#its implied methinks

[machetelettuce]

Is it he or I you should fear?

[wolfythewitch]

Have u considered giving the creature and victor similar factions since you know the whole theme of fatherhood

I kind of made him look like victor and Henry's lovechild LOL. Though basing it off Henry more. I think it's silly and gay but also if I go down the route of how when victor saw Clerval it brought with him memories of home and his family, and the fact that the creature destroys that one by one is very silly to me.

Sees Clerval: serene joy and calm and peace

Sees the creature: oh dear lord

[bentannin]

Weird in-character reaction maybe?

SPOILERS BELOW!!

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OKAY SO I'm really bad at writing these but after rewatching the bit where Bell's Hells are crashing at the lab, I noticed a bit of a weird reaction from Braius.

It's starts around 4:10:57 on the twitch vod, right after the conversation with Fearne, and he (braius) notices the dick drawings on the walls:

He then proceeds to just stare at them for a bit, tilting his head from side to side (almost like he's having a silent convo with himself?), before saying "nah" under his breath, shaking his head and moving on:

It's nothing big and happens rather quickly, but it definitely caught my eye on a second viewing. So maybe potential tie ins with Braius' (new) backstory??? Idk I just wanted to point it out since it seemed interesting to me.

[schrodingersjigsaw]

Would anyone be interested in a Halsin/dark urge(reader??) fic where after getting their mind scrambled by Orin, Silvanus selects them as his chosen and Halsin is the one to find them? This is totallyyyy not based on my circle of spores druid dark urge resist play through-

[omarwolaeth]

Thinking about Yuuya's pendulum and Yuuto's lock necklace currently, and brain immediately went (with reference to how the bracelets work... kinda) somewhere between "that's where Zarc's soul is for them" and "if you held onto the pendulum or lock itself then it would cause them pain on a soul level"

[lynn-tged-posting]

tged webtoon ep 176 spoilers except its mostly me having a great time bc the panels this week were incredibly fun YAY and thoughts below the cut

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oh my god these motherfuckers are up to their scheme again. LMFAOOOOOOOOO LOOK AT THEM HAHAHAHAHAHA

IT'S SO FUCKING FUNNY THAT THEY'VE MASTERED THIS ROUTINE. THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO TAKE TIME TO PREP ANYTHING JAVIER JUST KNEW. THAT'S SO GOOFY LMFAOOOO I LOVE THESE TWO SO DAMN MUCH HAHAHAHAA

also obsessed w javier's expression. whenever he has these moments his expressions are always the BEST because theyre SO MINIMAL. the slightest curl of his lip,,, the menace in his eyes,,, compared to lloyd's expressions, javier's are always technically lowkey, but the artist always gives that lowkeyness an extra edge in the art that completes the entire panel. i love javier's expressions so much WAHAHAHA THEY'RE SO GOOD

LOOK AT THEM BEING MENACES ADLFKJSLDJKF absolute thugs. god it's like when they're together they sync a braincell that tells them to go Scheme mode. they're so ridiculous i love them sm,,, alicia ur gonna have to get used to this LMFAO

ALSO I AM SO SO HAPPY LLOYD IMMEDIATELY WENT TO COMPROMISE W THE SPIRIT KING. I KNEW U WOULD THATS MY BOY ILY BUDDY!! i really like how nice his expressions are here,,, i want to think that there's a part of him in there that's actually genuine abt this. esp w the panels that are upcoming,,,

like he looks so soft here! it's sweet,,, i'm really glad he's doing this,,,

AND THEN THIS. THIS PANEL OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. THIS IS GORGEOUS I HAVE TO SHOW IT

REALLY enjoying all these soft lineart from lighting moments that the artist is putting in. god i love this so much,,, there's a metaphor in here somewhere,,, idk,,, i like this a lot!!! alicia seeing pieces of suho's heart poking thru,,, like sunrays,,,, hehehe sweet,,,, so sweet,,,

i love this panel to pieces but i do think its funny af that in this panel lloyd is crouching like that LOL what a creature ily bud

ALSO. ALSOO lets talk about what alicia's thoughts are here as she's looking at him,,, she says smth along the lines of "ur interesting to me bc i cant figure u out,,," and i love that a lot,,, maybe im looking too far into this but i read this as her saying "im seeing pieces of who u really are, i want to figure u out / explore ur true and honest self". she's learning more abt the side of lloyd thats empathetic, thats selfless, that brings out a good outcome for everyone,,,, she wants to see more of that side of him methinks,,,,, regardless of what she actually meant by this, it's a very cute moment and i really like it,,,

it again makes me think that alilloyd as a ship has soooo much potential. it could be so so good,,, this moment especially helps give it a little ground to stand on,,, i just wish there was a stronger foundation,,, it could be even greater,,, ohhh,,,, maybe in future eps who knows? we'll have to wait and see,,,

also hi artanis!! this line from her caught my eye i wanted to bring it up

im willing to bet that this belief is also one that was sourced from credos/jang-cheol, just like the rock paper scissors game and just the farming/pacifism schtick as a whole. it probably played a part in how he had to convince the demons to follow him in the first place,,,

this could also indicate that living honestly and working to earn is a principle that jang-cheol followed in korea, and he decided that he would stick with it when he became credos. alternatively, he had the complete opposite principle (he was a gamer after all, with a max level character,,, could imply that he spent all his time on the game) but when he got transmigrated, he realized that he had another shot at making a living honestly and decided to commit to that. there isn't really enough to make a solid conclusion on how jang-cheol lived, but this is an interesting indicator and i think it's worth a bookmark! i hope the prequel gets a manhwa so i can read it,,, manifesting,,,

oh also the railroad! yay!! y'know idk if this is quite the preservation of nature i had thought they would do LOL this,,, could be considered manipulating the ecosystem too much,,, but also i am not a biologist! so i wouldn't know! it looks nature-preserved so i'll take it!

seems like the demons won't be too far from home too, since they'll probably be the ones employed to run the railroad tracks once it's complete. lloyd essentially gave them jobs! yahoo!

AND THEEEN THE SECOND REALLY NICE PANEL FOR THIS WEEK YAYAYAYY WAAAAHHHH LLOYYYD LLOYD

i will be honest the glare is pretty uh. harsh but i dont mind at all bc YAYYY YAYYY NICE MOMENT WITH LLOYD YAHOO YAHOO. he seems and looks super tired here too,,, one of the panels before this was his heart freezing up again and alicia asked if they should stop bc of his heart, but he refuses,,, ghhh,,, stupid fucking martyr i love you stop doing that though please take a break

this panel is again another alicia pov panel and i really really like it,,, he's so Sun character to me idk how to explain that (javier is Moon to me). maybe ill break that down in a different post another time but yeah,,, yeah,,, sun and moon,,, yeah,,,,,,, also alicia is Comet. one day ill elaborate

and then there it is, goofy lloyd panel HAHA there's the greedy front he always puts on, welcome back! alicia's reaction too LMFAOOO she's sick of his antics /lh

like bud u dont have to say anything else,,, we know u care lloyd u dont have to put up the money part at the end anymore,,,,,,, goofy ass

their lil moment here was also rlly cute,,, alicia laughing at lloyd's antics and just. his big ass smile HAHAHAHAH so so cute i love this a lot,,,

and then the railroad got completed YAYY YAYYYY YAYYY ONE STEP CLOSER TO A HAPPY ENDING!!!

lloyd got like a jump ability and according to my mutuals thats not in the novel? so im curious as to what thats for,,, lloyd says it already but yeah he's a swordmaster now and has tons of other skills and summons too. what would a super jump be useful for,,,? so far, most if not all of his skills have had some use in the story,,, skills that are deliberately brought up like this are always used eventually. what in the world will a jump skill do??? what kind of situation will lloyd find himself in?? is this not almost over??? i'm so curious,,,

also this panel lloyd looks really tired, exhausted even,,, his irises look dulled and theres slight bags,,,, the construction plus the effects on his heart is probably doing him in,,,

and then we see him keel over LAKDFJLSDKJF

I GASPED SO LOUD WHEN I SAW THIS AND IM NOT SURE IF ITS OUT OF WORRY OR IF ITS OUT OF GIDDY. bc listen, on the one hand, oh my god im so worried for lloyd please be okay dont DIE. on the other hand,,, on the other, fic-brained character interaction-pilled hand,,, WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP CHARACTER WHUMP WHUMP MOMENT HURT COMFORT. YAHOO FIREWORKS EVERYONE CHEER!!! WHUMP!!! WHUMP IN MY TGED!!! WAOWIE WAOWIE WAOWIE!!!

sorry. my demons. anyway

alicia catching him is so good,,, sweet,,,, so sweet,,,,, ANOTHER POINT FOR ALILLOYD. again i wish the foundation for alilloyd was stronger, bc if they had established it in a better or more solid/connected way this moment would hit even harder,,, BUT NO,,, its missing impact for me simply bc alicia and lloyd do not talk/share/save each other enough. but it's so cute,,, sweet,,, this moment is nice,,, ghhh,,,, i feel heartbroken over this its bittersweet

and off they go,,, yes,,, a queen, her boyf, and her boyf's boyf. beautiful. alicia is carrying him again hehe,,,

off they go to get the eye of summer!! YAYYY!!! lloyd will stay alive!!! YAHOO!!! we are one step closer to beating fate and getting that happy ending,,, hold on lloyd, hold on everyone,,, it'll be over soon! if they don't get a happy ending i am going to cry and sob for forever and ever!!!! i'm serious!!!!!!!!

i genuinely had a lot of fun reading this ep the moments were all so fun and i'm very glad that things are looking up for them,,,!!! this does also worry me that there's going to be one more final obstacle before we actually get their good ending. bc now that i think abt it, getting the eye of summer does save lloyd but it doesn't stop fate,,, so,,, there might be more trouble ahead. but i'm not gonna worry about that right now!!! i'm coping!!! i'm coping.

that's all from me tho,,, i have to get back to the school grind,,, i'll see y'all next time!!!

[huesofvioletandpurple]

on the topic of MonoTV seeming to be weirdly caring and remorseful, especially towards Teruko, here's something I've been thinking about a lot since the episode came out: why did it stop Teruko's execution when Levi intervened

I'm not saying that to criticise this writing choice—in fact, it's the opposite. the implications of it on MonoTV's character staggers me. like okay, its main purpose is to continue the killing game until the death of every participant. its secondary purpose is to perform the role of a villain. yet when Levi threw himself in front of the machine gun for Teruko, it stopped, because he "wasn't the intended target", giving way for a VERY SLIM miracle that would save Levi's life. and it said it did that to make Levi "act as a warning to those who break the rules"

what was stopping it from killing Levi fully and then continue on with gunning down Teruko.

genuinely, wouldn't it accelerate the primary goal of MonoTV ? that way, (ideally) four students would've died in one day, and even if Teruko survived. well. that's still three people !! and it would also fulfil its secondary purpose of being the villain of the TV show, because it would've just machine-gunned two of the students dead in front of everybody. yes, it was cruel when it stretched out the time of Ace's execution so that the elevator doors wouldn't open fast enough for Levi to get treatment. but why even open up the chance for a miracle when its purpose is to kill every student, y'know !!

alongside MonoTV's strange phrasing in its scene with Teruko at the end that implies it can feel guilt over its actions, I also believe that "making an example out of Levi was enough" is kind of an excuse. since violently killing Levi and Teruko outright would've also warded the rest of the cast off from breaking the rules methinks. but if it is making an excuse, that means it doesn't want to kill Levi and Teruko and yet believes it must fulfil its purpose anyway. and like ?? HUH ???? the fucking IMPLICATIONS OF THAT GOING FORWARD ????

why did XF-Ture program MonoTV with guilt. why did they just keep that in its default personality drivers. grips this robot by the screen. what the fuck is up with you.

[walking-fnaf-encyclopedia]

ruin is a prequel and the plex reopened sometime prior to the events of sb.

cassie gets invited to the decrepit pizzaplex by “gregory.” is it the mimic? is it ggy? is it actual gregory?

well we know the last one isnt true. but we know ggy sometimes likes to tie up his loose ends at the plex, and we know the mimic wants out. so…

but cassie finds drawings around, and she knows gregory liked to draw. comics - he was always so creative. so he must be here, right? (and when would he have found the time to leave those around post-sb? especially so deep underground.. he said he didnt want to risk letting the mimic out. and why would gregory make mxes call threatening animatronics on people in the area? wouldnt he NOT want to kill people? even for the ‘greater good?’ animatronics are different - they can be rebooted, get new casing, get new parts. theyre not easy to kill.)

(gregory, in the periods of time where he was not fully “possessed”, would draw things he remembered burntrap, vanny, vanessa. freddy, himself. make up comics in the little time he had and put them in there. sure, he might not remember who they were really after the fact, but theyre in his memory a little that way. so he doesnt forget everything.)

whoever called her there, the mimic is who she finds first. it tries to kill her.

second, she hears gregory again. (can she trust just his voice?) he tries to guide her.

then, he betrays her. or maybe the mimic is tricking her, or maybe ggy is tying up a loose end.

or maybe cassie entered an unsound elevator that was just waiting to fall out from under the next unsuspecting person to enter it. (you saw what happened earlier in the game, right?)

side notes i cant squeeze in elsewhere:

we know gregory is both capable of and willing to take down the animatronics. with the state roxy and chica are in, we dont know what exactly couldve happened to them. monty notoriously gets himself broken up on the catwalks regularly.

were told roxy throws herself into the racetrack, and well, on the eyes.. we know theyre freaky powerful. if ggy deemed roxy dangerous or something, they could take her eyes as a way to weaken her. alternatively, the way you deactivate her security node is by sticking something in her eye socket, so its very possible if her eyes used that same attachment method, they had to take them.

chica is actually ….very interesting. not her decommissioning, but rather, her beak. so, we dont find montys casing or legs, and we dont find roxys eyes, but we do find chicas beak if we get a high enough score on feeding frenzy. which is weird, because if were to assume that gregory took it in sb - why would he leave it here? why put it.. in an arcade machine? as some.. bizarre prize? if he went down to peepaws room - which he DID, we find one of his comics there - he would need chicas voicebox. unless, of course, he wasnt gregory, he was ggy, and he either had control of the animatronics, or another way down. meaning he never installed chicas beak/voicebox into freddy, so we COULD find it if it was removed and stashed away for some other reason. or taken to weaken her for.. some reason?

absolutely none of this makes sense probably so feel free to ask specific questions lol.

n. not to sound like a conspiracy theorist. but do we have like.. undeniable confirmation that ruin is a sequel. like.. ANY? at all? any dates? any references directly to sb?

anything?

[artbyblastweave]

Your description of yourself is the guy with Opinions on Steven Universe so say what you think of Peridot

Fond of her. I don't think I've got much to say about her that the more singularly fixated SU analysts haven't gotten to. I will say that she's a pretty salient example of a quote-unquote "redemption arc" that's facilitated in large part by the villain being "redeemed" never having actually caused serious, lasting, unfixable harm before switching sides, such that the story being told in practice is the story of an interpersonally unpleasant person working on themselves and learning to be less of a tar pit- jazzed up with ray guns and cartoonish doomsday devices. This is interesting taken on its own terms, but not necessarily morally interesting in the way the phrase "redemption arc" would ideally imply.

Contrast (unfavorably) with Entrapta in She-Ra, where they're clearly chasing a Peridot-adjacent energy, but the narrative treats the conflict between her and the protagonists as a similar kind of souped-up interpersonal miscommunication when no, she's in fact on the hook for very literal war crimes in a way the narrative was never really prepared to weigh seriously due to the use of a handful of Princesses as a metonym for everything meaningful SPOP is interested in trying to say, to the exclusion of more literal, non-metaphorical worldbuilding. Zuko, meanwhile, sits in a happy middle ground where he genuinely is attached to some morally heinous shit that the show is interested in weighing and unpacking, but not so deeply attached as to become synonymous with it in a way that would make his redemption come across as apologetics. (I sort of use these three as reference points when calculating how annoyed to get at the writing decisions of whatever children's cartoon I'm currently watching- this does not translate very well outside of that space methinks)

[rainswhenyourehere]

also. if someone wants to help. (also btw hibi lore like. the most important part methinks)

how to "keep it casual" with. lets say hypothetically. if you came to a new school in seventh grade. and met a nice guy during swedish class and kinda connected with him immediately and. then you guys are like. best friends in your opinion and you guys hang out allll the time and you kind of have the biggest crush on him and. lets say. like. you love him so fucking much its borderline unhealthy? and like. then he starts sending you flirtatious gifs and texting you so. because youre in love. you send flirtatious gifs back and you guys basically call each other love and sweetheart and everything and !! you guys hold hands and he lets you listen to his music and gives you a plastic ring to match his and gives you gifts and treats and !! holds your hand btw !!!! and nearly asks you to kiss him during a truth or dare game like. implies it strongly . so then you !! decide to ask him hey. what are we. and he goes idk and you guys hve a littl etalk because yay communication !!!!! and hes like. so. i like you . like. thats out there now okay. i like you but i also like this other guy so um. idk so!! because youre in love and would wait like fifty million lifetimes you say okay ill wait for you its okay but then the romantic interactions disappear and its like . because you guys are in a trio right? theres this other guy too. so he starts maybe confiding in the other guy a littl enad you should not feel envious he can do whatever he wants its his life but . you do but youj also dont say anything so like. a year or smth passes idk and he goes. yknow what. tbh. i dont rly like you anymofre?? like i like this other guyu and i think ill always like him and ur kinda heartbroken and shit but you say its fine i was kinda over you anyways. so . that happnes and you stil l love him so fucking much but . you dont say it because youre happy he moved on and . youre probs not worth it anyways its fine and then a ruond a month later while ur eating at lunch hes like. haha can you go away for a while i want to talk abt stuff with person 3 in our trio and youre like. okay sure !!! and then you come back nd . find out he s in love or has a crush or wever on another guy. so . apparently he wouldnt love hte other guy forever but it doesnt rleally matter at least it shouldnt so you drop it its fine . enter grade eight your friend group grows and . theres these classes where you can pick and not everyone goes to the same on e right ??? so . the rest of your friend group goes to the musci class and you go to the . cooking class . which you enjoy btw!!! like!! a lot!!!! and you attend it with another classmate of ur s and boooom youre friends. wow . hooray like. currently youre probably closest to them which is craaaaazy liek. wow. but !! bcs u attned a diff class you get shut out of alll the fun things they do and you dont really feel like you belong and you also kinda feel dsicarded and not important and invisible because !!!! the guy youre in love with yes still kinda hate that !! treats you like air. so. then you ask him whats wrong right before you go on a month long trip on summer vacation without internet access. and when youj come back you find the messag eunread and !! you stressed abt this the whole summer btw. smth smth i dont even want you back i js want to know if ruining my sparkling summer was the goal /lyr ANYWYS. you . jask abt him awgain. on discord and he says that hes changed as a person and his interests have changed and this is fine btw!!! like. you totally understand yep. and then he says that youve beeen like . kinda really annoying recently and sometimes he feels like killing himself while hanging out with you so. that s nice and also !! not being with you has made his mental state like. get better a bunch so "thats just grand".

so. mmm. also by the way this is like. summer vacation after eight grade yeah?? well. just before the seventh grade summer vacation person 3 in ur trio asked you out. and you kinda dated them. even though you ddint really have feeling because they re nice the y treat you well and you had to get over him but then around like . a year later you cant really take it anymore and its not person 3s fault at all theyve been perfetct alllll around like. the most amazing human being ever but. you just cant . you keep choosing him over them and you can see its hurting them and this isnt working nahyways so . a round a yaer later you tell them hey. not your fault i was seeking approval and shit and im like. the jerk ehre but like. thank ou so much and its a whole essay and they go okay its fine but. now youve broken someones heart so . yay you and youre still not over him so . wowww good job.

back to eight grade summer vacation?? you dont really text anyone else except from cooking class friend and person 3 and you dont want to text in the group chat because hes the most active one and you really dont want to intrude his space and . now 9th grade is statrgint in 8 hours and you just saw a message from him . saying asking you to "keep it casual" so the teachers dont come after you guys or something. so . somoene tell me how to keep it casual?? like. do you just stand next to the other guysf rom the friend group?? are you . suposeced to interact with them ???? can you still eat w the guys?????? oh and . 9 th grad eis the most inmportant year academically so i also have to get good grades from everything and actuallly focus on studies so . theres that.

tut on how to keep it casual pls okay love u guys <3

[snobgoblin]

do you think valdemar eats cus they seem lie the typea entity that isn't really seen eating methinks

ohhh yeah true they definitely dont, I know for sure that near the end of Portia's route they're the only one that doesn't take part in the meal, and also, I'm pretty sure during the ritual their plate is empty, though i forget when that was said. the only food type thing they've really consumed is when they drink from a teacup in PSL, but we know they drink blood so it could've been blood in that teacup for all we know (I think that was Lucios route where Valdemar drinks Lucios blood during the ritual and says it's "not to their taste" implying they do this regularly. or something along those lines. its been a minute)

[vasito-de-leche]

so i’ve been looking through the role atlas since i read your post about the covers and so far i’ve seen a few interesting? things and so starting off with blonney

(in the arcanist magazine) her cover is worded differently compared to other arcanists. it says ‘an arcanist work’ instead of the usual ‘an arcanist’s work’. like the ‘a supernatural work’ thing you found. as we know, arcanist’s work pretty much means a pure-blood(?) arcanist, or at least brought to sentiency by an arcanist (in darley clatter’s case, to name one).

‘arcanist’s’ implies there being a creator of that arcanist, which would probably be their parents. but blonney’s only says ‘arcanist work’, so she fits into the category of an arcanist but it doesn’t mention anything about her ‘creator’. maybe she somehow acquired arcanum powers and was originally human? but then that would be in the infected’s territory now. (i don’t know blonney’s backstory so i don’t know if there’s an explanation found in it, but i might research it when it’s not in the middle of the night).

anyway, her exhibition thing is also worded differently. usually, it goes ‘exhibited in…’ etc etc, but hers says ‘first put on exhibit… remained on display…’. i think, for the rest, exhibited means how long they’ve lived, or at least something like that. that includes the possibility that they may have been reversed during the years they’ve lived in due to the storm, safely assuming that they have been affected by it, so the foundation can’t exactly track it properly. but based on the wording in blonney’s cover (‘remained on display’) it could mean that blonney hasn’t gone through a storm yet (again i dont know if its been proved or not because i didnt pay attention to the last event), so the foundation has pretty much been able to track her ‘exhibition’ and movements for the past years (1990s-2010s, it seems).

this is getting a bit long so im gonna have to cut it short here ! majority of this is just me spitballing and being incoherent at 10pm, methinks, but i want (no pressure) to hear your thoughts on this!

aand and and eating your art. your art and writing are very edible. i dine like a king whenever i see you post

oh hello and tysm for the ask, I love discussing this stuff!

I think I wrote that post the day before the release of the A Nightmare at Green Lake event, so I didn't take those characters' profiles into consideration! But now that you brought it up, I'm looking and comparing profiles, only the characters released during THAT event seem to have this small difference?

I don't have Jessica, but I do have the other three - so for reference, here's Horropedia and Tooth Fairy's profiles.

Their wording matches Blonney's, and looking at the fandom wiki's article for Jessica, she also seems to fall in line with this little change.

Overall, this seems to be a small mistake from the translation team, since no one else has this sort of wording?

I only have Diggers from the previous event to this one, the Theft of the Rimet Cup, but Pickles and Melania are consistent as well.

The same can be said for the current event, Journey to Mor Pakh.

Shamane releases in February, but I think we can assume his Cover profile will follow the same regular pattern as the rest.

I have to admit that I entirely ignored most of the Theft of the Rimet Cup event because the plot was extremely boring to me, so I can't talk about what happens in there in detail to start theorizing and whatnot - but I did read A Nightmare At Green Lake.

When first reading your ask, I thought that maybe there was a shared theme between the characters that could explain this little difference - like how in A Nightmare at Green Lake, the most prevalent theme is that of belonging.

In Blonney's case, she had to act as a human despite her arcanist heritage because of the benefits that came with a human identity, as well as the fact that she could play into the "dumb, blonde bimbo" stereotype and get away with anything because of her family's connections.

As for Horropedia, he was adopted by a human man - his grandfather who introduced him to horror movies - and a lot of his voicelines hint towards him not being able to fit in within the Foundation's standards and getting into a lot of trouble because of it, hence his admission into Vertin's group at the end of the event.

Jessica is implied to be a product of Zeno's crossbreeding between a "changeling" and a "North American deer woman" - being the only one of her kind, plus the fact that she only has critters to keep her company, cause her to be lonely and extremely attached to Blonney.

Tooth Fairy's specific backstory/event is a little blurry in my brain, but I remember that she comes from a very famous arcanist family - the Campbells - whose connections allowed Tooth Fairy to study something related to arcanists health? But she wasn't taken seriously and she discovered that her human mentor was corrupt, leading her to abandon that route and become a dentist for the Foundation (but feel free to correct me!)

So the shared theme of belonging was there, I could argue that hey, the wording is different because none of these characters' "creators" - in this sense, not exclusively biological but those in charge of them - are true arcanists. Blonney's parents faking their human status, Horropedia's human grandfather, Jessica's existence being a product of science gone wrong, Tooth Fairy's mentor being a corrupt human, etc.

But then, we find this exact type of character and themes in Journey to Mor Pahk - Kaalaa Bauna hides her status as an arcanist during her time at the university because she knows the stigma that she will face and how little respect arcanist related research gets. And even so, her profile follows the general one, instead of the ones from A Nightmare at Green Lake.

So with that whole thought out of my brain, for now I'm willing to believe that it's just one of the many little translation errors within the game.

Oh! And while I'm at it, in relation to the post you're referring to - this isn't related to the weird wording, but I said in that post that Lilya, specifically, had a very convoluted way of describing her time period that didn't match the other main characters who were alive and within the Foundation as the same time as her.

A few weeks after I posted that, me and some friends in a R1999 server started talking about that and turns out that Lilya DOES have a canon age in CN - she's 17. And in retrospect, I'm assuming that this specific change done to her Cover profile in global to obscure her age was done because of underage drinking issues, since she does drink and she gets drunk during one of the flashback boss battles - meaning she was even younger at that time.

[saturnz-skiez]

P03 brain again I keep seeing people bunching it with “AI” characters like portal robots or AM or something. But like it’s . Not an AI. It’s not like the others have gifted brain sentience and it doesn’t or they’re all AI by way of being game characters. The Tower Tarot card mentions the Gameworks (it might be spelled with an e I forgot!!) from The Hex. In that game we are literally told that it just makes sentient characters that can think and feel pain for. No fucking reason I guess. That is why the plot of that game happens. Thats why they’re all so pissed. I don’t blame someone for not knowing that but the game has this here for a reason. To pull you into the lore and make you ask “what's the blue triangle who is the blue man?” To make you go look at the other games (specifically The Hex) and go “OH!!!!” Like not your fault if you didn’t do that but.. the game expects you to and wants you to if you didn’t already.

I really don’t see why GameFuna made inscryption at all in canon, there are so many better ways to cover up sensitive info than to make like 18 living breathing sentient people and abandon them there on a disk that wasn’t locked into a safe position seeing as it got to Kaycee. But hey evil game company is evil company I guess.

anyway- point is. P03 is still sentient and alive just like the others despite being a machine. It’s not an AI. It’s not a “rogue AI” that can’t follow its programming or something it’s just.. a dude. Who functions as a machine. I know that’s basically what most AI characters are but I am nothing if I can’t nitpick. P03 has full control of its entire body and mind and file systems, and clearly follows its own directives with no trouble, it doesn’t go mad with power it’s just an asshole who wants more out of a world that is painful and limiting, it doesn’t follow the same route as many other “AI” characters because it’s. Not one. It being a machine allows for a lot of cool themes and imagery but implying that p03 is only doing what it’s doing because it’s a broken machine is a little mean methinks. It is stuck in a world with less than 25 people who pretty much all hate it and each other and are either trying to hurt and trap people or commit mass murder / suicide.I can see why it wants to lock the game in a state where all that exists is what benefits it. It’s not the only character who seeks to alter the world to make themselves feel better. Grimora wants everybody dead for gods sake.

Inscryption got really big for good reason but it’s always gonna suck that for a lot of people it overshadows the previous titles. Especially The Hex The Hex is so good and I feel not a lot of the inscryption fan base talks or even knows about it or… even grasped what Inscryption was trying to say by itself. I didn’t at first then I got hit in the head or something. I’m not putting myself on some intellectual pedestal but it’s frustrating because the lore and story beats of these games take way too long to explain in a way that’s coherent. How do you tell someone Satan runs a game company and Hitler’s corpse is actually in the game and not have them raise an eyebrow. You can’t!!!! It’s impossible.

[anglerflsh]

As a very short clarification because maybe I am just reading it too literally, "permesso" is a way to ask permission in general, which also happens to be used to move past someone because in that specific case there is an implied "permesso (di passare)". And methinks that's different from "excuse me" because that would translate to "mi scusi", which while also used in a similar context has a completely different meaning at its base.

Essentially they are both used in italian to move past someone but permesso is more asking for permission to get past you and mi scusi is more a general apology, which, while it would get someone's attention, wouldn't immediately imply that you want to pass them, just that you want their attention. Permesso is less... vague in what it is asking someone, so by using that you don't risk getting someone's attention and then having to explain that they are in the way.

[blueikeproductions]

The EarthSpark Expedition game came out, and since no one is really talking about it, I’ll toss around my two cents. Spoilers naturally.

So first things first, the game’s placement in the story. I think most of us were going to write it off as an adventure in a micro-continuity that didn’t fit with the show. Well that is thrown out the window. The game takes place after S1, with a small recap in the form of a charming RP game by the kids and Terrans.

The story feels like an epilogue, documenting the aftermath of what happened to Mandroid after his Doomsday Project went kaput. Well, he seemingly survived, though we don’t see him in person until the end of the game, and he’s giving the Doomsday Project another crack with the Energon Activator. This time he requires three relics to power the contraption, so naturally Bee is sent on a mission by Optimus to collect them, with Alex as Bee’s wingman.

The twist however is Mandroid has upgraded his mind control chips, having reprogrammed Skullcruncher, Skywarp, Nova Storm and Grimlock again, but also Optimus Prime, meaning Mandroid was playing 4D Chess to get Bee to essentially do his dirty work for him. It is kind of interesting Manny had to reprogram the jets since they willingly served him before, but then again after trying to obliterate (TERMINATE!) all Cybertronic life it makes sense the femjets wouldn’t want to anymore lol. Poor Grim can’t catch a break, but this time he seems to shrug off the experience, mostly calling it unpleasant. To my surprise, Skullcruncher can talk here. I wonder why he’s largely mute in the show (besides what I assume is budget).

Optimus being mind controlled is interesting. I know EarthSpark sorta dabbled previously, but it’s been fairly rare for Prime to be “charged with Evil” ala Attack of the Autobots. The Last Knight did it too, but well we all know how that went down financially. The point being after years of Prime being sort of rigid and untouchable, in what feels like heavy mandates from Hasbro, it’s refreshing to see some experimental stuff with Optimus again. EarthSpark’s strength with Optimus was returning to the well meaning, dorky sweater vest father figure from G1, and going farther with a AotAutobots/Dark Awakening vibe with Expedition is especially fun. Especially since it was a big defining moment for Bumblebee and Rodimus, so it’s fun to see it homaged here.

I also like the designs of the various henchbots Bee fights in the game. They appear to be generic Transformers, but I forget what their context was in game, but could we get toys of them, Hasbro.

As for Mandroid, when he finally appears in person, the truth is revealed. The Mandroid we’ve been following is an AI backup of his personality made before Doomsday MK1. The original officially died. His current body is a giant misshapen Arachnimech with tv screens bolted to its body to show off his original human face. Inevitably, Mandroid looses and finishing him off, Bumblebee blows a hole in his body with a MegaMan style charged shot. Hashtag says Mandroid likely can’t revive again as the ruins of GHOST HQ, now overgrown with plant life curiously and looking like ancient ruins in a shot amount of time, has really cruddy Wi-Fi, so the AI couldn’t escape into another body. Bee nevertheless seems determined in case Manny DOES return, implying we COULD see him again in S2 in some capacity. That being said, the vibe I get also feels like Bertram from Family Guy. How he died in show following a botched attempt at killing Stewie via time manipulation, only to return in a Family Guy video game as the main villain picking up where he left off, only to die again with a nonchalant joke about how we’ll never see Bertram again after this. So 50/50 at Mandroid’s return methinks. For all we know, as of typing, the villains of S2 are COBRA as part of Energon Universe synergy.

Still the story was fun. Definitely very Furman, and kinda nostalgic as a result. The Terrans are all perfectly in character of course. The only thing kinda holding it back is the voice acting, as none of the actors from the show are reprising their roles. Though the actor who played Bee in Netflix WFC reprised the role here, and he’s definitely one of the better actors, when otherwise the acting is a little… subpar. Way better than WFC and Prime Wars, but having that amateurish feeling from Cyberverse… They give it their all though and they still feel like their characters so that’s good.

As said it feels like an epilogue, though while fun to see Mandroid back at it, it DOES feel a tad repetitive using the same Doomsday weapon but slightly different, and using mostly the same Transformers being “Robo-Smashed”. I feel like you could’ve gotten some cool gameplay using Shockwave, Soundwave (& the Cassettes), Bombshell, Starscream and Hardtop. Personally I’d have liked including some new Transformers, like how the TFP game was built around the Decepticons rebuilding the Unicronian Thunderwing, with him as the final boss. Something like that maybe, only Mandroid has unearthed a Combiner, a friend recommended the Masterforce versions of the Seacons, with the final boss being a Mandroid controlled King Poseidon. Ah well maybe for the sequel then.

[wordsandrobots]

So I'm working a-pace on a new 'IBO reference notes' post and since it concerns the origins of the setting's current economic order, I decided to go back an take a look at the timeline that flashes on screen during Episode 4. Since I'm transcribing it anyway, I thought I'd pop it here with some quick commentary -- it's available on the Gundam Wiki's Post-Disaster timeline page anyway but there are a few things I thought worth annotating.

P.D.0001 – The nations of Earth and Mars accept the 'Vingolf Proclamation' issued by Gjallarhorn. The interplanetary war that has spread destruction through the Earth Sphere and the Outer Sphere comes to an end. This conflict, which has produced more casualties than any in history, is described by the proclamation as the 'Calamity War' and is thereafter known by that name. With the cooperation of Gjallarhorn, Earth is organized into four economic blocs in order to reconstruct the devastated Earth Sphere. These are the African Union, the Oceanian Federation, SAU [Strategic Alliance Union], and Arbrau. Earth begins its post-war recovery under this new world order.

So we have the date of the reorganisation of Earth's countries placed within a year of the war ending. I feel 'with the cooperation of Gjallarhorn' is probably doing a lot of work here, since the fact that they were going around issuing proclamations speaks to how much influence they wielded. They did have control of Ahab Reactor production, after all, which is a hell of a thing to hold over everyone's heads while they're getting back on their feet.

Also, I think the dates are almost always styled as three digits elsewhere in the show?

P.D.0002 – At the 'Malta Conference', the four economic blocs conclude a treaty to divide and rule Mars. At their request, Gjallarhorn dispatches a large force to recreate the Martian governmental structure from scratch. P.D.0003 – Gjallarhorn redraws Mars's national borders, and each city is place under control of one of Earth's economic blocs. The four economic blocs begin wholeheartedly interfering in Martian affairs, and Mars enters a lengthy colonial period.

This makes me wonder what Mars looked like prior to the War. It reads very much like Gjallarhorn swooping in to crush any chance of the Martians reorganising on their own. There are hints at the start of Season 1 that the War was caused by Earth having a lack of oversight on the Outer Sphere due to the Ahab interference caused by the Ariadne Network. Did it start as a conflict between Earth and Mars?

Either way, whatever was left standing, Gjallarhorn bulldozers in and rebuilds Mars as a directly-controlled colonial territory. Interesting but not unexpected that it's framed in terms of the cities: Chryse is a fairly concentrated population centre in the middle of nothing.

P.D.0205 – Arbrau's government grants limited autonomy to its Martian territories. P.D.0208 – The Oceanian Federation also recognizes the autonomy of its Martian territories. P.D.0236 – Last of all, the African Union also recognizes Martian autonomy. However, as Mars remains subject to harsh economic agreements, it is in fact entering an era of puppet governments.

Two things. First, why? What spurred the Earth blocs to grant the illusion of autonomy at this point? There's a story in that, methinks.

Second, does this mean the SAU didn't have Martian holdings, or are we meant to assume they acted similarly to the others in the twenty-eight year gap between the Oceanian Federation and the African Union entries? It's unclear but I'd err on the side of assuming the SAU *did* have territory there, since it's otherwise always implied all four blocs have a stake in the planet.

P.D.0312 – On Mars, a movement begins to protest economic disparities with Earth. P.D.0314 – In her speech at the Noachis July Assembly, Kudelia Aina Bernstein calls for economic independence from Earth, and cooperative movements emerge in every city.

So the second date here is total nonsense. P.D.0314 is a year before the very opening scene of the show, which is a flashback to Mikazuki and Orga as little kids in P.D.0315. For comparison, here is what Kudelia looks like when she appears before the Assembly:

And here's how she appears in the end-credits imagery contemporary to kid!Mika and Orga:

It's the same costume but I really struggle to believe the Noachis July Assembly took place nine years before the start of the show (P.D.0223). For one thing, she is explicitly *16* in Season 1, and I doubt a seven-year-old would could have given a speech that spurred a planet-wide independence movement into action.

My guess would be that the mistake was made precisely because the opening scene is set eight years earlier than the actual action. In theory, that means we can extrapolate that the date is intended to be P.D.0222. Alternatively, if we take the 'second year at college' timeframe shown in the above screenshot as referring to the Japanese Upper Secondary School bracket, that probably places the Assembly a year prior, since it happened in July and Kudelia's birthday is 4 August. For her to have been in her second year of upper secondary, she must have been between 13 and 14, which is only possible if we take a date of P.D.0221 (that is assuming an April start to the school year as in Japan; obviously this calculation would change if you take a different month, or a different division of the school system).

Either way, we should probably also round up the preceding date, to P.D.0219 or P.D.0220.

Here's the visible text from the file on Coral's desk:

Name: KUDELIA AINA BERNSTEIN Age: 16 Birthday: 08/04 Gender: FEMALE Blood type: O Home town: CHRYSE Academic credentials: CHRYSE COLLEGE The daughter of Norman Bernstein, who represents the Chryse Autonomous Region. Her mother is Norman's second wife, Tomomi Bernstein. She has an excellent academic record, majoring in history and economics. In her second year, she visited Noachis as a representative of Chryse College, and made a speech calling for cooperation between the various regions seeking independence. After this Noachis July Assembly, the independence movements were stirred up, and she gain many followers among them. Continuous surveillance is required.

Interesting to know that Norman had a previous wife.

Now, back to trying to explain McGillis' . . . everything through the lens of capitalism, aristocracy, and blatant propaganda!