#at least its consistently inconsistent

[viiviidlights]

this is random but -- I'm 90% sure you're 1-3 hours ahead of me

you usually stop responding some point in 9:00-9:30 pm for me (it's currently 10pm at time of sending), & for some reason my brain decided Yeah No You Definitely Go To Sleep At A Reasonable Time (11 pm), so I've been thinking you're 2 hours ahead of me

but it just occurred to me. you might go to sleep earlier than i do (I'm *supposed* to go to sleep @ 11 but I usually can't sleep until after midnight), OR you might stay up just as late as I do. except my brain ruled out the second one bc you're too consistent to have a sleep schedule like mine. you might be consistently going to sleep at midnight tho idk

fun side fact, this is also a thought process / pattern recognition i go through w/ most people i interact consistently with lol. eventually I start recognizing the schedules to some degree. most people i know online are more consistent than I am shshsh

Imma be so real this is probably accurate but also I first saw this at like midnight in my timezone (EST [UTC-5, but -4 during DST]) and was very confused. Until I actually read it again and processed it fhfjfjfjfj bc I do the same thing when I figure out my mutuals are different timezones (I also can generally guess when my moots are busy with school bc a lot of yall are younger than me).

But yeah I do generally cut off most coherent responses around 10 or 11 pm most of the time (and when i was still in school i was usually asleep by 10 or 11 anyways), usually because my brain shuts down writing wise, but there are exceptions! During the summer especially (which im on now), I stay up a lot later though so even if im not writing, you might see the occasional notif of a like or a reblog on a post or maybe something lower effort fjfjjfjfjfdj

[autisticlee]

I need a friend (or maybe actually a life partner) thats super consistent/scheduled, not flaky, probably not disabled with unpredictable flare ups/energy issues, someone with energy who can plan and get stuff done. because I cannot do it myself. I need someone very close who is like this so they can help me do things I want or need to do. come over in the morning to exercise like go for a walk or swim or kayak. come over to help me make food when they realize I forgot to eat. come over and help me change my bed sheets. sit with me while I work on something and keep me focused or help me get done easier. plan a time to hang out or go somewhere and be here at that exact time instead of forgetting or canceling.

I NEED consistency in my life. I cannot provide it for myself. I know there's people out there who are like this. the autism in me craves it. but the adhd in me rejects it and always wins no matter how hard I try. having unpredictable physical flare ups doesn't help. trying doesn't do anything. people make it clear to me that it doesn't look like I try at all. that proves how useless trying has been. I need an external force that is beyond my control. alarms and reminders are in my control so they never work. I can't be consistent with myself and flake out on myself, beyond my control. but when it comes to other people, i'll push through and stick to things for their sake. I need a separate entity that has more control over the situation. someone to do with me and not just "remind" me. but also someone that won't push me too hard or let me push myself too hard. remind me to stop and drink/eat. don't let me push through pain. remind me it's ok to rest. etc.

but finding consistent people is so hard. I can't seem to do it. I only find and attract flaky, inconsistent people. I don't know what i'm supposed to do about it. they want me to be their consistent, nonflaky friend that they can flake out on. i'm told i'm always there for them whenever they need me, and they appreciate it. but I can never say the same about them.

no one wants to help me or "hold my hand" mostly because they can't even help themsleves and expect me to do everything for them, but also people who could help just dont like or care about me enough. i'm a burden to people who don't care or value me enough. I need someone to magically care so much about me that they enjoy being my solid pillar of consistency, support, and companionship. they wake up and WANT to see me immediately, so they come over and wake me up to make breakfast and go for a walk and do chores at their house together and etc.

you can't just wait and they will show up like a pokemon you can catch and turn into your loyal companion. you can't just make someone like you. but I don't know how to make anyone like me/find people who like me for who I am and don't have the energy and spoons endlessly sort through everyone in the world for the chance of finding one i also like and feel comfortable with. I need a person that either doesn't cost energy to interact with or somehow gives energy. that'd so hard to find.

I do try, though. but it takes at least a month or two to recover from the energy and effort it takes to reach out to a single person, especially since it's me doing most of the work. so the process is slow and is wasting my life away. I don't care about the possible "one day" because i'm struggling NOW. thinking about "one day" hasn't helped improve my life one but over the past 15 years or more, i've been told "one day"

it seems to be all about either luck or being privileged to have the energy and right personality to attract the right people. I have none of those things. so I just continue to struggle to exist within my own chaos alone. merely barely surviving and not at all living.

[princesjackpot]

I need to sleep its like 2am I have been doing turn arounds for like two hours now 😭

[svtskneecaps]

i'm mourning the loss of purgatory's Government Assigned Team Dynamics (because i'm a sucker for shaking up dynamics and the forced interactions of people who may not otherwise have spoken) so please indulge me with your dream egg parenting group i'll start, bagi tina and rivers [i'm right]

[jaded-of-mara]

tfw you build up a cosplay idea in your head and then you take another look at the source material and it's not at all what you were picturing

[erb23]

You know, if I didn't live through TA's stream of concious tweeting and tumblr posting about the show and his intended reading of every episode I might've been more on board with some of the writing in later seasons.

[m1lfandcook1es]

Ranting for a second in the tags on this, don’t mind me

[satsuha]

to no one's surprise, i've actually made a chart of how the octopath 2 protagonists call each other and themselves in japanese before but i was missing some stuff so i just went and polished it up

some characters aren't very consistent with it and use multiple nicknames, so i'll go into more detail below

i'll talk about personal pronouns first just to get it out of the way

all the female characters use watashi with the exception of agnea, who uses a more cutesy/younger-feeling atashi. notably, ochette uses the watashi pronoun written out in hiragana (わたし) as opposed to castti and throne's kanji (私), which also gives her a younger/informal feeling compared to the other two

all the male characters use ore with the exception of temenos, who uses watashi (in kanji form) which indicates that he speaks more softly and politely than the other 3. ore tends to be a very masculine pronoun that also has a rougher feel to it. osvald, partitio and hikari all use ore in its kanji form (俺), and the same logic as above applies; this gives them more of a mature/serious feeling compared to the katakana or hiragana form of ore

now i'll go over each character and what they call the other protagonists!

ochette (i swear to god the others aren't this long ochette just has a lot of very specific nicknames)

ochette has nicknames for almost everyone, but she is very inconsistent with it. she does seem to call everyone by their proper names at least at some point (it's a bit harder to tell with hikari in the voice lines since she just adds an "n" at the end)

the nickname she uses for castti is ofukuro (おふくろ), which is a very casual and somewhat boyish way of calling one's mother. ochette uses this word when referring to castti's motherly tendencies as a whole but also uses it as a nickname at times

she typically doesn't use a nickname for throne, but does use the nickname munmun (むんむん), which is an onomatopoeia meaning stuffy, sultry, etc. once during the banter "the scent of danger"

the nickname she uses for osvald is tottsuan (とっつぁん), which is a casual nickname or term for an older man. similarly to castti, she doesn't always use this nickname and does refer to him by name sometimes

with partitio, she struggles to say his name during the banter "nickname" and settles for particcho (ぱるてっちょ), which partitio then rejects. in later banters you can see that she settles for anchan (あんちゃん), a casual nickname for an older male/brother, and also calls him parti-anchan sometimes. but you can see in later banters that she learns to pronounce his full name!

with agnea, ochette alternates between her proper name and agu-nee (アグねえ), which seems to be a mix of her name and nee-chan/san, which means older sister

ochette pretty consistently calls temenos by just his proper name, but does use the nickname meitantee (めいたんてー) or detective once during the banter "the case of the missing jerky"

with hikari, ochette uses the nickname hikarin (ひかりん), which is pretty much just a cutesy nickname using his name. she seems to use this quite consistently compared to her other nicknames

castti

castti doesn't use many nicknames or honorifics with the exception of agnea and hikari, who she adds -chan and -kun to respectively

-chan is a common honorific used for girls or younger boys, and mostly just implies that castti sees agnea as a lot younger than the other female characters

-kun is a common honorific used for boys or in workplace situations, and in this case she seems to use it for hikari for a similar reason as agnea - because she sees him as younger than the other male characters

this is just helpful to know in comparison to other characters' ways of speaking, but castti uses the kanji for -kun (君) instead of the hiragana, which mostly just shows she has a more mature way of speaking

throne

throne mostly does not use nicknames at all, but she is very consistent with calling osvald sensei (先生) (teacher, or as the localization puts it, professor) - while she does use his name sometimes, she will always affix -sensei at the end of it

she's used the nickname meitantei (名探偵) or detective with temenos at least once, but usually sticks to his name

the other nickname she seems to use quite consistently is with hikari, who she often calls prince (プリンス) (it's actually just the english word prince transliterated), although she still uses his name sometimes. this is more playful and teasing than a proper title for a prince (such as "your highness/denka" or "prince hikari/hikari-sama", which other npcs use for him)

osvald

osvald seems extremely averse to calling names at all, being the only traveler that does not say the other travelers' names at all during battle. in banters, he swaps between using names and just referring to others as kimi (you) i think there are a few travelers who he's actually never referred to by name at all but i just filled in the whole row with their proper names since that's what he calls everyone else

partitio

for the most part, partitio doesn't use any nicknames or honorifics with the other travelers but with one exception: he uses the titledanna (旦那) with osvald, which means "master [of the house]" and was typically used to refer to one's husband (when used by a married woman) or a male customer (usually of higher status). he seems to use this nickname very consistently, even calling him osvald no danna in the rare occasion he does decide to use his name

agnea

agnea, being the youngest traveler, refers to almost everyone with the honorific -san (さん), which is just a general polite honorific used for both those older and the same age as oneself. the exceptions are ochette and partitio, who she doesn't use an honorific with at all, likely because they feel much more casual to her

hikari is the other exception, who she uses the honorific -kun (くん) with. as opposed to castti's usage of it with hikari as explained above, this can be seen as a more casual way of calling a male friend/acquaintance (commonly seen when girls call their male classmates). she uses the hiragana version as opposed to castti's kanji version, which makes her seem younger and more casual

...i'm not sure if this is a mistake but there is ONE voice line where agnea forgets to add the -san honorific to temenos' name but considering how consistent she is with honorifics otherwise i'm going to chalk this up as an error

temenos

temenos mostly uses everyone's names without an honorific, with the exceptions being agnea and throne. he uses the honorific -kun (君) with them - as opposed to castti using it with hikari, temenos uses it for two female characters which makes the honorific imply he's using it in more of a workplace/school-like meaning. -kun isn't used for women in the same casual way it is for men, so this implies temenos sees them more as students or subordinates

that being said, he isn't super consistent with it and does refer to agnea without an honorific at least once

he does use a one-off nickname with partitio during the banter "president", where he uses the title -shachou (社長) meaning... president (unsurprisingly. i mean he also does this in english)

hikari

like osvald, hikari uses everyone's names without an honorific. however unlike osvald, he's very clear with using everyone's names and uses them very consistently

some miscellaneous notes...

a couple of nicknames also mirror their octopath 1 counterparts - throne calling osvald sensei is reminiscent of how several characters (mostly alfyn and tressa but also therion on occasion) call cyrus, and partitio calling osvald danna is reminiscent of how alfyn calls olberic. in hindsight it makes a lot more (literal) sense for partitio to use danna with osvald than the latter since partitio is a literal merchant and osvald is a married man lol

agnea skipping the -san honorific with partitio also mirrors what tressa does with alfyn, but i think it's funnier with agnea because the age gap is doubled 😭

and that's all! i think i may have missed some things (because unfortunately my friend has my cartridge right now and i have to rely on youtube footage...) so if anyone notices anything, please let me know!

i'll also put some personal observations/headcanons in a below reblog since i want to keep this one as more objective

[mangocurist]

thinking more about s6 end and how it truly wouldnt have happened if it had been anyone else but zam setting the server in motion with her oath of pacifism.

she really was the perfect person for it, not only because of her natural determination and unwillingness to give up but also because of lifesteals natural little ecosystem of chungi versus good players- in that system, zam is realistically somewhere in the better players. shes better than a lot of people give her credit for, being smart enough to be the second of only 2 people to ever kill flame as well as matching mapicc head on and almost beating him despite him being considered much stronger than her, as well as surviving 5v1 and 6v2 impossible situations for much longer than other players could in her situation. and yet she consistently lowers herself and her skill level to do things inconsistent with her relative pvp skill. she keeps building mats in her echest instead of filling it all with battle material. she loves spawn and spends basically every stream returning to it at least once. shes constantly building and repairing it and has a shulker filled with dirt just for it, and though s6 has shown the bulk of this sort of disconnect zam has with other players of her own skill level, its always been evident. had it been another chungus or lower skilled player who had taken the oath of pacifism- just how long could they have lasted? they wouldve ended up farmed for hearts or staying away from spawn, or otherwise living only off the kindness of higher skilled players. what if it was another higher skilled player? none of the current 'skilled' ls players are like zam in that they dont like taking risks or changing their roleplay style. the battle, the thrill of stealing and killing and looting, is where their skill lies, and changing that to play a role that will almost certainly result in their downfall on a server like lifesteal is borderline unthinkable for almost every player. even if they had, what was the chance they would stick to it, in the end?

thats why zam is such a compelling character, such a compelling actor and streamer, and yet, so hard for her peers to understand her. its because shes willing to throw her skills away and play a role she knows she can lose in. she allows herself to be human, a player instead of an ideal. unlike other lstealers, who stick to what theyve always known, elevating themselves with the knowledge of their kills, zam takes every chance she gets to take a different route and let her choices change her; and through her passion and determination, others followed her. if it had been anyone else, this ending wouldnt have hit as hard as it did.

but because it was princezam, the one who had always done what was best for the server, the one who had stuck to her goals all season and allowed herself to be cracked open and destroyed from the inside out, this seasons ending truly felt whole and deserved. after everything thats happened to her all of lifesteal, this ending was her happy ending.

[serpentface]

Notes solidifying commonly used armor types in Imperial Wardin because I have been remarkably inconsistent with it.

Most armor is in lamellar or scale form. Scale has a longer history here and is at least Claimed to have been invented here, though lamellar is more widely used in the contemporary (largely due to offering greater mobility and ease of repair). High quality and expensive armor uses iron for its protective components, cheaper variants utilize hardened leather in the same formats. You'll occasionally see lamellar made with bone or horn, but this is purely ceremonial.

Padded linen suits that are stuffed and/or thickly layered supplement or replace other armor options. They are not terribly resistant to penetrative blade strikes but still offer a good deal of protection, and in some cases can actually absorb handcannon shot better than iron or leather. They are expensive and effort intensive to create and obtain, but less prohibitively so than iron armors.

Linothorax-esque armor (not pictured) has a history here and some use, it tends to be more high-end and similar in overall structure to lamellar cuirasses.

Military does not have standardized/state provided armor sets (outside of a few small warrior orders consisting near-exclusively of nobility who could afford it anyway) and in most cases it's bring your own armor/weapons. Commoner footsoldiers are extremely unlikely to have any sort of full suit and will often invest exclusively in a helmet, spear, and shield without any additional armor.

The combination of lamellar armor and a padded linen undersuit is mostly utilized by heavy cataphracts and people trying to look similarly hard. It does have benefits on foot of offering nearly full-body protection without Tremendous cost to mobility, but is still a thick and awkward garment (also stiflingly hot in the summer). Full body covering like this is rare in the eastern Inner Seaways peoples and is so deeply associated with heavy cavalry that a lot of people think it looks silly in comparison to letting your bare legs hang out. This is beginning to be acknowledged as a viable counter to the increasingly viable use of handcannons.

Mail exists in this setting and has existed for a long time but has extremely limited and recent adoption here, mostly on the scale of 'I have connections and got this Cool Exotic Armor from overseas'.

[live-emotion]

There really are more and more examples of gen AI usage in Live Emotion the closer you look, and it seems to be happening more with recent releases, or at least it isnt being touched up by actual artists as much anymore.

Heres some examples from this street background showing some common signs of AI! For reference, this is the full background image (Thanks to the Wiki for the source!) And of course, who knows if Live Emotion is using AI, I certainly wouldnt accuse them of that would I??? Lets just use this completely normal background illustration to study what could be signs of AI shall we?

Might not look too bad at first glance right? But when you look closer:

Uneven, unconfident, wobbly awning with inconsistency shapes for the draped part (particularly on the left).

A shadow on the brickwall thats not coming of of any visible object! How interesting! (its not the telephone poll to the left of the image, and that is at a different depth). Fake shadows and varying light sources are a sign of AI.

Lots of inconsistent brick sizes (thats not how bricks work). Notice also how the bricks are coloured. Especially on the right most building, there is a patch that is much lighter/brighter red, but it doesn't line up with any of the actual bricks. Anything that has an extremely consistent, well known, real life pattern to it can be a clear sign of AI usage when its incorrect.

Every window has an exhaust fan (excuse my lack of architectural lingo) except the one on the top left. Also, notice the different heights and widths of the windows! Particularly the bottom left window is a lot smaller, and the bottom middle window has an odd little nubbin in the bottom left corner of the windowsill.

What unique architecture, look at how it simply melts into itself with a lovely little floating ball detail on the roof. The way that the lighter part of the exterior perfectly lines up with the vertical line of the same coloured building in the background also commonly happen when the AI gets confused and merges two shapes together. Shapes and colours blending into eachother with no clear definition or hierarchy of depth is a common sign of AI.

Lots of strange unexplainable particule effects/dots strewn about the image.

More incredible windows where the brick texture melds into the border of the window, and some of those borders are also blending into the surrounding brick. Areas with similar colours will often blend into eachother unnaturally with AI generates images.

Bonus round of spot the difference using the Skate event background pointed out by the wonderful people over at the Live Emotion Wiki! Dont you just love when the entire architecture of your city changes at night time?

Flick between the two images and see this magical city transform with the power of badly disguised Gen AI! (boooooo!! ewww!!!)

Any one of these things on their own is fine, especially coming from growing artists! But certainly not something you expect to see to this amount in a game thats making so much money from a big company right? And that's just a couple parts from two backgrounds!

But again, what do I know! Its AI generated

[genericpuff]

Rachel's art regression actually makes me so sad because yeah she always had problems with anatomy but at least her style used to have personality back then

It's actually so fascinating to look at her older art because on the one hand, to her credit, she was INCREDIBLY prolific, she made SO MUCH STUFF to the point that we're STILL finding new stuff all the time, it's actually really impressive; but on the other hand, she also clearly didn't really have a focused direction, she was kind of just trying different things waiting to see what would stick, and eventually LO was what won the lotto. But unlike previous works where she could pick them up and drop them at her own time, she was contractually obligated to LO and it forced her to meet crazy strict deadlines, so I think in a way (at least in my opinion from what I've been able to glean looking at her work from the past several years) she almost lost a lot of what she was capable of doing back then because she proceeded to spend all of her time for YEARS working on LO.

I do think she'd be fully capable of returning to that older art style, but the reality is that that style also, like LO, existed through inconsistency. She was always trying and doing different things and you can tell a lot of it was rooted in both trial and error + indecisiveness. As much as she's talked about "streamlining" the production process of LO in previous interviews, it's also very clear in its inconsistencies - as well as her older work which was also inconsistent, for better and for worse - that she never actually learned how to streamline. Unlike artists who you can at least look at and understand they have a "process" that they follow every single time, she just does not seem to have that.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing, I think it worked well for her when she was doing freelance and standalone illustrations / conceptual art. The "personality" in her work back then was her just messing around with things and doing whatever looked good, and it often paid off through beautiful illustrations and concept designs.

But that sort of approach doesn't work so well when you're trying to do a long-form comic with unique characters and a distinctive art style which is being worked on by multiple different people. Something like LO demands workflow consistency and a production pipeline with steps to follow and standards to practice, and that's not something that Rachel has ever really been good at, even before she started LO.

[trans-rites]

Compleation, from Surgery to Paint Job

So like, in Scars block and before, Phyrexian oil is depicted as having several consistent properties. First among them is infection. This has been consistent throughout all of the oil's history in magic. Another is transformation. Phyrexian oil is actually a soup of nanobots that take the place of your bodily fluids, and in doing so, form a link to the oil's group consciousness.

Note that I didn't say hivemind. See, your mind remains, however changed. The oil doesn't puppeteer you (and if that does happen, you can probably blame Sheoldred. Sorry, Venser.) What it does instead is fill your mind with echoes of Phyrexian history, from as long ago as Yawgmoth and even before. In this way, you* remain. Only, you aren't quite the only thing in your body anymore.

*(I admit that in some depictions, Phyrexians are portrayed as mindless puppets—but in others, some self survives. What do we get from that? Up to you, but to my mind, it means either that it varies, or that those stories are from the perspectives of assholes. Or both.)

POV: You're Ashnod, and your boss is getting even worse lately Art by Jeremy Wilson

Still, whether you think Phyrexians are the people they were (or even people at all), one thing is inarguable: phyresis itself isn't compleation. Rather, the sickness compels you to seek compleation, like a salmon swimming upstream when it knows its time is soon.

Or at least, that's how it was.

So What's Compleation Then?

Well, pre-2023, compleation was the 'end point' of Phyrexian growth: the imago of the life cycle, a complex surgical process whereby your body would be transformed. Repurposed. Your skin may be replaced, or plated with metal sheets; your viscera filled with tubes and cables for more efficient transmission of fluids.

(Notably, if you happened to be a robot beforehand, compleation would often involve grafting flesh and bone to your already-metallic skeleton. Phyrexians are liminal creatures.)

Another truth: among incompleat Phyrexians (organisms born directly from the oil, or those infected by phyresis), compleation was an honour, a sign of maturity and rank. Only for enemies of Phyrexia is it a punishment.

After ONE though, there's (ironically) more just one answer.

Rona, Sheoldred's Faithful by Ryan Lee, a.k.a. 'easily one of my top five ways to wake up.'

See, ONE (and DMU before it) changed up a lot of New Phyrexia's art style. Gone were tattered, broken dolls like Shattered Angel, replaced with Elesh Norn's new 'mommy bait' design (Have you seen how she gets less 'gross' and more 'MILFy' with every new piece of art?)

Worse though, in my mind, is what happened to compleation. In ONE story chapters, Nahiri's hands just sort-of... turn into swords after her exposure to the oil. Meanwhile Jace, after being infected by a black Phyrexian of all things, begins developing Surgical Bay-esque stalks. Why? It's not like Phyrexia can't turn flesh to metal (read: Memnarch), but never like this.

Yes, there's excuses. Yes, Jin-Gitaxias launched a software update through the oil. And yes, it's possible to theorize ("Jace's blue mana caused changes in him common among blue phyrexians," "Norn's fear of flesh caused a design shift in Orthodox phyrexians," "Nahiri's arms just did that.") But I don't think we should have to bend over backwards justifying what to me reads as plain inconsistency.

And Boy Is It Inconsistent

Because there are recent cards like Vivisurgeon's Insight (Adam Burn), Evolved Sleeper, and the above Rona that honour previous depictions of compleation and phyresis! But—with no disrespect intended to the brilliant art and talented artists—cards like Furnace Reins (Brian Valeza), the story articles mentioned above, and heck, most of the March of the Machine card gallery do the opposite.

I mean, what's even happening in Furnace Reins? Urabrask's new black and red Gundam aesthetic is spreading over that minotaur like a mold! Where is that metal coming from?!?!? Or is there mycosynth making it that I just can't see? Am I going crazy? And am I wrong for being disappointed when story articles describe 'peeling off' Nissa's metal plates to reveal basically undamaged skin underneath? She's not even bald anymore.

Please don't mistake me for hating Magic story. Believe me, I couldn't write this essay if all I felt was hate. Magic has me climbing the walls with how much I care about it. But oh my god, do I get the feeling that not everyone at WotC feels the same way.

This is hardly a call to action, and certainly not a request to further harass anyone who works at Wizards. What it is is a composition of my thoughts and feelings on a subject I'm desperately passionate about, and the suggestion that you check out some Magic story that still very much deserves to be read. Places like MTG Lore are a great place to do that. You should also check out Transformation, Horror, Eros, Phyrexia, a friend's essay that I still think about regularly.

Thanks for reading. And remember, there's nothing normal about liking Phyrexians...

[marsberrysoda]

SOTM has confirmed Tales from the Pizzaplex is NOT canon

...and what that means– especially for GGY

SOTM has revealed a few things that are... interesting, and very inconsistent with the TFTP series. I've slept on my thoughts and figured out what I think is going on here.

Maaaajor big big spoilers below the cut!! You've been warned

Secret of the Mimic shows us some things that aren't consistent with the books, and there's one major detail that's changed; Fiona's death. In the story 'The Mimic', it's stated that she passed away during childbirth:

In SOTM... this is not the case. She was alive while David was, and passed away during Fallfest– I presume it to be a fire because of all of the smaller hints at this being the case, but also this specific part of MOON.exe (excuse the Dawko in the corner lmao)

A burned seamstress shop– and what was Fiona?

A seamstress. It's also directly stated that she designed Chica and we find a sewing kit as a collectable, so it makes sense that she was behind the costumes at MCM while Murray was behind the mechanical side of things. For that reason, the burnt down seamstress shop points in the direction there was a fire at fallfest; let's also not forget the burning carousel level of Help Wanted 2 (excuse the poor quality, I could only find one image of this on short notice)

The other evidence as to this is all in audio logs so I'd have to look through footage again to find them, so maybe I'll add this post later if needed.

The mimic began mimicking Fiona after her death, and seemingly did not do so before fallfest– so it wasn't the Mimic the whole time, or anything like that. There are differences in how the Mimic as Fiona and Fiona herself talk, mostly how the Mimic lacks the same amount of emotion (in both Mimic1/MXES machine and Mimic2 form)

The seemingly canon ending of the game has the Mimic leave the MCM facility with the data diver, then walk away from it– not back to it. This is inconsistent with how the Mimic is taken by Fazbear Entertainment in the books, too. I think they definitely get their hands on it eventually, but it's another important point that things happen differently here than they do in the Tales books.

So what gives? What's up with this? Why does it matter? To put it simply, I think Scott realised most people really do not like the implications of the books. I think they are being retconned on purpose. I believe there are things in the books that are VERY important for us to think about, but we can't trust every single detail– much like the novel trilogy before it.

I believe Scott and Steel Wool are using the next few fnaf games to explain things in the books that are relevant to the story. To align them with canon in ways people can't deny and take out any details that don't fit the story they're trying to tell.

These relevant things are The Mimic and GGY.

We have gotten plenty of content on the Mimic now, to the point we know nearly every detail prior to its first game appearance in RUIN; sure, The Storyteller and Tiger Rock now have shaky details since we can't say what is 100% canon or isn't... however.

GGY is what we know the least about, but from what we DO know, it is connected to The Storyteller, to the animatronics, to everything we don't understand prior to Security Breach and post Help Wanted that involved the Mimic anyway. So yes, a GGY game could fill in those blanks for the Mimic AND for GGY. We have had multiple hints to GGY in one way or another in recent entries to the franchise post-SB, too; for examples:

Faz-Pilot Gregory in FIS3 that specifically has CDs in the boss fight to mirror patient 46 (who is theorised by everyone at this point to be GGY),

the GGY achievement in Help Wanted 2 for getting a high score,

this dialogue from Into The Pit,

and of course, the recent release of Escape the Pizzaplex– a choose-your-own-adventure book that appears to be focused on GGY tormenting Cassie.

TL;DR: Tales from the Pizzaplex appears to be non-canon to the games timeline. Rather, it's its own timeline, much like the novel trilogy and movies. Many of the details can still be used to theorise, but it's hard to call some things fact.

There's now mountains of evidence towards GGY getting a game, the very next game quite possibly, that may also serve to explain how the Mimic1 affects the Pizzaplex and what is going on with Mimic2 in the sinkhole beneath it while it's at it.

We've lost, but won? Depending on how you feel about the books, I suppose. I don't think this necessarily decanonises characters like Lucia, for starters– I think the games are just rewriting some of the details to better suit a narrative.

If I'm missing any details or I have something wrong, please be nice to me in the replies and reblogs. I don't use my brain for fnaf theories very often and I'm not looking to make people angry or upset!! But, I do think it's important we think about this.

[chaifootsteps]

I recently re-watched the Hazbin pilot the other day, and I’m just gonna say it.

Almost everything Vivziepop has achieved has been due to the help and support of others, and she has pretty much either backstabbed or abandoned the vast majority of the people who got her where she is today.

I’m not saying she’s not talented, I’m not saying she didn’t work hard—but it’s undeniable that her success in the indie animation sphere is not her doing alone. Hazbin would never have been what it was without its (almost entirely!!) volunteer Voice actors and animators, and the way Viv just…NEVER mentions them or their contributions is really insane to me.

Plus the consistent issues with Spindlehorse not being properly crediting its animators and artists (or just not crediting them at all? like seriously, what the fuck???), allegations of inconsistent and poor pay…

I never claim to know someone I haven’t really met but…at the very least the way Viv behaves and presents herself online gives off the impression that she’s a very self-centered person who, for some reason, is unable to acknowledge that she got to where she is off of the hard work of others.

—🥜anon

Couldn't have said it better. That's Viv in a nutshell.

[magugbigug]

My Analysis of Voltron: Legendary Defender and Its Legacy - in Particular Regards to Keith and Lotor.

My father introduced me to Voltron: Defender of the Universe when I was four years old, around 2010, because he grew up with it in the 80s. Voltron became my first real obsession. When I was about ten, DreamWorks announced that they would be partnering with Netflix to remake my favourite show. Naturally, I was excited. But when I finally watched Voltron: Legendary Defender (LD), I was confused.

At the time, I didn’t know about Beast King GoLion, so I was full of questions: Who’s Shiro? Where’s Sven? Why did they change Arus to Altea? Why isn’t Keith in the Black Lion? I cannot tell you how furious ten-year-old me was when I discovered they had given the Voltron Force the “wrong” Lions (Lance in Blue? Preposterous). After Season One, I actually quit watching because it felt so far removed from what I knew (they made Pidge a girl? How dare they!). It wasn’t until Season Eight had already been released for quite some time that I went back to give it another go. It was… alright.

I’m not new to Voltron, but I am new to fandom, and Tumblr—only recently realising that you can talk to people about your interests over the internet instead of just in the schoolyard (my friends got so bored of me talking about Voltron). So what I’m about to discuss may already be old news, but these are my thoughts on Legendary Defender and how it compares to Voltron’s legacy.

The Role of the Black Lion and Leadership

Whilst scouring the tags, I’ve seen a recurring debate within the Voltron fandom regarding whether Keith should have been in the Black Lion or gone back to Red. Some argue that he was unfit for the position, but this perspective overlooks the franchise’s long-standing tradition. Since Defender of the Universe in the 1980s, Keith has been the Black Lion’s pilot and the leader of the team. The Black Lion has always been the heart of Voltron, piloted by the one who holds the team together and leads them into battle.

To claim Keith isn’t fit for the Black Lion is to disregard not only his character arc but also the very structure of Voltron as a franchise. From the very beginning, Keith has been the pilot of the Black Lion, just as Optimus Prime has always been the bearer of the Matrix of Leadership in Transformers. The Black Lion choosing Keith in Legendary Defender is a natural continuation of a forty-year tradition, not a sudden or undeserved shift.

However, LD wrote itself into a corner by bringing Shiro back and sidelining Keith for almost two seasons. While this allowed for Krolia’s introduction and the addition of the space wolf, which I enjoyed, it disrupted Keith’s development as a leader. Instead of organically growing into his role, Keith’s transition to leadership felt abrupt and underdeveloped. Previous versions of Voltron, such as Defender of the Universe and Voltron Force, dedicated time to showcasing Keith’s leadership qualities, making his role as the Black Lion’s pilot feel more natural. By contrast, LD’s decision to remove him from the team for an extended period created an inconsistent leadership structure that ultimately weakened his arc.

The Absence of Voltron in Voltron

One of my biggest issues with Voltron: Legendary Defender is how little the titular ‘character’ actually appears in the show. There are entire story arcs where the audience goes multiple episodes without seeing Voltron at all. This is a stark contrast to the previous Voltron series, where the lion mechs formed Voltron at least once per episode, making the giant robot a central and consistent presence.

After reading Bob Koplar’s opinions on LD, I find myself agreeing with him. Even though I was quite young when Legendary Defender first came out, I had already seen all the previous Voltron series thanks to my father. Even then, something about LD felt off to me. It wasn’t until I read Koplar’s insights that I fully understood why—it simply didn’t feel like Voltron.

And to be clear, I’m not saying Legendary Defender is a bad show. It’s a well-produced series with high-quality animation, a solid voice cast, and some genuinely good storytelling. It also brought more awareness to a brand I love, introducing a new generation of fans to Voltron. But despite its strengths, it often felt disconnected from the essence of what made Voltron special.

In every previous iteration, forming Voltron wasn’t just a moment of spectacle—it was a core part of the show’s identity. The lions coming together, the transformation sequence, the blazing sword—these weren’t just iconic visuals; they were essential to the Voltron experience. In LD, however, Voltron often felt secondary to character-driven subplots and political intrigue, which, while interesting (most of the time), took focus away from the giant robot action that defined the franchise.

The Absence of Vehicle Voltron

Voltron: Legendary Defender was marketed as a love letter to everything that came before it—a grand tribute to the Voltron legacy. But in reality, it wasn’t.

Of course, Lion Force Voltron (adapted from Beast King GoLion) is the most well-known and beloved version of the franchise, so it makes sense that LD focused on it. But if the goal was truly to unite all Voltron ideas under one roof, then why was Vehicle Voltron (Armored Fleet Dairugger XV) completely ignored?

I understand that Vehicle Voltron is more obscure, but it was still an essential part of Voltron's history. The original plan for Voltron as a franchise was that there would be three Voltrons:

Defender of the Far Universe (Lion Force),

Defender of the Middle Universe (Vehicle Voltron),

Defender of the Near Universe (Gladiator Voltron, based on Lightspeed Electroid Albegas).

However, after Vehicle Voltron proved less popular, instead of introducing Gladiator Voltron as planned, World Events Productions doubled down on Lion Force Voltron with a second season and a TV movie, Fleet of Doom. That movie featured both Lion and Vehicle Voltron teaming up, and it remains one of the most awesome moments in Voltron's history.

If LD had truly been a love letter to Voltron, it would have acknowledged all of Voltron, not just Lion Force. It would have recognised the legacy of Vehicle Voltron and drawn from its rich history instead of awkwardly repurposing its best elements. Instead, the show attempted to reinvent Voltron while sidelining key parts of its past, losing much of what made Voltron special in the first place.

Lotor’s Redefinition: A Flawed but Ambitious Adaptation

Lotor’s characterisation in Legendary Defender marks a significant departure from his portrayal in Defender of the Universe. In DotU, Prince Lotor is a sadistic, irredeemable villain. He was a brutal conqueror, a mass murderer and a serial rapist. He saw Allura as a prize rather than a person. His cruelty extended even to his own subordinates, reinforcing his role as an unambiguous antagonist.

LD, however, attempted a more complex interpretation of Lotor, depicting him as a strategic manipulator with seemingly noble intentions. He positioned himself as a reformer of the Galra Empire, standing in opposition to Zarkon’s tyranny. This reimagining was ambitious, but the execution faltered. His eventual descent into villainy in Season 6 felt rushed, as though the writers were unsure whether to portray him as a tragic anti-hero or a monstrous antagonist.

This brings me to another major problem with Legendary Defender’s handling of Lotor. If the writers wanted to create a sympathetic, deserter, reluctant ally figure, then Lotor was the wrong character to use. In Defender of the Universe, Lotor is a sadistic, cruel warlord obsessed with conquest and domination, especially when it comes to Allura. He was never a misunderstood antihero—he was pure villainy.

A far better choice for this arc would have been Commander Hazar from Vehicle Voltron. Hazar was the noble commander of the Drule forces, who realised that his people’s war against the Galaxy Alliance was doomed and sought a peaceful resolution. He had a compelling redemption arc, going from enemy to ally as he struggled against the more ruthless elements of his own empire. But instead of introducing Hazar, LD simply took his story and gave it to Lotor—likely because Lotor was the more recognisable character.

This ultimately backfired. While a sympathetic or morally ambiguous take on Lotor could have been compelling, the series failed to develop him in a consistent manner. Instead of an outright sadistic monster, LD initially portrayed him as a cunning, strategic manipulator who appeared to have noble intentions—at least on the surface. He positioned himself as a reformer of the Galra Empire, criticising Zarkon’s rule and striving for a different vision of leadership. He surrounded himself with female generals whom he treated with apparent respect, further distinguishing him from his DotU counterpart. This version of Lotor was crafted to be more sympathetic, even charismatic, to the point that Allura herself developed feelings for him, a massive departure from the horror and revulsion she held toward him in DotU.

However, the execution of Legendary Defender’s Lotor was deeply flawed. The narrative spent seasons portraying him as a potential ally, only to suddenly reveal in Season 6 that he was not only unhinged but had been engaging in horrific experiments on Alteans. His villain turn felt rushed and unearned as if the writers couldn’t decide whether they wanted him to be a tragic anti-hero or an irredeemable monster. This abrupt shift wasn’t organic—it was the result of executive intervention. According to reports, when Bob Koplar (who oversees Voltron at World Events Productions) found out the writers were trying to make Lotor good, he stepped in and pushed them to course-correct, leading to Lotor’s sudden descent into madness and atrocities.

By trying to blend Lotor and Hazar into one character, LD weakened both. Lotor lost the defining villainy that made him iconic in past series, while Hazar’s compelling redemption story was distorted by being attached to a character with too much villainous baggage. LD wanted Lotor to be both the misunderstood antihero and the ultimate evil, but in trying to have it both ways, they ruined the integrity of his arc. The greatest casualty of Lotor’s inconsistent characterisation was Allura’s arc. Instead of developing their dynamic meaningfully, the show oscillated between presenting Lotor as sympathetic and suddenly making him irredeemably evil. In DotU, Allura despised Lotor and stood firmly against his advances, representing strength and defiance in the face of oppression. In LD, she was manipulated into trusting and even falling for him, which not only contradicted her instincts as a leader but also made her later grief and anger feel hollow due to how abruptly the story shifted Lotor back into full villainy.

The Missed Opportunity of Keith and Lotor’s Rivalry in Legendary Defender

One of the biggest missteps in Voltron: Legendary Defender, I felt, was its failure to develop Keith and Lotor’s rivalry into a meaningful, ongoing conflict. In past incarnations, particularly Defender of the Universe (DotU), Lotor viewed Keith as his greatest obstacle—not just as Voltron’s leader, but as the one standing between him and Allura. He recognised that Allura harboured feelings for Keith, which fueled his hatred and provided some of the most compelling personal conflicts in the series.

In Legendary Defender, however, Keith was largely absent for two seasons, leaving little room for an adversarial relationship with Lotor. Instead of building on their natural opposition, the show reduced their interactions to a handful of confrontations, missing an opportunity to add depth to the overarching narrative. Had Keith remained with the team instead of leaving for the Blade of Marmora, his dynamic with Lotor could have taken one of two fascinating paths—either leading to a devastating betrayal or reinforcing Keith’s instincts as the voice of reason.

Keith Trusts Lotor Completely (and is Devastated by His Betrayal)

Had Keith stayed, he might have bonded with Lotor over their shared half-Galra heritage. Throughout Legendary Defender, Keith struggles with his identity, and without the Blades to guide him, he could have been drawn to someone who truly understood what it meant to exist between two worlds. Lotor presents himself as refined, strategic, and pragmatic—qualities that might have resonated with Keith as he tried to grow into his role as a leader.

With Shiro compromised by Haggar’s manipulation and Allura torn by grief and duty, Lotor could have positioned himself as Keith’s closest confidant, someone who could help him make sense of his Galra side rather than viewing it as something to suppress. This trust, however, would have made Lotor’s eventual betrayal all the more soul-crushing. It wouldn’t just be the loss of an ally—it would be the loss of the first person who made Keith feel like he didn’t have to choose between his human and Galra lineage. Given Keith’s history of abandonment—his mother leaving, his father’s death, and Shiro’s repeated disappearances—Lotor’s deception could have broken him in a way few other betrayals could.

Instead of reacting with pure anger, Keith’s devastation could have manifested as bitter disillusionment. No longer willing to trust easily, he might have hardened himself further, becoming even more closed-off and reluctant to open up. This would have been a poignant subversion of past Voltron incarnations, where Keith and Lotor were always enemies. In DotU and Voltron Force, there was never any question of them being on the same side—Lotor was a power-hungry prince, and Keith was the noble leader standing in his way. Legendary Defender could have played with audience expectations by making Keith believe Lotor was different, only to have that belief shattered.

Keith Doesn’t Trust Lotor at All (and Becomes the Voice of Reason)

On the other hand, Keith’s blunt, no-nonsense attitude and strong instincts might have made him the first to see through Lotor’s deception. Keith is an intuitive fighter—he acts on gut feelings, and more often than not, those instincts are correct. He was the first to suspect something was wrong with Shiro, the first to push for finding the Blade of Marmora, and the first to embrace his Galra heritage when others hesitated. If Keith had remained with the Paladins, he might have immediately sensed that Lotor wasn’t as noble as he claimed.

This would have led to a compelling internal conflict within the team. Shiro (or rather, his clone) trusted Lotor. Allura, yearning for hope, wanted to believe in his sincerity. The rest of the Paladins were hesitant but willing to follow Shiro’s lead. If Keith stood alone in his distrust, it could have isolated him, forcing him into a position where he felt like an outsider even among his own team. This tension would have mirrored his past struggles with authority—just as he distrusted the Garrison and later the Blades, he would have once again found himself at odds with those around him, questioning an alliance everyone else was willing to accept.

This slow-burning antagonism between Keith and Lotor could have been an excellent way to preserve their classic rivalry. Instead of being immediate enemies, their conflict could have simmered beneath the surface—Lotor, ever the manipulator, attempting to win Keith over, while Keith steadfastly refused to be fooled. When Lotor’s true nature was finally revealed, the impact would have been far greater, as Keith would have been proven right—but at a cost. His relationship with his team could have suffered in the process, with the others only realising too late that he had been the only one who saw Lotor for who he truly was.

Both of these potential storylines would have strengthened Keith’s character arc—either by forcing him to confront betrayal on a deeply personal level or by cementing his role as an unshakable leader who sees through deception when no one else can. More importantly, they would have restored the weight of Keith and Lotor’s rivalry, making it more than just a handful of scattered battles.

Instead, Legendary Defender kept Keith and Lotor largely separate, missing an opportunity to explore their ideological clashes, personal similarities, and the devastating consequences of Lotor’s deception. By discarding their dynamic for two seasons, the show ultimately failed to capitalise on one of Voltron’s most compelling rivalries—a conflict that, in past versions, had always been at the heart of the story.

My Issue with LD’s Canon Romance

If there’s one franchise where the canon pairing didn’t work for me, it’s Voltron: Legendary Defender. Normally, I’m content with canon ships—I love Hiccstrid (How to Train Your Dragon), the Doctor and River Song (Doctor Who), Kataang (Avatar: The Last Airbender), and Anakin/Padmé (Star Wars). But in LD, the decision to end with Lance and Allura felt like a fundamental misunderstanding of Voltron as a whole.

For over thirty years, Voltron consistently paired Keith and Allura. Their romantic tension was a recurring element in Defender of the Universe (second season), The Third Dimension, Voltron Force, and even the Dynamite comics. Legendary Defender, however, sidelined their dynamic and abruptly pushed Lance and Allura together at the last minute without meaningful buildup. Their relationship lacked organic development, making it feel forced and unearned.

I, like many fans found the canon ending unsatisfying, but instead of Kallura, the most dominant ships in the fandom became Klance (Keith/Lance) and Sheith (Keith/Shiro), which honestly baffles me. Sheith, in particular, feels uncomfortable—not just because of the age difference, but because Keith explicitly refers to Shiro as his brother. Their dynamic is built on a strong mentor-protégé bond, which makes any romantic interpretation feel… wrong.

Klance is equally confusing to me. Keith and Lance spend most of the show at odds, their relationship defined by rivalry and bickering. I've seen arguments that Lance is bisexual and Keith is gay, but I could find no actual evidence in the show to support this. Lance openly flirts with multiple women (Allura, Nyma, Plaxum), but never once shows interest in men. Keith, on the other hand, isn’t depicted as romantically interested in anyone, male or female—though there are moments where he subtly notices Allura (noticed by people far smarter than myself). On my first watch, it seemed to me that the writers were setting up Keith and Acxa.

I will say that I don’t like these two ships, but it's fine if you do, I’m not judging. I’m just curious to hear from people who do ship these pairings. What is it about Klance or Sheith that resonates with you? Is there something in their dynamic that I might be missing? Maybe my perspective is limited or some gay subtext that my stupid hetero-focused brain can't process, so I’d love to understand why these ships became so popular.

Conclusion

Voltron: Legendary Defender set out to modernise and reimagine a beloved franchise, and while it succeeded in some areas, I felt it ultimately fell short in honouring Voltron’s full legacy. The series introduced fresh character dynamics, impressive animation, and ambitious storytelling, but its execution often felt inconsistent. Keith’s arc as the Black Lion’s pilot was hindered by narrative disruptions, Vehicle Voltron was ignored despite its historical significance, and Lotor’s character was muddled by conflicting portrayals. The rivalry between Keith and Lotor, a defining element of past iterations, was underdeveloped, missing a key opportunity for deeper storytelling.

Despite its flaws, LD reignited interest in Voltron for a new generation and expanded the franchise’s fanbase. It brought new perspectives to familiar characters and offered an engaging, if imperfect, reimagining of the classic series. However, by disregarding core elements of Voltron’s past, it failed to fully embrace the legacy it sought to celebrate.

Disclaimer

Everything stated in this post is purely my opinion. I’m sharing my personal thoughts and interpretations, and I understand that others may see things differently. Feel free to discuss this respectfully. Upon re-reading this, I realise it might sound a bit gatekeep-y. I'm not using this as an excuse to bash anyone else's opinions or claim my own as superior. I'm simply using it as a way to perhaps educate about what came before and understand what is now. Like what you like and don't what you don't, so long as it doesn't hurt anyone. If you’re interested in learning more about the previous Voltron series (mostly DotU), I highly recommend checking out @voltronfandomhag. They haven’t posted anything in a while, but they are an absolute treasure trove, and their insights were invaluable to me while writing this.