#and figuring out how much to explain vs to leave out

[thisiseditsandstuff]

thinking im finally getting close to finishing the mg2 chapters of this fic vs. realising I didnt actually properly introduce the whole nr 1 fan thing- back to the document i go.

[sunnyknight-original]

What Kind Of Monster Was He?

A @forgettable-au fan (colored) animatic

MINOR BLOOD WARNING!

*Was he the kind to do too much, or not enough?

…OK, SO WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS-

I had planned to finish this into a full fledged animation, but a lot of the parts I did end up finishing just didnt live up to what I imagined…I waited for more motivation to happen, but it just didnt so HERES THE COLORED ANIMATIC CAUSE IM REALLLY HAPPY WITH WHAT I HAVE and ive sat on posting this for like a 2 weeks 😭 which is an eternity in my time

Im gonna post the unfinished “finished” part on my side account @o-sunny-day though! and probably have people yell at me cause it actually isnt that bad AND IT TOTALLY ISNT I just… art. You get it. ENOUGH YAPPING! ITS TIME TO YAP!

except not yet, MORE BACKGROUND INFO HUCDHUC- but its background info on explaining the lore…

The explaining is much less expansive than in Dear My Dear just because I didnt work on it long enough to think every bit of it through. This is just a clean, nicer looking, and colored version of the very first storyboard.

I usually think about and put more effort into the little stuff while making the FINISHED bits since ive had so much more time to think about that in all the preppin n sketching.

BUT I liked the explaining format I did for Dear My Dear so im sticking with it!

The main idea for this was to do a study of Wingdings’ character from what we’ve been given, mainly focusing in on the expectations he puts on himself because holy shit the lyrics for this works so stupidly well it makes me mad LOOK AT THIS???

its ridiculous. i love it. I didnt know Jack Stauber helped write Forgettable AU???? woww!!! ANYWHO thats the gist of it, not much context is needed past that. Onto the sillies!!!! (per usual excuse the shitty quality of the pngs idk why Tumblr does that-)

Did you know love? Will you rest in peace?

Wingdings and Sans holding hands as kids, before turning to a casket like appearance for adult WD. The flowers hes holding are pretty important too, Marigolds to represent grief, Lilys, new life, and Forget Me Nots for this lovely little line I found when looking up good flowers to use-

“a promise to always remember” ….stop that.

That actually also has a double meaning in this case too. 1, ofc the forgetting of Wingdings. But ALSO Wingdings forgetting something himself. Forgetting who he is. Almost like a Zuko ATLA situation.

Did you have a family?

Who knows where theyre parents are, but this is HAPPY TIME and we’re gonna assume they were so awesome and very kind but had to leave or went to a farm in the sky for whatever reason.

The colors here I had a lot of fun with. Their parents had warm colors but the boys have cold, still with warm accents. Its said they more or less raised each other being very independent as shown in the second part with them running out the door by themselves.

How was the view from the shelf? Did you ever believe in yourself?

Before, we started with the beginnings. The good things, the only thing Wingdings cares to even recall. Now we’re seeing his life really start to turn upside down- making first contact with The Player :D

He’s hesitant to reach out, but is intrigued, before getting a rushing revelation of his reality and how it isnt “real”

Rather than feeling crushing existential dread, he more feels pressured to be BETTER, to figure a solution, to do something. Thats what white represents here

WHAT KIND OF MILK WERE YOU?

We then switch to more examples of how Wingdings is taking this pressure (not well) The soft tones of yellow that were shown before, turn to way brighter, intensifying that feeling that he should be fine, he should be happy, drowning in success of being the Royal Scientist.

But he just desperately wants to just go back to a time of nice coldness.

The warm vs cold tones in this I had so much fun with, coldness is supposed to represent hostility usually, while warm is nice and happy. (same with Black and white. Scary, relieving,) But these points often contradict each other, its hard to tell what you’re feeling vs what you’re supposed to be feeling. Just like Wingdings!

WHAT KIND OF LIFE DID YOU LIVE THROUGH?

The white lab coats, the expectations, theyre on all of them. But Wingdings has essentially become his expectations.

He questions what life he wants to live, one being himself and alone (speaking in wingdings) or not himself and with company (speaking in a “normal” font) Still, he frames it in past tense as he believes theres no going back now, based on what he knows.

“One of the last happy moments they had together” stop that. (i cant find a link to when that was said but I know it was once, about them taking a photo together….)

DID YOUR LIFE RUN RICH WITH CALCIUM?

Calcium….bonesss :3 Hehehehdhehfhehehheheheh still dont know why he has holes in his hands so we’re movin on

DID THEY LAUGH AT YOU OR DID YOU LAUGH AT THEM?

Compared to the childhood Wingdings remembered, heres the sadder, bleaker, more realistic version. He always thought they were laughing at him but… maybe they werent.

DAIRY BELOVED. YOUR DAYS ARE GONE,

It doesnt matter now though. Because in the NOW, Wingdings has become consumed by his expectations of himself, seeing this has the “only option” to do the only thing that he feels will give his life meaning and purpose, establishing connection with THE PLAYER

But the grocery list goes on…

And yet life continues on without him, and his room is transformed into a more livable space now that someone is…living in it. Always hurts so much making the differences between Wingdings and Papyrus’ room. It feels like making something out of the man Wingdings COULD HAVE been. Because honestly thats just what Papyrus is,

Thank you to my bestie @fruitytrip for helping me with all of my art in general but especially the storyboarding on this :3 <3

[riddikulusravenclawbelle]

opposite

plot - Belle returns home wearing Rafe’s clothes and barely dodges JJ’s suspicions. At Boneyard Beach, the Pogues run into the Kooks, and Belle catches Rafe avoiding her—until he unexpectedly defends her from Kelce’s teasing. But when she spots a new girl hanging off Rafe, something in her shifts.

trope(s) - enemies to lovers, slow burn, & kook vs pogue.

characters - rafe cameron x oc! belle maybank

wc - 2.6k

warnings - curse words, mentions of smoking, and small injury.

final notes -heyyy, we have a new character...and i dont think you're gonna like her, love. nonetheless, i really enjoyed writing this chapter. (i know thats a cliche but stick with me.) i think this really adds some more depth to their relationship. also this is chapter three of my 'ruin me gently.' series so if you haven't read part 1 or 2 do that first icon! k love u byeee.

Belle parked her car in the driveway of Maybank’s house. She immediately put her head on the steering wheel. This was the first actual moment of silence all day. Driving through Figure 8 always felt weird. The white-picket houses. The brunch-drunk moms clutching mimosas and judging her Nissan Rogue like it was held together by duct tape.The real problem? Her mind had made Rafe Cameron likable. The jersey, the picture of his younger, happier self. The clothes. The soft brushing of hands, those ocean blue eyes she could swim in for hours. She didn’t have to look down to know who she smelled like. She knew it was Rafe’s cologne. Oh my god. She was still wearing Rafe’s clothes he lent her last night.

“Shit shit shit.” She said as she threw off the shirt and stuffed it in the backseat. She’d give it back to him later. The joggers, fuck. She quickly slid those down and threw them where they could live with the shirt. Just then, as she’s catching her breath, she hears three hard knocks on her car window.

She turned like a deer in headlights—to see her big brother. He had a stern look on his face like she’d just been caught. She rolled down her window, mind scattering for any excuse she needed to look like she hadn’t been caught red handed.

“Ma’am, do you know why I pulled you over today?” JJ joked as he impersonated the other thing he always had trouble with–law enforcement.

She blinked at him, caught between panic and secondhand embarrassment.

“Shut up,” She laughed.

“How was Lacy’s?” JJ asked as she got out of the car. She had almost forgotten that she had spent the night at a sworn enemy’s house. Not by choice, though. Never by choice. She could still feel the weight of his clothes on her. He hadn’t even laid a finger on her. He probably didn’t want to, right? She thought as they walked into their house.

“Fine. Yeah we mainly just rewatched the Twilight series.”

“Ew. Chick Flick.” JJ pretended to be gagging as Belle playfully punched his side.

⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆

The sun was bright, the UV was 4, and the beach air smelled like sunscreen that had just been sprayed on. This was the kind of freedom she needed. The kind of distraction she needed. This was going to be a good day.

“Race you to the water, B.” JJ said, surfboard in hand ready to run.

“That’s ridiculous dude, I’m not racing-” Belle said dismissively, before sprinting leaving JJ in the dust and saying “See you on the water!” Her locks whipped in the wind, she felt the warmth of the sun, and for the first time in a few days–she felt like Belle again. She was ready to drown out all the noise, including him.

“Woo, go JJ!” Kiara cheered as JJ started to surf. They were so cute. Belle had seen how much they had gone through to be together. She was infinitely proud of them. More proud of JJ because she thought Kiara was way out of his league.

As she and JJ walked back to the beach, JJ explained “Just leave the surfing to the pros, yeah?”

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes, with a smile on her face. Then she saw Sarah’s face. Then shifted her gaze to John B’s, and the rest of the group.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” John B said as Belle followed his eyeline.

There they were, loud and obnoxious as day. The Kooks. The bright flashy Jeep Wranglers and trucks that had been modified until they couldn’t be anymore.

“You wanna leave?” John B turned to Sarah with a soft, loving look. “No.” she said, sticking her tongue in her cheek with her arms crossed. “We were here to have a good time. Let’s not let my brother and his minions ruin it.” John B had put an arm over her and kissed her head.

“Let’s just try to have a good time.” Belle spoke up, trying to keep spirits high, mainly her own.

Rafe got out of his truck, and He wasn’t looking at her. Not even a glance. That should’ve been a relief—but instead it felt like an undeserved punishment. It was like he was avoiding her. That’s when he walked to his passenger seat.

That’s when an older girl with straight black hair hopped out, taking Rafe’s hand.Her outfit left little to the imagination. She was gorgeous. Flirtier, louder. Everything Belle wasn’t—and maybe that was the point.

She felt her stomach twist. Of course. Of course he brought someone. What an idiot she was to think Rafe and her had a moment last night.

“Uh, Earth to Belle! Round 2 or what?” JJ waved his hand in front of her face.

“Oh yeah. Be there in a second.”

Belle paddled out far enough to where they could catch a wave. JJ was too busy trying to impress Kiara by showing her all the different backflips he can do to surf with her. She had been doing pretty well. Had been.

That was until she heard Kelce, a Kook, yell “Didn’t know they let Pogues rent real boards now!” She wasn’t expecting it and she fell off her board.

“Kelce shut the hell up.” Rafe snapped. He said it low enough to where she didn’t hear it. But Sarah did. And that made her eyebrow slightly lift up.

“Fuck.” She muttered under her breath. Sarah and Cleo ran over to her as she now had her board in one arm and she gave a scathing glare to the group of Kooks one last time. Rafe was looking anywhere but at her. And that girl was too close to Rafe’s side, giggling. Had he said something funny? Was he making fun of her?

As Pope examined her elbow, she kept her gaze on Rafe and his crew. “Honestly it should probably scab over in the next few days, it should be fine.” Pope explained.

“Yeah,” she mumbled “Hey who do you think that girl is by Rafe?” she nodded toward the group and Pope glanced.

Pope returned his attention to Belle’s elbow cleaning it. “That is Olivia. She just moved here a couple weeks ago. If you can’t tell she is the epitome of Kooks. She fits in perfectly. Why?”

“Curiosity.” She excused. “Thanks for helping Pope.” She exchanged smiles with Pope and helped the Pogues clean up their area of the beach.

Belle sat in the back of the Twinkie as John B drove them all to JJ’s house to crash. She couldn’t focus on much. Why did it bother her this much? A week ago he was a random kook she abhorred. Now? He was her whole world. Before she could think anymore into it, she found herself in her room. It was dimly lit with string lights, and polaroid photos of the pogues adventures are scattered on Belle’s vanity. There are half-empty soda cans, blankets, and throw pillows scattered on the bed where the girls are sprawled out. Laughter drifts between them—easy, soft, the kind you only get with your best friends.

Sarah is braiding her hair, while Kiara is painting her toenails on the floor. Belle leans back against her headboard, twirling a friendship bracelet between her fingers. Cleo is scrolling on Instagram as all the girl’s hangout to decompress from the beach.

“I’m just saying, if I wiped out? We would still be able to hear Kelce’s awful donkey laugh.” Kie joked.

“Don’t worry, he is. It’s all on his Instagram story.” Cleo shows the group.

“Oh. Yay, I’m famous.” Belle sighed, her mind still lingered on today’s events. Why didn’t he look at her, once? Was Olivia laughing at a joke Rafe made at Belle’s expense?

“You’re infamous, B. There’s a difference.” Sarah smirked.

“Ha ha Sarah.” Belle replied, trying to play back but, she was too distracted to respond with something witty.

“Everything okay?” Kiara asked Belle.

“Hmm?” Belle perked up. “Oh yeah, just tired. Wiping out takes a lot out of you.” She joked, dryly.

“So does seeing those Kooks. Ugh.” Kiara said with a disgusting look on her face.

“Especially that new girl who was all over my brother,” the girls all agreed. “That was weird right?”

“So weird.” Belle replied at the same time Cleo and Kiara agreed with the same variation of what she said.

“Still.” Sarah paused. “She’s perfect for him.” Sarah’s tone was bitter and sharp, like she was declaring it. She paused again, this one felt longer to Belle. So much longer. “I bet my dad loves her, rich family, snobby attitude, and a lethal face card.”

A silence fell over the girls.

“Mmm. I am going to bed. Next time, no Kook talk.” Cleo commanded.

“Yes! Only facemasks and good times.” Kiara agreed.

“Well, I would pass out on your bed but, John B needs me to read him bedtime stories.” Sarah teased.

“Me too, except JJ needs to be tucked in.” Kiara added.

Once the girls left, it was just Belle and her thoughts that remained. It’s like the universe was teasing her today. She just sat there, staring at her phone sitting there like it would have answers for her.

Impulsively, she picked it up.

Belle: Nice rebound. Does Olivia surf too?

Belle: You didn’t even look at me today…

Belle: i didn’t hate you. emphasis on didn't.

She deleted all of that before she could even send it. She wasn’t sure if she wasn’t even supposed to be sending anything. Or if Rafe not looking at her on the beach today was enough of a signal in itself. She weighed the pros and cons of sending it to Rafe. If she didn't send it, there was no risk. If she didn’t send it she could ignore him too, go back to hating his guts. Bury that night like a secret. Forever. She didn’t know why the night felt so intimate to her. They slept in separate rooms. Separate floors of the house even. If she did send it though, he may realize it meant more to her than he originally thought. He may feel the same. And that meant more morning coffee chats with Rafe. More joking with Rafe. More exploring this feeling she had never felt before. God what a mess she had gotten herself into.

Normally, she'd go to Kie. Her unofficial big sister.

But not tonight.

Not for this.

Belle: You don’t have to pretend like I don’t exist.

She hit send before she could talk herself out of it. Immediately, below her message it changes from ‘delivered’ to ‘read’ She knows she shouldn’t care. But she does.

It’s only been minutes but it feels like hours. Why hasn’t he responded? She stuffs her phone in her nightstand after powering it off and goes to sleep. She’d been around Rafe Cameron her whole life — but last night was the first time she didn’t want to punch him. And that scared her more than anything.

⋆˙⟡⋆Meanwhile, across the beach, someone else is unraveling too. ⋆˙⟡

Rafe is smoking on the balcony. The same balcony he first encountered Belle. She looked so beautiful that night. Her hair fell a few inches below her shoulders, her infectious energy that pulled him in, and god she smelt like heaven. It was the type to hypnotize you. Fresh linen and salt air. It was subtle, but so unforgettable. Was it weird that he really enjoyed how she smelled? It didn’t feel weird. It felt right.

It felt the same way he felt when he saw Belle the other night. It wasn’t even intimate, so why did every time they touch, it felt like more? He let out a huge sigh before taking another drag of his cigarette. Belle has been the only thing occupying his mind for the past few days. Ever since the party. She hated her. Hated her perfect face. Her laugh he fortunately got to hear in the morning. Hated how he wants to put his hands on her when she’s near. Touch her in places he can’t see.

His phone pings. He sighs and opens his phone, assuming it is Topper. Luckily, it wasn’t.

1 NEW MESSAGE:

Belle: You don’t have to pretend like I don’t exist.

His mind travels back to the beach. He couldn’t look at her. That’d mean he’d see how beautiful she looked. He couldn’t handle the emotions that came with that.

When she fell off, he wanted to run over to her. He really did. It took all of his restraint not to run over there and check on her. He wanted to be the first one by her side. See if she needed help, if she broke anything, and if he needed to beat Kelce’s ass. He ached for her at that moment.

But her friends were right there. And so was his. So he couldn’t. She saw the blood on her elbow. He saw her staring daggers at his group. He didn’t have the courage to look at her. He felt like a coward.

“Yeesh, what’s her deal?” Olivia said.

“She eat it that hard for attention, orrrr is she just that bad?” Topper jokingly asked, he didn’t expect an answer. Rafe’s chest tightened at that comment. And so did his jaw. It ached as bad as his curiosity as to why he cared so much.

“Nah, she was probably hoping someone in particular would come rescue her.” Ruthie said, glancing at Rafe. “But guess knights don’t ride out for Pogues.” He bit the inside of his cheek, it was the only thing restraining him from lashing out at this band of idiots.

“Or maybe she thought last night earned her a seat at the table.” Kelce grinned and continued to poke the figurative bear, Rafe.

“Kelce. Shut the fuck up.” Rafe said, looking up at Kelce. His voice was tight and low.

“Relax, man. Just sayin’—some people forget where they come from.” Kelce shrugged, acting innocent and walking away.

“Hope she doesn’t think she’s one of us.” Topper said, then walked back to grab a beer.

“Yeah, Rafe,” Olivia put her hand on Rafe’s arm in an attempt to calm him down. “You’re acting like she matters.”

Then, he was brought back to reality by the burning of his cigarette. He hated himself for caring, for feeling something he shouldn’t. He should hate her, like every other pogue on the Cut. But he doesn't. So he hates himself for it instead.

He stares at the phone, thumb hovering over it and his breath quickens.

“Are you coming to bed, Ray?” Olivia says, which makes Rafe turn around. Olivia’s perfume travels from where she’s standing, near the door to Rafe by the edge of the balcony. It doesn’t smell the same as Belle’s. It smells… fake. Too sweet. Like store-bought roses soaked in poison.

He quickly powers off his phone and stuffs it into his pocket.

“Yeah. Be in a second.” He cleared his throat, before taking another drag of his cigarette. He hadn’t even touched her since she showed up, twirling her hair and giving him those eyes.

Everyone says Olivia is perfect for Rafe, a match made in heaven. So why doesn’t he want her? Why does he pull away? Why does he want a pogue he can’t have? He’s been on this balcony with many different people. So why does it remind him of her?

“Okay.” She said, giving a slight smile before heading back to bed. Secretly? He wishes that was Belle he’d be with tonight.

[usernameforaboredcat]

OPLA “Ruined” Sanji And There’s No Fixing It

Look, Ik the title says a lot BUT this needs to be said, because I’m tired of acting like this isn’t a problem that’s been on my mind since the first season dropped

Omfg another essay about Sanji? YES SHUT UP!!

Now before some of y’all come at me, I love Sanji, okay? I love my handsome goofy ah Jiji just as much as any other fan girl of this slutty waist idiot.

But in the One Piece Live Action there’s two things they happen that make me think that they don’t really care or know how to write Sanji as well as Oda and some fan fic girlies.

Now I know two isn’t a lot to say that he’s been “ruined” but like…hear me out.

Sanji & Nami

As much Sanji may flirt with various different women throughout the series, it’s obvious that he has his main girl, that being our lovely navigator Nami.

First tiny nit pick, in the anime Sanji first noticed her because of her laugh. In the live action it was a sarcastic joke. Something like that just doesn’t sit right with me, I don’t know why.

My MAIN problem is…they don’t talk. In the anime Nami and Sanji has a few one on one conversations along with responding to each other and talking to each other, spending a fair amount of time together to at least get a general idea of each other’s personalities, especially Sanji himself.

But in the live action…THEY TALK ONCE! ONCE!! WHEN THEY FIRST MEET AND WHEN NAMI IS RUNNING TO ZORO AND USOPP OUTSIDE ARLONG PARK AND SANJI HAS HIS ARMS OUT CALLING “NAMI! 😃” LIKE A CHUMP!

SHE DOESNT KNOW HIM!

Nami abandoned the only friends she was able to make to keep them safe (Luffy, Usopp & Zoro) and upon them coming to help her and Luffy take down the reason for her trauma, some guy she’s talked to literally once is the most excited to see her? No shit she ran straight past Sanji to hug Zoro and Usopp SHE DOESNT KNOW SANJ!

Yes they’ve been in the same room as each other, like Nami standing off to the side while Luffy and Sanji are talking, or Nami and Zoro talking with Sanji standing off to the side, but not directly. They couldn’t add in them talking at least once? Nami had more chemistry with Luffy, Usopp, and especially Zoro than she did with Sanji.

I really hope they have more one on one moments next season, cause so far it’s making Sanji REALLY creepy.

And now…

The worst offender

Sanji & Zeff

Done terribly.

You wanna know WHY I say this?

Compare anime Sanji leaving Zeff vs Live Action Sanji leaving Zeff.

Anime Sanji got on his hands and knees, face down ass up, bowed to Zeff and thanked him for taking care of him and putting up with him. And in Asian culture, how low you bow shows how much you truly respect that person. A very cute, heartfelt scene in my opinion.

Live Action Sanji? Got into an argument with Zeff and stormed off and joined Luffy…

Bro…

BRO!!

FOR REAL?!

They went out of their way to have a cute little moment where Sanji and Luffy bonded in the fact that “my father figure loose a limb to save my life” but couldn’t give Sanji and Zeff a proper goodbye.

Why does this matter?

Because you expect me to believe the same man who stormed off over an argument to be a pirate is the same guy who will “eventually” abandon the Straw Hats to go be with his abusive birth family and marry a women he’s never met?

Live Action Sanji could never.

He’d think that Zeff can handle himself or Germa/Big Mom Pirates won’t find them (I’m not definitely saying this I’m just saying something along those lines)

I just don’t see Live Action Sanji making that type of sacrifice.

Personally I don’t think the Live Action will even make it to WholeCake, I can explain on a different post why I think the Live Action will only make it to maybe Enies Lobby, but this post isn’t about that.

Look, I know that there are parts in the LA where Sanji does SAY he’s grateful for what Zeff has done for him, but I’m a big far of the “Show Don’t Tell” method.

Do I think there IS a way to fix this? At the moment, I’m not sure. It’s super easy for them to fix Nami and Sanjis relationship because they’re main characters and crew mates, but Sanji and Zeffs relationship is gone and dusted and won’t even BE relevant till technically Zou, where Sanji makes the choice to leave the Straw Hats to keep them AND Zeff and the others at the Baratie safe.

From behind the scenes footage for Season 2 they did show that they’ll be adding the Anime filler cooking contest that Sanji enters, MAYBE he could have flashbacks? The prize is an Elephant Tuna, a fish Sanji is seen cooking with in the first season, it’s the dish Zeff makes him throw out that Luffy ends up eating. Maybe Sanji could have a flashback to when Zeff is teaching him how to prepare it cause it’s one of those fish that needs special prep, and Sanji smiles to himself and mutters a “thank you Zeff” under his breath or something.

Just something small to show that he’s grateful, it’s all I ask.

Conclusion

I don’t know.

Personally, if I had to rank all the LA Straw Hats in a tier list based on how they are compared to their Anime selves, Sanji would be at the bottom of the tier.

But personally, none of them are really that high for me. (Maybe it’s because I just love the Anime so much and the Live Action no matter how hard they try will be perfect)

That’s all I have to say.

If you agree or disagree, tell the comments, I won’t argue back, I just wanna state how I feel. OR you can tell me that I’m an idiot and they can fix it or that I misread the scenes.

I know during Sanjis introduction period they had a lot going on with the Navy subplot, Mihawks introduction, Namis betrayal, Zoros fight against Mihawk, and a lot of other things.

All I ask for is one minute of screen time where Sanji gives a proper goodbye and thank you to Zeff, the absolute goat.

See ya, love y’all.

[as-if-and-only-if]

Rust’s never type is wild to me.

So, if you’re not familiar with type theory, the empty type, which we’ll denote ∅ here (which Rust calls never, but more on that later) is the type with no elements.

But…how do you actually say that the type “has no elements” within the type theory?

You can’t say something like ¬∃x, x : ∅, in part because inside most type theories, this statement doesn’t even make sense: we need to know the type of x when bound, and more importantly, typing judgments like x : ∅ are not statements you can make within the theory itself.

Actually, you often don’t even want to use ¬ at all: we want to define ¬P in terms of ∅ as P → ∅ ! This is because having an element of the empty type would (if all goes well) be a contradiction, so if you can construct such a contradiction out of P (i.e. ->), then P must be false. ∅ is near the foundations, so we don’t have much to work with when setting up its meaning.

What we can do is encode the principle of explosion, i.e. that given an element of the empty type (a contradiction!) we can derive anything.

That is, we have an axiom explode : ∀(A : Type), ∅ → A. For any type A, give me an element x of ∅, and I will hand you an element of that type (namely explode A x : A).

(If you’re familiar, ignore universe polymorphism/Type vs. Prop and the fact that A isn’t a type family.)

This is what makes the empty type the empty type. If we didn’t include this axiom, the empty type would have no real emptiness behavior besides “gee, I can’t quite figure out how to make an element of this type”. You wouldn’t know it’s empty, since there would be no consequences to finding out that something has type ∅.

(Aside: this axiom fits into a very general pattern of what it means to define a type inductively, and lets us do “induction on the empty type”. It’s not ad-hoc!)

———

So it should be clear that if you ever do find an element of ∅, your theory is inconsistent, as you can prove anything you want.

Which is why Rust’s empty type, called never, is pretty neat. To me, someone who does not know Rust, and who literally opened the docs as soon as I installed them, scrolled down, and said “ooh, what’s never?”

See, Rust expressions can have type never. (I’m calling them expressions; I don’t know if this is what rustaceans call them)

But, how?! Surely that breaks everything! Well…yes. Which is why the only way to maintain consistency is to have these expressions break everything.

Let me explain: the things with type never never return a value (hence the name). They diverge: they’re things like exit or break or infinite loops.

And thanks to the explode axiom, these expressions can be coerced to any type. For example, you can say x: u32 = { exit() }, and Rust will say “makes sense to me”. (Apologies for any bad Rust syntax.)

This is—surprisingly!—fine.

exit() : never, just like any element of the empty type, really is a contradiction in the type system, but being able to write it in Rust code doesn’t actually make the type system inconsistent—since we leave the type system as soon as it’s encountered. (Or, in the case of an infinite loop, we never manage to actually finish constructing a value of never.)

So, while the syntax of Rust can contain “contradictions”, they never get the chance to behave as contradictions in the model of Rust’s type system formed by the values it constructs at runtime. I.e. running a real program never invalidates the type system. We’re saved from the runtime nonsense that would be created by explode A x by having the system actually explode instead.

There’s something to be said for this, but it is weird. Saying “x : u32” in Rust is apparently scoped in a certain way: it says “as long as the value we call x exists, it has type u32.” It doesn’t guarantee the existence of something with type u32.

This means that you don’t actually have to break the whole type system to use never; you just have to break the context in which x exists. E.g., if you’re inside a function, then let x: bool { return 500 }, where the return returns to the outer function, is fine. x never finishes being constructed, so the guarantee provided by its type annotation is (vacuously) satisfied.

I wonder if this is linked to the notion of lifetimes in Rust, and how that’s reflected in the theory behind the type system. And I’m not a type theorist (or someone who knows Rust), but I am also curious how type theorists talk about diverging terms; in Lean, for example, a top-level term of type Empty is verboten. You create diverging terms by using the partial keyword, and then you’re prohibited from proving anything about their behavior (but they still have types as usual).

This isn’t the first time people have talked about this, by far, I’m sure; happy to hear any takes (or corrections). Much to learn! :)

[quitealotofsodapop]

Hi, for the penumbra au I had a thought I wanted to share.

What if, because he was underdeveloped and needed to cling to Wukong more, Thunder looks different. Because he's still all shadowy and doesn't leave Wukong's side at the beginning, no one notices the changes happening. But if you looked at him with gold vision when he first formed vs right before he finally separates, then the changes are obvious. Nothing too big, but the extra exposure time to his Mama's Dao changed his form to look more like Wukong. Lighter skin, his mask being more peachy-pink instead of red, maybe his fur is more dark brown instead of black. He still very much looks like a mini-Macaque but to an outsider, they'd assume Rumble and Savage are twins and Thunder is their younger brother born after them.

Thunder is very self-conscious of this and no one in the monkey fam/troop is happy when someone has a mix up. The triplets are the most upset every time someone assumes Thunder was born later. When he figures out how, Thunder starts using glamour to look more like his sisters. Mamakong and Papaque pointedly lower their glamour more often as a kind of "It's okay if it makes you feel better, but you shouldn't run from how you look or let people affect how you feel about yourself" message. Rumble and Savage also start pointedly glamouring themselves to look more like Thunder so that all still look alike.

I love your various AUs. Thank you for sharing all that you have 🫡😁.

Aww baby! 🥺

One of the best eclipse cubs designs was sent into me by @linkinaboxx. And they, too, have a Thunder with more Wukong-ish features! :3

After the baby finally pops out of Wukong's shadow, he has a minor gasp of surprise! His little thunderbolt has his face marking! DBK explains afterwards (through his laughter) that all three cubs imprinted on Wukong as their other parent - Thunder is just the most obvious!

Rumble & Savage see no issue with their younger triplet looking like Mama Wukong! If what Baba tells them is true - then Mama is the most beautiful monkey in the whole world! (Wukong blushes furiously when he hears they say that, esp if he and Macaque weren't back on good term yet)

I love the idea of the girls glamouring themselves so that they match their little brother. Both to make him not feel different, and to confuse strangers. XD

And tysm fro your kind words <3

[tobiasdrake]

Haven't had a chance to talk much about the Ginyus yet, so here we go. Talking about the Ginyu Tokusentai/Ginyu Force/Dairy Special Forces requires putting them into context with the greater Dragon Ball universe around them.

Something that has always been incredibly limiting for Dragon Ball's worldbuilding is that, despite much of the brand being about presenting Goku with new ladders to climb, Goku doesn't climb ladders. He leaps from ladder-top to ladder-top.

What this means is, Toriyama had a tendency to be hyperbolic with the challenges Goku was presented. Toriyama doesn't pit Goku against powerful foes. He pits Goku against the most powerful foe, then has to sit back and figure out another arena for Goku to go fight the champion of.

This creates issues of perspective. We don't get to see a lot of development of the worlds Toriyama creates because Goku only shows up to fight the Very Most Powerful Guy and then leaves. And this also means we don't get to see what being the Very Most Powerful Guy means relative to people who are not.

If you followed Dragon Ball Super, you might have noticed that issue with the Tournament of Power. The way the story leaps straight from "Multiple universes exist" to "Goku vs. The Strongest in Universe 6" and then to "Goku vs. The Strongest Guy in the MULTIVERSE!" without even stopping to breathe.

What is that universe even about? Who knows? But this guy sure is their STRONGEST GUY. And that's something that's been with Dragon Ball... honestly, since all the way back at the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai when his second arc adversary was the Earth's legendary ultimate martial arts master.

The whole concept of aliens enters the Dragon Ball universe by way of Raditz introducing the Strongest Alien Race in the Universe.

Shortly after that, Goku is fighting the Strongest Saiyan, who is technically referred to as Strongest in the Universe... right up until a retcon introduces the Planet Trade Organization and Goku fights Frieza, the Actual Strongest in the Universe For Realsies.

So. Yeah. It's hard to get a sense of perspective for how powerful our guys are when they leave Earth because they only ever brush elbows with outlier titans.

But to give some idea, we already know that Earthlings are considered to be a pretty weak species.

Raditz's arrival retroactively explains Goku's destructive Oozaru transformations. This thing?

This is the Doom of the Earth. The planet-killer meant to exterminate every last human being on this planet. Boy, sure would be fun to be in the ring with that, huh?

It's also clearly touching down outside of the ring so I don't know why this wasn't a ringout. Since when is the waiting room's rooftop considered part of the stage? But I digress.

When Goku was three years old, his Oozaru was measured to be sufficient to slaughter this world. That is how weak Earth is on the scale. By contrast, Namek is considered to be one of the more powerful worlds. Vegeta describes Namekian fighters as "extraordinary".

That's something we get to see for ourselves, when Extraordinary Namekian Fighters happen to Frieza Force soldiers like a typhoon.

This is what's considered extraordinary on a standard galactic scale. These are three warriors from one of the stronger races in the universe tearing apart soldiers whose job is to exterminate races. Once they start fighting, Dodoria reads their battle powers as 3,000.

For comparison, Raditz was said to be equivalent to a Saibaman at 1,200. We never got a read on Nappa but he found the idea of Kakarot being at 5,000 unbelievable enough to go into denial, and he shit himself over 8,000.

So, with that in mind, we can understand that these nameless Namekian nobodies are pretty fucking tough, well within the realm of Saiyan ability. They're also familiar with advanced martial arts concepts like ki suppression that the Planet Trade doesn't understand.

There's probably a reason why, despite Namek apparently being well known to the Planet Trade, nobody's seen fit to gentrify this one yet. This is a fight Frieza's more elite forces can win, to be sure. But also, there are easier pickings to be had.

And then we have the Saiyans, said to be the most powerful race in the universe. Raditz, a loser scrub who doesn't know a thing about martial arts, is able to thoroughly humiliate Goku and Piccolo in terms of sheer stats, even after Goku's been trained by Popo.

This guy is the Saiyan equivalent of Appule. Goku's been personally trained by God's right-hand attendant, and Piccolo is the reincarnation of God's evil counterpart; These are not humans of this planet, but two guys who demonstrated five years ago that they're in a realm beyond the humans.

And this loser is still doing this to them. This is what a low-rate Saiyan looks like.

And this is what a Saiyan elite looks like:

Like I said, we're never given an official reading on Nappa but he found 5,000 BP to be ridiculous for Goku to have and 8,000 to be unthinkably terrifying. The Daizenshuu pegs him at 4,000, but they also peg Piccolo at 3,500 which would mean Piccolo and Nappa are closely matched.

I don't know about you but I don't see it. But that may just be me.

In any case, this gives us a general understanding of how powerful the races of the universe are. Earthlings weak. Namekians strong. Saiyans strongest. And then there's outliers.

Throughout the universe, there are... mutants. On rare occasions, an individual is born to a race who have vastly, unbelievably, ridiculously, stupidly tremendous ki.

The Planet Trade employs these mutants for their upper staff. Zarbon and Dodoria are mutants, as are the Ginyus and even Frieza himself. Especially Frieza. The reason we've never gotten elaboration on Frieza's race is because Toriyama didn't want Frieza's traits to be taken as indicative of a whole people.

According to interview, Cold was born with abnormally high power and cruelty for his race, and these traits were passed down to his son Frieza. Whatever species they came from, it is nothing like them.

They're not the only ones. The Planet Trade collects and employs these uniquely ultra-powerful mutants for its elite forces. The Saiyans are the strongest race in the universe, but these mutants are the strongest individuals in the universe.

To grasp how powerful these guys are relative to the rest of the universe, we need to talk Saiyans again for a moment. Raditz? Raditz was the yardstick for what the bottom-tier of Saiyans was. He made Earthlings look like trash, but he would have been eaten alive by those unnamed Namekian warriors.

However, a Saiyan's true strength lies in the Oozaru. Goku as an Oozaru was meant to be able to reduce the standing population of the Earth to 0. Raditz, as an Oozaru? Would still have gotten his teeth kicked in by Vegeta, the Saiyan super-elite. He is so ridiculous, he could win a straight fight with the planet-killing Oozaru.

...I mean, not after being beaten within an inch of his life and taking a Genki-Dama to the face, he can't. But if Vegeta were still at the top of his game, this would be a very different fight.

Meanwhile, the Ginyu Force.

So. Yeah. By the time we get to them, we are far beyond the ordinary limits of the universe. Saiyans are the strongest race, and Vegeta's pressing up against the limit of Saiyan ability. He's one Zenkai away from breaking through the Saiyan ceiling. Goku already has.

And these mutants they're up against are the most powerful freak aberrations of unexplained super-ki ever to have occurred anywhere in space.

IIRC it's never directly stated but for reference, Broly would probably be considered a mutant. Whether he is or isn't, he makes as a pretty solid equivalence. These guys are to their respective races what Broly is to Saiyans. What Uub is to humans.

This is all vital context for understanding the way the Ginyu Force fights.

Because.

Like.

You need to understand.

These guys suck.

On purpose.

From a technical standpoint, they're not good fighters. They're sloppy. Poorly trained around big showy moves that are meant to look cool. Style over substance.

This is because they can get away with it. They are the most powerful beings in the universe; Powerful on a scale that is an order of magnitude beyond everybody else that exists. Even the Saiyans look like shit next to these mutants.

Saiyan super-elite hits Recoome with everything he's got right in the face at point-blank range.

And the mutant takes it like a fucking champ. Vegeta's about to be killed by a man who keeps pausing to do this.

The Ginyu Force is badly trained on purpose. Which isn't to say that they're trained to lose fights, but rather that they aren't trained to compete with an equivalent rival. They can afford a martial style focused entirely on showmanship because there is no competition for them. They're too powerful to ever lose fights. Nobody else in the known universe even compares to their mutant might.

Which, as previously noted, is something Frieza is also afflicted by, in different ways. There is no reason for the Ginyus to hone their skills the way the Earthlings do because. Like. Who's going to challenge them? They're naturally born into being top of the field by a wide margin. They're going to auto-win every fight they ever involve themselves in, so their idea of self-improvement is centered instead on looking as cool as possible while they do it.

This is precisely what the Muten-Roshi worked so hard to prevent Goku from becoming.

Something else I mentioned before is that Trunks demonstrates his serious goal-oriented nature by never naming any of his techniques. He has some distinct and identifiable moves, but none of them have a formal name that he shouts out when firing them. He's here to get the job done, not to show off.

The Ginyus are in the opposite boat. They know they can't lose fights, so they are absolutely, 100% here to show off. They name the shit out of their techniques.

Flying knee? Nah, bro. That is a Recoome Kick.

Running in and throwing a punch? Nuh-uh. Recoome Mach Attack.

Lobbing a ki blast at the opponent? Crusher Ball.

These basic attacks are given huge, flashy names. And, I need to specify, they're English names. Moves like the Kamehameha or Taiyoken or Sokidan or Makankosappo also have names but they tend to be Japanese names with descriptive meanings.

Turtle Destruction Wave, signature move of the Turtle School of martial arts.

Fist of the Sun, an intense blinding art.

Winding Ki Bullet, a remote-operated bullet of ki that Yamcha can manipulate how he likes.

Demon Piercing and Killing Light Gun, a Mazoku technique that pierces and kills.

This is not the same thing. These guys are screaming exotic English words to look cool while throwing hands. "RECOOME KICK!!!" Recoome screams in English as he throws a kick.

There is only one other character in Dragon Ball who fights like this.

That's right. Recoome Kick is the same kind of thing as Satan Miracle Special Ultra Super Megaton Punch. All shouted in English as well. The Ginyu Force is what Mr. Satan would be if he was as formidable as the world believes he is.

They're showmen, even moreso than the Earthling martial artists who were born for a tournament stage. Hell, some of Recoome's moves are inspired by pro wrestling.

They are the ultimate demonstration, both of the unquestionable might of the Planet Trade's human resources, and of the absolute waste that is the Planet Trade's capitalist philosophy towards martial arts. The PTO doesn't train warriors; They scout the strongest guys their money can buy and give them marching orders of "Get 'em." Their super-elites are no exception.

Except the Captain.

Much like Vegeta was with Nappa, Ginyu is the only one who gets it. He sees Goku's reading and immediately assesses that Goku's suppressing his ki. Ginyu knows his shit. He's just never drilled this kind of information into his soldiers, opting instead for cool-looking battle poses.

It makes sense that he understands ki suppression. He's Frieza's highest-ranking officer, and Frieza is the universe's unparalleled master at ki suppression. The lengths Frieza has gone to for the sake of suppressing ki....

But he hasn't taught it to his men. They're learning flashy modeling poses instead of martial arts.

I guess I can see the logic. Powerful as they are, why would it matter? Those three extraordinary warriors earlier were also suppressing their ki, but a range of 1k to haha actually 3k doesn't mean shit to the Ginyu Force. If nobody's true strength can match them then why waste time on tactical study?

But unlike his soldiers, Ginyu himself has the spirit of a martial artist. He doesn't waste time on battle poses or scream "GINYU FLYING PUNCH" in English when he throws a punch or do elaborate two-minute windups for his signature moves.

He's even pretty good at reading people. Ginyu lowballs Goku at 60k before the fight, but reassesses after he's traded blows with Goku a few times and estimates 85k instead.

Goku's official non-suppressed Battle Power at this point in time is 90k. So 85k is a pretty fucking good estimate for a guy who can't sense ki. Ginyu knows his shit. He's as reliant on tech as the rest of the PTO but he's experienced enough to have a strong understanding of what various levels fight like.

This is especially impressive when you remember that he's never fought someone at 90k before. Remember, further up, when he first judged Goku as 60k? He was getting excited about his lowball 60k estimate and saying he's never had a chance like this before.

If he's never fought 60k, he's certainly never fought 85k. He just. Knows enough about how lower levels fight that he can apply that knowledge and extrapolate to higher levels. It's an impressive estimation that demonstrates his experience. Ginyu isn't just the second-most powerful guy in the Planet Trade. He's the best martial artist in the Planet Trade, bar none.

He's also got a... theoretically cool ultimate technique that utterly sucks in practice: Body Change.

He may be the best martial artist in the Planet Trade but he's got nothing on martial arts master and analytical counter-fighter Son Goku. It takes Goku no time at all to realize that Ginyu's technique sucks. He doesn't know how to fight with Goku's ki.

Ginyu-Goku thinks this body will give him 180k BP because that's what he read on the Scouter when Goku used the Kaio-ken. But not only does Ginyu not know how to perform Kaio-ken, he doesn't even know how to use Goku's ki at all. It's not his. It doesn't work the same way. In Goku's body, Ginyu's reduced to a distressing 23k BP when Jeice reads him.

He's not just failing to put out Kaio-ken power. He's getting his teeth kicked in by Krillin. It's embarrassing.

I've heard the theory go around that Ginyu started out weak and worked his way up via Body Changing anyone that was ever stronger than him, but I'm not convinced that's the case. Because this right here? This seems like a critical flaw. It's hard to believe he'd be entirely ignorant of this drawback if he's ever seriously used this technique before.

Ginyu being incompatible with a Body Changed host's ki doesn't seem like something an experienced Body Changer would need Goku to explain to him. In practice, the hypothetically awesome technique is bad for reasons Ginyu wasn't able to foresee, not unlike when Tenshinhan brought Shishin no Ken/Multiform to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. Or Goku's first time attempting Super Saiyan 3 in a living body. Cool in theory but a massive fucking oversight costs him the entire fight.

This seems more likely to be something Ginyu, the only real martial artist in his crew, developed in his own time and showed off to his men. Something he's never actually stress tested, that he's been sitting on and waiting for an opportunity to use in the field.

Whatever the case, it pins an unexpected and interesting capstone on the Ginyu Force. They're a group of clowns who can get away with clownishness because they were born into unparalleled privilege. And they're led by a shockingly well-educated and capable martial artist who's never worked the kinks out of his ultimate technique for lack of adequate competition in a universe that could rarely hope to ever challenge even his weakest man.

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

My (crack) theory is that Inho studied the footage from the last time Ginhu played, especially EVERYTHING Sangwoo did wrong and then did it ALL right to mess with Ginhu.

Sangwoo was out for himself (which got more and more obvious), while Inho was always supportive, even "playing" the bad guy during the second voting, so Ginhu wouldn't get hated on by the other players. He was always looking out for all the women and elderly, even saving his friend during the mingle game.

Youngil's death will haunt Ginhu, and then make him question it all once he finds out the truth.

(If the show is as crazy as I think it is, it will be Ginhu vs Inho in the last game, probably by design of the VIPs to make things more exciting and also to test Inho's loyalty. Inho will play for his brother's life, while Ginhu will play for the lives of the remaining players).

I can absolutely see that as realistic! Especially the aspect of In-ho being an "anti-Sang-woo" in some ways. Sang-woo became more obviously self-interested over the course of the games, culminating in open antagonism between him and Gi-hun, one of his oldest friends. In-ho most certainly would have noted how much trust Gi-hun placed in Sang-woo because of their relationship, and what actions on Sang-woo's part had broken that trust.

That's why, where Sang-woo voted to continue and never spoke to Gi-hun about it, In-ho approached him to explain his reasoning. Sang-woo figured out that the game would be Dalgona and chose not to tell Gi-hun, but In-ho informed the team of the final number for Merry-Go-Round. Sang-woo verbally berated a man grieving the loss of his wife, whereas In-ho physically defended a weaker player from two bullies.

Most critically, Sang-woo became more distant from Gi-hun over the course of the games, pairing himself with Ali over Gi-hun and refraining from sharing his thoughts. He solidified his own belief that he had to continue until Gi-hun couldn't convince him otherwise, culminating in his murder of Sae-byeok. But In-ho deliberately opens up more the longer the games go on, sharing the story of why he is (and really was) in the games. They work together throughout all the games. He allows Gi-hun to "win" and convince him that the games must be stopped, and when the vote comes down to him again, he votes X; he even saves Gi-hun's life by shooting the guards. He builds trust in all the ways that Sang-woo had destroyed it.

And yet it's still not enough for Gi-hun to choose him as his partner for the control room breach--Gi-hun, unlike last time, chooses his old friend over his new teammate. Based on his reaction (tensing his jaw and a tongue pulse), I don't believe In-ho expected this; he'd anticipated his groundwork would have been sufficient to win Gi-hun's trust, despite Jung-bae not betraying him as Sang-woo had.

In this, we can see that perhaps Gi-hun is more complex than In-ho had expected. In-ho seems to view him, as Sang-woo did, as simple-minded and naïve, "delusional" to think that trust and relationships mean anything, or that people are good. But by trusting Jung-bae, Gi-hun got much closer to the control room than he likely would have had In-ho come with him. Gi-hun placed his trust in the person who wouldn't betray him, like he did with Sae-byeok, and because of that, he almost succeeded; In-ho's betrayal would have failed, just as Sang-woo's did.

But whereas Sang-woo was just a contestant, on an (ostensibly) "fair" playing field, In-ho--like the 001 before him, Oh Il-nam--has the system behind him. So he too was able to fake his own death, and once again leave Gi-hun with "innocent" blood on his hands. Then, like Sang-woo did, he betrays Gi-hun and kills the friend that was trusted more than him--except this time he does it without destroying their relationship, because Gi-hun doesn't know who he is. And he makes Gi-hun watch. He succeeds in every way Il-nam did, and in every way Sang-woo had failed.

But while mostly In-ho parallels Il-nam and represents the "anti-Sang-woo," there is one thing he and Sang-woo share which might redeem him at the end. Although he helped Gi-hun survive the games, Il-nam ultimately wanted him to fail. He spends his last moments hoping and believing that Gi-hun had lost: that it was foolish and pointless to trust in humanity's goodness. Sang-woo, on the other hand, actively fights against Gi-hun at the conclusion of the games; but at the last, Sang-woo saw that Gi-hun was right--or at least that he himself was wrong--and kills himself to allow Gi-hun to live. He wanted Gi-hun to win.

And so does In-ho.

Buried within In-ho is a desire to be proven wrong that Il-nam did not share. Some part of him, which he has not yet accepted, wants Gi-hun to be right. If he can accept it before the end--if he can become less of Il-nam and a little more Sang-woo--perhaps it will be enough for him to become himself again.

[kudzucraft]

i’ve figured it out. I’ve pegged down my thoughts on TAY and the DS/3D remake of FFIV. They're my prequel trilogy. My Lucas Final Cut.

(yes even though it TAY's events come after FFIV. bear with me. i am going to be Long Posting)

TAY is not bad. It has a lot of genuinely Cool Stuff in it. Kain hanging out with Rosa and Cecil’s kid?? Golbez going on adventures with Rydia, Edge, and Luca? Fighting God and his army of clones in a tricked-out spaceship? That's fun. It's like Count Dooku or Mustafar or whatever. There's also plenty of stuff that rubs me the wrong way--the chronology is weird (why has nobody aged in the last 15 years), the plot drags, the gameplay is meh, and did we really need another alien race showing up in a That's No Moon--but it's fine. It also feels more like an accessory to canon than "true" canon, so you can take it or leave it.

The 3d remakes, however. My fucking. nemesis. i am ahab and those janky little models taunt me with their polygonal shambling. I need a hill to die on and this is my hill. I am launching harpoons with my mind.

There's so much to genuinely like, even love. And I recognize for a lot of people the 3d remakes, the DS remake especially, was their intro to the series. The DS version was accessible, introduced great QOL features, upgraded the mechanics, and (perhaps most importantly) debuted a much-needed new translation that is both beautiful and accurate to the original language. (The first line of the Mysidian prophecy reading "Born from womb of dragon's maw" vs. "Born from a dragon" makes a big difference!) I love the character's thought bubbles and the window into their minds it gives you--like, Kain on the moon feeling Zemus's presence? Holy fuck. 'Tis peak.

but ON THE OTHER HAND. the additions and changes. "Greedo shot first"-ass adjustments. to me. I built my impression of FFIV around the SNES and GBA versions, and if the DS remake were just a graphical and translation update, that would be fine. But it's not.

It adds...a lot. And it changes a lot. Takashi Tokita has discussed this in interviews about the DS remake. Apparently they cut down the original script by as much as 3/4 for the original version of FFIV because of space limits, and the DS remake allowed them, 14 years later, to "add in" some of the stuff that they couldn't have originally. (Takashi Tokita also says that he thinks paring down improved the script :P You can find his interview here.) Much like Lucas later stitching in state-of-the-art effects, it let the creators refresh their work with new ideas.

But in this case I think a lot of it was...artless. A few lines here and there that expand character motivations aren't bad, but there's quite a lot of them in the DS remake, ranging from a few lines to full cutscenes. The first example I can think of is when Cecil is talking to Kain after meeting with the king: the conversation pauses, and we get a flashback to a duel between them on the training grounds.

But I feel like in many places the more simplistic presentation benefited the story, because when you start to explain everything in detail the plot gets shakier. Sort of like a "midichlorians" moment. And a lot of the additional scenes and elements I quite like, or at least like the gist of, but it's kinda. pick and choose. I sure don't know how to feel about the fact that KluYa apparently introduced humans to All Magic, including summoning magic, and also invented airships, and also the Devil's Road. (EDIT i'm bobo the fool. he always was invented airships and the Devil's Road. DS ver. implies he taught the Mysidians magic but says nothing about summoning magic, I can't for the life of me find where I got that impression, it's not in the game scripts.)

Also. the chained flashbacks to Golbez's past, followed by the flashbacks to Cecil's past. The way the story freezes to show us all this is kind of obnoxious. We are still In The Giant Of Babil. Do we need to be shown all of this in such excruciating detail? Could you show-not-tell it, maybe? These retrospectives could have been spread out, or at least implied through a few extra lines between Golbez, Cecil, and FuSoYa. It's not that they're bad on their own, not really--it's just that they feel out of place, and the details are...a little shaky. I am sitting on the Giant of Babil face-to-face with an 8 foot tall Dark Knight, forced to confront the idea that a 10-year-old carried a newborn infant through the devil's road and threw him into the woods, and somehow that baby got found by not just anybody but the King Of Baron, and just by looking at the child the king correctly identified his mother (whom we had not seen in years). And just as I'm getting a little into Flashback Zone, wondering "damn, wonder what's going on with Mr. Corpsefly Born From A Dragon" and how Zemus planned to make use of a 10 year old, it's like OKAY we don't got time for dat. Kain's back. Five lines of dialogue--wait, no, there's more flash backs.

It is still a good game. It makes a lot of genuine improvements on the original. But the cuts and edits and add-ins, even if they are according to the creator's original vision, feel messy! And this is my hill. Just like Star Wars fans getting up in arms about Han Shot First or CG add-ins or the Hayden Christensen force ghost scene, it's the weird additions and changes from the original--even if they fit the story and were intended by the author and smooth out the transition to the new canon--I don't like it. Because I am a curmudgeon and a stick in the mud.

And yes this comparison WAS inspired by Golbez sort of Force Ghost phasing into his younger self when he leaves at the end of the game. at least unlike hayden christensen we actually know who that sassy child is supposed to be at this point

[tokiro07]

Ichi the Witch ch.19 thoughts

[I'll Get You Next Time, Magik! Next time!!!]

(Topics: narrative analysis - arc progression/world-building, character analysis - World Hater/Ichi, speculation)

Aww, the ceiling battle's over already? Maaan...

It makes sense, though. You gotta save something for later, otherwise you can't escalate and everything is either stagnant at best or a deheightening at worst. Zoro vs. Mihawk didn't explain what Haki was, it just showed how vast the gap in power and skill was between the early-game Straw Hats and the One Piece world's strongest fighters

Looking at it through that lens, Desscaras vs. World Hater accomplished its goal quite well. Like I said last week, what took everything out of Ichi was a casual attack for Desscaras, World Hater still comes off as a viable threat because they were able to harm Desscaras despite her overwhelming power, and both still have room to impress and surprise us because we only got a small sample of their capabilities

It also establishes that brute force isn't enough to contend with World Hater. We already knew that since they're a Magik and can only be defeated through their trial, but at least now we know that their trial isn't related to hitting them in any one target spot. As they say, "merely being the strongest isn't nearly enough to effect me"

What this means is that, while being strong may turn out to be a prerequisite to pass, another element will be vital for defeating World Hater. I think it goes without saying that Ichi will be the key to determining what that element is, since his entire role in the narrative so far has been to defy conventional wisdom and tradition, but whether that means that only Ichi can acquire World Hater or will simply facilitate someone else doing so (personally I'd bet on Kumugi) remains to be seen

The odd thing about this, though, is that if Desscaras couldn't hope to beat World Hater, why did World Hater leave?

This Calls for a Tactical Retreat

Theoretically, World Hater's strength should be inexhaustible, while clearly Desscaras was starting to run out of steam. Sooner or later, no matter what Desscaras threw out at them, World Hater should have been able to overtake her and eliminate her as a threat

Perhaps it was because Togeice showed up? Togeice is more analytical than Desscaras, so perhaps World Hater assumed she might be capable of figuring out their trial?

That doesn't seem very likely, since I don't think World Hater has any way of knowing who Togeice even is. If they aren't familiar with her or her abilities, they shouldn't be able to assess her threat level so easily, and given how nonchalant they've been against their other opponents so far, it's not like they're a generally cautious fighter in the first place

In fact, it wasn't Togeice's appearance that prompted World Hater to retreat - it was the disappearance of their target, the villagers. It was only upon noticing the villages leaving the barrier that World Hater decided there wasn't a point to combat any longer, even if it would have meant, again, eliminating major threats

I have two guesses as to why that might be the case:

World Hater can only exist in the world for so long consecutively, and didn't have time to chase down his targets after they'd escaped his barrier

Facilitating the escape of World Hater's targets is related to their trial

The first is supported by the fact that World Hater isn't just constantly warping towns day after day, but instead only appears once in a blue moon to target one or two at once. However, as far as we can tell, it's been years since their last appearance, but we know they're going to come back much faster this time simply by virtue of the story requiring it to advance, so a consistent hard limit on their presence seems somewhat unlikely

The second would definitely explain why he'd be in such a hurry to go, as even if there were another step to take to actually pass the trial, it would certainly be much easier to do once the first hurdle was cleared. However, nothing about World Hater's demeanor seemed to indicate that they were actually worried about that possibility, but this might be a matter of World Hater's character acting and lack of strong emotions

Either way, the incongruence of World Hater's decision to leave seems to carry some interesting implications about them that I hope will bear fruit later, but that really isn't the main draw of this chapter

No, the much more important element of this chapter is the new piece of world-building: the Magic Circle, or a Witch's inner world

Domain Expansion Lite

When we enter Ichi's inner world, we learn two things:

That it resembles Ichi's ideal form of a mountain forest

That all of Ichi's acquired Magiks currently reside there

I'm ecstatic that Inazuri and Uruwashi are both still around and not just completely dormant in their magic stones, as this means that there is still a method for both of them to still function as characters without necessitating that every acquired Magik be everpresent and crowding the narrative. It allows Nishi to use them on an as-needed basis rather than needing Usazaki to have them constantly and uselessly taking up panel space

I am curious how Nishi is going to use this concept, though. Ichi only ended up in his Magic Circle because he was knocked out fighting World Hater, but this is his third time passing out from using Uroro, and yet he didn't end up here before? That's a little odd. I assume he'll be able to come and go as he pleases once he has a bit more training and familiarity with magic, but to what end?

Does time move differently in one's inner world like it does in Bleach? Will he be able to train with his Magiks in there? Will he be able to manifest his inner world like a Jujutsu Sorcerer? Or is it just a way to let Witches commune with their Magiks and reflect on their characterization?

That last one is certainly the case if nothing else, as Ichi's is, again, based on his ideal scenario. It's his world, and it's shaped accordingly - crisp, clean air that's easy to breathe, rich soil that supports bountiful flora, and presumably any creature that Ichi could dream of hunting. It's everything Ichi could ever want

But will that be the case for every Witch?

Is the inner world always one's personal paradise, or does it depend on the circumstances? Ichi certainly didn't always consider mountain life to be his ideal, so perhaps does the inner world reflect one's state of mind?

What would we see in Desscaras' Magic Circle? If it's based on one's self-image, we might see a lavish palace surrounded by adoring fans, the way Desscaras seems to think people view her

If it's based on one's mental state, we might see the warped remains of her old life, informed by her drive to take revenge on the World Hater

Or, if it really is based on one's ideal, we might see what once was. A mundane little house in a mundane little town, and a mundane little family living their mundane little life. Would this be the only way that Desscaras could see them again? The only way she could talk to them and hold them as she once did? Or would it just be a mirage, a video on playback that she can't interact with in any meaningful way, merely a cruel reminder of all she's lost?

Depending on how Nishi chooses to play it, this might even be how Witches get their titles. Monegold's may be lined with gold, Togeice's may be a glittering tundra, and Desscaras'...well, I think you can imagine

I also have to wonder if perhaps this will play some role in the fight against World Hater. Perhaps retreating into one's inner world is a way to evade them? Or they'll be able to enter other people's inner worlds with their portals? They were the same design as the one Uroro pushed Ichi into to send him back to the real world, so maybe World Hater spends their time in their own inner world?

I don't want to read into this too much since...we literally haven't seen anything of it yet, but it provides such an interesting narrative opportunity that I can't help but look forward to how it develops further

And it seems that the same can be said of Ichi

You Haven't Seen the Last of Me

Ichi accepts his loss with shocking grace, believing himself to be the hunted rather than the hunter in this case. I suppose the fact that he doesn't have any grand ambitions helps, as he doesn't have anything to regret, but the fact that he doesn't even seem frustrated is a very interesting angle for his character

Instead, he seems more determined than ever. I know that's pretty standard shonen fare, but the transition is just so...seamless. Like it never occurred to him to be even the slightest bit downtrodden about the loss, he just calmly analyzed it and moved on to thinking about his next steps

Knowing that he's lucky to have lived to fight another day, Ichi presses his hands to the screen that he's watching the World Hater through and vows to gain the strength to one day hunt them down. World Hater, sensing Ichi's bloodlust just as Ichi could sense theirs at the beginning of their battle, turns to his unconscious body...

And smiles

Fellas, is it still yaoi if one of you uses "they/them?"

A few chapters ago I suggested that World Hater may see something in Ichi that they've been looking for, the missing puzzle piece in their life that would make them whole. This doesn't necessarily confirm that, but the World Hater is clearly pleased that Ichi is coming away from his near-death with the resolve to come back better than ever. Possibly for the first time in his life, World Hater has something to look forward to, a way to spend his time other than going through the motions of his usual raison d'etre of mindless destruction

And by the looks of it, I'm not the only one who noticed that

Lamb to the Slaughter

As the World Hater vanishes through their portal, Uroro offers Ichi a warning: "you're gonna end up a sacrifice," and then refuses to elaborate further, passing the buck onto Desscaras

Now, I won't say for sure that this is related to World Hater smiling, but my guess is that everyone has reached the same conclusion: whatever World Hater's trial is, Ichi is their best bet at figuring it out

As Desscaras pointed out last week, World Hater took unique measures when dealing with Ichi, as if they were scared of him, and in comparison were surprisingly casual in how they dealt with Desscaras. This suggests that Ichi has something that Desscaras doesn't, something that makes the World Hater actually consider the possibility that he might be in danger of being acquired

And so, just as Ichi is going to be willing to learn more about being a Witch, Mantinel is certainly going to be willing to teach him, but for completely different reasons: whereas he wants to get stronger, they want to fatten him up and use him as bait for the World Hater

Or at least, that's the impression that Uroro is giving. His word certainly can't be taken at face value, as he's already tried to get Ichi to turn against Mantinel a number of times, but if Mantinel is going to dangle a carrot in front of Ichi that Uroro thinks is actually a stick, then pointing out the stick to Ichi is a win for Uroro whether it's really there or not

Personally I think it would be interesting if Mantinel has a double motive, both trying to bolster Ichi as one of their own and raise him up as a scapegoat to take out one of their biggest threats at the cost of his own life rather than any of theirs. Putting a little bit of political drama like that might be a fun way to up the complexity of the narrative and potentially create a schism within the Witches Association as a whole, but again, I may be getting ahead of myself

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[mavyunivrse]

| Pile 3

Imbalance is a big theme here. Maybe between your current reality vs your desired reality. It’s showing that you have turned away from some people or completely cut them off. Disharmony seems to be quite present for you. Have you felt any resentment or bitterness towards anyone? Is it towards shifting creators or friends you’ve made in the community? Or maybe people around you that seem to have everything together in this reality and that’s hard to be around.

We all need isolation once in a while, but perhaps your relationships have suffered while you’ve kept to yourself and you might have some explaining to do or have been in the middle of it.

This collective seems to constantly have little to no energy with any amount of rest they get, and finishing tasks may feel like an obstacle. You’ve also probably faced creative blocks, inspiration hard to come by. Or you get lots of ideas but aren’t sure how to execute them. When was the last time you’ve felt pure passion for something, shifting related or not. I know this is a shifting reading but it feels like you should focus on your current reality just for a moment, see what comes out of it. You’re likely to regain your creativity with patience. You’ve been too hesitant to make any real decisions to get the ball rolling, take some time for figure out your wants vs needs. This imbalance is causing you a lot of anxiety, continuing down this route can lead to turbulence. Relect on what you need to change and remind yourself that all things are only good in moderation.

You may not know it but a strength you have is your relationships and groups. They’re ready to give you the compassion and support you need if you stop turning away from them. Problems you have been having in your social life are coming to an end, you’ll be able to resolve differences. I urge you to reconnect with people in and out of the shifting community, both are here to help you in this reality.

You guys are very adventurous and energetic—in your head. Something within you yearns to constantly learn. You have a curiousity for the world that you feel only shifting can fulfill with the amount of things you want to experience. But the inexperience you have in this reality could have stumped yourself as you may have a fear of the unknown and have you remain dormant. You may be the type to have a cool exterior but your mind is running incredibly fast, idea after idea, making you easily distracted. You have a lot of inner battles that a lot of people around you may not realise, this could contribute to the friction in your relationships. Communication needs to be done once you understand yourself currently and hurdle yourself over your mental obstacles. You’re gifted with so much intelligence that is being boarded down by your lack of movement. Gathering your resources and boldly moving forward sounds appetising to you, but actually doing it is a different story. You have so much inner strength, bring it to your body and the surface.

You fear stagnation and uncertainty but this is what you’ve been in for quite some time. What’s being pictured in your head is not accurately depicting your life. You’re likely aware of this and that there is something for you to conquer. I wouldn’t say you’ve been aimless in your goals, but you’ve definitely just been waiting to see where life takes you. But you’re not meant for that, you want control and are smart enough to know how to achieve things. But constantly putting your energy into your mental has left you immobile.

You could fear losing this reality and it’s comforts, you might be planning to shift to more intense realities. And you suppress this fear by masking it with the excitement you have for experiences to come, and it’s leaving you torn between two. A lot of your excitement has died down while being in limbo for a shift that you’re not necessarily working towards. For this collective I recommend looking into waiting rooms, detachment subliminals, adhd methods, prioritising your current reality for a bit and reconnect with grounded people.

Hidden knowledge card: learning to love yourself and have gratitude for the things you already have will bring in immense success and rejuvenation. That is long lasting too, as long as you keep being active. Self work never just ends. You’re going to feel at home very soon. There is a seeming large hurdle to go over but you should start it’s journey now rather than later, maybe it’s feeling bigger than it really is cause you’ve put it off for so long. You are being promised so much emotional stability, contentment, fulfilment and domestic harmony! This is extremely positive, it’s talking about paradise and wishes being granted. Take advantage of that right now and reach your happily ever after.

Oracle words: bittersweet, anchor, lazy, transformation, forward, overwhelmed, fatigue

Channeled songs:

Malibu | Hole

Paradise City | Guns N’ Roses

Monster | Paramore

Shout | Tears For Fears

Nightmares By The Sea | Jeff Buckley

IFHY | Tyler, The Creator

Alright | Kendrick Lamar

Thanks for reading! <3

My Masterlist.

– ℳ

[setaripendragon]

The Old Guard 2 - Reaction (Spoilers!)

So, I watched The Old Guard 2 last night, and after mulling it over for a day, I'm still... not sure how much I actually liked it?

Don't get me wrong, it's a decent movie, I watched the whole thing and didn't feel the urge to ragequit at all until the end, they did some interesting things, but perhaps it's because it's coming on the heels of a movie I rate incredibly highly, it was just... underwhelming.

So, I'm going to try and pinpoint exactly what didn't work.

Spoilers under the cut.

First thing!

Nile as the Last Immortal

This immediately hit wrong. I might have appreciated the... symmetry, if they'd kept Andy as the first/oldest immortal. That Nile arrives and that's when Andy loses her immortality because it's finally The Beginning of The End? There's a certain poignancy to that. A certain 'oh, I can rest now' to Andy losing her immortality.

Buuut they- they did not do that. And that just left me with 'Why?' Why is now suddenly the moment that there will be 'no more immortals'? How does anyone know that when no one knows where immortals come from in the first place? What is so goddamn special about Y2K that something that's been happening to humanity for 7000 years ends now?

And if the answer is 'they figured it out because Andy lost her immortality'... well, I'll be getting to that later.

Introducing Discord and Tuah

There is no way, going by the lore established in the first movie, that the others should be unaware of other Immortals. Nicky, Joe, Booker, and Nile should all have been dreaming about Tuah the same way Nile dreamt about them, and then kept dreaming about Quynh after she met the others. That? That was a beautiful bit of lore, that had so many implications to it that the first movie did the correct thing by not explaining. The interconnectedness of all the immortals, the hint that there's some bigger thing to it all than a simple accident of fate, the notion that something is pushing them together for a purpose.

That's not to say I didn't like Tuah, as a character. I even could see my way to liking the idea of expanding the cast of immortals, if they'd gone about it in a way that explained why no one was dreaming about the others, why Nile hadn't asked about them in the first movie. (I could get behind an explanation as simple as Nile asking 'why am I having weirdly repetitive dreams about a library/whatever?' and Andy saying 'I guess it's time to introduce you to the others'). I know we did get the tidbit that Nile was dreaming about the others, but that was specifically Discord attacking Tuah. Why was she not dreaming about them before?

That said, I really don't like Discord as a character? If you're going to take the mantle of 'Oldest Known Immortal' away from Andy, you have to do better than that! 'Discord'? Really? My issue with that incredibly juvenile nickname aside, she's introduced as some kind of foil to Andy? Her 'non-intervention' vs Andy's compulsion to help even when she's losing hope of making a difference? Could have been really interesting if they actually did anything with it? But the climax of the film had nothing to do with whether humanity is worth helping or not.

If you ask me, Quynh should have been the villain of this movie. We should have opened with a dream sequence of that scene we left off on in the first movie, and then cut to Nile waking up and being like 'Andy, Andy, I think Quynh's out, she's free' and then we could have had them try to find her while she (with Booker in tow, willingly or not) ran from them and left a bloodbath in her wake everywhere she went because she's gone mad and just wants to hurt the people who hurt her, and that includes Andy for not coming for her, and she's leaving these scenes of slaughter for Andy to find specifically because she knows it will hurt her.

And it felt... weirdly repetitive? We already had the 'Ancient Immortal Disillusioned with Humanity' arc in the first movie, it was Andy's, and the resolution of her arc was beautiful and poignant. It was Andy standing up and going first despite no longer being immortal because it's not about how long you live, it's about what you do with the life you have, and Andy remembers that she wants to help.

Discord... her motivations actually have nothing to do with her non-intervention, let humanity burn attitude. She's turned mortal and wants her immortality back? What for? Like, good fucking god, a huge theme in the first movie was the weight of years and tragedies on Andy and Booker, and Booker even says, in the text, that Joe and Nicky at least have a purpose in each other, but he and Andy don't have that. (Which, the amatonormativity inherent in that sentiment is sus, but I digress...)

Discord is older than Andy, and yet, we get... the only time I ever really get the sense that this is weighing on her at all is in the flashback to her just... standing there watching as they take Quynh away? She wants to keep living, but we never actually get to see why? Like, I could buy that even if she doesn't have a particular purpose or drive to keep living, she's terrified of death, but... she never acts afraid? The ending would have hit so much harder if Discord had run from Andy. An absolute refusal to engage in a head-on fight with someone who could kill her would have been a much better reveal for 'you just want your immortality back' than what we got. Especially after they spent the whole film building up the fake 'I want you to kill us all' thing to Nile.

WHICH IS ANOTHER THING!

Nile Can Take People's Immortality Away

What? No, really. What?!

It wasn't the wound that Nile gave her that was the first wound Andy got that didn't heal!

Nile stabbed her, and we get a whole half an hour of the movie and at least one if not two days of elapsed time in the movie before Andy gets the wound that doesn't heal. There's one moment, where everyone else is asleep and Andy looks at her shaking hand, that might, potentially be construed as a 'hint' that the wound Nile gave her isn't healing, but given that later, we get a pretty definitive scene of Andy noticing the stab wound she got in the church fight not healing and her panicking about it, I'm going to say that is the first injury to not heal.

They directly contradicted their own lore with this and it just... it made me feel like I was watching well-funded fanfiction, and not an actual sequel?

If it had been fanfiction, I might've found the idea interesting? Retcon which injury it was, and play with the 'what if', but this is the canon sequel! And, frankly, it would have been much more compelling if the reason Andy lost her immortality was because she... lost her will to fight, or even have it be because of Nile, and she is 'passing on the mantle' somehow.

Andy Gets Her Immortality Back

Did I like the plot of Andy getting her immortality back? Well, yes, I'm an Andy fangirl, I want her to live forever. Did I like the idea of a plot where Booker gets to give his immortality to Andy as a combination of repaying her for his betrayal and getting what he wanted in the end? Also yes. Did I like the way they handled it? Uh, no.

One: There is no universe in which Sebastian 'I had to watch my children die while being unable to save them' le Livre wouldn't have a complete fucking meltdown on learning that, actually, there is a way to give his immortality to someone else. Where was the pale-faced horror? The resurgeance of grief? The futile, helpless wishing? Hell, give me a scene where he screams at Nile for being born too late to save his son! Give me something!

Two: If they're going to give Andy her immortality back in secret, and leave us, the audience, in suspense as to whether it worked or not, we should have at least gotten a scene where she died in front of everyone. We should have gotten that breathless horror, the grief from the team, we should have been left in suspense for long enough to wonder 'oh, god, what if it hasn't worked?'

Ideally, it would be at a point in the film where there's only half an hour or so left so that we're left wondering if the final fight is going to be avenging Andy, if she's really gone. Or, hell, have it be in the final fight. Have Quynh be the one to kill her. Let's have that terrible, dawning realisation from Quynh that this is permanent, that she's killed the love of her immortal life, and the grief revealing to her that no matter how angry and hurt she was, she doesn't actually want to live in a world without Andy in it.

Then have Andy wake up. Let that be the climactic resolution to the final battle scene, because.

The Fight Scenes

One of the things I loved most about the first movie was the sheer, emotional weight to every fight scene. The introduction, with the stealth infiltration, where we get to see just how competent the team is, and then the ensuing bloodbath, which displays a different type of competence as well as hitting us with the full impact of 'they're immortal' and what that means in terms of having them as an enemy.

Then we get the fight scene between Andy and Nile on the plane, which is a testing back-and-forth, where every move is a conversation between them, Nile's desperation and denial, Andy's slow-growing joy at her tenacity, her almost playful responses, acting as a mentor, Nile learning from her despite her unwillingness to be there at all.

I don't think I need to get into the myriad purposes the fight in the church is put to. Andy's sheer skill, her ruthlessnes, her injury, her complete calm in contrast to Nile's panic. (And the juxtaposition of this happening in a church, her hiding behind an angel statue at the beginning, the Fear of God she puts into Copley and the other guy, the symbolism, ugh, my heart!)

And then, of course, the final fight scene, which, I'm not actually going to through and rant about everything they packed into it, because it's a long-ass sequence and that's an essay in its own right.

Which is such a contrast to the fights in the second movie. I think I'd have to watch it again to be able to tell you how many there were (unlike the first movie, where I could have named all four right off the bat), but the very first fight scene set the tone of wasting my time. They weren't telling us anything new with this scene? In fact, they were actually making me feel like the Old Guard were incompetent, with how long it was taking them to get the goddamn job done. Contrast with the fight in the church, which from Andy jumping in to killing the last guy inside took about twenty seconds.

I will grant, however, that the fight between Andy and Quynh was quite good. Could have been better. I wanted a fight between the two of them to hurt me, okay? I wanted to feel Andy's anguish. Or, even just to ache at the contrast of old friendly spars that echo into a fight where one of them is actively trying to hurt the other. But on the whole, I was engaged the entire fight, and it did feel like a conversation between the two of them, instead of a chance for the stunt coordinators to show off.

And the last fight scene? Andy is immortal, and has spent her entire 6000+ years of life as a mercenary. Discord might be older, but most of what we've seen of her has been avoiding fights and stockpiling weapons, and we find out that she's mortal.

I do not buy that Andy couldn't kill her.

One of the great things about the first movie was that we were shown repeatedly that these guys might be really good fighters, but they're not super-human good. They get shot, they get hurt, they get killed. The thing that makes them terrifying enemies is that they always get back up again.

But Andy couldn't touch Discord. And Discord was so fucking nonchalant about that fight? I just... don't buy that as the reaction of an ancient immortal who's recently found out she's no longer immortal.

Which brings me to...

The Ending

Fuck off. That wasn't an ending. That was a bullshit cliffhanger and they did not do half the work it takes to make a cliffhanger like that work. (Across the Spider-Verse did it right, and more insightful people than me have done essays about how they did it right, so I won't go into it here.) They didn't resolve... any of the plot threads in the movie except perhaps Quynh, and even that was only part of her storyline.

Also, having Andy get her immortality back just for Quynh to lose hers? Fuck off! That felt so cheap. 'Wait, we've given Andy back her immortality, quick! Gotta make Quynh mortal for that Angsty Tragedy!' There are a dozen better ways of playing on the tragedy of Andy and Quynh without burying your gays.

. . .

Conclusion

Well, I've figured out why I didn't like it. And I'm actually going to revise my assessment and say it's not a decent movie. It is, in fact, a Bad movie. It Does Not Make Sense. And the only reason it feels like a decent movie is because it doesn't have any blatant flaws until the end and it's riding on the coattails of the first movie.

If anyone wants to have a polite debate about this, I'd love that, but just remember that being an asshole about it is only going to make me double down.

[bitletsanddrabbles]

Question For The Fic Authors In My Life

I'm going through another serious "try to figure out how to bind books, particularly ones with words in them so I can still have my fanfic if the power grid goes boom" thing. Of course, I'm making my usual minimal progress (typesetting what? How? HUH? Why is this not as straight forward as it looks! *flail*), but I'm still lumbering forward under the naive assumption that I will get there one day.

Probably at about age 98.

The thing is the tutorials I'm reading keep tossing out all sorts of ethic niceties, and while most of them are (at least for me) pretty much 'duh' things (I still feel Anne Rice will sue me if I try selling someone's fanfic. Yes, I know she died. And?), some of them leave me kinda going "...???... Why would someone object to this?"

One of those things is fixing typos. Okay, yes, the subject came up in 'asking the author to make changes for you' section where it makes a bit more sense (I can see people not liking "I will make you a pretty bound copy of the story you made ten years ago, but only if you fix all five hundred typos first"), but I'm still kinda "Couldn't you just do that yourself? In the typesetting program? Why would someone complain about that?"

It could be (read: is quite likely) that there's just some nuance about the program or text importing or something like that and once I figure out more about the program (trying to learn Scribus, for the curious) a light bulb will click on and I'll be all "Oooooooh! Okay, makes sense now."

(I've also been kinda tired recently and trying to learn from a 100% written tutorial, so, eeeeeh. Yeah. Pound of tofu between my ears lacking structure just now.)

But it does make me wonder (as much as I'm capable of thought just now) how many people out, if they were to be gifted a bound book by someone, would want the typos fixed first? I mean, assuming it was an actual typo and not, for example, British English vs. American English?

So. Poll time.

[byemambo]

4Minutes EP. 6 - My Takeaways

Y'all...The way I was working OVERTIME trying to figure out how I wanted to explain my thoughts for this episode (this post is extremely long: take that as you will). So please welcome OG TymeGreat vs. NDE (near death experience) TymeGreat and their timelines (everything else under the cut!):

Great Version

Tyme Version

Key Events: Assessing the Timelines

I listed out key events that I felt matched up within each existing timeline (and I'm sure I missed more key events/details that aren't listed in my findings), no matter the person nor alternative reality they're in. For Great's timeline, the key events include:

Waking up to take his exam

Hitting Manee with his car

Receiving the call from Title

Korn being attacked

Great learns Tyme's identity as the attacker

Great confronting Tyme at the hospital the next day

Great confronting his parents for their crimes

Great renounces his ties to his family

While these events occurred regardless of the different decisions Great could make, what was striking to me was Great's distinct characteristics that existed in both timelines while also having characteristics individual to their respective timelines. For OG Great, he's extremely defiant and cynical, especially if he's able to get a rise out of his father for reasons prior to knowing about the business, I'm not exactly sure (except for him being the mistress's son before the first wife committed suicide).

Episode 6 vs. Episode 1

Given that we didn't get any scenes of him bonding with Korn throughout the episode unlike NDE Great, I can only imagine there's a bias towards Korn as the favorite son between the two where one listens and submits while the other vocal and disobeys. Along with being defiant and having the guts to gauge the wold with cockiness, he is also a coward that's easily persuaded and manipulated. This shows up most during scenes like the hit and run or when Title demanded Great to help get rid of Dome's body and in turn, become an accomplice to the crime.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 1

OG Great also operates on this mindset of being silver spooned his entire life more explicitly than NDE Great, and becomes hot headed when placed under immense pressure once he's unable to play mind games with his targets such as Tyme. Even though their hook up and Tyme leaking his sex tape caused a scandal with his dad's company, the amount of trauma Great has dealt with growing up (this kid never played a crane machine game so I can only imagine how lonely his upbringing was) resorts to him chasing after those dopamine hits and becoming shameless as a result.

One of the few times OG Great chose his own morals and acted upon them in the storyline was when he found out about his parents and their involvement with the scheme, but this decision only occurred when people he cared about died or got hurt, like Nan and Tyme. Because he had developed a short spanned codependency on Tyme (whether for more sex or because he found his serious demeanor amusing), once he had been left with nothing due to reasons beyond his control, he leaves his family behind after the confirmation of their crimes.

Unlike NDE Great, OG Great is self centered and only acts when pushed beyond his limits, but only if the consequences of that limit involves someone he genuinely cares about (this is the stark difference between Dome's demise versus Tyme's meltdown after Nan's death). Sure, people can argue that Great knows Tyme at a similar level of depth like he knew Dome (apart from being sexually involved with one another), but his interests peaks in Tyme once he finds out that he's seeking revenge against his father and finds that mere effort entertaining for him. In the OG timeline, Great's flaws directly causes his detriment in the end, getting shot by Dome's older brother Tonkla in vengeance.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 5

In Tyme's timeline, there aren't as many moving parts that we saw on screen as much as Great's (since their particular story is limited narrative through Great's perspective) but these events remain consistent in his story:

Tyme works a hospital shift

Den tells him about his NDE research

Tyme works the night shift with Great in his proximity

Tyme attacks Korn in search of Nan

Great confronts Tyme at the hospital the next day

What I found most interesting in OG Tyme's timeline was how linear and straightforward the events occurred in sequence, which would have been the case if Great never asked him about his occurring NDE symptoms like he did in the NDE timeline while being under Tyme's care. Tyme's prior knowledge to Den's research served as a seed planted in the back of his mind, which if Great hadn't asked him (if he chose to help Title get rid of Dome's body), Tyme would have went along with his plan and shelved Den's research with no intention in intervention. The difference in approach between OG Tyme and NDE Tyme was rooted in their initial encounters, both being Great bumping into Tyme and how it was handled.

If Great continued heading his way, Tyme's initial impression of Great would have been slightly annoyed (which we saw a preview of how he yelled at Great during the first cardiac arrest Great had when he bumped into Tyme and didn't help him). But if Great stopped to apologize and even help Tyme with the papers, there is a hint of consideration in that gesture, even if Great himself is a flawed person capable of doing bad things. For some, basic human decency isn't a mind blowing trait for people to fawn over, but this can be contrasted when Tyme asks P'Anne for his information and finally gets confirmation of Great's identity.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 1

Episode 6 vs. Episode 3

From the perspective of Tyme who's dedicated his personal life in bringing down the family responsible for the death of his parents, I'm sure having a painted image of what inhumane and vulgar things the family is capable of, Great's first impression as the younger son of the enemy is somehow normal? As if this man isn't capable of hurting a fly, let alone killing people like his father does (why did I think of fucking Lord Ozai and Prince Zuko when proofreading this loooooord someone send me to bed asap). Rather than treating Great as just a means to an end with no prior attachment and full intent in harming the family's reputation as OG Tyme would have, NDE Tyme's prior interactions with Great by him helping Tyme with his papers (the readiness to correct his faults while providing a solution to aid in the damage caused, big or small), Great bringing his hurt friend to the hospital without acknowledging his own injuries (a sign of selflessness and reliability) and asking Tyme about his symptoms related to his cardiac arrests and moments of NDE, there are layers being shed off of Tyme's preconceived notions about the family.

Episode 2

Episode 6

Not only are there layers, Tyme's curiosity peaks because why is the son of the family who killed his parents seemingly harmless and clumsy? Shouldn't someone of his background be more cautious and conceal himself more, especially when speaking to a stranger such as Tyme? Does he know what his parents do and the damage they have caused for countless families and victims? In comparison to OG Great who's callous and bold, NDE Great is soft and easily startled, therefore, needs a more calculative and somewhat honest approach to secure a connection to get closer to bringing the family down.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 3

Characterization: A vs. B

When writing my reflections, I found it interesting how TymeGreat's relationship develops within their respective timelines, especially how each encounter they had with one another fueled different emotions and residual feelings. In the OG timeline, their relationship is innately lustful with distance between them, their main objectives involve concealed vengeance, amusement in the series of events occurring between them and not being able to access the full story of the two worlds both individuals were a part of before their paths crossed.

Whereas in the NDE timeline, their relationship began with a curiosity that defied expectations and welcomed communication, such as asking intimate questions and offering valuable solutions to majority of their problems: Great asking Tyme about his cardiac symptoms, Tyme consulting Den about his research after Great's conversation, Great confiding in Tyme about his upbringing, Tyme revealing the cause of his parents' death, Great confronting his own family for their crimes and seeking accountability. All of these traits wouldn't have been present if that initial hit and run played out differently: they would have crossed paths regardless but their attitudes and motives would shape the state of their relationship.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 3

Episode 6 vs. Episode 5

However, there are innate traits that remained consistent in both characters. Great with his impulsivity and tackling his problems head strong, Tyme with his nonchalance and caring attitude towards the people he loves (such as his grandmother). What really caused the divergence of their whims were purely based in the circumstances they find themselves in during their initial encounters. When they met at the bar, Great's impulsivity charged the motion of their relationship, ending with his cowardice separating the two once Nan died at the hands of Samarn. Tyme's detached attitude that drove his girlfriend away from him and poses concern from Den as a fellow doctor in how he denies his patients of their own identity and autonomy, causes him to take advantage of Great's relations to the family, ending in his own death after denying the bribe by Great's father.

Episode 6

Episode 6

Episode 1

Despite it all, the most significant element that both Tyme and Great share is the leverage both have over one another through their emotional attachments, which may seem small in comparison to more flashy events within the storyline but for these two characters: it makes a world of a difference. When NDE Tyme reveals his identity during the ambush against Korn, which led Great to help Tyme find Nan and as a result, saving her life. This is critical as OG Great is inherently a coward with a dopamine deficiency and enjoys causing trouble for his father's reputation at his own demise.

Episode 4

When Tyme is willing to risk his life exposing Great's family to the press, Great reminds him of his grandmother, driving Tyme to accept the bribe from Great's dad and find safety at Aunt Ging's house together. Unlike OG Tyme, whose reserved and passive attitude enables his life to be filled with the absurd and mundane, that money is the driving force of life and the root of all evil that took his parents away from him, so what else is there to live for as long as he avenges his family?

Episode 5

Now for my questions for the last two episodes: if Great dies in the OG timeline and is actively dying in the NDE timeline, since Tyme's destined fate to die in the OG timeline has been altered once he's notified of Great's condition in the emergency room by Den, he has a chance of avoiding death that OG Tyme suffers from. It may be a stretch but look at the two hit men who targeted Tyme and Great.

Episode 1 vs. Episode 5

The hit man in episode 1 look significantly younger than the hit man in episode 5, but same facial hair? The shadow in the first image throws me off but it's freaky to speculate as it sent shivers down my spine whenever I got a better screenshot of them. If I put my two brain cells together: in the OG timeline, Tonkla targets and shoots Great but Tyme is also shot in episode 1, which makes me believe that their timelines are converging somehow as both of them enter their 4 minutes of limbo and their memories and experiences are warped.

In the NDE timeline, because Dome is saved and returns home to Tonkla, the only person reasonable in targeting Great would be Manee after she finds out which family is responsible for her son's involvement in illegal business (which her giving up her life savings and being given the 4th card during her ritual that calls for separation of loved ones). This separation in question is the separation of Tyme from Great as Great's fighting for his vitals to stabilize just as Tyme rushes to the OR?

Because NDE Tyme goes with his grandmother to Aunt Ging's instead of sending her on her own as OG Tyme does, both of them are technically off the radar from being targeted, or at least bought enough time to make a safe escape if Great's father goes back on his word outlined in the proposed bribe. Seeing as Tyme's wearing the same shirt in both timelines at this point, we're now waiting to see how this will play out, and I'm literally so excited to lose sleep all over again.

Episode 1 vs. Episode 6

If you made it to the end, pat yourself on the back! And if you've been actively reading my previous posts regarding my takeaways, I really appreciate the love they've been getting! I'm more than happy to hyperfixate on this series and help out with really digging deep in the details that could help those who are having difficulty following along with the series. Idk, y'all got to yell at Bible on Twitter then because he thinks he's so funny tweeting this:

If y'all would like to read more, check out my tags and thank you again for sticking around, see y'all next Friday or whatever day my brain finishes finalizing its thoughts to share with y'all :)

[calamityjimao3]

Writing Advice 8 World Building

World building is HARD. Part of the reason I write fan fiction is because it usually comes with a world built in so I don't have to do it myself. And the reason it is hard is two fold. 1. Consistency. Continuity. Keeping track of everything. You might have forgotten that all pigeons are blue but your audience has not and they will wonder about that pink pigeon until the story has ended and you never got back to it and then be sad. 2. It is a lot of work to list out the characteristics of a world and it is a lot less easy to keep track of than a list of character names. Technology, flora, fauna, cities, landscape, types of disasters, histories, magic vs science etc. That is all apart of world building and it is immense. You don't have to answer every single question and definitely don't info dump, but there is stuff you will need to establish in order for your story to be rich and inviting. So I guess the advice I am going to give, WHICH IS IN NO WAY ALL ENCOMPASSING ON THIS TOPIC, is to follow the logic. I recommend researching instead of calling it good enough until you have a world you could explain. What you need to know of course is going to be impacted by the story you are telling, for example if it is modern and about economics you should know something about a GDP. If it is fantasy and about trade you should have established staples to trade and be able to support WHY they are the staple. The frozen mountains are probably not a source of bananas. What really brought this to mind was I was discussing how hydrogen can burn on a spectrum we can't see so people had to hold brooms in front of them to see if they showed signs of burning so they could put the fire out. Now what if humans had never evolved the ability to see fire? I am operating under the assumption that we never tried to figure out how to use it before science really ramped up because it was just way too dangerous, so where does that leave us? Well, what do we use fire for? Heat. If we can't provide reliable heat then we would greatly reduce our ability to travel. We'd be stuck in warm or mild climates where clothing would have to be enough to keep you alive. We would also likely be more touchy because sharing body heat is a necessity so physical touch isn't really intimate. Animals might be raised for cuddling just as much as any other reason. Heat is also used for cooking. Would people evolve to be cool with raw meat or would we all become vegetarian? Would there be some meats we could eat and some that are taboo? (Looking at you, chicken). Light. Well, if we can't see it, it isn't giving off light in our spectrum, so we're screwed on that until someone invents electricity. But that also means electricity is going to be this ridiculous game changer. For the first time people will be able to conduct work like things after the sun has set. It would be a huge cultural shift. Smoking wouldn't be a thing. At all ever. We wouldn't be able to make basically any glassware using traditional methods and kilns would be out. Where does fire occur? So currently we know we like to set it., which would be a no go because we know how important it is to watch fires to see if they grow out of control and we can't watch them in this so I assume that no one is setting fires. Unless they are a criminal or a scientist and arson would be SUPER illegal because it would be unimaginably dangerous. But also naturally. Can you imagine a forest fire? The trees turning to ash and being able to feel the heat and no see what was causing the trees to curdle and darken? To see ash but not be able to tell what pieces would spread the fire or burn skin? I'd need to do a deeper dive to really build this world but that's a little plot bunny that snuck onto my farm that I figured would make a good example of the way you need to follow the string when building a world because if you don't your audience still will.

[generic-sonic-fan]

I know this might be niche/20, but... Do you feel writing Metaze (Metal Sonic/Blaze) as a romantic pair ? Thinking about it I was fascinated by their similarities and differences (also in main canon they've never met so it's open to freedom !)

Ah, I'm so sorry for not answering this in a timely fashion!

Regrettably, I'm actually writing an Omega/Blaze fic write now, which is sapping just about all of my very low tolerance for romance writing. However, I'd still love to imagine some headcanons for you!

He/him pronouns for Metal, but I'm happy to modify if you'd prefer different ones!

Blaze x Metal Sonic (Metaze) Headcanons!

I like to imagine they met after Metal ended up in her dimension due to shenanigans from one of Eggman's experiments with the Chaos Emeralds.

Blaze shows up after feeling the disturbance in dimensions and finds him busted up in a crater. She does remember Sonic mentioning something about a robotic copy. . .

But when Metal Sonic gets up, he doesn't attack.

He's doing two things- attempting to reconnect to the Eggnet, and frantically searching his databanks to recognize this purple cat in front of him. He fails both.

Blaze, hesitantly, holds out her hand.

He takes it.

She leads him back to her palace. On the way, she explains where he is, who she is, and where she's taking him.

(She leaves out the part about being Sonic's friend. Something tells her he doesn't need to know.)

Once in the palace, she finds a notepad and pen so that he can finally respond.

She asks him if he's alright.

He replies, "status: operational."

"Yes, but are you alright?"

She spends the next ten minutes explaining, logically yet warmly, exactly what it means to be "alright" vs "not alright", answering any questions and rebutting any constructive criticism he might have of her definition.

She then waits patiently as Metal stares at his paper and pen.

He writes, "I am alright now. How did you explain so well?"

"It wasn't an intuitive concept for me either, at first," she replies. "I had to figure it out for myself."

And that's when Metal falls head over heels right there.

I imagine the following days are very little-mermaid coded. Blaze takes Metal on a tour of the palace. Seeing that Metal is instead listening intently instead of merely putting up with her for formality's sake (as so many in the royal court often do!), she begins talking more about things that interest her, like her favorite books.

Metal is enraptured by the way she talks. More accurately, the way she treats him as a person. She even waits for him to respond with his pen and paper instead of talking over him!

And she asks him questions as well! She seems genuinely interested in getting to know him! Not Sonic, but the real him!

. . . for better or for worse.

He has to struggle with the game of "how much can I share without giving away that I'm hard-coded to serve a megalomaniac villainous overlord."

But thankfully, Blaze doesn't pry. She understands- she wasn't so eager to share much about herself before she made her first friends either. She doesn't push it.

Moving onto more general headcanons I see for them:

They, as a couple, exist in a comfortable introverted silence.

Yet in between those comfortable silences, they share very sophisticated conversations.

I've always imagined Metal being a bit high-brow about art/literature if he was ever given the chance to be.

And I think Blaze would love discussing the literary techniques of her favorite books.

I think she'd like to read to him. He finds her voice so soothing.

She feels awkward about showing affection in traditional ways, so it's actually Metal that is the super doting, romantic partner of the two.

He loves getting her flowers and holding her hand. Classic, I know.

In return, she enjoys leaning against him. While standing, while sitting, pretty much just whenever.

The first time he felt her purr just about caused him to short-circuit.

As Blaze gets more comfortable with him, she starts to wrap her tail around his waist, and on rare occasions while alone, to nuzzle against his muzzle plating.

Anyways, I also headcanon that they LOVE dancing together.

Please, for your entertainment, imagine Metal in his Neo outfit dancing in a traditional ballroom style with Blaze in her own formal attire.

He's normally a very deferential partner but while dancing I think he'd love to take the lead. Spin her around. Dip her gently towards the floor.

All and all, a very soft and low-key couple, provided that Eggman doesn't interfere and reality comes crashing down.