#(i assume it's the headcanon symbol ask game)

[afterthegreatunknown]

Hello! 👋 What do u hc the clothing styles of the unfortunate gen kids as?/what sort of clothes do u think r their favourites? 🧥👔🧣

Unfortunate Gen Clothing's Styles/What Clothes They Wear Headcanons:

Violet: If she's not wearing her iconic dress (which either came from the 1950s or 1960s no one really knows) or her skirt (goes down to her knees, worn with white tights), she will be wearing purple in some way in her clothes (socks, shirt, jacket, etc). Violet also prefers to wear jeans and other durable material trousers with her blouses and shirts. The dress and skirt are the two exceptions.

Klaus: 100% dresses semi-formally. He likes bowties and regular ties, button vests (not sweater vest, thank you very much), chinos and dress pants and pleated pants, button-down shirts, and blazers. That's not to say Klaus doesn't have casual wear; he has a few windbreakers and jeans and regular short-sleeves shirt. He just won't be seen wearing those a lot in comparison.

Sunny: Haven't thought much on Sunny (given she is a baby throughout ASOUE), but I like to think as she grows up, she mainly wears casual clothes. Things like cargo pants, jeans, and shirts with graphics on them. Things that are loose on the body, but not too loose. Oh, that, and hair scrunches (yellow).

Duncan: Enjoys wearing wool/knit sweaters, as well as cardigans and sweater-vests (match with long button-downs) in cool weather a la early spring and fall. For warm spring and early summer weather, he wears striped short sleeves shirt or short button-down shirts, sometimes with a hoodie jacket with a zipper if it's on the colder side. For winter, he'll wear a strong windbreaker hoodie over whatever he's wearing. Regarding trousers, Duncan likes jeans, khakis, corduroys, and sweatpants (that last one is for home though).

Isadora: While she has wool/knit sweaters, she only wears them if it's a very cool/cold day that will remain cool/cold throughout. She mainly wears blouses with the puffy short sleeves, and sweatshirts with graphics on them. She's also the sort to wear double shirts; long-sleeve underneath and short-sleeve on top. On occasion, she will wear dress and skirts; Isadora prefers black dresses and skirts of any style and lengths. Most of the time, she wears Capri pants because she likes showing off her socks.

Quigley: Unlike his siblings, he wears rollnecks/turtlenecks. And unlike his siblings, he tends to cover up. He mainly wears long button-down shirts and sweatshirts, and if he has to wear a short-sleeve shirt, he'll wear a jacket over them. Trousers-wise, he wears sweatpants, jeans, drawstrings, and parachutes. When Quigley wears either his dress or skirt (the dress has long sleeves), he has to wear leggings with them. The only time he'll show his legs and arms is when at the beach because that would make him stand out a lot.

Carmelita. Mainly wears clothes of the color pink, white, and red especially pre-canon and in canon events. Her style here is poofy; she has to wear a poofy dress with ribbons or skirt, like a ballerina skirt (not tutu) or poodle skirt. She never wore pants until TPP. And in post-canon, Carmelita starts to wear more Capris and Pedal pushers (similar to Capris; they go higher up the lower calf), as well as wearing different colors (she got to change it up).

Fiona: Nautical Style Clothes(TM) is her main style. Anything that looks like it's something a sailor or navy person would wear or has a strong sailor/navy vibe to it (think sailor dresses, or the sailor blouse, or the most mainstream of them all, bell-bottoms), she has to get. Having live in a submarine all her life, Fiona finds herself wanting something that reminded her of her former home of the Queequeg. That said, she does has some non-Nautical clothes; overalls, jumper dresses, and rompers.

Friday: Having to wear only white on the Island, living on the mainland and seeing her options has Friday going over the moon with possibilities and combinations. Her main style in the first year in the Land of Districts is a colorful overalls (red, orange, or purple) or colorful denims (red, pink, sky blue), with a sweater (pastel colors usually) or sweatshirt with either her bright yellow or green sneakers.

Beatrice Baudelaire II: I also haven't given lot of thought for Bea II. I do like her wardrobe in Netflix ASOUE.The beret is something I really dig. I like to think she has more in different colors, like grey and white.

I hope you enjoy my surprisingly long answer, dear anon!

[theminecraftbee]

today i am thinking about the entire mayor of hypixel skyblock incident with technoblade because i still like to imagine, since it happened during one of the big dsmp story gaps, that he was like "oh i'm going to head off for a bit phil don't worry about it" and phil's like "bye mate" and ranboo is like "i wonder what he's doing. probably intense training or something. he's so cool."

meanwhile techno is yelling at an entirely unruly crowd about anarchy and being made mayor while beating up like, it was a weird giant slime if i remember right? and he has a whole "bond of rivals" moment with squidkid, like, they have this whole "there's no one i could trust to have my back more... than you... my most favored enemy" thing going on in that video it's SO funny.

all of this with the world's most absurd numbers outputs because hypixel skyblock is an endgame mmo. just COMICAL levels of firepower. like, everyone is an end-of-series shonen character. this place is like the naruto world was after it had jumped the shark a bit and there was a moon goddess attacking. about like that.

and then he's like. my work here is done. thanks for electing me mayor. i don't see this is contradictory to my anarchy at all btw it's like, a symbolic thing, on account of me beating up the old dictator mayor. and just dips again, presumably to be forever seen as a weird potato-themed legend around those parts.

i like to imagine he gets home and phil is like "hi mate" and techno's like "sorry i had things to handle at home" and ranboo is imagining like, WILD battles and what technoblade's home must even be like. and whatever he's imagining doesn't really compare to "technoblade's home is an end-game mmo no wonder he constantly assumes he's weak here he can only do earlygame levels of damage, forever".

and technoblade, being technoblade, says nothing about being mayor of hypixel now, until like, after the finale or something when squidkid just sort of swings by to ask how they're all doing after that nuke thing, huh. and everyone loses their shit.

and this is one of my favorite stupid technoblade headcanons thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[runerapier]

If you don't mind me asking, what makes you interpret Angeal as anything other than a straight man? He's the least gay character I've ever seen and he doesn't act gay either.

I'm going to assume this isn't sent in bad faith but this is pretty on point with the definition of stereotyping. I mean if you’re defining being gay by how someone looks or acts that is your first problem. Angeal has very outwardly masculine actions and appearance, I’m not really a fan of the insinuation that masculine men don’t “look” gay enough. Angeal isn’t even a hyper masculine or toxic masculine character, he is almost always described in a way that is seen as nurturing or caring. His own fan club compared his hobby of cooking to that of a wife. Things like gardening are often seen as more a “feminine hobby.” This isn’t to say Angeal breaks insane boundaries but Angeal isn’t this rigid masculine character in the first place. Besides my personal headcanons, Angeal and Genesis' stories take quite a bit from The Fall of Mankind (and religious and mythological symbolism in general but I'm going to try to stay on track). They purposely made two male characters represent Adam and Eve, and this isn't the first time they have done something like this in a final fantasy game. For example: while they are more developed than Genesis and Angeal, characters like Fang and Vanille are based on the Nordic myth of Ragnarok. There is a lot of information that couldn't be included in the final game of Crisis Core but is still intended canon, I'm going to be using a lot of that as a reference point. The full explanation is pretty extensive and I'm also not an expert on The Book of Genesis. I tried my best to do research for this, but it is possible I am still missing things and that this can still be expanded upon.

I'm going to start off by giving a deeper explanation on how Angeal represents Adam and how Genesis represents Eve. Genesis already has a very strong connection to The Book of Genesis because of his name. Rhapsodos comes from rhapsody, his full name is literally "genesis reciter". Genesis and Angeal were the first two attempts at an artificial “cetra” created by Shina representative of Adam and Eve being the first humans created by god. (While there is some debate if the first woman is Lilith, she is often been seen as a demoness.) The kanji for Shinra already is a direct reference to god, and is symbolism for how they like to play god themselves. The image below has a great explanation that is much better than what I can do, but to keep it short 神 (shin) literally means god or divine and 羅 (ra) is derived from 網羅 (mōra) which means "encompassing".

The fruit of knowledge is typically portrayed as an apple, which connects with banora whites. It represents temptation, Genesis offers the apple to others when talking about truth and revelation. Instances like in Nibelheim, Genesis offers the fruit to Sephiroth after telling him the truth of his origins. Sephiroth rejecting the fruit is a sign of him rejecting the truth, and we see he continues to go along with a story he is happier with. Sephiroth decides to believe misinformation that is less painful, the rejection of knowledge is indication he is not Adam or Eve.

Banora is heavily connected to the flow of the lifestream, which is what makes Banora whites grow any time of year. The lifestream is said to contain knowledge of the planet and its people, that being what powers the fruit further reinforces the idea that they represent the fruit of knowledge. Banora being the source for what is essentially miracle fruits powered by the planet, it is clear Banora is meant to be Eden.

Minerva is said to be sleeping in the caves of Banora, she represents the will of the lifestream. Though Minerva is connected more to Roman Myth and Sophia from Gnostic belief, I would still say she emphasizes the holiness of Banora's land.

Angeal has a story about not stealing to reflect Adam trusting god and not taking from the garden. God's words to Adam were "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die." (Genesis 2:17) Angeal stole from other trees besides the big one that had the most delicious fruit. While it can be argued Angeal didn't steal from Genesis in general, Angeal's story focuses solely on the biggest tree with the most tempting fruit, that tree represents the tree of good and evil. At the end of the game, Zack eats an apple under this same tree with Genesis, protagonist and antagonist sharing from the same tree. Shortly after eating the apple Zack learns the truth about how long it's been and leaves to meet his fate.

Hollander approached Genesis with the truth of his origins, convincing Genesis to help him with his plans in exchange for a cure that Hollander never had. Eve was afraid of eating the fruit and dying because of what God told her, but the serpent convinced her she would live. “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5). Both being deceived, they were convinced that they would live if they defied God, and become the catalysts for knowing the truth. Eve did not want to be alone in her defiance so she looked to Adam, much like how Genesis approaches Angeal to persuade him to take revenge against Shinra.

Besides Eve being referred to as Adam's wife, Adam also placed his trust in Eve above god. He decides to listen to her and trust her despite his creator telling him he will die. Angeal places his trust in Genesis above Shinra when he decides to defect, believing he can rationalize with him despite this being high treason.

This has happened before already, Angeal placed his trust in Genesis above Gillian and defies his mother to join Shinra. Gillian didn't want her family to be connected to Shinra and despite how highly Angeal respects his mother he still defied her wishes for the sake of following a dream with Genesis.

This leads into the next part, less about how they parallel The Book of Genesis and more about how they parallel other characters in the narrative. This makes me a little nervous to talk about so I’m going to put a small disclaimer that I am not arguing for any canonicity of ships because I think it is a waste of time. However, I think discussing characters' feelings that push their motivations is important.

In the narrative, Angeal also greatly parallels Cloud, I feel like this isn’t something that is talked about enough in general. They share a great deal of small parallels like both enjoying landscape photography, being associated with wolves, and elementally representing lightning. Besides surface level things, both Angeal and Cloud have a guilt complex and feel responsible for the people around them. The main parallel that’s important to this conversation is their childhood friend from the same countryside town.

Cloud was inspired by Sephiroth and his desire to protect people he loved like his childhood friend, Tifa, to join soldier. This is similar to Angeal joining to be with Genesis; their childhood friends are motivators for both of them.

This is something that’s pointed out in DFFOO as well, Angeal hears about Tifa and immediately draws the connection.

Both Cloud and Angeal feel responsible for protecting and looking after their loved ones, Angeal is seen as a caretaker type for this reason. Both Cloud and Angeal want to help fulfill the dream of their childhood friend, Tifa's was being saved by a hero and Genesis' being to share an apple with his hero Sephiroth. We see this when Cloud berates himself for not being the hero Tifa wanted and Genesis telling "Angeal" the dream has been fulfilled implying it has been something he knew about and wanted to help him achieve. Angeal's will in Lazard only fades away after Genesis said the dream came true, like there was a sense of fulfillment and that he could finally pass on after holding on for so long.

I find it interesting they intentionally draw parallels between Genesis & Angeal and Cloud & Tifa, people who have more explicit romantic feelings. I think Angeal and Genesis are supposed to represent a more “genuine” version of Cloud and Tifa’s relationship. Angeal represents the story cloud wanted to have throughout ffvii, having a childhood friend who never grew apart, who stayed together, and who followed a dream together. Angeal genuinely made soldier, and for a time he felt like he was in control of protecting others unlike Cloud. This contrast stays until the end, Cloud and Tifa learn to repair their relationship while Angeal and Genesis fall apart. Despite having everything Cloud wanted, it was not enough to sustain. This contrast is important in emphasizing that it is not about your background or your past, it is about what you do now and having people to fall back on. None of this is meant to be used as proof Genesis and Angeal are canon, but rather talk about Angeal's strong devotion and feelings for him since he was at least a teenager. They do not perfectly replicate the fall of mankind but it is interesting nonetheless. Here's to hoping we get to see more of how they interact in ever crisis.

[phoukanamedpookie]

Unpopular opinion: Fandom overestimates how much Zuko resents Azula.

Zuko himself said that Azula's not the one he's angry at in "The Beach." I know that's not a lot to go on, but this was a deliberate choice on the writers' and showrunners' part. I'm ignoring the comics because they do every character dirty and betray the major themes and messages of the show.

Contrary to something I'm seeing more often in headcanons and media analysis, the purpose of art (as opposed to propaganda or commerce) is not to deceive its audience. So, when a character in a moment of vulnerability reveals their innermost thoughts and feelings, it's best to assume they're telling the truth.

What does Zuko say that night by the bonfire? Azula asks him, "Who are you angry at? Is it me?"

And Zuko says, "No."

Canon!Zuko is many things, but he's not: a) a good liar, b) shy about expressing his anger, or c) afraid of Azula, even when he should be.

Fandom often ignores "The Beach" when analyzing these two, but it's the most revealing episode about what they're really like without external forces pushing them to be at odds. What's that like? Remarkably normal. The distrust and resentment one would expect from them are simply not there.

In fact, the kuai ball game proves that they work extremely well together when they're on the same side, just as they did when they fought together in the Crystal Catacombs. They're very much in sync. It's impressive when you think about it.

The tragedy of the final Agni Kai is that they don't hate each other, and they didn't really have a choice to become enemies. They were forced into deadly conflict by things outside of their control. One could argue that the music of the Last Agni Kai symbolizes Zuko's growing awareness, perhaps subconscious, that him fighting his own sister (whom he can tell is struggling) for the throne is neither noble nor honorable but deeply tragic.

With all that in mind, I'm not sure that I'm completely on board with the idea that there's so much bad blood between the two of them that it's a Herculean task to overcome it. Honestly, without the grown-ups playing them against each other, I believe they'd find it surprisingly easy to get to a healthy place together. Knowing the two of them, they'd likely find a sort of macabre humor in it.

"How are you two getting along so well?"

"We are brother and sister."

"But... she tried to kill you. Multiple times."

"Duh! We're Fire Nation royalty. It's family tradition."

"Yeah, if you don't try to kill your sibling at least once, are you really family?"

[thewertsearch]

Second part of the giga-ask compilation!

@publicuniversalworstie asked: Why assume the Horrorterrors would know that changing events would create a doomed timeline? That assumes both A) that the horrorterrors know the future and B) that they don't think it can really be changed. Maybe they genuinely thought they could change things, such as by perhaps fulfilling all the requisite loops a different way? Imagine a scenario where a time traveler learns of their death, therefore being destined to die, and instead fake their death to create the conditions under which they learned of the death originally.

It's possible. But if the Horrorterrors do have a way to trick the Alpha Timeline like that, then they've really been holding out on us by not mentioning it to the Players. Such a revelation would completely change the game - we might even be able to fake the Earth's death.

Anonymous asked: i want to learn more about coding to analyze homestuck better - do you have a place i could start? resources? idk love the liveblog hope you're doin well :]

Absolutely! I've got two separate answers for you, depending on what your goal is here.

If your main goal is just to analyse Homestuck, then you’re probably best off picking a language whose syntax is easy to understand, such as Python. You'll pick up on the basic logic pretty quickly, and the ~ATH snippets will start to make a lot more sense.

If you’re actually interested in programming for its own sake, then I recommend you start with my own first language, C. It’s a lot harder for a newbie to get to grips with, but doing so will give you a much more solid theoretical foundation then ostensibly ‘easier’ languages.

W3schools is a decent starting resource for both languages - but if you need more specific guidance, let me know, and I'd be happy to help!

@skelekingfeddy asked: actually grubmom having the same color wires as in that pic of sahlee wasnt intentional! i based it on how sollux’s game grubs have red and blue wires attached to them

Serendipity!

Anonymous asked: Did you run any mysterious ~ath programs on that computer of yours?

Honestly, running ATH on that thing would probably have improved it.

Anonymous asked: One voice headcanon I have for Terezi is the English dub of Power from Chainsaw man

Honestly, she sounds pretty much exactly how I imagine Terezi does. She even has the horns!

@martinkhall asked: I'm surprised none of the suggested instruments for a time player were an ocarina.

Some fruit is just too low-hanging.

@delicate-ruins asked: what's an animal you like that you think doesn't show up very much in media, be it fiction or news or just generally? example: i like secretary birds. but except for videos about them, i have never heard them references.

They're not obscure, per se, but there will never be enough sloths in media. The only fictional sloth of note is Sid from Ice Age – and he does not do them justice.

Capybaras are also underrated as hell – so much so that LibreOffice, which I'm using to edit this compilation, doesn’t even recognize the word as real!

Anonymous asked: “I’m trying to figure out if it’s fully a Breath outfit, or if there’s some Heir stuff too.” the general rule for god tier outfits is that the colors and symbol represent the aspect, the clothes represent the class. so, for example, if two princes of different aspects ascended, their clothing style would be the same but they would a have different color scheme. @skaiandestiny asked: If you haven't already figured it out, class informs the godtier outfit and aspect informs the colors and icon!

In that case, there is something about John’s outfit that says ‘heir’ – but nothing really stands out to me.

@driventopoison asked: Hey, I don't know if it's just me but it seems like you've skipped ahead. I have been following your liveblog daily, but I haven't seen you come across the windy thing yet. Is this because you were using the app or something? Also just want to let you know that I love your liveblog. Keep up the good work!

Thank you! Anyway, John’s Windy Thing is indeed documented on the liveblog, and it’s visible to me. I was using the app for some of that segment, though – are app-made posts particularly buggy?

@classpecting-guide-official asked: story about a modded game of sburb where the characters notice that something isn't right and slowly realize that their world is a lie

Back in Act 1, this is pretty much what I thought was happening. It was a simpler time.

@ignis-cain asked: Note the colors the capslock flashes for WV.

When WV locks his capsule, the button’s light flashes red and green – but I’m not sure what the significance of these colors is, in this situation.

Anonymous asked: i know i'm SUPER late to answer this, but i think the instantiation thing is the same as any video game, newly made with a prebaked history. when you name your character, that has been their name for their whole life, even though you thought it up a few seconds ago. when you enter the medium, the planet has a history and the denizens have memories, even though they just showed up when you entered.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is indeed what’s going on. The implications are just a lot more wild when the game is physically real, rather than virtual!

@kintatsu asked: So, I know I'm a little late to the party, but I have to point out: Alternian sunlight doesn't need to be THAT much stronger than Earth's to blind Terezi as quickly as it did. Trolls are nocturnal, which means they almost definitely have a tapetum lucidum (eyeshine membrane), which means that however much light entered Terezi's eyeballs? Her retinas were blasted by every photon twice.

Damn, Vriska. For a second, I thought this ask was explaining why Terezi wasn't in as much pain as I'd thought - but this alternate explanation might actually be worse than what I was picturing!

@delicate-ruins asked: It's delightful to see somebody read Homestuck and be as charmed by it as I and a lot of my friends were way back when we first read it, and the calm, digesting pace at which you're enjoying it is honestly so nice. I rushed way too much to catch up since my friends recommended it in about 2016, which means I went from knowing nothing about the comic to being caught up on it in like a week. I never sat down with the ideas and thought "hey, does this mean XYZ?" because quite often I got the answer five seconds later as I rushed to catch up. But seeing you asking those questions is so so fun. Yeah, DOES it mean that?? Guess we'll find out! In the meantime, we get to guess, which means we basically get to have fun twice. It's reigniting my enjoyment of homestuck quite significantly, I think!

Thank you! It’s really nice to be able to engage in a dialogue about the comic through these asks, which is something that wouldn't be possible if I was speeding through it. As I always say, I'm here for a good time and a long time.

@manorinthewoods asked: Alright, here's another transtimeline fun fact. Each of the kids was supposed to have a Quest related to their associated material - John had a land covered in oil, Rose's ocean was polluted with chalk, the gears of LOHAC were gummed by amber, and LOFAF was in a nuclear winter. Ultimately, while the ocean of LOLAR is still chalky, nothing but John's oil made the cut. ~LOSS (16/5/23)

I think it was a good change, then. Not everything has to be a pattern, and Dave's two weird maybe-quests are a lot more unique and interesting than a generic 'materials quest'.

@captorations asked: oh hey, this walkaround! so funny story, i used to run a blog where i posted one of terezi’s canon appearances each day, in order. yes, i completed my task, and more besides. however! when i was wandering through this as terezi, a glitch rendered me trapped. i decided that this counted as a noteworthy appearance, and took a screenshot. then, by sheer coincidence, it ended up being posted on… halloween. it was pretty great (also don’t forget to check out ctrl + t)

You accessed the double-secret version of Past Karkat: Wake Up, which plays the Earthbound Halloween Hack version of Megalovania rather than the Homestuck one.

Anonymous asked: Personally, I think John gaining so many levels so quickly is tied to his role as the heir - he gains so many levels without really trying, not because he's better than the trolls or his friends, but because he just kind of falls into it. The game rewards him for taking the path of least resistance.

That certainly makes sense if we just look at John - but I have trouble reconciling this interpretation with our other Heir. Equius certainly has some advantages, but they aren't exactly unique to him, as you'd expect them to be if his Heir class was responsible for them.

Yes, he's a highblood, but he's outranked by three non-Heirs - and his strength doesn't seem to be unique either, as Feferi seems capable of similar feats. Perhaps Equius will trip and fall into more unique privilege, but it hasn't happened yet.

Anonymous asked: my personal headcanons for midnight crew claspects: Slick - Prince of Blood, Droog - Mage of Space, Boxcars - Knight of Heart, Deuce - Bard of Doom. knowing you youre probably gonna attempt to analyse these LOL

Slick has had ties to Blood since he first met Karkat, so that tracks - and Boxcars is a shipper, so Nepeta's aspect is probably the best fit for now. I'm not sure about the other two, but I'll revisit them later!

[sephirthoughts]

1, 2, 13 and 49 for Genesis, please! 💜

Oooooh Genesis! Yayy I love him! Thank you for the ask!!

1. Canon I outright reject

That his actions in Crisis Core were insane, evil, or in any way made him a villain. Genesis may have been envious of Sephiroth, to a point, but he had hero-worshipped him since childhood. Some people seem to forget that context when they talk about the interactions between the three Firsts in Crisis Core (also the terrible English localization destroyed the plot of that game).

Genesis was a huge Sephiroth fangirl, as a kid. He wanted to be a hero too. He was told he would be. He spent his life up to that point training and working his ass off for Shinra, only to find out in the worst way possible that A: his entire existence was an intricately constructed web of lies, and B: he was going to die before he even got to start living. And it was all because of something the people he'd trusted and dedicated his life to did to him.

Of course he freaked out and ran away and started attacking Shinra, he was in a panic and doing everything he could to find a way to survive. Zack is the protagonist of Crisis Core, so Genesis is the antagonist, but Zack is working for the evil moustache-twirling villains, who are the real cause of all the conflict. Genesis never wanted world domination, he just wanted a fair goddamn chance.

2. A canon or headcanon hill I will die on

transmasc Genesis i will die on this hill come at me cowards

13. Dumbest thing they’ve ever done

Sephiroth

Ok real answer: The dumbest thing he ever did was that shitty way he approached Sephiroth in the reactor, when he wanted his cells. However, I don't see it as the nasty, bitter verbal attack people seem to translate it as. That would make ZERO sense in the context of their friendship and even just the rest of the conversation.

I actually get the strong impression that Genesis was trying to do a "shock him with the cold hard truth and he'll see the light" thing. Also I think he truly thought that if Sephiroth understood that Shinra did the same things to him, he'd rebel against them too, and come to his side. He wasn't saying "you're a monster" he was saying "you're a monster just like me."

Tragically, he didn't bet on how mentally and emotionally fragile the "big strong hero" Sephiroth really was, or how deeply it would shatter him to be told he wasn't human. Sephiroth's mind rejected it so hard he had a psychotic break, after all. Of course he reacted badly to the way Genesis approached him.

But I don't think what Genesis said was meant to be as horrible as it sounded. His delivery was flippant and bitter because he was fucking pissed off at the world, not because he was really trying to hurt Sephiroth. It was a case of two well-meaning people crashing headfirst into each other's deepest wounds and disaster ensuing. A perfect tragedy.

49. Favorite toy as a child

Genesis was given pretty much whatever he wanted, as a child, and subsequently, didn't place much value at all on things. His fancy toys and games gathered dust in his too-large bedroom, that was filled with all the gifts his parents gave him in place of love and attention. The only way to get approval was to earn it, by constantly being exceptional, and better than other kids.

However, he had a wooden sword (rough hewn and amateurish in design, hardly more than a stick) that he clung to like it was the most valuable and precious object in all the world. His parents had no idea where he got it wanted him to throw it out, but he was fiercely protective of it.

He left it in his bedroom when he left Banora to join SOLDIER, and it can be assumed that it burned with the rest of the town. There is absolutely no proof that he went up to his old room and carried that one worthless little thing away with him, that would become the symbol of both the childhood dreams and the childhood friend, that he could never get back.

Thank you so much for the ask!! I love talking about Genesis!! ♥️

[callivich]

Just a reminder for anyone new or anyone who has been lurking:

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Reblog content you enjoy and write in the tags or reply to the post - how much you liked something or if you have other thoughts…..creators love to hear this!

Use the tags. They’re the best way to get your posts noticed if you’re new- #gallavich #ian gallagher #mickey milkovich #ianxmickey any or all of these will work. When you make a post, you should see a little grey box that says something like add tags to help people find your post, just type in there. (You don’t need to use the # symbol. Tumblr automatically does that.)

There are so many brilliant active communities that you can take part in - I’ve done a roundup post here & I will update it with new communities.

If you feel creative? Got for it. Don’t worry about what people think, just share your work. Write that fic or headcanon or meta, draw that art, create that gifset, design that aesthetic piece, share that playlist. Chances are that a lot of people will enjoy your work!

Don’t feel shy about promoting your work either - tag it with #gallavich & the tags mentioned above.

Recommend what you’ve enjoyed! There is no time limit on sharing links to fic, art, headcanons, gifsets, posts of any kind…..reblog/share what you love and keep sharing it. Whether it’s brand new or years old, sharing the work is great idea.

Go back and explore things. Older fics on ao3, gifsets and art from years past, moodboards and headcanons that are years old. None of these things have an expiration date. So reblog them, share them, let people experience them for the first time and allow people to enjoy them for the 2nd/3rd/4th time.

Comment!! It’s such an important thing to do in fandom. Whether it’s on new work or old work, whether you write long comments or just a keyboard smash and emojis - it’s great way to share love to creators, to support/encourage/inspire them and to get involved in fandom. Check out Ian and Mickey’s guide to commenting and other posts about commenting: here // here // here

Share your ideas. Whether it’s headcanons or meta or fics or art, share it. Feel free to explore your ideas. There’s always room for discussion, analysis and creativity.

If you see ask memes or tag games going around, take part! Or even reblog one of these games and tag some people you’d like to get to know better! Don’t feel intimidated, it’s always nice to be tagged.

Keeping reblogging posts. Not just once or twice but again and again. The queue is there for a reason. And each time you do? You’re sharing it with your dash.

Remember, pretty much everyone starts out as a lurker and when it comes to being creative - everyone starts at the beginning. Those writers and artists and creators that you are in awe of? They all started out at square one. Everyone practices and creates over and over again, that’s how it goes. The more you write or draw or create, the better you get. And fandom loves to see it.

Need ideas or inspiration? I’ve got lots and lots of prompts for you!

This is a relatively small-ish fandom but it’s active and there is nothing nicer than new people joining, so don’t hesitate - jump in. It’s so much fun and we’d love you to join us! 💖

If anyone has any tips or encouragement they’d like to share, please reply to this post! 💖

And if you have any questions about using tumblr, send me an ask!

[braveasnouns]

sweet tooth sexuality headcanons and headcanons in general pretty plewse(i’m starved for content)

hi hi! I too am content starved!!

I have SO many things to say about this show and this ship, I had to narrow my list down for this post so I’ll probably post even more hcs and random thoughts soon! I am keeping some for future fics tho hehe

I apologize that I don’t have too many Sexuality hcs!

- To me, Bear and Tiger are both lesbians! the way they both dress honestly makes so much sense for the 2010s era of queer fashion that they would have access to from before the crumble (if we’re assuming this show is set in the present, which I do for ease ). Bear wears a ring on her thumb! this is a symbol of lesbianism too and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a carabiner on Tigers hip either. to me they both already knew they were lesbians and I think they were together before the show started, but of course were estranged throughout.

- I think that the Animal Army was pretty queer in general! I can definitely see some of them being in relationships and some being trans that we didn’t get to explore! I also lowkey think that if that weren’t the case they would be having babies and stuff because WHO is teaching these orphaned teenagers anything about their bodies? yeah…

- Becky coming back from everything that happened in season 3 and not only getting to see the kids, but seeing Tiger there too and finally, finally feeling safe for one of the first times in her life. all of them coming out of fight mode and slowly learning what it is to heal, what relationships look like when there isn’t something dangerous looming over their heads. figuring out who they really are in a way they could never do before.

- I think that Becky remembers more about her childhood before her parents passed then she says, but keeps it to herself because internally she feels like everything she puts out into the world is taken away.

- I imagine Wendy (when she’s a little older) coming to Becky and asking her for advice and about Becky’s feelings for Tiger, trying to figure out her own feelings for Gus! this is so cute to me because I assume the couples both met around the same age. and Becky feeling so proud and like she won at big sister when it works out for them!!

- Tigerbear having little signals and mannerisms that no one else would understand leftover from when they needed to communicate without words in a fight. a certain whistle/noise or hand motion that seems like absolutely nothing but says exactly what it needs to for them.

- Tigerbear play-fighting in the woods in yellowstone, like a game of tag but they legitimately use fighting techniques and take each other down frequently. all the kids always wanting to join so they tone it back when playing with them, but absolutely and lovingly hunt each other down when it’s just them two. they would also kiss when they catch each other, yes this is true they told me!

- playing off of that, I think within their new, more calm lifestyle they both get the zoomies from time to time and absolutely have to run around to get it out of their systems, their bodies are too used to the chase lol. Jepp probably looks at them both like they’re insane when they willingly run a mile, but appreciates it because it usually gets all of the kids pretty tired too.

- at some point when they had time off in animal army HQ they most definitely gave each other stick and poke tattoos, i’m not *exactly* sure where or what they were, but i know in my heart that it happened.

- keeping the rest of the animal armies memories alive through stories and songs, making a book full of them like Katniss and Peeta did after the war in mockingjay.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Pokemon And Their Trainers

An in-depth analysis of the Pokemon world and its culture (hereafter referred to as the “Pokeverse.”) Where I’ll attempt to understand just what these beings actually are, and how they relate to the humans of their universe. 

For this post, I will reference the video game lore, but I will, to a large extent, be pulling examples from the anime. While I can understand why this might invalidate my points to some of you, I truly think the anime should be considered fair game. It depicts what the Pokeverse is truly supposed to be like, as the writers intend it to be, unhampered by the restrictions of a video game. 

So here’s the million dollar question. Are Pokemon slaves?

At this point, I know that the Pokemon fandom and the general public have a well-established and largely iron-cast interpretation of what it means to be a Pokemon Trainer, but today I’m going to attempt to challenge that interpretation. Because on the whole, it’s not especially flattering, and I think it’s false. You’ve seen the jokes, and the video essays, and the parody comics. You’ve seen it all. People have criticized Pokemon for the premise of the game effectively being a system of romanticized slavery. That the heartless humans kidnap these innocent animals and force them into sadistic dog-fights to further their own power, to the point where it is a global, televised sport. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you, Pokemon…are slaves. It's animal abuse. Those who argue it are in denial.

The funny thing is, most people don’t argue it. Which is because, to a large extent, most people don’t care. It’s just a video game, right? It’s not as though the Pokemon are outwardly suffering. Pokemon fans seem to just accept this premise and live with it, because the Pokemon world is bright and enjoyable and the formula of the games is simply addicting. To most people, the problematic premise of this universe isn’t a big deal. Nobody takes a passionate stance against it, apart from Gamefreak itself of course. They have little choice but to dismiss these claims, to argue against them…but nobody really listens. The franchise may do the best it can to play up the whole “friendship” angle, but the majority of fans, casual and otherwise, would say they’re not fooling anyone.

I disagree. 

I’m not saying these points don’t have merit. To a degree, they do. But this conclusion about the Pokeverse is not the only one that can be drawn from analyzing this world. It's also based on several assumptions, headcanons, and interpretations of this world’s symbolism. I interpret these things differently myself, and I’ll try to explain how. But the bottom line is that humans and pokemon exist together in this world and have a unique relationship. Our world has humans, but not pokemon, so one can assume that the Pokemon are a deliberate symbol of…something. What that something is will probably vary based on who you ask, but just about everyone seems to interpret them as the “animals” of their universe. As in, living creatures who are not human. (Because Humans…are also Animals, and that’s kind of the whole point right there, but I’m getting ahead of myself.) 

We seem to draw an inherent comparison between Pokemon and #RealWorld Animals, which is where all of this stems from. I believe this is a mistake. Or if nothing else, it’s not the definitive interpretation of what they are. If anything, the closest comparison I can think of is…maybe Angels? But even that doesn’t truly describe their role. The more the Pokeverse gets fleshed out, the clearer it becomes to me that catching and training Pokemon are completely misunderstood concepts. They’re not really comparable to anything in real life, certainly not the training of animals or the keeping of pets. I genuinely don’t think that the relationship between Trainer and Pokemon has an equivalent in our world. 

I do understand where the impulse to make this comparison comes from. Of course people look at Pokemon and see animals. After all, they're living, breathing creatures, magical creatures that coexist with humanity. A not insignificant number of them do resemble real-life animals or are otherwise based on them. The most crucial bit of evidence for this idea is that the Pokeverse, by all appearances, lacks “real world” animals of its own. There are no recognizable creatures from our world to speak of, apart from humanity. So I can see how people reached this conclusion and I get why they draw the parallel.

However, it’s just not a fair comparison to make. Not at all. 

Some animals do have the means to defend themselves, of course. But Pokemon have abilities on another level entirely. They’re basically magic. They have superpowers unique to themselves. Can a human spit fire? Tunnel a hole in seconds? Can they summon storms in the blink of an eye? Can a human block all damage with Wonder Guard? The answer is no. They cannot do this. Humans are one race, and a relatively mundane race at that. While they are distinctly separate from Pokemon…that doesn’t make them superior. It doesn’t make them more powerful. The sheer variety in Pokemon species, not to mention the variety of their powers, means that if war was to break out between the two communities…the humans would not win. It wouldn’t even be close. 

Pokemon are baked deep into this culture. If you had to guess which of these two societies was here first, would you really guess humanity? I wouldn’t. Just look at the spiritual side of this world. It has deities who are confirmed to exist, who created this world as we know it..and they’re all Pokemon. Who knows where the humans even came from, but the Legendary Pokemon are the ones who fashioned the universe.

It is vanity to assume that Humanity is the dominant species of the Pokeverse.

They are not in charge of this world - they could never be. Pokemon explicitly range from human to above-human level intelligence. The humans attempt to understand them, but the Anime clarifies that they’ve chosen to name the Pokemon based on their speech patterns. Pokemon don’t “say their name” and nothing else. It’s the reverse. They speak unique languages that the humans elected to name them for. By contrast, Pokemon can clearly understand human language. There’s no way around it, they are smarter than us. So it’s no surprise that they have their own communities and systems, totally independent from humanity. However, there are also countless Pokemon who choose (read: CHOOSE) to work with humans, on individual and group-wide scales.

In fact, Pokemon and Humans may not be so different at all.

They may descend from a common ancestor. There is consistent flavor text that verifies this, stating that on a fundamental level, Pokemon and Humans are all but the same. Perhaps humankind and Pokemon weren’t always separate beings? Perhaps they were once one and the same? It’s pure conjecture, but according to the Library in Canalave City, there was a time in the ancient past when Pokemon ate at the same table as Humans and would even marry them sometimes. That last bit of trivia is cut from the English version, undoubtedly because of the popular interpretation I discussed earlier. Fans see Pokemon as animals, and the dubbing team probably wanted to avert any weird implications. 

What’s odd is that in Legends: Arceus, which takes place in the ancient past…humans and pokemon have clearly already been separated, and have no relationship beyond hostility and fear towards each other. There are exceptions, of course, but by and large, the idea of a “Pokemon Trainer” is a new concept to the humans in Hisui. I’m getting very off topic now, but it does make a fan wonder. Just what happened to separate pokemon and humankind? They were as close as kin at one point, before some kind of split occurred, and it’s taken countless generations for them to redevelop a closeness...there’s a greater mystery here that isn’t relevant to the topic at hand, but these questions are worth asking. Either way, the point is that the two communities are almost fated to come together.

The Pokemon are drawn to humanity, and whether they invest in an official “trainer” or not, they seek out humans just as often as the humans go looking for them.

The pokemon will form these partnerships out of their own desire. A desire for what, you may be asking? I think it varies, but when it comes to the Trainer/Pokemon relationship, we can assume the typical goal is shared strength. The human and the pokemon form a symbiotic relationship in the Training system. This is stated numerous times, especially in the Anime - A wild pokemon will never reach their full potential. Not without a Trainer. You see? It isn’t only the humans who benefit from this relationship, and the Pokemon understand this. The vast majority of them want to be caught, they seek a trainer who can help them harness their powers. 

Mewtwo decries Pokemon Training as Slavery during Mewtwo Strikes Back. Pikachu contradicts him, and Ash literally puts his life on the line in the effort to prove him wrong. Much later, in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, the same question comes up. Lucario asks if Ash is Pikachu’s “master” and Ash rejects that terminology. Because Pikachu is his best friend, nothing less. There is a reason why the word is “Trainer” and not “Master” or “Owner.” Because Pokemon Trainers do not own their Pokemon. Full stop. The Poke Ball isn't a prison. It, and the PC Boxes from the games, are implied to be a kind of virtual reality. The Poke Ball is a symbol, a convenience more than anything else, but not a requirement. Ash is living proof. The Poke-Ball may be the norm, but if you're claustrophobic like Pikachu, or you're just not feeling it, you can abstain. Ash has never treated Pikachu as a captive. (Except for that one time…)

Okay, I’ll address this real quick. Yes, Ash did drag Pikachu along with a rope in the first episode, and used rubber gloves so that Pikachu could not retaliate. I’m just gonna have to call that #EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. This was Generation 1, this was back when Ghost Types were literally dead Pokemon. Besides, Pikachu had already shocked Ash unprovoked, so the rubber gloves were arguably self-defense. I guess you could make the case that Ash didn’t “truly” become Pikachu’s Trainer until the end of the episode. But in general, the writers have shaped this world beyond what was established in the very beginning, and perhaps they’re deliberately trying to counter the claims of slavery and animal abuse, but even if that’s true…it doesn’t mean make the contributions less canon.

How it started.

How it's going.

Never mind. What about catching pokemon? That’s still messed up, right? 

There is an obvious counterargument to be made to my stance, a Donphan in the room, and I won’t ignore it. The counterpoint here is that capturing Pokemon is almost always done against their will. Or at least, that’s how it’s traditionally done, and the norm in the games remains consistent. Still. Ash winds up befriending the majority of his Pokemon instead, and he’s far from the only trainer we see doing so. James is another human who recruits his teammates primarily through his own likable qualities. You might argue that while obtaining a Pokemon can happen without fighting, that style is unusual. But again, based on the anime, it doesn’t seem to be that uncommon. I think what’s considered rare is that Ash seems to specialize in doing this despite his intended goal of training Pokemon for battle. 

But, whatever. Capturing Pokemon through battle still happens, right? It happens quite a lot. The examples that differ from this norm don’t erase that, nor do they erase how repugnant it is. After all, the Trainer is cornering a creature who more often than not, was just minding their own business. (A wild pokemon is very often the one to initiate battle, but never mind.) The trainer then forcibly kidnaps them after violently assaulting them. Even the term “capturing” pokemon has problematic connotations. No way around it - on paper, this sounds bad. It sounds horrific. But if I may, I’d like to offer a different perspective based on what I’ve been able to observe of the Pokeverse’s culture. First of all, I’d like to offer a scalding hot take about the violence of Pokemon battles. This may be where I lose a lot of people, but hear me out. 

I challenge the idea that a Pokemon battle is “violent.” 

Or at least, I don’t believe the characters consider it to be violent, not in the same way we understand it. A pokemon battle isn’t assault, because they’re not human. But it’s also not animal abuse, because the Pokeverse doesn’t have animals. Again, it’s worth remembering that Pokemon are supernatural creatures with magical powers, and I’d say their powers, the “moves” they learn, play by different rules than conventional fighting. There’s actually quite a bit of evidence to suggest that this is true. 

In Mewtwo Strikes Back, the Pokemon very specifically fight their clones without access to any of their actual moves, after Mewtwo psychically blocks their powers. Everything about this scene is meant to convey tragedy. All of a sudden, a series that’s been all about battle is preaching against violence. Sure, we can call it bad writing, executive meddling, or anything we want. But ignore the Fourth Wall and ask yourself, why would the characters react this way in-universe? Why is it that Pokemon battling has always been okay, but in this one instance, it’s not? The movie goes to great lengths to show us that the Pokemon are hurting each other. Which we don’t normally see.

The only difference? The Pokemon aren’t using their normal moves.

From this, we can conclude that the typical, conventional Pokemon battle, where the two pokemon fight using their special abilities...it doesn’t hurt them. It may tire them out, but a Pokemon Center can heal basically any injuries in record time. Nurse Joy is some kind of miracle worker…or maybe she isn’t. Maybe The Pokemon are being tired out from their battles, but not actually harmed in the long term. This would explain why Pokemon attacks don’t cause lasting damage to humans, either. Get hit with a Flamethrower? Don’t worry, you’ll just be temporarily stunned and have soot all over your face. The doylist explanation is, once again, that it’s a children’s cartoon, but that doesn’t explain what’s happening in-universe. Team Rocket has been electrocuted by Pikachu a near-infinite number of times. So how are they even alive? 

Simple. Pikachu isn’t actually trying to kill them. Because of course he isn’t. It’s quite possible that Pokemon moves simply are not capable of inflicting serious damage, or perhaps Pokemon have an inherent resistance to them. But I suspect it’s not a lack of ability that stops Pokemon moves from being violent…but an almost universal choice. That when Pokemon go on the offensive with their powers, or at least, when they direct said powers at humans…they are always pulling their punches. That’s why the fight on New Island was so grotesque - the Pokemon were not remotely familiar with battling that way, engaging in true violence, and there’s little doubt that they were figuratively and literally scarred by that night. 

It’s no wonder they never use their powers to cause actual bodily harm to anyone - I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some kind of sacred, unspoken taboo among Pokemon against doing so. A taboo that wouldn't be known to the newborn clone Pokemon on New Island. A taboo that may not have existed centuries ago, in say, the ancient times of the Hisui region. But present day, communities of Pokemon are more civilized, and they a working relationship with human society that ranges from neutral to friendly. We’re in head-canon territory now, but this kind of law among pokemon kind makes a lot of sense. There may be Pokemon out there who break this taboo, but they would be few and far between - probably outcasts among their own kind. It would add a new dimension to Pikachu's refusal to fight back against his clone counterpart.

Again, this scene makes a point of telling us over and over, that what we’re seeing is wrong. “Pokemon aren’t meant to fight. Not like this.” That line right there is precisely the point. Battling isn’t meant to be like that, and in practice, it almost never is. There’s a reason why Pokemon almost never actually die in battle, and only get “very weak,” a condition that is cured flawlessly with the medical science of a Pokemon Center. It’s almost like a Pokemon’s powers create a kind of invisible simulation system, allowing them to spar with their opponent safely. Because that’s what a Pokemon battle is, at heart. It’s a test of skill. It’s meant to just be friendly sparring. A kind of sport that the Pokemon and Trainers engage in together, and it’s stated many times that they need to be in sync to have any hope of a successful career in professional matches. Again, I refer you to Mewtwo Strikes Back. The Pokemon were able to use their powers collectively to restore Ash to life. There’s clearly a lot more to a Pokemon’s power than just combat. That part is nothing more than recreation for them. 

I realize that I deviated tremendously from the original question about capturing Pokemon, but I feel that it’s important to address this point. 

Pokemon Battling is not violence. It’s effectively a sport that all sides consent to playing, a sport that has safety measures practically built in, as well as further precautions offered like the Pokemon Center. In that sense, it's more or less just another interpretation of Pokemon Contests, and Showcases, and everything else. A human helping a Pokemon study their powers and use them to fullest potential. This is the reason why I don’t actually consider a Trainer fighting a wild Pokemon to be so obscene. However, that only addresses the question of violence. Trainers are still kidnapping Pokemon against their will, right? That’s why one has to “weaken” a Pokemon to catch them. Well, believe it or not, I’m going to debunk that too. 

Barring exceptions, the wild Pokemon must be exhausted to the point that they can no longer resist a poke-ball, before you can obtain them. Their opinion about being caught is always a non-issue. By all accounts, it doesn't seem as though this is acceptable. But even this, I think, is part of the cultural dissonance. Among other things, we don’t know what the little “click” of the Poke-ball actually means. It signals that the capture was a success, but is that the Pokemon choosing to yield, or the Poke Ball’s technology locking them in? It’s a little ambiguous, I’ll freely admit as much…but I would argue that the former idea isn’t impossible. Again, wild Pokemon, generally speaking, actually want to find a Trainer. The first episode of the anime even hints that certain wild Pokemon are jealous of those with trainers. With that in mind, why is catching them even a fight to begin with? 

I’ll tell you why. When a wild pokemon battles a trainer, they are essentially giving that trainer a test.

They’re gauging the trainer’s abilities to bring out the potential of their pokemon. If you’re a trainer, and your pokemon defeats another pokemon in the wild…you’ve just proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that your pokemon is stronger than the wild one. You have now proven that you have something to offer, you’ve passed the test. The wild Pokemon now realizes that it stands to learn something, to grow more powerful, by accepting your tutelage. That’s why it’s considered acceptable to the pokemon to follow a trainer after they are overpowered and captured. It’s like…right of conquest, but with fully informed consent. 

Consent is key here, and I believe this cultural understanding to be the reason that most pokemon are immediately comfortable with following the trainer who caught them. While one might argue that they don't really have a choice anymore...that simply isn't true. The anime clarifies that Pokemon can release themselves from a Poke-Ball whenever they want. Misty’s Psyduck is the most iconic example of this, but there are countless others.  In theory, a Pokemon could just leave a trainer who they find unsatisfactory. Actually, that’s not just a theory. That’s canon. Something that most people don’t seem to realize (or at least, they forget) is that it’s not just Trainers who ditch Pokemon they no longer want. It happens in reverse as well.

Pokemon can and do abandon their trainers, if they deem said trainers to be unworthy of their talents. 

Remember when I said that I would be chiefly referencing the anime, because it’s the most reliable depiction of what the Pokeverse is supposed to be like? This is exactly what I was talking about. Because obviously, this never happens in the games. Your Pokemon don’t just disappear from your party or PC boxes, because that would be an incredibly stupid and unfair mechanic. But in the anime, where the relationships between pokemon and trainer are more fleshed out? In the first season, Bad To The Bone is about a Marowak who chose to ditch his trainer after said trainer had his badges stolen. While the Marowak eventually changed his mind, at no point did any character voice the idea of trying to return him by force. It was Marowak’s choice and no one else’s, which is why the trainer was heartbroken.

But that’s not a one-off, it’s not the only example. There are quite a few. Due to a misunderstanding, Gym Leader Pryce once believed his Piloswine had abandoned him. Then there’s Ash. Always the mother hen, he’s adopted many pokemon who were abandoned by previous trainers, but the opposite has also happened. His Snivy, and his Greninja, are both Pokemon who were explicitly stated to have had previous trainers whom they chose to leave, because they didn’t feel understood. Typically, it seems that Pokemon choose to leave because they feel as though the unspoken contract that is “pokemon training” has been violated somehow, or they’re otherwise not getting what they signed up for. This is why the traditional method of “catching” pokemon is so vital. Because it’s an honor system.

Any time a human does attempt to force a pokemon into submission or otherwise harm them through any method that is not the traditional system of capture, the story treats them as unquestionably villainous for doing so. The other humans react in horror, and attempt to stop them. This is because forgoing the “defeat them in battle” route and instead using some kind of technology or whatnot to claim the Pokemon is seen as dishonorable at the best of times, and evil at the worst of times. The Trainer is ignoring the agency of the Pokemon. Attempting capture in the conventional way is a mutually accepted system, the wild Pokemon know and understand that a trainer may attempt to take them, and if they really don’t want to be said Trainer’s pokemon, they can always choose to leave after they are captured. But the use of other means takes that choice away from them. These villains, usually the evil Teams, are using methods of capture that fail to demonstrate to the Pokemon why they are a worthy Trainer, and likewise rob them of the ability to judge them as unworthy. 

So yes, there are exceptions, but for the reasons I have described, I fail to see how the idea of “slavery” is applicable to properly trained Pokemon.

They have the power to attack their trainers whenever they choose. Sometimes they do. They have magical abilities that enslaved humans in real life do not have. Legends: Arceus does a great job of highlighting just how dangerous Pokemon could be toward their human counterparts if they really wanted to be. They also have the power to leave. A Pokeball is not a chain. The only time a Pokemon struggles to escape a Ball is when it is first used on them, and the connection is initially forged. But, as I’ve talked about, I believe this to be a ceremonial process and little else. Trainers will immediately send out freshly caught Pokemon to heal or train, and the Pokemon don’t run. But once again, they could. What is stopping them? Ash’s Charizard never saw fit to abandon him, but if he had, what could Ash have actually done about it? Basically nothing. He’d get a flamethrower to the face and then Charizard would fly off. The same thing is true for any of Ash’s Pokemon, or the trained Pokemon of any Trainer ever. 

There’s another Donphan in the room that I’d like to touch on real quick. I’ve talked a lot about how the anime clarifies the nature of Pokemon and their relationship to their Trainers…but I also mentioned that the developers have openly tried to beat back the claims of animal abuse, of slavery. The anime speaks for itself, but what about the time Black and White openly addressed these criticisms? You were probably waiting for me to bring it up, but the truth is, I don’t have much to say. The idea of Pokemon and Trainers having a symbiotic relationship, and needing each other…the idea that they shouldn’t be separated…all of that is touched on in the games, but the subject is mostly used as a scapegoat by a wannabe dictator.

I have yet to see any character in Pokemon honestly make the same comparison that critics make in real life, and I doubt we ever will see that happen. It’s just not an idea that can be properly explored in the Pokeverse, because our world is unknown to them. Our way of doing things isn’t something that any in-universe Trainer could hope to understand. It’s an entirely different culture. The way we personally view Pokemon as creatures is colored by our context, by the fact that we’re on the outside, peering into this world with the perspective of a society that doesn’t have Pokemon. To the humans, this is the way their world works. Team Plasma came the closest to approaching that idea, but even then, they were the villains. It was made abundantly clear that they were wrong. 

In theory, Pokemon are servants at the whims of their Trainers. In practice, they’re actually the ones with real power and the relationship is balanced, nuanced, and heavily based on mutual trust.

In theory, Pokemon are the wild animals of their universe. In practice, they have no equivalent to our world. They are, as we're told many times, "wondrous creatures." They have no explanation.

In theory, Pokemon are forced to engage in senseless violence day in and day out. In practice, Pokemon battling is an art form that the Pokemon themselves choose to pursue, and it is not remotely dangerous. 

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. If you need me, I'll be hunting for a shiny Wattrel.

[boarwinds]

Hello, I love your au. I wanted to ask you these questions because in the Hunger Games saga, food and clothing are important themes. What colors, dresses and jewelry does First Lady Lucy Gray wear? Does Coriolanus choose her clothes or does she use them to claim her autonomy? What foods do the presidential family prefer?

Colors, dresses jewelry: I'm gonna assume ppl loved her rainbow dress so much that it's become her symbol, (also headcanoning tigris as her stylist). She'd prob wear colorful/rainbow outfits all the time but for RLY important/big events she'd wear more white with rose designs. The white with roses would be at CS's request bc this man is a freak n he wants everyone to know who she belongs to, like anyone can disagree. I feel like LG would try to defy him whenever she can, maybe make a show of spilling wine on her dress, n that becomes a trend in the capitol lmao. As for jewelry, I think she'd stick to the jewelry she inherited from her mother even tho she loves luxury, she's uncomfortable wearing jewelry CS buys for her. They're all rose designs anyway. Maybe she'll beg tigris to make her mockingjay jewelry (ofc she complies, LG n tigris would be besties) bc she knows it would piss him off but he'd never show it.

Food: idk what they'd eat lol but they prob have their own kitchen staff they can request anything from. Although LG doesn't cook I like to think she occasionally tells him she's gonna go look for swamp potatoes to make dinner 🤭

[t3acupz]

ok I have to ask because I'm so curious. Do you ship brownham in a "two hawks" serial killer couple way, or a Will is manipulating Matthew way, or a pwp way, or a doomed by the narrative way or...? I just want to know your headcanons XD

There’s so much to say about brownham that I get emotional about it.

Essentially, what happens in canon isn’t that great for Matthew. Will emotionally manipulates Matthew, and uses him to try and kill Hannibal. For Will, Matthew is just a pawn in his chess game against Hannibal.

But I like to approach this ship from Matthew’s point of view. He is someone who has been hiding his true self from everyone for most of his life. He’s spent time in a mental asylum for unknown reasons. He fakes a lisp and changes his mannerisms to appear as an unassuming orderly at the BSHCI. We can only assume his backstory and what led him to act this way but he’s clearly desperate to be known. Truly known. And in truly knowing someone, we love them.

I love that we get a small shot of Matthew in 2.01 Kaiseki (bringing Will his dinner) because it shows that he’s been with Will since the beginning of his imprisonment. Matthew spent months studying Will, silently watching him from the shadows. Listening to his conversations with Chilton. I’m sure he’s heard Will denounce Hannibal as the real Chesapeake Ripper plenty of times. Matthew read Will’s file and studied the Chesapeake Ripper’s murders just so he can come up with a plan to free Will by creating an alibi for him.

This scene in 2.05 Mukōzuke is so great because of the symbolism. Matthew opened Will’s enclosure, and watched him exit the cage with complete adoration. That was exactly what Matthew had planned by killing the bailiff. He wanted to set Will free. He knew that Will was an empath; someone who could finally understand him and not think he was depraved or insane.

Matthew is wearing all white, a symbol of purity. He wants to be Will’s savior, his guardian angel. He talks about hawks and how their folly is their solitary nature. He’s so in love with Will that he will make them go against their natures just to be together.

I’ll talk briefly about the pool scene. Water is one of Will’s motifs in the show, and Matthew thus became an extension of Will. He swam faster than Hannibal and then outmaneuvered him with the tranquilizer dart. He could’ve just let Hannibal drown and that would’ve been the end of it but he wanted to mock Hannibal. He wanted to show Hannibal how much he hurt Will and in doing so, compared Hannibal to the traitorous Judas. He needed Hannibal to know that he was killing for Will, and at Will’s request. It was Matthew’s way of saying, “Yes, I won and I killed you for my man.”

Matthew wasn’t shocked in the slightest when Hannibal told him that Will wasn’t a killer. It didn’t faze him at all. He also wasn’t the least bit fearful to be facing the actual Chesapeake Ripper. A man known for killing dozens of people in gruesome and horrific ways. He had Hannibal tied up and bleeding out and did it all while being adorably jaunty. That’s an amazing power move and something completely unforgettable for me when watching this show.

So the way I view the ship is in canon-divergence. Matthew succeeds in killing Hannibal, and Will is freed from the BSHCI when new evidence comes to light to prove that Lecter was the Chesapeake Ripper. Will returns to Wolf Trap and takes time off from working for the FBI to deal with the trauma of everything he went through. Initially, Matthew gives Will space by just dropping of care packages but eventually starts to help with chores around the house. Finally, Will invites Matthew to talk candidly about what transpired. It begins as unrequited love but evolves into real feelings from Will when he finally accepts the love he deserves.

I don’t picture them becoming serial killers because Matthew’s only known kill was the bailiff and that was done out of love, unlike Hannibal who killed for pleasure and to consume his victims like they were nothing more than livestock. Will had two paths - embrace the darkness within himself with Hannibal or follow a lighter path with Matthew (I enjoy both).

[apocalypticwafflekitten]

I Have Thoughts and Feelings About Magni from God Of War 2018 (+ A Blurb!)

Now hear me out: I doubt this was intentional, but I think I’ve connected some dots (You haven’t connected shit) I’ve connected them:

Exhibit A:

This is the conversation in Niflheim, in the latter half of Ragnarök, where Sif is trying to show Thor what Odin has done to their family in the past few years. She focuses on the memory of Magni and Modi as kids and, most important for this analysis, the memory of carving wooden horses for their boys while telling stories by the fire.

Exhibit B:

Flashback to gow 2018 for a second and look at Magni’s armor.

When I look at that second link or segment of the metalwork in Magni’s belt, it looks like there are horse heads worked into the design of his armor.

Now this could be totally coincidental (and realistically, it probably is), but where’s the fun in that?

This got a lot longer than I intended, so I’m putting a cut here!

This gives me so many ideas and raises so many questions, my head is reeling.

Also, I don’t mean to say that this is a definitive connection, or that any of what I’m about to ramble off is canon. This is just exploring the potential of an idea I had when I remembered the wooden horse story from Ragnarök. This whole post/analysis thing is based around the idea that the horses were intentionally designed into Magni’s armor as a nod to the carved horses from Magni and Modi’s childhood. Of course the horses could be a reference to something else, or the may be nothing at all. But I find it very endearing that the horses in Magni’s armor could be a little symbolic link to the wooden horses and I want to explore that idea.

Now, if horses are worked into the design of Magni’s armor, assuming it’s not just a thing the armourer decided to throw in, then I have to wonder who asked for the horses to be worked into the design and why?

I’m assuming that this armor was made specifically for Magni, maybe as some sort of graduation into adulthood or something similar (idk, bear with me here). And I want to consider the, I guess, implications of different people asking for the design. Specifically those that I think would have had the most impact on the armor’s design: Sif, Thor, and Magni.

I think Sif and Thor would have similar intentions: I can imagine both of them wanting to remind Magni of a better time in their lives, before Odin started sending the boys out to do his bidding, before the constant competition between him and Modi. Maybe it’s a reminder of home or something like that. I can imagine them coming to the armorer together with designs drawn up.

There could also be a little character dimension here for Thor and Sif. This reaches well beyond textual evidence, but this entire analysis is based on two screen caps and blind hope, so I think it’s okay. I think requesting the horse design could be a way for Sif and Thor to show Magni that regardless of their drinking, and despite Thor’s physical abuse, they still remember what life was like before everything went to shit. Maybe it’s a subtle way of showing that they still care? That’s not to excuse Thor and Sif’s actions or parenting. I just think there could be some dimension there.

Given what we hear from the game though, I don’t know how likely this is. From my understanding, Sif and Thor were drinking, neglecting, and abusing their sons since their early childhood. Maybe they had some moments of clarity in there, and maybe they would pull together and look like a functional family for special events, but, again, there’s not enough information in the game to give concrete answers, so it’s up to personal headcanon.

And finally, if Magni was the one to request horses designed into his armor, there’s a lot we could speculate about his childhood and motivations. (Here is where I really start rambling. The speculation is off the charts) I’m running with the idea that the horses in Magni’s armor work as a sort of symbolic tie to his childhood. This could indicate a number of things about Magni and the kind of person he is deep down beneath all the bullshit he’s been taught.

If the little wooden horses mean so much to Magni that he has them shaped into the metalwork of his armor, then I wonder what Magni’s relationship with his childhood is like. Perhaps Magni is, deep down, a very sentimental person. Maybe he misses how things were when he was little, listening to stories by the fire, playing with the wooden horses his parents carved.

I really like this theory by @charalysis that suggests Magni was parentified as a kid and ended up raising Modi. I’ve thought about that a lot while writing this, and it makes me wonder if Magni is sort of emotionally drawn to those few happy memories from his childhood. Maybe Magni laments his lost childhood/adolescence and basically clings to whatever semblance of a childhood he had.

Maybe, in the face of his upbringing and Thor’s abuse, Magni is grasping at any happy memories he can muster as a sort of comfort. Maybe, wayyyy deep down, he has this stubborn hope that things can get better - that one day his family can go back to sitting by the fire, telling stories and carving horses. It wouldn’t be the same of course (and given what we know of Sif and Thor before their sons’ canonical deaths, it’s extremely unlikely), but maybe it’s a hope that’s more for Magni than his family. Maybe it’s something he has to hold onto to because if he didn’t he’d fall apart. So he keep fighting with this bull-headed optimism that things can change for the better.

I don’t know. I’m just rambling at this point, but I have so many thoughts.

Yes, I know I’m reading way too far into this. There’s so much speculation and the little horse design probably doesn’t hold this much weight, but I enjoy considering the possibilities of little details like this. That and we don’t know much about Magni outside of his physical strength and dysfunctional family, so I’ve indulged a bit here and played with this idea!

Thank you for coming to my Ted-Talk! Feel free to add your thoughts as well!

The screenshot of Sif’s conversation with Thor is from this video from BabyZone on YouTube

I wouldn’t have noticed the horse detail in Magni’s armor if I hadn’t been respectfully ogling @remoryu’s screencaps of Magni in the boss fight!

The beautiful dividers below are made by @cafekitsune!

And a huge thanks to @insane-brit for convincing me that this was worth posting!

This idea inspired me, so have a little Magni x Reader blurb! I don’t know when this is set exactly. Magni lives and it’s probably a little after the events of GOW 2018.

“Are those horses? On your belt?” You ask, watching as Magni unties the belt’s worn leather ties.

“Interested in my belt hmm? Why are you looking there?” He replies with a mischievous smirk and a glint in his eye.

“Oh hush. That’s not where my mind is and you know it.” You laugh, reaching for his belt after he set it on the bed beside you. “Are they horses though? In the metalwork?”

He smiles at you and sits beside you. He reaches across your lap to hold the belt with you, tracing his hand along the glinting patterns.

“Yes. When the armor was designed, I asked the armourer to include horses somewhere in the metalwork. I didn’t really care where, I just wanted horses in there. I wanted them as a reminder of when I was a kid. Before Odin started sending Modi and I to do his bidding.” There’s a distant look in Magni’s eyes, and his shoulders droop as he lets out a long, slow breath. “Mother and Father used to tell us stories around the fire while they carved wooden horses for us. Modi would always listen with rapt attention. I cared more for playing pretend with the horses. We used to fall asleep by the hearth and wake up the next morning, snug in our beds. I still remember the warmth of the hearth’s stones and how it felt to lay on them and drift off to sleep. Things were better then.”

“What happened?” You ask, shifting your gaze to look at Magni.

“Modi and I were raised as warriors. Even as kids we were pitted against one another in a bid to win our father’s and grandfather’s approval. But nothing good ever came of it. Odin was never impressed regardless of how many monsters we killed or jobs we finished. And Father,” Magni took a deep breath, “Father was too drunk to notice unless we did something wrong. And even when we did everything right, he’d take his anger out on us. Still would, I’m sure.” Magni pauses, taking a moment to trace the little horses, noticing the way you watched his fingers move across the teal metal, “I wear the horses because I want to carry those memories with me. I want to remember how mother and father used to be before it all went to shit. I want to believe things can be better again. Even at my very worst, all I had to do was remember those horses and I could remember what I was fighting for.“

“You think your parents can learn to be better?” You ask, running your thumb along the metalwork.

“I’d like to believe they can. With the right pressure.” Magni runs his fingers over the back of your hand, letting himself calm at the feeling of your warmth. “But I can’t carry that burden. I have to find my own way to be better.”

You sit there for a moment, feeling the weight of Magni’s words and enjoying the feeling of him tracing the back of your hand.

“Tell me some of the stories? The ones your parents told you?”

Magni meets your eye with a confused look; one that slowly melts into something warm and loving.

“I could do that, yes. Later though. I can tell you all the stories of my childhood after we eat. Let’s go make some dinner.”

You nod, setting Magni’s belt aside and taking his outstretched hand.

[istadris]

🌘 Mario and Luigi

☼ - appearance headcanon (I assume it's this one)

Luigi is very tidy and mindful of his appearance. He's very proud of his carefully trimmed and combed moustache and hair. A fancy boi.

...except both he and Mario have the most stubborn cowlick ever seen on twins' head, and no matter how much he tries, he never manages to keep it down. He ended up giving up and just rolls with it when combing his hair, but when he and Mario bicker he's quick to claim Mario is responsible for that damn cowlick.

Mario is not a slob, per se, but compared to Luigi's neat freak routine, anyone would look messy. Mario does tend to his moustache and hair, but it takes him 5 minutes at most when Luigi hogs the bathroom for 20 minutes minimum each morning.

He has a tattoo. The Tattoo. The infamous game boy advance tattoo. He got it on a rebellious whim as a teenager and he's both proud and ashamed of it.

What's less known is that Luigi also has a tattoo. He got it in support of Mario so he wouldn't get chewed off by their parents, and did it without Mario's knowledge, without trying to hide it while Mario tried to conceal the bandage as long as possible...which ended up looking as if Luigi got the tattoo first. Mario still thinks this is the balliest move Luigi ever pulled.

Put a symbol (or several) and a character/characters in my ask box, and I’ll give you a headcanon.  

[neonbutchery]

headcanons about wyllzel 🤭

OHOHOHO this one is GOOD... thank you for indulging me (headcanon game from here) . assume that most of these are after lae has had her character arc.

first and foremost: battle couple. they fight alongside each other and they fight well. when they've spent a few years together, they're an amazing duo.

related to that, they spar a lot and exchange their knowledge about fighting. wyll teaches lae'zel about dueling with rapiers and other fancy stuff and lae'zel teaches him githyanki techniques. when/if wyll loses his powers after getting away from his pact with mizora, which becomes kinda hard on him (since he's gotten so used to having them) lae'zel helps him every step of the way, at first through tough love, but she doesn't hesitate to praise him or be soft later.

also, sparring as foreplay. this one is obvious. come on.

both of them are Very Fancy Bitches when it comes to their hair. doing each other's hair is a love language. wyll braids lae'zel's hair and puts all the fancy accessories in place and lae'zel learns how to take care of his hair when he's growing it (i imagine wyll to be a long locs/twists/braids kinda guy).

also related to that, them exchanging hair accessories as a symbol of love and wearing them in their respective hairstyles. kinda like wedding rings (even though to me lae'zel is allergic to the concept of thinking of herself as married.)

lae'zel starts calling him gith words and at first wyll ofc doesn't know what he's saying, so he decides to learn githyanki BUT keeps it a secret to surprise her. the first time he replies to her back in githyanki she blushes SO HARD and is speechless for a good couple of seconds.

tbf i can't really see them settling down in baldur's gate, not while the whole vlaakith vs orpheus civil war is raging on, so either wyll comes with her and rest of the githyanki or they separate for a while :( she doesn't strike me as the kind of person to abandon her people for her partner.

but. i like to think lae'zel comes back. she always will.

lae'zel learns from him that it's good to relax and chill, actually. sometimes, it's fine to sleep until late in the morning and not wake up to do squats.

wyll, after years of isolation and being alone, has someone at his side who will not leave. lae'zel becomes his rock and sometimes, a shoulder to cry on when the need arises. she wipes his tears from his cheeks and tells him that he's the strongest man she's ever known no matter what has happened to him.

sex-wise: they are both switches. lae'zel is more outwardly dominant but once she has trust in him she lets wyll dom her sometimes, though she asks for him to be rough and wyll doesn't have it in him at first (he needs to be reassured and asks to negotiate it). i can see both being pretty versatile and just going with the flow depending on how the other feels.

they once attempt to do roleplay (wyll as a monster hunter and lae'zel as the monster) but it's so cringey that they have to stop out of embarassment

[surr3al1sm]

Hoi! Welcome to my blog :) I’m a Just Dance enthusiast who goes by the user surre3l1sm on here, but you can also call me Rose or Yivan. What ever you prefer. I made this fun little drawing that tells you fun facts about me;

Now most of you know that I already had an intro post but this one is just better okay. So we’re changing it.

I don’t really follow a set kind of post. Sometimes I post fanart, sometimes I post memes, sometimes I post theories or headcanons. Sometimes my posts don’t have anything to do with Just Dance. I’m a big yapper, so my posts are pretty long most of the time.

Pssst, you can also find me on AO3 right here. I post my silly little fanfiction on there. Currently I’m working on my long ass chapter fic (to be turned into a series at some point) called Maybe Loving You is Dangerous.

Wow a cut, what ever could be underneath it?! Is probably what you asked yourself. Well, trade secrets of course. That’s a joke. I don’t have any of those. But I decided to add a little list of where the stickers I scattered across my drawing come from as I can imagine you’re extremely curious about things I like besides Just Dance, right? Yeah of course you are. Otherwise you would have clicked off long ago. So we’re just going to go for it!

1. The 20 sided die next to my name stands for my love of Dungeon and Dragons (Forever DM tho) and other table top games.

2. The Spiderman logo stands for my love for Spiderman, although I will admit that I’ve never read the comics. If I had to pick, I’d say that the Spiderverse movies they got going on right now are probably my favourite Spidey related thing atm.

3. The Pokeball stands for my love for Pokemon. I have been playing those games since I was very young and they really helped to shape me as a person.

4. The cat next to my head is Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service. Another big thing that shaped me since I was a preteen is Ghibli movies, and Jiji felt ideal to represent this.

5. Is a pictogram from Just Dance. Of course I had to add one if those. It’s one of the pictograms for one of my favourite maps: Treasure

6. The brain with the glasses is one of the Sanders Sides logo’s. Since you find yourself on Tumblr I assume you know what Sanders Sides is. It’s the logo used for Logic (Logan), one of the sides I relate to the most.

7. Is the logo for Sex BobOmb which is the band thats featured in Scott Pilgrim. One of my favourite movies/animated series :)

8. The next sticker is a Plumbob from the Sims 4. If you have a little scroll on my blog you can see that I have a little series where I turn some Just Dance coaches into sims (inspired by others on here). So yeah I play it a little (I have over 900 hours in this game).

9. The red pixilated heart stands for Undertale, it is meant to represent the soul of the character you play as :) Undertale was probably the first fandom space I joined back in the day and it just means a lot to me.

10. The next one is meant to be a fossil from Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Which is one of my favourite games. So I had to add it of course.

11. The next symbol looks like a 4 but I don’t think it’s supposed to be. It’s the logo for a series run by the streamer Ranboo called Generation Loss. Gen Loss is honestly one of my favourite series that has come out in recent times. It kind of resparked my creativity after being in a creative burn out for so long due to mental health issues. It’s really good and you should totally check it out if you can.

12. Is the logo for the Umbrella Academy. It’s honestly my favourite thing Netflix has ever produced and I love the series so much. It’s like right up my alley.

Kudos to you if you’ve made it this far. Now you know more about me! Was it really that interesting? Honestly the TLDR is that I’m just a big nerd lol. Anyways, another thing I really like is weird memes. So I will share this one with you as a thank you :)

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 28/6

It's in the recs list! I'm very much looking forward to this one.

I've certainly enjoyed what I've read so far - it's been nice to get back to the story's original protagonists.

The main mood of Act 5.2 is one of anticipation. We've been getting glimpses of the kids' Grand Plan ever since the Act began, and it very much feels like it's all building up to something. If Homestuck sticks the landing, and the Act 5 finale lives up to all this hype, then this might end up my favorite part of the story so far.

Yeah it's a session tag - although a 'reading session' is a little ambiguously defined, especially when I stop posting for a few hours and return later in the day. How long a gap does it need to be before it qualifies as a new reading session?

I've just been tagging every post made in the same day as the same session. It's not a perfect solution, but it'll do.

Wow, it started in 2010? I could conceivably have been reading Paranatural in school - although I'm glad I came to it a little later, so I wasn't constantly waiting for updates.

Big red peepers. I'll admit I didn't really think of this as a reveal, but I suppose it is our first true peek behind Dave's shades.

Based on this, it's it's probably safe to assume that all the kids have eyes matching their text colors. Has Rose been blessed with the legendary mutation, Alexandria's Genesis?

A few people mentioned this Squiddles meme. I like it, it's very Trunk & The Grunks.

I've really gotta catch up on those albums at some point...

I did wonder if Bro's sword shenanigans were something to do with Dave's Quest - like, maybe he was bequeathing his anime sword to his brother, to accomplish some objective. Now that Dave has his own Quest sword, I think that interpretation is less likely.

Symbolically though, I do think it's notable that Bro's sword is intact, and Dave's is broken. It ties into how Dave sees himself as a worse version of Bro, on some level.

As far as Jack is concerned, I doubt the game intends for him to have anything to do with Dave's journey. The whole point is that he's ignoring the game's rules - so if anything, his antics might start to break the Quests.

It sounds like the style was supposed to take readers aback - although I didn't find it particularly jarring myself!

Homestuck's art style is constantly changing, with this, the Earthbound sprites, and Hero Mode, among other things. Honestly, I had just assumed that the comic's art just fluctuated depending on Hussie's mood.

I quite like the HussNasty panels, and I hope Hussie keeps experimenting with the comic's art. It sounds like this is the beginning of a more general trend, so I'm hopeful that it will continue.

Oh, so it just straight up is Excalibur.

New theory about his Quest, then. It's about worthiness, and Dave is being tasked to 'prove himself' as a hero, despite his insecurities. This ties neatly into the next set of asks below:

Anonymous asked: my headcanon (partially supported by the text, as you've seen from rose's conversation with jaspers) is that each quest is designed to help you self-improve, so that you can responsibly preside over an entire universe. whether you agree with the game about the ways you need to improve is another story.

I've speculated that the Quests are teaching the Players how to sculpt their universe. Building on from this idea, then, these asks speculate that Quests are also trying to improve the Players as people, so that the nascent universe will flourish under their care.

It's an interesting idea - although it does beg the question of why Sburb is creating such flawed Players in the first place. If it's looking for self-actualized custodians for its universe, why did it create Players like the trolls, who wanted to rule over their universe like tyrants?

I guess it's possible that a flawed Player who self-improves is actually more resilient than a flawless Player who never needed to change. The former would potentially be more resilient, capable of adapting to the changing circumstances of their universe as it grows and evolves.

I wish! That's more of an aspirational schedule, really. I should probably delink it, if it's causing confusion.

I'm not sure whether this is Karkat's canonical birthday - but if it is, I like the irony inherent in the fact that he's not even a Cancer.

Yes - although I don't blame you for forgetting, since I don't think I've referenced it since the literal first post of the liveblog!

Oh, god, messages from 2024? Is Tumblr using Trollian as a backend?

Bizarre. I assume, then, that the trickster code was cut as well. :(

If we assume that Sburb did evolve, then it makes sense that it works this way. However, if it was created by some intelligent being, then holding the Players hostage like this seems pretty malicious.

I mean, there are ways to ensure participation in the game that don't involve destroying an entire planet. No matter how clear you were about the risks, if you asked the population of Earth for volunteers, you'd be guaranteed millions of responses.

All that said, if Sburb worked this way, we'd have a very different story. I understand why Sburb works the way it does, in the context of Homestuck's themes.

Speaking of Kingdom Hearts, I'd kind of love for Sora to visit a Homestuck world. His Keyblade upgrade could be the Wrinklefucker - and he'd have to unlock Vriska as a summon, right?

Do it. I've been rereading GtN this week, and as far as I'm concerned, Alecto can't come fast enough.

It is she. The million dollar question, of course, is whether Taylor is ultimately more of a constructive or destructive character.

I mean, I have an opinion, but resurrecting The Great Taylor Hebert Debate on this blog would be an exercise in hubris.

@wickedsick asked: The typically accepted name for Girl Egbert is June, after that one time Vriska spelt John with 64 O's and Egbert said they read it as a really long "June". [...]

Oh man, imagine being trolled by Vriska was your trans awakening. How would you ever recover?

Jokes aside, I like June, It's cute. I feel like if John transitioned she'd choose another 4 letter J-name like that, or a name from one of her movies, like Dana or Janine.

Come on - I'd be shocked if Homestuck didn't end with the straight characters getting outnumbered at least twenty-to-one.

Looks fine to me, I think. I assume the website just hiccupped - wouldn't be the first time!

It blows my mind every time I remember that Undertale came out in 2015. The beginning of the Undertale Era feels like it started simultaneously six months ago, and twenty years ago.

You open the TYPHEUS web browser and direct it to what is indisputably the most amazing website ever created.

Au contraire, my friend - Typheus showed up way back in Act 1!

[ I can't send them yet because they'd tell you a lot about the aspects, but someone sent classpect headcanons for discworld characters and they're SO GOOD - C ]

Damn it, I can't wait. Just based on what I've recently learned, I am convinced Rincewind would be the Something of Light.