#underwhelming as hell

[sparkles-jpeg]

Trying to practice full art pieces with kid flash

[jazeswhbhaven]

Theory Time!!! (please don't criticize me too hard on this I'm only throwing caution to the wind)

⚠There are spoilers below the cut from Chapter 7 and other parts of the game new players may have missed or not read yet, proceed at your own risk⚠

Let's begin with the last part of the sub-story. There was not much happening, a friendly day of Ppyong hanging out with the bestie and then....

This stood out to me. He was already acting out of character earlier in the sub story for this chapter after he ended up in the hospital. Before then he was perfectly fine and behaving "as normal". What is it that he wants to forget? Hasn't his life been pretty standard for a average man growing up in SK? He also doesn't do anything too bad, so one starts to question...

Also, beforehand, Minhyeok truthfully never did want to know much about what happens in Hell other than the random question he asked back in Chapter 4 about death when he was visiting Ra-On's parents' graves. *keep this in mind I'm going to mention it later*

Now, when he mentions this here it's a big fucking clue that something is not right. Usually asking hypotheticals like this is prepping the other for the real question/confession just in case they might have a bad reaction to being told the truth. It seems though that Ppyong affirmed his worries that he would be friends with someone who isn't a devil as long as they were on Hell's side. Like Samael (Leamas). But then...it happens....

Minhyeok is fucking gone right before he was about to say something incredibly important and could change the dynamic of his and Ppyong's friendship. What's more is that I'm guessing that right around the time that Ra-On and the others found the Minhyeok child version from what was said here.

And then....this.

This is a big cliffhanger and a huge clue that something is going to happen to Minhyeok to where there will no longer be moments like we saw before between him and Ppyong. Now, I am quite sure this doesn't mean "death" in the way that's typical. This could mean that this version of Minhyeok will no longer exist and this is where my theories come in---->

Theory A: Minhyeok is Ra-On's Guardian Angel

So if go all the way back to beginning, Minhyeok jumped in front of Gabriel's attack to protect Ra-On

"I don't have hard feelings for you"

He says the same thing to Minhyeok before slashing him across the chest in an instant. To me, since the beginning I thought the phrase as a bit odd considering when would Gabriel had seen Minhyeok before?

Unless he absolutely has

Gabriel is not against killing his own people. Neither are his brothers. This is shown plenty times in other instances. Minhyeok originally being a guardian angel for Ra-On since their parents death would be possible because angels, like Leamas have decided to go rouge and no longer do the bidding of "God's plan" if it meant murdering those you loved.

Minhyeok as a Guardian Angel for Ra-On could simply be...over time and each generation he's manifested as a human so he could keep a close eye on the descendants of Solomon. Perhaps before he was Minhyeok, he was someone else, and in the very beginning he was originally an angel who fell in love with Solomon and vowed to protect his descendants in any shape or form.

Now, that's really throwing some stuff out there based on this interaction but don't worry I've got other stuff too to help my thought process based on what happened after he was slashed.

Classic.

But Satan confirmed it. Minhyeok is out of the building. Using human logic...and the amount of time it probably took for Satan and Gabriel to do their thing, he'd been sitting there for possibly over five minutes or more pretty much "dead". Any human gone for that long is guaranteed to be gone. And in the rules of death for any movie I've seen...when you do ask for a loved one to come back, they aren't themselves. Think "Pet Semetary" rules.

But even after the contract was sealed between Satan and Ra-On, he was there to take them anyway regardless of what contract they may or may not have wanted to form.

And there's Minhyeok acting pretty much like himself. Nothing out of the ordinary except this huge scar on his chest.

Now I'm going to take you back to the Halloween event. I don't have specific screenshots for this because I was a dummy and didn't record it 💀 But follow me the best possible.

During Minhyeok's visit to Hell with Ppyong by his side, it was very strange that with every single angel attack, he only suffered scratches and bruises. There's explosions, weapons, and he's defenseless and yet...he didn't immediately die.

THEN, Minhyeok runs into each Seraphim. Michael avoided him, Raphael attacked him and threw him into a wall but then decided...nah I won't. Then Gabriel yet again tried to kill him but this time it didn't work due to the contract Ra-On made and it overriding the damage Gabriel's scythe brings...to where Minhyeok can not be killed by it ever again. Gabriel decides to pack it up though frustrated because he ofc was unaware of said contract ever being made on Minhyeok in the first place.

Here's where my Guardian Angel theory also gets somewhat supported in a strange way...

Minhyeok must have been under Gabriel's rule, hence why he just keeps trying to kill him because he went against God in the first place. Also it appears that Gabriel only focuses on things he deems important so anything else might get ignored or tucked away so he doesn't remember all the details correctly. I think his speech pattern is not only a part of his personality, but him truly trying to remember if he already said something or did something before.

The reason the other two Seraphim didn't bother touching him, is that they are aware of his purpose and his status after seeing the slash mark glow on his chest. (yes it was glowing apparently)

Ya'll are in luck I found this screenshot in one of my old as fuck posts lol

You see how he's perfectly fine??? I even questioned back then how could he possibly be okay after being fucking thrown through a brick building by Raphael who could clearly kill him in a second flat.

yeahhhhh yeahhh something's up

But the thing about it, is remember Satan said Minhyeok wouldn't remember too much of anything after being revived and the thing is Minhyeok does end up talking with Gabriel and he does remember him and Gabriel remembers him too.

But before anything else gets discussed Satan shows up anyway and that's done and done.

Now if you're wondering how could no one detect that Minhyeok is an angel the entire time, it's very easy.

Remember no one could clock Leamas as an angel? Everyone pretty much accepted him as a devil and went along with it. The only one who was even skeptical was Sitri but I chalked that up to him being like that in the first place.

I believe that because it was Gabriel that disguised him, that power is great enough to even trick the Kings, so imagine an angel's soul that travels through every human destined to be near Solomon's descendants? With that much time to cloak yourself, surely no one would be able to notice anything.

Minhyeok's memories, everything he went through ofc is valid. But he's had to do it often and so well, that each life he lives as a human gets eaiser, that is until...something different happens.

The reason all of this is coming to a head, is because this Guardian Angel never expected to fall in love with one of Solomon's descendants, that being Ra-On and now it's complicated.

How does this tie in with child Minheyok?

He mentions once after his fainting spell "I should have grown up sooner" and then later..."Growing up isn't always a good thing" It could be that now since Ra-On is in Hell, and he can't do much to protect them while on Earth he feels perhaps he has failed them somehow and in order to truly save them...he has to start over. The only way he can is to manifest himself in Hell as said child in order to look over them and then later he would then reveal his angel form once all is said and done.

Theory B: Minhyeok became an angel after dying

Let's start with some lore from Chapter 4's sub-story. Ppyong made it very simple that humans just die, they are not meant to go to Heaven nor Hell, their soul is just sort of floating around aimlessly.

However, the options as he states, if you have special talents or are a good being you are called to God and given a chance to either live as a devil in Hell, an angel or Heaven or forever in the human world.

Given the circumstances, that Minhyeok sacrificed himself for Ra-On, this is very much an option that happened, however there was a contract made at the same time to bring him back and this could affect things. Also, God is MIA so these terms could very much be different in Minhyeok's case.

Gabriel pretty much made the choice for him with his scythe. The contract brought him back and because of the injury now he's no longer the Minhyeok everyone knew and grew up with. The angel part of him is dormant during this time and low key to where he doesn't even realize it himself. Thus why everything went back to "normal" for him.

But in Chapter 7, once Ra-On got closer to the Ark Covenant....things were changing up. And the part of the trailer of Gabriel mentioning "did he have something to do with that" and a obscured silhouette of a mystery angel....

It's very possible that Gabriel indirectly turned Minhyeok into an angel and now he has someone to help bring Ra-On to Heaven which was part of the plan in the beginning.

This would be why we see Minhyeok suddenly acting out of character after his fainting spell, suddenly being reminiscent and also tell Minseok (the older brother) to be careful.

This would also explain Minseok not recognizing his own brother and being uneasy the entire time about his behavior being out of the ordinary. This theory is uh a little harder for me to validate but it's there!

Theory C: Minhyeok isn't Minhyeok at all, but rather a clone of an existing angel in Heaven meant to keep an eye on if any of Solomon's descendants pop up

This could easily tie in my previous theories in bits and pieces. Gabriel having no issue killing said "clone" because he knows he can just make another one and it's purpose has been fulfilled. Since Ra-On is still alive though, this causes problems for him so he has to go back and rethink.

Issue though, is that Ra-On cares for Minhyeok and asked for him to be brought back. So now this clone is running around, Gabriel is pissed about that but not too concerned which is why he's left him alone, again he's stuck on Earth, unable to get in Gabriel's way so why should he care?

When Ra-On is in the Reverse Babel Tower, Gabriel has to set everything into motion, but at the same time Minhyeok's clone is reacting to said change as well. This is when we get child Minhyeok who could very well, just a different form of Minhyeok's true angel form which isn't ready to be revealed to Ra-On just yet. This could also tie into why Minhyeok on Earth vanished. His existence is no longer necessary which is why that was the last time Ppyong would ever see him again.

Things to think about:

So...what about him giving Ra-On his cum for energy?

It's funny that none of the devils ever stated that Solomon needed both exclusively. It could be that he was just that powerful of a human and adapted so well that he didn't need both sources.

At the same time, since Minhyeok wouldn't be human in either case, perhaps it was never human essence needed in the first place, but angel essence and devil essence to keep humans thriving in Hell.

Where did Solomon get his dose of angel essence? Well...that I'm unsure of without throwing a wild ass accusation that he didn't need it because he had formed a relationship with God, and thus one night with him meant he'd have essence for eternity.

wild huh...

So what about the Kim family? It could be possible that Minhyeok didn't even exist until Ra-On's parents died. This would be why Minseok had a lapse in not recognizing him in the hospital because he never existed in the first place and it was just a false memory planted in his head.

Because think about it, after Minheyok's disappearance, and one day Ppyong tries to find Minseok as Juno only to be told "Huh? I don't have a younger brother, you must have me mistaken for someone else." and this crushes Ppyong's world. (i know sad stuff I APOLOGIZE)

I'm pretty sure that's all I had in terms of what I think is going on with Minhyeok, which tbh this ruins my idea that he and Ra-On are the OTP...because I mean what are they gonna go back to? He ain't there anymore and it's very much leaning toward the fact that Minhyeok is really an angel T^T

Like??? I wouldn't even know what to do in that instance as Ra-On I think I'd just be irritated and go to Niflheim and sleep in Belphie's room for like a week or something or have Buer do that pressure thing so I can be knocked out for a while. ANYWAYS, as I said at the very beginning these are just my theories and I don't expect any of them to make sense to everyone nor do I think it's gonna happen exactly as I stated. BUT yes, please feel free to pop in my inbox or reply with your thoughts. I'm sure we are all thinking similar in some ways.

[dailyhtfboards]

Day 100

Today’s board is a special one, one that’s been clawing at my brain since I’ve seen it. Every once in a while I just, remember it exists and just take a moment to think about it. I’ve considered posting it a few times but I didn’t feel it was the right time to subject the world to this information. But we’ve been at this for 100 days, the big one O, over 3 months at this point. I think I’ve finally got comfortable enough with this blog to say this. On page 39 of the storyboards for Easy for you to Sleigh, episode 4A of the Happy Tree Friends television series:

Shifty has a butthole. Make of this what you will.

[caelanthe]

Fanfiction is so goated actually

No monetary incentive, just writing in one's free time. Some incentive for like kudos and comments, because who doesn't want to hear that someone else enjoyed what they wrote. Just writing a story that is good and/or enjoyable, no real-life pressure to keep it going because god forbid you and other people are depending on it financially.

Writing a story because you want to write a good story, so you can write what they want the way you want, at a pace that is realistic for you, with exactly the plot pacing you want there to be.

[normal-thoughts-official]

I made a post earlier arguing that Higurashi is a horror story about child neglect and the premature loss of childhood, and I'd like to talk a bit about how I think this adds to the horror in Gou and Sotsu

Personally, I felt like Kai felt a lot more like a tragedy/mystery/action combo than psychological horror; I was never really scared, just sad. But Gou? Gou was horrifying to me, and definitely a lot more so to Rika too, and I think a good part of that reason is that in Gou she wasn't just being abandoned, but effectively targeted by the adults that were supposed to protect her

In Gou, while the horror is certainly also in the killings - I felt it was a lot more explicit and gorey than Kai -, it is mostly in the process of retraumatization. In Kai, Rika was more or less used to being killed, and numbed to it. But in Gou, Rika is faced with the horrifying reality that, even after being able to escape, she could be pulled back into the endless loop of trauma; so there was no way to escape that would be meaningful. This is all explicit text, so I won't waste a lot of time going into it. What I want to focus on is that this process adds an even bigger sense of helplessness that is typical to children trapped in abusive situations. Everything that happens is completely outside of their control, there is no escape, and the process happens over and over again. The unique vulnerability of being a child (both physical and social) is mirrored in that process of being trapped then and re-trapped in the killing cycles

Add to that the fact that Rika had gotten to grow up and was suddenly thrust back into helpless childhood, and things get even worse and more explicit in that sense. For a while, she had experienced what it was like to have at least a few more resources to help herself than before. She was not an adult, but she was a teenager, and she had a bigger support network. Then, all of a sudden, she was thrust back into being a child. Having to go back to the childish mannerisms she had left behind, which, as I pointed out in the original post, were always a performance that helped further alienate her; therefore, doubly so once she was able to leave that behind. Her desperation to be sophisticated, to act grown up, to go new places, was a form of rejection of the helplessness of childhood. To her, childhood was explicitly tied to trauma just as much as Hinamizawa was. Being shoved back into childhood was to have all her hard-earned agency stolen from her

Once again, this is explicit text, so I'm going to move on, but the point I'm trying to make here is that, if in Higurashi horror is tied to the loss of childhood, as I argued in the other post, to Rika, the horror is childhood itself. Once again, this is typical in children who endure abuse and neglect; an unsafe childhood only has the worst aspects of being a child - the dependance and weakness - without any of the best ones - the safety net, being taken care of, getting to play and be happy. Therefore, they don't see childhood as a good thing, but as something to escape in order to survive

So when Rika finds herself a(n even younger) child, she is again faced with the horror of having no choice but to rely on adults to take care of her. Which she's never had in the first place, but after the events of Kai, she at least knew some of them who could have helped her escape her terrible fate. I don't think it's a coincidence that the first two people who killed her in a way that made it clear these loops were different from the previous ones were Ooishi and Akasaka, exactly the two that most helped her escape fate in Kai. It really drove home that she had nowhere to turn to

When Satoko injected Rena and Mion, she ended up basically emulating the previous loops, and Rika never even knew it was different from the other times where Keiichi and Shion were the killers. It was when Ooishi killed her that she realized things were different, and, immediately, she decided that she would only go five more loops before she killed herself

And sure, the fact that this is the second time this happens certainly makes it harder to believe there's any getting out of it in a way that matters, but I don't think it's a coincidence that being betrayed by Ooishi is what finally makes her put a cap on how many times she's willing to try. Ooishi was once part of her safety net; one of the adults that helped change the game. Once he was the one who killed her, she was more alone than ever before. But she still had more people to turn to, so she decided she'd try more, at least a little

Then, of course, she was killed by Akasaka

Akasaka being next was just... Awful. Probably the most gut-wrenching death in Higurashi to me. While he couldn't be called a parental figure, he certainly was also the only adult she's ever had to take care of her. He certainly was the only adult she fully trusted. He was the only person, period, that she ever told she knew she was going to die before the final loop in Kai. Akasaka was her only ally, the only one she fully trusted, and the closest she had to a figure she could call a caretaker. So it's no wonder that, after he killed her, Rika stopped even trying at all; she was only counting down to keep her promise to herself, but she was no longer shown trying to change what would happen or making any kind of effort; she was merely counting down and dying again and again without respite. They didn't even bother showing us anything before the killings, because, to Rika, that was just white noise; she was just waiting out for them to happen. To lose Akasaka was to lose her last hope, and that's what makes the Gou deaths so much more horrifying than the Kai ones, because even the little miracles of respite she had before were out of her reach. For the first time, she was completely alone, without anyone at all to trust; and, as a child, if you have no one to trust and help, you simply die

The next ones are, obviously, hand-picked wonderfully (derogatory) by Satoko. Kimiyoshi may have never actually done his job, but he was Rika's legal guardian, and an adult she liked and felt she could speak to, even if she didn't really rely on him. Akane was literally the only present parental figure any of the kids had, and the one who first told them the Sonozakis would help with Satoko and her uncle, too. Keiichi was not an adult, but he was an older kid that she specifically believed was able to defeat fate. It might not have been the first time Keiichi had Hinamizawa Syndrome, but it was the first time he specifically turned against Rika, and that had to have been horrible. And Satoko, obviously, was her best friend, not to mention the only other person who came close to understanding Rika's situation as a child who had to be an adult in practice while still having to act and deal with the vulnerabilities of being a child, and the only one who was, literally speaking, always by her side

I think the fact that Satoko specifically picked adults and the two kids Rika trusted as capable of changing fate (coupled with the aforementioned helplessness caused by not knowing if she could ever truly escape even if she did escape this once) was what made everything work out so fast for Satoko. Altogether, it only took her 8 loops to convince Rika to stay in Hinamizawa. If she hadn't fucked up with the trap situation, Satoko would have probably been the looper to get what she wanted with the least amount of times in history. It took Rika over 100 just to be able to survive. And Satoko got what she wanted after only 8, because she knew exactly what she needed to do to break Rika: make it clear she would get no adults to rely on, and, therefore, would never be able to save herself. Because in Higurashi, the horror is in child neglect, and Satoko created a situation where that would be inescapable

[sillyscientists]

Genuinely don’t know how people come out of the Soul Eater anime ending calling Maka’s punch a “friendship punch” when they literally talk about Madness vs Bravery throughout the show AND THEY LITERALLY SAY ITS BRAVERY IN THE SHOW !!!

[lordofryoshimacoast]

I'm sorry I genuinely hate Loona's feral/full demon form because like... This doesn't read as a demon at all, this looks like my 2020 fursona.

This is literally just Loona dropped onto all fours, it doesn't make her look more powerful at all. She looks like a generic DeviantArt alpha and omega oc.

I honestly think a better version of this trope of Character's true form would be Sesshomaru

Even if this design was scaled down to Loona's height in her true demon form he'd look a lot more intimidating, and there's a reason for that!

Sesshomaru loses any semblance of his sapient qualities and becomes a wild dog because he's pissed the fuck off.

Honestly if Loona's more 'human' face was changed to be wolf-like, I'd be a lot less upset about this to be honest.

Tell me which one of these you're more scared of fighting.

[phantomsies]

on second thought, I’m thinking I should’ve never come back to this app lmao

[fiyaerrigan]

"Robert Nash Han" okay I'm done byeeeee

[dorkycreature-89]

y'all, i'm sorry but belphegor's reveal ain't doing it for me. I'M NOT HATING, I SWEAR I'M NOT. it's just.....underwhelming. like, i look at him and my first reaction was

i like his eyes but other than that, that's it. again, i'm not trying to be a hater. the look ain't for me

at least everyone else looks nice

[coffee-dere]

feeling very silly gonna commit atrocities later

also made this

Btw you (Yes, you) are welcome to join in on the atrocities commiting

(Commitation? Commiton? Is there a future tense of commit???)

[popppyfur]

Oooo... HCs. got any for Broppy?

I don't think I have anything outside of what people have already said in the many years broppy has graced us but I shall try o7

* said this before but poppy never finds it hard to avoid being sarcastic w him <3 and ever since getting closer to branch post 1st movie she's become a lot more open to letting the funniest, most backhanded comments outta her mouth, shame free 😌

* they rub off on each other where in she can be a bit more critical/mean (in her head) and branch makes an effort to see the good in people before just waving them off

* as I'm writing this I realize that these are all plausibly 'canon' (in the cartoon) I literally just cannot think of much outside what we were already given I'm soooo sorry 😭😭😭😭

[andaniellight]

That's it? Is episode 8 actually the end of this season? :/

[piduai]

sakamichi no apollon was boring af btw

[probablygayattorneys]

My Nintendo year in review is in!

[jakebogarts]

柄本 佑 || 「光る君へ」 (2024) · 第三十五回 「中宮の涙」 ​​​