#also this is technically a reference to an image i cannot seem to find

[sanzodaily]

day 21 | he/him pussy

[eaterofdust]

Hookfang: comparison and art study

To start simply, one of the more bigger picture differences between these Hookfang's is that of grandeur. The Animated Hookfang has long tendrils, massive wings and very teeth, things that all serve to make Hookfang look scary despite his large, human-like eyes. The Live Arena Spectacular (Arena) doesn't seem to get the memo for this, instead choosing smaller wings in favour of front legs and a four-legged stance rather than being a wyvern. The Live Action (Action) seems to be a blend of both: shorter spikes, no curving spines, more spikes.

This specific set of images, alongside being a reference for the art used here, also displays one other thing: the colour difference between them! The Animated Hookfang has more orange to his design, with a more vibrant red-orange palette compared to the live action which is redder but keeps the orange underbelly despite forgoing the orange face/wings. Again, the Arena Hookfang is the outlier here, with a red pallet and yellow underbelly, as well as lighter horns and spikes.

The biggest difference overall between all these designs is the face. The Animated Hookfang has his unique eye-bulbs, while both the Arena and the Action prefer to simply exaggerate his brows. Both the Action and the Arena designs also add more of a "crown" to the back of his head, making it easier to see where the horns originate from whereas the Animated lets it be slightly ambiguous by hiding the exact spot, no doubt helping mask the fast that Hookfang's horns are flexible (see shows).

Interestingly, both the Arena and the Action as a slope to Hookfang's snout while in the animated, Hookfang's snout starts at a slight dip. Alternatively, both the Animated and Arena keep the small spikes on Hookfang's snout, while the Action smooths them out significantly.

As pointed out, Animated Hookfang is primarily diamond shapes, the Action is made of more curves, and the Arena is a mass of wrinkles. This makes the animated feel a bit more "dangerous" to the others, who use softer shape language. They manage to win the point back by having smaller eyes, though such progress is undone by teeth: Animated Hookfang has long tusks that cannot fit into his mouth, peeking over his snout from the other side. Action Hookfang's teeth has more thorn-like teeth that hide behind lips. This, while technically being more realistic in that teeth exposed usually sustain damage, also significantly reduces the fear factor- thing a saber-tooth tiger compared to other big cats. The Arena Hookfang has a zig zap pattern with his smaller teeth, the fact they remain exposed also beating the live action; as the indoraptor's (Jurassic World) appearance divulges, this is simply more threatening upon first glance than of bare lips.

The Action Hookfang also fails to present a threat when someone knows their reptile biology. A thin jaw is almost always reserved for aquatic hunters which results in a very weak jaw- one of the main reasons Dilophosaurus is debated to be a scavenger or apex predator, but I digress. Though I struggled to find a picture of Arena's jaws, they also seem to be thicker but the Animated trumps both with how Snotlout is able to almost entirely fit inside of them. Even without the biological aspect, the fact that the Animated's jaws are so much larger are enough to give off more a threatening energy.

Speaking of shapes, let's take a break from the almost argument happening there in favour of posture! The Arena is the most divergent, how could it not be? It goes for a typical dinosaur stance, with a thick body, neck and tail, much shorter compared to the others.

The Action and the Animated are similar generally, though the Animated Hookfang has his legs further on his body (which is still slightly longer due to his tail), and a thinner neck.

The Arena has it's smaller wings- which have a more traditional shape in perspective of other dragons- between its front and back legs rather than at the shoulder joint. The Action's wings are, again, a blend of both, and the Animated's wings have a shorter primary wing-finger that causes the general shape to arch out before returning.

The Arena's flaws begin to reveal themselves here: they are but that of the most basic dragon, none of the spikes that at least make the other two Hookfang designs the most iconic. When one looks to the Monstrous Nightmare, the first sights are that of the face and the wings. There are four wing-fingers, each ending with a tiny claw.

The Action's wings have more flair to them, with shoulder-pad like scales, and tiny spikes running long the top of the fore-arm scales. They also follow the claws on the tips as the Arena, with eight wing-fingers as well as the two claws acting as feet resulting in a total of ten digits per arm. There's not much else to say about the wings as their shape is also rather typical of other dragons.

The most unique is definitely the Animated, as instead of a typical dip between each finger, there is a tendril. Though this is probably not very efficient for flight considering that there's not any bats that have something similar, it makes for a unique wing shape unlike other dragon. Interestingly, there is only eight wing-fingers, with the two claws and five spurs (? - Spikes? A wing spur is the spike the Arena has but I know not of what to classify these as) making a total of fifteen digits per arms.

Interestingly enough, all designs have skin connecting the upper arm to the forearm.

The Animated Hookfang's legs appear to be a mixture of digitigrade and plantigrade, and depending on his pose one could argue either, though digitigrade seems to be the more likely answer. He has a thin knee with larger thighs and ankles, spikes on the lower half of his leg that the other two Hookfang's seem to lack, and much larger, hooked claws than the others.

The Action's legs have spikes along the front, with a larger toe to claw ratio than the Animated Hookfang and smaller than the Arena Hookfang's. It is obviously digitigrade with a bird-of-prey inspiration just as obvious.

The Arena is different as it is plantigrade, has thicker legs and toes, small talons that do not protrude from the foot near as far at the others. It has spikes similar to the like, and its front legs (though not depicted here) have the spikes from the Animated Hookfang as well.

The Arena Hookfang's spikes are the furthest from the others, simple short spikes that are a tan-black colour. They are not special, and unlike the other two Hookfang's seem to sprout from smaller scales rather than larger back plates and are only in one row rather than the duality of the other designs.

The Action Hookfang has spikes that flare out near the tips, with thin plate-like scales that blend into the shoulders. Though they are much longer than the Arena's spikes, they are shorter than the sail of the Animated Hookfang.

Speaking of the Animated Hookfang, I was expecting the long, curled tendrils (they are one of his most iconic traits to me) but what I had not expected to find was that each plated scale on his back was lined with tiny spikes! This is not in the other designs, including that of the other movies, interestingly enough.

Now, to quote the rant I sent my friends upon the release of the teens in training: [Action] Snotlout is the unholy offspring of HTTYD1 Snotlout and RTTE Snotlout. I said this mostly as a joke about how features of RTTE appeared- his boots, shirt and the studs on both bracers and his belt being sired by the design- but HTTYD1 is far less in what it provides despite being the adaptation.

Sure, he has his vest, but it has the dark scale patterns of RTTE's armour. His pants are shared between both alongside his helmet. But people prefer RTTE's design anyway, right? Well, typically, but if you compare RTTE's design to all the other iterations of Snotlout, it's different. Though I'm probably looking into this too far, I always saw this as not only logical (the Edge is far warmer than Berk) but as a sort of sign of him pulling away from his father and allowing himself to dress as he wants to rather than what holds his status.

There is less logic to his Action design: the fur of his bracers and (presumably) on the insides of his boots will help with chafing, but why the random ring of fur on his boots? It offers nothing but a mess for the boy who rolls in literal yak crap. Alternatively, his fur vest fails to make him look either bold or obnoxious: the orange fur is no more than an eyesore at times, and the brighter colour that- again, assumed- lines the inside is not near as efficient as the dark colour of his original vest: black absorbs heat easier.

Animated Snotlout only wore armour that nearly everyone else did (bracers, a helmet which society demands he don, a belt which only theoretically counts as armour) and left most his skin exposed- this gave off the vibe of the "real man" type, showing off that he feels neither the cold nor that he fears being mauled by dragons.

Action Snotlout's more fortified vest and bracers get rid of such an illusion: he fears death, and he will remain protected to be safe. This is technically not out of character; Snotlout is the "logical" one, and one of the first to look out for danger ("Aren't you going to teach us first?!"/"I don't need that to know where it's going... It's coming!") but such is for RTTE.

Action (and, by extension, RTTE) Snotlout is one of logic and safety, making sure he remains safe to live another day. Animated Snotlout is a bold creature that likely gains many scars in his attempt to mimic his father.

Interestingly, the necklace Action Snotlout wears closely resembles that of Tuffnut's, seeming to continue the newer trend of making Snotlout and Tuff partners in the group. (Think the whole couple scenes thing vs. the first movie, where Snotlout and Fishlegs lifted Hiccup together at the end and Fishlegs would lean on Snotlout when he hunched over while catching his breath.)

But what of Arena Snotlout, you scream?

...He seems to be closer to Snotface. Still, he has his dark fur vest, his helmet, his bracers. Despite it all, I had to reread the wiki description to make sure that it was Snotlout. If I had to guess why, I would assume the beard and long-sleeved shirt to be the culprit; it provides him a "maturity" that simply cannot fit with Snotlout. Snotlout is to be immature, to be clueless and confused and yet still capable of caring for himself anyway. Where Action Snotlout pushes the inward aspects of Snotlout too far, Arena pushes his outward aspects too far, though it's slanderous to say that the Animated design doesn't leave a viewer wanting for more sometimes.

In summary:

Animated: Fearsome, hideous to look at and yet deserving of affection.

Arena: The set designers had fun, returning to what works and yet being unique still, even if the designs stray a bit too far from the movies.

Action: A weaker version, and yet still recognisable to a degree: once you've already been told and when they are in the context of their scenes. For Hookfang, I only knew it to be him because of him being a trailer poster child, and I only realised Snotlout wasn't Hiccup because of the fact several people were spamming his name with his original photo.

[laurelwen]

Hi this is important news I think so I'm putting it here so it can be posted instead of just dming! Also because I'm scared of dming people.

I FOUND THE LIKE MINDS PLAYING CARD SET! Technically Reddit found it. I asked on a playing cards subreddit and someone knew somehow.

Over here http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks07/d05524/d05524.htm It's the 5th row. It's listed as Sands & McDougal, an Australian company, and a different brand called Invicta. Either way, it's from the 30s. I tried to see if I could find any sales links but none of them show the backing sadly.

I only saw these, along with the original black one you posted, but if there's a black, blue, and red, then there's probably a green out there somewhere. I really hope this helps!!

Bless subreddits full of people with extensive knowledge on their special interests, and bless you for thinking of asking them! This is spectacular little bit of research, and thank you so much for sharing!

Ironically, I had that site (World of Playing Cards) bookmarked, but never thought of searching specifically for Australian cards. I did a little digging around after you sent this ask, and I found a few articles about this manufacturer, Sands & McDougall. They issued cards under several different brand names, including Invicta and Tiger. Tiger was part of their budget line, as evidenced by the court cards being rendered in two colors rather than four.

If anyone wants to play along at home, here are the links:

Sands & McDougall Sands & McDougall Court Cards Sands & McDougall Aces & Jokers Australian Court Cards (includes some Sands & McDougall designs)

In addition to the image you included above, here's another from the Tiger deck, c. 1935. Sadly no Jack of Spades example attached, but the style of the court cards--including the two color red and black theme--seems to fit the JS card used in the movie. I was really hoping to find that specific card because that Jack seems to have a rare version of the symbol that Nigel points out. I haven't found any other cards so far with that exact same design.

Sadly, I was unable to find this particular deck for sale on Ebay or Etsy at this time. (If I do, and it's reasonably priced, I absolutely WILL purchase it.)

Another image from the McDougall Aces and Jokers article gives us a sample of the green that might have been used on our deck. Although this sample is from a couple decades earlier, it seems like a good bet that the green version of the Tiger deck may have been the same or a similar shade.

Some individual images if anyone wants them.

It's very possible that the black backing I found originally is a photoshop job, given the extreme aging/parchmenty color of the white areas. Impossible to say until/unless we find an extant example of a black backed card or the image source itself.

To explain further re: the symbol I'm referring to ("it's written here, for eternity") as it appears on the film card:

And below is the style pulled from the same archive as the card backs linked above. The archive doesn't specify which deck this Jack is from, but comparing it with the movie card, the design is almost exactly the same--apart from the interlocking loops/infinity symbol.

Zooming in and sharpening the image a bit, it looks like perhaps the prop dept simply altered the existing card by sort of drawing over the top of the symbol, but there's always the possibility that a variant of the court card was used for that deck. I can see them wanting to really emphasize the connection between that symbol and the one for the order, and also to make it very clear on screen.

Fantastic work from @j4ck0fspades, I cannot thank you enough!

Final note: No one should ever be shy about DMing me (although I love asks too!) I am always happy to hear from anyone with questions, thoughts, resources, or requests. I'm glad you sent this as an ask though, since it allows me to include your original text as well.

Link to the first Maraclea card post here [Like Minds Masterpost]

[cozymochi]

Did any of your OCs have early designs that’re different from them now? If so, do you have any remaining pics?

Oh GOD of COURSE. It’s so fucked up. Had to dig through 2023 photos and one really old Medibang file that thaNKFULLy still had some original layers left that I didn’t trash.

HORRIFIC IMAGERY UNDER CUT, and me articulating my words poorly. I haven’t done much reading lately, it seems.

Starting from least drastic to most drastic, because. It’s so weird to look back on— this was Cecils first drawn image ever, next to his final.

He doesn’t exactly look any different from how he does now aside from… I guess me being more comfortable drawing him. Oh, and his nose is more pronounced now than my previous initial cowardice. He just hit the right vibes from the start 😩 There really wasn’t much to change at all. (Even if his current render imo is also somewhat outdated, but I still use it as a reference so I guess it does it’s job. Idk why I messed up his hand so bad later, it bugs me to no end.)

BAD NEWS! Most of Emilio’s initial drafts don’t exist anymore. He was the first guy made, so whatever headspace I had is just lost now, coupled with the whole “learning to draw twst” thing. HOWEVER! I did manage to see ONE weird layer that i happened to not delete on his original render file. Just look at him next to his current form.

I’m not sure what I was doing at that point, but considering this was the only “earlier” draft layer left, I was probably honing in on what I was going to end up doing. TBH in general he was just a face for a named guy in this fic, so there really wasn’t any strong personality direction in mind for his visual concepts (even in his final). He’s a little more fleshed out now I would hope, but much like his inspiration character he kinda gets muddy sometimes. He was probably shown too early for my taste but I sure do give into pressure.

Nyoka’s initial draft is SUCH a far cry from where he ended up. I drew it traditionally so there’s just this one single ominous photo of it that i never shared ever, until, like now I guess. He changed significantly compared to the others. At first I was veering much closer to a… sycophant snake henchmen type…? He was like, small, skinny and kind of a crazy freak.

LIKE WHO EVEN IS THIS GUY? WHO IS THAT! Besides, there’s already a crazy snake freak in a hoodie-blazer combo at school.

Either way, he had no progress until for whatever reason until a month later. I randomly had a “but what if he was like… an academic type in Savanaclaw?” then the floodgates just FLEW open (and was also just a better twst-energy parallel). Throw some glasses on? ✋Cinema.✋Even his second redo attempt, while it certainly was closer to where I would ultimately end up later that year— is still pretty different compared to the final, aside from stylistic shifts since twst wasn’t nearly as much of a hassle to draw by that point. “MAKE HIM HANDSOMER!!” *BREAKS IKEMEN BUTTON*

There’s a reason this stuff takes me a year to do (or more, even) 😭 SOME KNOCK IT OUT RIGHT AWAY, others take a second wind or more. I’m sure for everyone aside from Cecil there were MORE iterations, but I no longer have them. It’s weird. Cecil was technically made last chronologically, but Nyoka wasn’t in his “final form” until after he was made.

And even then because I’m fickle, I still end up adjusting and shifting minor aspects. BUT!! FOR THE MOST PART!! I think everybody is in a state of equilibrium. There was borderline no art of any of these guys beyond basic reference stuff prior to publicizing. So, that’s as deep as this goes 💀

Tia was made before all these guys of course, but I kinda showed that off a little on some other ask I currently cannot find.

BYE

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x38 - Resurrected! Demon King VenomVamdemon! / Prophecy

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Tailmon's support group came together to help her finally get away from Vamdemon. They all turned up and together they jumped her abuser and beat him to death. A happy ending for everyone; Don't look at the episode title.

Vamdemon disappeared in a flash of light, which isn't quite what a Digimon's death is supposed to look like, but surely he's gone, right? Well, the fog barrier sure seems to disagree....

We open at the wreckage of the Fuji Broadcasting Center, which I still cannot believe the show blew up on-air as a serious plot point and got away with it. XD

Taichi: DAMN IT!!!

Irreverent as ever, Taichi angrily kicks Vamdemon's discarded mask for stress relief. It doesn't go very far, but it does make a metallic sound when it clatters around on the ground so apparently it's made of, like, iron or something. Didn't expect that.

(Blissfully unaware that the mask, like all Digimon clothing articles, is technically part of Vamdemon's digital body so its continued existence is a huge red flag. A Digimon does not leave their pants behind when they die.)

While Taichi's working out his frustrations, the others confer about the lingering fog.

Yamato: Defeating Vamdemon wasn't enough! Mimi: Oh no! Does this mean we'll be trapped here forever?

An alert tone from Koushiro's laptop interrupts the conversation. He pops open the laptop to find an email notification waiting for him. Everyone gathers around, including Yamato's dad Ishida Hiroaki who unceremoniously extricated himself from the ruined TV station and joined us at some point.

Dude was dodging Bakemon for like an hour or two inside Fuji earlier. He's sneaky like that.

Koushiro: It's from Gennai-san. Chibi Gennai: Good news, children! I've found a clue to help you defeat Vamdemon.

Attached is an image of text inscribed in a stone wall.

Chibi Gennai: This is a prophecy I found in the ancient ruins. "First, the sky will be covered by a flock of bats." Then it says, "The people will chant the name of the Undead Digimon King. When the clock strikes the number of the Beast, the Undead Digimon King will reveal his true form as the Beast. When angels fire arrows of hope and light at the loved ones of those they protect, a miracle will occur."

Well, that all sounds like a lovely time. We're about to get Book of Revelations up in here. Tonight we're gonna party like it's 999.

In the dub, Tai of course does not yell obscenities at Myotismon's mask.

Tai: Gimme a break! (kick) Matt: That lousy fog barrier's still up. Mimi: So beating Myotismon didn't solve anything! (Email) Izzy: Hang on! We've got mail Gennai! Chibi Gennai: Wonderful news, my friends! I may have found the way to defeat him once and for all. Although this looks like a Graham Cracker, it's actually an ancient text which I've translated! "The sky will be darkened by the wings of many bats. The fallen people will invoke the name of the Undead Digimon King and when the clock strikes the Hour of the Beast, the Undead King will reveal himself in his true form as the Beast. Then angels will shoot arrows of hope and light at the loved ones of those they've been sent to protect, and a miracle will happen. Please always recycle." That last part seems weird but good luck!

With the exception of the "Please always recycle" bit, they adapt the prophecy very faithfully. Even to the point of keeping in the religious references to the Beast and the word "miracle".

Also, Dub Gennai quips that the wall looks like a Graham Cracker which... Fuck, now I can't unsee it. He is not wrong. I want to eat that prophecy.

The kids have no idea what to do with this prophecy.

Sora: Hey, does he say anything about making the fog go away? Koushiro: Uh, well.... Hikari: Onii-san, we should hurry up and go find Mom and Dad. Taichi: Yeah, you're right. Jou: I also want to see how my home is doing. Mimi: I'd like to change soon.... Taichi: Alright, we should get going.

Poor Mimi. Can you imagine having to show up to the final boss fight in your PJs? She is the only one in the party who didn't get to dress for the occasion.

And, yeah, we should be courteous of Jou as well. He was out of Odaiba when all this started. He slept at a bus station and has not seen his family since yesterday. Granted, by this point, all of these kids are used to sleeping in unconventional places, but still.

Dub Sora's a bit more interested in the prophecy itself than her Japanese counterpart was.

Sora: Well, that was about as clear as mud. Can you make heads or tails of it? Izzy: Uh, well.... Kari: Listen, Tai, maybe we should try to find Mom and Dad. Tai: You're right. Joe: I wouldn't mind checking out my place either. Mimi: And I'd like to change my pajamas. Or at least get a matching robe. Tai: Yeah, let's go. No reason to stay here.

I can't say for certain that Mimi flubs her line, but I feel like she flubs her line because she should be saying she'd like to change out of her pajamas. The line she delivers suggests she wants to change into a different set of pajamas.

It could be a flub. We know they didn't do second takes of anything. But it also could have been a pragmatic edit to make her dialogue fit her lip flaps, resulting in a line that doesn't really make sense but you still get what she means from context.

The first stop is the Odaiba Mansion.

Well, first stop for most of them. Mimi breaks away from the group to go get dressed, and the crowd doesn't go with her for that. Because that would be weird.

Koushiro retrieves his parents, who've been safe and sound within the Digital Barrier this whole time. Masami has questions, but fortunately we now have an adult in the party who can explain things on his level.

Masami: What is going on here? Hiroaki: Here, let me explain.

I'm not sure how much he knows beyond "Remember when our kids went to summer camp? Well, they came back with monsters." But I'm sure Masami will appreciate having a grown-ass man to talk about it with.

While the grown-ups are talking, Mimi runs across the street to join the group. She does not live at Odaiba Mansion. In fact, she was in such a hurry to get dressed that she's still fixing her hat to her head when she arrives.

Mimi: Thanks for waiting! Huh? Jou-senpai isn't here yet? Sora: No, not yet. He lives up there.

Sora directs Mimi's attention to one of the windows above them in Odaiba Mansion.

In the dub, Masami comes off a little more frustrated. Just a bit.

Masami: Alright, can't someone explain what's going on? Hiroaki: It's a pretty long story, but I'll try. (Mimi arrives) Mimi: Hey, everybody! Wait for me! Sorry I'm late! Huh? Aren't we missing somebody? Sora: We're waiting for Joe. He's still upstairs.

Mimi's line here is weird. She makes it sound like we scheduled to meet up here. But we aren't meeting up; We came to Odaiba Mansion as a group so that Izzy and Joe could check on their families.

In the original, Mimi calls out Jou-senpai by name because he's the only other person besides Mimi and Koushiro who would be missing.

This isn't a bad line, it's just... contextually awkward.

Upstairs, Jou has a look around his apartment, but it's no less ransacked than everyone else's.

Jou: DAD!!! MOM!!! ...my brothers aren't here either. Pukamon: They must have been taken with the others. Let's head back. Jou: Yeah....

While Jou's back is turned, the closet door behind him slowly opens - complete with rising horror chords. Something is here. A hand slowly emerges from the blackness, gripping Jou by the shoulder.

Jou: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! Pukamon: BAKEMON!?!? Boy: That's rude. Don't go around calling people bakemono.

As a reminder, Bakemon gets their name from the word bakemono, which are ghostly shapeshifters who impersonate humans, animals, and other objects in order to manipulate and deceive.

Jou: Sh-Shin-niisan! You're safe! Shin: Safe? What do you mean by that? (Shin climbs down out of the closet) Shin: (suddenly alert) WHERE THE HELL DID THIS MESS COME FROM!?!? Pukamon: The Bakemon did it! Shin: ...W-Who's this guy? Jou: Uh... I'll explain everything later...

Shin has a whole matting in there with a pillow; He slept through this entire thing. The Bakemon just... missed him when they ransacked the apartment because he was asleep in the closet.

Jou: By the way, why were you sleeping in the closet? Shin: I've always slept in here, ever since we moved to Odaiba. Did you not know that? Jou: (clueless nod) Mhm! Shin: ...But we've lived together this whole time....

Jou's having a real Koushiro moment right now. From there, he and Shin head downstairs and regroup with the others outside.

Hiroaki: So, you'll go to Big Sight and check things out. We'll look for a way to break through this fog. Takeru: Right!

He's not super clear who "you" and "we" are here, but he's looking at Jou when he says "you" and he has Yamato and Takeru with him when he says "we". We're splitting the party but the specifics aren't super evident.

In the dub, Shin is called Jim, presumably because it closely matches the mouth movement.

Joe: There's no sign of anyone! Bukamon: Do you think they've been captured with all the rest!? That would be sad! (Jim's hand spooks Joe) Joe: WAAAAAAUGH!!! Bukamon: DON'T DO THAT!!! Jim: Relax, it's only your brother who's totally freaked. Joe: JIM!?!? What are you doing hiding in there!? Jim: Well, I'm not playing hide and seek! Those creepy things tore the place apart. Bukamon: They are creepy, aren't they? Jim: Frankly, I wouldn't talk if I were you. Joe: Hey, don't worry about this little guy, Jim. He's a friend of mine. And I've got more good news! Myotismon's been destroyed! Jim: Just who is Myotismon? For once in your life, Joe, you actually sound like you know what you're talking about! Joe: (nod) Mhm! Jim: ...There's a first time for everything.

Yeah, so, this sucks. They threw out everything. I understand losing the bakemono gag because it doesn't translate, but they also rewrote the scene so that Jim's fully aware of the shenanigans going on. And threw out the bit about Jou's ignorance of his own brother's bed.

This is a really funny scene with an interesting piece of characterization for Jou. They carved it down into dry exposition about how cool it is that we beat up the bad guy.

There are still a couple of jokes at the end, but they're very basic jokes whose punchlines are "Bukamon looks funny" and "Joe's an idiot." The latter of which was also the punchline of the original gag, but rather than demonstrating Joe being alarmingly unobservant about his own living space, Jim just says he's dumb and that's the whole joke.

Hiroaki's directions outside are translated faithfully, however.

Hiroaki: Find out what's happening at the convention center, and we'll try to find a way through the fog barrier. Right, T.K.?

Once plans are made, Jou and Shin take Shin's scooter to Big Sight. Shin wears a helmet but does not provide one for Jou, and I have concerns about that.

Shin: Jou, are you really planning to become a doctor like me? Pukamon: Huh!? Onii-san, you're a doctor!? Shin: I'm still in med school. Pukamon: Wow, you must be really smart! Jou: (defeated) Dad told me I should be one.... Shin: That's impossible for you. Jou: (defeated) Yeah.... Pukamon: (furious) HEY!!! ONII-SAN OR NOT, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO MAKE FUN OF JOU!!! Shin: (chuckling) Fierce, aren't you? But I'm not making fun of him! I just don't think it's a suitable profession for him because he faints at the sight of blood. Pukamon: Oh. Then you're right about that. Shin: In any case, we can talk about this later. The others are here.

Cut to Taichi, Mimi, and Sora sprinting up on foot with their Digimon partners. Jou and Shin took a scooter but we made them run a mile and a half to Big Sight. XD Sora and Taichi, I can understand, but poor Mimi. Somehow being back in Odaiba is just as bad as the Digital World.

(She's doing a surprisingly good job of keeping pace with the two soccer stars. But let's be real; They're probably keeping pace with her so she doesn't fall behind and feel bad.)

Pukamon calls Shin onii-san and I love it. He's integrating into the family already!

In the dub:

Jim: So tell me, Joe: Are you still planning on being a doctor? Bukamon: Joe is smart! He can be a doctor! Jim: There's a lot more to it than that. Bukamon: Joe can be whatever he wants! Joe: (defeated) It's what my dad wants me to be. Jim: Poor dad; He doesn't know. Joe: (defeated) No. Bukamon: Are you implying Joe's not smart enough for something!? Listen, I don't care if you are his brother, you've got no right-- Jim: (chuckling) Now, calm down! I'm not saying he's not smart enough; I'm just saying it'll be kind of hard for him to be a doctor when he passes out at the sight of blood! Bukamon: Yep, that's my pal Joe! Jim: Look, I think your friends are coming. We'll talk about this later, Joe.

The main points about Joe are still made in this version: He's studying to be a doctor but only because his dad wants him to, but also he can't stand the sight of blood so that's an unreasonable goal to have forced on him by their parents.

Jim, however, continues to have all of his characterization sanded off. That Jim himself is in med school on the career path their father is trying to put Jou on as well goes unmentioned.

The dialogue is also janky in parts. "Poor dad; He doesn't know," is an awkward replacement for "That's impossible for you." Uh, if he doesn't know, then tell him? Jim implies that their dad is pressuring Jou purely out of ignorance and even sympathizes with him.

That's not really the vibe we're going for here. Jou's parents are so disconnected from his life that they're the only set of Chosen Children parents to remain unnamed to this day. And his dad is clearly trying to mass-produce prosperity through his children without regard to what would actually be good for his kids.

Inside Big Sight, the Partner Digimon besiege the remaining guard Bakemon and slaughter them. Pyokomon, Tanemon, Pukamon, and Mochimon all evolves into their Child forms Piyomon, Palmon, Gomamon, and Tentomon for the onslaught.

Who actually came to Big Sight is kind of an awkward question. Initially, we see Jou, Taichi, Mimi, and Sora. But Koushiro and Hikari's Digimon are here too. Subsequent scenes show Hikari, Koushiro, and Koushiro's parents are at Big Sight as well; They just didn't arrive with the others, even though their Digimon did. I guess maybe Koushiro's parents gave Hikari a ride?

Taichi: Thanks, everyone!

After massacring seven Bakemon, the kids make their way to where PicoDevimon's unexplained hypno-eyes conked all the adults out. They split up, each kid going off to find their parents in the sea of comatose adults.

Taichi: Mom, wake up! Hikari: You too, Dad! Sora: Mom! Mimi: Papa! Mama!

Jou and Shin are off checking on what can be assumed to be their parents, but Shin takes this opportunity to continue their conversation from before.

Jou: I thought it was only the fog that hadn't changed.... Shin: His pulse is normal. Jou: Dad.... Shin: Jou, listen. You don't have to live your life the way our parents want you to. Jou: Eh? Shin: Truth is, I'm not going to, either. After I take the national exam, I'm thinking of working on a remote island. Dad will object, of course. Jou: I didn't know.... Shin: (standing up) Well. In any case, caring for these people comes first. If only we could get help from the outside....

Shin isn't just doing what he's told; He's made a life plan for himself. Not to seize prosperity, but to do work that he feels will truly help people. He intends to live a meaningful life, and not to follow their father's uniform roadmap for his children. He encourages Jou to do the same.

In the dub:

Tai: Excellent! Good work, you guys! (Kids find the adults) Tai: Mom, wake up! Mimi: Daddy? What's happened to them!? Joe: They're all so totally still.... Are they-- Jim: No, their pulses are normal. Joe: That's good. Jim: Joe, listen to me: It's your life. You've gotta live it your way, not Dad's way. Joe: I guess.... Jim: After I become a doctor, I'm going to South America. Africa. Some place I can really be of help. Dad's already told me he doesn't approve. Joe: I can imagine. Jim: Anyway, right now, we've got to see to all these people. Joe: What can we do? Jim: If only we could get help from the outside....

The person they're checking isn't explicitly their dad in this version, so the segue into "Don't let him control your life" is a little more jarring. You can probably make the inference, though.

Again, the general vibe of getting out from under their oppressive father's thumb doesn't come through here. Jim's already talked about his plans with their dad and Mr. Kido's voiced his dissent but Jim's plan still continues as normal anyway. He is at liberty to undermine Mr. Kido openly while still living under Mr. Kido's roof, unlike Shin who has to make his life plans in secret.

This is a heartfelt and emotional moment between brothers in the original, but Dub Joe honestly feels like he's just nodding along and waiting for Jim to get back on-topic.

Meanwhile, Team Fog heads out in a life raft to see if they can pierce the barrier and reach Tokyo beyond. They've reached the point where the fog becomes a wall.

Hiroaki: It's impossible to get through this fog. Patamon: HEY!!! TAKERU'S MAMA, CAN YOU HEAR ME!?!? Gabumon: Let me try. TAKERU'S MAMA!!! Patamon: Hey, you should do it too, Takeru! Takeru: ...but....

Takeru glances over at Yamato and Hiroaki, who both look deeply uncomfortable about this attempt to contact Hiroaki's ex.

Takeru: ...she can't hear us from here anyway. Patamon: Are you sure?

In the dub:

Hiroaki: There's no way to get through this fog. Patamon: HELLO, ANYBODY!!! COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE!!! Gabumon: No, like this: IF YOU SAVE US, WE'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT, INCLUDING CANDY!!! (beat) T.K.: Nice try.... (T.K. looks over at the uncomfortable Matt and Hiroaki) T.K.: This just isn't working. Maybe we should go back to shore.

Family drama: Deleted. Hiroaki and Matt are just sad because the fog is impassible. Natsuko/Nancy doesn't come up at all.

Back at the convention center, Hikari's spiraling again.

Hikari: It's my fault they're like this. Tailmon: It's my fault too. Sora: Don't worry! They're just sleeping. They'll wake up soon enough. (Hikari and Tailmon nod) Sora: (suddenly sad, looks down at her mother) ...isn't that right, Mom?

Sora is trying so hard to be brave for the youngest among us.

Hikari has done nothing wrong but carries the weight of guilt on her heart because she's a kind, empathetic person. Tailmon seems like she's more at fault on the surface but actually she's an abuse victim picked up out of the wilderness and beaten into obedience. So, no, she's innocent of wrongdoing here too.

...I mean she probably could have stood to let PicoDevimon die way back at Vamdemon's castle but that's a tactical error, not a moral failing.

In the dub:

Kari: This is all our fault, Gatomon! Gatomon: Mhm. Sora: Don't worry. This spell or whatever it is will wear off and then everyone will just wake up again. Kari & Gatomon: Mhm? Sora: Yeah! (suddenly sad, looks down at her mother) Isn't that right, Mom?

I like that Sora calls the sedative effect a "spell or whatever". That's a fair description. They aren't just all taking a community nap or something.

Meanwhile, Team Fog is chased from the water by that Gizamon swarm that attacked Hiroaki's team last night; That's still a thing. Gabumon and Patamon try to hold the line with their Petit Fire and Air Shot attacks, but they're picking off singletons out of a crowd.

Hiroaki: There's too many of them! Let's get out of here! Takeru: (to the Digimon) HURRY!!!

Patamon and Gabumon fall back as dozens of Gizamon emerge from the bay. The humans and Digimon climb into Hiroaki's van, but they're too late. The Gizamon pile on top of the vehicle, eventually tipping it over from their weight.

Takeru: OH NO!!!

Pan over to a nearby tree, where a flock of Vamdemon's Night Raid bats are sleeping through the day. The commotion rouses them. The bats descend upon the Gizamon, ravenously devouring every last one of them before flying off into the sky.

Once the Gizamon are gone, the humans open up the car doors and emerge.

Yamato: What just happened? Takeru: LOOK AT THAT!!!

Takeru draws their attention to the Night Raid bats, which are on their way to what remains of the Fuji station.

Hiroaki: "First, the sky will be covered by a flock of bats."

Back at the site of Vamdemon's "death", PicoDevimon overlooks the bats' arrival. They swarm to Vamdemon's mask.

PicoDevimon: Hehehehehe! The real terror is just beginning!

In the dub:

Hiroaki: WE WERE BETTER OFF LOST IN THE FOG!!! T.K.: Let's go! Gabumon: (no lip flaps) If you insist! (Everyone retreats to the van; The Gizamon tip it over, but then the Grisly Wing bats eat the Gizamon) Matt: Huh? (Everyone climbs out the doors) Hiroaki: Come on, guys. Matt: Hey, what happened to them? T.K.: OVER THERE!!! (Bats) Hiroaki: "The sky will be darkened by the wings of many bats." (Back at the site, DemiDevimon watches.) DemiDevimon: Nyah ha! Nahahahaha! Now things start to get interesting!

We finally get to check in on Koushiro; He's not checking on the adults because his parents are fine. They came to Big Sight with him. But, since they don't have anything to do here, they find a nice, empty conference hall to have a private conversation with their son.

Koushiro: What did you want to talk to me about? Masami: While we were hiding back at the house, we had a conversation and we've decided it's finally time to tell you something. The truth is, we're not your real parents. Koushiro: (quietly) ...I already knew that. Parents: ... Koushiro: I tried to pretend I hadn't heard anything. I thought that if I acted normal, things would stay the same. But I couldn't do it. The more I tried to pretend nothing had changed, the weirder it felt. In the end, I withdrew into my computer, where I wouldn't have to show my true self. Masami: There is nothing wrong with liking computers! Koushiro: Dad!? Masami: That trait of yours is part of what makes you who you are. You're just like your real father. Koushiro: My real father? Masami: He was a distant relative of mine and a genius mathematician. He was a lecturer for a university. Twelve years ago, he married your real mother. Then they had you. He was with her when they had a terrible car accident. Neither of them made it.

Hey. Hey, guess what the Japanese word for "lecturer" is? It's koushi. Koushiro carries his birth father with him, buried in his name, and never knew it.

Kae: We had a child of our own once. A little boy. But he died while he was still a baby. When we were asked if we could take you in... Well.... Koushiro: So that's how it happened.... Masami: We were planning to tell you everything when you were older. We didn't expect you to have already figured it out. This must have been so hard to deal with on your own. I'm sorry. Koushiro: No, I'm actually glad you told me the truth. Thank you. ...I-I mean, thanks.... Masami: You don't have to change yourself for us. Kae: That's right. All we want is for you to be happy.

Koushiro, who has largely resisted letting himself get emotional in the show up to this point, suddenly breaks down into tears. He finally opens up and lets himself feel. He throws himself into his mother's embrace, and Masami embraces them both.

Tentomon: (watching from a distance, also crying) Koushiro-han... Cry your heart out! Let yourself be cared for!

Something I really appreciate about this exchange is that while withdrawing into his computer has been a problem for Koushiro since we met him (Kentarumon episode really put a spotlight on it), Masami makes a point here to say that it's not the computer's fault. The computer didn't make him emotionally reclusive.

He likes computers because that's just who he is. It's the behavior, not the activity, that is the problem. And more than that, it's the motivating cause for the behavior.

The problem is the emotional scar he's carrying on his heart. The solution for which is clear, open, and honest communication that his parents have been denying him, well-meaning though they were.

In the dub:

Izzy: You wanted to talk to me? Masami: Yes, son. (sigh) When you went off and left us there in hiding, your mother and I thought we might never see you again. So we talked and decided the time had come to tell you that we're not your real parents, Izzy. Izzy: ...I already know. I heard you talking once. I pretended to myself I hadn't heard anything. Then I made believe I had misunderstood. Then I tried to wipe it from my mind and just act like everything was the same as before. But it wasn't. And I didn't mean to, but I just started drifting away from you a little more each day. Masami: That's why you buried yourself in that computer! Izzy: That's right. Masami: It's not surprising. It's who you are. You see, in so many ways, you're the living image of your real father. Izzy: What was my real father like? Masami: He was a fine man and a brilliant mathematician. In fact, he was a lecturer at the university! He and I were distant cousins. I was his only living relative. And your mother had no family of her own so, when it happened.... Late one night, there was a terrible car accident. Neither of them survived. Kae: We had lost a little boy of our own, you see. Just before. So when we were asked if we might want to take care of you, well... It seemed like, I don't know, some kind of sign. We said yes. Izzy: So you made me your son. Masami: We always planned to tell you the truth. We were just waiting for you to grow up a little bit more. But now, you seem to have found out on your own. We waited too long. I'm sorry, son. Izzy: No. No, Dad! There's no need for you to be sorry! It couldn't have been easy for you to tell me all this! And I'm... Um... Glad you did.... Masami: We just want you to know we love you, Izzy. Kae: You see, as far as we're concerned, you are our real son. Nothing can ever change that. Izzy: (breaks into tears) Mom! (family hug) Tentomon: Gee, it's times like this I wish I had a Digi-Mommy!

Yeah, this version tries but it's not as reassuring. The bit where Masami tells Koushiro his interest in computers is fine has been taken out. Here he's just like, "Ohhhh THAT'S where your obsession came from!"

Pretty much all reference to Koushiro's eerie formality, his attempts at behaving like a proper son, were cut from the dub version. As well as his parents' assurances that he doesn't actually need to change his speaking mannerisms and the like if he doesn't want to; That he doesn't need to start acting like other kids and that they just want him to behave in whatever way feels right to him.

This is the emotional climax of Koushiro's character arc, and the character arc is missing.

Still, despite these flaws, it still hits pretty hard nonetheless. It's derelict in its service to the greater narrative, but the emotional beats still resonate all the same. It's still a powerful and satisfying reconciliation between Izzy and his parents.

While Koushiro and his parents are having this moment... It begins.

Takenouchi Toshiko is the first to awaken. She sits up, raising her arms like a zombie, and starts to chant.

Piyomon: SORA!!! YOUR MOM!!! Sora: (whips around to see) EH!?!? Toshiko: Vamdemon-sama. Vamdemon-sama. Sora: Mom, what's wrong with you? MOM!!!

Cut to the FCG Building, where a dark and vaguely humanoid shadow has emerged around Vamdemon's mask. In a bestial growl, it utters:

Vamdemon Shadow: More data.... PicoDevimon: Vamdemon-sama! Vamdemon Shadow: More POWER.... PicoDevimon: Yes, sir!

Tuskmon and Snimon are still lying there unconscious in front of the Fuji building. The Night Raid bats move in on them, devouring the two Digimon to add their data and power to whatever Vamdemon is becoming.

Weirdly, there are only two unconscious Digimon for the bats to devour but when we cut to a wide shot, there are three large clusters of bats that rise up and feed data into Vamdemon's shadow. No idea who the third Digimon they ate was supposed to be.

Though it'd be darkly hilarious if Wizarmon was even still alive after all this time until right now.

PicoDevimon: Just a little longer until Vamdemon's resurrection is complete! Ehehehehehe!

In the dub... This is one of those scenes where we have a plot-centric honorific. That Toshiko is saying Vamdemon-sama adds to the ominous vibe. That's what his minions call him. It's a title of respect for one's societal superiors. The dub doesn't want to lose that eeriness, so they use the old dub standby for translating -sama.

Biyomon: SORA!!! YOUR MOM'S AWAKE!!! Sora: (whips around to see) WHUH!?!? Toshiko: Lord Myotismon. Lord and Master. Sora: Mom, what is it!? Are you alright? Mom!?

Bit more of a mouthful than Vamdemon-sama but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Myotismon Shadow: MOOOOOOOORE.... DemiDevimon: Hey there, Master! Good to see you back on your feet! Myotismon Shadow: More energy! I need more! DemiDevimon: You got it! (Bats eat Snimon, Tuskmon, and a Secret Third Thing, conferring their data to Myotismon) DemiDevimon: Won't be long now! The boss is gonna be bigger and badder than ever! Hahahaha!

Weirdly, Myotismon doesn't ask for data or power, but more generically "energy". What sort of energy he's getting from cannibalizing other DIgimon is unclear.

We go to a commercial break and, in the time it takes to pitch a new flavor of Ramune and some Hot Wheels, the rest of the adults gathered in Big Sight wake up.

People: Vamdemon-sama. Vamdemon-sama. (continuing) Taichi: Stop it, Dad! Sora: MOM!!! Mimi: PAPA!!! MAMA!!!

Fog Team arrives, walking in on this bizarre sight.

Hiroaki: What the...? Shin: Physically, they're all still asleep. So, this would be considered sleep talk.

While Shin and Hiroaki talk, the Chosen Children have their own meeting about this.

Koushiro: Uh, you know... There's something bothering me about this.... Yamato: The prophecy, right? "The people will chant the name of the Undead Digimon King." Koushiro: Right. Gabumon: The part about the bats came true too. Taichi: What was that!? Sora: What was the third line? Koushiro: "When the clock strikes the number of the Beast, the Undead Digimon King will reveal his true form as the Beast." Taichi: What is the "number of the Beast"? Hiroaki: (joining the conversation) 666. It's the number that appears in the Book of Revelations. Taichi: 666 must mean 6:06:06 PM.

Oh boy, taking all bets on whether the dub will name-drop the Book of Revelations! They've been surprisingly willing to go along with the religious references so far.

People: Myotismon, Lord and Master. (continuing) Tai: Stop it, Dad! Snap out of it! Mimi: Mom, it's me! (Team Fog walk in) Hiroaki: What's going on!? Jim: Very odd. Physically, they're still asleep. It's like they're all having the same dream. Izzy: Hey, wait a minute! Do you guys remember that prophecy!? Matt: Yeah, it fits. It says, "The fallen people will invoke the name of the Undead King." Gabumon: Well, the first part about the bats came true! Tai: Huh!? When was that!? Sora: What did the third part of the prophecy say? Izzy: Before the recycle part, it was, "When the clock strikes the Hour of the Beast, the Undead King will reveal himself in his true form." Tai: Terrific, but what's the Hour of the Beast? Hiroaki: 666. Six seconds and six minutes past six o'clock. Tai: Sounds like Triple Six is our unlucky number.

Nope. The "Hour of the Beast" is instead its own thing, which Hiroaki happens to be familiar with despite no origin for its meaning being provided.

Weird that it's called the "Hour of the Beast" but it's specific to minute and second. But if my bar sets Happy Hour to the precise minute of 5:34 PM, people get uppity. Fucking aristocrats get to play by different rules.

Still, as far as censoring things out goes, this is very "Let's kick some ass...PHALT!" They don't spell out the reference but if you know, you know. I don't think anyone back in the day had any confusion about where "The Hour of the Beast, 666" came from.

Taichi checks the time on his Digivice, watching it turn over to 6:00:00. We started paying attention to this prophecy way too late to do anything about it.

Taichi: There's not much time! Hiroaki: Get in the car!

Throwing Taichi and Yamato in the van, Hiroaki speeds back towards the FCG Building. But that's a seven-minute drive from Big Sight. Taichi never takes his eyes off his Digivice, watching the time tick away. at 6:05:59, he exclaims:

Taichi: We aren't going to make it!

At 6:06:06, the grim work is complete. By which I mean the complete and utter annihilation of the Fuji TV broadcasting station, which explodes into rubble from the force of Vamdemon's revival.

The only difference in the dub is that, when the clock strikes 6:06:06, Tai shouts:

Tai: SHOWTIME!!!

Well, I'm glad he's having fun with it.

From the wreckage of the FCG Building, the Beast rises.

Hiroaki pulls over on the highway so they can see him from a distance. Vamdemon's new form towers over the city.

Taichi: Is that... Vamdemon? Yamato: He's gigantic! Hiroaki: He truly is a beast. Agumon: Let's go, Gabumon! Gabumon: Right!

Agumon and Gabumon evolve to Greymon and Garurumon, who seem quaint in the shadow of this titanic colossus. Vamdemon nearly blows them away by the sheer force created when he turns around.

In the dub:

Tai: Is that Myotismon!? Matt: He's been taking steroids! Hiroaki: It's his true form: The Beast. Agumon: Hey, come on! Gabumon: Right!

I like Matt's quip here. XD

PicoDevimon flutters over in front of Vamdemon's crotch to taunt the children.

PicoDevimon: VenomVamdemon-sama's power has been released! Taichi: VenomVamdemon!? PicoDevimon: Being undead basically makes him immortal! VenomVamdemon: POWER!!! I NEED MORE POWER!!! PicoDevimon: Your meal is waiting for you at Big Sight! Adult Crowd: (still lying there at Big Sight) ...Vamdemon-sama.... PicoDevimon: Come on! I'll show you the way. VenomVamdemon: Let's start with you.

VenomVamdemon's voice is bestial and monstrous now. Nothing like the dignified villain we knew before.

He inhales sharply, drawing PicoDevimon towards his mouth.

PicoDevimon: W-What are you doing!? WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!

With a shrill, high-pitched shriek, PicoDevimon disappears down VenomVamdemon's gullet and is finally gone. Disassembled into data to fuel the Beast's power.

(I don't know about y'all but I definitely get a Dante's Inferno Satan vibe from VenomVamdemon's character design.)

In the dub, DemiDevimon spends his final moments of life laughing it up about as much as his Japanese counterpart.

DemiDevimon: Where are my manners!? Allow me to introduce you to the new and improved VenomMyotismon! Tai: VenomMyotismon!? DemiDevimon: That's right! The king of the undead! He's the 'un' and you're the 'dead'! VenomMyotismon: MORE ENERGY!!! I'M HUNGRY!!! DemiDevimon: No problem, boss! There's all those people just layin' there waitin' for ya! Adult Crowd: (still lying there at the convention center) ...Myotismon, Lord and Master.... DemiDevimon: Remember to start your day with a good breakfast! VenomMyotismon: I'll begin with a little snack! (VenomMyotismon inhales to eat DemiDevimon) DemiDevimon: HEY, HANG ON, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!? WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!

DemiDevimon and VenomMyotismon's quip exchange at the end there is cute. XD

DemiDevimon doesn't explain why VenomMyotismon is able to resurrect like this. He does mention Myotismon's undeath but doesn't explain that it equates to immortality. To be fair, "Vamdemon is immortal because he's undead" doesn't really make sense in the original either. We've had no problem killing undead Digimon like Bakemon or Phantomon.

But it's still an explanation for what happened here. Angewomon killed Vamdemon but undeath allowed him to linger on as a sort of data wraith, devouring other Digimon to reconstitute himself. Building on the earlier point raised when he was drinking human blood to store up power.

Soon, VenomVamdemon is on the move.

Hiroaki: He's headed towards the people at Big Sight! Taichi: We won't let that happen! Yamato: GARURUMON!!! Garurumon: On it, Yamato! Greymon: Let's go!

Greymon and Garurumon Super-Evolve to face VenomVamdemon at their full strength.

In the dub:

Hiroaki: He's going after everyone at the convention center! Tai: PUMP IT UP, YOU GUYS!!! Matt: DIGIVOLVE!!! Garurumon: You heard them, let's do it! Greymon: Yo!

It's the 90's. I don't know what you want from me.

Once they're in their Perfect forms, WereGarurumon has a plan of attack. I know this seems hopeless, but VenomVamdemon is still just a wireframe body around a processing core covered in a character model skin. His colossal size doesn't necessarily translate to a huge increase in power.

VenomVamdemon also has a huge increase in power. But not because he's big!

WereGarurumon: Use your Giga Destroyer, MetalGreymon! MetalGreymon: Will do! GIGA DESTROYER!!!

When MetalGreymon fires his Giga Destroyer, WereGarurumon leaps and lands on top of one of the missiles. He lets them carry him to VenomVamdemon, then jumps off moments before impact. The missiles collide with VenomVamdemon's crotch, while WereGarurumon follows up with Kaiser Nail directly to his chest.

VenomVamdemon doesn't even flinch.

Taichi: That didn't hurt him at all!

In the dub:

WereGarurumon: Shall we flip a coin to see who goes first? MetalGreymon: Allow me! GIGA BLASTER!!!

They don't plan the combo attack; WereGarurumon does it on the spur of the moment. Still ineffectual, though.

Matt: It didn't even phase him!

Still motivated to bring this guy down, WereGarurumon scales his chest and leaps into the air in front of his face, cleaving open VenomVamdemon's forehead.

It does not go well. Gorey pink tentacles emerge from VenomVamdemon's wound, snatching WereGarurumon out of the air. Hahahaha fuck this guy so much.

The original name for WereGarurumon's kick is Engetsu Geri or Crescent Moon Kick, named for the projectile resembling a crescent moon. The dub opts for Garuru Kick.

Flying up into the fray, MetalGreymon's extendable claw severs the tentacles binding WereGarurumon. He unloads Giga Destroyer straight into VenomVamdemon's eyes. The colossal titan feels that one, falling back and crushing a skyscraper to rubble behind him.

(Good thing everyone in Odaiba has conveniently been gathered to one location while this city-wrecking carnage unfolds! The writers prepared for this bloodless devastation well.)

Taichi: Did they get him!? VenomVamdemon: (sits back up) My Food! MY FOOD!!! Yamato: Th-that's unbelievable....

While VenomVamdemon recovers, WereGarurumon and MetalGreymon return to the humans.

MetalGreymon: TAICHI!!! WereGarurumon: Go warn everyone at Big Sight about this! The two of us will figure out a way to stop him. Yamato: Right! We're counting on you! Hiroaki: Let's go!

The humans climb in the van and speed away from the towering VenomVamdemon, who's back on his feet and hungering for more.

VenomVamdemon: Food! FOOD!!!

The dub again names MetalGreymon's extendo-claw Mega Claw. It goes unnamed in the original.

Tai: Did it work!? VenomMyotismon: RARGH MORE ENERGY!!! I MUST FEED!!! Matt: That answer your question? (MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon return to the humans) WereGarurumon: Matt! Tai! Go to the convention center and warn the others! Don't worry about us; We'll take care of this clown! Matt: Alright, but just watch yourself! Hiroaki: Let's go! MetalGreymon: PIECE OF CAKE!!! VenomMyotismon: I AM HUNGRY!!! GRAAAARGH!!! HUNGRY!!!

MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon sound way more confident about their chances in this version.

The boys return to Big Sight. Taichi races inside to tell everyone.

Crowd: ...Vamdemon-sama.... Taichi: TROUBLE!!!

The entire group goes outside. They can see VenomVamdemon in the distance, stomping his way to Big Sight.

Taichi: Can't we move everyone to some other place? Shin: We won't make it. There's too many people. Tailmon: We have no other choice but to defeat VenomVamdemon. Patamon: I'll help too! Palmon & Piyomon: So will we! Tentomon: And me! Gomamon: Alright, I'm in too! Tailmon: (shakes her head) The rest of you stay here. Only Patamon should come with me. Gomamon: Eh!? Tailmon: You should store up energy for your next evolution. Piyomon: I hate to admit it, but Tailmon's right. We should listen to her.

Mimi takes this opportunity to ask a pretty good question.

Mimi: Why is it that when everyone evolved into Perfect, you turned back into Adult form while Palmon and the others became Baby stages? Tailmon: I have a different level of discipline from the rest of you. Let's go, Patamon. Patamon: Okay! Taichi: Alright, we're coming too!

Taichi and Yamato run off with Hikari and Takeru, along with their Digimon. Koushiro's parents turn to him.

Masami: Koushiro, let's go with them. Koushiro: Okay!

The dub overlooks the fact that the adults are supposed to still be chanting. Big Sight is silent but for Tai's voice when he enters.

Tai: CLEAR EVERYONE OUT NOW!!! (Everyone goes outside) Tai: I don't know how long they can hold them off! Jim: Even if we had time, we couldn't move all these people. Gatomon: You don't understand. You can never outrun him. We have to destroy him. Patamon: You can count on me! Palmon & Biyomon: Yeah, and us too! Tentomon: Me three! Gomamon: Hey, make that four! Gatomon: (shakes head) Mm-mm. Patamon's the only Digimon I need to come with me; The rest of you stay here. Gomamon: Huh!? Gatomon: Nothing personal; I just want all of you to save up your strength. If my plan doesn't work, you'll all be needed. Biyomon: Let's do what she says! She knows these bad Digimon better than anyone! Mimi: Excuse me, I don't mean to be a downer or anything but how can any of us hope to stand up against that guy!? He's bigger than most buildings! Gatomon: I've got a plan, like I said! Come on, Patamon, let's fly! Patamon: Mhm! Tai: We're right behind you, Gatomon! (The attack team runs off) Masami: Let's go, son! We're in this together, right? Izzy: Right!

A few notes. First, the idea of moving everyone out of the convention center is never seriously discussed. Jim volunteers that he thinks it's a doomed idea without anyone ever suggesting it, and then Gatomon changes topics to a sort of doomed fatalism.

Like, you can see how Tai, Jim, and Gatomon's lines are all supposed to connect to the topic of moving the adults, but without the context of the other version, Jim's the only one actually talking about it.

That's not a big deal, though. What irked me more was Mimi's line being changed from a valid clarifying question about Digimon metaphysics to panicking and saying we're doomed. Thanks, I hate it.

The kids pile into the van, while Patamon and Gatomon evolve into Angemon and Angewomon, flying outside the vehicle.

From the backseat, Koushiro's parents are trying to understand.

Kae: Those ones transformed into real angels! Tentomon: It's not transformation, it's evolution.

Koushiro pulls the pair of angels up on his Digimon Analyzer, giving us official rundowns for the both of them.

Angemon is an Adult-stage Vaccine-type Angel Digimon. Originally conceived as an evolution for Gabumon who could go on to evolve into SkullGreymon. Obviously a lot has changed since then, but it's kind of sweet that Takeru's Digimon evolves into an abandoned Gabumon evolution.

Yeah, originally Patamon and Angemon weren't even in the same evolutionary tree. In fact, the other Child-stage Digimon that evolves into Angemon was Patamon's brief rival Elecmon back on File Island!

Narrator: Angemon. An Adult-stage Angel Digimon. His special attack. Heaven's Knuckle, shines like gold when unleashed from his holy fist.

Angewomon, meanwhile, is a Perfect-stage Vaccine-type Angel Digimon. She and Tailmon debuted in the .5 release for Nature Spirits, though she could only be achieved through Jogress. The natural Vaccine Perfect for her branch was AtlurKabuterimon.

Narrator: Angewomon. A Perfect-stage Angel Digimon. Her special attack, Holy Arrow, releases tremendously powerful electricity. Masami: What is all this Adult-stage, Perfect-stage stuff? Koushiro: They indicate the evolution level of the Digimon. The lowest stage is Baby, and from there they level up sequentially.

In the dub, Kae's more confused than curious.

Kae: A-angels!? What's going on!? Tentomon: It's kinda complicated. Izzy: (rundown for Angemon) They Digivolved, Mom. Angemon is the fully evolved version of Patamon.... Izzy: (rundown for Angewomon) ...and Angewomon is the same for Gatomon. You see? Well, trust me on this, huh? Masami: It's nice to have outside interests but I hope your schoolwork hasn't suffered. Izzy: Dad, this is the fate of the planet we're dealing with! The survival of the human race! Don't worry, I can take a makeup test for anything I missed!

Wow, this exchange is terrible. Okay, first, Izzy continues speaking with absolute confidence about things he is completely wrong about. I don't even mean the "fully evolved" thing; I mean saying that Angemon is a "fully evolved" equivalent to Angewomon. He says out loud with words from his mouth that they're both the "fully evolved" forms for Patamon and Gatomon.

Kae and Tentomon's exchange contributes nothing to this conversation.

Masami and Izzy's final bit also contributes nothing. Masami nags at Izzy about the effect this is having on his schoolwork when, uh, we're on summer break. Nobody is going to school. Except Jou, because he's attending cram school to prepare for entrance exams.

Both Kae and Masami's bits are here to set up talk about evolutionary levels, since we're in for a shocking reveal about VenomVamdemon. The dub slides that setup into place over Angemon and Angewomon's rundowns, and then replaces it with empty banter and a very poorly-conceived joke recycled from a hundred other cartoons - Both of which erase an important point of characterization, which is Kae and Masami taking an active interest in what their son is doing. D-!

Meanwhile, the apocalypse rages on in Odaiba.

VenomVamdemon shoots rainbow lasers out of his crotch. Anything struck by them instantly disintegrates into pixels as if it were a dying Digimon. He is laying waste to Odaiba with this attack. Though WereGarurumon and MetalGreymon are keeping on their feet and avoiding his shots.

Hiroaki: S-So much destruction!

In the dub, this is a quip.

Hiroaki: I sure wish I brought the camcorder!

You know, the fact that nobody's filming this and the fog barrier is keeping the outside world from seeing it means they're going to have a hell of a time explaining what the fuck happened to Odaiba. This does not get Reset Buttoned away; This is the MCU Battle of New York for Digimon Adventure. The world will never be the same after today.

At least there's witnesses to the vampire and bakemono abductions.

Then, just like that, the fight is over.

WereGarurumon: MetalGreymon!

VenomVamdemon punches MetalGreymon, hitting him so hard into WereGarurumon that it expends both of their remaining staminas. Both Perfects revert back into Agumon and Gabumon.

Taichi: What happened!? Koushiro: They must have run out of energy.

In the dub:

WereGarurumon: Looks like trouble! (VenomVamdemon punches MetalGreymon into WereGarurumon, KOing them both) Tai: What happened to 'em!? Izzy: He must have drained them of their energy!

Izzy kinda makes it sound like he did Love Serenade or something here. His statement is accurate; VenomVamdemon hit them so hard their HP meters went to 0. But the way he says it may be a little confusing?

With Agumon and Gabumon defenseless, VenomVamdemon moves in for the kill. He isn't even going to give them the dignity of devouring their data.

VenomVamdemon: DIE!!!

Suddenly, the angels join the fight. Holy Arrow and Heaven's Knuckle hit VenomVamdemon harder than anything thus far, sending him stumbling backwards.

Angemon: The wicked power of a devil! Angewomon: We will destroy you once more! VenomVamdemon: Nye-heh... You think that you can defeat the king? KEH!!!

Meanwhile, Hiroaki pulls up in his van. Taichi and Yamato leap from the vehicle and run to their barely-conscious Partners.

Gabumon: I'm sorry. This was too much for us. Agumon: He's too powerful....

In the dub, Angemon gets told off for his unhelpful line.

VenomMyotismon: GOODBYE, SMALL FRY!!! (The angels attack VenomMyotismon, driving him back) Angemon: This won't be easy! Angewomon: Nobody ever said it would be, Angemon! VenomMyotismon: Huhahahahaha! I shall enjoy devouring you; Angel food is one of my favorites! HAHA!!! Gabumon: I'm so sorry, Matt... We tried.... Agumon: He was too much for us....

That angel food crack got me. XD Well played. 10/10 quipping.

Masami: Is that monster also Perfect-stage? Koushiro: I'll look it up.

Of note: The word Masami uses here, kaibutsu, is distinct from some of the other words translated as "monster" throughout the series. We've mostly seen kaiju and bakemono throughout the show thus far. Kaibutsu is the most "Just say 'monster'" of the lot. It's a pretty generic umbrella term for bizarre supernatural beasties, with no key distinctions that we would want to preserve here.

Koushiro pulls up VenomVamdemon's page on his Digimon Analyzer. VenomVamdemon is an Ultimate-stage Virus-type Undead Digimon. He debuted as an enemy boss battle in an anime tie-in V-Pet released on the same day this episode aired.

The "venom" of his name comes from his signature attack, Venom Infuse. The "venom" is a computer virus he can implant into an opponent that "destroys their configuration data and terminates their functions," according to the reference guide. So. Y'know. Don't get hit with that.

Narrator: VenomVamdemon. The Ultimate-stage evolution of Vamdemon. He has lost his intelligence and his sense of reason. Koushiro: ULTIMATE-STAGE!?!? Yamato: There's an evolution level beyond Perfect!?

While the kids are making this horrifying discovery, VenomVamdemon mocks Angemon and Angewomon.

VenomVamdemon: YOUR ATTACKS DON'T WORK AGAINST ME!!!

In the dub, Masami can't ask about the stages because he already screwed his opportunity to learn about that. So he has to ask a different question.

Masami: Why is that monster so much bigger than the other Digimon? Izzy: Search me!

Fortunately, Izzy still opens his laptop and pulls up VenomMyotismon's profile anyway. Even though it's not going to contain any explanation of size disparities; That shit just happens. Why is MetalGreymon so much bigger than WereGarurumon?

Izzy: (rundown) Hmm, I thought he was fully evolved but he found some way of Digivolving into an even higher level. Izzy: Some kind of Mega Ultimate Level! Matt: Hey, that's not fair! It's like changing the rules in the middle of a game! VenomMyotismon: (shrugs off attacks) STOP IT, YOU'RE TICKLING ME!!! NOW IT'S MY TURN!!!

This is where the dub finally has to reckon with all that "fully Digivolved" stuff. The existence of Ultimate-stage does come as a shock to the original kids, but not because it's been withheld from them in some way. This falls into the category of "You never asked". It simply hasn't come up before because Ultimate-stage Digimon are so rare. File Island has two Perfects but not even one of these guys.

In the hierarchy of Digimon, Perfects are like super exceptional individuals. They're village chiefs and top scientists and war heroes. They're the rare and select few who succeed above and beyond, becoming cornerstones of society.

While Ultimates are more like gods and myths. Socrates would be a Perfect; Herakles would be an Ultimate.

The dub tries to play the existence of what they call Mega-stage hard because they've said "fully Digivolved" so many times that they now have to answer for it. Though it's held back by the matter-of-fact way Izzy delivers the rundown. If anything, he should be more shocked than Koushiro.

Takeru: YOU CAN DO IT, ANGEMON!!! Hikari: ANGEWOMON!!! Hiroaki: That's it! What does the prophecy say next? Koushiro: (type type)

Nobody reads it aloud, but the final passage briefly pops up onscreen. "When angels fire arrows of hope and light at the loved ones of those they protect, a miracle will occur."

Kae: Angels... By "angels", does it mean...?

VenomVamdemon fires off two crotch shots at Angemon and Angewomon. They manage to block the attacks, deflecting them into Odaiba's gigantic ferris wheel. The ferris wheel disintegrates on impact. (YOU MONSTERS.)

Koushiro: Angemon and Angewomon. They must be the angels. Masami: Then who are the people they protect? Takeru: GANBATTE, ANGEMON!!! Hikari: YOU TOO, ANGEWOMON!!! Koushiro: Takeru-kun and Hikari-san. But who are their loved ones?

There's our old friend ganbaru, the Japanese cultural value of hard work and perseverance to overcome tremendous hardship.

Once again demonstrating how divorced he is from human connections, Koushiro has to stop and ask what "loved ones" means. Fortunately, Tentomon's a lot more worldly and can cover this.

Tentomon: Let's use me as an example. If I were the angel, the person I protect would be Koushiro-han. Koushiro: And the people I love most would be my Mom and Dad! Tentomon: Right! So the people Hikari-han and Takeru-han love most would be-- Masami: Their family! Their parents and siblings!

The camera pans over from Takeru and Hikari to Yamato and Taichi.

Koushiro: But why would they shoot arrows at the people they love? Kae: Angels... They're angels, so... In Roman mythology, Cupid shot arrows at people to fill them with love. Koushiro: Arrows that fill people with love? Tentomon: That's it, Koushiro-han! (turning to Taichi and Yamato) Angemon and Angewomon must shoot arrows of love at the two of you! Koushiro: Hey, we still haven't figured this all out yet!

Sorry, Koushiro. The idea has been delivered to Taichi, and you know how he is about careful consideration of his actions.

But that's fine because now is a time for bold action! We've done the Koushiro thing and now it's time to do the Mimi thing.

In the dub:

T.K.: YOU CAN DO IT, ANGEMON!!! Kari: GO, ANGEWOMON!!! Hiroaki: Wait a minute, the prophecy! That's it! Quick, Izzy, what did it say in there about angels? Izzy: (type type)

The dub puts a commercial break here. Then we come back to repeat footage of VenomMyotismon shrugging off the angels' attacks a moment ago. This replaces the brief glimpse of the prophecy wall, which goes by too fast to read it anyway even if they rewrote it in English.

Though the fact that VenomMyotismon stood there and let them attack him again sure makes his earlier declaration of "NOW IT'S MY TURN" pretty fucking silly.

VenomMyotismon: I'M BEGINNING TO GROW BORED OF YOU!!! Kae: What does the prophecy say? Izzy: "Angels will shoot arrows of hope and light at the loved ones of those they have been sent to protect and a miracle will happen." Okay, if Angemon and Angewomon are the angels in the prophecy.... Masami: So then who are the ones they've been sent to protect? T.K.: GO FOR IT, ANGEMON!! Kari: YEAH, KNOCK HIS BLOCK OFF!!! Izzy: That must mean T.K. and Kari. The angels will shoot arrows at their loved ones! Tentomon: It's simple. Allow me to explain. Say I'm kind of like a guardian angel. Whose guardian angel am I? Yours. And who do you love the most? Izzy: I was getting to that! My Mom and Dad, obviously. Tentomon: Exactly! But T.K. and Kari not only have moms and dads, they have something else too. Masami: They have brothers! Tentomon: In a word, BINGO!

Izzy is not confused by the concept of loved ones in this version. Tentomon whole-ass mansplains how parents work for no reason. Thanks, Tentomon.

Kari shouting "Knock his block off" gave me life. XD

Izzy: Why would you want 'em shooting arrows at your loved ones? Sounds dangerous to me. Kae: They're angels, Izzy. Maybe they're like Cupid. He was sort of an angel. When he shot arrows, they were arrows of love. Izzy: Mom, isn't that a little corny!? Tentomon: It may be corny but I buy it! All we've got to do is get Angemon and Angewomon to hit you guys with their arrows of loooo~ove! Izzy: Hey, let's not be too hasty here!

Izzy's adaptational jerkish-ness rears its head here. Izzy, my dude, I have kind of a rule: You're not allowed to call something corny or cringe when you're watching a children's show. Yeah, it's going to throw around concepts like the Power of Love conquering all evils from time to time. It's made for nine-year-olds. If you don't like it, get out of the sandbox and go watch adult TV.

Tentomon knows what I'm talking about. High five, ladybug man!

We have a plan of action. But there are two other people, besides Koushiro, who have concerns about it.

Yamato: What do you think? Taichi: That has to be it! Hikari! Yamato: Takeru! Takeru: Onii-chan.... Taichi: Angewomon's arrow of light! Yamato: Angemon's arrow of hope! Taichi: Get them to fire those arrows at us! Hikari: But if they do that...! Takeru: Both of you might die! Yamato: We won't. Right? Taichi: Right. Hikari: Okay. (holds up her Crest) My light! Takeru: (holds up his Crest) My hope!

The Crests begin to glow, sending their power up to Angemon and Angewomon. Though not Super-Evolving Angemon because he's gonna be a real dick about his Perfect evolution.

In the dub:

Matt: What do you think? Tai: It's worth a shot! Kari! Matt: T.K.! T.K.: You sure you wanna? Tai: Let's see these arrows of hope and light! Matt: You two have got to get them to shoot at us! Tai: They'll only do it if you tell them to! Kari: You really want them to shoot you!? T.K.: What if you get, like, dead or something? Matt: Never happen! Right? Tai: Right. Kari: Okay. (holds up her Crest) Angewomon! T.K.: (holds up her Crest) Angemon, listen up!

I think the kids enthusiastically manifesting their virtues into power was a little too much for the dub team. :P I mean, they already said via Izzy that this was getting too corny for them. They drew the line at "MY HOPE!!!" "MY LIGHT!!!"

I do like the dub's addition of "They'll only shoot us if you tell them to," however. He's right. This stage of the prophecy won't just happen; We have to manifest it. It was secretly an instruction manual all along.

Also, "What if you get, like, dead or something!" is now my favorite way of dodging the word "kill". Is that really better? Is it? XD

The energy from Takeru and Hikari's Crests produces two arrows and, uh, one bow.

Takeru: SHOOT THOSE ARROWS AT OUR BROTHERS!!! BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!!! Angemon: Let's believe.... Angewomon: ...in miracles! Gabumon: YAMATO, STOP THIS!!! Agumon: TAICHI, DON'T BE SO RECKLESS!!! Taichi: I'm always reckless, remember? Yamato: We'll handle this. (Yamato turns to Taichi) Yamato: Are you scared? Taichi: Not scared at all! Well, that's a lie.... Yamato: Honestly, so am I.

Yamato reaches over, taking Taichi's hand with his own.

Yamato: Hold on tight, so I don't run away. Taichi: You do the same for me.

Both of their Crests begin to glow brightly, before the arrows are even launched. Because this moment is a huge manifestation of both Courage and Friendship intermingling into a tightly-woven knot empowering and enhancing each other and holy shit, this is just such a good moment.

Angewomon draws back her arrow of light. Angemon has no bow so he has to fucking lob his arrow of hope, which is hysterically funny in a way that's potentially tension-breaking. Why no bow for Angemon, Takeru? Angewomon isn't using her Holy Arrow bow; She got a completely new one for this. Why no bow for Angemon? XD

In the dub, of course, "Believe in miracles" wasn't making it across.

T.K.: I KNOW THIS MAY SOUND CRAZY BUT SHOOT MATT AND TAI WITH YOUR ARROWS!!! Kari: YOU TOO, ANGEWOMON!!! Angemon: He's right! Angewomon: Sounds crazy! But.... Gabumon: WAIT, YOU SURE ABOUT THIS!?!? Agumon: What if that prophecy's all wrong!? Tai: You guys want a miracle to happen or not!? Matt: Yeah, miracles require a little faith!

OH NEVER MIND They just moved it over to Tai and Matt instead of the angels.

The fact that we lose Taichi's "I'm always reckless" mic drop of a line makes me want to throw things.

Matt: Scared, Tai? Tai: No, not at all! ...how about you, Matt? Matt: 'Course not! Piece of cake! (Matt grabs Tai's hand) Matt: But maybe I'll just... hang onto you to make sure you don't chicken out or anything. Tai: Yeah. Right. I'll do the same for you, buddy.

For the emotionally stonewalled kool dudez of the dub, this is a pretty sweet moment that at least captures the idea of the original scene. It's clear that they're both petrified but are too macho to admit it.

But it absolutely pales in comparison to the emotional sincerity of Taichi and Yamato's moment, as they face the perilous unknown together with only a few strands of hope and faith to grasp onto.

The angels let their arrows fly.

Angemon: AWAKEN-- Angewomon: --A MIRACLE!!

The arrows pierce Yamato and Taichi, creating an explosion of energy.

VenomVamdemon: What...?

In the dub:

Angemon: One miracle... Angewomon: ...coming up! (Arrows fly and hit Tai and Matt) VenomMyotismon: Huh!?

As the arrows strike their targets, a new kind of evolution is introduced. Not Evolution or Super-Evolution, but Warp-Evolution. This is a convenient way to reach Ultimate-stage without having to do three consecutive evolution stock animations oh my god it would be so much.

Agumon and Gabumon WAAPU-SHINKAAAAAA!!!

The rest of the episode is spent on the debut of the first (and only) Ultimate-stage Partner Digimon we're going to see in 01: WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. We close on the pair of them silently facing off against VenomVamdemon, preparing for the incredible battle to follow next episode.

The dub deprives us of that final shot, however, and ends on an edited splitscreen of their flashy CGI animations next to each other. I guess they thought that looked cooler. (They aren't wrong.) They also add in a silence-breaker in the form of the most undersold reaction lines I've ever heard.

Matt: Whoa. Tai: Cool. Narrator: Will the DigiDestined win the battle for Earth and defeat VenomMyotismon? Don't miss the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

Neat.

Assessment: The prophecy is cool and all but it does sort of amount to, "Oh no, a plot suddenly happened because I said so; Here, solve this riddle to make the plot go away."

This big plot-important episode has the framework of a filler episode. Gennai contacts them out of nowhere and sends them a new storyline in the mail, so they have to crack it out by episode's end. That's not too unusual; The show's always been episodic but with an overarching continuity. But the Tokyo plotline's been so much more serialized that this feels like it comes out of nowhere.

Nonetheless, while the framework's kinda janky, the emotional beats and the ominous religious vibes are so good. It nails the tone it's going for. Mostly. (Why is Angemon throwing his arrow by hand? XD)

The dub handles this with surprising care, too. Despite some of the usual fumbles, it goes all-in on the religious undertones of the plot and presents as much as it can up-front. Another pretty good but not perfect turn-in from the dub team.

[art-of-fict]

Commissions are open! 0/10 slots filled!

Hi y'all!

I have a little less than a year about 3 months!! before I'm moving to start a new job, hoping to save up a bit in preparation. If you'd like to help out (of just think my art is nice) consider sending me a commission! (I also reduced my prices a bit!)

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Terms of Service <- can be intimidating if you're unfamiliar, but this is here for accountability because...well, I am asking for your money, and you're asking for my time, so please make sure to look it over!

P.S. I know I got this template from someone else but I cannot for the life of me remember where. If you know please tell me so I can link them!

Slots:

10: total (0 filled)

4: PFP (0 filled)

3: Sketch (B&W) (0 filled)

2: Sketch (color) (0 filled)

1: Digital painting (0 filled)

If filled you can ask to be wait-listed, first-come-first serve

The visual pitch:

The details in text format:

Option 1: Profile Picture

Flat colors only

1 subject only (no multiple characters in one icon please, it is simply too small)

$15 for one, $25 for two

1-2 day turnaround after I begin the commission

You can request no signature on the piece itself for no extra charge, but please credit me where you use it!

P.S. I can also do banners! If you're okay with the same flat colors and shading, the pricing is the same, otherwise, it needs to be negotiated. Depending on what you want, it may fit one of the other categories better.

You will be expected to pay the full amount upfront

Option 2: Black and white sketch

Portrait/bust is $10, full-body is $20, with +$5 per extra character on both

Chibi is $5

Backgrounds are available, but will cost extra. The exact figure depending on complexity, research required, etc., but will be fixed before you're expected to pay

You will be expected to pay the full amount upfront

Option 3: Colored sketch

Flat colors with flat aka cel-shading

Half-body is $30, and full-body is $45, add $8 per extra character

Again, backgrounds are available. A simple background of some nice colors in nice shapes won't cost any extra. A detailed background depicting some kind of room or other "3D" environment will. Again, the exact figure would be up to the scale and complexity.

I will update the examples here at some point, since these are unshaded (and you can request that!). I know I can do this sort of shading well, but I just can't seem to find a recent example, and the examples I try and create specifically for these sorts of things always seem to come out missing something :/

You will be expected to pay at least half upfront

Option 4: Digital painting

The big boys! I know it's a big price jump, but these fellas generally take in the ballpark of 20+ hours over several weeks. The others can usually be done within 1–8 hours over at most few days.

Starting at $200 for one character against a simple background

"Simple background" can range from a single solid color to some fun overlapping colored shapes. A messy scenery is a bit of a grey zone.

A "complex background" is generally a full environment and/or detailed extra objects meant to fill negative space and add to the meaning of the piece. Lighting can also contribute to complexity.

I will keep in touch about progress on the piece, you can also ask to see a WiP anytime

We will talk through the details and agree on a price based on estimated time to completion, research required, and technical difficulty. You will be expected to pay 50% of that price upfront, and the rest on delivery.

Option 5: Design commission

If the character you want has no previous art or other image I can reference, that's a design commission!

I love design comms, they are so much fun! Just be aware that the process can take a while, with several back-and-forths and revisions along the way

Design commissions can overlap with the other categories as well. You may request a new design to use used in a pfp, a sketch, or a painting. Just be aware that the design process will add to the price!

I can also do your basic reference sheet. These are highly malleable, and you can request as many elements as you want.

The most basic comes with:

-> Colored sketch of the subject (front and back)

-> The color palette, either within the piece or as a separate file

-> Closeups of 1–3 details

-> The rights to the design

Optional elements include, but aren't limited to: extra closeups on details/items/tattoos/scars/etc.; side and 3/4s views; expression sketches; dynamic sketches; size reference; etc.

As far as pricing goes, if you're requesting a reference sheet, we will discuss what elements you want and the relative difficulty of the design. We will agree on an initial estimate, of which you will be expected to pay 50% upfront. After completion, we will tally time worked, and discuss elements added or subtracted from the original order, and agree on a final payment.

If you're requesting a design to be rendered in one of the other options I have, the price of the design and the price of the finished piece will be considered separately.

-> I will not hold you to working with me to create a full reference sheet, but for any design commission, I will require feedback on the design before I begin sketching on the actual piece.

-> We'll agree on a price for the design, and it will be added to the price at the end. It won't be considered in the 50% you would be required to pay upfront (unless requested).

-> We'll work together to make sure the design is reasonably priced. The reason I ask for anything extra at all is because design work involves additional research and planning.

General points:

My style can be very malleable! It doesn't have to be strictly painterly. If you want something in a style from my other works, feel free to ask! (And I'll be sure to update more on here so you can actually see what I've done!) Basically...Don't want to order off the menu? Don't worry, just talk to the chef and we can find you something you'll like!

I specialize in humanoid characters, but I can do animals and hybrids/furries as well, just be aware that rendering fur or scales in the painterly style will count as "asking for a lot of detail."

I struggle with complex machinery—my strengths are in the organic world.

On that note, mechs are inherently high-detail, and I may not be the best person for the job. I'd be more than willing to take a look at a design to see if it's within my abilities, just know that there's a bit of a skill gap between Baymax and Gundam. I'm willing to challenge myself, though!

Lastly, please no NSFW, much like with mechs, that's simply not my area of expertise, but unlike with mechs, I have even less experience! I would need some practice before I wanted to accept.

[bomberqueen17]

character creation menu

like, when i'm in this mode of trying to make a thing and it's going sort of well i wind up sort of subsuming most of my attention to it

and i keep accidentally hijacking conversations IRL and god i am struggling not to do that but literally everything I encounter IRL Gives Me An Idea For That Book

(yes, i did send a message on instagram, the only platform i still have contact with him, to my friend the former Navy diver, to ask him for more dolphin insights. yeah. we'll see. it's been years and he got politically Weird [not that way!!! the other way actually don't worry] so i'm not sure how that'll go.)

but anyway, on Character Creation

one of the problems i have is that i have to kind of write things to find them. and so i was going along writing about a particular B-plot problem, and I had a character say something snippy that I then needed an uninvolved person to overhear and react to, for scene pacing reasons (idk, it just seemed right)

and i had needed an original character for another role in the A plot so i was like ah yes, Placeholder can do that and then we segue flawlessly back into the A plot, so I wrote a bunch of that but the character was such a bland placeholder (i devoted zero thought to their name, and was like i guess they'd call themself a consultant ok, and then my brain filled in "Rin" for their name, and I'm a thousand words in before I'm like. this person cannot be named Consultant Rin.) But I got the A plot sequence done and it holds up, and reading back over it, mm this person needs more personality.

I stepped away from the computer and was eating a meal with Dude and talking to him about something unrelated, and then I was musing on how various of his coworkers sound on Zoom calls, and the only one I can tell apart is the woman with a mild speech impediment, and he was telling me more about her and I suddenly in midsentence was like "oh I don't think I've ever written a character with a speech impediment" and like.

there's technical challenges to that, which was interesting to contemplate-- just like writing a character with an accent, where you don't want to descend into like, exotifying dialect but you do want to convey something of the uniqueness of this person's diction whenever they speak. so that's a fun and interesting constraint to put on a character, and can help with a real problem I have always had in my writing, where I love writing dialogue but everyone just talks like me unless I put a ton of attention into making sure they don't.

but this character immediately morphed in my mind, from Placeholder With Stolen Name to

Extremely Autistic Technician With Like, Absolutely No Rizz Who Within Five Minutes Becomes Everyone's Favorite Person

and is not based on anyone I know but I immediately knew and loved them and that is a much better standpoint from whence to create a character.

I also need to come up with names for everybody, and that's on the list, but I'm getting there. I'm just glad I have a mental image now. I don't do visual imagination stuff very well-- fanfiction is nice because I can usually find an image of a character and refer back to that, because I'm not exactly faceblind but I don't hold images well in my mind. With original characters it's so so so so hard, because I can't imagine that well, but it really helps me keep a voice distinctive if I can look at the person and think about them talking. So.

At least having some vague notion rather than like one of those blank wooden poseable artist figure model things helps.

[bedlessbug]

AMBERS READING:

"I find arguments that the digital is essentially nonvisual to be tendentious at best. Which leads me back to some earlier remarks you made about seeking a “digital solution to the digital.” I find such a project exciting, alluring, provocative, but it also seems to me that such a presentation dreams of a mythical digital essence. I’m arguing that the digital, or at least the “actually existing digital,�� is a hybrid or mixed medium. And that attempts to define the digital in terms of the digital involve some kind of ideologically suspect exclusion or metaphysical obfuscation."

"In my understanding, there is nothing like a shaky definition in digital tech or digital philosophy. There is no hybridity in arithmetic. The phrases you are using are analog departures from digitality, not digitality itself. Or perhaps irrational departures; and I mean irrational in the technical/mathematical sense of “having no ratio.” (Hence one might find such things filed under alogos or analogos, but not under logos/digitality proper.) If you can show me a shaky distinction in Euclid, or Leibniz, or Dedekind, or Peano, or Frege, I’m willing to look. But in my study of it, digitality is a form of representation in which such indistinctions are categorically excluded. Digitality is practically a synonym for “stable and well-defined criteria”"

"In other words, your claim sounds tautological. I say: Well, the grounds of strictly digital ontologies that exclude bodies, images, interfaces, and so forth are not really firm, and they are obfuscating the hybrid conditions of their existence. And in a somewhat modest case study of radar, I demonstrate an instance of how this worked out, with implications for contemporary social media. Your response is: Well, that doesn’t count, you’re using analog terms to define the digital, the digital should be defined in terms of the digital. And I say: Yes, but “the digital” in this case rests on an infrastructure of conceptual, technical, procedural elements that cannot be separated from bodies, technique, interfaces, and so forth. To which you respond: Yes, but those aren’t digital terms, digital philosophy doesn’t reference those terms. Which is why I say: Yes, this is why I think digital ontologies, at least in media theory, are obfuscating—they exclude their own conditions of existence from analysis."

I frequently refer to digitality as a “decision.”

THIS IS THE MAIN POINT: If you were to ask me whether the world is analog, I might assent. Or at least posit the digital and the analog as coequal. It’s a tricky dance, but I typically say that the analog is “on the side of the real.” (The problem is that equating analog with real leads quickly to a Romanticist trap; yet the analog is the only paradigm in which something like the real makes sense. Thus “on the side of the real” is my compromise position.) So, yes, “digital” media are reducible to weird analog waves and signal fluctuations. I freely admit that. Still, if that’s the whole story, then you’d have to essentially say that “the digital doesn’t exist” or, as Kittler put it, “there is no software.” Whereas I want to acknowledge that the digital does exist. Contra Kittler, there is software. The digital is certainly a construction, a decision, an abstraction, a “fake”—that’s all true. But you could say the same for patriarchy or Western metaphysics or capitalism or the money form. For me the symbolic exists and is real. And, yes, one can write about the realness of a symbolic order without being an evangelist (e.g., Marx’s Capital)................................................................

THIS IS ALSO OF IMPORTANCE: "In view of these two points, is it fair to say that you have set up an analysis where the totally calculable, the nonambiguous, the nonarbitrary, the stable, and so forth, finds its conditions of possibility in a leap that is non-calculable, ambiguous, and unstable?ARG: Yes, although I’m filtering it all through Badiou who says nearly the same thing: a leap over the abyss; a nonrational choice to overcome rationality; the calculable and the noncalculable. This is why I tend to label Badiou a digital philosopher, even though he has very little to say about computers, the internet, or other examples of actually existing digitality. Incidentally, I was just reading Sybille Krämer and this jumped out: “Machines have no eyes. If we have to reconstruct a machine’s sensitivity it is the tactile, not the visual that matters.”4 This seems right to me. Computers “sense,” they don’t see. Thus her metaphor of tactility. And they sense in a very particular way, that is, via interfaces pre-codified into a symbolic capture language."

THE CYBORGIAN SHIP OF THESUS OF TRANSHUMANISM>>>> [perhaps there is something to say about the "i am not a robot" authentification]

Can one reduce the digital to an analog apparatus? Of course. There are endless clumsy ways to reduce mind to body and body to mind. I am contesting whether we ought to make such a reduction. And if we ought not, then historicism and empiricism shouldn’t be primary methods in digital studies. Anathema, I know, but that’s why it’s important to scrutinize methodology. BDG: “Always dehistoricize,” perhaps—not as a dogma to celebrate, but as a tactic to momentarily inhabit its ratio, en route to uncovering others?

[bokettochild]

If the boys were in httyd, what dragons would they have? :)

*shrieks*

You could not possibly have better appealed to my inner fan. Combining my two major fandoms into one? Yissssssssss

Note: I will not solely be using dragons from the movies, but cannot reference books because I could never actually read them.

Okay! So! I would like to start out with Ravio. Yes, Ravio isn't technically one of the boys, but who really cares?

Smokebreaths. Ravio would have Smothering Smokebreaths, and they 100% steal all Legend's items for him (he exchanges their finds for metal for their nests, if only to avoid being made roast rabbit).

Meanwhile, I see Legend with...hmmm...lemme put a hold on him actually, he's tricky

Warriors would one hundred percent have a Sharp Class dragon, and I'm leaning towards a Razorwhip. They're fiercely loyal and both strong and agile. They're dragons fully capable of combat, but they're also very kind and curious outside of it. It suits him. Were he to actually have a dragon, I imagine he'd be assigned to work with it by the Crown and they just- bonded. I know you only asked what dragons, but I'd like to go on and say he and his dragon would have a partnership more akin to Astrid and Stormfly's: they're real close and caring with each other, but in battle they work not as a singular unit, but as a terrifying duo.

Time is more Stormcutter vibes I think. Like, maybe it's the faces Cloudjumper makes and the way he handles smaller, younger, more annoying dragons, but if Cloudjumper is a accurate representation of his species as a whole, I'd say they're a good fit. Capable of great tenderness, but with a face and form that really makes you wonder if they will or will not kill you. Stormcutters also have a somewhat owlish vibe, which ties in well to how JoJo originally had Time with an owl companion in LU. Stormcutters are loyal to death and mostly solitary, but can exist with other dragons when needed (especially, I'd assume, if that other dragon is their mate). They're capable, terrifying, strong, patient and capable of great mischief, perfectly compatible with one Gremlin Forest Hero.

Now, Twilight had me a bit stumped. See, a Boulder Class is just 100% wrong for him. He'd need a partner that's intelligent, strong, fast, and loyal. Now, technically, that's a Strike Class dragon to a tee, but the Strike Class is really small, like: nightfury, lightfury, skrill, snow wraith, deathgripper, triple strike and woolly howls. Now all these are all lovely and all, but they are not Twilight, which is kinda important. The dragon is like another half of your soul, to have your dragon it needs to be the one that compliments or completes you. And then it hit me: Deadly Nadders. They're an intelligent Tracker Class dragon that's a skilled hunter (with a preference for domestic meat), incredibly loyal, intelligent, and playful. The pride of the nadder definitely contrasts Twilight's humble spirit, but I feel like a proud dragon would be good for him. Not only would he want to spoil them rotten, but he might actually become more confident in himself and develop a better self image. Also, he'd 100% meet this dragon while wandering around as Wolfie, I will give no other context.

Since it seems like I'm working with the older Links first, I think I'll touch on Sky next. Now, when I was trying to remember the Strike Class assortment I was thinking how Twilight wouldn't care for something with crazy fire abilities (pyrophobia anyone?) when all of a sudden I thought of the skrill, with it's lightning blasts. My first thought was 'keep that away from Legend and Sky' and than I paused and realized, 'Wait, Sky controls lightning too, sort of' and now I'm in love with the idea of Sky making friends with a skrill. Maybe it was enslaved to Demise and he just....befriended it, and now it won't leave him because loyalty. They're truly ferocious dragons, capable of debatibly the worst damage (out of normal, not behemoth sized dragons) and very strong and independent, mostly reclusive. But whereas a razorwhip is a match to Warriors, I feel a skrill would be a nice compliment to Sky. By all rights, at first glance, there is no reason they would bond, but look closer and there are some similarities and they could actually work really well together! Granted, you can't ride a living electrical current (unless you maybe borrow Wild's suit) but if Sky still has his loftwing, he wouldn't need to. He could still be partners with his friend, just never fly on him, just with him (although the image of Sky and the Skrill both sparking with lightning in a battle is gorgeous tbh).

Now we head into the dragons for the younger ones, and I finally figured out something for Legend! The Changewing! It's a highly aggressive and dangerous dragon, yes, but they're only that way to beings outside of their family groups. Within them, we see they are highly defensive, caring and even nurturing (I mean, as much as we get to see of them). They're dragons that don't rely so much on brute force in battle, but rather stealth and powerful attacks. Like Legend, who tends to back the others up from the sidelines or employ items more than a sword, these dragons have a unique blast and tend to rely on their camaflouge in battle or when threatened. A key point for me is that they aren't overly large and are very agile, which Legend would need, considering how often his adventures had him slinking through small places, darting around and whatnot. How our snippy vet befriended an even snippier dragon, I'm not sure, but I'd say one or the other probably met while one of them was injured/near death and something made them think twice of killing the threat and made them instead try to help the other. After that, unbreakable bond. Like Warriors, I imagine Legend working as a fluid team with his dragon, no words needed. Less battling though, and more solving puzzles, discovering new things and fighting dungeons.

Hyrule next. At first I thought Hyrule is one who would also need a smaller, more agile dragon. Something smart, quick, but also more of the protective sort, considering his world's current outlook regarding him. That's about when I started reviewing dragons and then realized...no. Hyrule doesn't need a dragon to help him run, he needs one to stand with him and strengthen him. He needs a dragon who contrasts him to the point of it being ridiculous, one that's his complete opposite in every way, because it views itself as only worthy of the best whereas he sees himself as the least. What does he need? Well, I'm pairing Hyrule with a Monsterous Nightmare. We've seen Hyrule in battle, burning the enemy armies to the ground, but what would it be like if we gave him a dragon to help do it faster? A dragon that's not just a bit vain, but outright one of the proudest of all; big, powerful, standing out and drawing attention. This relationship definitely wasn't started by Hyrule and he has no clue how it's continued, but I feel like a Nightmare would look at him and go 'ah, yes, truly the most powerful and worthy of warriors, I can work with that one' meanwhile Hyrule is over here kicking at rocks in frustration that he's 'not good enough!'. Where Twilight's Nadder would help him overcome his self doubts through association, a Nightmare would smack Hyrule upside the head with his greatness, which I think is the only way to actually get it through to him. So yes, lovely, powerful, dangerous, unlikely duo. They're still working everything out, but they get along, and Hyrule stays warm and safe this way.

Okay, Wind next. Wild and Four are giving me the most trouble, so I'm doing Wind first. Wind would have a Thunderdrum. No, not just because they're a water dragon, I actually considered giving him a Speedstinger at first, but really, Thunderdrums seem to suit him better. Thunderdrums are highly powerful water dragons, but their main form of attack implements the air. They're aquatic dragons, so the likelihood of them surviving well in his world is higher than most other sorts, and while they aren't really the most intelligent of dragons, they are strong, powerful, occasionally playful, and even empathetic. I think Wind would have met his dragon while either traveling with the King of Red Lions or with Tetra. maybe they sailed close to a pod for a while and eventually became somewhat familiar with them. (While Wind would have met his dragon this way, Tetra wouldn't have cared for the Thunderdrums so much and yes, I know this is for the boys but Tetra has a Scauldron please and thank you). Wind and his dragon would be more buddies than actual partners. They have their disagreements and struggles, and don't always work well together, but they would die for each other and they know it.

Okay, Wild time. I had a bit of trouble with this one, but I finally figured it out and it was a total accident that it happened to be the Sentinel. Hear me out! Sentinels are blind, stone like dragons who rely on their other sense rather than sight, they're protectors, and as long as whatever they're protecting is safe, they're happy to remain still as statues, (to the point people usually think they are statues). I think this suits Wild; not only is he harmless unless he or his are threatened, but much like Wolfie the Sentinel wouldn't interfere unless it sense he was in need of help, something which I'm sure we all know he'd appreciate greatly. I feel like a Sentinel is a quiet yet stern sort of companion who could help ground our wildling a bit without caging him, and who could look out for him from close or afar without getting in his way. Also, it's fun to think of Wild, fresh from the Shrine, running across what seems to be a really cool dragon statue, just to realize that oh crap! it's alive! And this big dragon takes one look at this tiny, naked Hylian and goes 'well there's nothing else to take care of anymore' and just claims him.

Now, finally! Four!

Okay, so Four absolutely is the reason this took me so long to answer. I'd hashed out nearly everyone else's dragons the moment I saw this ask, but Four has haunted me and made life difficult because of something very simple: Four is complete.

Okay, so, Four is four kids in a trenchcoat, or four heroes anyway since they hate being called a kid. The Four of them complete each other in a way no other hero completes themselves. See, the rest of the heroes have dragons that compliment or complete them, but as I was going through every class, every dragon, and trying to pin down something that suited Four, all I could find were dragons that suited one or two of their colors, not all of them. There was nothing to complete Four because the colors themselves already balance and round them out. As for complimenting, how do you compliment something that's at once four and one? Now, you could say that a Snapptrapper would be ideal, but that dragon species is just a venus flytrap of dragons and doesn't do much more then smell nice and kill stuff. Not Four's style.

And then it hit me. I was about to settle on Smothering Smokebreathes for them because Smokebreathes would make sense to a point. Instead of complimenting or completing Four, they would just be companions. Four isn't as likely as the others to need companionship, help or protection from a dragon because he can just split, so I thought some scavenger/smithy buddies would be nice. Maybe Smopkebreathes broke into their forge one day and they ended up befriending them as a way to get their stuff back from them. Then maybe they trained them to work with and not against, yada yada... And that's not a bad idea, but it mademe sad to think that Four might not get a dragon best friend.

And then, walkiing along, my brain was suddenly invavded by a nightfury and I just had to stop and go 'of course!'. Now, i wanted to avoid giving the coveted nightfury to any of the boys simply for the sake of the Nightfury being the literal best dragon out there. Additionally, I kinda wanted Four's dragon friend to be big as a way to oppose his own size (partially for kicks), but I guess not.

A nightfury suits Four best because it suits all the colors, both seperate and together. they're strong and dangerous, powerful creatures that Blue would respect. They're fast and good team-mates, which Green would enjoy (especially as his brothers don't always work well with him). They're intelligent and observant, and can create awesome nightlights for reading which Vio would most definitely love. And they're empathetic, understanding and loyal, all traits Red would appreciate. Furthermore, a nightfury is complete in itself. it doesn't need a human/hylian, which is why it suits Four so well. neither need each other, but it doesn't stop them from being good friends and working together.

And that concludes the Chain!

Sorry I took so lomng to answer this, some of the boys were difficult :/

[nongenderbentanimeneilarmstrong]

Early Honkai Impact manga are extremely fascinating to me. I would say anything released before Elan Platinus (Purple Kite Tales in case you're ever looking up volume release order on mangadex) is early Honkai to me since that all came out before there were a number of retcons regarding certain characters.

Another notable thing is that the artists basically didn't know how to draw boobs like at all. They look like gelatinous spheres attached to characters chests. Yeah sure this isn't probably that interesting but it really just gave honkai a different tone when there were flacid scuppernong grapes smushing into each other every page.

What may be the only official de-canonized part of honkai is the mystery of the stigmata arc. I'm not sure if later changes to the plot influenced this decision or not since I have commonly heard it was removed due to depicting the yellow emperor as an anime girl. Regardless, the main antagonist of this arc is Walter, the 1st herrscher, sovereign of AE, and also secretly Himeko's father. If you ever see anyone crawling out if the woodwork taking about Welt being Himeko's father, this is why. While we don't know what his powers were, the rebirth dlc GGZ character named Walter who was also the 1st herrscher and sovereign of AE had gravity powers. The Joyce clones and Welt seemed to have gravity powers in AE invasion/moon shadow so I feel fairly comfortable in saying that the 1st herrscher used to have gravity powers. However Walter was retconed and now we have Welt who is basically just a totally different guy (and now he doesn't even have gravity powers). Also here's the first image we get of Walter.

And here's a Canon image of the Joyce clone from Moon Shadow.

Himeko's first appearance in the escape from nagazora manga is also really, really bad. That's not how you put on armor, please don't do that. I genuinely don't want to post an image of the page I'm referring to because I don't feel comfortable inflicting this onto others I'm pretty sure this is soft core porn.

On a lighter note I want to show people Otto Apocalypse's first appearance in Honkai Impact.

As far as I can tell, since Otto is never actually seen in Theresa's chronicle chapter, this had to be his first appearance in the story. The translators of this game chose to introduce the English speaking fan base to this guy with a "nobody expects the Spanish inquisition" joke. I'm not sure if he was supposed to the the main antagonist when this was published, but regardless, someone consciously chose to draw this guy like this and someone decided to add in a month python joke. Old Honkai was just, extremely horny (though it is important to note that female characters were sexualized to a far greater degree).

Anyways regarding the original main antagonist, I'm pretty sure it was Cocolia to at least some extent. She was the main antagonist through the moon shadow arc, though Otto Apocalypse was pretty evil in that one so it's hard to say anything with a ton of confidence. Regardless, that's probably part of the reason why Cocolia AE was the main antagonist until she suddenly wasn't. Though the whole AE fracturing and Einstein/Tesla making a deal with Theresa was a pretty significant plot point in AE invasion so technically it wasn't entirely something that came out of nowhere, but really how many people would be reading the manga at that point in the story.

But yeah, here's some notable events from early Honkai manga that I think are pretty interesting. This post kinda ended up being a collection of some of the more salacious images I want to forget about so in general it's actually a pretty mixed bag. Azure Waters is really really good and I definitely enjoyed parts of AE invasion and moon shadow regardless of some scenes that I did not enjoy and would not recommend. Also I find it hilarious that Otto's introduction is like that. I cannot take him seriously at all in that arc or kinda in general whenever I'm reminded of that scene.

[thefanficmonster]

Filterless

Corpse Husband x Plus-sized Reader (Female)

Warnings: Body Image Insecurities, Low self-esteem, Swearing

Genre:  Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: Feeling comfortable in her skin has hardly ever been the case for Y/N who’s been struggling with body image issues all her life. However, they only get worse when she sees the ‘type’ of girls her crush is into.

Requested by Anon. Hi darling! Thank you so much for your request (hits close to home 😅) I’m so sorry it has taken me so long to fulfill it and post it but here it finally is and if you’ve stuck around long enough to read it, I hope you enjoy! ALSO! - Never forget how beautiful and amazing you are. Never compare your beauty to someone else’s. We’re all beautiful people and we all shine so brightly and uniquely. No one deserves to be compared to anyone when we’re all so different yet so incredible. Love you and appreciate you with all my heart, Vy ❤

If I ever need my ego taken down a few notches - it never does, it’s barely even present, to be honest - all I have to do is go on Instagram. To be honest, regardless of how I’m feeling, opening that app is bound to make my mood plummet and come crashing into the ground so hard it drives a hole in it - probably in the form of a broken heart.

Being a content creator myself, I often get asked questions about my absence on that social platform specifically. I mean, the questions are based and rational I guess, considering I’m not a faceless YouTuber and yet my Instagram account is void of any photos. It’s not like I don’t post at all - I do! I post on my story often but it’s more often than not scenery I find pretty or a poster I’ve made for a movie/video game. Bottom line is: I barely ever allow a picture of me to make it online. The most my fans are ever gonna get of me is a selfie which is also a super rare occurrence because of how long it takes me to take and choose one I don’t hate.

Ok, but how am I supposed to find the motivation to post any sort of picture of myself when on my timeline I’m always faced with people worthy of posting pictures of themselves. People with such perfect bodies and beautiful faces. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not jealous or envious of those people - good for them! They know what they’re working with and they’re working it well. I have nothing against them, in fact, I love seeing people proud of their bodies no matter their size, shape or weight. Those are my role-models: people who are proud of themselves, their bodies, their attributes and capabilities and don’t hesitate to show them off. Those are the people I look up to but, deep down inside I know I’ll never be like.

Insecure about my body, having been referred to as ‘chubby’ and ‘squishy’ all my life. Inappreciative of the stuff I do: starting from my job as a graphic designer leading towards my job on YouTube - nothing I do, professionally or otherwise, satisfies me. Nothing I do is enough in my eyes because I feel incapable of ever being able to do enough. I’ve been called lazy and a half-asser a few too many times to be able to brush it off as a meaningless insult. 

With these problems I’ve had with myself and my own perception of who I am and the work I do, I’ve never had the time for romance or romantic relationships. I second-guess the intentions of everyone who ever shows any interest in me because in my mind I’m nothing special and I have nothing to offer - nothing attractive or likable at least. That being said, I haven’t even been one to make heart eyes at others either. I busy myself with my job and some side-gigs, brushing off any relationship questions with the excuse that I’m ‘just too busy to be in a relationship’ which is technically true.

Having spent twenty plus years with that mindset, one can imagine how surprised I was when I found myself catching feelings for someone. And that someone just couldn’t be any other than the biggest YouTube sensation at the moment - Corpse Husband.

I’m close friends with Poki - her and I were roommates at one point too - so her inviting me to play Among Us with them wasn’t so strange. One or two games, I thought, nothing unusual there, just friendly curtesy. I wasn’t expecting to warm up to the group of famous streamers nor did I expect them to welcome me among them so easily, mostly because my channel is so small and practically invisible to the YouTube algorithm. But soon enough, I became a permanent member of the team, making friends with every single one of those YouTubers I practically thought of a celebrities.

This journey of branching out to other content creators has proven itself to be surprisingly pleasant and has packed my book of friendships to the brim. All of that came unexpectedly, along with a wave of new subs and a higher view count. However, as I mentioned, it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. I came to finally understand what my high school friends were talking about when they were head over heels for a boy - the butterflies in the stomach whenever he speaks your name; the importance of the laugh you share with him, how special and different it is; how cool it is to be impostors with him - ok they never said that, obviously, but it’s what I have as a substitute to the ‘when the two of you make eye-contact’ bullshit since Corpse and I have never seen each other in person. That is, of course, because of him being a faceless YouTuber and me being a self-conscious and insecure girl.

We do talk all the time though - texting, calling, chilling on Discord, you name it. Our conversations range from deeply philosophical to ones that might mislead someone into thinking we’re high. There’s no topic we haven’t touched upon and yet we still manage to find something new to talk about. We have plenty of similarities but we also never seem to run out of differences we slowly come across as we keep getting to know each other better and better. 

And somewhere along that journey I ended up catching feelings.

Human nature of wanting to connect with other people, I curse you for what you’ve done to me.

You might think I’m being overdramatic about the whole ordeal and that this is just a normal, natural occurrence many people experience in their life - some even daily. Well, not only am I far from used to it, but it’s also taking a toll of a different kind on me.

It’s like a constant slap to the face. 

That slap turned into a punch when Corpse and I started following each other on Instagram and I started getting daily reminders of how out of my depth I am with this crush on him. In over my head, especially when you look at all those girls whose pics and videos he reposts on his story. Imagine how that makes me feel, what that does to me - puts me back into the ‘Constantly not good enough‘ basket, the one I’ve been fighting to get out of all my life. In the past and in different contexts I could easily say that it was all just my mind hating me intensely but now - now that I know for a fact I’m not good enough and don’t fit Corpse’s criteria - it hurts ten times as much. I’m not one to do shit for someone’s attention or to attract someone’s eyes, but it really hurts my feelings. Often times, it also leads me to doing dumb things and making rash decisions. 

Like the one I made two days ago.

Imagine me cringing and shaking my head at my own stupidity as I admit this: I, in a frenzy, ordered a whole e-girl getup with overnight delivery. 

Wait, hold up, it gets worse. 

I received it yesterday and spent the whole day regretting that decision, but then, in my most insecure hours - which was somewhere around midnight - I equipped the get-up, took a picture and posted it on my Instagram page. First full body pic I’ve ever posted on there. First pic I’ve posted there of any kind. There to stay, not to be gone in twenty four hours. First pic, and it’s not even of me. It’s of who I want to be in order to fit someone’s criteria. And that fucking stings.

As you might imagine, I’ve spent today’s day regretting that decision as well. Recently my mood’s been nothing but regretting rash decisions that have surfaced under the influence of my ridiculous, constantly-present insecurities. And I would’ve probably gotten over it rather quickly had I not received a message from Corpse that read:

“Didn’t think of you with an e-girl aesthetic“

I didn’t open the message, I peeped at it as it was a notification on my lock screen. It’s still there, an unread notification. It’s been two hours since I received it and I cannot think of a single thing to say in response to that. 

Truth is, I’m afraid. I’m afraid of so many things right now.

I’m afraid of becoming that girl in the photo, cause I’m most definitely not her.

I’m afraid of letting Corpse down by admitting I’m not her.

I’m afraid of what my own mind has made me do because it hates me so much and I’m terrified of what it might do in the future.

I’m afraid and stranded on things to do.

You can’t be her forever, you know. Being her won’t make your insecurities go away, it’ll only make them worse. Haven’t you learned that by now?

I sigh, frustrated and irritated with myself as I grab my phone and tap on the notification, finally deciding to face the music and allow my instincts to carry me through the interaction. Improvisation, that’s one of the few things I’m good at. Let’s hope it doesn’t fail me.

I’m just about to type out my response - not sure what it’s gonna say - when I give the message Corpse has sent me a second glance.  I furrow my brows, finding there’s more to it than that peep through the notification let me see.

“Didn’t think of you with an e-girl aesthetic. You’re personality is so bright and colorful, I could’ve never imagined you were into the darks and blacks“

Because I’m not

I fail to realize until the message has been sent that my thoughts are exactly what I typed out and sent.

And honestly, I’m glad. It feels like I’ve spoken my truth, like I’ve lifted a huge boulder off my chest.

With that rare confidence in mind I go on and delete the picture.

In its spot, I post a picture I just now took - a mirror selfie in my homey get-up consisting of hot pink sweatpants and an oversized blue tee, my hair in a messy bun, my face free of make-up.

I caption it: ‘Oops, had the e-girl filter on for the last one. This is filterless me tho so...Hi 🥴’

A lot better, I’m surprised to hear my inner voice say. I hope I don’t get used to all this kindness on my brain’s part, probably won’t last, but damn if I don’t milk every second of it.

Just then, I receive a new message from non other than Corpse.

“Now that’s the girl I see when I think of you. She’s super cute 😉“

My, oh my, who would’ve guessed Corpse has a game like that - and by that I mean the ability to make me blush so intensely with only a text message.

Now ain’t that better than being someone else, Y/N?

It sure is, it sure is.

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[blindbeta]

I just saw someone asked about making a character blind in their novel and you responded about ways to avoid it being portrayed poorly. I wanted to ask, could it also help if part of the arc is the character accepting becoming blind?

Like, even if it happens in some kind of accident, or like them becoming blinded as a sacrifice for the team, would it be a bad portrayal for part of the character's story to be realizing it's not the end of the world, that being disabled doesn't make them completely useless, etc?

Or is that sort of arc also ableist?

[Note: I used the words non-disabled and abled interchangeably here. Both refer to people with no disabilities. After a conversation with some of my followers, I decided to make an effort to be clearer about who I referred to when I used words like able-bodied, because able-bodied may, for some people, refer to people without physical disabilities or without any disabilities at all. There are times when the distinction matters, even when people said they can usually tell based on context whether or not able-bodied is meant to include them.]

Writing About A Character Accepting Being Blind After Going Blind - When You Aren’t Blind Yourself

An arc about a character accepting becoming blind doesn’t feel good to me and I’ll try to explain why.

I’d rather read a story about a character who happens to be blind, in whatever way that happened, than read a story where a writer who isn’t blind tries to write about a blind character accepting being blind. I just finished a similar book and it did not go well. There are some things that research cannot teach you. There are some stories that aren’t yours to tell.

I don’t want to read about a non-blind author, especially a non-disabled author, writing negative things about my disability.

A character starting out feeling overly negative toward their blindness already feels bad to me. Why? Because the author has to write negative, sometimes completely wrong things about being blind. When I read stories like this, I am bombarded with stereotypes or myths which are rarely corrected by the narrator, who is usually traumatized and somewhat isolated as they heal. Many of the things they think or say are not checked or revisited. Mean things other characters say or think about them are often internalized by the narrator. Things that, in real life, are said to blind and otherwise disabled people as truths. As tough-love. As part of the supposed -Real World-. As bullying. As ignorant, innocent questions. As rude comments.

All of these things are not even coming from a personal place. The author writing these things- while they probably don’t agree with them, of course- is still not blind at the end of the day.

Readers who aren’t blind may not understand the nuance of why some of the things they read were ableist if it isn’t called out in the narrative in some way, which can sometimes happen when the narrator says something negative about their new disability. This isn’t to say readers shouldn’t do their own research or examine the story more closely. This isn’t to say the author is at fault for the interpretations of readers who refuse to think beyond what is laid out for them. When I say this, I am being realistic. Not all readers are going to be proactive. Not all readers are going to approach a book about a person going blind from a good place.

Most of the time, this is just something the author needs to accept. It is impossible to anticipate the strange interpretations of every reader. However, this narrative can be dangerous to a reader who has never met a blind person. Keep in mind, most people aren’t doing what you all are doing. They just read what is given to them. And if what is given to them is a helpless or self-loathing blind person, they might believe in that image. That book may be the only expirience they have with a blind person and they may not read any other books with blind characters.

Another thing I thought of was that non-blind authors sometimes don’t understand how hobbies and skills translate to blind people. For example, in a story I read once, a character who was going blind practiced playing piano and typing on a keyboard blindfolded so they could learn how to do without sight. However, blind people can already play instruments even if they were born blind. Blind people can also easily type on regular keyboards and, technically, correct keyboard technique means typing without needing to look at the keyboard.

Authors who don’t understand what it is like to go blind often don’t get the nuances of what that person is losing and not losing. And it often shows. They also don’t often include the aspects of blindness that are actually challenging. Why focus your worry on typing on a keyboard when you can learn how to use assistive devices in the kitchen or learn to cope with anxiety you anticipate will get worse after losing vision? Why not try to find accessible copies of books you have or scan or Braille sentimental letters? Why not organize your closet so you can find things more easily?

Obviously this is related to characters who know they’re going blind, though.

It favors non-disabled readers, which is ableist.

Another reason this type of story bothers me is because it is so common. Or at least people expect it. This type of story is one abled / non-disabled people can swallow and feel inspired by. Showing the blind person accepting their blindness also favors non-disabled readers in ways I may not be able to articulate well.

Accepting disability is an arc non-disabled people are comfortable with. It is a feel-good type of story that usually doesn’t challenge people too much, other than to remind them not to bully people. Already, this story is not even for disabled people, or in this case, blind people. It exists to introduce people who aren’t blind to the idea of becoming blind, to blind technology, to inspirational ideas about how blind people actually can do things. Stories like this guide abled people along and prioritize their ideas about blindness. Because the narrator is almost always previously abled, the story is about adjusting to blindness in a way that caters to non-disabled people.

How does a story with this angle benefit blind readers? Even if a blind person has also recently gone blind and wants to see a character who on that journey with them, what can a writer who isn’t blind say that blind writer couldn’t say? Or say better? Or say with more power? With more nuancel? With more personal experience?

And it may seem like saying this arc is ableist is too much. Keep in mind, ableism isn’t just about being rude to or excluding disabled people. Ableism favors those who are able-bodied or neurotypical over those who are not. It favors those who are not disabled over those who are. This story is just another way of doing that. Often, people are ableist through what they consider kindnes. Authors are not exempt from that.

Disabled authors should tell their own stories

This is where I will get some pushback. (I already received some here if you think it will be helpful to know what this is like.)

There are a few parts to this.

First, I want everyone to know I am not telling you what not to write or that this type of story, at least with elements of this narrative, can never be done well. However, the more care you take when writing it and the more you know about why it can be ableist, the better you will be able to write it. I’m still not sure I would want to read a book that is dedicated to this topic of accepting blindness, but who knows?

I also might feel more open to this narrative from a writer who experienced becoming disabled in some other way and was open about it. While they would still need to research blindness, some of the issues I named here could be avoided through having prior personal experience that non-disabled people simply don’t have.

If, however, you find yourself upset or feeling excluded by this post, consider what I wrote again. Consider why you think you are the best person to tell such a story with this particular arc.

I am also not saying that non-disabled writers could never write this topic well. I just question, again, what they can add to the topic of accepting blindness that blind people can’t already add. This is also assuming they were able to avoid some of the issues I listed above that might come up. Which would be difficult on top of doing all the other research they need to do in order to write a book. Why make it harder for themselves?

Now that I’m done with the disclaimers, accepting blindness should be something mostly left up to blind writers. This narrative is so closely tied to the trauma-based / incident-based blindness that it can be hard to separate them, but I feel like the readers of the blog have thought hard to suggest ways to improve or subvert that trope and the problems that go with it. Maybe they can do the same here. Maybe not.

Anyway, the reason I think it should be left to blind writers is because of the personal experience I mentioned previously. Acceptance will come from a more authentic place. Anything that comes before the acceptance will also come from an authentic place and blind writers will know how to deal these issues a little better.

Blind writers will know how to write this topic well. They can center blind readers in a way that many arcs like this don’t.

As a side note, blind writers also need more recognition and attention. This arc is specifically about or mostly about accepting blindness, which blind writers are intimately familiar with. Their stories should be prioritized in this area, at the very least.

If a non-disabled writer decided to do this topic, I think it would help to read and public ally promote books and other works by blind people.

Thank you for asking this question.

This was a really great question and I want to thank the anon for asking. I really appreciate the chance to discuss this topic. If anyone wants to expand on this question or figure out ways to subvert this arc, feel free to ask. Also, remember that I am not authority on stories about blind people, but I feel this opinion in shared by many of us and it should be known so writers can be aware.

Suggestions for alternatives.

1. Include only brief instances of acceptance and / or make it only related to blindness instead of accepting blindness as a character arc.

It will depend on how you do it, but brief, less direct instances of acceptance could be done well. One thing I’m thinking of is Toph challenging her father in The Blind Bandit. This could be seen as a form of self-acceptance for Toph, one which is related to her blindness without being the entirety of her need to accept part of herself, which gives her the courage to disrupt the view her parents have of her. Toph doesn’t struggle with being blind. She struggles with something related to being blind, which her parents being over-protective, limiting her freedom and expression, and putting her a gender role box.

The rest of Toph’s story wasn’t completely about being blind either. The writers, who weren’t blind as far as I can gather, handled this part well, and so I wanted to include it as an example.

Obviously, this can also be done badly, but that’s what beta readers are for. I personally would prefer the acceptance arc only be tangentially related to blindness, especially when combined with the trope about going blind through trauma / incidents / accidents.

2. Start in a different place.

You could start the story or character arc in a different place, rather than starting directly after going blind. This could be years later. After they already adjusted to the bigger parts of being blind. This saves you the need to figure out how to get around it.

Some parts of this ask might help.

3. Focus mostly on the practical stuff rather than the emotional side.

Focus on things like cane skills, adjusting to using screen-readers or needing to increase font sizes to read. Focus on learning to cook. Make the arc less about emotional stuff and more achieving goals. While I can understand how this might bother some blind people, I think it can work if blind readers are consulted, especially readers who went blind later in life. I wanted to include this as an option just in case people are determined to include going blind in the story. I think, if the author is careful, it could go well. A few narrative justifications for not writing the typical acceptance arc include:

-the character was already blind in some way first

-the character has a blind sibling, parent, or friend they grew up with

-the character got counseling or the story mentions they are getting counseling

Alternatively, you could also focus emotional difficulties on the traumatic incident, if there is one, and not the resulting blindness.

4. Write different stories - expand what stories about blind characters look like.

Writers have so many opportunities! I don’t see why they would feel the need to write a story primarily about going blind and learning you aren’t useless now after all, when they could be writing about a blind mermaid challenging the Mer Queen and falling in love with her instead. When they could be writing about blind space pirates creating new technology for other blind people. When they could be writing about a blind witch reclaiming their sexuality and also learning to dance to make their coven less worried about their social life after going blind.

See this post for more ideas about expanding the typical stories.

If you are creative enough, none of my claims that certain topics being best left to blind writers should stop you. If you feel limited, you might be trapped in the idea that blind people only have one narrative: trauma, sadness, helplessness, and just maybe, acceptance. If you don’t feel limited, you are in a good place.

Blind readers want other types of stories, too.

I hope this helps some of my followers. Thanks for the interesting question, anon. If anyone has any questions or would like me to clarify something, feel free to ask. I wrote this at night when I was tired. I have missed some things.

-BlindBeta

P.S. The ideas I pitched at the end are free to use if you feel inspired by any of them.

[demonslayedher]

do you still take asks? if so, could you explain tanjirou's hanafuda earings? i've seen some people online (like insta and other such places) claim that the design is one of a flower, but i always thought it was of a sun since it was supposed to be like a token for the sun god or something (disregarding possible [and hopefully unintentional] symbolisms coming from ww2)

whenever these people say these, they go back on to the earings being called hanafuda cards, and that hana means flower. i'm not that smart when it comes to japanese things or hanafuda cards specifically, so if you could, can you explain the hanafuda cards and the design on tanjirou's earings?

thank you and i hope you're having a lovely day (love your blog, btw, esp the art and japanese trivia posts)

Hahaha.... my attempted answer to this met so many technical difficulties, this is my third version, I think, hahahaaaaaa. TwT We shall indeed endeavor to keep this related to the original Sengoku period design of the earrings and their relation to Hanafuda cards, though indeed this is a Heisei/Reiwa period production and it's unavoidable that the similarity would be read in a post-WW2 context. It's not that I don't have things I could say on that, but I prefer not to go in that direction either (and people who choose to use the alternate design have my support). Short answer, though: nope, not a flower design!

The sun symbolism and its representation of Japan supersedes Muzan’s birth by at least a few centuries, and in its earliest uses with a simple circle to represent it, it wasn’t even always defined by the color red. The bright color red has been, however, long since symbolic of the sun, so it’s unsurprising that at some point the two symbols came together. No one knows who to credit for its design as a symbol to represent the emperor, but it seems this started in the Sengoku period, same time Yoriichi and his mother Akeno were around in the 15th, 16th centuries or so (but hard to say). The imperial use is due to the Shinto mythology that the emperor is descended from the sun goddess, Amaterasu. (I’ve have heard some KnY theorists posit that certain characters represent different gods in the Shinto pantheon and that Yoriichi represents Amaterasu (who indeed has historical male representations), but I don’t buy into those theories.)

While’s it’s not to say Amaterasu couldn’t be beseeched for healing a deaf child, she doesn’t strike me as the first goddess you’d go to for help with that, so I had originally suspected Akeno might have been more of a practicing Buddhist seeking the help of Dainichi-nyorai (the Buddha that represents the sun, if we put it very simply), or that she might had been a follower of the Nichiren sect, which embraced syncretism with Shintoism and used the “Nichi” (sun) symbolism pretty heavy-handedly (that sect tended to encourage a devout following of women, too). That’s as far as I find relevant to read into this side of things, though, for a look at Akeno’s altar shows us a round mirror often used in Shinto worship (some scholars suspect the round shape represents the sun, too, but it’s not at all limited to being a sacred item to represent sun-related deities). However, religion is and always has been complicated, and Akeno may have been a follower of any pure or blended strain of Shintoism and/or Buddhism.

Tl;dr: Akeno has a profound faith in some kind of sun deity.

After all, Yoriichi says this very plainly on this page in Chapter 186, “My mother was a person of very deep faith.” In addition to her daily prayers for peace, she made the earrings for Yoriichi praying that the “god of sunlight” may shine on and warm his unhearing ears. We have no further definition of this “god of sunlight,” so it could be Amaterasu, Dainichi-nyorai, any possible unnamed sunlight god she might have had faith in (Gotouge tends to borrow heavily from a lot of different religious traditions without narrowing them too far into any particular sect or strain). We may not be meant to read this in such detailed historical context as Amaterasu because it is left so ambiguous, but the art representing the sun is pretty ubiquitous throughout Japanese culture by that period.

And would you look at that, little Michikatsu and Yoriichi were playing a card game! Hmm, I wonder what? While I cannot claim anything one way or another about how Gotouge and her editors saw it or what they may think of it being seen that way abroad, the rays inevitably make it seem similar to the 16-ray naval flag, and the earlier color illustrations did have red lines. However, at some point the design settled into using 11 thin black lines only, with an emphasis in Gotouge’s character design notes (from the first fanbook) on the pooling thickness at the ends of the lines. This feels to me a bit like inky brushstrokes, and there is also design emphasis on the thick lines at the tops and bottoms of the earrings. These details, as well as the notes (cropped out of the image below) about the movement and weight of the earrings around Tanjiro’s face make them seem to have the thickness of light cardboard, which altogether makes them very similar to Hanafuda cards. Most specifically, doesn’t it look like this card featuring pampas grass and the moon?

While Hanafuda does literally mean “flower cards” and there are designs grouped around certain themes (even if the theme itself isn’t a flower, the design will typically incorporate a plant), I feel fairly confident saying the design of Yoriichi’s earrings is not a flower, and indeed the sun.

Primarily because these earrings aren’t Hanafuda cards! Hanafuda technically didn’t exist until after Yoriichi’s time, and was adapted from a Portuguese card game. Said game was initially illegalized at the same time Christianity was illegalized, but the Edo public loved their card games, and reinvented it every time some previous version was outlawed for its use in gambling. Even today, there are many, many different versions or reiterations of Hanafuda under the same or different names. I have never played though, and will not attempt to explain it. ^0^;; (I have cousins who grew up playing the Hawaiian version, though.) It was finally legalized in the Meiji period, and the first fanbook even lists this as one of Zenitsu’s favorite games.

By the Taisho period anyone would had been familiar with it, leading Muzan to describe Tanjiro to Yahaba and Susamaru as “the demon hunter who wears earrings that look like Hanafuda cards.”

While my research didn’t take me this far, I’m willing to bet card games with similar illustrations existed far prior to Hanafuda, and whether or not Akeno would had been influenced by them is anyone’s guess. But as she made them as religious items, that still makes them not game cards. I do assume she used high quality washi paper though, the finest she could afford as the wife of a high-ranking samurai. Good washi is strong enough to last for centuries, and even used to be used for making clothing because it’s so durable. But it’s also lightweight, she wouldn’t want to weigh Yoriichi’s little ears with precious metals or anything like that, I believe!

This all being said, I have most certainly noticed a trend of actual Hanafuda cards being used in accessories, everything from earrings to necklaces to charms to hang on facemasks to manicures. The only time I’ve seen this sun design has been in clear reference to Kimetsu no Yaiba, though!

This went in a lot of different directions, Anon, but I hope that clears things up about the sun and Hanafuda connections more than it clouds everything in unnecessary details. XD

[ireallylikejonouchi]

𝙽𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚑𝚢𝚘𝚗 𝚗𝚘 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚘 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠

Written and drawn by Shiibashi Hiroshi, Nurarihyon no Mago is a manga series that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump with 210 chapters, 25 volumes. It’s about a Japan that has a massive Yokai underbelly, consisting mostly of yokai yakuza clans that run certain parts of Japan. The protagonist, Rikuo Nura, is the third heir of the Nura clan, kingpin of Kanto. His grandfather is the legendary Lord of Pandemonium, the yokai Nurarihyon, but Rikuo is only a quarter yokai, having a half-human father and a full human mother. As a child, Rikuo thinks yokai are the coolest thing, but his classmates mock him for this, not believing that they exist, and finding it even weirder that someone could admire them. Rikuo is told that it is his destiny to take on this role, and that he cannot live a human life. Hearing stories about evil yokai who enjoy making humans despair, Rikuo decides that yokai are terrible and he wants nothing to do with them. When Rikuo’s classmates are attacked by some rebellious yokai from the Nura clan, who are unhappy about their new leader being a quarter-human child, Rikuo awakens to his yokai blood and transforms in order to defeat them. He decides here that he will become the third heir in order to subdue yokai that would bring terror to humans with his “Fear,” the power system of the series.

With the synopsis out of the way, from this point on there will be spoilers. Be wary. I’ll try my best to spoil only what’s necessary in order to get my point across.

The beginning of this manga takes its time setting up character dynamics with short story arcs, as well as establishing what the yokai of the world are truly like with various examples of opinionated yokai antagonists. Some consider it boring, and I can understand why, but I think it pays off very well. The characters are incredibly likeable and fun. Even the ones that don’t have very much development are still a joy to see on the page when they show up. Rikuo himself is simultaneously a complicated character and a very easy character to follow. The first chapter takes place a couple of years before the second one, and his childish judgement to go from worshiping yokai to hating them is intentionally so. The story is about his growth. Rikuo is told that he must take on this role, he denies, but eventually accepts under his own terms, and for his own reasons. This ultimately sets up what his character arc will end up becoming, as one of his final conflicts at the end of the story sees him battling against another half-yokai, Abe no Yoshihira, who believes it is his duty to follow his evil father’s plan because of his "cursed” mixed blood. Rikuo doesn’t simply reject this title, but he also doesn’t accept out of obligation. He accepts this as an opportunity to bring about change. The change he wants slowly evolves from protecting humans to bridging the social gap between human and yokai so that they may find peace together. Fate shouldn’t be fought against or ignored, but you must make whatever you can out of it. Rikuo feels that connecting human and yokai is something only he can do as a half-yokai, so he feels a responsibility to carry this out, yet it is also what he truly believes in and wants. He is a leader because he was graced with the opportunity to bring about a better world. Your fate is only what you perceive it as. The final villain Abe no Seimei believes that human and yokai are fated to be at odds forever, and that influences his evil plan to purify the world. Both are believers of fate to some extent, the message isn’t something as simple as “defy fate” or “there is no fate,” which I appreciate. This manga is very good about exploring all facets of the themes it presents, which I will give more examples of shortly.

The power system is an interesting one. To quote the wiki, “ Osore (畏, Fear) is the term that denotes the unique skills and traits of each yōkai. It refers to the "fear" of the unknown, an emotional reaction produced when the yōkai represent themselves as "monsters". As yōkai first existed as creatures who induce fear in humankind, the general concept of "fear" revolves around being feared and respected by humans and making them feel small and weak. It involves exerting a wall of pressure to make one's presence feel larger than the actuality. When done correctly, this also creates a change in the mood and surrounding air - as seen whenever a dense fog appears when a Hyakki Yakō gathers in the series. Itaku states that Osore only applies to scaring humans.“ Fear is an inherently negative word, especially when associated with demons. However, Rikuo is proud of his fear, despite scolding yokai who scare humans. Fear in this manga is not quite so black and white. Rikuo’s form of fear is reverence, admiration. He considers this to be a form of fear, and he is indeed proud of the awe he is able to inspire within his followers as well as his enemies. Rikuo is able to use a power that comes only thanks to his human side, letting a yokai haunt his humanity while keeping control with his yokai half, performing Equip and gaining that yokai’s powers, but only if they entrust themselves to him. It is the ultimate representation of the Fear that Rikuo believes in. For the core power system of the series to have such a double meaning about it speaks to the coming complexities, and it is incredibly fitting for this story, as I hope to convey.

Fate, lineage and connection to history are the main themes of this manga. Many of the characters in the story are tied to tradition before it starts, and have to be brought out of that by Rikuo and his progressive mindset. One’s blood is used to portray this theme in an interesting way. Rikuo’s father, Rihan, describes him as a symbol of hope for the future. Rihan longed for a world where human and yokai could get along, yet he came into constant conflict with both evil yokai and evil humans, as his son Rikuo would soon come to do as well. Rikuo loved his father, and carries on his dreams. However, similar to his “fate” of leading the clan, his respect for his ancestors is well-informed by his individual beliefs, and not from any kind of feeling that he MUST do what his ancestors wished. Abe no Yoshihira failed here, becoming a slave to his perceived fate. Hagoromo-gitsune, the main antagonist of the Kyoto arc as well as Abe no Seimei’s mother, was tied to her blood relations as well. She did everything for her son, who was soon to be reborn again into this age. She had her own image of an ideal world, erasing humans and making a world full of yokai, but she didn’t consider her child’s ideals, which she could have presumed from Seimei’s suffering he received when both human and yokai betrayed him. Seimei is born and casts Hagoromo-gitsune into hell, declaring that he will purify all life from the world, as neither human nor yokai can be trusted. Abe no Seimei is the agent of fate, declaring that all living things on Earth have doomed themselves to a fate of death thanks to their own horrible and greedy nature. Abe no Seimei is a half-yokai himself and he has found solace from neither of those sides. Rikuo, however, does not give up. He equips himself with the true fear of this reality that places him in-between two worlds, unable to fully enjoy life as a human or a yokai, refusing to resign himself as Seimei did, and instead fighting against the fate Seimei enforces by bringing together humans and yokai, including Hagoromo-gitsune, in order to seal the final blow against him.

You may be wondering what it means that Rikuo was able to finish off Seimei by fusing with his mother. Well, you see, Hagoromo-gitsune is sort of, in a way, Rikuo’s mother as well. You see, before Rihan had a child with Rikuo’s mother, he was married to another woman, Yamabuki-otome. For context, Abe no Seimei is a man who reincarnates throughout generations, as does his mother, Hagoromo-gitsune. Some time after Yamabuki-otome’s death, Seimei used her to take revenge on Rihan for disrupting his plans, by reviving her as a child and turning her into the host of the yokai Hagoromo-gitsune, sending her with false memories and subliminal orders to kill the man she loved when she was alive. Once she had killed Rihan, her human self hid itself away in despair and Hagoromo-gitsune was able to take control of her body for good. In modern times, after being cast into hell by Abe no Seimei, she is revived by Nurarihyon in anticipation for the final battle. After encountering Rikuo and his burning feelings in Kyoto, she had regained her human memories before being struck down by Seimei. Upon her most recent revival, she found she had feelings for both Rikuo and Seimei, and considers both to be her children. She regrets that her feelings for Seimei had ended up being met with treachery, and she goes to confront him. When she hears his full plan, she decides to do kill him herself, though she fails. She feels it her duty as a mother to make up for not understanding his suffering earlier, as it’s now too late to reason with him. Hagoromo-gitsune’s progression comes from her ability to find love for her yokai followers, considering them to be her children all the same as Rikuo and Seimei, and learns that she should have seen this love all along rather than being blinded by her obsessions with her blood son. Once again, she values her children and the blood she shares with them, but she is only able to find happiness when she realizes that the feelings she has for them don’t have to be restricted to only them simply because they are her kin, and similarly she does not need to follow Seimei’s plan just because she thinks it’s what a mother “should” do. Fusing with Rikuo is the culmination of this. While Rikuo is technically her kin, as Seimei is, we see through her arc that she has matured and learned to spread her love. So even though without context it would seem that she simply went from one child to the other, we can see the complexities of this and see how it relates to Rikuo’s arc, accepting something not out of obligation, but from your own will. 

By coming to a true understanding with the woman that Abe no Seimei had discarded, his mother, and her doing the same, an act that seemingly defies their fates (Rikuo’s fate to be a cold yokai ruler and Hagoromo’s fate to be a slave to her child’s whims), they’re able to defeat him and sever fate itself.

The Hundred Stories Clan Arc is one that I really appreciate for showing me how truly interesting Rikuo was as a character. I hadn’t realized it up to that point, and it’s clear why. His characterization and progression is subtle. The text doesn’t tell you how Rikuo grows, the art and his actions do. When humanity told of Rikuo’s half-yokai status is convinced that he must be killed for the safety of Japan, Rikuo is forced to face the fact that the humans he wants to protect are not perfect, and have as many imperfections as yokai do. Humans can be greedy, they can do horrible things when they’re afraid. In a backstory, the leader of the Hundred Stories Clan is shown to be a despicable human from Japanese history named Sanmoto Gorozaemon, who takes control of yokai to secure his political and social power, and turns himself into a yokai in order to secure that power. When a member of his clan is assaulted by humans who don’t care about the harm they’re causing, some of them even reveling in it, through facial expressions we can see him struggling with the thought of killing these humans to end the conflict, or out of revenge possibly. Shiibashi leaves this to the reader’s interpretation and it works wonders, he has no internal monologue relating to this feeling and nobody points out that he seems crazed or anything. It’s some panels that you could easily miss if you’re reading too fast.

In this panel, we are shown his reaction to a female yokai appearing and tormenting the humans that were tormenting him and his clanmate just moments ago. Even when he showed such rage at the humans, seemingly almost snapping, he decides he needs to stop the yokai from killing them. However, the expression on his face conveys perfectly how complex his emotions are over this. Despite how confidently he’s saying he needs to save them, his face almost looks like he doesn’t want to. Of course, he overcomes this and saves them for the sake of his dream.

It’s clear to see the moral dilemma he’s going through and it’s conveyed entirely through art and subtext. This is confident storytelling, and not to mention incredible artistry. Shiibashi has a certain maturity and respect for the reader that is hard to find in Shonen Jump manga sometimes.

Rikuo’s fight against the yokai artist Kyosai in this arc is notable for being similar to what I just described from the beginning of the arc.

Kyosai has an interest in turning human women into yokai using his painting techniques, including one of Rikuo’s classmates. Enraged, Rikuo engages him in combat with his newly acquired Attack Mode, which switches his Fear from a defensive technique to an offensive one, and changes his hair from white with black underneath it to having half of his hair being black on one side and the other being white. As the fight progresses, Rikuo is continuously injured and decomposed by Kyosai’s abilities, burning his flesh and scarring Rikuo black.

Rikuo’s deteriorating mental state during this arc is conveyed visually through his design, with both the way he is inked as well as his literally evolving design, his new transformation. He’s never had to confront these kinds of humans and yokai before. This leveling of suffering is new to our middle school-aged protagonist. After Kyosai is defeated, his momentary rage subsides but he is still scarred, physically and mentally. Encho, the acting leader of the Hundred Stories Clan, betrays Sanmoto’s reincarnated brain for personal gain, confusing Rikuo who is already in a fragile mental state. He struggles to comprehend the enemy, as he had been forced to face humans that he wanted to protect, yokai that despised those humans, and even his own best friends. Once again, exclusively visually conveyed and up to interpretation.

At the end of this arc, he accepts the help of his friends, his aide Yuki-Onna, and equips with her, washing himself of the stress he’s in and covering him in a beautiful veil of ice. His design goes back to normal in order to show this, and get across just how much his friends mean to him, in a truly impactful way that really strengthens the theme by giving real weight to his connection with both his yokai and human lives.

Every arc is strong in its own way, I simply wanted to discuss the few that best show what I’m trying to say. I hope you now understand why I love this manga so much and why I think you should read it. I promise the things I’ve spoiled here are only a fragment of the whole experience, and your appreciation will only grow as you experience the full context by reading the manga. If I got across what I wanted to, then you understand that this manga cannot be explained as much as it can be experienced. There are probably more things that I never noticed, maybe you’ll discover those before I do.

This manga is an ode to the future, to humanity. We can overcome our differences and coexist. Perhaps all it takes is for one person to take the fear that we as people feel in our daily lives onto themselves. The fear that there can never be change, the fear that our road only ends in sadness. The fear that our history defines us. The fear that we must conform to our duty. The fear that accepting a duty strips us of individuality. The fear that we can never bring these conflicting aspects of our mind together and find inner peace. The fear that we can never bring the conflicting aspects of people together and find true peace amongst ourselves. Not many people can overcome that fear, but he who is truly strong is he who equips that fear. He who takes that uncertainty of the future and uses it to empower himself and push for that change he wishes to see. This review is my ode to the man who was able to understand what makes people who they are and didn’t let that fear consume him. The man who equips true fear. Thank you for reading.

[whitehotharlots]

The point is control

Whenever we think or talk about censorship, we usually conceptualize it as certain types of speech being somehow disallowed: maybe (rarely) it's made formally illegal by the government, maybe it's banned in certain venues, maybe the FCC will fine you if you broadcast it, maybe your boss will fire you if she learns of it, maybe your friends will stop talking to you if they see what you've written, etc. etc. 

This understanding engenders a lot of mostly worthless discussion precisely because it's so broad. Pedants--usually arguing in favor of banning a certain work or idea--will often argue that speech protections only apply to direct, government bans. These bans, when they exist, are fairly narrow and apply only to those rare speech acts in which other people are put in danger by speech (yelling the N-word in a crowded theater, for example). This pedantry isn't correct even within its own terms, however, because plenty of people get in trouble for making threats. The FBI has an entire entrapment program dedicated to getting mentally ill muslims and rednecks to post stuff like "Death 2 the Super bowl!!" on twitter, arresting them, and the doing a press conference about how they heroically saved the world from terrorism. 

Another, more recent pedant's trend is claiming that, actually, you do have freedom of speech; you just don't have freedom from the consequences of speech. This logic is eerily dictatorial and ignores the entire purpose of speech protections. Like, even in the history's most repressive regimes, people still technically had freedom of speech but not from consequences. Those leftist kids who the nazis beheaded for speaking out against the war were, by this logic, merely being held accountable. 

The two conceptualizations of censorship I described above are, 99% of the time, deployed by people who are arguing in favor of a certain act of censorship but trying to exempt themselves from the moral implications of doing so. Censorship is rad when they get to do it, but they realize such a solipsism seems kinda icky so they need to explain how, actually, they're not censoring anybody, what they're doing is an act of righteous silencing that's a totally different matter. Maybe they associate censorship with groups they don't like, such as nazis or religious zealots. Maybe they have a vague dedication toward Enlightenment principles and don't want to be regarded as incurious dullards. Most typically, they're just afraid of the axe slicing both ways, and they want to make sure that the precedent they're establishing for others will not be applied to themselves.

Anyone who engages with this honestly for more than a few minutes will realize that censorship is much more complicated, especially in regards to its informal and social dimensions. We can all agree that society simply would not function if everyone said whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. You might think your boss is a moron or your wife's dress doesn't look flattering, but you realize that such tidbits are probably best kept to yourself. 

Again, this is a two-way proposition that everyone is seeking to balance. Do you really want people to verbalize every time they dislike or disagree with you? I sure as hell don't. And so, as part of a social compact, we learn to self-censor. Sometimes this is to the detriment of ourselves and our communities. Most often, however, it's just a price we have to pay in order to keep things from collapsing. 

But as systems, large and small, grow increasingly more insane and untenable, so do the comportment standards of speech. The disconnect between America's reality and the image Americans have of themselves has never been more plainly obvious, and so striving for situational equanimity is no longer good enough. We can't just pretend cops aren't racist and the economy isn't run by venal retards or that the government places any value on the life of its citizens. There's too much evidence that contradicts all that, and the evidence is too omnipresent. There's too many damn internet videos, and only so many of them can be cast as Russian disinformation. So, sadly, we must abandon our old ways of communicating and embrace instead systems that are even more unstable, repressive, and insane than the ones that were previously in place.

Until very, very recently, nuance and big-picture, balanced thinking were considered signs of seriousness, if not intelligence. Such considerations were always exploited by shitheads to obfuscate things that otherwise would have seemed much less ambiguous, yes, but this fact alone does not mitigate the potential value of such an approach to understanding the world--especially since the stuff that's been offered up to replace it is, by every worthwhile metric, even worse.

So let's not pretend I'm Malcolm Gladwell or some similarly slimy asshole seeking to "both sides" a clearcut moral issue. Let's pretend I am me. Flash back to about a year ago, when there was real, widespread, and sustained support for police reform. Remember that? Seems like forever ago, man, but it was just last year... anyhow, now, remember what happened? Direct, issues-focused attempts to reform policing were knocked down. Blotted out. Instead, we were told two things: 1) we had to repeat the slogan ABOLISH THE POLICE, and 2) we had to say it was actually very good and beautiful and nonviolent and valid when rioters burned down poor neighborhoods.

Now, in a relatively healthy discourse, it might have been possible for someone to say something like "while I agree that American policing is heavily violent and racist and requires substantial reforms, I worry that taking such an absolutist point of demanding abolition and cheering on the destruction of city blocks will be a political non-starter." This statement would have been, in retrospect, 100000000% correct. But could you have said it, in any worthwhile manner? If you had said something along those lines, what would the fallout had been? Would you have lost friends? Your job? Would you have suffered something more minor, like getting yelled at, told your opinion did not matter? Would your acquaintances still now--a year later, after their political project has failed beyond all dispute--would they still defame you in "whisper networks," never quite articulating your verbal sins but nonetheless informing others that you are a dangerous and bad person because one time you tried to tell them how utterly fucking self-destructive they were being? It is undeniably clear that last year's most-elevated voices were demanding not reform but catharsis. I hope they really had fun watching those immigrant-owned bodegas burn down, because that’s it, that will forever be remembered as the most palpable and consequential aspect of their shitty, selfish movement. We ain't reforming shit. Instead, we gave everyone who's already in power a blank check to fortify that power to a degree you and I cannot fully fathom.

But, oh, these people knew what they were doing. They were good little boys and girls. They have been rewarded with near-total control of the national discourse, and they are all either too guilt-ridden or too stupid to realize how badly they played into the hands of the structures they were supposedly trying to upend.

And so left-liberalism is now controlled by people whose worldview is equal parts superficial and incoherent. This was the only possible outcome that would have let the system continue to sustain itself in light of such immense evidence of its unsustainability without resulting in reform, so that's what has happened.

But... okay, let's take a step back. Let's focus on what I wanted to talk about when I started this.

I came across a post today from a young man who claimed that his high school English department head had been removed from his position and had his tenure revoked for refusing to remove three books from classrooms. This was, of course, fallout from the ongoing debate about Critical Race Theory. Two of those books were Marjane Satropi's Persepolis and, oh boy, The Diary of Anne Frank. Fuck. Jesus christ, fuck.

Now, here's the thing... When Persepolis was named, I assumed the bannors were anti-CRT. The graphic novel does not deal with racism all that much, at least not as its discussed contemporarily, but it centers an Iranian girl protagonist and maybe that upset Republican types. But Anne Frank? I'm sorry, but the most likely censors there are liberal identiarians who believe that teaching her diary amounts to centering the suffering of a white woman instead of talking about the One Real Racism, which must always be understood in an American context. The super woke cult group Black Hammer made waves recently with their #FuckAnneFrank campaign... you'd be hard pressed to find anyone associated with the GOP taking a firm stance against the diary since, oh, about 1975 or so.

So which side was it? That doesn't matter. What matters is, I cannot find out.

Now, pro-CRT people always accuse anti-CRT people of not knowing what CRT is, and then after making such accusations they always define CRT in a way that absolutely is not what CRT is. Pro-CRTers default to "they don't want  students to read about slavery or racism." This is absolutely not true, and absolutely not what actual CRT concerns itself with. Slavery and racism have been mainstays of American history curriucla since before I was born. Even people who barely paid attention in school would admit this, if there were any more desire for honesty in our discourse. 

My high school history teacher was a southern "lost causer" who took the south's side in the Civil War but nonetheless provided us with the most descriptive and unapologetic understandings of slavery's brutalities I had heard up until that point. He also unambiguously referred to the nuclear attacks on Hiroshmia and Nagasaki as "genocidal." Why? Because most people's politics are idiosyncratic, and because you cannot genuinely infer a person to believe one thing based on their opinion of another, tangentially related thing. The totality of human understanding used to be something open-minded people prided themselves on being aware of, believe it or not...

This is the problem with CRT. This is is the motivation behind the majority of people who wish to ban it. It’s not because they are necessarily racist themselves. It’s because they recognize, correctly, that the now-ascendant frames for understanding social issues boils everything down to a superficial patina that denies not only the realities of the systems they seek to upend but the very humanity of the people who exist within them. There is no humanity without depth and nuance and complexities and contradictions. When you argue otherwise, people will get mad and fight back. 

And this is the most bitter irony of this idiotic debate: it was never about not wanting to teach the sinful or embarrassing parts of our history. That was a different debate, one that was settled and won long ago. It is instead an immense, embarrassing overreach on behalf of people who have bullied their way to complete dominance of their spheres of influence within media and academe assuming they could do the same to everyone else. Some of its purveyors may have convinced themselves that getting students to admit complicity in privilege will prevent police shootings, sure. But I know these people. I’ve spoken to them at length. I’ve read their work. The vast, vast majority of them aren’t that stupid. The point is to exert control. The point is to make sure they stay in charge and that nothing changes. The point is failure. 

[my-sherlock221b]

Supernatural Rewatch Ramblings: Bloodlust

2020-21 has been a huge transformative time for many of us. Whether we wanted it or not, we have been forced to stop, switch gears, rethink, reflect, let go, make new priorities, discover who we really are and who we want to be in the face of adversity.

One of those transformations for me has been giving up on control and finding a way to surrender to the power of the universe. Another has been to not let perfection be the enemy of good.

You may well wonder---What does all this have to do with the Bloodlust rewatch and review??!

Probably nothing LOL except for the fact that I still have to write up my review on Bloody Mary and have been unable to write for various reasons. And then because the Bloody Mary review was still incomplete I could not write about the next one etc etc etc.

So when we watched Bloodlust two days ago in the continuing re-watch, I decided that I am going to re-start the review, and from exactly where I am right now!

If time and life permits I might fill in the gaps later. If not, well, life is unpredictable and weird and we keep calm as it carries on….Thank you for coming to my Philosophy talk….:)

Read below for the Boodlust  review, Season 2 episode 3 and look out for the post from @soulmates-for-real​ on this rewatch too!! 

The opening scene is the perfect switch and bait because we as an audience have been trained to latch on to types and identities and representations.

Woman in white night gown screaming and running--victim

Person who brutally beheads her—villain.

A few minutes into the episode we realize that we were wrong.

A good few minutes later we realize that we were wrong about being wrong.]

Haha.

We are idjits, swept away on the eddies and currents of this masterfully written and directed episode. Thank you Sera Gamble and Robert Singer!

The acting and the mesmerizing beauty of the two leads is worthy of an entire essay of its own but in order to have a life and finish this review I shall only say this—Oh my goodness HOW gorgeous is Jensen Ackles?!!

It is sometimes impossible to look at him in this episode because my eyes didn’t know where to land! That perfect face? The lips? Those eyes?? The quirk of the eyebrows? Those micro expressions that are constantly weaving across his face? The smile? The way his lips move when he talks?? His hair? The Samulet?

And then the shot pans out and includes his hand and the ring and honestly it’s a miracle I could follow the plot at all.

So the images I am going to include in this review, much as I love Sam Winchester and Jared Padalecki, are all of Dean Winchester. It’s a criminal waste to not do so when the man is just an ode to perfection.

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Sheila O’Malley’s review of this episode is in itself a work of art and a thing of beauty so I will direct you most enthusiastically towards it and only add here my little pennyworth bits. Do click on this link but be prepared to sink into a one hour read which will make you feel like you were dropped into the episode itself.

https://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=87187

Here is a quote from her review which is so insightful.

These are the details that a director like Robert Singer never misses, and at this point his relationship with Ackles and Padalecki would be almost telepathic (it’s probably 100% telepathic now). He has said before that he and Kripke were such a good team because Kripke’s primary concern is Plot/Gore/Horror and Singer’s primary concern is Character/Relationship. And they both end up in the same place. It’s a good mix. If Singer were also Plot/Gore/Horror focused, we wouldn’t have the depth of relationship which is the real point of the show, its real hook.

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For a much briefer and far less technically adept and analytical review, read on here!

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The opening of this episode shows us the Impala from every possible angle. Gleaming, gorgeous, road -worthy. This is mirrored by Dean. He is also gleaming, gorgeous and roadworthy. He is in a happy mood that not even Sam’s little brother snitty comments can deflate.

Here is the soundtrack of this episode for those who are interested.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0835248/soundtrack

Here is some random but fun trivia:

Dean tells Sam in one scene "If it's     Supernatural, we kill it." One of the rare times the title of the     show is actually spoken in the dialogue.

This is the first episode where Sam began parting his     hair down the middle, the hairstyle he'd keep the rest of the series.

( I didn’t like his hair too much in this episode honestly but then again I could barely see anyone beyond Dean :D)

During the filming of this episode Jared injured his     hand when he fell badly during a stunt. He thought it was merely sprained     and went straight into filming the next episode without having it checked.     But it got more and more painful and finally he went to the doctor and     discovered that his hand was, in fact, broken. Because he had already     begun filming, he couldn't bandage the hand until filming for that episode     was finished. The writers ended up writing in an accident for Sam and his     line "I think she broke my hand" to explain the fact that for     the following few episodes he would be wearing a cast.

When Dean kills a vampire, blood is sprayed on his     face, mostly on his right cheek. In the next shot the pattern is     different, and notably the right cheek is almost clean. Furthermore, his     mouth was agape when he made the kill, risking the blood getting into his     mouth and turning him into a vampire. While the brothers didn't yet know     how a vampire is made at that point, Gordon did and should have been     alarmed that Dean might have gotten some of the blood in his mouth.

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A random behind the scene shot from the episode:

Guess who she is? Apparently this is Jensen’s sister in a super brief role in Bloodlust!

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On to the review, or rather some of my thoughts during the re-watch.

The first scene with the Sheriff they are interrogating him about the cattle mutilations is hilarious. The way they bluff their way into the morgue is hilarious. Dean always leading and Sam following.

Random trivia: When Dean enters the morgue with Sam and sees the name tag of "J Manners", it has been thought the name was to honor Jeffrey Dean Morgan and series producer Kim Manners. Dean guesses "John" - Jeffrey's character name - and the intern corrects with "Jeff"

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It a testament to the way Supernatural has trained its audience that we barely blink when they pull out a decapitated head in the morgue, squabble over who is more chicken, dig into the mouth and eventually discover vampire fangs.

Yes, of course they do.

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Next scene: Two hot guys walk into a bar…..

…….where the adorable Benny, who is not Benny in this episode but a random dude ( spoilers—later we find out the dude is a vampire), gives them directions/ mis- directions to a possible vampire nest.

We see the first glimpse of Gordon Walker, amazingly played by Sterling K. Brown, and making us worry about and dislike him almost right away. The way he is shown with the light and shade bars on his face from the window blinds is so menacing.

The next few scenes continue to build that sense of unease where the Winchester brothers, apparently telepathically, decide to double back and catch him following them, then he shows them his car and his weapons, where he references their dad and then refuses their offer for help.

The scene where he shows them his car is like a painting. (The car by the way is just as inconspicuous as the Impala –which is to say NOT AT ALL!! How do these people stay below the radar of the regular law enforcement is a mystery….).

The dust highlighting the rays of light, the two brothers on one side of the car and Gordon at the other, it’s all so consciously set up for a few seconds worth of screen time. Impressive!

Next comes a truly brutal kill, at Dean’s hands, which we don’t even see except as a spray of blood on his face. Poetic! But it is Dean’s expression that makes my stomach clench. His eyes are dead and he is somewhere deep that even Sam can’t reach, as we can see from the distress on Sam’s face.

Gordon of course is all chipper and full of bonhomie and offers to buy them drinks.

That following scene is the one which gives Wincest brother-wives vibes like 100%.

*

Sam plays the role of the disgruntled ‘wife’ to perfection. No one but hubby is allowed to use the nickname. He hates the male bonding going on with Gordon and the more Gordon seems to slip into Dean’s inner circle, the more uncomfortable Sam gets, until he finally decides that he just cannot physically be there any more.

Dean’s smug expression when Sam tells Gordon off for calling him Sammy, his instant worry at Sam going back alone, his hand raised in exasperation to convey to Gordon—look what I have to put up with-- the tossing of the keys to his car----it is all a symphony of Dean playing his part in the brother-wives orchestra.

The last line?! ‘Remind me to beat the buzzkill out of you later.’ And Sam’s expression at that? That’s exactly the way a bullying /abusive husband would react to a nagging wife who doesn’t like his toxic friends and wonders how he can be so blind as to not see them for the bad influence they clearly are.

( Bad Dean!!!)

Sam goes back to the motel and does his due diligence by checking with Ellen, gets kidnapped by vampires, released and on his return is disgusted to find Gordon inside their motel room.

*

The next scene is where Dean erupts, having clearly had enough of the shifting power dynamics between them over the evening. Sam has been silently judging him since the kill and Gordon has managed to ‘other’ Sam and make Dean feel validated in his own bloodlust as a hunter.

Dean clocks Sam one.

Wow. I did not see that coming. And what shocked me at this re- watch is that Sam just takes it.

Like an abused wife, he just takes it. Not only that, sometime later in the episode he tells Dean to hit him again if it is going to make him feel better.

NO Sam! NO!!! This is NOT healthy and this is NOT the way to deal….ugh. Sigh.

*

Then the second half of the episode swings in and the moral dilemma they face becomes clear when the victim and villain switch roles and Dean is shook enough to question his dad’s judgement!

Dean is still kind of trying to give Gordon the benefit of the doubt even though he sees him literally torturing the vampire. But of course all bets are off the instant he touches Sam. Dean pulls his gun on him. I was surprised that he didn’t shoot him just on principle later simply because he hurt Sam even if it was a small cut.

That is Dean’s definition of monsters-- Anything that hurts Sam. 😊

*

We don’t know it at this time, and spoilers ahead, but maybe Dean has been so annoyed and violent with Sam at the idea that he is standing up for MONSTERS is because he might also be one….and the way he looks at the end when he realizes that his whole life’s philosophy has been upended.

There are the details about the vampires who drink cattle blood so they don’t harm humans and therefore want to be treated as the good guys. Of course it is all about the inherent struggle between who you are and what you do—something that shows up hugely magnified in the later seasons when Sam is struggling with his own demon blood addiction and the knowledge of the demon blood inside him.

He needs desperately to believe in this as the utmost foundation stone of his life and its purpose—what you DO is more important than what you ARE!

So even if you are a monster, if you don’t behave like one—that is your redemption.

But it’s not just anybody whose faith he wants in his struggle to prove to himself that he is not a monster. He needs it from Dean.

Remember the dialogue from the panic room “Don’t you say that to me. Don’t YOU say that to me.”

And the fake voicemail set up by Zachariah exploits this at the time of the breaking of the last seal.

*

Of course he doesn’t know any of this yet, but that’s Sam fucking Winchester for you –always purer and better than his circumstances allow. Always struggling to do better, be better.😍

*

It is fascinating how the visuals and the roles these two play are of rugged handsome men, badass heroes-- Dean of course super macho role playing all the time. But there are so many layers upon layers and honestly if it wasn’t for Jared and Jensen’s fine nuanced and impeccable acting adding depth to the characters, the show would not have held our interest for this long.

We are shown Sam as the brains with his lore and research, but then in the very next episode (Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things), we see Dean connect dots faster than Sherlock Holmes.

Dean is shown as the instinctively violent one with the gun under his pillow, trigger happy, and in this episode even that brutal kill of the vampire on the docks. But then please remember the way Sam kills Gordon finally. Or the insane way he bites himself to get blood for drawing sigils. Or the way he just simply shoots the crossroads demon point blank!

We see Sam as the soft hearted one and he does rescue kids once in a while, but he is never shown to bond with them even a fraction of the way Dean does—so effortlessly. Also the ladies of course, all of whom have a soft spot for Dean. The exceptions being Sarah and Madison, both of whom completely ignored Dean. Oh and that doctor from Sex and Violence.

Dean has had his share of bad dates of course with Cassie, the woman who gave birth to his magical superfast growing daughter ( who was killed by Sam), and the whole Lisa arc, but somehow we are shown Sam as the one who is invested in relationships. Hello?! Sam was planning to marry Jessica without having told her a thing about his life while Dean told Cassie the secret as soon as he thought he was in love and wanted a relationship.

So anyway, just to say that a rewatch is so brilliant because we know more about them at this point than they do and the character arc is such a thing of beauty to see unfolding!

*

That last scene where Dean is in a thoughtful frame of mind, the sun is rising overhead ( as a metaphor for him seeing the light, maybe?)--that insanely gorgeous shot of Dean with the ring of fire and light and his absolutely perfect face in a close up…sigh.

Then he thanks Sam for pushing him to see this grey area and for the first time in that episode Sam finally smiles.

His big brother is back with him.

And then he commits to Dean too. Ah…how it warms my heart to hear this dialogue!

 DEAN I wish we never took this job. It's jacked everything up.

SAM What do you mean?

DEAN Think about all the hunts we went on, Sammy, our whole lives.

SAM Okay.

DEAN What if we killed things that didn't deserve killing? You know? I mean, the way Dad raised us...

SAM Dean, after what happened to Mom, Dad did the best he could.

DEAN I know he did. But the man wasn't perfect. And the way he raised us, to hate those things; and man, I hate 'em. I do. When I killed that vampire at the mill I didn't even think about it; hell, I even enjoyed it.

SAM You didn't kill Lenore.

DEAN No, but every instinct told me to. I was gonna kill her. I was gonna kill 'em all.

SAM Yeah, Dean, but you didn't. And that's what matters.

DEAN Yeah. Well, 'cause you're a pain in my ass.

SAM Guess I might have to stick around to be a pain in the ass, then.

DEAN Thanks.

SAM Don't mention it.

Transcript here http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/index.php?title=2.03_Bloodlust_%28transcript%29

 Guess Sam does stick around for the next 15 years to be a pain in the ass 😊

Some quotes from the writers about this episode: 

·  "The episode was really about what Dean would become if he didn't watch out: that Gordon was Dean in ten years if Sam didn't ask the difficult questions and keep him from getting too militant." - Executive story editor Sera Gamble

· "We set out to create a monster episode where you weren't entirely sure whether these monsters should be killed." - Eric Kripke

· "For me, the show is at its best when the supernatural story reveals something new about the brothers, or forces them to change in some way. Sam and Dean's realization that they've basically been raised as 'monster racists' was really meaty stuff. Exploring these characters' flaws is just as important as showcasing their heroism - these are the things that make them human, that make us invest in them." - Raelle Tucker

Check out this site for more amazing trivia and stuff

http://www.jonescave.com/supernatural/Episode/Episode.php?s=2&e=3#PopCulture

I have already finished watching the next episode ‘Children’s Shouldn’t play with Dead Things’….so let’s hope I get around to writing a review sometime soon !