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thalliumstraww · 21 hours ago

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how do you feel about the reveal of earth and Luna being siblings? Did you ever see it that way or did you feel like it was out of nowhere?

Finally, FINALLY! I get to talk about it.

My feelings about the reveal are mixed, and I feel that I wasted my time on this. I feel relieved that it's over, though I am confused about the decision.

Okay, I would state that I never saw Earth and Luna's dynamic as brotherly. Though I did see the argument that they could be literal brothers, I just thought it would have strange ramifications. I also had very high doubts that Proto and Earth were the same characters. Proto and Theia presented as distinct characters but they didn't seem completely removed from Earth and Luna either. It's said in an earlier video of the series that two planets die and merge when planets collide, and new life will come from the collision. Earth and Luna would be the new life made from the death and the merging of the same collision. Anywho, I didn't think Earth and Luna would have the same relationship as Theia and Proto because the show doesn't focus on romance. Plus, I don't think Solarballs wanted to allow that. I did think the collision between Proto and Theia was similar to marriage but that was just a simile. The only thing I knew I could safely presume about Earth and Luna was that they were friends. Close friends but not best friends. They only referred to their relationship as a friendship, a team, a duo, and they are quite literally the Earth and Moon.

The truth is I saw Earth and Luna in some gray area. My mind would always go back to that question Titan asked Luna during the Moon Revolution, "Is the Earth your friend?" The whole moon revolution and how Luna was excluded from the other rocky planets made me evaluate if the Earth and Moon were truly friends. Both of them emerged from the same collision and woke up around the same time. Their closeness is in tandem with how they work together to sustain the most fragile things in the solar system. The Earth and Moon manage to create a balance for life to exist which is a pretty big accomplishment. No cap, hats off to Earth, and to Luna for assisting. In a reasonable regard, the Earth and Luna moon should have equal footing. However, Luna seems to have similar responsibilities as a planet yet the downsides of being a moon. Earth and Luna are not even each other's best friends. Sure they care about each other but I couldn't tell if their friendship development was made by inheritance or environment. Knowing the origin point of their relationship would help in formulating a better opinion about how to interpret them. Letting it be known whether their friendship was made genuinely, predestined, out of necessity, or for other reasons. I guess I was speculating that maybe the Earth and Luna were the start of how the moons are treated in the series.

I heavily believed in the reincarnation theory, as souls don't necessarily need to have the same relationship as their past lives. Proto and Theia crashed, died, merged, and the Earth and Moon were formed from their remains. To me, Earth and Luna were a weird amalgamated fusion of Proto and Theia. Both Earth and Luna work together to sustain life. Luna ensures Earth is stable and safe, so Earth can focus on being a sustainable home for the Earthlings. Two unique entities made from two previous lives they once had a connection to. Now sharing the new life they have together. Cosmically intertwined through body and core, till they drift apart or are consumed by the Sun. I thought that before Proto and Theia crashed they understood that they would be starting their lives anew. Throughout the Theia arc, they kept foreshadowing the inevitable collision and the unsure outcome if Proto and Theia were to get close. I drew many parallels and connections from Proto and Theia back to Earth and Luna. Such as Theia wanting to become Proto's moon to protect him from asteroids, just like what Luna does for Earth. Adding on, they inherited some of their personality traits. Like how Proto's playfulness and Theia's buoyancy shine through Earth. If I had to describe a difference between them, it'd be the conflict in their relationship. For instance, Proto and Theia's issues come from clashing personalities and learning about the inevitable heat death of the universe. They overcame the looming issue of entropy by learning to use chaos to their advantage. They did that by expressing their desires and fears to each other. Learning that they wanted the same things, they began working together towards a shared goal. Earth is enduring his proudest achievement slowly destroying itself. Worst of all, it's also trying to leave him because life is making the planet unlivable. Earth had gone through a redemption arc because there was a time Earth had treated, not just his closest friends but Luna as his lessers. That mistreatment had caused Luna to feel like he didn't matter sometimes. When Luna is a crucial part of making Earth’s dream come true. After the Moon revolution, their relationship is said to have gotten better and we can see how overly attentive Luna is to Earth. While Earth’s fear of abandonment still resonates with him and he is emotionally and physically dependent on others, especially Luna. Earth is still in fear of losing everyone again, and he tries to learn to be a better friend but struggles to understand what is good or bad. (That was a bit of a tangent) Earth and Luna didn't appear brotherly to me because the relationship seemed like a codependent partnership. That dynamic could be interpreted in any way.

And for me, I believe they were still recovering their friendship after the moon revolution. But in the grand scheme of things, they will eventually drift apart. Only still together through body and memory.

Before the Theia arc, I thought Earth and Luna were some sort of friends. They were friends because they had known each other for so long. For how long they've known each other they undoubtedly have been through some phases. Luna could've left at any time but didn't. I believe it's because he is capable of dealing with and understanding Earth’s baggage. Earth was hurting due to the earthlings, In response, he mistreated Luna. However, despite his loyalty to his planet, Luna doesn't tolerate blatant disrespect. But Luna probably feels responsible for fixing and scolding Earth for his mistakes. Then after everything Earth had done and been through, Earth wanted to change for the better. This is when their relationship began to heal. Looking at the state of their relationship, I did wonder how their friendship started and how it developed. Why did Earth want life and why did Luna stay to assist in his dream? I was curious how the planets and humanity may have changed their relationship throughout the years. I was wondering if their relationship was the catalyst for how the moons are treated by the planets. My interest in that came from Pluto's arc.

Pluto's insecurities about his lost planet status caused him to treat Charon unfairly. Leaving Charon alone in the Kuiper belt and he didn't seem to share the same enthusiasm that Charon felt seeing him again. Insisting she was his moon and they weren't a double planet. Implied that she was half a planet. I contrast, the other dwarf planets don't actually feel like they need to have superiority over anyone. They also didn't quite understand why being a planet was so important. So Pluto's mannerisms and beliefs are definitely something that stems from the planets. Similar to Earth's insecurities possibly inflaming a systematic belief that moons were ranked beneath planets.

I could say that the root of why Earth feels superior to the Moons is because of the Earthlings taking advantage of it. Earth tolerated his pain, by cloaking it with a superiority complex. This resulted in him becoming arrogant about friends' frustrations with his actions. His unbearable traits escalated to a point that it drove everyone away. However, I can't help but speculate that the solar system ranking existed before Earth was being tortured by life.

My perspective on Earth and Luna's friendship really changed when I heard "Two became one". Hesitant at first about how Proto and Theia's relationship might develop. To my surprise, they were more chummy. I was expecting a friendship similar to Earth and Luna at a minimum. Seeing the development of Theia and Proto's relationship I was thinking that maybe that reincarnation thing was more accurate than I thought. Theia and Proto merged and passed down the instructions of what they said they wanted in the next life. Earth had already said he had wanted life ever since he had a memory. I predicted that Luna was in a similar boat and that was where he got the habit of shielding Earth. I expected that was the reason why Earth and Luna's friendship is the way it is. I also lost sleep frantically trying to put together what the Dark Side of the Moon could be and was desperate for answers or a lead. ( I would also like to know why Earth was seeing ghostly visions from the past. Because how does that fundamentally work?) And Theia's arc did give a lot of answers and revealed the planet's origins but it didn't satisfy. Earth and Luna's relationship is almost currently the way it is, because of Proto and Theia. (Now if something could thoroughly explain the supernatural stuff, that would be neat.) I felt confident in the reincarnation theory, maybe too confident. But all that built up to reveal that Proto and Theia were Earth’s and Luna's parents. My reaction was "oh... huh." I didn't think planets could have actual parents. Though Earth and Luna do inherit the will and traits that Proto and Theia had, it doesn't seem right. They're supposed to be the children of Proto and Theia? But some of the things that they know are too exact. It's almost like when Proto and Theia collided, they imprinted instructions into the minds and will of their children. Having them fulfill their life goals because they thought it was supposed to happen. While Earth and Luna are clueless prophets, extinctively doing their roles for a bigger plan that Proto and Theia couldn't fully understand.

I don’t know how to feel about that.

Earth's love for his life does seem to be from his will, not just Proto and Theia's. Those feelings should be genuine at least. Not purely stemming from past tense planets that gave Earth these feelings for life.

When Proto and Theia collided, they felt the love of becoming parents... They died. They didn't get to be parents to Earth, Luna, or the life Earth worked tirelessly for. The Sun and Jupiter, heck, Luna got to be more of Earth’s parents. All the while Earth was instinctively working for a dream influenced by the will of two planets that initially planned to create life together. Now Earth is a parent to the life his parents wanted. Does this imply that Earth's a single dad who works two jobs? Who loves his earthlings and never stops. With gentle gravity and a core of a fighter. He's a Survivor? Though I presume Luna is there coparenting alongside him. The other rocky planets and gas giants are there for him as well.

Parents will more likely die before their kids, but Proto and Theia died before their kids were even born. They shouldn't be able to relate to feelings of parenting. Maybe they could understand the process of preparing to become parents, but they never lived the motions of actually being parents themselves. So having them claim they had a similar feeling of love when they formed Earth and Luna, gives an impression of naivety. Certainly doesn't help when Earth tells them he'll do anything for his earthlings, but they're defiling him. He expresses that life is chaotic and hardly ever loving. Then when Proto and Theia explain what life wants, it comes across as flat advice and a bit patronizing. They unintentionally feel dismissive of what Earth’s been going through. I understand that Proto and Theia are supposed to be wise guardians from beyond the grave who specialize in life. However, Proto and Theia comparing the process of bringing life into existence to actually taking care of life, doesn't resonate. Honestly, if solarballs wanted Earth to have a shared parental experience, I think it would've been more effective to have that conversation with the Sun. As Proto and Theia weren't alive to raise anyone.

Earth doesn't want his earthlings to leave him but it's not just because he doesn't want them to abandon him. He wants them to explore the cosmos, but he doesn't want them to treat any planet like they've been treating him. A parent's job is to prepare their kids for when they'll leave. Earth loves his earthlings but knows the earthlings are not ready to leave yet. They create too much damage and are already on the verge of extinction. Sun doesn't want his planets to leave him but they manage to do so anyway. With all he's gone through he has grown a fear of abandonment. The Sun's reason for wanting life is to make the universe less dead. But the price for life happened to be the death of two planets. I think the Earth and Sun should have an actual conversation about each other's similar struggles and learn from their experiences.

Theia and Proto didn't even know what made them want to have life. Proto had told Theia he was afraid of having life and Theia understood that fear. They understood the responsibility in the precision of taking care of life. Even if they knew it would be complicated and end up pointless, they wanted to have life anyway. Those two researching data for their life project made me think that the collision was going to be something more calculated. Maybe they would gamble their lives for the chance of coming back in a way to finish their goal. A testament to using entropy to their advantage. But they died with a predestined vision that their goal would be passed down to their kids. Dying willing to bring life to the solar system. Did they even think about the repercussions of what they might be subjecting Luna and Earth to? Theia and Proto are freaking insane for doing that. "Wanting to create life is bigger than you and me" I felt so upset with that answer. Proto and Theia had a vision of creating the Earth and Moon. They never thought to question that drive for life and whatever made them see that prophetic dream. The worst part is, I think the narrative is trying to portray Earth’s parents as wise and uplifting, and not utterly insane.

"I don’t know if these are visions or memories" " It's kinda this whole love story of a Previous version of our planet named Proto Earth and a planet named Theia. But it ends in tragedy as they crash and die. Becoming one or something." I could throw rocks at this show. Why were they trying to be coy? The fandom was not a fun place when the leaks happened. Ya'Know Steven Universe also had the question of whether Steven was his mom or not. But the audience understood that Rose was Steven's mom and not his possible past life girlfriend.

"We'll play asteroid dodgeball again Mars. I promise." -Proto

Proto will in fact not play with Mars again. Earth will play with Mars. Proto Earth is dead. Makes me wonder if that line is trying to imply that children are their parents. I don't like that message because in the context of the series that could be literal.

I feel like the fandom's efforts were wasted on trying to figure out if Earth was Proto or Theia or whatever. Fighting over something that everybody should've been on the same page on. Now they're fans contemplating whether shipping Venus with Earth is okay. Venus in canon is another discussion.

Furthermore, why did the planets hide the identity of Proto and Theia from both Earth and Luna? I could kinda understand not telling Earth, but Luna? He should've known something. At least make him aware of Earth’s freak-outs about a certain trigger word.

Definitely could've said that Proto and Theia were Earth’s parents sooner. I appreciate Solarballs keeping the identity between Earth and Proto and Theia ambiguous in an attempt at a climactic reveal for viewers' engagement. But the story probably would've benefited more and avoided unnecessary confusion from the audience, had they just referred to Theia as "Earth’s mom" or something. If they try to pull Earth's trigger word is Theia so they couldn't say anything about who she was, I'd say blasphemy. Just call her "Earth’s mom", he doesn't freak out hearing mom. Then Earth could've wondered what her name is but knows he wouldn't get answers. Then when Planet X would call her name, and Earth hears it for the first time, it would make an engaging revelation why they never said her name. Didn't have to make it complicated. However, establishing any celestial body could have literal parents is already complicating a lot of things.

There is a reason why I felt conflicted by Earth and Luna being brothers. It's more than thinking that Proto and Theia were Earth and Luna's past lives. Or how the solar system's ranks create an unfavorable dynamic. The idea of Earth and Luna as literal brothers could suggest that all the rocky planets are either siblings or cousins themselves. They are born from the ruins of previous rocky planets. Then that thought always branched off to everyone in the solar system being from the Sun, so they're all related. That would make some of the more implied romantic feelings between characters in canon... strange. I thought they had a way to get around that problem. The residents of the solar system would start off as strangers or friends till they assigned themselves what their subjects were to one another. Like what the ice cousins did. They were strangers, to friends, and although a little reluctantly from Uranus' part, official cousins. I never saw that the planets as biological, meaning none of them could share blood. In the episode "What if planets collided?" Mars and Venus were disgusted and strongly expressed that a collision wasn't like making babies. So I came to the conclusion that planets can't have actual parents. As Mars and Venus implied collision doesn't make offspring. But that's apparently not exactly the case. The collision between Proto and Theia gave birth to Earth and Luna. Earth and Luna are made from remains. So I guess this means the repurposed parts of previous planets would make them parents to the new planets. Idk. Again to mention, this leaves a bit of an awkward indication of all the rocky planets' origins, and how they are from previous rocky planets. Maybe there it's different, or Proto and Theia don't count. It could be that the Earth and Moon are siblings because they came from the same collision.

Are we supposed to anticipate the possibility that celestial bodies could have a planet equivalent of blood relations? Jupiter did say they were all made from the stuff the Sun was born from, so that can mean they're all connected one way or another. Earth even associates the Sun as an insane Dad, and in a way, the Sun is the father to the entire solar system. To mention the planet X arc. X derisively tells Ganymede that if the moons win against him, they get to bring old fool Jupiter back to the solar system, and they could be a "happy family". The reason for needing to retrieve Jupiter is due to banishment, for accidentally killing the old rocky planets. Although the rocky planets saw him as an older brother or role model. Just like Neptune's moons see Triton as their brother. Does this mean the person responsible for the previous celestial's death is an automatic sibling of any new celestials that come from the aftermath? Probably not, but I won't completely discredit it. Because Jupiter and Triton did take care of them. Moreover, Triton being the big brother to Neptune's little moons gotta imply that Neptune is like a dad or bigger brother to his moons. Then there's Oberon who considers decussing their issues with Uranus because "that's what family is". I know that all of this could be how they just think of each other and a family can consist of a group of friends. However, with Earth and Luna confirmed siblinghood, the whole solar system could all literally be family.

Typically it shouldn't matter if characters are revealed as related, the writing is already alluding to the solar system as a family. But the probable issue is that some characters are romantically involved within the canon. I thought the show's safeguard was that nobody in the series could be literally related. They're minerals in space, none of them could be biological except Earth. But if that's not entirely true, they should all be related. However, I doubt that's the case. I know that Solarballs doesn't want to imply uncomfortable relationships are in their series. But, Solarballs looks like they're choosing pairings and expecting us not to question it. I believe that they don't want to appear biased but they are not making it look good for themselves.

For the sake the sanity of my sanity, I'm going to presume a collision is the only way a planet can be directly related to another celestial body.

By the way...

How does collision fundamentally work? They say the planets die then merge and new life will blossom from the ashes. Whatever comes from the collision, won't be the same individuals. I know with very high speculation that celestial bodies other than Proto and Theia (and I guess the early rocky planets), had been through a collision within solarballs. Such as Haumea. ( Would've said Pluto and Charon but I don't think that will ever be covered.) Moving on, Haumea is the biggest chunk of a collision or has been in a collision. It's theorized to be the reason why Haumea is rapidly spinning making it look like an egg. Haumea did not want to talk about why he has a wide body. Assuming based on that, he knows a collision made him look the way he does. So he must recall the event or have visions, similar to Earth, from the past. How alike is Huamea's situation to Earth and Luna's?

I would have mentioned Uranus, as it's believed an Earth-sized planet hit the ice giant 3-4 billion years ago. Knocking the planet on its side and creating a huge ring of debris. Uranus seems to be the same character from then and now, just with a ring. I don't think that an Uranus Impactor will be solarballs canon but if it were, the implication could be interesting. Like, hypothetically, how bad would a collision need to be for a planet to become an entirely new person? Only saying this if Uranus Impactor ends up in Solarballs canon.

Do Triton's and Jupiter's accidental celestial destruction count as collisions?

Unless we're not supposed to think too deeply about it. (I will never stop thinking about it though.)

In short, I'm messed up about this. But I think the main reason I'm so frustrated is that I spent months of my time with the deductions that they were not siblings. Or parents to each other, best friends, or whatever. I feel like I wasted my time analyzing and theorizing on this. I was also kinda hoping that Theia's origins would explain something about Luna and how the moons are treated in the solar system. But alas. I feel like I burned out of my mind on this silly, somewhat educational, inanimate object series.

I think that Earth and Luna being siblings could've been pulled off far better. The idea of them as siblings definitely could work but I didn't like how Solarballs tried to make it seem like Earth could be a new version of Proto. That is just a weird thing to have the audience question if they were planning to reveal Earth as Theia and Proto as their kid. It's a very distracting question, and that takes away the focus on Earth as a separate character from those two. Some clarity of their intended relationship would have definitely engrossed the fans to be more engaged with Earth looking for answers about Theia and life.

Genuinely, I feel glad that there are fans who are happy about this. But I can only look at solarballs and wonder what the heck it's even trying to do.

Maybe I'll adjust but this shows writing can be so awkward. Or I'm probably just bad at reading media. Possibly the ladder.

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