up to. He even wants her love. Just look at his crestfallen face when she says she didn't put the sigil on him in ep 4.

She's the Yoda to his Luke, the Dumbledore to his Harry, the Moiraine to his Rand. And once again, subconsciously he knows it. And he wants it.

He says in ep 6, I don't know if I ever needed you (a mouthy teen if I ever heard one), but then his power immediately fizzles out. She calls him out on it, all that power and no access without a temper tantrum. He needs her. He needs to learn. Again, in this version, she has control over her powers normally, just not in her trial. So she can provide that knowledge.

He went to her to lead him down the Road. And she's been subtly teaching him this whole time. (Once vengeance is unleashed, you can't reel it back in. It's about selflessness, Teen.)

Now for her part, I don't know if she realizes she's mentoring him. But she definitely cares about him, as we saw at the end of ep 4. Again, partly a reaction fueled by Nicky, but I think she's been at least 80% sure it was Billy this whole time. So she genuinely cares for him too.

If I had to bet, I'd say Agatha very much knows the different parts she's playing, the villain evil witch, the guide, and somewhere under even that, the real Agatha.

She's just playing along, some times more willingly than others, because she needs to see where this goes. And she doesn't necessarily want to break his baby brain in the process.

It's almost the more subtle version of her leading Wanda through her memories in WandaVision. She's guiding him along the Road, partly to see what he can do and get her powers back if possible, but also for his own good.

So prediction time, where does this leave us in the finale.

I won't speak to the remaining trials, but I'm thinking there has to be a big showdown between Agatha, Billy, and Rio.

If we're going for Agatha becoming her most true self, and Billy seeing her for who she actually is, my money is on a reversal of the Agatha stealing Alice's power scene.

Rio's going go to after Billy, and Agatha, to save him, is going to start siphoning his power. It's going to look like she's killing him, being the evil witch of her reputation. But then she's going to stop (because she's been capable of control this whole time), taking just enough power to get her purple back. He has more than enough to spare.

Also fun fact, Wanda's power (red) -> Billy's power (blue) -> Agatha's power (purple). Do I want this to happen just because the colors make sense... maybe.

Ultimately, Agatha and Billy become a team, a coven two, a master and apprentice. They both see each other for who they are, imperfect, powerful, but capable of good. Rio is fended off/bargained with somehow. Maybe Agatha offers up her own soul in his place but Rio can't do it. Idk that's all wild speculation.

Point being, this is all about self-discovery, self-actualization, and deconstructing false narratives you have around others, and in Billy's case, around his own life. Dealing with your trauma to become a more whole version of yourself.

And as with WandaVision, dealing with grief and loss, but in this case, also finding a companion, a familiar, a family you never expected beside you All Along. 👀

What do you think? Can you believe I wrote this the day before ep 7 drops?? 😂

[wondercourse]

Not that my "syscourse is a flat circle" theory was ever incorrect. It's completely cyclical and is constantly the same shit in different flavors as new people rehash arguments that everyone else thought were already over.

But also the fact that we've circled back to "Was This Type Of Trauma Enough"course in particular is really fucking annoying. "Well actually emotional neglect alone can't cause enough trauma for DID" "Well actually bullying alone can't cause enough trauma for DID" shut the fuck up?? Shut the fuck up. Fuck's sake.

If you want researched facts that have been peer reviewed by people actually in the field and aren't based on a random Tumblr user's opinion, check SAS's recent posts on this because the folks there are way better at gathering research than I am. I'll just give a logical approach instead. Follow me here.

Not all trauma will cause (C-)PTSD. Yes, this even includes "real" trauma that "actual" survivors experience (i.e., sexual and physical abuse; air quotes because all trauma is real trauma and all survivors are actual survivors, don't even start with me because my patience is extremely thin right now). This is a pretty well-known fact. Already shows that the impact is relative. Shocker. Let's keep following the line, though.

By extension, not all "real" trauma that "actual" trauma survivors (again, air quotes because all trauma is real trauma and all survivors are actual survivors) experience will cause DID, yes, even if it's chronic. Still with me? Cool.

On the flip side, things that seem relatively minor can be extremely traumatic for someone and therefore cause (C-)PTSD. Emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, bullying, medical trauma, etc. (even implying for the sake of argument that these are "lesser" kinds of trauma genuinely makes me ill, I hate y'all for this) can, as it turns out, fuck you up! Like, a lot worse than some of y'all think!!

So far, the pattern has been a metaphorical "circle-triangle-circle..." situation. So the logical next step is triangle. Wait. Except triangle says...

Therefore, "lesser" (EXTREMELY HEAVY AIR QUOTES) traumas can also cause DID! Wow!

Now, again, this is just me following a logic line and going "This is just what makes sense, and while this can be wrong and take a sharp left, that's not what the research says". Under most circumstances I'm down for being wrong, and hell, if the research somehow makes a drastic change while I'm still doing syscourse (which god. let me out), then I'll say "Yeah okay fair enough". But right now, the research aligns with this line of logic. So. Lol.

Like where is this mythical "Your trauma had to fall into the Bad Enough" box of specific trauma types. Show me. Point it out to me somewhere where it hasn't already been debunked. I will sit here and I will fucking wait, because my therapist never informed me of this and she's a hell of a lot more knowledgeable than most of you.

Piss off with your fakeclaiming bullshit. Let this die. It's giving "Actually PTSD can only be experienced by soldiers" which I thought we moved past by accepting that it can be induced in anyone. But I guess it's okay when you start treating trauma disorders like an exclusive fucking club that you can only get into if you suffered "enough". Fuck that.

Trauma is relative. How fucking hard is this concept? "Well, I suffered more than them so why do they have the same thing as me?" Because two people can experience the exact same thing and have two completely different results. This isn't even just like a PTSD thing this is literally what fucking LIFE is. Don't be a dick.

Finally, fellow systems who formed primarily or exclusively through any type apparently "lesser" chronically traumatic events—abuse or otherwise—take a break. Don't be like me tbh; don't even engage with this kind of "discourse". Work through your shit. Your trauma is not "less" because it wasn't primarily physical or sexual in nature because trauma is the IMPACT, not the EVENT. I see you.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Go with me here - I have thoughts!

So I’ve been thinking about this since we got the stills, of both Buck and tommy at the loft, but also the divorcing couple, but then the quote from Tim got me feeling more convinced than ever!

Tim has revealed quite a lot in this quote - it confirms that whatever it is is about Tommy and about the BuckTommy relationship - its not about other outside things - there are only a couple of things that that could mean.

I don’t think it’s going to be about Abby - but I do think she is relevant! I’m very much still sticking with my theory that Tommy is an alt version of Buck and things are feeling more and more like this is in fact the case. See if Tommy is alt Buck then we have some very interesting parallels and contrasts to explore, especially around the part of my theory that BuckTommy is a reversion of the BuckAbby relationship - only this time, Buck is in the same place as Abby - so the one who wants out of the relationship whilst not knowing how to actually end said relationship.

Buck and Abbys relationship was Bucks entry level relationship into the concept of actually dating and being with someone - not just for sex - but for them as a whole person. Tommy has been described by Tim in the same way - as an entry level queer relationship for Buck. Buck is the main character here, so he needs to show growth and development - so putting him into the same place Abby was - having him figure out how to end things on his own terms - talking to his family and actually recognising what it is he wants - showing us that on screen -that would be a good thing.

Say we get a inadvertent confession from Tommy early on in the episode - where Tommy implies that he was interested in Eddie first - pursuing Eddie before he switched to Buck - just as a throw away comment that can be read in multiple ways, but is enough to send Buck spiralling and seeking the advice of Bobby and of Maddie and Josh - everything then ‘becomes clear’ later on towards the end of the episode when Tommy fully reveals and confirms that he was into Eddie not Buck. It makes complete sense to play it in parallel to Buck Abby - it’s the way it creates a spiral that allows Buck to avoid Tommy for a short period so that he doesn’t have to start thinking about his own feelings at the start of their relationship - he doesn’t have to confront the fact that he might’ve got things wrong and that it wasn’t Tommy he was feelings things for - he was threatened by Tommy - because he posed a threat to Bucks relationship with Eddie - and if that is the case then Buck has to face up to the reality of his feelings for Eddie - that they are not actually platonic.

Ultimately Buck will realise he’s got to end things with Tommy and give himself the space to work out the Eddie of it all - that it’s not fair to be in a relationship he can’t fully give himself to. It gives him the closure he never really got from Abby when she left him and gives him a large amount of growth and it also gives us pining Buck as we head into Hiatus and when we start 8b.

I’m not just pulling this out of thin air either - there are a few things that back up my theory from a costume and set perspective - and from a script and directorial perspective too.

Firstly we have divorcing couple storyline - a man quite literally spilling his guts - a man who it seems from the episode blurb, doesn’t want a divorce. He is wearing a plaid check suit jacket - which mirrors the plaid we have seen Tommy wearing so far this season - and ties into the suit jacket at the end of Episode 5. The ex wife is wearing yellow and blue - the Buck and Eddie colours (see mine or @lover-of-mine ‘s many metas on the subject of blue and yellow and Buck and Eddie!) the set of that scene is also heavily yellow blue coded - the painting on the wall especially.

Then we have the fact that Tommy has been located in the exact same place as Eddie was in the coming out scene from 705 - and wearing Black - I think its really really ket that we note this fact - mirroring that scene is a very loud directorial, set and costuming choice. Tommy is meant to mirror Eddie from that 705 scene - Eddie is making his own confessions in that scene - he is basically figuring out how to break up with Marisol because he didn’t know this big thing about her (and that big thing is hitting a bit too close to home for Eddie) and we get a whole thing about buck and tommy having the right idea - to just hang out with the boys etc. Eddie basically reverts on his plans to end things with Marisol when Buck makes his own confession.

So we have a scene about confessions in an episode called confessions paralleling a scene about confessions in an episode called you don’t know me - that is a choice - a very intentional one. Plus there is the fact that Tommy is sat in Eddie’s seat saying he thought Eddie was gay would be really great paralleling to Eddie taking Bucks coming out to mean for him to fix things with Marisol because Buck had become available and unavailable to Eddie. Eddie now has the knowledge that Buck was an option, but that he’s not available as an option. So a Tommy confession that plays into the buddie of it all both helps the queer Eddie arc along as well as driving Bucks arc forward - creating a big enough hurdle for Buck to chose to end the relationship, but also a hurdle that the relationship could successfully navigate its way over if both parties wanted to.

The thing is - Bucks costume tells us all we need to know about which direction this will ultimately go in - he is wearing Blue in the scene with Eddie - the one time he actively chooses to come out to someone (the fact its Eddie is telling all on its own) - and that specific blue is very heavily connected to Bucks journey in figuring himself out - who he is and what he wants in his life - its a colour very much tied to Eddie - he wears that shade of blue in Eddie heavy scenes - and tends to wear different shades of blue in connection with other characters (look at my s6 costume metas for more on the subject!) The fact that buck is in green for this upcoming Tommy scene is an indicator that the relationship is nearing its end - Buck wears green when relationships end - this bears out all the way back to season 1 - he is wearing a green plaid shirt at the airport when Abby leaves to go to Europe. Buck doesn’t wear green all that much and like I have said in a previous post - the darker greens are always connected to break ups. All this is showing us that Eddie is the right person and Tommy is the wrong one.

And then we have the lighting and the set. The lighting is starkly different - we. Have the warm yellows and low light levels of the Buck and Eddie scene from 705 while this Buck and tommy scene is brightly lit and the light is cool toned. This does two things - in the Buck Eddie scene it created intimacy and warmth - it allows the confessions from both of them to read as being important but ultimately changes little in their relationship - it remains intimate and warm - as the hug backs up. In contrast the Buck tommy scene illuminates everything - its not intimate - it is harsh and revealing - the lighting gives no place to hide and the cool tones play into the cooling of the relationship - it will be interesting to see if the direction of the scene also plays into this - the Buck Eddies scene we saw the distance between them narrow and end in the hug before Eddie departs. My expectation is that this Buck Tommy scene will either maintain a distance between them that doesn’t really close - or it will show the distance increasing between them as the scene progresses.

We have lots of threes in the set design for this Buck Tommy scene too - the three jars in front of Buck, there appears to be 3 baseball caps on the coat rack and we’re have the three coloured jackets on the coat rack as well.

The three jackets are basically the writing on the wall for the relationship. They are saying so much while they just hang out there behind Tommy in seemingly innocuous fashion. Their meaning becomes even louder now we know that Eddie is going to be in yellow this episode. Buck is the blue jacket and Tommy is the green one - they are together right now like those jackets are hung together, but the yellow jacket - on it s own on the other side of Tommys head is there waiting. The yellow jacket is Eddie. The green one is in between the yellow and blue - in the same way Tommy is in between Buck and Eddie .

Blue and green represent a break up in Buck terms and with the green jacket being the same colour as bucks shirt - it is saying that the break up is in Bucks hands and once it does, the yellow and blue will be there on separate pegs - but unimpeded by a relationship. The break up will move us one step closer to the yellow and blue joining together.

The bike being gone is also part of the symbolism - no more Buck without brakes - he can put a stop to things now - he has control.

One other things is that I’ve been parsing over the meaning of the plane emergency fro the opening 3 episodes - because the show always foreshadows all of the character arcs through the main opening emergency - if you look at all the opening disasters you will see that it echoes through the season for each character arc. The cruise disaster from s7 plays into each character arc perfectly - characters lives being turned upside down in some way - Eddie upending his life through his choices - the Kim of it all leading to Chris leaving. Buck’s life being turned on its head as he figures out he’s bi. Hen and Karens lives being altered through Mara coming into their family and then losing her because of Ortiz. Maddie and Chims wedding being knocked off course and turned upside down through Chim going missing because of the illness he develops. Bobby trying to retire and then the bathena house being burnt down. Athenas storyline with Harry - they are all arcs that play into the idea of being capsized.

So I’ve been contemplating how the plane emergency is relevant - and I know a lot more will become clear as the season unfolds, but right now we have some interesting things going on looking at it from the Buck and Eddie perspective. So we have the bike symbolism in connection with Buck - which plays into the loss of his bike from the wall, but there is the fact that he highjacks a bike in the opening disaster - buck is on someone else’s bike on an empty bit of road - symbolic of his relationship with tommy - he’s the only one in it but it’s not the right relationship - when he gets off that bike he can signpost Eddie in to land - the bike he gets off being a metaphor for tommy and the plane being one for Eddie.

The fact that Eddie is broken and unable to change direction at the moment - like the plane - and he’s looking for a place to try to land - him managing to land safely in the end is a bit of foreshadowing for buddie going canon - Buck will initially direct him to a landing spot but will also be there waiting for him when he does manage to land - in the place for bobby. It continues the Buddie parallels with bathena - Bobby there waiting for Athena in the same way buck will be waiting for Eddie.

Plus the Jem of it all works too - him being representative of Chris - so the idea that Chris coming back into Eddies life will help Eddie land his plane is pretty loud as well. That Chris will help lead Eddie to Buck - in some way. I keep thinking about the simulation game thing as well - something about Chris being with Helena and Ramon being like a simulation - its pretend and not the real thing - and it will cause him to crash - but he can walk away from it and when it comes down to it - to the real thing - he will step up and be successful in it. That Chris will be the one doing a bit of directing Eddie on how to heal and land the plane.

[evangelineshifts]

(This has been sitting in my drafts since feb)

I just had the weirdest shifting (?) dream ever???

Warning: sorry if this is confusing I’m literally losing my mind trying to process this. It probably won’t convey as dire as I’m making it out to be but I’m very disoriented still

Basically the dream started out normal (which for me isn’t normal at all) I was in my living room with my family when all of a sudden my front door slammed open and in comes my older brother- my older brother who DIED SIX YEARS AGO. I did have it in mind to manifest him being alive again but I was gobsmacked. He comes in and everyone acts normal as if he’d never left and I audibly went “oh my god” in the most horrified voice ever and they all looked at me and I ran upstairs to my room (which also hasn’t been my room up there in years) and went to grab my phone which was still like modern to these times. My Lock Screen was different and stuff but like I could read everything on the screen. Which is weird cause in dreams you shouldn’t be able to do that. Everything was clear I read the date it said it was Wednesday, December 8. I fuckin lost it I was going insane. I was like crying cause I was overwhelmed and I went to google and I searched up what year it was (idk why I didn’t just go to calendar but I was distressed). It said it was 2016 which I thought was a bit weird cause I didn’t manifest I wanted to go back to 2016 I wanted to go back to 2021 when I was 15 but I didn’t complain cause my brother was back. (Woke up and checked if Dec 8 was on a Wednesday in 2016. It wasn’t but it was in 2021 😭😭)

So I went to snap chat and checked my friends list and there where tons of new people that I had sent pics too but I was looking for one in particular- the girl I script to be my bsf in every DR that I wanted to manifest was real here and lo and behold, there’s her name “Savanna 😊🙈” i was 🫨 so anyways the dream goes on and looking back at it, it didn’t make as much sense as I thought it did at the time but I was sort of confused then too cause things weren’t how I wanted only half like it. So I told someone (who I think was meant to be savanna but looked nothing like her) about what was going on and I told her “I haven’t always been here” and she went “yes you have 🤨” and I went “no like this current awareness, this consciousness hasn’t always been here” and she just looked at me blankly and went “ok” and kept walking while I was loosing my shit. I saw friends from my dr that I wanted to manifest into this reality and my bf from my better cr dr and he called me over to him and he literally just held me and looked at me with the biggest smile but then I realized he didn’t look like my boy. Like his hair was lighter and his eyes were brown not bluish green like usual so I like decided to go away and look for other people. I found Jules (Leblanc) and she’s my best friend in a ton of my drs and ran over to her like practically sobbing cause I was so confused cause everything seemed clear and yet not at the same time and it feel like my brain was exploding and she just hugged me and listened as I babbled on about how I just woke up in the wrong year and my dead brother was suddenly alive and nothing was exactly how I wanted it yet it was close???? I was just so confused and overwhelmed and everyone was really supportive and trying to comfort me as I was literally losing my mind but I could visibly see the confusion on their faces which made me more distressed cause I didn’t understand. And then after awhile the dream got. all weird again. If anyone and I mean ANYONE has any ideas of what the fuck this could’ve been I’d be open to theories cause a whole month later and I still got nothing 😊

[niirialnox]

Season 3 LET'S GO (aka I'M NOT READY FOR THIS ARC)

Episode 1;

idk how I feel about Eddie's haircut. . .

NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO WHAT'S COMING I CAN TELL YOU THAT (no matter how many times I've seen the scene already)

THE HAND PLACEMENT ON BUCK'S WAIST GET YOUR MAN EDDIE

God I love Buck and Chris scenes so much

LMAO KAREN CRYING AND HUGGING BUCK

I agree with everyone who says WHY DID WE NOT GET THE 911 CALL with this damn scene! Cause I wanted to see how everyone (especially Bobby and Eddie) fully reacted to him coughing up the blood

Oooh the Maddie stare is kinda scary. . .

NOT THE WHOLE OLD FOLKS HOME HAVING THE STD LMAAAAAAAAO

The way I understand that Bobby is trying to protect Buck by keeping him on light duty (and we all already know how that goes), but the fact that none of this was put onto Chim who literally had rebar through his head. And yes, I understand that maybe Chim did everything he was told to do, but that could only be a theory since we never get to SEE him until he comes back. Did he have to do everything Buck had to do to come back? Kinds sucks that Buck gets singled out. Buck should have been talked to about everything instead of his choice being taken away

Also the fact that they all kinda brushed him off (ESPECIALLY Eddie) on his trauma from the whole thing makes me angry (which will carry over to the next episode)

God they always gotta give Maddie the rough calls

OH GOD I DIDN'T KNOW THEY START THE TSUNAMI IN THE FIRST EPISODE I HATE IT HERE

The dad grip on Chris's shirt lmao

FUCK NOT READY FOR THE NEXT 2 EPISODES

Episode 2;

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

'Where did all the water go' will haunt me FOREVER

I'm also not ready for what Athena has to do either. . .

I KNOW IT'S A DRAMA BUT DAMN LEAVE MADDIE ALONE

Bobby doing the underwater rescue of the man impaled is something Buck would get in trouble for lmao

I love May so so much and it HURT that she had to go through that with Vicky

It's still weird to me that NO ONE tried to check on Buck cause they just assumed he'd be inland with Christopher

Dad!Buck will always be my favorite Buck

I WILL NEVER GET ON A FERRIS WHEEL AND THIS JUST ADDS AN EXTRA NOPE TO IT

BUCKS SCREAMING FOR CHRIS KILLS ME

Episode 3;

I am NOT OKAY

I WASN'T READY FOR BUCK TO FIND CHRIS'S GLASSES :(

I wanted to skip the Ferris Wheel scene SO BAD cause it made me nauseous cause of my fear of them

ATHENA WAS SO CLOSE TO CHRISTOPHER

THIS ATHENA SCENE I WASN'T READY FOR AT ALL (Though Athena breaking into a house did give me a giggle)

I FEEL LIKE THE MEAT CLEAVER WOULD HAVE BEEN QUICKER

AND THE REST OF THE 118 BEING SO CLOSE TO CHRIS TOO AAAAAAH

Buck calling Maddie and having to tell Eddie is also not a scene I was not ready for no matter how many times I've watched it

Watching Buck fall after seeing Chris safe makes me SOB EVERY TIME

Eddie giving Chris to his husband is honestly one of the best things ever (but does him calling Buck his free babysitter sit wrong for anyone else besides me? I know it was in jest and just trying to lighten the mood but it still kinda bothers me)

Still don't like Eddie's hair cut lmao And I'm not looking forward to the lawsuit UGH

[cynicalmusings]

Lyney x Upcoming Aerial Arts Performer/Dancer! Reader ???

🎩 Lyney who stumbles upon one of their shows and is completely enamored and mesmerized by their movements and choreography

🎩 He gets called out in the audience at the end of the show, fans surrounding him and asking him questions. One of them asks if he's there to check out the competition and you overhear the discussion which becomes your first impression of him, but before he could make things clear, you leave the audience

🎩 Lyney who escapes the crowd and sneaks backstage to chat with you, complimenting you on your stunning performance while you're left to wonder how he got past all your security. He causally invites you to his next performance, making a ticket appear in one of your hands and bidding you farewell before your security actually comes.

🎩 When the day finally arrives, Lyney couldn't help but peek out of the curtains in search of you, even while he's performing, he looks, keeping his hopes up. He becomes sad and disappointed when he doesn't see you, and when he bows, his smile slightly drops.

🎩 It's only when he rises that his eyes light up in recognition, seeing you in the far corner watching intently. He's quickly filled with joy when your eyes connect, but once you realize you've been spotted, you quickly leave as he says his outro (Cinderella vibess)

UGHHHE IM GETTING MYSTERY VIBES HERE LIKE-- Slow burn rivals to lovers??

🎩 The two of you understands that you're technically rivals in the showbiz industry and the media eats it up. Your shows starts selling out and everything seems good !!

until you're sabotaged on stage. and you quite literally almost break a leg.

🎩 Of course the media takes this incident and RUNS with it, brewing rumors and pointing fingers, and the theory that Lyney has something to do with it spreads like wildfire.

It surely doesn't help that he was seen around the equipment that had a malfunction, so it's only natural that your opinion of him sours b-but he can explain !! he had nothing to do with this !

🎩 FINALLY some drama in fontaine *sips tea* but who really is behind this, what could they possibly gain?

🎩 It seems the culprit strikes again when Lyney and Lynette's performance is sabotaged next and all hell breaks loose

🎩 Lyney knows he was framed for the first incident, but he quickly comes to the conclusion that someone pinning the two of you against each other... but who?

🎩 It escalates to the point where even his plans to meet with you go wrong in some way, and your crew members and performers start dropping like flies, attaining injuries left and right. It's a catastrophe!

🎩 How will he gain your trust? Will you ignore his romantic advances towards you? What's really going on behind the scenes? And most importantly, who's really pulling the strings?

/// annnnndd scene 🤭///

HONESTLY THIS IS SERIES POTENTIAL !!

I was thinking about this all last night 😭

Lyney inspired me to watch some aerial performances (yk aerial silks, hoops, ropes, etc) and that just gave me these amazing ideas. Some slowburn rivals to lovers mystery, only fitting for the land of justice. This might pull me outta my writer's slump 😭😭😭 but anyways, what do you think about it?

if you ever write this properly, please tag me in it.

i love the idea of being rivals in the performance industry and potentially having to work together (begrudgingly on your part) to figure out what’s going on… and you can never go wrong with a good ol’ mystery plot, either.

[slightecho]

All right I LOVE this theory and have literally spent all night poring over it, and here is a list of

Other Inconsistencies and Things I Personally Caught That Might Support This Theory:

1. Other people had pointed it out, but the doctor who is the face of the Resurrectionists is named Dalrymple, which is a name we’ve heard before. Dalrymple is the name of a very real witch finder whose big shoots-anything gun was a LITERAL Chekhov’s gun in season one in Shadwell’s apartment. While I don’t think Witch Finder Dalrymple and Dr. Dalrymple are the same character, I can say with CERTAINTY as a fanfic writer and enthusiast, I’ve frequently seen background names reused for other characters as an Easter egg in fics. Either Dr. Dalrymple is somehow related to Witch Finder Dalrymple and we don’t know it due to the aforementioned “edits” Metatron is making in this theory, OR Metatron couldn’t resist a fanfic trope in his edits. I don’t know which is more bizarre.

2. The “I Was Wrong Dance” - Now I haven’t seen anyone point this out cause largely everyone enjoyed the bit that was the “I Was Wrong” Dance, but this is another possible inconsistency. (To understand this one, please note that I am taking S1 as a BASELINE OF TRUTH for anything that may or may not be a Metatron edit in S2 due to the presence of God’s Narration in S1 and the fact that S1 was pre-armaggedon’t and I have to assume there’s no “edits” in S1 due to it being S1 and they wouldn’t know if they’d get a chance at another story with these characters)

Do any of you remember back in S1 when Crowley disappeared into the phone lines? Because I sure do, I just rewatched that episode a couple days ago! So let me remind you: when Crowley shrinks down to a molecular level and goes into the phone lines to lure Hastur into his answering machine, God’s Narration actually stops the action to explain to us how angels and demons can shrink down to that size, and she uses the story of “how many angels can dance on the head of pin” to demonstrate this. She then goes on to say that the true answer is “none” because Angels Cannot Dance EXCEPT!!! for one angel named Aziraphale, and he knows only one dance: The Gavotte, which he learned in a gentleman’s club several years before it went out of style never to return, and he’s been salty ever since. So… how Can Aziraphale have then done the “I Was Wrong” Dance four times already?

Either Aziraphale knows two dances, and God was wrong (her S1 narration has been entirely factual up until this point, though), or Aziraphale’s “I Was Wrong Dance” is different from Crowley’s, OR…….. it’s an inconsistency. Another possible lie or edit made up entirely by Metatron. And while I would LOVE to see Aziraphale do the “I Was Wrong” dance in S3 and have it be The Gavotte to make this fit, I just don’t know if that’s likely given that they DELIBERATELY showed us Crowley doing “THE I Was Wrong Dance” (emphasis on “THE,” not “A”—conjunctions are important, people!) in S2 and it was decidedly NOT the Gavotte

3. Crowley’s place in the Angel Hierarchy, so to speak. His high position before he fell has been hinted at multiple times throughout S2 but I want to point out that this was hinted at even in S1. Crowley saying “I just hung around the wrong people” when talking to himself about falling; This, to me, indicated Crowley may have been ‘hanging out’ with the likes of Lucifer, himself. Which is……. Something! (Especially if you consider what Metatron said about one prince falling to darkness already, which I largely took as a nod and wink to Lucifer)

Last time I checked, we didn’t see Aziraphale ‘hanging out’ with angels higher than himself. In all the scenes in S1 where he’s interacting with the archangels above him, like Gabriel, Michael, or Uriel, it’s in a STRICTLY professional capacity. Suffice it to say I simply have to wonder if what we’ve previously seen of the Angel Hierarchy has demonstrated for us any chance of mingling of the “classes,” so to speak. So if Crowley is higher than a Throne or Dominion, as he alludes to in S2, it BEGS the question of me….. who the HELL is Crowley and who the HELL was he able to hang around in heaven? (Pun intended)

This is less of an inconsistency and more of a Thing. One I really hope develops into something more. I NEED to know if this show considers Lucifer and Satan to be the same being. And if they’re not…. WHERE is Lucifer?

4. Now…. This is the big one where I’m about to go Full Crackpot, and I’m gonna require you to take a LEAP with me because it involves knowledge of Demonology and the Ars Goetia, but… Beelzebub…

That recasting…

Sure, like, okay. I get it. Recasts happen. But… in a show where they had the actresses who played the nuns in the first episode COME BACK to play new characters in S2, and Madame Tracy’s actress was playing Shax in S2… I HAVE to wonder if “scheduling conflicts” during COVID are to blame, or a very convenient excuse to include another clue.

You see… If we’re to take a look at the multiple grimoires of demonology one of the most common themes you see for Beelzebub is that there is HEAVY debate over whether or not Beelzebub and the demon Baal are the same entity or not. In fact, Beelzebub’s name is literally a derivative of Baal’s! Beelzebub originates from “Bael of Bul” which became Baelzebul, and then Beelzebub. One of the most common cited texts in this debate is the Ars Goetia, which seems to list Baal AS Beelzebub. However, many other translations of various demonology texts over the years state that they are separate. That has led most interpretations over the years to intrinsically link Beelzebub to Baal (or Bael), even if they treat them as separate. (You can see this demonstrated in other modern media such as Genshin Impact, in which Baal and Beelzebub are twin gods, Makoto and Ei, and Beelzebub [Ei] secretly takes over the archonship [godhood, essentially] after Baal [Makoto] dies in a cataclysm. And no one is any the wiser because the two are identical twins and this was kept secret.)

The TL;DR of the above paragraph is that depending on the source, Beelzebub can also have a second name, or a counterpart: Baal.

It is EXTREMELY CURIOUS TO ME that Beelzebub is the ONE character whom they fully recast, when this is also a demon that COMMONLY has been interpreted to have a second form, or second name. And they even went so far in the show so as to point it out NOT just once, but TWICE. In episode 1 when Crowley points out they have a new face, and again later near the complete end of the season, when it’s revealed they’ve been secretly meeting with Gabriel, and in a flashback they have to tell him who they are. They then say something akin to how it’s been 6,000 years, and they thought it was time for a change of face. Most shows might do one wink and nod joke to a recasting at first appearance……… but two? It just seems deliberate to me, given how this show typically pulls from real demonology.

What does that necessarily mean for the Metatron edit theories?

I don’t know. I haven’t processed this crack theory enough yet to draw one singular conclusion. And honestly I don’t even know if FULLY believe MYSELF on this one, because again… recasts just happen. But it’s at the very least something I think needs to be pointed out if we’re discussing this theory. Is it possible that in making edits to try and create cracks and pressure in Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship, he switched which form of Beelzebub is in the story?

Agnes Nutter’s “choose ye faces wisely” prophecy was taken to be a reference to Crowley and Aziraphale switching places at the end of S1, but if we instead apply it to Beelzebub and the recasting of them being another deliberate hint… what then?

The Magic Trick You Didn’t See: Being An Analysis of Good Omens Season 2

(or: Neil Gaiman, Your Brain is Gorgeous But I Have Cracked Your Sneaky Little Code And Have You Dead To Rights*) (*Maybe)

***

Soooooo I just spent the last 48 hours having a BREATHTAKING GALAXY BRAIN EPIPHANY about Good Omens Season 2 and feverishly writing a fuckin16,000 word essay about the incredible magic trick that @neil-gaiman pulled off. 

Yes, it’s long, but I PROMISE your brains will explode. Do you want to know how magic works? Do you want to know what Metatron’s deal is (I’m like 99% sure of this and it’s EXTREMELY FUCKING GOOD)? Do you want to know about the Mystery of the Vanishing Eccles Cakes and the big fat beautiful clue I found in the opening credits? Do you go through the whole inventory of Chekov’s Firearm & Heavy Artillery Discount Warehouse? 

Here is the essay, go read it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/193IXS11XN46lziHRb6eUpM17yK0BQkRqke1Wh64A_e0/ When ur done u can tell me I’m an insane crackpot, and u know what, i won’t even be offended

In case you don’t know whether you want to bother reading the whole enormous thing on google docs, I’ve put the first couple sections of it under the cut. JUST TRUST ME OKAY, HEAR ME OUT, THIS IS VERY EXTREMELY COOL, NEIL IS GOOD AT HIS JOB–

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