#he's mostly absent from arc 3 after the beginning of it and he's not in arc 1 much after the first chapter (which is his chapter)

[goldentigerfestival]

Forgot to post this earlier but I did in fact comb the entire Vesperia script to determine how many times he uses ま/まあ throughout the game, along with a few other phrases he uses repeatedly. This counts all of main story, every single sidequest, and every single skit in the game.

Final counts were:

ま/まあ: 280

Ma/Maa; translates to "well". He uses this at the beginning of a sentence usually, but it's sometimes in the middle. "Ma" is usually more quick and snappy. "Maa" is more thoughtful and/or prolonged. Obviously it can vary based on context, but that's the general breakdown.

んじゃ and any variants: 133

Nja, along with variants such as "ja", "soreja", etc. Variants are counted when they're all used to express "let's get going", when they're about to head off ("ja" could be used in a sentence such as "ja/but then, why is xyz like this", etc). They encompass translations such as "well then" (let's get going implied. includes "so then", "then" "alright then", and so on), "we should be off", "let's get going", "let's go", etc. (not to be confused with 行こう(ikou), 行くぜ, (ikuze), and other similar versions of this phrase. That can also mean "let's go", but any instances of Yuri using that particular phrase was not counted because it wasn't a variant of, specifically, んじゃ, which is also his most common "let's go" ja variant).

おい / おいおい: 66

Oi/Oi oi; translates to "hey"/"hey, hey", though "oi" is more or less an accepted word in English nowadays.

おっと: 12

Otto (not to be confused with "oto", referring to sound); an expression of surprise that can translate roughly to "whoa there" (which is the most common translation I do see for it and what I'd use in most cases too, context of course varying). The reason I included this one despite it being so seemingly low in number is because it's not a particularly common expression, much less one used multiple times by a single character? It's so rare from anyone else, which is just a regular thing relative to Yuri and his dialogue/speech (i.e. most characters sparingly use phrases repeatedly, as compared to Yuri... as you can see lol. Other characters use these words/phrases, but nowhere near as regularly, if regularly at all).

Realized along the way I should've included やれやれ (yare yare, "good grief", "oh dear", "oh boy" etc), but by the time I realized I should have in case it was an interesting count, I was too far into the script to be able to handle going all the way back through it LOL.

No. No, I am not joking that Yuri used ま/まあ 280 times throughout the course of the game. That is to say, it could be more if I missed any, but on the assumption I didn't, that's where it stands.

Why do I love this so much? Because it's a very specific character quirk of a character I adore. I'm very fond of his repetition. Thank you.

[sigruned]

ALso I babbled about this a little bit when we got confirmation of Oscar's Little Prince allusion but I want to expand a little because Oscar's merge symptoms going wacky in the animatic has me thinking about it again. so

Is Ruby the Little Prince's Rose?

Short answer, no not really.

Long answer is kind of, yes, but that has little to do with her relationship to Oscar and everything to do with the Ever After, which mostly limits it to the context of v9. To make that make sense you have to look at how the writers have handled Ruby's allusions thus far, namely using the For Want Of A Nail approach to guide her character development.

In the Red Trailer we are immediately introduced to a Little Red Riding Hood whose Woodsman is dead before the story begins, showing us Ruby in her red cloak, slowly surrounded by wolves while standing over a grave. Visually, the narrative is presenting a question here. What kind of person would Little Red Riding Hood have to be to survive her own fairytale alone? The trailer answers this pretty quickly via a bunch of anime acrobatics and gunfire, telling us Little Red is going to be killing the wolves this time. By choice or otherwise, she has taken up the Woodsman's responsibility herself (remember this bit).

Later in episode 1 we get more elaboration on this when Ruby actually gets to speak, enthusing about her mom being a huntress and how she wants to do the same. She proceeds to struggle with filling this monumental role over the course of the show, culminating with her character arc and eventual breakdown in v9.

By this point if it wasn't clear who the Woodsman to Ruby's Little Red is, the reveal of Summer's massive axe-rifle should. We're given more Summer in v9 than at any point before, which is necessary to actually cast this mold that Ruby has been desperately trying to fit into. But the Woodsman allusion is secondary, her primary allusion is to The Last Rose of Summer. There is variation from character to character, but a primary allusion will always be more narratively prescient whereas the secondary allusions say more about their influence or relationship with another character or allusory plot element.

With Summer largely absent in the narrative herself they show this early on via her epitaph and shine a spotlight on this when they reveal Ruby's emblem was left to her by her mother. If getting the Rose part of Ruby Rose from her mother's side wasn't enough of a hint. All the rose themes we associate with her came from her mother.

(The outlier here you could argue is the rose petals generated by her semblance, however I think we can safely assume by the time Ruby developed her semblance, she'd enrolled in combat school and was steeping in stories of her mother as a huntress for a while).

Combine this with the fact that Ruby only knows her from stories which mythologize her (Ruby was 3 when Summer left, how much do you remember from being 3? She has nothing else.) and we've got a character whose foundational misbelief is that she must fill the lofty role her mother has left behind. The Woodsman is dead. Who else will kill the wolves, if not her? Identity crisis waiting to happen, as we saw.

Which leads us back to The Little Prince. The plot literally drops Ruby and co. into the extremely alien Ever After, whose skyline is dominated by a giant baobab tree known for swallowing its denizens whole on occasion when they're ready to be someone else. Meanwhile Ruby has been knocked down one too many times and is nearly at rock bottom. We go through the volume with our protagonists trying to figure out what the tree actually does, getting a number of answers they struggle to make sense of outside a context of permadeath, finally followed by Jaune outright telling them he believes the tree is destruction. On the other end of this equation we have the source material, wherein the Prince is beside himself with worry because the baobab trees on his home planet might crowd out and kill his Rose. But we're not following the prince on his interstellar tour right now, we're following a girl who thinks she's a rose trying to navigate a world dominated by a tree.

And this, as I've seen some of the hardcore rg people mention before, is why Oscar's absence in the Ever After feels so salient. Not because he would have been able to make everything better and prevent Ruby's breakdown if he'd been there, but because his absence poses a question (very similar to one the narrative has asked us before): who does the Rose have to become to survive her side of the story alone?

I don't think I need to harp on the answer too much, v9 was Not Subtle. ("Then maybe, that girl is enough.")

The person Ruby is trying to live up to, this mythologized Summer, is not real. It's not achievable. Summer, as herself, has always held the primary Rose allusion. Ruby never was the Rose, and never had to be.

'but sigruned what does this have to do with the merge' well now that Ruby isn't trying to be the Rose anymore, she can properly take up her role as the snake. I can't take credit for this idea, but I do think it makes the most sense given Everything going on symbolically with SEWs re: death (but that could probably be its own post). The snake, if you recall, was the only one who could send the prince home by way of their poisonous bite.

tl;dr silver eyes are going to be key to getting Oscar an appointment with the tree and curing the merge, but Ruby cannot/could not use them this way before self-actualizing outside her image of Summer.

[twothpaste]

I feel like the fandom perceives Doctor Andonuts more harshly than Itoi probably intended. Maybe a little more harshly than the character deserves. I'm always seein him discussed n' portrayed as if he's The Worst Dad Ever, And A Terrible Person Besides. Which is a pretty tall order in a series jam-packed full of shitty fathers and morally bankrupt characters. Maybe I just read him differently than most folks do? I dunno. I like him. I'll go to bat for him. Kooky old scientist thoughts (for both EB and M3) below.

Dropping Jeff off at boarding school and never visiting for 10 years is brutal, don't get me wrong. In the scene's context, though, it comes off more like an absurd comedic circumstance than a condemnation. Peak EarthBound shit. And while Jeff's scarcely "written" in the game, nothing about the way he's presented actually conveys a sense of abandonment or bitterness. (I like to imagine he's got a lotta bones to pick with his dad, but I think that's mostly in the realm of headcanon.) (Also, while Andonuts being his only family would make it objectively much worse, there's nothing in EarthBound to suggest Jeff doesn't have a mom, or other family members.) Mother's not exactly subtle when it's putting a father worthy of harsh judgment on the table. Aloysius and Wess come to mind. I do reckon if the Doctor was supposed to be presented as an irredeemable monster, Itoi would've really driven the point home. Instead of smothering the guy's dialogue in funny off-kilter quips. Like the bit with the donuts, and inviting Jeff to come back in 10 more years, and tellin his friends he wets the bed (how would Andonuts even know that?? is he thinking of when Jeff was a toddler?? lmao). He's a socially blundering absent father, and he stirs troubled sentiments, for sure. But he's definitely not outright malignant.

The thing is, there's reason to believe the guy's working on it. Jeff and Andonuts (and pals) go through a lot of shit together over the course of the game. By the end, Jeff expresses that he's very eager to spend time with his dad, get to know him better, work collaboratively with him. Presumably Andonuts feels the same, having finally bonded with his son through all these world-saving hijinks. It feels like a sweet little character arc to me. A reclusive scientist learns to value something beyond his own work, and begins to make amends by welcoming Jeff back into his life. Perhaps death-defying circumstances shifted his perspective, reminding him of what's most important? Even if you assume the worst of Andonuts earlier in the game, EarthBound's ending is really uplifting and hopeful for these two.

Which really makes his appearance in Mother 3 all the more tragic. Andonuts was willing at last to actually be there for his son, and then Porky had to go and yoink him outta the timeline. The Doctor explicitly says he's only working with Porky because he's been forced to - and he isn't thrilled about it in the slightest. After the chimera lab, he tells Lucas he's been inspired to escape. That he wants to devote his work to benefiting all living things, whatever that means! He's the guy who really "defeated" Porky, presumably planning the Capsule trap in secret all along. He doesn't even belong in this time or place, but damn if he's not finding ways to do good for the new world he's found himself in. Same way he devoted himself to the fight against Giygas, before.

The fact he's been torn away from his son (possibly irreconcilably?) doesn't come up, and god I wish it did. But considering how much extraneous dialogue's been cut from the game (and this would've definitely been extraneous)? If he'd said "gosh I sure wish I could see Jeff again" it'd draw specific attention to the displaced plight of Porky's timetravelers - thus, failing to resolve it would probably feel like a loose end. I can see how that might've been outta line with the narrative's scope. I'm not sure it's fair to infer the streamlined writing implies Andonuts forgot about Jeff, or doesn't care about him. Dude was never very expressive about his personal life EarthBound, anyways. Call it a headcanon of course, but imo, it seems more likely he's keeping his sorry sentiments to himself.

I just think Dr. Andonuts is a really interesting character, with a lot of potential. EarthBound gives us this clever play on the "funny kooky genius scientist" trope, asking how a guy like that might prioritize work over family. Has this deadbeat dad begin earning back his bond with his son. It ends on such a wholesome feel-good note! Then Mother 3 brings forth all these gutwrenching implications. The thought of Jeff stranded back in 199X (feeling confused, abandoned, possibly even betrayed??) breaks my fuckin' heart!! Andonuts being coerced to use his genius for evil, all the while plotting Porky's eternal imprisonment? A guy who directly contributed to saving the world from Giygas gets dropped into a post-apocalyptic Earth, finding out he'd only been delaying the "inevitable"? That humans would destroy themselves, possibly thanks to the technological advancements of people like him! Realizing his efforts to reconnect with Jeff might've been all in vain, that he may never make it home again! Vowing to do good for this world anyways?? Agh. And he's presented as just a quirky unflappable oddball old fart the whole time! To call him a good person would be dubious as hell, but damn if he's not fascinating.

[toaarcan]

Superhero Media and the Defence of the Status Quo

I’ve seen much discussion, mostly on this site, about how superhero media, particularly the films, tend to cast the heroes as rock-solid defenders of the norm, and the villains as the ones pushing for some manner of social change, be it good or bad.

This trope is endemic to the genre, because comics.

Comics are not designed to end. Comics are designed to go on forever. Comics have been intended to release every month in perpetuity. What changes that isn’t narrative, but finance. A run will be cut short if it fails to sell, and that’s how comic runs end. But then the publisher will get someone else in to take on the character and everything starts again.

True, each individual writer might have a plan for their run, with a plot that ends whenever. But they’re not going to be the final word. Once they’re done, and they move on to their next project, someone else will pick up those characters and that setting and tell the next chapter.

A common adage within comics is that “Every issue is someone’s first,” and that can often stifle change within a book. The book needs its familiar elements to be there, it needs those aspects that people know about the character and their world, to help ease the new people in. Or at least, that’s how the industry sees things. So every arc and shift in the landscape of the universe has to be reset at the end, so things can revert to normal.

This is especially true of the Big Two, Marvel and DC, because they’re telling stories with an inter-connected universe, and so not only does the writer on Batman have to consider the audience of their own book, but also the writers of the other eight Bat-books and also Justice League, and they can’t change Batman too much or they’ll break things.

This is also why death doesn’t tend to stick.

Here’s some examples:

1) In DC’s “DCYou” era, they heavily changed both Superman and Batman. Superman lost most of his powers and was reduced back to Golden Age levels. Bruce Wayne got amnesia and was replaced by a moustache-less, mohawk-sporting Jim Gordon in a giant robot bunny mecha. These were both deeply unpopular stories, but... well, Justice League was still running at the time, and... Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent were both still their normal selves throughout. That part of Justice League just happened before/after those points, but it was really confusing at the time, because DC weren’t telling anyone how the pieces were meant to fit together.

2) Around the same time, Marvel had done the Civil War II event, which was also garbage. At the end, Carol Danvers shoots a hole in Tony Stark’s chest for... reasons. Writer Brian Michael Bendis did this (and also killed off Rhodey at the beginning of the event) in order to replace Tony with Riri Williams, a character who... well let’s just say that Brian Michael Bendis is neither black, nor a woman, nor a genius, nor a student, and it shows. However, he also intended for an AI version of Tony to be Riri’s JARVIS or FRIDAY or whatever the new one in the comics is called. The rest of Marvel’s writers, apparently still wanting to use Tony Stark, had the AI operate as Tony Stark for the intervening years. AI Tony became Tony But Blue. People kept asking why Tony was blue, and any given crossover that started with Tony in the suit had people wondering whether the real Tony was back, because they were all written with the real Tony in mind.

3) This year, DC did a big event called Dark Crisis. It had its moments, but it was mostly empty spectacle. The inciting incident for Dark Crisis is the death of the Justice League, forcing their younger allies (Nightwing, Jon Kent as Superman, Yara Flor as Wonder Girl, etc) and also Black Adam (because movie) to step up to the plate and take on the villain that killed the original League. Did it affect the solo books of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etcetera? Mostly, no. Clark was absent from the pages of Superman for completely separate reasons, and again, everything was very confusing as the inherent “Yeah that’s never gonna stick” factor that killing the Justice League already had was heavily reduced by the presence of the league’s founding members in their own titles.

This is also why supervillains are dealt with via cardboard prisons and nobody ever makes a good effort at fixing that. Back in the Golden Age of Comics, villains died frequently, and often at the hands of the heroes. The Joker dies in his first appearance in comics. The change was made, not because they wanted to impart good morals, but because they realised that if they used each villain for a one-off and then axed them, they’d run out of bad guys very quickly, and that would force them to keep making new bad guys for no reason, so they opted for jail instead.

The superhero as defender of the status quo happens because the medium requires it. And when they switch to a different medium, in this case movies, things don’t change much.

Often, you’ll see the change result in villains dying, because the writers don’t feel the need to use them for more than one movie. But that’s kind of about it, because the movies nowadays tend to try to be truer to the original text, which is the status-quo ruled comics.

They also keep doing the shared universe thing, so they can’t have Captain America completely upend US law in his movie without making the guy writing the next film’s life a lot harder.

[yamayuandadu]

Circe by Madeline Miller: a review

As you might have noticed, a few of my most recent posts were more or less a liveblog of Madeline Miller’s novel Circe. However, as they hardly exhausted the subject, a proper review is also in order. You can find it under the “read more” button. All sorts of content warnings apply because this book takes a number of turns one in theory can expect from Greek mythology but which I’d hardly expect to come up in relation to Circe. I should note that this is my first contact with this author’s work. I am not familiar with Miller’s more famous, earlier novel Song of Achilles - I am not much of an Iliad aficionado, truth to be told. I read the poem itself when my literature class required it, but it left no strong impact on me, unlike, say, the Epic of Gilgamesh or, to stay within the theme of Greek mythology, Homeric Hymn to Demeter, works which I read at a similar point in my life on my own accord.

What motivated me to pick up this novel was the slim possibility that for once I’ll see my two favorite Greek gods in fiction, these being Hecate and Helios (in case you’re curious: #3 is Cybele but I suspect that unless some brave soul will attempt to adapt Nonnus’ Dionysiaca, she’ll forever be stuck with no popcultural presence outside Shin Megami Tensei). After all, it seemed reasonable to expect that Circe’s father will be involved considering their relationship, while rarely discussed in classical sources, seems remarkably close. Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women and Apollonius’ Argonautica describe Circe arriving on her island in her father’s solar chariot, while Ptolemy Hephaestion (as quoted by Photius) notes that Helios protected her home during the Gigantomachy. Helios, for all intents and purposes, seems like a decent dad (and, in Medea’s case, grandpa) in the source material even though his most notable children (and granddaughter) are pretty much all cackling sorcerers, not celebrated heroes. How does Miller’s Helios fare, compared to his mythical self? Not great, to put it lightly, as you’ll see later. As for Hecate… she’s not even in the book. Let me preface the core of the review by saying I don’t think reinterpreting myths, changing relations between figures, etc. is necessarily bad - ancient authors did it all the time, and modern adaptations will inevitably do so too, both to maintain internal coherence and perhaps to adjust the stories to a modern audience, much like ancient authors already did. I simply don’t think this book is successful at that. The purpose of the novel is ostensibly to elevate Circe above the status of a one-dimensional minor antagonist - but to accomplish this, the author mostly demonizes her family and a variety of other figures, so the net result is that there are more one dimensional female villains, not less. I expected the opposite, frankly. The initial section of the novel focuses on Circe’s relationship with her family, chiefly with her father. That’s largely uncharted territory in the source material - to my knowledge no ancient author seemed particularly interested in covering this period in her life. Blank pages of this sort are definitely worth filling. To begin with, Helios is characterized as abusive, neglectful and power-hungry. And also, for some reason, as Zeus’ main titan ally in the Titanomachy - a role which Hesiod attributes to Hecate… To be fair I do not think it’s Hesiod who serves as the primary inspiration here, as it’s hard to see any traces of his account - in which Zeus wins in no small part because he promises the lesser titans higher positions that they had under Cronus - in Miller’s version of events. Only Helios and Oceanus keep their share, and are presented as Zeus’ only titan allies (there’s a small plot hole as Selene appears in the novel and evidently still is the moon…) - contrary to just about any portrayal of the conflict, in which many titans actually side with Zeus and his siblings. Also, worth noting that in Hesiod’s version it’s not Oceanus himself who cements the pact with Zeus, it’s his daughter Styx - yes, -that- Styx. Missed opportunity to put more focus on female mythical figures - first of many in this work, despite many reviews praising it as “feminist.” Of course, it’s not all about Helios. We are quickly introduced to a variety of female characters as well (though, as I noted above, none of these traditionally connected to the Titanomachy despite it being a prominent aspect of the book’s background). They are all somewhat repetitive - to the point of being basically interchangeable. Circe’s mother is vain and cruel; so is Scylla. And Pasiphae. There’s no real indication of any hostility between Circe and any of her siblings in classical sources, as far as I am aware, but here it’s a central theme. The subplots pertaining to it bear an uncanny resemblance to these young adult novels in which the heroine, who is Not Like Other Girls, confronts the Chads and Stacies of the world, and I can’t shake off the feelings that it’s exactly what it is, though with superficial mythical flourish on top. I should note that Pasiphae gets a focus arc of sorts - which to my surprise somehow manages to be more sexist than the primary sources. A pretty famous tidbit repeated by many ancient authors is that Pasiphae cursed her husband Minos, regarded as unfaithful, to kill anyone else he’d have sex with with his… well, bodily fluids. Here she does it entirely  because she’s a debased sadist and not because unfaithfulness is something one can be justifiably mad about. You’d think it would be easy to put a sympathetic spin on this. But the book manages to top that in the very same chapter - can’t have Pasiphae without the Minotaur (sadly - I think virtually everything else about Pasiphae and Minos is more fun than that myth but alas) so in a brand new twist on this myth we learn that actually the infamous affair wasn’t a curse placed on Pasiphae by Poseidon or Aphrodite because of some transgression committed by Minos. She’s just wretched like that by nature. I’m frankly speechless, especially taking into account the book often goes out of its way to present deities in the worst light possible otherwise, and which as I noted reviews praise for its feminist approach - I’m not exactly sure if treating Pasiphae worse than Greek and Roman authors did counts as that.  I should note this is not the only instance of… weirdly enthusiastic references to carnal relations between gods and cattle in this book, as there’s also a weird offhand mention of Helios being the father of his own cows. This, as far as I can tell, is not present in any classical sources and truth to be told I am not a huge fan of this invention. I won’t try to think about the reason behind this addition to maintain my sanity. Pasiphae aside - the author expands on the vague backstory Circe has in classical texts which I’ve mentioned earlier. You’d expect that her island would be a gift from her father - after all many ancient sources state that he provided his children and grandchildren with extravagant gifts. However, since Helios bears little resemblance to his mythical self, Aeaea is instead a place of exile here, since Helios hates Circe and Zeus is afraid of witchcraft and demands such a solution (the same Zeus who, according to Hesiod, holds Hecate in high esteem and who appeared with her on coins reasonably commonly… but hey, licentia poetica, this idea isn’t necessarily bad in itself). Witchcraft is presented as an art exclusive to Helios’ children here - Hecate is nowhere to be found, it’s basically as if her every role in Greek mythology was surgically removed. A bit of a downer, especially since at least one text - I think Ovid’s Metarphoses? - Circe directly invokes Hecate during her confrontation with king Picus (Surprisingly absent here despite being a much more fitting antagonist for Circe than many of the characters presented as her adversaries in this novel…) Of course, we also learn about the origin of Circe’s signature spell according to ancient sources, changing people into animals. It actually takes the novel a longer while to get there, and the invented backstory boils down to Circe getting raped. Despite ancient Greek authors being rather keen on rape as plot device, to my knowledge this was never a part of any myth about Circe. Rather odd decision to put it lightly but I suppose at least there was no cattle involved this time, perhaps two times was enough for the author. Still, I can’t help but feel like much like many other ideas present in this book it seems a bit like the author’s intent is less elevating the Circe above the role of a one note witch antagonist, but rather punishing her for being that. The fact she keeps self loathing about her origin and about not being human doesn’t exactly help to shake off this feeling. This impression that the author isn’t really fond of Circe being a wacky witch only grows stronger when Odysseus enters the scene. There was already a bit of a problem before with Circe’s life revolving around love interests before - somewhat random ones at that (Dedalus during the Pasiphae arc and Hermes on and off - not sure what the inspiration for either of these was) - but it was less noticeable since it was ultimately in the background and the focus was the conflict between Circe and Helios, Pasiphae, etc. In the case of Odysseus it’s much more notable because these subplots cease to appear for a while. As a result of meeting him, Circe decides she wants to experience the joys of motherhood, which long story short eventually leads to the birth of Telegonus, who does exactly what he was famous for. The final arcs have a variety of truly baffling plot twists which didn’t really appeal to me, but which I suppose at least show a degree of creativity - better than just turning Helios’ attitude towards his children upside down for sure. Circe ends up consulting an oc character who I can only describe as “stingray Cthulhu.” His presence doesn’t really add much, and frankly it feels like yet another wasted opportunity to use Hecate, but I digress. Oh, also in another twist Athena is recast as the villain of the Odyssey. Eventually Circe gets to meet Odysseus’ family, for once interacts with another female character on positive terms (with Penelope, to be specific) and… gets together with Telemachus, which to be fair is something present in many ancient works but which feels weird here since there was a pretty long passage about Odysseus describing him as a child to Circe. I think I could live without it. Honestly having her get together with Penelope would feel considerably less weird, but there are no lesbians in the world of this novel. It would appear that the praise for Song of Achilles is connected to the portrayal of gay relationships in it. Can’t say that this applies to Circe - on this front we have an offhand mention of Hyacinth's death. which seems to serve no real purpose other than establishing otherwise irrelevant wind god is evil, and what feels like an advert for Song of Achilles courtesy of Odysseus, which takes less than one page. Eventually Circe opts to become mortal to live with Telemachus and denounces her father and… that’s it. This concludes the story of Circe. I don’t exactly think the original is the deepest or greatest character in classical literature, but I must admit I’d rather read about her wacky witch adventures than about Miller’s Circe. A few small notes I couldn’t fit elsewhere: something very minor that bothered me a lot but that to be honest I don’t think most readers will notice is the extremely chaotic approach to occasional references to the world outside Greece - Sumer is randomly mentioned… chronologically after Babylon and Assyria, and in relation to Persians (or rather - to Perses living among them). At the time we can speak of “Persians” Sumerian was a dead language at best understood by a few literati in the former great cities of Mesopotamia so this is about the same as if a novel about Mesopotamia mentioned Macedonians and then completely randomly Minoans at a chronologically later point. Miller additionally either confused or conflated Perses, son of Perseus, who was viewed positively and associated with Persia (so positively that Xerxes purportedly tried to use it for propaganda purposes!) with Perses the obscure brother of Circe et. al, who is a villain in an equally obscure myth casting Medea as the heroine, in which he rules over “Tauric Chersonese,” the Greek name of a part of Crimea. I am honestly uncertain why was he even there as he amounts to nothing in the book, and there are more prominent minor children of Helios who get no mention (like Aix or Phaeton) so it’s hard to argue it was for the sake of completion. Medea evidently doesn’t triumph over him offscreen which is his sole mythical purpose. Is there something I liked? Well, I’m pretty happy Selene only spoke twice, considering it’s in all due likeness all that spared her from the fate of receiving similarly “amazing” new characterization as her brother. As is, she was… okay. Overall I am definitely not a fan of the book. As for its purported ideological value? It certainly has a female main character. Said character sure does have many experiences which are associated with women. However, I can’t help but think that the novel isn’t exactly feminist - it certainly focuses on Circe, but does it really try to “rehabilitate” her? And is it really “rehabilitation” and feminist reinterpretation when almost every single female character in the book is the same, and arguably depicted with even less compassion than in the source material?  It instead felt like the author’s goal is take away any joy and grandeur present in myths, and to deprive Circe of most of what actually makes her Circe. We don’t need to make myths joyless to make them fit for a new era. It’s okay for female characters to be wacky one off villains and there’s no need to punish them for it. A book which celebrates Circe for who she actually is in the Odyssey and in other Greek sources - an unapologetic and honestly pretty funny character -  would feel much more feminist to me that a book where she is a wacky witch not because she feels like it but because she got raped, if you ask me. 

Circe evidently having the time of her life, by Edmund Dulac (public domain)

[serenscarlett-moved]

Hi, Scarlett.

Since we've been talking about canon divergence, I was wondering if there are any major class-story events that you have changed or expanded upon in your verse?

Hello there! Thank you for the ask because I am a big fan of canon divergence. I wanted to make a post about the changes to my verse vs main class stories ingame for a while, though I am still in a brainstorm stage. I don’t really follow canon generally and went with my own ideas for certain npc characters. this may get lengthy so I'll note some important things for general, kotor and three class stories.

ALT

General:

Tenebrae is a standalone character. There is no Vitiate nor Valkorion. The plot remained the same, however, he went absent quietly after class story chapter 1 rather than post-Sacking of Coruscant.

Kritanta is the only Wrath who is immortal instead of Lord Scourge.

Also, there is no restrictions on the number of Wraths, there are more than one wraths. So far, Kritanta and Malgus were amongst those named.

Jadus, Acina and Lachris are one of Tenebrae’s biologcal children. They’re also Sith Purebloods rather than human, knowing for having violet eyes.

I took Vaylin and retconned her and her family connections, undergoing a different spelling variant of her name: “Vaelyn”. Therefore, she is not related to the Tiralls. This is mostly likely because the spelling Vaylin made me think of my close friend's miraluka OC. XD

Masked characters aren’t assumed as male human unlike canon. Most masked characters are ofen referred by they/them pronouns unless stated otherwise. Marr, Jadus and Xarion are non-human Siths. However, Marr and Jadus both leaned on identifying as women, trans women or nonbinary of their choice. Hence the sims designs I did for them.

Bounty Hunter, Republic Trooper, Sith Inquisitor and Jedi Consular are not canon because they don’t have specific role in my planned verse due to lineups and plot arcs.

ALT

KOTOR, minor info but has big impact for SWTOR verse:

Revan is non-human woman in this verse. She is the mother to Kritanta and grandmother to Arisaira and Jazzeira.

Yuthara Ban replaces Juhani.

Revan and Bastila are lesbian lovers -- they were my wlw otp when I was a teenager, thanks to the Untold Love Story mod.

Bastila is the great great grandmother (varying on how many generations) to Vaelyn.

ALT

Jedi Knight

There's no Kira, Scourge, Rusk or Doc. T7 was moved to background character amongst Task Force Nova.

Task Force Nova are pre-established before the beginning of Chapter 1, which saw Jazz and Blizz became the newest recruits.

The main crew are: Jazzeira (main protag oc), Tau (Jedi Knight and second protag), Blizz (resident Scrappy-Doo Jawa), Eleena Daru (she goes by different alias: Nellie Secura), Meerko (tech expert Jawa), and Leeha Narezz (Jedi support).

Since Consular story is not canon in this verse, a couple of details from consular story are moved into Jedi Knight story specifically the plot around the Emperor's Children.

Darth Lachris is the main anatognist since Chapter 2. She had expressed interest to pursue after Jazzeira. She made her first appearance apart of the quest between Balmorra and Hoth, where the crew were trying to fend off the Sith to protect Imperial defectors’ escape, rather than a Dark Councillor-turned-Padawan plot.

Chapter 3 of Jedi Knight are being redux into Consular's The Emperor's Children arc with the quest resolve around the missing Jedi Masters and stopping the sleeper agents, rather than Galactic Annilhation. Mainly because Darth Lachris still played the role of the anatognist.

Jazzeira was not under the influence of the Emperor's mind control. She was taken prisoner by Lachris apart of Chapter 2.

Malgus will appear as the Emperor’s Wrath replacing Lord Scourge but does not share the same plot as Scourge did.

In the beginning, Jazzeira was already estalished as Orgus Din’s Padawan since she was brought to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

Jazzeira has a 10 years friendship with Tau and Blizz since Coruscant. Blizz replaces T7 in Tython and assisted Jazzeira in stopping Bengal Morr and the Flesh Raiders.

ALT

Sith Warrior

Kritanta, Vowrawn and Vaelyn are the main characters for this class story.

Malavai Quinn was a temporary member. Though, there's a scrapped content with the option to kill off Quinn during the story in beta, this will likely happen in the story but not before Corellia campaign.

Pierce did not join them. He only assisted on Taris campaign before being reassigned to prepare for Bastion operation.

There is no Broomark. He doesn’t exist.

Vette, unfortunately after much thoughts, won’t appear in this.

Vowrawn runs a different sphere than ingame version. He is in charge of Special Operations--which cojoint nicely with Marr’s and Mortis’ Spheres. Vengean handled over Plan Zero operation for Vowrawn to be in charge of hunting down Empire’s Most Wanted, which make Baras an unhappy camper.

Vaelyn is a Jedi Padawan who replaces Jaesa Wilsaam in this class story. Like Jaesa ingame, Vaelyn was used as a pawn for her power within the Nomen Karr and Baras’ rivalry. The plot remains the same but Vaelyn feels more closer to Vowrawn and Kritanta.

Vowrawn is anti-slavery and Light Sided. Something what Vaelyn will sense from him when using her ability onto him during the confrontation.

The plot during the ending of chapter 2 and beginning of chapter 3 will merge at the same time leading the trio forced to go into low profile hiding on Yavin 4 for a couple of months. Mainly due to being framed for Darth Vengean’s murder (he was poisoned by Baras). However, the escape resulted in Kritanta being impaled and wounded--and they were “assumed dead” by Baras.

Darth Acina openly opposed against Baras being named as the Voice. With her being Tenebrae’s middle child, it dampened Baras’ chances to gain the Dark Council’s loyalties.

ALT

Imperial Agent

There is no crew at all. Arisaira worked on her own.

Darth Marr has more involvement in Agent story since Chapter 2 and has a bigger role in Chapter 3 as they’re the second protag.

Lana has a cameo in background as Marr's Second in Command.

As you already know, Arisaira and Jadus had a complicated history together before Chapter 1.

Before class story, Arisaira was named as the Hand of Jadus. Everyone in the Intelligence thought she was loyal to Jadus. But, only Shara Jenn noticed something was off between Arisaira and Jadus’ relationship.

Adding on to that, Jadus was the one responsible for the Castellan Restraints onto Arisaira before Chapter 1 rather than the ingame tellings that the Dark Council had a play in it.

Prior to Eagle’s Nest and A New Epoch of Fear, Arisaira and Shara had to do fancy dressup and disguised as one of the guests to sneak into an Estate then taken to the Dominator. Though, that didn’t go as planned because Arisaira was caught--both Arisaira and Shara were shocked to see Jadus being alive the whole time.

The outcomes of the Eradicators was a bit of the mesh from ingame choices, but for this verse, Arisaira and Shara planned to shut it down, resulting in a firefight, though Jadus used onomatopoeia and forced Arisaira’s hand to activate it.

Jadus still plays the role of an anatognist, therefore they are alive and returned to the Dark Council and reclaimed their seat with a promise of a new vision and wooing Arisaira into marriage.

With Jadus’ return, Zhorrid had fled the Empire--aka defected out of fear. So yes, she is very much alive and resurfaced three years later somewhere...

Marr appeared with their troops to assist Arisaira and stopping Ardun Kothe during the Shadow Arsenal, thus they discovered the brainwash program via Hunter.

Jadus, however, mysteriously vanished after the confrontation between them and Marr over the truth into Castellan Restraints at the end of Chapter 2. Jadus’ vanishment led to Imperial Intelligence disbanded at the start of chapter 3 rather than before Corellia.

Marr spent half of Chapter 3 trying to find Arisaira before they joined her to finish her mission on Corellia then proceed to take the fight to the Star Cabal.

[a-master-procrastinator]

Long ass post about the Eternal family not being a copy-paste from ATLA (aka I like the memes but my god can you please stop)

Because some people truly think that Vaylin is off-brand Azula, Arcann is Zuko and so on.

It's. Called. A. Trope. (I mean how often do we come across abusive manipulative fathers in media? Mothers who couldn't much to change anything? Children, desperately looking for their parent's approval no matter what?)

Of course, you have to consider the fact that the writing of ATLA is simply better than of KotFE/ET, so this might have been one of the reasons why people say that.

Spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender, Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne expansions!

Okay, so here's my unprofessional, maybe biased, not super deep take.

(not going to mention that all of them are members of royal, ruling family, kinda obvious)

What roles do they play in their stories? Well, both Valkorion and Ozai are main antagonists, but their presence throughout the story is very different. Ozai is rarely shown in first two seasons, we don't even see his face until season 3. He doesn't have a direct connection to the protagonist, they only meet at the very end of the show, and Ozai's role is to pose a threat to the world, while Aang's is to save it. Valkorion, on the other hand, is constantly on the screen, interacting with the main character, challenging their viewpoint and influencing them directly. His end goal is similar to Ozai's (destroy everything and be the only ruler of the his nation), but with one major difference - he's trapped in Outlander's mind, so to achieve his goal Valkorion attempts to take control of the main character. Their interactions play important role in the story, and we spend a lot of time with Valkorion.

In addition to that, their relationship with children are also not exactly the same. It seems like Azula is Ozai's favorite and Zuko is a failure in his eyes until he meets his expectations, and the same goes with Vaylin, Arcann and Valkorion, right? Well, partially. Indeed, Valkorion and Ozai's treat their sons in similar ways (are disappointed in them until they meet their expectation by doing something that goes against their morals), but when it comes to Vaylin and Azula, it's not that easy. See, Valkorion claims that Vaylin was always his favorite creation (even though we know it's actually his empire), and he certainly seems to take pride in her potential in the Force. But her power is the very reason he's afraid of his own daughter, and in this fear Valkorion literally locks Vaylin away and allows to put her through physical and mental torture just to make sure she won't become a threat, won't overpower him. Maybe he thought of her better than of Arcann, but she wasn't his favored child for sure. I don't want to say that Azula hasn't experienced abuse from Ozai, but for the most part he clearly favored her over Zuko. He has never shown fear of Azula's power and abilities (or at least I haven't noticed), quite the opposite - allowed her to do a lot, as long as she brings results.

I could also mention their slightly different characterization (mostly that we get more characterization of Valkorion, get to learn his motivations, views, philosophy and all that, also he's portrayed as more nuanced, even if he not really is) and role in their respective governments (ozai is one of many Fire Lords and arguably not the greatest, while Valkorion is a god to citizens of Zakuul, their only Immortal Emperor), but those are details, and I think you get the point.

What's similar: role of the main antagonist, manipulative and abusive father, goal of destruction of everything that isn't their nation/empire, relationship with disgraced son.

What's different: presence in the overall narrative, relationship with the main character, relationship with daughter, role in their societies.

Senya and Ursa are even less similar. Yes, they both are mothers who love their children, but have to leave them, but these are probably the only things they have in common. Just as with Ozai and Valkorion's presence throughout the story, Ursa is only shown in flashbacks (for obvious reasons), and Senya is one of major characters in KotFE and (a bit less major) in KotET. Ursa leaves because she has to kill Azulon in order to save Zuko, and later isn't present in the story (I'm aware that her fate is told in comics, but we aren't talking about it). Senya leaves because when she tries to take children with her, they refuse, and she understands that she can't force them to, nor she can help them to break free from Valkorion's manipulations. For a long time she's absent from Arcann ad Vaylin's lives, but at the time of game events she attempts to save her children and stop the madness and destruction they've caused, and it isn't a small part of the story.

I also want to add that their relationship with Ozai and Valkorion are also different, but can't say much about Ursa. I heard that she didn't choose this marriage and suffered emotional (and maybe physical???) abuse from Ozai. I can say with confidence, though, that Senya genuinely loved Valkorion, and strangely enough, he seems to at very least respect her. But, of course, this wasn't the best marriage either.

Plus, we see more of Senya's relationship with Vaylin than Arcann or Thexan, but with Ursa we see her more with Zuko than Azula. Just a detail to remember.

(also Senya is simply a better character but that besides the point, moving on. in this house we stand Senya)

What's similar: role of loving and caring mother, abandoning their family at some point.

What's different: presence in the overall narrative, relationship with husband, characterization in general.

Boy, where do I even begin. Vaylin and Azula are similar in that they are both extremely powerful (one is firebending prodigy, the other is potentially stronger than Valkorion), both are cruel "craaaaazy" (i hate that cliché), both are younger sisters, have serious mother issues (seemingly more so than father issues), both go through betrayal of people they could always rely on, which eventually leads to their downfall. But when I took a look at their personal arcs, it became clear that they aren't the same (unfortunately, Vaylin's arc is very rushed and underdeveloped, but we'll have to go with what we have and my personal view, sorry).

There's a really good video about writing corruption and madness, and I'm going to base my thoughts on it. To summarise it: a good corruption arc should have 4 components:

- the character has a specific goal (or a goal and subgoals);

- in pursuit of said goal they become the cause of a significant event that brings serious consequences;

- as the result of these consequences, character abandons their morals, ideals or a code in pursuit of goal;

- character either will not achieve their goal or will succeed, but it won't be enough to satisfy them.

And then the author brings Azula's arc as one of the best examples of compelling story of corruption (so basically, she represents it perfectly). In short, Azula's main goals are perfection and control, and subgoals help achieve the main ones. In pursuit of these goals, Azula causes Mai and Ty Lee to betray her (by pushing them too far to do something they wouldn't do), which then causes her to become paranoid, which makes her to attempt controlling everything and everyone around her, *breathes* which makes her lose control over herself and ....

Now, I thought if Vaylin's arc could fit into a corruption one, and next part will be based a lot on my assumptions and personal view of her character (plus rushed writing doesn't help), but I think yes (or at least mostly). The difference is in goals, ideals and details.

While the story strongly makes us think that Vaylin's goal is freedom (or control over her life and everything around her) or power and destruction, I think it's actually self-determination (which was said by Tenebrae in 6.2) and feeling safe. Let me explain (and here I thought this would be a short comparison). Sure, when Valkorion caged Vaylin on Nathema, he took choices and control over her life from his daughter. But let's not forget whom Vaylin blames for this (even more than Valkorion): her own mother, and I think this details tell us that the most important thing that Vaylin lost on Nathema is feeling safe. Then, after Arcann brought her home, I assume Vaylin still didn't feel safe enough under Valkorion's rule, still too afraid that he'd simply send her back to that hellish place.

It's when Valkorion is struck down Vaylin finally has a feeling of personal safety, even if she isn't the one on the throne. Why? Because back on Nathema there were two people who haven't turned on her - Arcann and Thexan (yes, this is also a huge assumption, bc the game states that only Thexan visited her, but it doesn't make much sense).

I've always noticed (and I'm not alone in this) that her behavior in Fallen Empire is different from the way she acted in Eternal Throne. Most likely bc of rushed writing, but I see a character driven reason here. In first of these expansions, Vaylin is the second person in power on Zakuul, and with Arcann being in charge, person she can trust more than any other living being, she feels safe - she can test her power, and now Valkorion won't prevent it, she can do pretty much everything she wishes, and the most Arcann will do about this is mildly complain (without blaming her). Really would be nice if we got to see any normal hobbies of Vaylin (like wasn't there something about books or art?), but I digress. She might have some questions about Arcann's tactics, but they get along just fine. The important thing to note is Vaylin not seeking to hunt the Outlander personally, to rule or conquer the rest of the galaxy, or trying to achieve absolute freedom or power. She's kinda there.

This, however, changes when Arcann doesn't allow Vaylin to kill Senya. Their relationship was getting somewhat worse towards the end of KotFE, but this is a turning event Vaylin caused by attempting to strike her mother. By saving the person Vaylin blames for all the trauma from sending her to Nathema, Arcann threatened her feeling of safety. And now Vaylin starts to believing that to achieve safety she now needs to kill people who hurt her (that's why she's so determined to find Senya and Arcann), take the throne and hunt down Outlander (she was manipulated by SCORPIO to these subgoals).

(The following is the weakest, I'll admit, but I hope I can at least express what I see). So, in trying to achieve goals she didn't want before Vaylin loses in self-determination, being either driven by overwhelming anger or manipulated by others (SCORPIO or Commander on Odessen), desperately trying to accomplish anything, or even goes against her morals (like by erasing GEMINI's free will protocols, when earlier she agreed that freedom to choose is important; or breaking the deal on Odessen). All of these result in her downfall.

But even this isn't the end. The key difference between arcs of Azula Vaylin lies in it's resolution, or that Vaylin have a chance to overcome corruption in the main narrative (and Azula doesn't. again, not including comics here, sorry). After death, Vaylin is again controlled by Valkorion in Outlander's mind. First time physically (she can't resist it), second time mentally. This is where Vaylin has to choose - kill brother who betrayed her and Commander who killed her, or go against Valkorion, person responsible for almost all of her pain and trauma. She has t choose by herself, and I think it's a good start.

Now, before 6.2 we all thought Vaylin was dead for good, but that story update hinted at possibility of her coming back to life. What I like to think is that now that she dealt with people responsible for her trauma (helped defeat Valkorion and actually for once listened to Senya), Vaylin can now have a different life, finding herself with support of someone she doesn't hold a grudge against and who treats her well (Satele, I mean).

I'm so sorry for going into details, but I needed this long explanation to present the point (and I suck at explanations). As said before, this is my version of her arc, and most likely wrong interpretation, but even with personal freedom of choice, Vaylin character differs from Azula a lot.

Need I mention that Vaylin relationship with Arcann and Valkorion are drastically different from those between Azula, Zuko and Ozai?

(Also a little detail - with royal family of Fire Nation, Azula is the golden child, while with Tiralls it's actually Thexan, not Vaylin).

What's similar: role of extremely powerful, emotionally damaged daughter with little to no regard towards others, close people betraying them, resulting in their downfall.

What's different: characterization, role in the narrative, relationship with father and brother.

Arcann and Zuko is the most difficult part, but I still believe that calling Arcann just a cheap copy of Zuko is incorrect.

So, they fall into role of less successful son, always getting disapproval from father, being in shadow of more talented sibling, both obsessed with capturing the main character but ending up helping them end the war after going through a redemption arc with help of caring family member. Even both have scars on left side of face. Yeah, seems similar. I still think they are different characters.

Let's start with their relationships with family. In Valkorion section I said that his attitude towards Arcann is similar to that of Ozai towards Zuko, so not going to spend too much time here. However, there's slight difference - Zuko didn't kill his father even he had a perfect opportunity (bc it wasn't his goal), Arcann did (bc it was one of his goals), which says something about their characterizations.

Zuko and Ursa were shown to have a good mother-son relationship, and it played a role in Zuko's character. With Arcann and Senya, we don't really know (not much was shown in expansions). We know Arcann didn't hate his mother, but possibly didn't have warm memories of her either. The reason is most likely, like Senya said, her children wanted nothing to do with her (which is a bit untrue about Vaylin, but okay) and leaned more towards Valkorion. We need to remember that on Zakuul Valkorion isn't just one of many great leaders, he's the greatest, and seen as a god by most citizens, so safe to assume the same would apply to his children as well.

Zuko and Azula's siblingship (i'm out of words) is a bit similar to Arcann and Vaylin's in way of brother knowing that his sister isn't good, but still caring about them (even if not showing). At least it's what I saw. What's different is how Azula treats Zuko, compared to how Vaylin treats Arcann. I think Azula showed compassion or concern for Zuko maybe twice, but I'm not entirely convinced that it was 100% sincere. Vaylin, on the other hand, seems to trust and care about Arcann (with bits of sass and questioning his life choices), and switching to complete opposite after him saving Senya. Also, I don't she ever called Arcann a failure in their father's eyes.

Now I want to say that their roles in stories aren't the same either. Sure, both are introduced to us as antagonists, but in reality, Zuko was never a true antagonist (we get to learn this somewhere mid-season 1), when Arcann remains the main antagonist for whole of KotFE. Zuko didn't start a war and didn't participate in conquest of other nations too much, his main goal was to capture the Avatar so to restore his honor (and deserve his father's forgiveness). Honestly, I think it's safe to say the Zuko is one of two main protagonists of ATLA. Why does Arcann want to capture the Outlander? Solely because his father's spirit still lives inside this person's mind, and the best solution to keep Valkorion away from the galaxy is not letting the Outlander free (hence the carbonite freezing). And Arcann doesn't want or need Valkorion's forgiveness when he attempts to kill him (or kills him, depending on your choice. anyway, his action directly leads to Valkorion's "death"). And right after that he becomes a ruler of Zakuul and begins the conquest of Republic, Sith Empire and everything he can reach (the reasoning behind this is still unclear to me though; maybe because he was raised with ruling Zakuul in mind and he didn't anything else, idk). Point is, he's responsible for war and main's character imprisonment, which makes him the main antagonist of KotFE. They have it the opposite ways - Zuko starts as disgraced prince, supported by a little group of people, and in the end he's recognized and appreciated by his nation, and Arcann starts as respected by his empire, later becoming less and less loved, until some groups start rebelling his rule, and in the end he doesn't get to rule Zakuul again.

This leads me to their morals. See, Zuko didn't have the worst morals in Fire Nation, even more, he expressed care for loyals soldiers of his nation before getting punished by Ozai. During first season (and about a half of second one) his views on other nations are what he was taught before. However, these views are challenged by travelling in Earth Kingdom, witnessing people suffering from war Fire Nation started and hating its people (you already know all of this), and with this he comes through final stage of redemption when he's back home. Unfortunately, Arcann doesn't go through this, and he's shown to be more ruthless.

Alright, when it comes to their redemption arcs, well let's say they are different (both in quality and the way they go through it), I'm just a bit tired of long explanations at this point. Zuko's arc is one of the best ever put on television, and Arcann's... well, it definitely has potential, but is criminally underdeveloped (there are other people who will explain it better than I ever could).

What's similar: role of disgraced son, living in shadow of their sibling, serious injuries on the left side of face (though with different meanings), obsession with capturing the main character, having a redemption arc.

What's different: role in the narrative, role in their society, characterization, relationship with sister and mother, different end goals (before redemption), paths to redemption.

[tsukikoindreamsmp]

YCGMA Smp (DSMP Roleswap AU) - Tales War (Disc War Alternative)

YCGMA Smp (just a code, not the actual name), named after Wilbur’s Your City Gave Me Asthma album. Basically just roleswap some characters’ role. Also we have Karl's Tales of the SMP' books instead of disc.

There’s probably a lot of roleswap au out there already, but I would like to try to give it a go. Also, I’m not the most knowledgeable with the lore, so apologies for any mistake.

Let’s try to fit some characters. Starts from the beginning: the disc war.

Basically:

Karnapity -> Bench Trio. Sapnap and Quackity keep swapping between Tommy and Tubbo. Karl is Ranboo.

George -> Fundy. But sharing Tubbo role as he's chosen as the president after November 16th

Dream -> Wilbur

Bonus Cast, because I love extended family, but still unsure:

Foolish -> Technoblade. Not as violence as Technoblade. He'll turn swap!Pogtopia into a stronghold.

Captain Puffy -> Philza. Doesn't have the A+ parenting skills.

BadBoyHalo & Skeppy -> Niki & Jack Manifold, but instead trying to nuke Sapnap, they’re just an over protective parents

The Feral Boys grew up together as childhood best friends.

George, Sapnap, and Quackity were raised in an orphanage ran by Captain Puffy, who is Dream’s parent.

Foolish and Michael/Drista are Dream’s siblings. Foolish is the oldest, Dream is the middle child, and Michael/Drista is the youngest (sbi parallel?)

Nobody really knows where Karl lives. He just came and went as he pleased. Until one day, he disappeared completely for the next five years (just like Philza’s hardcore).

Before he left, he trusted Sapnap with a book series that he wrote called Tales from the SMP, with The Masquerade and The Wild West as his absolute favorite.

Sapnap leaves next, being adopted by BadBoyHalo and his 'partner', Skeppy.

Quackity used to admire Dream, even copying him but with his own Mexican flare (Mexican Dream)

Dream is the first one in the group to go ahead for his own adventure, quickly making a name of himself because he's always being hunted down.

Later, Sapnap visits the orphanage again and invite Quackity and George to travel with him.

The three of them are off travel south until they reach a snowy country of Antarctic Empire, ruled by the SBI family

(Dark) SBI role, still unsure with some:

Wilbur -> Dream. Techno’s twin. He still isn't the best pvp, so he let his brothers to fight on his behalf. Refers himself as 'the maestro' or 'the storyteller'. Karl is his favorite card

Bench Trio -> KarNapIty. Their personality mostly the same. Tommy and Tubbo would often switch between Sapnap and Quackity role (depending how canon would go), while Ranboo is Karl with amnesia instead of time travel

Philza & Techno -> Badboyhalo & Skeppy. Phil is still an absent father. He's immortal and meet with Karl during his wonky time travel adventure. Techno is Wilbur’s twin. He's still an anarchist and protective with his family, but often not there during important event. Will play larger role in the Eggpire Arc

Unlike George who just wanted to build his mushroom house, Sapnap and Quackity quickly created chaos. Sapnap still killed pets and Quackity started illegal drug dealing.

This just pissed Wilbur off, much to Tommy and Techno's amusement.

Tommy and Techno had their own fight with Tommy messing around Techno’s stuff in his private cottage and making a bunker like a raccoon. In turn, Techno took Tommy’s discs.

Wanting to get back his discs, Tommy teamed up with Sapnap to ganged up on Techno... Who still kicked their ass.

Wilbur had enough and took matter in his own hand. In the middle of Techno destroying the fight, Wilbur managed to get The Masquerade and The Wild West and had no plan on giving them back unless Sapnap stop doing what he’s doing. 

Oh, and he also threatened to ground Tommy. But that’s not important-

Quackity decided to stop selling drug (also running a bit of problem with the police enforcement) and help his pal getting the books back.

It’s a battle between Sapnap-Tommy-Quackity vs Wilbur-Techno. This is actually hard because the whole ‘Technoblade Never Dies’.

Quackity offered to do a trade with Sapnap “Sap Lazar Beam” bow as a leverage. 

The trio managed to get back the books for a while and hid them along with the other books, but Wilbur found them again.

Wilbur tried to mock read the book, but Tommy kept mocking him while Quackity attacked him until he dropped the book. Sapnap managed to snatched them but Techno snatched them back.

At one point, the trio pulled out a dirty move: Quackity threatening to kill Techno’s horse meanwhile Sapnap and Tommy chased Wilbur down, managing to get the books.

Tommy, once again, got obliterated by Techno and now he was grounded, forced to pull himself from the battle.

Once they got both the Tales books, Sapnap and Quackity quickly secure them in their newly made ender chest, thus Wilbur couldn’t take them again.

Peace came after that, despite the rocky relationship between the 3/4 Sleepy Bois and the 2/3 KarNapIty

That was... Until a certain green teletubby joined the game...

[more-than-a-gentleman]

Just a personal thought: nothing major

I don’t know why but every once in a while I get the feeling that Carrot connects Sanji and Nami somehow and that Pedro and Wanda kinda insinuates that in a way...

But of course Disclaimer: I am not suggesting that Oda might be thinking this or that this might actually be a thing. It is just a personal thought nothing more. I feel like I need to stress that.

So if you completely disagree that is 100% fine with me I am not trying to convince anybody to begin with...

While Carrot was on Zou when we first met her, she was strongly linked to two minks: Pedro and Wanda.

She was heavily linked with Wanda. She was a ruler’s bird just like her. She got scolded by her many times. She was there to fight with her as a partner. And when she snuck out of Zou to get Sanji back, Wanda spoke about her in a way that does not suggest that she thinks of her as a friend but more so as a big sister or a mother of sorts. And in Wano, she got into the same mission with Wanda at the beginning of the arc.

What we saw from Carrot and Pedro is that he was her mentor. He taught her how to fight, he was there for her. We dont know about her real family but Pedro gave the vibe of being either a Father figure or a big brother. She even mentions to Pedro how if she went back Wanda will get mad at her. When she said she wanted to work Pedro seemed to be proud of her. And when he died, she was the main focus by him uttering his last will to her.

On Zou, the first mink we meet is the chipmunk girl, but the first two Major minks that play a bigger role later on are Pedro and Wanda. And we also saw from a flashback that Wanda and Pedro go way back. I don’t know their relationship but I thought it was important to mention it here.

But then Carrot decides to get Sanji back, and she gets moments with 3 characters: ChoBro, Nami and Sanji

So Chopper is big brother huh....

It seems as though Carrot is getting closer and closer to Nami. We have the moment where the get similar clothes at the same time. Nami witnessed Carrot’s worst moment with Pedro and took immediate action. And after WCI, after her mission with Wanda, she gets onto another mission but this time with Nami. I believe they fought together as well in the seducing woods and in the war.

Now this moment was probably the most important spotlight for Carrot’s character besides her Sulong moment. Her and Sanji exchange a really emotional moment in relation to Pedro. It is not that big, but we saw Sanji protecting her from Daifuku’s Genie, the reason I added it is because it was just.... there... it led to nothing I thought that was weird...

Now, I want to show somethings that might strengthen this observation:

Wanda was literally called Nami-dog at the very start by Ussop because she was wearing Nami’s clothes. Wanda loves all the strawhats of course and mainly the Guruwaras because they were the ones actually present to save them. But it seems like she is more connected to Nami the most. The first powerful moment between the minks and the gurawaras was Nami and Wanda. They exchanged clothes, got really close and before they left she made sure to give her farewells to Nami.

Note: Nami is always referenced to as a Cat. So why would she be represented as the exact opposite as a dog? Well, don’t you think that Nami in Zou/WCI was more of a dog than a cat? Dogs are more emotional driven than Cats, and we saw from Wanda the she was all about emotions through and through. And Nami in WCI was the exact opposite of what she always is. She was emotion driven, absent minded on certain things and naive.

Transitioning into Sanji and Pedro:

Pedro was the first mink to interact with Sanji. He formed an almost instant respect for Sanji after they were saved. He told Luffy that he knows that Sanji is a really nice and a good guy. He wanted to save Sanji even if it meant he would go back to the place that was basically hell to him. And after he died, we saw Sanji in deep thought and I believe that Oda did not just put that there for no reason. (We might see a Sanji vs Perospero in Wano.... maybe). He took Sanji’s place of getting into a covert mission with Brook, and basically filled in Sanji’s place once he joined the “get-Sanji-back” team.

Note: This time I think Pedro represented Sanji completely. Visually: He is blonde, covers one eye with his hair and is a smoker. Figuratively: He is a cheetah/leopard and they are known mostly for their speed. He took on Sanji’s place (like I said before) in being a tactical. And at the end, just like Sanji was the sacrifice the first half of WCI, Pedro was ultimately the sacrifice. He also had this mysterious vibe to him just as Sanji was at the start of the arc.

How about some Sanji, Nami and Carrot moments? Are there any? Plenty...

- She seems to enjoy Sanji and Nami interactions

- She was drawn closer to Sanji and Nami’s bridal carry than Chopper was.

- In Wano, she seems to be drawn to Sanji and Nami most of her screen time.

- She was highlighted by having a conversation with Nami about Sanji going alone.

- And was also highlighted to be present with Nami the moment Sanji returned

And this moment might be either a hidden gem or nothing at all.... I dont know:

Now not only does she call Chopper big brother, but as we know the Strawhats are sometimes refered to or considered a family. Like chapter 979 is called “Family Problems” or even in SBS(s). And slowly but surely Carrot seems to blend in with the strawhats since the start of WCI:

All that is left for Carrot now is to join the crew like many have speculated. I feel like at the end of Wano multiple people will join. And I really hope Carrot does, and she will not feel homesick since Sanji and Nami are basically Pedro and Wanda stand-ins at this point.

Also, aren’t those three the only ones to be strongly connected to food? Sanji = Eggplant, Nami = Mikan, Carrot = well duh carrots😂(little food family right there)

REMEMBER: This is just my personal opinion. I am not trying to convince anybody. I will be a bit disappointed if it did not happen but at the same time I am not expecting much since I am not making a headcanon out of it.

Just thought this might have something behind it.... that is all.

[wardens-stew]

The Mask Falling Hints MASTERPOST

Clearly I have wayyy too much time on my hands! 

I have compiled a list of information Samantha Shannon has divulged on social media about The Mask Falling, mostly paraphrased from her Tumblr and Twitter. Some of it dates back as far as 2016, so it’s not certain that all of it will happen - I’ve included an asterisk for the tidbits in which Samantha explicitly mentioned that it was pre-editing. I didn’t include a link to the original source because that would be too much work, but if anyone has questions I can probably find it pretty easily! The recent ARC reviews also include some hints, but I haven’t included them because that would be a crap-ton of text. Feel free to add anything I missed! Anyway enjoy the fruits of my obsession! 

Hints:

We will find out how badly Warden was affected by Paige’s torture - there’s a lot about the effects of her torture in the book 

The non-binary character is a free-world spy, pretending to be French 

Paige has issues with drinking water and showering 

Paige will make another valiant effort to get Warden to talk about his feelings 

Paige’s demisexuality is clarified -  she reflects on the way she wants in comparison to the way the allosexual Nick and Eliza do

Paige gets slammed into the wall by someone, but not Terebell (also not Warden, because then she would be very dead) 

The grey market storyline continues

Etymological connection of Arcturus meaning bear-guard and Mahoney meaning descendant of the bear is worked into the books 

Paige cries

Paige’s PTSD is a thread throughout the book 

Paige has mental and physical difficulties following her torture 

“The scope of everything gets bigger, there's more focus on the free world and how it interacts with Scion, and you'll find out more about Rephaite history and the origin of clairvoyance.”

You may figure out what happened to Procyon

Warden’s aura type is mentioned*

Paige starts calling Warden Arcturus. They have a discussion about it. But she keeps calling him Warden in front of other people. 

The prologue begins about an hour after The Song Rising 

Warden asks Paige to teach him Irish

Contains clues as to the big secret at the heart of the series 

Warden does a few very sweet things

We’ll find out a reason why Nashira considers Warden a possession rather than a partner*

Paige is at her most fragile

One of the characters eats an orange

There is a distinct Priory parallel in one section of the story

Paige asks Warden if Rephaim can get drunk 

We will find out if Rephaim can get physically ill

We’ll get a piece of information that may help us understand the Rephaite logic behind Warden feeding on Paige’s aura 

More about the golden cord

Paige’s feelings with her father will be explored 

We will find out why it was common knowledge amongst Rephaim that Terebell and Warden were once mated 

Warden might tell us what would happen if he tried to eat

More about voyant-amaurotic sex will be explained 

We will learn more about the Rephaim’s internal politics and conflicts 

We get to see Paige’s birthday

We we’ll find out how Warden knows how to develop Paige’s gift*

Paige and Warden butt heads over right and wrong 

We’ll find out why Warden said that Sargas are the only Rephs who choose their mates

We’ll find out more about the half-urge

We’ll find out more about the complicated history between Warden and Terebell

Warden is planning to learn Gaelic (pre-editing)

We’ll find out two of the reasons why Warden hates Nashira so much*

We’ll find out about the promise Warden made to Nashira that she alludes to before the Bicentary

Warden says something with an exclamation mark

Warden will tell us more about the memory of Terebell, and how it was a prelude to one of the defining moments of his existence 

Paige visits Warden’s dreamscape a few times, but we only see it once

Paige addresses the author directly 

Nick isn’t in the book at all

The plot takes place only in Paris

Paige dies her hair red

A character Samantha did not originally plan to be in TBS4 now is

There’s a big scene in the Sainte-Chapellle in Paris

The book is shaping up to be the darkest book in the series, but also contains the most jokes 

Paige feels really ill for most of the book 

Samantha starts hinting at the Grand Backstory of the series 

Paige is under strict orders to stay inside for a month, but she breaks the rules to explore Paris 

The main antagonist was born in “the burning summer of 2019”

We’ll find out about two of Warden’s past relationships 

Paige and Warden have to get food deliveries from a guy called Albéric because they’re not allowed to go outside 

There’s espionage 

Warden uses the super unnecessary word “sennight”

A lot of the book takes place underground

We learn if a non-polyglot could ever learn Gloss 

There is a Very Awkward Conversation*

There is a time skip between the fourth and fifth books

Warden smiles a lot… with his eyes

The ending will change everything 

Scion must change its public face due to an event that happens at the end

People who liked The Mime Order will love it

TBS4 picks up when Paige is resting.

It will go into more detail about how Rephaim emerge

It marks the beginning of Beautiful Dresses in The Bone Season 

It introduces a Rephaite character Samantha absolutely loves, with her favorite Rephaite name 

There’s a scene Samantha has wanted to write for years 

The ending is very dark 

There’s a cute priory reference 

There’s a character Samantha loves - “she’s so cool that I don’t know how a nerd like me invented her”

“The relationship between Warden and Paige gets deeper and more complicated in this one, and you get to know Warden a little better.”

“[Paige and Warden] are together a lot in this book, as they’re sharing a safe house in Paris. It’s the first time they’ve spent a significant amount of time with one another since they escaped Sheol I.  You’ll actually glimpse the ways they both react to being stuck inside in The Mask Falling, as they’re meant to stay hidden in a safe house for a month so Paige can start to recover from her ordeal.”

“It’s a love song to Paris in the way The Mime Order was a love song to London.”

“[Paige and Warden do have some happy calm moments.] Although there’s a lot of action in the book, there’s also quite a lot of downtime. Paige is still recovering from her ordeal in the Archon, so she can’t always be out in the world kicking ass. She’s resting as well, trying to get her strength back.”

“I won’t lie, The Mask Falling is a book to fear . . . but there are some nice bits. Including some coffee-drinking.”

“[Paige and Warden] do so much in this book. So much.”

“Most of the characters who didn’t go to Paris are absent from TBS4.”

“Paige and Warden do so much in this book, I just couldn’t cram any other storylines in. However, several old friends do turn up in it, as well as a bunch of new characters I hope you’ll love as much as I do.”

“Paige [experiences the messiest-most-intense emotion in TBS4]. She goes through the emotional wringer in this one.”

“The second ‘arc’ has the same main characters and the same antagonist. The difference has more to do with the setting, the scope of the narrative, and the type of battle being fought against Scion. You’ll have a better idea of what I mean when you read the end of TBS4.”

“This book puts both [Paige and Warden] through the emotional wringer, but there are lighter parts as well.” “Nick meets an old friend while he’s in Sweden and Paige and Warden will be staying in central Paris, on Rue Gît-le-Cœur. You can see some of the locations from Book 4 here: [x]”

“TBS4 is basically just a long Hurt/Comfort piece with occasional and reluctant splashes of Action/Adventure”

“THE MASK FALLING leans a little more Adult than the other BONE SEASON books. The whole series is officially classified as Adult, but the first three aren't far off YA in terms of sexual content, violence etc. THE MASK FALLING is . . . maybe a tiny bit sexier.”

“Doing my final reread of THE MASK FALLING and naturally I've noticed a recurring phrase that I have used no less than thirty times in the manuscript.”

“It blows the world of The Bone Season right open. It’s where everything changes. It takes place in a brand-new setting and forms the bridge between the two ‘arcs’ of the series. I hope the ending will show readers get why I really do need seven instalments to tell this story.”

“Books 1-4 is what I call the “Scion arc”, but Scion is still a threat in Books 5-7. Book 4 is kind of in the middle, with more of a focus on Rephaim than there currently is in Book 3.”

“He’s in Book 4, he’s French, he’s voyant, and I’m writing his introduction scene now. I think I love him?”

“The draft is about 140 000 words long – a little shorter than The Mime Order – with a veritable tonne of action, espionage, international politics, eerie catacombs, old enemies, new friends, and messy, intense emotions packed into that word count.” 

“This one combines my favourite elements of The Bone Season (Warden and Paige chats), The Mime Order (syndicate weirdness) and The Song Rising (heists and angst)”

“The fourth Bone Season book is well underway, and things are about to take a very dark turn for Paige.”

“It’s mostly focused on Paris, but you’ll find out bits and pieces about what’s happening in both England and Europe.”

“She’s suffering from PTSD and aquaphobia following her water torture in The Song Rising, so she’s pretty much in the ringer for the whole book. There are a few light moments, but she’s under a lot of stress from the start.”

“While I wouldn't call it spy fiction, TBS4 is delving into espionage territory as Warden and Paige, still exhausted from their tremendous efforts against Scion in The Song Rising, attempt to navigate the convoluted political and criminal networks of Scion Paris.”

“Book 4 is a touch more political, laced with subterfuge”

Lists:

Things you’ll see:

The carrières of Paris

A masquerade (ofc)

A mysterious character you haven’t seen in a long while

Arcturus Mesarthim saying ‘hm’ about 18 times

Five words:

Revelations

Politics

Water

Heartache

War

Three adjectives:

Macabre

Emotional

Seismic

There is a lot of:

Warden and Paige

Rain

Classy interior decor

Angst

New characters include:

A spy so fashionable and icy cool I’m unsure of how a nerd like me created her

A tall, irritable Frenchman with a bit of a God complex

A terrifying new Rephaite with an uncomfortably sexy voice

It has:

A Parisian underworld 

A demisexual MC 

A masquerade ball 

Catacombs 

Forbidden, angst-stricken desire 

Verbal consent 

Acknowledgement of periods 

I can promise:

Parisian buildings TOURISTS LOVE. Notre-Dame? It's there, there's a masquerade INSIDE IT. Sainte-Chapelle? Oui. Versailles? Naturally. The Eiffel Tower? Oh, we're climbing it 

Getting DOWN and DIRTY. (By which I mean literally, down, into the catacombs.)

People who arrive in Paris SPEAKING FRENCH because they have been given a job for which they have the correct SKILLSET *bangs table* 

No crêpes (#OhCrepe), but CHAUSSONS AUX POMMES 

ROOFTOP PICNIC 

Not everyone is STRAIGHT 

Chic OUTFITS, all quite filthy by the end

Locations: 

The beautiful Sainte-Chapelle, my favourite place on Earth. 

Rue Gît-le-Cœur, a major location in the book and previously home to the Beat Hotel.

The famous doorway in the Paris Catacombs. The inscription translates to 'Stop! This is the Empire of Death.' 

Rue Montmartre, where we may or may not encounter an old face. 

Preview in gifs:

Originally posted by cinemagraphs

Originally posted by queeniegoldtsein

Originally posted by cumlelerinruhu

Snippets:

Out-of-context chapter title: Chapter 3: Gloomy Coffee

Part names*: 

1. To Pay Thee Free

2. Turn the Anchor

3. Eurydice

Quotes:

“What the fuck is that?” she whispered to me. “Looks like a frozen rainbow.”

“The horizon was as red as if the fire still burned. I watched the sunrise from the roof. Fog breathed into every nook and alcove of Paris, laced over the dark crests of the river, blanched the skin to the pink of salmon. I was sure the air was still spiced with the tang of smoke.”

“So,” he said, “we are choosing larceny.” “Always so surprised when his criminal friend commits crimes.”

“I wouldn’t usually care who you’re riding at any given time”

“I sensed all of this was very important, but I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about”

“I picked up the floundering ribbons of my dignity and started over”

“His home was in decay, and mine lay in the shadow of the anchor. Scion had made wanderers of us.”

Current opening line (circa Dec 18, 2018): “The sun had been climbing over the cliffs when our ship had pared away from Dover.”

“Someone who had heard of me and whose first response had not been to try to kill me. What a treat.”

“A hollow ache stretched out within me. It started in the chambers of my heart, in a place that reached eternally for Ireland.”

“‘I promised you we would stay together,’ he said. ‘In the absence of other options, I will follow your lead on this matter.’”

“‘I’m fine.’ ‘Your attempt to mask the darkness under your eyes serves as compelling evidence of that. As does the full bowl of coffee.’ I cocked my head. ‘Did you just master sarcasm?’ ‘Paige.’ ‘It’s a cup of coffee. With… no handle.’”

“‘There’s no fireplace,’ I stated. ‘No.’ ‘But how are you-‘ A wild laugh was bubbling up. ‘How are you going to cope without one?’ ‘Cope,’ Warden repeated.  ‘You need one. To stare into, pensively. Did you know,’ I said to him, ‘that you do that a lot?’ He tilted his head, which only set off a fit of silent laughter. My ribs ached in protest.”

‘I mustered all the breath I had left and screamed, until I folded on myself and my voice burned to nothing.’

‘Who can break you now, Black Moth, now there is nothing left to break?’

[spaceorphan18]

What effect do you feel Kurt’s friendship with Rachel had on his relationship with Blaine?

This is a really fascinating question! Thank you! 

It’s interesting because I don’t think Rachel had all that much impact on Klaine for better or for worse.  Let’s dig in! 

Season 1 - clearly zero impact. 

Season 2 - I’d argue zero impact. I’m not sure how much of a friendship I see in season 2 Hummelberry.  Things I can think of off the top of my head 

In Special Ed before competition Rachel and Kurt have a heart to heart, and Blaine comes by.  But there’s really nothing about Blaine there. 

Silly Love Songs, Kurt discusses his feeling for Blaine, but Mercedes gives out advice while Rachel talks about herself. 

In BIOTA, Rachel dates Blaine, and mostly that makes Kurt dislike Rachel more, but on the positive side, Blaine is able to figure out that he is gay and no bi, which is neutral for Kurt. 

In Rumors, Rachel is pro-Klaine, and wants Kurt not to cheat on Blaine with Sam, which again, is more of Kurt thinking she’s crazy.  

And in New York, Kurt mentions going to New York with Blaine, to which Rachel has no objection, but again, is mostly thinking about herself.  

So my conclusion is - zero effect in season 2. 

Season 3 - Is tricky! Because I think it’s misleading.  Kurt has duel roles during this season -- the first being Rachel’s new BFF-slash-sidekick, the second being one-half of a romantic pairing, and because Rachel is now the main character, guess which one takes precedence.  Due to that, Klaine’s screen time is cut down to focus on other things, and it’s easy to blame Rachel, but I still don’t think she has a bad effect on Klaine, is mostly positive. 

I’m hard pressed to remember any early instances of Rachel having anything to do with Klaine -- she seems happy that Blaine has transferred, happy about having Blaine be her co-star, happy that Klaine gets their own Bachelor Chalet, and happy to bring Blaine movies and soup when he’s out for his eye injury.  

During Dance With Somebody -- she even gives Kurt some relatively good advice about not being a dick to his boyfriend, even if said boyfriend seems distant and unresponsive.  

During Prom - she encourages both of them do the anti-prom with her, it’s mostly for selfish reasons, but she seems rather content that both of them are her gay bffs.  

I’d say she has a rather positive influence in season 3, even if we’re personally annoyed that her presence takes away from Klaine.  

Season 4 - Which I suppose people think has the most negative effect.  But I think I’d argue it’s not nearly as bad as it seems, and Rachel’s a relatively supportive friend, despite the narrative still using Kurt as Rachel’s emotional prop.  (Though that is not as bad as it is in season 3.) 

Despite the continuing parallels found between Finchel and Klaine in season 4 (this started in season 3, after the show decided to drop paralleling Finchel with Wemma), Rachel has little to no say around the time Kurt and Blaine break up.  She neither condones or condemns Blaine for cheating (not that she would have any leg to stand on in any kind of condemnation).  

I’d also add that any kind of issues Klaine had before the break up due to Kurt being wrapped up in NYC had really nothing to do with Rachel - and more to do with Kurt, as an individual, moving in a new direction in his life. 

During Glease, again, Rachel plays a (minimal) part in being Kurt’s supportive friend.  While she is wrapped up in her own (melo-)drama, she does act supportive to Kurt when they get back to McKinley.  And has little to know commentary on Blaine, and of that, is mostly reflective of her own situation. 

During Thanksgiving -- she wants Kurt to be an adult with her - and while this may seem disconcerting to a Klaine fan, Kurt is in a place where he’d rather go along with her crazy cause it’s easier than trying to deal with his shit.  But interestingly -- Rachel’s attitude is ‘fuck our exes’ let’s seize the new day, and that’s about it.  Meanwhile, Kurt isn’t opening up to her, at all, about Blaine - and uses Isabelle as a sounding board.  It’s Isabelle’s advice whom he really takes, and ends up confessing his real feelings to Blaine by the end of the episode.  

During Sadie Hawkins -- she’s encouraging him to go on a date with Adam -- and while this doesn’t sound Klaine friendly, not only does she completely miss the cues that Kurt isn’t over his break up, her advice isn’t actually bad, and reminiscent of what Brittany is going to tell him in season 6 -- that he can’t just sit around and wait for things to work out with Blaine, he needs to continue on with his life.   

During Glee, Actually -- she is sadden to hear that Kurt won’t be trying to reconnect with Blaine over the holidays, because even as self-involved as she is at this point, she is probably aware of how much Blaine means to him (still) and even broken up and semi-dating another guy, Kurt probably still doesn’t shut up about Blaine. 

If there’s anything post Glee, Actually, I’m completely drawing a blank.  Santana takes over the Klaine commentary during the I Do era, and Rachel is pretty absent during the end of the season stuff.  

So... while I think she doesn’t have much of an impact on the Klaine love story in general, I think she’s trying to be a good friend to Kurt while he goes through his shit.  And even though she’s framing everything through her own issues with Finn (and Brody), I do believe she has his best interests at heart.   The other interesting thing to note here, though, is that Rachel is not the person Kurt confides in about Blaine - Isabelle is, and even Santana has picked up on stuff with Kurt more than Rachel.  

But it’s important to note that while Kurt ends up knee deep in Rachel’s shit, Kurt plays his own heart very close to his chest, and how he feels for Blaine is not something he really shares with other people -- as very evident by this season. 

Season 5 - Again, I don’t think Rachel plays that big of a part in any of the Klaine narrative. 

During LLL, she makes sure she and Santana are there for the proposal -- and she’s supportive to both Kurt and Blaine in this.  

I’m struggling to see where, if at all, she plays any kind of part in the Klaine narrative for most of the rest of the season.  She is relatively supportive of him in his individual career moves, but really has nothing to say about Blaine.  Even in the AU Christmas episode -- Santana is the one whom he discusses his feelings over what happened, and his feelings about being ‘broken up’ with Blaine. 

Elliott takes on more of a role within the Klaine narrative in the meantime when he’s around. 

Even in the NYC arc, Kurt doesn’t really talk to anyone (other than Elliott) about his problems with Blaine (while Blaine has Sam to talk to).  And in fact -- he and Rachel are more at odds than not during this run.  Blaine isn’t involved much at all.  

So....  Rachel has little to no impact on the Klaine narrative here.  

Season 6 - I’d say that Rachel is rather a positive influence for both of them at the beginning of the season (and then the writers kinda stopped caring about involving her in it).  

In the premiere, Rachel is a good friend to both of them -- she is not negative towards either one of them during their discussions, and tries to emotionally support each of them while they deal with their emotions.  She’s actually, surprisingly, a pretty good friend. 

And... that’s about it unless I’m forgetting something huge.  I mean, she does go looking for them in HL pt 2.  But mostly, she’s a non-entity in their story.  Sue, Brittany, Santana, Dave, and Walter have more influence on either of them than Rachel.  

So... Rachel is has nearly zero impact, and is positive in general towards both of them.  

Conclusion - 

So, yeah, there are aspects of Hummelberry that I do find frustrating, especially during season 3 and 4 when Kurt becomes Rachel’s emotional prop instead of a character, but! She’s usually positive towards Klaine, is friends with Kurt and Blaine, and is supportive of whatever incarnation they’re in. 

Mostly, though, I’d argue that Kurt keeps his relationship with Blaine very separate from Rachel, and she is not who he confides in for emotional support with those issues a majority of the time.  I think Kurt is smart enough to know what kind of friend Rachel is, and seeks emotional validation, for the most part, from other people when it comes to Blaine.  And despite the fact that as written, Hummelberry seems lopsided -- I think ultimately, she tries to be a good friend to Kurt when the writing allows it.  

So, there ya go :) 

[tsukikoayanosuke]

“Yeah, right. What future?” - Twisted Wonderland OC

Made with picrew

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Jacob Orion Columbus is a side character in my fanfic, Twisted Wonderland: Our Precious Treasure. Often seen as a difficult student, he's a student from Royal Sword Academy who appears to have connections with Jonah Argentum.

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==/Technical Information/==

Japanese: ジェーコブ・オリオン・コロンバス

Romaji: jeekobu orion koronbasu

Voiced by: ???

Debut: Chapter 57 - Beginning of the Rebellion

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==/Biographical Information/==

Name: Jacob Orion Columbus

Nickname: Jake, Jakey

Gender: Male

Age: 16

Birthday: 1st September

Star Sign: Virgo

Height: 155 cm

Eye Color: Blue

Homeland: Radiant Haven

Family: 

Agar Every (father, unknown status)

Rebekah Columbus (mother)

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==/Professional Status/==

School: Royal Sword Academy

Dorm: Arvorking ( @animenightmarenation )

School Year: First

Class: 1-D, Student no.6

Occupation: Student

Club: Equestrian Rider

Best Subject: Zoology/Wildlife Biology

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==/Fun Facts/==

Dominant Hand: Right

Favorite Food: Blueberry milkshake

Least Favorite Food: Peas

Dislikes: Rules, Chores, Homework, His mother worrying about him, Thinking about his future, Any mentions of his biological father and missing brother

Hobby: Animal care (mostly his dog), Going on a magical wheel ride

Talents: Mechanics, Scavenger hunts, 'Beast tamer'

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==/Appearance/==

Jacob is a teenage boy with dark skin, blue eyes, and dark blue hair with light purple bangs and downward ahoge.

He's usually seen in his school uniform which consists of an unzipped short-sleeved white hooded jacket with gray buttons and a gray checkered pattern at the hem. Underneath, he wears a black shirt with a V-neck. He also wears dark brown cropped trousers that were hemmed with the same checkered pattern as the jacket and black high-top boots.

He doesn't really like his dorm uniform. It feels uncomfortable and just doesn't suit him. His dorm uniform consists of a dark tunic top, light green capelet, white trousers, brown belt, and red boots. He also wears a long brown scarf and reaches his nose.

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==/Personality/==

Jacob is a quite difficult kid to approach because of his trust issue. He doesn't have friends growing up so he doesn't really know how to socialize with his peers. He's blunt and honest, sometimes doesn't even care about others' feelings. He would also hide his face every time he gets excited, like pulling his jacket close to his face.

Jacob is actually a brilliant-but-lazy type. He's able to build his own magical wheel with the scraps that he found in the nearby junkyard, but at the same time he would never do his homework, takes nap in class, and don't even bother with the exam. He's also surprisingly good with animals.

Cold on the outside, but he's crying in the inside. He's basically that one kid who has trouble showing how much it hurts him and how he regrets doing everything he had done but never really make an effort in doing it. Everyone had already seen how bad he is, so why bother change.

He's a lonely kid and questioning about his future often. He really wants to know where he belongs and what's his purpose in this world? While he loves his mother, he also realized that he only causes more troubles.

Entering RSA was a small step in transformation. Jacob becomes more open and often seen walking down the hall with someone (mostly Rielle who loves to drag him around) and starting to care about school. He's rather clingy once he had friends, always want to stay with him because he's worried he would be alone again. He won't hesitate to punch anyone who dares to hurt his friends.

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==/History/==

Jacob was born in Radiant Haven, a small harbor town located near the Valley of Thorn. His mother works in a family inn owns by a friend of hers while he didn't really know what his father's job was. His mother was the one who mostly raised him for his father was nearly absent in his file. Little Jacob tried his best to gain his father's attention but always fail in the end. One day, his father just... left and never return. The little family never recover from that. But lucky for them, the family dinner's boss is very kind and very supportive of her. His son was also a childhood friend with Jacob, but he soon left to continue his study.

Jacob wasn't the best in coping with his father's disappearance. He refuses to remember the man who just up and left without saying goodbye. Jacob grew up becoming a troublemaker, both in school and in his everyday life despite knowing how much it hurts his mother. 

When the RSA's Flying Golden Carriage arrived from him, he remembered how joyous his mother's face was, knowing that Jacob might have a chance for his future. Of course, Jacob would roll his eyes for that, but he said he might give it a try for her sake. 

RSA turns out wasn't so bad. He made friends (more like some people approached him but the most notable on was Prince Rielle Triton) who are always supportive of him and make sure he doesn't get left behind. He still doesn't know what the future is holding for him, but it doesn't seem as cloudy as before...

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==/Unique Magic/==

Portkey Gate, which allows him to teleport anywhere he had stepped his foot in. However, this only works if he knows and remembers where is he going. This is also not an offensive type of magic, so he needs other ways to attacks.

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==/Trivia/==

Name meaning:

Jacob: "seizing by the heel", "supplanting" Orion: the constellation Orion, the most famous constellation so it's often used in navigation Columbus: 'dove' in Latin, named after Christopher Columbus

Jacob has a talent for magical wheels. He can build one on his own even upgrade it with scraps.

When he was younger, he loves to go to the local junkyard and found some potential scraps to rebuilt.

In RSA, because he mostly doesn't know where to go, he enrolls in the Helpers Course.

He's pretty athletic but doesn't really want to join the Magishift Club because there are too many works and practices.

He's really good at animals. In the Equestrian Rider Club, he's often on the horse care duty. For once, he doesn't mind.

His horse is the most untamable, but both rider and horse managed to trust each other. 

He named his horse Rain because they first time bonded during a really heavy storm during his horse care duty. The poor girl was terrified of the thunder so Jacob tried his best to calm her down.

He may or may not have a crush on Rielle, but it was still vague for him.

He's the first non-NRC OC that appears in my fanfic, debuting in The Rebel of the Wilderness Arc, which also marks the first appearance of @animenightmarenation​ 's RSA OCs 

During his first appearance, it appears that he might have a connection with Jonah, wondering why the NRC student doesn't remember him.

He and Jonah have some similarities: their Biblical name (Jacob the son of Issac and brother of Esau; Jonah the prophet who was swallowed by a big fish) and relationship in sailing (Jacob surname is from Christopher Columbus; Jonah is the 'Captain of Ramshackle Dorm').

Like other NRC-RSA students, Jacob is basically Jonah's hero counterpart, even though their personalities are the opposite of each other (also note that Jacob is more individualist compare to Jonah's collectivist).

Jacob is able to build himself a hybrid weapon between a sword and a blaster acting as his 'magical pen'. He uses his crystal on to the sword-blaster and it can shoot basic light magic attacks and form a light blue laser-like sword. This weapon can also be used as a baton or a wand to cast magic.

Back home, Jacob has a white husky dog whose name is Artoo because she liked to chew on everything when she was a pup.

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==/Behind the Scene/==

Previously, Jacob has dark brown hair with red bangs. However, the color of his bangs is nearly similar to Jonah, so I recolor it.

He also used to have a darker color scheme with portrays his bad boy side, however, I changed that too.

He's actually a redesign version of a scrapped DCA OC named Isabella. After a few complications to fit them in the plot, Isabella was scrapped and changed into Jacob.

I often call him 'Yu-Gi-Oh boy' because of his hair (which is actually pretty tame compare to the usual Yu-Gi-Oh standard)

He was inspired by two Disney characters; in original Twisted Hero and Ezra Bridger from Star Wars Rebels

The other inspiration for this boy is actually his main twisted form. However, because he's connected to Jonah's real villain, I'm still keeping it a secret

Some of his traits come from Ezra Bridger: his blue hair and eyes, his scavenging tendencies, the traveling between places/worlds, their hybrid weapon, their beast taming talents

Originally, I want to give Jacob a telekinetic power similar to the Force, but because it seems to be too overpowered, it was scraped

Jacob weapon is basically Ezra's lightsaber-blaster weapon and combines it with Kingdom Hearts' keyblade ability to cast magic

Speaking of Kingdom Hearts,  his school uniform is based on Riku's outfit in Kingdom Hearts 3 but with a different color scheme.

Hiss nickname 'Jake' can be a reference to the main character in the Disney Junior show 'Jake and the Neverland Pirate'

A sudden realization that he's nearly the same as Deuce. Both of them likes magical wheels and both troublesome boys, except Deuce stopped being a bad boy while Jacob is still trying

His birthday is the date of the premiere of Star Wars Rebels short Property of Ezra Bridger, which is also marked Ezra's first appearance in the series

[queen-scribbles]

Of Bad Dreams

Happy Birthday, Alex! I love ya and I’m eternally grateful we’re friends. <3 

----

Trinne woke up screaming.

She woke up screaming and Two days was the first thought to cross Harvey’s mind as he lay, listening to see what she’d do. 

Second was a darkly humored wondering which ones had done it this time. There were options now, after all, and thus no guarantee of her nightmares’ content or severity. He’d gotten better than he wished was necessary at telling which ones she would want to process alone and which company would be preferable. 

The ragged cries faded quickly, but he heard the quiet creak of her door opening just as quickly after, followed by a murmur he’d guess was her telling Dane to stay.

Damn. Not again. Harvey groaned as he rolled over and sat up, mostly out of regret this was happening again, though he did cast a brief, longing glance at his pillow as he groped for clothes.

Frida lifted her head with a whine, watching him tug on shirt and trousers in the dimly-filtered moonlight.

“Stay,” Harvey hissed in a whisper when the mabari pushed to her feet.

She listened about as well as she usually did, and padded after him almost silently when he left the room. Harvey let her come, unsurprised when she sniffed the air a couple times and trotted toward the nearest access to the ramparts. He let the hound lead, even though he knew where she was likely going. 

At least it’s a nice night, he thought  trying to stifle a yawn and scratching the back of his head, The stars were out, and it was warm without being muggy. There was even a breeze.

Trinne wasn’t far down the wall, elbows braced against the battlements as she stared out toward the Coastlands, the breeze tousling her hair and tugging at the too-big shirt she’d been sleeping in. Frida lightly headbutted her knee, and Trinne mustered an attempt at a smile as she reached down to scratch between the mabari’s ears. Her gaze flicked to Harvey, wan smile briefly widening before she looked back out over Castle Cousland’s surroundings.

“Darkspawn again,” she said before he could ask.

That was a relief in some ways, but at the same time... “It’s only been a couple nights since the last one,” Harvey murmured as he leaned back against the wall next to her.

Trinne nodded, dragging one hand through her hair and briefly massaging the back of her neck before letting it drop. “Yeah, they’re getting closer together again...” She sighed and huffed a wry laugh. “And you didn’t get anything? Not so much as a grumpy genlock?”

He almost wished he could say otherwise, just to give her some solidarity, but, “No.”

Trinne sighed again and bumped her shoulder against his. “Lucky,” she muttered humorlessly as she turned and slid down to sit on the rampart, folding her legs crisscross in front of her.

Frida immediately flopped down and rested her head in Trinne’s lap. Harvey joined them more slowly, watching the smile that played at the corners of Trinne’s mouth as she obliged Frida’s obvious desire for more ear scratches.

He couldn’t help a smile of his own when his dog let out a happy groan and leaned more into Trinne’s hand. “You’ll spoil her.”

Trinne snorted and rolled her eyes at the comment. “Like you haven’t done that already, Cousland,” she retorted, smile widening for a moment, then fading as she leaned her head back against the wall. Silence settled between them for a minute before she spoke again. “If the... dreams are getting worse again, guess that means it’s a smart move on the Wardens’ part; sendin’ us to Amaranthine...”

“Probably,” Harvey muttered in quasi-agreement. He was really trying not to think about it until he had to--which was getting more difficult as they got closer to leaving--but that would explain why she’d been staring off in that general direction.

Trinne arched a brow at him, having caught the noncommittal tone. “You gonna be alright? Considering...?”

He snorted as he tipped his head back to look at the stars, already fading into the first faint hints of sunrise off behind the trees. Trust her to know him well enough, to worry about that, even rattled by nightmares from the depths of the Void itself. He couldn’t say he was thrilled about the recent orders from Weisshaupt, but... 

“I’ll survive,” he said with a shrug. Somehow. I don’t really have a choice. And a Cousland always does their duty.

Her arched brow went higher. “M sure you will.  I mean, if assassins,demons, Fereldan and dwarven politics, werewolves, and three bloody ogres--”

“Four,” he muttered sardonically.

“Right, four bloody ogres couldn’t do you in, I think you’ll be okay.” She shuffled sideways until their shoulders were just barely touching. “And you’ll have me along to distract you if it gets, y’know, overwhelming or anything,” she said with at least partially forced cheeriness, snaking her free hand over to take his.

“Speaking of distractions...” Harvey murmured with an arched brow of his own as their palms settled together.

Trinne snorted. “What, you wanna talk about darkspawn and bad dreams and a general sense of impending doom at this hour?” She let her head lean back against the wall again, her eyes drifting half closed and other hand still absently scratching Frida’s ears as the dog left an ever-growing drool stain on her leggings. “I sure don’t.” She hesitated, bit her lip, teeth scraping over chapped skin.  “Harvey, does... does it make me a bad person I’m almost glad it was these and not... the other ones?”

He squeezed her hand. “No.”

Her wan smile made another brief appearance at how emphatically he said it. She squeezed his hand back but let the silence return for several long moments while both of them sat and stared at the stars as they faded into the slowly encroaching dawn.

“They’re probably gonna get worse,” she finally said, still staring at the sky. “The dreams. If there really are darkspawn in Amaranthine, there’s gonna be a lot of rough nights in my future. ‘Specially if there’s a lot of darkspawn; might get as bad as it was at... at the beginning.”

Harvey grimaced in tandem with her at the thought, remembering the nights--sometimes too many chained together--of nightmares and screaming. Nights they all knew, even without the circles under her eyes and snappish edge to her voice, she hadn’t gotten more than a couple hours’ sleep. “I hope not.”

Trinne huffed a wry laugh, her thumb rubbing whisper-light arcs against the heel of his hand. “Oh, me, too, Cousland. But worst case scenario, promise you’ll keep me from bitin’ off any heads I shouldn’t?”

He chuckled. “Promise.”

“Thanks. Hopefully I won’t even need it, but you never know...”

He nodded. Considering lack of sleep had put her in a bad enough mood to nearly bite Alistair’s head off last time they’d gotten severe, the precaution was a wise one to have in place.

A few more seconds of silence followed before she spoke again. “Y’know, you don’t hafta do this.” Her shoulder pressed more firmly against his. “Track me down every time I have a bad dream and keep me company.”

“I know.” He shifted, their arms still pressed close. “I don’t mind.”

She flashed him a smile--warm if still slightly shaky--at the unspoken but not terribly subtle implication it was more than that.

They lapsed back into silence then, sitting on the wall with occasional breezes ruffling hair and clothes, Frida dozing with her head in Trinne’s lap, and their attention mostly on the stars above them. Every so often Trinne’s grip on his hand would slack or shift or tighten, and Harvey could almost follow the process of her thoughts from the changes, they’d done this so many times. This one was fading faster than usual. One small mercy, if they truly were about to get as bad as she feared.

Just as the stone was starting to put a knot in his spine, Trinne sighed and gave his hand a last grateful squeeze before letting go.

“Should prob’ly go back to bed,” she said reluctantly, stretching and rolling her shoulders. “Try to get a little more sleep.”

“There’s not much of anything happening tom-” Harvey glanced at the sky and corrected himself. “Today. You can sleep in as late as you want.”

“I might take you up on that,” Trinne mumbled around a yawn. “I j’st finally was back to sleeping normal hours, and I’d hate to mess that up...”

Harvey fought back a yawn of his own as he stood, then helped Trinne nudge Frida out of her lap so she could get to her feet as well. Frida whimpered at the deprivation, then stretched and shook herself fully awake to follow wherever they were going.

That lasted until the bottom of the stairs, when she figured out their destination and bulled between them to run ahead, almost knocking Trinne over in the process.

Harvey hissed a reprimand after the dog, but Trinne just laughed and steadied herself, fingers digging into his arm for balance. “No harm done,” she stage-whispered, then her nose wrinkled and she loosened her grip, hand still lightly  curved around the inside of his elbow. “At least, not by her. Sorry.”

Harvey shrugged. It wasn’t even likely to bruise. “No harm done,” he returned.

It got him a smile, a real one, even if she did roll her eyes. “That’s a relief,” she said drolly, then raised her other hand to rub her eyes as they walked. 

They reached the family quarters just behind Frida, who had plunked herself down in the middle of the hall to wait for them.

“Hope you sleep better this time,” Harvey said quietly, resting a hand on Frida’s head to give an idle scratch.

“Heh, you and me both,” Trinne mumbled, raking her free hand through her hair. She hesitated a moment, then her grip on his rm tightened fractionally as she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said softly as she stepped back and let go of his arm.

“You’re welcome.” The words escaped almost too quietly to be heard, but from the way her smile widened, she’d caught them.

“G’night, Harv,” she murmured, before yawning so wide her jaw popped..

“Night, Trinne.” Get some sleep. He waited until she’d closed her door behind her to turn back toward his room. He should take his own (unspoken) advice.

Frida licked his hand enthusiastically as it left her head and Harvey sighed, shooing her ahead of him.

“Don’t worry, I still like your kisses, too,” he informed her in an undertone, despite wiping the slobber off on his shirt.

Frida wuffed in satisfaction and sprawled across the rug as she’d been earlier. Harvey shook his head in fond exasperation and slipped off his now-damp shirt before flopping back into bed with only slightly more grace than his dog.

He was asleep almost before he had pulled the covers back up, and if the silence of the next several hours was anything to go by, Trinne’s sleep was just as dreamless as his.

---------

These two, I love them, and I hope I got your boy right bc that paranoia’s never going away. <3

[popculturebuffet]

Star Vs: Lava Lake Beach or Happy Birthday, Marco Diaz

Tomtrospective is back baby! It’s been almost two months, which is better than last time but still not great. As you can probably tell if you check this space i’ve been busy with comissions (5 dollars an episode if you were curious and had another star vs episode you wanted me to check out or any animated series really), which now includes a sizeable project, regular coverage of ducktales every monday, loud house whenever it comes around becuase nick’s scheduling is a nightmare, and because I apparently didn’t have enough going on The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Part 2 coming before the end of the month hopefully. So this project, which sadly dosen’t get a lot of eyeballs on it, kinda just slid on back. Thankfully though I have a second before I get back to my rather sizeable and mostly self inflicted to do list, so with that in mind, let’s take a trip to the beach in the dead of winter. This is Lava Lake Beach. 

PREVIOUSLY ON STAR VS:

Yeah I skipped over Lint Catcher.. which is ironic given I just decided to cover the meteora and eclipsa centric episodes post monster bash.. but I have good reason for that. And it’s not just “This is my blog and unless i’m getting paid for it I can do what I want”. That’s a valid reason but it’s not THE reason. No it’s because Tom has a sizeable roll in the finale episodes for season 3, and thus the climax to Season 3′s arc overall, and honestly Divide and Conquer are just TOO good to simply skip over Star’s parts of them. I choose to switch to covering full episodes for this retrospective which means i’m doing it right. It means more work for me, but frankly this stuff’s too good to not to cover properly. So i’ll be mixing the meteora arc in with tom, like a finely blended cocktail, after this review and the next one.. which aired after monster party but takes place before so i’m doing it in time for christmas. 

And I WILL be covering the two episodes I skipped over eventually, I just feel the first goes into another possible arc down the line, and the other is just really terrible. Not the worst episode of the series, that would be Marco Jr, but a close second or third for sure. But I will have to summarize them to get to this point so: When last we left off Tom and Star were getting close again, but you might of noticed someone was conspciously absent. Marco went back to earth after his two weeks on Mewni, and as to what he was up to we found out LITERALLY the episode after “Demonicism”: Sophmore Slump. Marco basically spent the rest of his summer not shutting up about Mewni like an obnoxious jackass. Yeah Sophmore Slumb begins the character’s downward spiral and basically coming off like two diffrent characters: He’ll either be.. exactly what he was in the first two seasons, an awkard but well meaning voice of reason or a needy jackass pining after someone elses girlfriend and not caring about anyone else but himself and star. There.. there isn’t an inbetween. So yeah it’s just 11 minutes of Marco being insufferable, and only snapping out of it in realizing he’s neglected his girlfriend Jackie. We do get a GENUINELy great scene when she breaks up with him, realizing that while Marco’s willing to try for her.. his heart’s just not in it and his head’s.. with someone else. He’s not even malicious about it: While he wore his cape, he had a cape, under his clothes he genuinely tried to make things work and go out with her. Conciously he genuinely loves her, subconciously he has feeling sfor someone else and it’s showring. While this isn’t hte best episode it’s not a TERRIBLE one on the grounds that this one end sequence makes it work. Marco then decides to go to mewni and become a knight, and everyone sees him off in a good moment. It’s an annoying episode, but not a bad one the more I think about it.  Lint Catcher is. Basically everyone’s a jackass but Tom and Eclipsa, which really sums up the last few seasons nicely. Not basically Marco dind’t you know, call star to vet any of this, and just expects to be welcomed back. Star, rather than you know admit her feelings for marco while she’s now dating tom, more on that in a moment, tries to shove him off on whoever. And it turns out River wasn’t serious with his offer of knighthood that marco came to take him up on, despite sounding serious and just gave marco a meat blanket because again, everyone’s a jackass.. except maybe moon who tries to make it work. It’s just an aggrivating 11 minutes and unlike the above none of it’s intentoinal. But how does this relate to tom? and wait star’s dating tom? Well Tom shows up early on as Star is singing a burrito song, only for him to burst out of the bathroom and then warmly greet Marco before the guards show up. Star also later admits to Marco yup she and Tom are dating since last episode. Which i’m fine with: we don’t need to see everything and it was pretty obvious that’s where it was headed. At the time I was aggrivated because “another blockadef or starco reallY” but i’ve warmed up with time. So yeah I really didn’t need to bang my head into the door for 11 minutes and whatever hours it took to write this to tell you tom and marco have upgraded from kinda friends to best bros who want to make out with each other and Star and Tom are dating. I will probably cover both episodes eventually, but for now, I have enough to cover especially with my realizing I needded to cover the eclipsa and meteora stuff, without getting a head injury from stupdiity. As for Marco’s knight status, he can’t start there, and Star eventualy realized that awkard sexual tension or not, he’s her best friend and made him her squire. So Marco’s now on mewni, Tom and star are together. 

Let’s get at er. We open with tom summoning the flames of the dammned.. FOR MARSHMELLLOWWWWSSS. Star, Tom, Marco and Kelly are at the titular Lava Lake Beach roasting marshmellows and getting ready for the annual soulrise. Star likes the beach because it’s so spooky with Marco rightly pointing out.. insn’t that the underworld’s thing? Tom just casually shrugs it off as “Yeah i’ts pretty metal”. Which is both accurate and is part of why we’re here. This is our first, and really only, good look at the underworld. With Blood Moon Ball we just saw a bubble of it and it was entirely controlled by tom, if helping explain his control issues as he probably spent his whole life getting everything and never realizing being a possesive creep isn’t ag ood thing and people aren’t things you can own, but well.. people with their own wants and wills. When everyone around you does what you want, including your sweet well meaning parents, why would you understand someone saying no? And his parents aren’t bad people, they clearly have boundries, they just spoiled him a bit much. We’re not in Doofus Drake terriotiry where Tom’s a terrifying sociopath, he just had some very bad behaviors and when called on them by Marco, genuinely changed for the better and has been working on that since.  But this episode gives us a good reason of why the other toxic part of tom, his rage, was never reigned in. Here.. it’s just normal. One scene illustrates this well: A couple casually if rudely challenges marco to a fight when he just wants to find kelly, more on that in a minute. But when he walks away, they just say “he seemed nice. And not EVERYONE is like that.. but most of the demons seen this ep are agressive, competitive and combtiive but not without reason. 

We get a great example of this after Smores, where Marco’s fell off, tom and star are cute, and kelly licked all of hers. And after Marco realizes Tom’s outfit is just one of his hoodies but customized.. which for tom means ripping off the sleeves because that’s how he rolls and offering to do the same for marco. Also Star is in an adorable sailor outfit. what i’m saying is I like their outfits this episode and Marco has a lot of copies of that hoodie so in terms of Star’s invasions of his privacy, this is low on the list. 

Back on point, a couple challenges the group over their spot and mocks star for not having a third eye.... but the resolution is beach volleball, witht he scoring demon from “Mr Candle Cares’ making an apperance. This shows Underworld culture: their volatile, they can get overly agressive.. but their polite outside of it. It’s why Tom’s anger wasn’t really adressed: Here everyone’ds polite the rest of the time, why does it matter? But it idd because even by these standards his anger was a problem and one he’s .. genuinely dealing with. While he gets devensive of his girlfriend, notice how he jsut gets regular angry and not.. murdery angry. We see his anger wasn’t normal even by underworld standards.. but he’s genuinely trying and has changed almost complelely from the last time we visted this realm. 

This is also.. about what we get for tom this episode. Yeah while this is part of the tomtrospective for the above, and for other reasons that we’ll get to, this is a Marco episode. And a Kelly episode, so Kelly, now the food to fill the void inside has run out, I can relate, is suddenly depressed and just.. walks off mid game. And given Star and Tom aren’t the most empathetic people, they really fail to notice with Tom only noticing how it effects him. Tom has grown.. but as we’ll see after “stump Day” with his next two episodes after that, he still has room to grow. But it is nice we get signs of that episodes before it happens. Excellent work. 

So yeah I guess for those who forgot, and if so how dare, or those who never got this far int he series who Kelly is. Kelly was introduced in season 2 as a friend of star and ponyheads who, at the end of her episode, after not talking was revealed to not be a giant bush, but a bispeceled teenager who just has a lot of hammerspace when her hair is down, as her hair is massive and whose species has a symbiotic relation ship with their significant others, as her boyfriend tad was in her hair merged with her the whole time. They breifly showed up again in another episode but otherwise haven’t been all that fleshed out till this episode. 

And what brings it about.. is their breakup. And they have before only to get back together but this time it’s for real, as Marco finds out when comforting her. He genuinely offers her to talk, but we’re interuppted by her good pal JORBY!. I freaking love Jorby and every second of his screentime here is magic. Sadly he’s only used like.. twice after this. He’s a giant talking wolf guy from Kelly’s dimension, only revealed by the finale, who thinks Marco is her new fighting partner and claims to have killed their mutual aquantince greg. Kelly just responds with an amazingly annoyed and sarcastic “You didn’t kill greg” which he didn’t, and when Marco tries to explain she’s falling apart, Jorby responds with “WE ALL ARE ALL THE TIME, EXESNTIAL WARCRY!”... the amount of great minor characters this series wasted I swear. 

But Kelly can’t deal with this and runs off and Jorby.. genuinely apologizes. He didn’t realize his friend was that banged up emotionally, and only dosen’t help because his goose girlfriend needs him. Marco is fine with this though and goes to offer his help after a breif search and two Skelly’s who fall in love over having the same name. Awww. 

Kelly and Marco finally talk and Kelly sobs into his arms in a genuinely moving bit, admitting after being with Tad so long she dosen’t know who she is anymore. It’s REALLY great stuff, and really helps us feel for a character we honestly barely knew: Sure we barely saw their relationship.. but it was good... and when a relationship ends that wound dosen’t close easily> Trust me.. I know. 

Though the other issue is that Tad.. hasn’t moved out of her head. Literally, he’s still in there and won’t take a hint it’s really really over and he needs to move on. So Marco, being a gentleman.. at least for this episode, agrees to help. IT’s why I like marco when he’s acutally written well: he can be awkward and sometimes a bit too full of himself when it comes to knowing stuff, but he’s a good kid who just wants to help people and I genuinely missed that version most of this season. So marco climbs in and finds Tad munching on vega pizza and refusing to leave, clearly subscribing to the duck method of swallowing your sadness. 

Marco tells him he needs to leave, and while Tad is in denial.. Marco gets it to sink in.. that putting himself around someone unavaliable is just going to keep hurting him agains and again and not help him move on. Tad.. .ends up agreeing.. and it’s then the episode has it’s best scene.... Tad says “marco is the expert on that”. Marco of course denies this.. until Tad eventually makes him see the truth: he’s hanging around star the same way tad’s clung to kelly and will sadly continue too as while he agrees to move out.. it takes a bit for it to stick as we’ll see next time. Tad gets him to think about it: He has dimensional sciessors. Anywhere in time and space.. and where doe she want to start? With his unavaliable crush, following her to what he thought would be a couples event with her boyfriend. I mean he didn’t KNOW Tad and Kelly were broken up, so far all he knew he was the fifth wheel. No one would willingly do that for no reason. He’s so obessed with her, he wants to be around her even though it’s never going to happen.. i’ve been there WAY too many times to call and had to eventually learn to let got for their sake and mine. You can still be around them, you just have to let go of romance for everyone’s sake and move on. And Marco hasn’t because he didn’t even realize it. It’s why I tolerate “Sophmore Slump” now.. because with this episode it goes from bad writing to his subconcious scremaing at him to go be with star, and him not listening because conciously he still wants his current girlfriend.. and really he loves both, he just didn’t deal with that or move past either, so he lost both. 

Marco.. has a panic attack over it justifably and breaks down gradually, seeing all the happy couples and finally star and tom, sinking in that .. Tad was right. He’s in love with Star.. and it hurts. It hurts a LOTTTTTT. And he has NO idea how to deal with it. And as we’ll see how he tries to.. is pretty damn bad. But that’s for other episodes. Let’s get to the climax of this one. 

Kelly finds Marco, like her earlier depressed and lost, and upon realizing this, and thanking him as Tad agreed to finally move out, says “kelly’s driving” and drags him. It’s in these last moments we get to see more of kelly’s personality: we’ve seen her be ssarcastic but now we get to see her be a bit off kilter and adorable, which is her standard mode and what makes me like the character so much and wish she got treated better. But we’ll get to that later in the retrospective as it happens to perfectly zig zag into Tom’s life. Point is we see more of her and find out why she came to see the Soulrise as she and Marco prepare to watch: she and tad used to see it every year.. and even if their broken up.. she dosen’t want that taken away from her. Even if their relationsihp is over.. pieces of it can still be hers to treasure and keep from now on. This can still be hers... and in this case Marcos as marco puts his jacket over her, and Kelly cuddles him. Awwww. If you were wondering, yup I do ship Markelly and Yup how it ends is really bad and we’ll get to it and there will be blood. But for now their just two lonely souls sharing a moment, with Kelly rebuffing getting Tom and Star “They don’t need this’ which is accurate and they have each other and some alone time. Their fine. Plus they you know, didn’t notice either of them are missing so ...

Thank you Jake. Rest in Peace my good friend who shares a name. So we get a nice romantic moment as they watch a bunch of eldtirch skeletial angels with wings rise from the depths of the black and white, and it’s also marco’s birthday! “Happy Birthday Marco Diaz”. And with that we’re out. 

Final Thoughts: This is one of my faviorite Star Vs episodes, even with later bullshit, and for good reason. It frames Marco’s previous actions in a better light, has some REALLy stellar acting from Adam McArthur, and is in general just a really soulful ep that really touches on some good stuff and fleshes out Kelly from a background character to a fan faviorite and sets up a new romance for Marco that I genuinely love. IT’s one of the series best moments even if later episodes would tarnish it slightly..but on it’s own.. it’s fantstic.  Next time on tom:It’s the...

Christmas Special! Until then there’s always another rainbow and happy thanksgiving!

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

too bad we probably won't get to hang out with robyn too much. from what i've seen we mostly just hang around with ivy and daniel...i mean, not that i really mind, they both seem pretty interesting, but i hope we get to go on adventures other friends too, and not just stick with those two for the majority of the game, cause that's gonna get pretty boring. but i don't want to grow apart from one or both of them and then have the game make us feel bad about it either, like hphm did with rowan :l

This was the blessing and the curse of HPHM. 

In Year 1, there was Rowan, Ben...and that was pretty much it. Sure, Penny came in during the second act, but assuming that you didn’t bring her to investigate the door, she only had two scenes. In Year 2, Ben is absent for the first act, so it’s just MC and Rowan. Bill comes in later, but there still aren’t that many characters. 

Year 3 was the first year where Rowan didn’t play nearly as significant a role after the beginning. The story introduced Tulip and Barnaby and focused on their character arcs. Rowan didn’t really re-surge until Year 4, in their suspicion of Ben. By that point, there were so many characters that they overflowed the Three Broomsticks table. By Year 5, it was outright stated that MC and Rowan were drifting apart. 

The original books went in the opposite direction, because Harry basically hung out with just Ron and Hermione for the entire series. He got some more friends in OOTP, but the Golden Trio was still the focus, and by DH, they were the only consistent characters. 

HPMA is going to need to strike a balance. It depends on if they introduce as many characters as HPHM, but it will take careful precision to give the protagonist’s best friends ample screen time, while also giving the spotlight to other characters now and then....

[luimnigh]

Common Misconceptions In The RWBY Fandom

Because this kinda needs to be made. There’s a lot of lines in this show that have been interpreted in strange and weird ways that I feel we need to clear up the misconceptions about. So instead of scattering them through various meta-posts, let’s clear them all up at the same time. So, if you’re willing to come along, let’s begin:

“Bad Father Taiyang” Part 1: Yang raised Ruby

The Misconception:

Now, this is probably the top one I see around the place. And I’m not trying to take anything away from Yang here, she definitely took on a Mothering role in Ruby’s life, a lot of people take this to an extreme. I’ve seen people thinking that Yang would “obviously be good at cooking, having to cook for herself and Ruby” and various statements to that effect.

To put it simply, when Yang says that Taiyang “shut down” in Burning The Candle, they think it meant a full-on, Apathy-like cessation of willpower. That Yang had to take on primary caregiver role.

The Proof Against It:

But that’s disproven only a few lines later. When Yang left the house with Ruby to find her mother, she explicitly says that she “waited for Dad [Taiyang] to leave the house”. Taiyang was still clearly taking care of them, physically at very least.

And even beyond that, Yang and Ruby hold no ill-will against Taiyang. Their relationship is clearly a loving one, with Taiyang falling asleep at Ruby’s beside in Volume 3. And before anyone says that this is a Retcon, in the latter half of Volume 2, we’re shown this good relationship when the girls speak of him after he sends them Zwei in the mail. A package from him is considered something to “cheer her [Ruby] up”.

Do you really think they’d have such a relationship if he was emotionally or caregiving-ly absent? No, because that would be an abusive relationship, which is kind’ve RWBY’s speciality in recognizing.

Even on a meta-level, they cast Burnie Burns, a man who epitomizes a “good father” to the RT community and to the company itself as Taiyang. That doesn’t seem like the casting they’d do for a bad father.

What The Line Really Meant:

For a period of time, Taiyang shut down emotionally. He became depressed. While he cared for his children’s physical needs, he neglected their emotional needs. This is something that clearly has affected Yang, putting the burden of Ruby’s emotional needs on her (a burden she has still helped shoulder since then, though is clearly learning to let go of recently), but not really affected the two girls’ relationship with their father. Taiyang recovered from his depression, and has been an admirable father since then. Like every parent in RWBY, he’s a person, and he’s made mistakes in his parenting, but that doesn’t make him a bad parent.

Yang was Retconned!

The Misconception:

This, technically, can also fall under “Bad Father Taiyang”, but is usually mostly addressed at Miles and Kerry.

I’ve seen people saying that Yang’s fighting ability was retconned into “uses her semblance too much” and “dumb fighter who relies on her power”. People dissecting the pre-Volume 4 fight scenes for evidence of Yang being a smart fighter. Calling this a “retcon” (Retroactive Continuity: when a previous established fact is altered by the writer later in the story).

This all stems from a conversation Yang had with Taiyang, in which he says “Do you realize that you used your semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers?”

The Proof Against It:

Holy crap is this taking Taiyang out context.

Straight up, the lines directly before this were:

Yang: “Let me guess: ‘I was sloppy.’”

Taiyang: “-laughs- No. You were predictable. And stubborn. And maybe a little boneheaded.”

It’s pretty clear from the preceding lines that Taiyang isn’t talking about her fighting style. After some talk about her semblance, and how it won’t always save her, the conversation shifts into one about Raven, her stubbornness, and her similarities with Yang.

During which, Taiyang says that “You both act like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it. That strength is all that matters in a fight.”

Which leads us to:

What The Line Really Meant:

I plan on making a post about this, but Strength is at the core of Yang’s character arc. Not just physical strength at that, but the word that  most people would use here is Power.

Yang is person who was born strong. Not just physically, even. Her core character trait, beyond anything else, is that Yang Xiao Long might get knocked down, but she’ll rise stronger than before. It’s her semblance; her connection to fire is evocative of phoenix motifs; hell the song “I Burn” calls her a Super Saiyan, who have “get stronger from being beaten down” as actual trait of their species.

But Strength, Power isn’t everything. We hear this in one of the first lines of the show, from Salem herself: There Will Be No Victory In Strength.

And that’s the point of the conversation with Taiyang. He explicitly compares her to Raven, who thinks Strength, not just physical and magical but also strength in skill and intelligence, is everything. And Yang has kinda been following that philosophy. She’s been using her strength to try and brute-force situations. We see this in the Yellow Trailer, as she grabs Junior by the balls in order to try extract information from him. We see this in the fight with Neo, when she switches up her fighting style multiple times, but can’t actually beat her. We see this in the fight with Mercury, where Cinder predicted she’d counter Mercury’s fake attack rather than dodge or block.

But this is where Taiyang hammers home the point that Yang’s strength isn’t everything. There are times to use strength, and times to find alternate solutions. And Yang has taken that to heart. The point of the Bandit fight is that while she predicts it, she doesn’t start it, giving her opponents the option to walk away. When Mercury grabs her arm, rather than attack him and get caught up fighting, she lets it go. When she arrives down in the Vauilt, she deconstructs Raven’s motivations so completely that by the time she shoulder-checks her mom on the way past, Raven’s already been defeated.

And when she goes up against Adam, someone who believes in strength just as much as Raven, she ultimately beats him by not using her strength until she’s taken away his.

“Bad Father Taiyang” Part 2: Moping

The Misconception:

Taiyang tells Yang to “stop moping”. This means he isn’t taking her PTSD seriously/he doesn’t understand her true problem/he’s a bad father/Miles and Kerry think PTSD is just moping.

The Proof Against It: See my first point on why Taiyang isn’t a bad father and why he wouldn’t be given such a harsh line unless there was some truth to it.

But on the Miles and Kerry interpretation, they have honestly been doing a fantastic job at portraying what PTSD is actually like. Some credit goes to Barbara as well, but PTSD in RWBY is portrayed as something you have to learn to live with, not overcome or “get better” from. Sure, you can mitigate it, but it’ll unfortunately always be with you.

Yang didn’t “get over” her PTSD by being told to stop moping. Because Taiyang was not referring to her PTSD.

What The Line Actually Meant:

Yang was moping.

See, Yang’s not just suffering from PTSD in Volume 4. She’s also suffering from heartbreak.

Her best friend, the person she was closest to outside of her family, the person she may even have realized that she was in love with, had just left her like Yang feared she would.

Like we’ve established, Yang is all about getting up when she gets knocked down. That’s at the core of her character. I honestly don’t think the missing arm and the PTSD would have kept her back home as long as it did on it’s own. Because we all know how a Xiao Long reacts to heartbreak (See: Taiyang “shutting down”).

But also because Adam straight-up told us that Blake leaving hurt more than losing an arm did.

What do I mean by that?

See, the whole point of the Adam fight is to explain to Blake what Yang wants to say but knows she can’t. The person Adam pretended to be is Yang, even if he doesn’t know it. Every line he says after he takes off the mask is something that actually applies to Yang’s feelings towards Blake.

“People hurt me long before we met” = Raven’s abandonment, Summer’s death

“But no-one hurt me quite like you. You didn’t leave scars, you just left me alone” = Blake left Yang after someone else had left her a scar (the arm)

“She made a promise to me once” = Literally paralleling the promises Blake has made to both people

Blake knows Yang and Pretend!Adam are alike. In semblance, in personality, it’s why she fears Yang going bad at the Vytal Tournament. And it’s why Adam saying that “no-one hurt me quite like you” triggers Blake’s realisation of why Yang doesn’t want Blake to protect her. Because it would leave her alone.

Yang can handle anything life throws at her besides Blake leaving. So when Yang was left moping after being left behind by the woman she loves, who better to point out she was moping than the person who’s been through the same thing twice?

The Birds

The Misconception:

And finally, the subject that began this rant of mine. The revelation to our heroes that Raven and Qrow can turn into birds.

People, quite confusing, take this to mean that our heroes are rendered suspicious of Ozpin because… he gave Qrow and Raven magical powers? They decry it as not really making sense, a false way to create tension between our heroes and Ozpin.

But maybe there’s a reason why it doesn’t make sense?

What The Line Really Meant:

Just look at the wording people. "What you did to Qrow and my mother", "What Oz did to my brother and me".

Raven implied that Ozpin gave them magic, placed this burden on them, without their consent. And Yang was rightfully pissed at the idea of such a thing. The rest of the group are taken aback at such an idea, because if it can happen to Ozpin’s previous generation of followers, it could happen to them.

You see Yang only reacts when Qrow firmly states that "We made a choice, we wanted this". It’s a look of shock. Raven lied to her.

And that’s why she tells Ozpin “No more lies, no more half-truths”. Raven has placed doubt in her mind, but both sides have lied to her at this stage. The only way to make sure she’s on the right side is if one of them isn’t lying to her, feeding her half-truths and lies of omission.

Which is why she takes it so hard when he omits the truth again. Down in the Vault, Yang made her choice. She chose Ozpin over her mother, permanently. There’s no going back from what Yang said to her. And then Ozpin omits the truth again, about the Relic, and this not only makes Yang question if she made the right choice, but reminds her that if she’s made the wrong one, she can’t go back on it. That’s she’s sacrificed any hope of a relationship with her mother for Ozpin, a man who can’t stop lying to her.

Conclusion:

I hope I’ve helped clear up some misconceptions for you guys, and made your RWBY-watching experience less confusing and misinformed. If you liked this, please reblog and share these corrections, so that the fandom no longer gets caught up on these moments.

These are just the misconceptions that I’ve been to dredge up from my memory on a Sunday night, so if I spot any more I’ll add them in later reblogs.