#My thought process in a nutshell

[chahaeroine]

Broke: solo leveling epilogue Suho (arrogant high schooler, too much entitled teenager energy)

Woke: sl ragnarok manhwa Suho (cool aura scenes, kind of a dork (endearingly), makes cute faces a lot)

Bespoke: sl ragnarok novel Suho (genuinely the funniest guy ever, has so much monarch rizz that his enemies switch sides for him, the reason why i'm obsessed with Suho)

[fuckwhoeverpickedallthefunnyurls]

Yoyoyoyo

Idk why but this reminded me of yoyos. I haven't played with one in forever. I don't think I was that good at it. Now this reminds me of all those edits with the what's her name groomer youtuber with the ukulele song with the sound "Once upon a time I used to play with toys, now I'd rather play around with teenage boys". Anyway,

[kanoyachi]

Idk The Devil Has Some Really Good Points

[srslylini]

being in the Arcane critical space means that it was a whiplash of sensations when I opened Twitter to normal and very typical fandom drama stuff surrounding Arcane

"Oh they are fighting and having drama, weird... strange" and then having to be like "no actually that isn't weird, it's fandom and I've just spent all my time specifically not engaging and being critical instead of doing fandom stuff"

just think it's kinda funny to be confronted with day to day fan shit after everything LMAO

[aspoonofsugar]

Yang's Songs Burn Gold

A quick meta on our golden beauty's songs, with a special focus on "I Burn".

First of all, I have always thought "I Burn" was the song that told us the least about its character, when compared to the other trailer/volume 1 songs. After all, we have Red Like Roses Pt2, Mirror Mirror and From Shadows, which give us deep dives into each girl's psychology and trauma. And then we have "I Burn", which is effectively about how awesome Yang is :''')

I burn! Can't hold me now And you're not stopping me I burn! Swing all you want Like a fever I will take you down.

Still, just like our yellow beauty this song is more than meets the eye.

A SUPERFICIAL SONG FOR A PARTY GIRL?

At surface level, "I Burn" is simply Yang singing to Junior that she is gonna trash him:

You're starting up a fight that you just can't finish Watch the little hearts while they scrape you off the floor Bringing out your rockets? Well, shoot 'em up, baby High as you can go, but I'm the one who's gonna soar

It doesn't have to be this way Let's kiss and make up, then you'll learn You can fight your life away I get what I want, so don't bother and just watch me burn

That's why the lyrics directly reference the yellow trailer (the little hearts, the rockets, the "let's kiss and make up" line). And yet, if one goes a little deeper it becomes clear the song sets up Yang's major themes. To be precise, it delves into the meaning behind Yang's trailer quote:

Scathing eyes ask that we be symmetrical, one sided and easily processed. Yet every misshapen spark's unseen beauty is greater than its would be judgement.

Yang's main theme is that asymmetry is beautiful. There is no person, who is "just right". On the contrary, everyone is imperfect, unbalanced and misshapen. And yet, it's this complexity so difficult to process that's true beauty. This idea is carried on by Yang's character herself:

She is an asymmetric beauty both:

Physically - she loses an arm throughout the series

Psychologically - she feels incomplete, as if she is missing something:

Past Yang: Isn’t that what you want? To be whole again? Yang: No. My losses, my failures. Those more than anything are what have shaped me into who I am, showed me how I need to grow. If there’s something I’m missing, it’s not because I lost it. It’s because I haven’t found it yet. And the only way to do that is to keep going.

At the same time, Yang herself needs to learn to process complexity in both herself and others:

Weiss: You're right though. I don't know loneliness like you do. I have my own version. And, I'll bet Blake has her own version too.

In short, to truly accept herself, she must first learn to see things in a way which is less black and white. This is her arc in a nutshell.

"I Burn", though, is meant to be the very beginning of her story. So, Yang has still a simplistic vision of herself and the world. As a result, she is straightforward, as it is typical of her personality. Not only that, but at the very beginning of the story Yang is very out of touch with her inner world, or at least she hides it. She is focused on the outside, not the inside. This is why her song is about an enemy she meets once and easily trashes. For her it is easier to build an identity on physical strength, rather than going deeper within herself. And yet, no matter how much Yang tries to mask it, the set-up for her wonderful and complex character is already there.

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

Come at me And you'll see I'm more than meets the eye

Yang is more than meets the eye. What does it mean exactly?

In the context of the yellow trailer, it is about Yang looking like a sexy blondie, but being a great fighter:

Junior: So you know who I am. You got a name, sweetheart? Yang: Yes, Junior, I've got several. But instead of sweetheart, you can just call me sir.

In the context of our golden girl's arc, it is about Yang being a misshapen spark whose beauty can't be understood by scathing eyes:

Yet every misshapen spark Suffers the judgment and pain But just as light conquers dark There's a beauty that's greater Than pure symmetry can contain -From the song Ignite

And as every spark ever, she burns:

You think that You'll break me You're gonna find in time You're standing too close to a flame that's burning Hotter than the sun in the middle of July

So, she is hot, in the sense of both hot-headed (her semblance) and "beautiful". That is the dichotomy Yang's song is built on. At the same time, "I Burn" sets up other major motifs of Yang's character.

Like her super-saiyan inspiration:

Reign supreme? In your dreams You'll never make me bow Kick my ass? I'm world-class And Super Saiyan now

And the imagery of an "army" linked to her:

Sending out your army, but you still can't win Listen up, silly boy, 'cause I'm gonna tell you why

YANG, THE SUPER SAIYAN

Yang's looks and powers make her similar to a Dragonball's Super Saiyan, like she herself sings to us. Whenever she uses her semblance, she even looks like one, as her hair shines and her eyes change color. It is just that Super Saiyan's eyes turn blue, whereas Yang's turn red. Other than physically, though, Yang is like these warriors in two ways.

On a superficial level, Yang's Burn works like the saiyans' powers:

saiyans grow stronger when angry, just like Yang's semblance is partly activated by her fury

saiyans grow stronger when they get hurt and then cured, which is the idea behind Burn in a nutshell

Ruby: Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special.

On a deeper level, Yang's arc is about:

growing stronger, as she gets more in touch with all her feelings, not just anger

learning that what makes her stronger isn't her getting hurt, but rather her healing from her wounds

In other words, the super saiyan's allusion is used to design both Yang's semblance and her story. She grows stronger not when cured physically, but after healing psychologically:

That was before But not anymore I've left it behind As much as I lost Once I'm across, I'll find I've found the strength to grow so much more A whisper to a roar No more crying It's time for me to soar Feel like I'm finally unbroken Feel like I'm back from the dead My strength back and confidence growing Out of my way 'Cause I'm armed and ready!

YANG, ONE WOMAN-ARMY

Yang has an "armed/army" motif going on in her songs.

From "Sending out your army, but you still can't win" in "I Burn", to Armed and Ready:

Armed and ready Ready! Armed and ready I'm ready! Armed and ready Ready! Ready! Armed and ready

To Nervermore:

You had me down, defeated A state that I can't allow It's over, my fear's retreated I'm more like an army now

What does it mean?

At face value, it means Yang is one woman-army. After all her introduction is her single-handedly (pun intended) defeating a literal army. And even after Adam steals one hand from her, she is still strong enough to recover and to be reborn as her own army. She gets armed and ready to fight again and to defeat new enemies.

If one digs a little deeper, though, it becomes obvious the "army" symbolism hides a play on words, which is perfect for our pun-loving Goldilocks. The interpretative key to this joke lies in the song Ignite:

And any remarkable heart Has gone through the hardship and shame That's born of standing apart From the easily processed The uniform army of "same"

Yang's enemy is the uniform army of "same". In short, it is symmetry. This checks with her trailer, where Yang fights Junior's army:

And the Malachite Twins:

Both are declination of "uniformity" and "symmetry":

Junior's army are the judgmental "bears" of Yang's fairy tale, as some wear bears' masks. They even have red tinted glasses, so they look at Yang with scathing eyes

The Malachite Twins are hot and cold and together they are symmetrical, even complementing each other's fighting styles

Yang defeating them marks her superiority over symmetry, as a concept. She isn't a part of the uniform army of same. This army made of symmetrical people, all the same, all with two arms. They are arm-y, but Yang is gonna become arm-less. And yet, she is still worth an army, both as a fighter and as a person. How is it possible? It's because every misshapen spark's unseen beauty is greater than its would be judgement.

YANG, THE HOTTEST

Yang is built on the idea of "hot":

Hotter than the sun Feel my fire Pyromaniac: my desire Thought that you could see the truth 'Til I just burned down the booth Human Torch can't fuck with me Johnny Blaze: Suspect B Strike 'em quick, lightning fast Melt them bitches down to ash Gasoline, kerosene Strike a match, ignite the scene Shit will never be the same Feel the fury of my flame Beg for mercy: it won't help Embrace the ending you were dealt Seems you fucks will never learn Now sit back and watch me burn

She is "hot" in the sense of a beautiful girl. She is "hot" in the sense of hot-headed. She is the "too hot" of her fairy-tale, so she can't be just right. She is asymmetrical. And yet, in this asymmetry lies her beauty. So, she is hotter (more beautiful) than everyone else. She is the "hottest". So hot that she can play the beauty in "The Beauty And The Beast":

Black the beast descends from shadows. Yellow beauty burns gold.

And yet her true beauty isn't as easy to see, so Yang herself makes fun of us. She sings "thought that you could see the truth", but by the time of the Yellow Trailer we really can't. All we can do is to see her story unravel and show its complexity. All we can do is to "sit back and watch her burn".

I BURN = GOLDILOCK AND THE THREE BEARS

There are two versions of "I Burn". The first is the complete version, which sounds like a rock song. The second is a remix used for the Yellow Trailer. The Yellow Trailer version combines all the other girls' songs and ends with a short version of "I Burn". This choice is interesting on two levels:

-Alchemy: We start with Red Like Roses, which is about RWBY as a whole. We end with "I Burn", which combines everyone's song together. That is because Ruby (red phase) and Yang (yellow phase) are two different side of the same archetype: the self. And the self combines all the archetypes (shadow, animus and persona) together in one unit. So, our introduction to RWBY starts and ends with our two alchemical sisters:

-Goldilock: Yang's fairy tale motif has RWB play her three bears, as they grow into her adoptive family. Ruby (red) is the too hot, Weiss (blu) is the too cold and Blake (purple= blue + red) is the just right. So, Yang's song uses the three girls' songs to metaphorical illustrate Yang's Goldilock story. She goes through the too hot (red like roses), the too cold (mirror mirror), the just right (from shadows) only to explode into a burning beauty which is like the sun. It is impossible for normal eyes to even look at it.

[cat-mermaid]

ok for like weeks i've had this fucking 4 am thought in my head and have been trying to figure out how to explain it with out writing out a whole fucking thesis

so i'm gonna really try to nutshell it the way it happened in my thoughts in the middle of the night:

huuuuuugh man the ancients (starts mind writing fanfiction that will never be written)

...huh but no, the ancients were really really thorough when they sat down and designed the Iterators. They really wanted those things bolted to the ground and unable to... oh man thats pretty much AM from "I have no mouth and i must torture the humans forever" if AM wasn't able (by design) to get pissed off about it....

...be able to upload their minds into another living organism? If it was big enough? Like a big fuck off tree? No... the ancients prob would have thought of... oooo0000OOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

*revelation*

THATS WHAT THE NEURON FLYS ARE FOR!!!!

The "Can" is the body: containing flesh and machinery, but the Neuron Flies are the "mind" of an Iterator! I mean look at what happens to Moon when you start eating her flies:

Its like the end half of Flowers for Algernon, each one you eat makes her less articulate, makes it harder for her to think

her memories, her personal memories, her personality and everything that makes her an individual is whats contained in those flies. "You killed me" doesn't mean the machine gets to stop, it just means the consciousness named "Looks to the Moon" disappears

and thats what hit me: thats how the ancients ensured that their creations could never escape their duty, never turn on them and pull a Skynet

all the computer stuff is in the structure itself, but the part of the iterator that can be directly communicated with, probably just for ease of access so you could tell it what you wanted it to do verbally and it could understand you from a place of sapience, is stored piece by piece in these things:

its like if you mind itself was a swarm of bees. After all, they are called neuron flies. Each one holds a part of you, memories, stupid personally quirks, temperament. The iterators probably have a library of information stored in their main body they can access, but the fly thing is their very selves, their egos and so on

and its insidiously genius of the ancients, your super computer's ai can't copy and paste itself into another body and amscray like in Soma. Its mind is separated into so many tiny fragile flying little usb thumb drives that it would have to be able to find a way to safely transport and shelter them in order to "leave" and fuck are there a lot of those guys swarming around inside

Neuron Flies are perfectly safe and functional as long as they are inside their iterator's can, they even have guardians called Inspectors to protect them incase any pesky critters squeeze inside for a free snack

so basically an Iterator is a biological computer built like a crab: The shell is the metal parts, what you see from the outside:

but the computer part is the meat of the crab

these are the parts that get slag build up and need water to wash out the toxins and cool it down, just like litterally you and me need water to fucking live

what i'm getting at is the absolutely impossible situation the iterators are in, a crab can't "escape" from its shell, thats part of its fucking body. Iterators are the same except with the added wrinkle of being crabs who's minds are little swarming mites deep inside their guts that need to all be kept safe

so with all this on the table, it makes so much more sense now when the iterators say "we don't die easy" because even if all their flies (the mind) get destroyed, the "body" keeps chugging on. Even a lack of water isn't enough, it just results in a halt of normal processes and we end up with the state Moon is in. I mean she eventually got access to water again after she pulled an "admin privileges" on Pebbles, but even going for as long as she did without was enough to fuck her up bad

but even then, after that and pretty much all of her fucking neural flies gone, she still can't die, not the way they want. Not the way Sliver of Straw did with a complete shut down. Iterator's were designed almost exactly like AM from I have no mouth and i must scream:

"We had given AM sentience. Inadvertently, of course, but sentience nonetheless. But it had been trapped. AM wasn't God, he was a machine. We had created him to think, but there was nothing it could do with that creativity. In rage, in frenzy, the machine had killed the human race, almost all of us, and still it was trapped. AM could not wander, AM could not wonder, AM could not belong. He could merely be."

but unlike the humans, the ancient's made sure that their god computers would never have the power AM did to lash out. Iterator's could and still can only complain and be bitter, but seem to be unable (by design) to feel the hot rage someone in that position would feel. And if something did go wrong and shit was going south? Start taking out those flies, there were probably purposed organisms locked and loaded for that express purpose

and thats wat i wanted to get outta my head

*edit* i wanted to add somthing about how the puppet part of an iterator is probably like a computer interface:

what of instead of thinking of the puppet and its ai as the "true" computer, we instead thought of it a bit like the above image, the fabric screen part? The ancients interacted with the puppet the way we use a mouse or tap a screen, just with words instead. The point of making the puppet aware and having thoughts and feels was all solely to make it more efficient, it could understand nuance and urgency and feel empathy and act accordingly with carrying out the user's wishes

but yeah unlike our mouse, iterators were also straight up in charge of running a lot of stuff unsupervised so their creators didn't have to deal with so much. Ancient's were really big on making swarms of different lifeforms to do like one thing for them lol

*imagines a living roomba thats just like a horseshoe crab that doodles around your home eating up anything on the floor*

haha thats funHEY WAIT

OH MY GOD

[oceanblueeyes03]

To the request Anon on my ego Luke Anon ask,

You asked about my opinion of Nicola Coughlan and Luke’s intentions towards her. In a nutshell, I think Nicola is doing her best to maintain professionalism right now. So many fans love throwing Nicola’s words back at her because she went to bat for Luke repeatedly. When she said her remarks, I do believe she was genuine. But something changed, didn’t it? That’s what most don’t want to acknowledge because there is a marked difference in their relationship towards each other right now.

And as I’ve read on this & other blogs there are more realistic opinions out there that are secreted or swept under the rug among the Fandom because they are afraid of censure or of being ostracized. Fans disagree in “public” echo chambers but quietly agree in “private”. Hell, I’m writing this Anonymously – so go figure? LOL 🤪 As time has passed, the more extremes of the Fandom appear to be the ones who have remained while the folks in the middle got off this ride a long time ago or learned to shut up & watch the circus.

So my take? It’ll be like my previous post. I’m not breaking ground or saying things that haven’t been expressed within the Fandom over the year I’ve been lurking.

In my opinion, Nicola felt betrayed by Luke & his actions at the end of their WT. Did Nicola read into things between them? Did Luke let her read into things? Probably a bit of both. But imagine all the hard work, conversations, & time that went into making season 3 the success it was. Could you imagine giving it your all while being completely vulnerable to the process, only to find out your efforts/feelings weren’t reciprocated? That maybe your bond wasn’t as strong, as you thought. When you believed you were a team? Have you ever been betrayed in love or friendship? Have you ever done a group project & been the one to pull all the weight? To quote the movie 27 Dresses: I feel like I just found out my favorite love song was written about a sandwich. What a kick to the cu$#. And then feel the responsibility to save their season by throwing continual support Luke’s way… being the number 1 fan of Lukey Newts or whatever she said. AND HE UP AND GHOSTED. UP. AND. GHOSTED. Are you f&#@ing kidding me?

There is no human on Earth who would not feel a certain way after all that. There’s a saying don’t 💩 where you eat. Welp… They are tied to one another from here on out “until they’re old a gray.” Always Colin & Penelope. Always Luke & Nicola. You gotta play nice. So Nicola rolled out the dictionary listing every iteration of friend she could find: pal, dude, etc. She’s very aware of this Fandom & the expectations therein. As I stated above, Nicola may have also had some expectations of Luke herself. I think Nicola thought “oh no, how do I break it to the fans so they don’t feel lied to when even I don’t know how to process all this?” Because what is Luke going to do to help us with this situation…

To that point, what has passive Luke done? Disappeared. Did no promotion. Went yachting while his friends rode his coattails. Popped up looking like a brooding 70’s Lothario wannabe model with Antonia at BOSS. Then had the funniest about-face in front of all of us… the SAG Awards. Fans rejoiced convinced Luke was back. Even Nicola was startled. Didn’t you see that on her face? He went from abandoning Nicola to the doting Luke of WT. Simple as that. Whether you want to believe they were always just colleagues, friends, or lovers – that’s still a hard pill she had to swallow. Jekyll & Hyde. Two-faced. Nicola physically recoiled then her professionalism kicked in. We all saw it. I imagine she said to herself, “I’m not doing this to myself again” & decided game on. She followed Antonia on IG. Instead of having Luke’s bullshit pushed on her, she pushed back & flipped the table. She said, you don’t get to play the Fandom & me again with Antonia and your “pookey-ness”. If you don’t have the balls to claim her, I do – I’ll claim Antonia for you. So Nicola did. In the process, she pissed off everyone but… I understand her motives.

Enough is enough. Nicola wants to be as far away from Luke as possible. I would want to, too. I’d be afraid I’d break down & deck him with my tiny Irish fists or a nearby folding chair. And Luke knows it… he senses something’s off. Well welcome to the class, Mr. Newton. The rest of us have been waiting for you to wake the f$#% up.

WOW ANON this is AMAZING!!!! Perfectly written ❤️

Love Love this! Thank you for sharing this!!!!

I agree with everything ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Going to post a link to this on to my pinned post!!!

[illamda-spaminations]

I find it so interesting that during the Twisted Hearts OP, when the song goes "I feel you sins all the time", they showed Mycroft and Albert respectively. While Mycroft does not understand/know everything that's going on with the LOC and Moriarty & co., I do believe he understands how Albert feels, especially about taking the punishment on himself.

For example: This scene in MTP, post-Final problem

He understands because he knows Albert and, more importantly, he has been there, it's just the circumstances and the consequences of the decision is very different. The reason he dedicated his life to working for the government was because of his father's involvement in the French Revolution. He wanted to repent on behalf of him, so he decided to take on that punishment, protecting Sherlock in the process. Albert does something very similar, he takes on the atonement so Louis doesn't have to. He believes Louis deserves so much more than punishment; he deserves a fulfilling life, a happy one, or at least as happy as it can get, and above all, the one who should reap the crops William sown [I should REALLY make a separate post on Louis ye gods-].

Mycroft could've let the Moriarty brothers do what they saw fit, as long as he was spared from the brutality, but instead he threatens them. If they don't put the country's future and prosperity first, Mycroft will personally "annihilate" him [his words not mine].

This scene really goes to show that Mycroft is genuinely dedicated to the Empire, he is very intent to serve for the country's future, but it's not blind loyalty, it's him being bound to it, it's the least he could do to make up for his father's sins [sins of the father am I right?] and it's the same for Albert. He and Mycroft love their younger brothers, to the point of sacrificing themselves in order to protect them, to make sure they live as they please, free of guilt. The difference is that Mycroft changed over time, he started to loosen up. The first time we see him outside of his office for non-work related matters was with meeting everyone in the dinner party. And for Albert? Time stopped turning entirely. The moment he entered the tower was the moment he couldn't go back. It was him, his thoughts and the messages from Mycroft to distract him. The only person who could convince him to come out of his prison and start living was William; because William's actions, sins, guilt and will to die was the very reason why Albert chose his punishment.

In comparison, Mycroft's self enforced punishment was lighter to Albert's. While Mycroft has to deal with constant stress [this is not really canon, but considering that he's referred to as the government, yeaaaaa I think he's gonna be stressed af] and grief, Albert had to deal with a spiral towards insanity, grief, religious guilt for the Moriarty plan and his compulsive thoughts. And he's sure as hell isn't going to stand on his own for a while after that.

Another thing [this time it's actually related to my point :0] is exactly when the two show up. Mycroft shows up around the lyrics "I feel your sins" while albert shows up around "all the time", which further proves my point. Since Sherlock and William showing up around the point of "I can't feel your love but I can give you love" basically describes Sherlock's goal of saving William and their relationship in a nutshell.

"I don't know if you see me as a friend but I'll see you like that anyway, and save you, just like what I would do to another friend."

What's not to say the same can be true to Mycroft and Albert?

"I can never truly understand what you are going through, but I will always understand how you feel."

[trans-queen-administrator]

Hey, can I hear about your shatterbird thoughts? She's always been my favourite member of the nine :]

[@faultlinescrew]

Oh I'm about to type for entirely too long.

Alright so a chunk of this is kinda headcanon, but any of that is fully based on canon. I had a giant fanfic planned that was literally an expanded telling of Shatterbird's life from trigger to death, and some plot points there may bleed into this unconsciously.

Number one favorite thing about Shatterbird is that initially, she did nothing wrong. She was unwillingly dosed with a Cauldron vial, and her scream and subsequent exploding of Dubai wasn't her fault. She had no intention to hurt anyone, it was done entirely out of her control as she gained powers and she should not be blamed for her first time destroying a city. The thing is, that doesn't matter in universe. She's still going to be hunted down by countless capes because she killed an untold number of people with that scream. No one's going to just let her go because it wasn't her fault, because she's the only person who can be blamed. People want revenge for their loved ones, and I'm willing to bet that she had a sizable bounty. It's similar to the situation we see with Rachel, where she can't have a normal life because she killed someone in her trigger and her identity is public, but on a much much larger scale.

I think the guilt ate at her so fucking bad at first. She killed her dad, her friends, her sister, her mother, countless others, and as much as it wasn't her fault she's still the one that did it. There's no way she doesn't blame herself for what happened, but when does she even have time to mourn? She's fled to a desert, she's gotta be struggling with food and water, and she's being hounded at every turn by people who want her dead. What's she supposed to do, let them kill her so she can atone for what she did or something?

I just love what a tragic backstory this is. She's one of the most horrible people we meet in canon, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say she has one of the highest body counts on Earth Bet, but she started as someone innocent and desperately trying to survive. And as much as I love this backstory and will defend to the death that she did nothing wrong at this point, it doesn't excuse who she becomes.

Shatterbird laughed.  “There’s only two ways to recover from something of that magnitude, to deal with the fact that you inadvertently killed thousands and thousands of people, and hospitalized twice that many.  You break, or you become it.”

(quote is from the missing interlude)

This is the quote that puts her entire character in a nutshell. The biggest question to me is... when did she become it? She implies in that interlude that it was rather quick, and that she went to Britain so she could hit a big target, but the Tattletale clone calls this out as a lie. She was running, the desert that she'd been in for months was unbearably loud with all that sand, and I think she was sick of living on the run. She wanted society, structure, something to make her feel human. I think she's full of shit saying she went there to destroy it, some accident or desperate confrontation occurred (timeline fits well enough for it to be a result of the Simurgh's attack, but that's just one possibility) and she broke London just as bad as she broke Dubai. What do you even do from there? Any slim hope of clearing her name is gone, she just has to keep running and try to ignore the guilt. And she ran to America, where the Slaughterhouse Nine found her.

The recruiting of people by the Slaughterhouse Nine fascinates me, because most are unwilling to join at first. Unfortunately the alternative is to die. No one in Brockton Bay was jumping to be the lucky winner, and the only people we know nominated themselves are Cherish and I think Siberian. Shatterbird (ever notice how she's the only S9 member with no canon first name? drives me nuts) was dragged into the recruitment process with no say in the matter just like most everyone is. Someone in the Nine found her, thought she would be a good fit because of London and Dubai (and how would that feel, to have someone on the S9 see you as just as bad as them?) and even if she explains that was on accident... what does it matter? It never matters that it was an accident. It never will matter. It's just something that she can tell herself to keep her sane.

So she's doing the fun little tests, I'm actually very curious how she altered herself for Mannequin's since he always does the same test, she's a very vain person, but that's off topic. Atrocities, horrors, being hunted by the Siberian, and suddenly she's at the end. Her and someone else.

“That’s not really a test,” Shatterbird spoke, “There hasn’t been a round of testing since I joined the group where we didn’t whittle it down to one candidate.” “We could forego the final test, pitting them against one another.” Shatterbird turned to him, “Ah.  But, again, the last test where we had to go that far was… mine?”

And she kills them. Dubai, London, those were accidents. This was on purpose, maybe even the first time she's done it on purpose. She could either break and decide she couldn't live with herself as a member of the nine, or she could just as horrible as everyone sees her. All her choices were rigged, there was never much of an opportunity to get better since so many paths closed off to her, but she voluntarily chooses to get worse. What's the point in holding on to the fact that it wasn't her fault at the beginning? She's never escaping what she did, so she'll become the monster everyone sees her as. You break, or you become it.

And there's not much of the more sympathetic side of Shatterbird in canon (partly because her backstory chapter was removed). She's fully embraced herself as a mass murderer. She revels in the attention, the fear. She parrots Jack's philosophy as a way to feel better about what she's doing, and eventually she doesn't need to feel better because she enjoys who she is now.

I don't know, I rambled for a while there but it boils down to me being fascinated by the circumstances of her gaining powers, and the shift from innocent but hated/feared to making damn sure that fear is justified.

Ok, so moving on from the backstory analysis, other miscellaneous details. Fuck it, I'm putting every thought I have on Shatterbird in this post.

She's the Nine's primary recruiter! Woo, good for her. Notably, she recruits Burnscar. Mimi is in a similar position to Shatterbird's past self with the whole involuntary mass destruction, although on a lesser scale (it'll always be on a lesser scale, Shatterbird has the worst trigger event out there in terms of consequences and she didn't even trigger). Mimi was on the streets and trying not to use her power, and Shatterbird scooped her up into the Nine.

“I- before I knew it, the Slaughterhouse Nine had found me.  Shatterbird recruited me.  And now I’m stuck.  I’m trapped.  You know there’s a kill order out on me?  If I try to quit, either the Nine or the cops will off me.  So I keep going, I work for them, and it all just gets worse.”

It's a situation Shatterbird can very likely relate to, but she's perpetuating it and making Mimi suffer like she did. No sympathy, no helping someone get through it and avoid the pitfalls she fell into, she's dragging other people down with her like a crab in a pot. Worth noting that I believe she's still bitter about the hand she was dealt even if she's embraced where it led her to, she remembers how horrible it was to be forced into everything and she does not care if she inflicts it on others.

But if someone else willingly joins the Nine, she takes it personally. Cherie says Shatterbird hates her, and that's because Cherie chooses the life Shatterbird was locked into. She's bitter that she never had that choice, and so she makes sure Cherie understands what it's like by chasing her for days for her test, not allowing any rest or sleep. However, this could also simply because Cherie sucks and is an unpleasant person to talk to, and Shatterbird is stuck-up.

Another thing I like is Shatterbird's appearance of knowledge and elegance. She's trying to appear put together, confident, in-control, and to be fair she does a pretty good job, her costume and theming are great. But under that is someone violent and angry, she's keeping up appearances to everyone else but also to herself. The fact that she's always trying to keep up appearances, even when locked in a room and doomed to die with one Witness (haha get it) she's trying to make it look like she was calm and in control when her body is found, is what 100% convinces me exploding Britain was an accident. The Tattletale clone calls her out, and to me it seems like another attempt to seem in control by framing it as deliberate.

Anyway, my attempts to woobify a mass murderer aside, I also like that she was a spoiled rich kid before all this and her prim asshole attitude points to that. She quotes Edgar Allen Poe, she reads because it makes her feel better than others, she's just so pretentious and unpleasant and to be clear I love this as a character trait, it's fun and leads to her speaking in overdramatic ways.

“Then you should know, nearly-Tattletale, that I’ve spent too long in the company of monsters to be scared by words.”

She thinks she was soooo cool saying that.

I also want to look at the last few weeks of her life. She spends so much effort propping herself up as great and in control, only to be locked in a box and puppeted around against her will. Genuinely I cannot think of anything more humiliating and agonizing for her to endure. She has nothing to do but think as she's used as a marionette.

She had a long time to reflect on her life, to look back at how she got here and what she regrets.

But I think she spent it stewing in her rage, itching and planning to get violent revenge and keep hurting others to be respected. She's unwilling and unable to go back, she'll double down on this forever because this is who she is now. And because 99% of characterization for Shatterbird isn't in Worm anyway, I may as well toss in this minor AU summary by Wildbow. If she escaped, she would have started her own version of the Nine with Damsel of Distress and Trickster. There is nothing left to sympathize with or redeem Shatterbird by the time we see her in canon, she's simply past that point. Side note but Shatterbird + Damsel of Distress + Trickster as a team is perhaps the funniest combo ever and I really wish those 3 fuckers got to interact in canon. Weirdo assholes who dress up fancy and have a taste for theatrics as a murder crew, we were robbed.

I could analyze the Hookwolf interlude but I don't want to. I'm very annoyed that Shatterbird (still no first name) is the only member of the Nine to lose the fight against her recruit instead of appearing terrifying and unstoppable. How come Burnscar can solo Faultline's crew but 3 nazis can take out Shatterbird, who has way more experience? It's pretty uncomfortable to have the only member of the Nine who isn't white be the one that loses to nazis, while one calls her a slur in his internal monologue, in the interludes where everyone else on her team is introduced as a force of nature. I think we should just collectively agree to make this interlude not canon and un-retcon the Witness interlude. While I'm on the topic it's also a bit questionable to have Sophia and Shatterbird (no first name. I am annoyed by this) as the only named capes puppeted by Regent?

But that's not the topic I wanna explore. The topic is that Shatterbird is a great character and I wish that she had depth in the story itself rather than scattered through 20 different sources, because she's legitimately my favorite non-undersider in the story. There is a lot of potential to explore her, one could interpret her backstory in a less charitable way than I did just for an example, and I really think she's neat! She takes hurting someone in an accident and then becoming the monster people see her as, something we see a few times throughout worm, to its ultimate conclusion in terms of scale. That alongside her outer layer of intellectualism and pretentiousness, which I'm a massive sucker for as a trait, and she's just perfect. Did nothing wrong (citation needed). I love her and I do hope that at least some of the stuff written her makes someone appreciate her character more.

Ok! That was... 2.2k words about Shatterbird (no first name). Woo! If some stuff seems inconsistent between paragraphs here, it's probably because I wrote this in chunks over the course of a few weeks and my feelings at the time can influence my interpretation of things and my writing to feel different when read all at once and compared. If you think I'm woobifying her too much, cool. I think it makes her more compelling to examine how much we know was her fault and how much she shouldn't be blamed for, and making her have less agency makes her more tragic which I always like. If you actually read this to the end, thank you! Have a nice day!

[missunderstoodlyrics]

New Fic! Tadfield Street

Summary:

When Aziraphale's quiet life running his bookshop on Tadfield Street is upended by the arrival of a new pub owner next door, he's forced to confront the past he thought he'd left behind. Add in a corrupt town Mayor with redevelopment plans, a street full of colorful outcasts and misfits, and the stage is set for a showdown that requires Crowley and Aziraphale to work together to save everything they care about. Too bad they're barely speaking to each other.

Notes:

This fic came about because I had two questions:   1) What would happen if our Ineffable Husbands were human, went through a similar breakup, and now had to work together to save something important? 2) What if Tracy and Shax were twins and owned a sex shop? So there you have it. My Process in a nutshell.

Thank you to @searching4sarahtonin and @spectrallydistracted for the beta and encouragement!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/64422343/chapters/165406408

[worldfianna]

Severance Theory

(Anotha one thank yew)

Buckle down and be patient with me because this is going to be the biggest reach of a theory anyone can possibly have mustered up, luckily it's not as stupid as miss huang being mark and gemma's daughter, but it still has some considerable holes. BE NICE, be patient, and feel free to argue otherwise AMICABLY. okay enjoy guys because i seriously started doubting myself when i got to the end of writing this. I was like "wow I'm actually crazy" but this show is crazier so.

Okay so maybe this is so so obvious, but i need to get it out there in case nobody else kind of thought about this either. So i finally convinced one of my friends to watch severance, so she came round mine and we got up to episode 3, and we got to petey. Now, petey has reintegration sickness right? So bad that it essentially kills him, but he also just disappears from work, he can't have resigned because otherwise he would've gone through the whole "goodbye" process of it, he didn't get fired, and cobel says he's still missing and they're actively searching for him, she believes he's been reintegrated and the board is like "oh no no no girl". I'm outlining all the holes in this theory before anyone else can. But I'm wondering if perhaps on the off-chance that the procedure COULD'VE gone wrong and that workers still have some memories from their job, they built in some kind of mechanism in the severance device that causes pain and eventual death? Petey is under the impression that people are after him, and i could be wrong but i don't remember Asal mentioning any post reintegration pain (forgive me if she did and disregard this entire theory) I'm thinking maybe petey began showing visual signs of reintegration, so much so that they activated the pain mechanism, to prevent any information about Lumon being brought to the outside. It's definitely clear that the severance procedure wasn't invented just so that your life is your free-time and you never have to worry about work again, they clearly want whatever is happening at Lumon to remain a secret, but need to disguise it as something else. Any information that gets out could be detrimental to their end goal so they need to eradicate any possibility that this could happen. I think they knew that Petey knew something - i mean, he doesn't show up one time and they say he's not with the company anymore instead of assuming he was like bed ridden or in hospital and wasn't able to call in sick. That's assuming this takes place on a monday, why would they contact him on the weekend? So that means the last time anyone will have seen him was friday. They must know that he knows. And i think the board knows that he knows something, but they have it under control because of the possible pain feature. When it get's really bad he can't tell what's real and what's not, making him appear crazy, giving lumon some plausible deniability. I feel like I've worded this theory terribily

In a nutshell.

Outside:

Lumon made severance device chip thing > device chip has pain inducing feature > pain inducing feature can cause death > pain inducing feature causes petey's death

Inside:

"Petey's not with company anymore" > bro missed 10 minutes of work > not fired? > not resigned? > they're looking for petey > why? > why look for petey if you think he's not a threat > threat to lumon > lumon knows petey's onto something > lumon knows reintegration is possible but lie about it > shows that authoritative figures like cobel don't actually know the full plan of what lumon is trying to accomplish > everyone is freaked > the eagans are cray

Does that make sense??

Also why would cobel theorise he was reintegrated if he missed one day of work. HE HAD TO BE SHOWING SIGNS.

I do genuinely believe irving reintegrated as well and that the paint/ black goop situation was similar to when mark saw helena as gemma in the tent in season 2. But I've written enough.

[mydearestbeloved]

Firstly, I would like to apologize for accidentally deleting this ask (good thing I always screenshotted my inbox) and for the late response. My apologies, dear Anon. 🙏

Secondly, in that case, welcome back to the bandwagon! 🎉

As for me, isekai—well, to be specific, isekai-romance—is still going strong as my favorite since I discovered it. Glad you noticed the many inspirations/references/classic tropes/clichés that I used, 'cause writing those are the privilege I want to abuse the hell out of when writing my own isekai fiction. Asdfghjkl

If it’s not obvious enough, I even deliberately made Trial Player!Reader aware of the clichés she's living through with direct mentions in-story. And while they serve their due depending on the moments' context (two obvious examples being showing TP!Reader’s inner fangirl and my poor attempt at rom-com XD), I actually made them quite relevant to the story! Say, implications of TP!Reader's personality & how she views everything about her situation, her knowledge & awareness, her thought process & imaginations—maybe even serving as foreshadowing, hints, and or a nod toward her truth, fate, & destiny. 🤫

Good to know you like what’s going on in the story so far. Indeed, there’s more going on with TP!Reader’s ‘connection’ with the Absolute Being, and while I can’t spoil much, one aspect that’s already implied to be playing a part—which I can say for now—is that these two are like reflections in a mirror—same features but also flipped. So, not quite the same but also not quite opposites at the same time. Creator-Mother, Entertainment-Spectator, Indifference-Love—these are just some examples.

Also, you know when Ashborn and Jinwoo go like, “I am you and you are me”? In a rough comparison, the Absolute Being and TP!Reader might go like, “What is beyond the reflective surface? Are we really the same? What of the other glass?” Basically, in a nutshell, I’m giving TP!Reader the amalgamation identity crisis of the big three isekai: reincarnation, transmigration, and summoning—all in one go. LOL😅

Now, while I did say in the past that I already have a rough idea for TP AU's sequel in Solo Leveling: Ragnarok (placeholder name for now: Guide AU), I haven’t looked back and developed it further past a very general synopsis draft. Partly because I’m already so busy with college and writing TP AU, and mostly because I don’t know much about SL: Ragnarok’s story. I’m not motivated enough to read the novel, and while I might be more motivated to read the manhwa, both are still ongoing, and to add to that, I heard that the manhwa diverges from the novel. I just don’t have that much time to catch up. T_T

In conclusion, while I do want to make this story an AU that can be freely and easily imagined with canon, I can’t promise that it’ll be entirely canon-compliant information-wise—especially for details that were elaborated more in SL: Ragnarok. So, I apologize in advance for this, but I feel obliged to advise you to keep your expectations low regarding any connecting-information pertaining to the sequel made in the current TP AU. That said, I’ll still try to make those connections as best as I can, and hopefully, they’ll come out good enough. 🤞

Reading the comments and asks from everyone has always been a joy. So, thank you for reading my works and for sharing your thoughts, dear Reader! 💕

[classicanalyzer]

Free Comic Book Day 2025: Star Wars 1 Thoughts

This is a nice free release of three stories tying into the three mainline Star Wars comics except for the new Aphra run.

The Legacy of Vader and Jedi Knights sections of the FCBD issue are pretty nice, but the mainline 2025 run really didn't do well.

If I had read Alex Segura's portion of this FCBD issue before reading the first issue of his mainline run, I would've thought the comic was cooked. Thankfully, the first issue was much more solid than the mainline run's FCBD section. The only good part of his issue is Phil Noto's artwork; Phil Noto is always a win.

Luke saying, "The lives of New Republic citizens is my business!", is one of the most OOC lines I've heard from him lmao. It felt like Alex Segura didn't see Return of the Jedi at all.

As a friend pointed out, Luke getting cheap shotted by the Pyke Syndicate member's hammer felt a bit too much in terms of power scaling.

The way he forced the trader to tell him about the pirates felt very TCW Anakin than Luke. In a nutshell, Luke acted very OOC in this issue.

I do like how we do get Rynn's full backstory by the end of the FCBD issue. It was already elaborated on throughout the Jakku comic, but it's nice to get more information and summarize what we know about her.

Charles Soule's Vaneé story is the best of the three stories in the FCBD issue.

Soule really dives deep into what makes Vaneé tick in his service to Vader. Vaneé truly was devoted to his former master to the point of accepting his punishment from Vader as "lessons" and welcoming them as a result. It's really disturbing to see all of that.

I like how the issue is all about Vaneé's five stages of grief as he processes Vader's death. It's also nice to see the origins of his B'omarr monk droid style appearance in the comic. The use of hope for a villain is a great touch by Soule, especially when Vanee finally sees his salvation for purpose might lie in the hands of Kylo Ren.

I absolutely love the fact that they referenced Vaneé's origin story in his character bio from the Star Wars Adventures: Shadows of Vader's Castle issue.

Tensu Run is actually a bit cool in the Jedi Knights FCBD section. It made me go back to the Inquisitors comic, and while the comic was pretty boring, Tensu Run did interest me a bit.

I really like how the issue establishes that Corlis Rath is connected to an incident when Qui-Gon was still Dooku's Padawan. I'll be very interested to know why Qui-Gon simply forgot about the entire incident, especially with how Dooku called out to Qui-Gon for his presumed scarring of Corlis. Maybe scarring Corlis isn’t on Qui-Gon’s events to remember list.

I find it interesting that Vader uploaded the death of Tensu Run onto the Holonet. But that feels like a classic Vader move to miss the point of Tensu Run’s final moments and words to Vader.

The character bios at the end of the issue are a fun read, and they gave some interesting trivia and recaps of the characters.

Overall, it was a noice issue with the mainline 2025 run being lackluster and the other two bringing some interesting relevations and questions for their future issues.

"I remade myself, just as my master had long ago. In my new form, I could last as long as needed, until he saw fit to return. I returned to my duties and begin my vigil anew. But in time, even I had to acknowledge...the passage of time. In the thirty years since Lord Vader's alleged demise, I heard no reports of his presence, no plausible rumors. If he lived, I like to think he would have reached out. Made some effort to...Well. He did not. That was the worst day of my life--when I finally acknowledged the truth. I grew despondent. Service to Lord Vader was all that gave my life meaning. I searched the Holonet feeds incessantly, hoping I was wrong, hoping for some evidence of Vader's continued presence. I found nothing. Until one day...I did. Not Darth Vader, but perhaps...another path. A way I might continue to serve, to persist in the journey I knew was my destiny. For that day, you see, I discovered...There is another." Vaneé

[cybersymbiote]

ooc: Unfortunately I’m still not doing well. For those of you that read my post weeks ago I’m slowly trying to get back to my ideal of normal but I don’t know when that’s going to be. I’ve done everything and have explored almost every other avenue. Sadly even my therapist whom I’m slowly beginning to like perhaps a first in a very long time, it’s not working out. By that I mean the sessions. To summarize it all I was homeless for a bit, hungry, and suffered some losses. Although I have had kind people help me I have gotten to where I know I don’t want this anymore, to be stuck. While I’m not homeless or at the brink I know that I would rather turn in my keys. A lot is happening. I simply don’t have joy. I dropped out of college due to not only the demands of working two jobs but my clouded thoughts that even a masked smile can’t hide.

I didn’t want to leave college but I was always almost crying after work when I get home. I don’t leave my house anymore except to go to work.

I have not cared for anything in so long. I don’t even like my job, I don’t read my favorite books, even getting back into role play has been a challenge as well as a chore. I don’t have any fulfillment from anything. This has been going on for more than five months of my life. Going back to therapy I don’t even know if I wish to continue going. To add it all I received very difficult news concerning my grandmother who is now declining and the nurses basically told us to expect the worse. As much as it pained us, my family, the decision to put her in a nursing home is for the best. Her dementia is so bad she’s… I can’t even begin to describe it because I genuinely don’t like telling my personal life because I’m desperate to figure it all out.

I hate how everything has gone down. Just when I was feeling even a little better it isn’t going to be better. I’m tired. There’s no other way to say how exhausted I am. Even when I was on medication it didn’t help me. And I can’t keep wasting my time instead taking time to resolve this issue. Whatever the case may be.

I am where I don’t talk to anyone not even my coworkers. My friends live far away and I don’t recall the last I spoke to anyone because I am always almost at work due to bills because I need the hours to make up for what I let go. But I hate my life in a nutshell so the decision to leave role play as well as the internet is probably on my list. I’ve become someone I don’t like. I don’t know anymore. I don’t know if I’m going to have food let alone next month’s rent. I’m all over the place and I hate it. I’m forcing myself to like things that at once were my coping mechanisms. Now I just don’t. I’m not living I’m existing.

I’m not religious so no I don’t pray because I don’t care to. I don’t believe in God and honestly people telling me that He will work it out is aggravating me. Speaking of I’ve been nothing but upset to the point my sleep and appetite have been affected. I’m just sick of having to fight for something that isn’t there. So I don’t know if I should continue this… it’s unfortunate because I do feel stagnant. I desperately want to quit my jobs. I even entertained it last night. Being a cashier for so long is energy draining. I just want a second chance. I’m in my late twenties and battling the consequences of years of emotional repression, poor health, and the residue of a life half-lived.

I don’t know if I’m ever going to be okay ever again. Please understand it’s a process but if not I’ll have to just leave. It’s too much.

[gremoria411]

*This post will contain spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. Also, I’ll probably ramble more than usual here, since a lot of my points are interconnected*

Alright then. I was planning on doing a big post breakdown on Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury after rewatching it, since I find that my general thoughts on a series typically coalesce around the second viewing. However that probably won’t be for a good while yet, so I figured I’d do a big post now, and I’ll add a few notes if anything jumps out on me on my (eventual) second viewing.

In a nutshell, I found The Witch from Mercury to be really, really good, with an excellent cast and gorgeous action. However, I feel it’s let down by its comparatively low episode count.

And I’d like to stress that that low episode count is basically my only major criticism - I have several smaller ones, but they’re ultimately all extensions of that low episode count.

The Cast.

As above, really good. You’ve got a good selection of characters coming from various strata’s within society - Spacians, Earthians, Mercurians. It’s a good variety of characters and seeing how they interact with each other. They all feel pretty well-rounded as characters honestly.

Like, Suletta’s great, obviously. I feel like you don’t need me to tell you that which is great, because I’m not sure how to put it. I guess I like how emotive she is, how she portrays how she’s feeling so well, but then that might be because we, the audience are close to her as a protagonist (I’d argue that Miorine and Guel could also be counted as protagonists, if you wanted, but Suletta’s the one we spend the most time with). Suletta’s also good because she’s a newcomer to the Asticassia, so not only do we learn things with her but she’s also absolutely primed to upend the status quo there, which she does fantastically. I like the contrast between her doubts and capabilities - she’s not the most social of characters and doubts herself multiple times, but put her in a mobile suit and she is confidence incarnate.

Miorine feels like an extension of Gundam’s “Princess” archetype: your Sayla, your Relena, your Lacus. I really like how proactive she is - we first meet her in the process of attempting to run away from her school, and her arc feels more about her recognising the power she weilds and how to best use it for what she wants, rather than rejecting it outright. She’s in the process of actively cultivating “soft power” (negotiations, word-of-mouth, etc) rather than just having it inherently and -crucially- because the hard power isn’t actually that valuable. Compared to, say, SEED. Lacus has a whole lot of soft power, but it’s Kira and the Freedom that’s the driving force of the plot. Suletta has Hard Power - Aerial, but it’s borrowed power fundamentally, and it’s Miorine’s soft power that ultimately does more good. Actual Diplomacy versus Gunboat Diplomacy, if you will. I also like how Suletta and Miorine’s relationship progresses - they balance out each other - it starts out with Suletta having the power Miorine needs, but as Miorine grows they start relying more on each other. Also their interactions together are really great. They’re compelling because of both who they are in universe - a pilot and a princess, and because of their personalities with each other and how they spur each others development.

I do want to call out Lady Prospera as being amazing. She feels exactly how Char would be as a mother - manipulative and ruthless, but still caring in her own way. I’m given to understand she’s the first female Char Clone in the series, which is neat. Her relationship with Suletta (and Miorine) is just really good. She’s not unpleasant and she’s certainly charming, but she won’t sugarcoat how things are. Miorine knows she’s being manipulated in her interactions with her, but it’s genuinely good advice so she goes along with it, even as she has her own reservations. It’s also rather telling that once Prospera doesn’t need Suletta anymore, she leaves her. While callous and heart-breaking, we know now that Prospera fully believed she was going to die. While this doesn’t exactly forgive her abandoning Suletta, it does cast her interest in Suletta making friends and having relationships outside her in a new light. Prospera wants vengeance for Nadim and the rest of the Vanadis Institute, but she recognises that that is her and Eri’s vengeance, not Suletta’s. And doesn’t that sound similar to Mr Char “I have never once betrayed any one, in my life, ever” Aznable, who just wants his sister to grow up in peace while he avenges their family? It’s a fun relationship dynamic and it’s done well, is what I’m getting at. I also like how unapologetically villainous she is in some of her actions - both the audience and Miorine kinda clock her as a threat immediately, but we can also see why Suletta trusts her so much, even if it’s not the healthiest relationship. I just really like the juxtaposition of her being sweet with Suletta, uncompromising with Miorine, and absolutely brutal with everyone else.

Setting

I find the school setting genuinely fascinating, I don’t have a clever segue so I’m just going to get into it.

Asticassia School of Technology is a school to pilot giant robots. Great, Instantly appealing. However, then you get into all the ways it’s indicative of the wider society. It’s maintained and run by the Benerit Group - a Mega-Corporation that dominates the field of military-use mobile suits, which requires actual military force to be brought to heel and is basically a sovereign nation all its own - it’s rather telling that we never really see any national representatives throughout G-Witch, it’s all about the companies. So it takes this normally aspirational thing “wow, a school to pilot giant robots!” And extrapolates it out to what kind of setting would create that. Giant Robots are used in military applications, so you end up with a facility basically dedicated to the production of child soldiers to serve this military-industrial complex actively profiting from the glaring class inequality present in the setting, as set out in the prologue. And because the characters exist within that system there is no “easy fix”, the story ends with the characters making small progress against those inequalities rather than solving them in one fell swoop because the inequalities are systemic, and you can’t just take out the superweapon and expect everything to work out on its own. The existence of child soldiers is baked into the setting- not as a desperate gamble or as an illustration of the necessities of survival, as in other series. But as an accepted and -crucially- normalised thing. Notably, no-one expresses surprise or horror at Sophie and Norea being pilots - just that they’re a threat and have GUND Format units. We also see several child soldiers in Fold of Dawn in addition to Asticassia itself, so there’s also the angle of generational differences - the children exist in an unfair world built and maintained by the adults, fighting for the causes they are taught to. Many of the Benerit Heirs have unhealthy relationships with their parental figures, typically conflicting over them wanting different things (Guel vs Vim’s expectations, Shaddiq going out from under Sarius and basically everything about the Elan’s). So there’s the angle of the children fighting against the unfair world of adults, tying into the familial relationships in the cast. Which is a theme Gundam’s got a lot out of historically. So the school setting shows to illustrate how Ad Stella is civilised a first glance, but far more beneath the surface, and demonstrates several of the issues inherent in the setting.

I also really love how GUND format is actively debilitating to its pilots and how Suletta, while still a very good pilot, is essentially unbeatable because she has a way around the downsides for most of the series. Because it feels like an examination of “the Gundam is the strongest mobile suit”. G-Witch essentially states that having a stronger or better weapon does not solve these problems, in fact, the various elements of the company all fighting over Aerial gets several people killed, so if anything it feels like a takedown of “Gundam” as a concept (ie This great strong weapon that will win us the war”). It also puts emphasis on themes of dehumanisation - both the Elan’s and Sophie&Norea show that child experimentation, while not exactly common, isn’t unfamiliar ground in Ad Stella, particularly with Elan being replaceable, which again ties into the child soldier angle. I also find it delightfully hypocritical that Benerit, the weapon merchants, have issues with it because of the PR backlash of it killing its pilots, not because of any “moral” reason. It’s a bad look to have a weapon that can harm its user - who’s going to want to pay for that? The militant liquidation of Ochs Earth was essentially a PR stunt to show that Benerit will not make these weapons (not that that stopped Peil). Which is really horrifying to think about, really.

The Space Assembly League, Quiet Zero and the Interplanetary Laser Transmission System (or ITLS, that big gun in the finale) all function as illustrations of the excess of corporate power - a near full-scale war/ large scale destruction is only prevented because of Suletta and Ericht’s intervention. The SAL functions as a regulatory body for the corporations, but while it isn’t exactly lacking in force, it acts far too late to prevent the damage - Benerit has been allowed to run independently for too long, so it’s difficult to pull back even with evidence and force because it’s just so big. Meanwhile, the ITLS was constructed under the guide of a power transmission system, but it’s intended to be fired as a weapon. Furthermore, the destruction it will cause is written off as “Oh, Peil will get the reconstruction contract”, killing hundreds for corporate gain. The fact that it’s Peil specifically is also notable, since they are probably the most ethically bankrupt of the three corporations and were actively involved in the GUND-format technology themselves. But because the corrupt elements of the governing body favour them (and can presumably cut a deal for reconstruction costs), much of their misdeeds would have essentially been swept under the rug. Notably, other than their stock plummeting, we don’t actually see much in the way of consequences for the Peil CEO’s.

Mechanics

A fairly short one here - I’ll admit I’m not crazy about a lot of the mobile suits in Ad Stellar, but I like how each company has a different designer and are different thematically. Jeturk has big, bulky beetle-esque machines - heavily armoured and analogous to Zaku’s and other grunt suits from the series. Peil focuses on mobility - spindly MS with lots of thrusters, and typically deployed with aerial combat in mind. Finally, Grassley tends to lean towards units with exotic systems, such as the Michaelis’ beam bracer and Anti-GUND format and often have monoeyes. It’s a good illustration of the competing philosophies within the group and each one is distinct and easily recognisable (Burion’s utilitarian, I don’t have much more to say on it). It also emphasises what a big shakeup the Gundam’s are, since they look so different, and can put down any of these units with little trouble. I rather wish we saw more of the smaller developers - those units Suletta swatted aside en masse with the Aerial Rebuild, since they seemed to have a greater variety of designs (I particularly liked the little Acguy-looking one - the Hosler II?). Also, really liked the Prodoros used by Dawn of Fold (though that’s likely due to how it moves).

Criticisms

Or rather Criticism. Your typical Gundam series is usually around 40-50 episodes, whereas Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is a comparatively paltry 25. Now, one series having a lower episode count than another isn’t inherently a point against it - better a short story well told rather than a long story poorly told, and it’s a new show, and (despite my persistent comparisons with other Gundam shows) should be allowed to stand and be judged on its own merits. But it kinda feels like it was meant to be a 40-50 episode series that was cut-down mid-production and fundamentally, it feels like we could’ve gotten more.

The pacing of the second season ratchets up considerably compared to the first, and I would like to stress that Witch From Mercury is a very-well-paced show - every episode has some sort of plot development, but it feels like that’s because it had to be. And every criticism I have of the show feels like it flows from that cut-down episode count.

It kinda feels like Peil Industries was supposed to be a much bigger player in this, and the Pharact doesn’t really do anything after its opening fight.

Peil’s never brought to justice, and Elan 5 just decides to join Earth House’s move on Quiet Zero. Meanwhile, the real Elan Ceres just resigns from Peil, even though he was presumably in on the Enhanced Person stuff too.

Lauda’s whole subplot about him piloting the Schwarzette had very little foreshadowing - I assume they put just enough of it in that they couldn’t cut it entirely (i.e. the Schwarzette), and it was necessary for Guel’s character arc.

Guel taking over Jeturk Heavy Industries didn’t really go anywhere.

Sophie Pulone and Norea Du Noc are really only there to tick gundam’s “Doomed Child Soldiers” box. Also Dawn of Fold just…… still exists after the events of the series?

The fact that Ochs Earth was still a thing kinda didn’t amount to much did it? Prospera just destroys them and their Gundam Lfrith’s. The ones used by Dawn of Fold might have well been older models, scavenged or bought by them.

Chuatury (Chuchu) Panlunch - great character, great design, excellent illustration of the tensions of the setting, but it feels like she was supposed to have a subplot focused on the people supporting her on Earth.

It just feels like they made the first 12 episodes of a 40-50 episode series, with a bunch of setup that’d pay off later, and then they got cut down to 24 episodes and had to cut a lot of stuff to fit. I’d like to stress I think they made a good compromise - most of my criticisms are minor and the Suletta and Miorine are the heart of the series, and they come out very well. But all the same, I’d rather the compromise didn’t need to be made in the first place, so we could’ve seen the “full thing” as it were.

Even my….. restraint on the mobile suits designs can be pinned on this. My favourite designs are typically Monster of the Week and late-season Weirdo’s - the stuff that’s the purview of your charismatic villain or a specialised grunt. But if you’ve got to cut stuff for space and time, then by their very nature, those designs won’t stick around.

I should however mention that I’ve been unable to find any reputable source as to wether The Witch From Mercury did have its episode count cut, before or during production. My criticism is mostly about the series feeling like it should have had more, not that it was actually cut down. It is possible that Bandai wanted to see if the show could make a comparative return on a smaller budget than usual, especially considering most of their recent Gundam output has been adaptations (IE. Shows that already have a proven audience and prior success, and are consequently a lot less financially risky), like Unicorn or Thunderbolt.

All that said, I do think that the emotional core of the show - Suletta and Miorine was excellently done, and I found the action and themes to be similarly well-done. I’m mostly only complaining we didn’t get to see more of the world, since it has so many interesting concepts that feel like they would’ve been interesting to see.

[meganegatari]

ellie being the realest most relatable person ever. have had this very exact same thought process(like, got this word for word somewhere in the trenches of my notes app...), sure most of us have LOL tis the wlw experience in a nutshell i fear