#(also yes i know it's not a one-to-one comparison)

[dnpbeats]

laylo, email domains, and danandphiltour.com

okay so i've been trying to think of why dan and phil would even use the tour email in the first place (assuming they knew we'd see it), regardless of if the project is a tour or not! so i've been looking into how laylo works and if dan and phil were the ones who picked the email domain, if they knew we'd see it, etc.—the answer is yes, they did. they had to manually enter the domain they wanted the emails to be sent from, as well as the email that replies are received at. all of my information comes from this page on laylo's website, including the video :)

disclaimer: i'm not an expert on this stuff! i'm just making educated guesses based on the information available to me. if somebody has firsthand experience with this and i'm dead wrong, please feel free to let me know. also i'm not trying to sway people one way or another if they're announcing a tour or not—just presenting info on how laylo works and a possible reason for why they started with certain emails and then switched to others

for the sake of clarity: original emails were sent from "news@mail.danandphiltour.com" and the reply email was "dh@danielhowell.com." after a bit (a couple of hours maybe) the emails were switched. currently they get sent from "news@laylo.danandphilshop.com" and the reply email is "danandphilshopweb@gmail.com"

okay, so, long story short: when dan and phil (or whoever they had doing this for them/helping them) set up their laylo account, the email page looked like this:

they would have been prompted to send emails from whatever domain they chose, meaning when they entered danandphiltour.com, they did it fully knowing that people would see the emails sent from it. if it is a tour that they don't want spoiled, or if it isn't a tour at all, why would they even pick this domain to send emails from?

my best guess is that it's because danandphilshop.com is hosted through shopify, and danandphiltour.com is just a webpage hosted by cloudflare (as far as i can tell the dnptour website itself is just an html/css page). if you watch the video from laylo, they talk about how certain domain providers have special tricks you have to do when editing the DNS settings. the example given in the video is squarespace, and they have a few more domain providers listed where issues can come up. while shopify isn't one of the ones listed, it's a similar type of host to squarespace. it's not hard to imagine that there are similar (but not identical) tricks to changing DNS settings for shopify. for comparison, squarespace's page on DNS settings is pretty similar to shopify's. in a world where it's difficult to get the custom domain working with shopify, it would make sense if they tried to use other domains they own that weren't hooked up to shopify—namely, danandphiltour.com

(note that the method for editing DNS settings on cloudflare seems to be pretty similar to the other two listed above. the reason why i'm guessing that clouldflare might be more straightforward than shopify is because shopify is a whole platform with a lot going on in the backend (similar to squarespace), whereas cloudflare is just hosting the domain. but again this is just me guessing!)

so yeah, that's my guess as to why they chose to use dnptour as the email knowing people would see it! as to why they changed it, who knows. maybe for whatever reason they wanted to use dnpshop and just couldn't get it working in time, maybe it was because people were getting the wrong idea with the tour email, maybe it was because people were getting the right idea with the tour email! but i think the reason they used it in the first place is probably just that they were having trouble with the dnpshop domain and were like fuck it let's try dnptour and that went more smoothly :)

as to why the reply to email was originally dan's email and then it switched to the random-ass dnpshop gmail—no guesses on that, if anyone has any thoughts lmk 😂

[loosethreadsofyoursoul]

ok this is a controversial opinion but like….. to me, henry spencer was actually not a shit father….. hear me out.

i understand that there’s a lot of subtleties that go into emotionally abusive parents, and i’m not trying to dismiss that, but honestly i just don’t see all the negativity that gets associated with him so often. also, between henry and madeleine, one parent actually seemed to be there when shawn was growing up, and it wasn’t his mother.

let’s look at shawn’s childhood. in all the flashbacks, henry was the one who volunteered at shawn’s school, who took him to movies and was around for all of his new hobbies and interests. he was the one making sure shawn did his homework and hung out with his friends and learned life lessons. granted, some of his teaching methods were not appropriate for a kid shawn’s age, so yes i can see where the criticisms come in and i agree with them. but he was so much more than his mistakes, he was the parent who cared.

when shawn grows up, yes there’s animosity between him and his father but to be quite honest, i’ve never met one person who doesn’t have unresolved daddy issues so that in itself doesn’t condemn henry in my mind. we see how much henry saved from shawn’s childhood and how much he remembers, and to me he actually does quite a bit to help shawn when he needs it. this is particularly telling in comparison to madeleine, who isn’t there to begin with and eventually we find out she really did leave her kid behind, and to me that does a lot more damage than any one thing henry did.

shawn and henry have issues, i won’t argue with that. but i really don’t think henry gets enough credit for the good he did and the way he tried when shawn got older. above all else, he was there and he was there for shawn, and that’s important. god knows it’s not everything, but it’s something.

[yuurei20]

Hello!! Just want to preface this by saying thank you so much for the work you do for the Fandom!! I hope you know that it's really really appreciated 💕💕 and you make interacting with the various content of the game (such as the novel) more accessible ❤️❤️.

I also have a question, I remember you mentioned somewhere (I think it was on one of Idia's facts list) that his third chat "Good with people" had been slightly changed on EN where instead of talking about how the King of the Underworld was good with talking to women it was changed to being more general. So do you know of any other chats where they changed it between servers?

Thank you!!

Hello hello!! You are too kind! 😭 Thank you so very much!

And thank you for this question! ^^

Yes yes! Idia's Chat about the king of the underworld having a way with ladies was changing to "Good with People" on EN, and there were a few more adjustments made to EN Chat dialogue:

Original Epel: I want to be really muscular and, if possible, have a deep, husky voice...

EN Epel: You know--just a towering pile of muscles?

Original Floyd: Why'd she turn human? Octopus-chan are cute just as they are~

EN Floyd: Why'd she want to become human? She's cute and strong as an octopus already.

The Japanese language often drops subjects from sentences (I/you/he/she/they) and, in Floyd's dialogue above, he technically does not specify who he is talking about.

As the Sea Witch had already been designated as the subject of the conversation EN is correct (though they did add "and strong"), but it's not impossible to also interpret it as Floyd saying that octopus are cute in general!

He also says "tako-chan," the same nickname he used for Azul when they were children 🐙

Original Vil: In that case, you need to work harder as vice housewarden.

EN Vil: Which means I have to work that much harder as vice housewarden.

This is another example of a sentence with no subject, but this one seems to have confused EN!

Since the English language generally requires that speakers specify I/you/he/she/they, Aniplex USA might be guessing at what pronouns the characters mean, to mixed results (re: Dialogue Comparison, EN vs JP: Subject Pronouns).

In this case they might not have had the visuals when they were translating and were not able to confirm who the speech bubble was pointing at, leading to Vil declaring that he is the vice housewarden of Pomefiore.

Original Floyd: Dun wanna.

EN Floyd: I sure WOULD mind, actually. I'm doin' stuff, Azul. Things.

This localization is not incorrect at all, but I enjoyed the difference between EN Floyd's grumbling and the simplicity of his ヤダ on JP ^^

ヤダ is an extremely casual and extremely flexible form of refusal, used for many things such as Floyd refusing to help Ruggie, Ace explaining that his ex-girlfriend would refuse to watch horror movies and Grim refusing to go along with people who are trying to take him places.

Original Silver: Malleus-sama

EN Silver: Housewarden

Neither Silver nor Sebek have ever referred to Malleus as "Housewarden" in the original game (Lilia has, just once!)

EN has taken the Japanese word 嫌われ者 from the original game and localized it both as "pariahs" and "outcasts."

While neither of these are incorrect, EN players do not know that Leona is also using the same word to describe himself!

It was removed from his overblot scene where he declares that he, too, is a 嫌われ者: a pariah/outcast/hated second prince.

And lastly, some America-style jokes added for Ortho and Deuce ^^

Original Ortho: Hehe, cool and stylish, right~ EN Ortho: Pretty cool, huh? Or, well, not "cool"--more like smokin'! Heh heh.

Original Ortho: And it seems his hair would turn red when he got angry. EN Ortho: And his hair turned red when he got mad! Talk about "hotheaded." Heh.

Original Deuce: I'm sure to win the next croquet tournament. EN Deuce: As long as I can flamin-go with the flow, I'll win the next game for sure!

[courtpheasent]

Raph has been voted #1 Chair three years in a row, and he’s not giving that up anytime soon.

[starflungwaddledee]

I'm just sayin', Starstruck and Kirby would be adorable. But also Starstruck and Meta-Knight might be the funniest thing you could possibly do. :)

hear me out: peter pan (2003) window scene

been staunchly avoiding typing too much on most of these but i have some thoughts about this one!

you know... i had actually never even considered kirby for the shipaganza. mostly because i think of him as holding such a strong and unique position in the hearts of everyone who knows him, in a way that is devout but also seems fairly romance-free. and i'm actually very interested in the complex relationships that he has with his friends! but i wonder if not considering him was maybe a disservice, because if anyone has an abundance of the capacity for love, it's him, right?

i think that kirby could eventually occupy a similar heart-space for starstruck as bandee, though it would take longer. i strongly suspect that bandee's love of kirby would rub off on her, if nothing else.

i'm not sure either of them... really understand the premise of romance or dating, so it might not be a typical sort of thing. but i think they could giggle and laugh together and shoot each other slightly smitten looks when the other one isn't paying attention, and be very invested in each others happiness.

he adds a pass by her window to his early morning flight, on the off chance she might be up to join him. she's always thinking of him when he's off saving the world, and distinguishes his star from all the others in the sky with ease. the irresistible allure of adventure vs someone who has never seen any of the wonders of your planet before. someone who finds as much unrestrained joy and delight in the mundane as you do. eating paper cups you find on the ground.

you know i could see it.

[mangosaurus]

wait a second. yasmina isolating herself on an island as a trauma response and sammy struggling to bridge the physical and emotional distance between them as a result? NOW WHERE HAVE I HEARD THIS SONG BEFORE ...

[valleyofdeaddandelions7]

[karamazovanon]

the brothers karamazov, fyodor dostoevsky (tr. mcduff) // strawberry blond, mitski

[daisychainsandbowties]

I got very strong night fury vibes from the cat🥰😩🥰🥰

me too! i think toothless is a slightly inauspicious name for a cat since she cannot retract hers at will, but she does hiccup after i give her milk… 🤔

so far we were thinking Frodo (on account of the literal sopping wet kitten vibes) or Apollo (because we watched a moon landing documentary tonight) or Artemis (because we watched a moon landing documentary tonight and this makes one think of the mars missions). i did my due diligence and suggested we call her Sushi but i was shot down fall of icarus style 😔

[mechanichuntsman]

some small comparison

(they're not all accurate and some may be missing some stuff because I have enough/am too tired + this old and I just finished it recently)

bedroom

living room

kitchen

[buttercup-barf]

Under the cut are mostly self-insert doodles of decreasing quality. Again, not much directly tied to Team Fortress 2. Might as well toss these out while I have no access to my puter. Much yapping under the cut and in the tags incoming.

Another self-insert, this time less of a "here's me as a tenth class" and more of a "here's my game experiences translated into the class I would take the place of". The Cleaner. Although I guess they could still be wearing either suit. It doesn't matter that much.

That one Convict's Case taunt with Backup would be extremely funny, because the man would be on the verge of a breakdown (he does not want to go to jail so bad you have no idea). The second image- I owe no explanation. You know what I am. You see the pattern with my favourites.

The duality of the man. Resting face versus "just heard you express interest in religion/Russian folklore" face. He's not that hard to make friends with, when you pull him away from all the explosions.

Some doodles of trying to figure his face out. Unfortunately, the more I stare at him, the more I worry that he looks like A Certain Guy With The Last Name "Kazarin", and the fear of never being original in my life caught up to me.

Don't look at me, don't perceive me, I refuse to explain any of my actions to you.

[mothmanwarble]

Thinking about how the Skylanders novels take place prior to the events of the games and feature Flynn in several storylines, meaning that he’s known about Kaos for quite some time.

Thinking about how according to chapter 18 of Meditations on Boom, Flynn allegedly had been Kaos’ nemesis prior to the Skylanders’ return.

Thinking about how Kaos often refers to people with childishly disrespectful nicknames (“Poser Master,” “Dragonfly,” “Skyloser”) but one of the few people he somewhat consistently refers to by name, even when speaking to them directly, is Flynn.

Thinking about how “BOOM” is Flynn’s catchphrase, and Kaos uses “DOOM” repeatedly, and how in the Mirror of Mystery adventure pack, Evil Flynn uses “DOOM” instead.

Thinking about how Flynn—albeit reluctantly—congratulates Kaos on the sudden re-opening of the Wilikin Workshop.

Thinking about how Kaos explains the history behind the Wilikin Workshop to Flynn. Kaos’ love for the Wilikin is something deeply personal to him, and something he has supposedly never told anyone outside of his family about, and yet he’s so quick to tell Flynn about it.

Thinking about how in Trap Team, if you talk to Kaos in the Academy, one of the things he’ll mention is Flynn introducing him to enchiladas. It’s one of the few bits of hub world dialogue in which Kaos sounds genuinely happy.

Thinking about how Flynn gets genuinely upset over Kaos’ betrayal in Trap Team—especially after he had shared his food with him.

Thinking about the scene in Swap Force where Kaos’ Mom threatens Woodburrow and openly mocks her own son in front of an entire crowd of people, and how Flynn leans over to Kaos to say “Wow, your mom’s kinda harsh, huh?” to which Kaos responds with a simple “Ya think?”

Thinking about how Flynn proudly calls Kaos “buddy” in SuperChargers, and hugs him so tightly that he gets swept off his feet.

Just. Can’t stop thinking about how these two might’ve had some sort of history together that stretches further back than we ever thought.

[captainshadowshifter]

ALRIGHT hear me out-

Goblin king:

Also goblin king:

Human BK would just look like David Bowie and nobody will fight me on this because yes.

[corvidcrybaby]

Following up about that one anon’s mention of the theory that Dracula in the Hellsing universe may be more fiction than fact, what do you think actually happened in the events that the book took place? Do you think some parts of the story were true or made up, if so, what parts?

I think that Bram Stoker's novelization of the events in the Hellsing universe followed the same trend as most apocryphal interpretations of historical events - the barebones blueprint of the events are generally the same, but with some marked embellishments.

For one, this gives me a chance to talk about something I haven't seen anyone talk about regarding Alucard, and that's his outfit. We know he wears the coat that Abraham Van Helsing wore when he defeated Dracula back in the day - whether a sign of respect or a mark of his defeat, it's hard to say, but ultimately irrelevant. Mainly because it doesn't explain one thing: why does Alucard wear the hat?

When we see Abraham in the flashbacks, he doesn't wear a hat.

So where does it come from?

I think the answer is this: it's from Quincy Morris. Observe the following photos.

Now, as we can see here, there are a couple of members of the original team of hunters that bested Dracula back in the day who wear hats. One, we know for sure is Quincey. The other seems to be Jonathan Harker, although it can be hard to tell because we see multiple different styles of hats in the photos.

However, I think it's very telling that the bottom panel features a hat design on a dead Quincey that is very, very similar to Alucard's hat. It's not quite a cowboy hat, but it's damn close in design. And combined with the fact we know Alucard has a real hard-on for humans that are capable of killing him, plus the fact Quincey Morris is the guy who ACTUALLY gets the killing blow on Dracula in the novel, it leads me to wonder if the credit to Abraham van Helsing isn't skewed in some way - especially since we only see these events though Alucard's traumatized recollections of his defeat. Given that he's been a slave of the Hellsing family for over a century now, it perhaps adds up that this would be where much of his ire is directed. Hard to hate a man who's already dead, but perhaps that's why Alucard donned the hat, to intentionally thumb his nose at the Hellsings to remind them who REALLY got them their victory. It seems like a taunt he might indulge in.

Beyond this, at a push, I can't help but note that Alucard’s glasses resemble motorcycle goggles at a push, particularly with their yellow-orange tint. With this connection in mind, I'm reminded of the aesthetic continuity between the cowboy aesthetic and the modern biker aesthetic. Hell, motorcycles are even sometimes referred to as "iron horses." I can't help but wonder if Hirano is giving a wink to that here.

All told, I think that the events of the novel in the Hellsing-verse are generally accurate - I do think Dracula did a lot of what he was said to do, but I do think certain things, ESPECIALLY his appearance (hiya, gratuitous antisemitic caricature) were inventions of Stoker and his own biases and proclivities. Stoker was a WEIRD guy to boot. This, and one can quibble with the events of the novel and compare them with Alucard’s modern personality, which gets into questions of just how monstrous one thinks he is. The biggest offender to me is the scene where he feeds a live baby to his wives - would Alucard truly do something so comically vile? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Perhaps Dracula would, but Alucard wouldn't, and it's a new personality type of dealio.

This is by no means exhaustive, and one could easily write a whole scholarly essay on this (something I actually did do for a short essay assignment back when I was in higher education) but these are just some of my thoughts. Thank you for the ask!

[neversetyoufree]

When does the choice of weapon become an expression of love?

[mobius-m-mobius]

I know I am wildly late to this observation, but I just rewatched Thor for the first time in a very long while, and. I'd genuinely forgotten that at the start Thor is headed down a path at least as dark as Loki's? I mean Loki is making very extremely bad choices, but Thor isn't exactly less horrifying with his whole jumping straight to the 'lets "break the spirit" of an entire realm by murdering as many of them as it takes' shtick. And it's just so clearly laid out that the divergent paths they are on by the end of the first film isn't illustrative of some inherent difference in their natures or predetermined by choices they'd made before the film started. The difference is that Thor gets the opportunity to love and be loved by people outside the skewed and insulated world he grew up in, to be loved without strings attached, and discovers that the friends he had all along loved him more unconditionally, aside from his power and conquests, than he'd realized. While Loki learns that their father attaches all sorts of strings to his love, and 'learns' (somewhat truthfully with regard to Odin I think, though not with Thor or Frigga), that the love he had from them was always conditional, mitigated, based on lies and offered to a version of himself that never existed.

And I just—my point isn't 'you can't blame him for his war crimes 'cause he was sad', just that. Man it really was about love from the very beginning!!!

(P.S. I sent you an inordinately long series of messages about s1 Loki a couple weeks back, and your response was delightful, and added excellent points—just wanted to say that you; that was lovely of you, and I really appreciate how kind you always are on this blog!!)

Hey there anon, lovely to hear from you again! Thank you so much for your own kind words and taking the time to send another message! Your previous ones were a wonderful read as is this and as far as I'm concerned there's no such thing as being late to anything that isn't already scheduled, especially regarding media or fandom when there's a chance to discover someone/something new around every corner 💖💖

(Case in point how unexpected getting this captivated by a Marvel series was for me, which I only bring up because, well... quick disclaimer, I have an understanding of everything that happened in phase 1 but haven't exactly seen any of the Thor movies or until a few weeks into the airing of Loki had any real exposure to anything Marvel/Loki related between the original Avengers movie and then, which ironically I love because the moment S1 kicks off Loki's journey is where my perspective starts as well!)

As Loki mentioned many times previously, Thor truly wasn't ready to rule back then (not that Loki was either, lol) and you're not only exactly right about them both going down dark paths but I see Thor's view as worse considering he grew up surrounded by a level of confidence in companionship Loki never knew. The attack on Jotunheim pretty much says it all when Thor didn't hesitate to use hurt pride as an excuse to kill as many Frost Giants as possible, then after getting an entire war kicked off all Thor's friends were actually angrier with Loki for letting news of their visit get back to Odin despite the fact that they would've all been killed otherwise 🙃

Odin not being the best father to either of them is an understatement but there are unspoken conditions to his interactions with and love for Loki specifically due to his birth that (by nature of what an imposing figure Odin is) would almost subliminally impact everyone within range so I can't even imagine growing up in the midst of that and having no idea of the real cause, though I don't doubt Frigga's love for him or that the Thor of now wants them to be equals. It really does all come back to love from beginning to end, and makes it all the more important that Loki finally found that love and acceptance beyond his wildest dreams in Mobius so here we are now just waiting for them to find their way back to each other :')